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Matteau defends his goalie


Matteau#32

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Interesting to see if the Rangers get back in on Nash. If I'm Columbus, I take nothing less than Kreider and 1 of their young D plus picks. Nash is a talented and relatively young scoring forward that is locked up for a long time. There's no reason Columbus shouldn't get a king's ransom for him.

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Interesting to see if the Rangers get back in on Nash. If I'm Columbus, I take nothing less than Kreider and 1 of their young D plus picks. Nash is a talented and relatively young scoring forward that is locked up for a long time. There's no reason Columbus shouldn't get a king's ransom for him.

There's tons of reasons - he's signed to a really big cap hit, he's signed for another 6 years, he's not that good, and he's not that young. The Rangers would be overpaying if they got him for free. Note that I don't think they will get him for free or anything close, but that is an ugly contract.

Edited by Triumph
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There's tons of reasons - he's signed to a really big cap hit, he's signed for another 6 years, he's not that good, and he's not that young. The Rangers would be overpaying if they got him for free. Note that I don't think they will get him for free or anything close, but that is an ugly contract.

The cap hit is high. However, he's a 30-40 goal scorer with a big body and descent mobility. He has a lot of value, even with the cap hit. He's 28 and should be in the prime of his career. If you're Columbus and give him away for nothing (Dubinsky and a bag of pucks), then you might as well close up shop because nobody will show up to their games.

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Interesting to see if the Rangers get back in on Nash. If I'm Columbus, I take nothing less than Kreider and 1 of their young D plus picks. Nash is a talented and relatively young scoring forward that is locked up for a long time. There's no reason Columbus shouldn't get a king's ransom for him.

Columbus wanted Kreider at the deadline and Sather wouldn't do it. No chance does he do it now after the play-offs he had. If the trade happens, it will be something along the lines of Dubinsky, Anisimov, a 1st, maybe a prospect like Christian Thomas or JT Miller, maybe Del Zotto, but I doubt it. Honestly do not think it is going to happen. I haven't listened to it yet, but Tortorella was on with Francesa yesterday. Heard it was made pretty clear they won't give up dmen for forwards and made it seem like they are going to make a serious push for Suter and Schultz. With the uncertainty of the CBA, this may not be the right summer to try to make a huge free agency splash, but we shall see. Another guy I could see them inquiring about on draft day is Bobby Ryan. He has been rumored to be on the block, was taken off the block when Boudreau took over. He's younger than Nash, lower cap hit, a consistent 30-goal scorer.

Edited by Matteau#32
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How about literally everyone else on the team not producing?

The Rangers shot 7.3% as a team in the playoffs, usually that means a first round exit. Derek Stepan: 1 goal, was terrible against NJ. No forward besides Kreider and maybe Callahan can come out of these playoffs feeling happy with their performance.

The Rangers need offense. Their power play was not good all season long. Getting rid of Gaborik isn't a way to fix that.

Stepan is another one, but he is a lot younger than Gaborik. Can't give up on him yet. He is getting better, not the case for Gaborik at this point in his career. The power play was not good this year, but I actually ran the numbers. Off the top of my head, I believe if their percentage was equal to the league average, it would have mean 8 more power play goals for the whole season. Obviously, if those 8 goals all came in games where they lost by 1 it would be a big deal, but in reality, it really isn't all that much.

The Rangers need a big, net-crashing scoring forward. Who doesn't? But the Rangers really could use one.

That pretty much hits the nail on the head. They simply do not crash the net. When you don't crash and your #1 scoring threat (Gaborik) goes into a funk where he couldn't hit a soccer net, the results will not be good.

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Stepan is another one, but he is a lot younger than Gaborik. Can't give up on him yet. He is getting better, not the case for Gaborik at this point in his career. The power play was not good this year, but I actually ran the numbers. Off the top of my head, I believe if their percentage was equal to the league average, it would have mean 8 more power play goals for the whole season. Obviously, if those 8 goals all came in games where they lost by 1 it would be a big deal, but in reality, it really isn't all that much.

It is significant in the playoffs when every goal counts. The Rangers didn't get a power play goal in the last 3 games - they didn't draw many penalties, but they weren't able to cash in on the ones they'd got.

As we've seen, even the best power play can go cold in the playoffs, but having a bad one isn't often the path to success. Giving up Gaborik wouldn't seem to help that - I like Hagelin and Kreider a lot, but neither player strikes me as an effective PP guy. Speed isn't that important on the power play, it's more about being able to make quick reads or getting to the net. Gaborik with his shot and his ability to read the play is one of NYR's only significant weapons in that area.

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I guess this could explain Gaborik's disappearing act (torn rotator cuff). I understand gutting it out, but he has to say something to the coaches and the coach then needs to lower his ice time. Sucking it up is one thing, but when you are not effective, you are hurting the team.

http://www.snyrangersblog.com/2012/06/01/buzz-marian-gaborik-has-a-torn-rotator-cuff/

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I guess this could explain Gaborik's disappearing act (torn rotator cuff). I understand gutting it out, but he has to say something to the coaches and the coach then needs to lower his ice time. Sucking it up is one thing, but when you are not effective, you are hurting the team.

http://www.snyrangersblog.com/2012/06/01/buzz-marian-gaborik-has-a-torn-rotator-cuff/

This would not be said about a North American player.

Zipay reporting it might be 6 months - there go the buyout options.

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This would not be said about a North American player.

Agreed. A North American player would have been lauded for playing through the injury, no matter how bad it got. And if Gaborik did sit out, he would have been bashed for doing so. To this day, Devils fans are still mad at Petr Sykora for not playing through an injury (I've long since forgotten what it was) during his first tour of duty with the team. And it's a good thing resting Kovalchuk in the Flyers series worked, otherwise the fan base was on the verge of turning on him too.

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This would not be said about a North American player.

This. And he didn't hurt the team by playing. They didn't have a good replacement healthy, and they weren't going to win the series without Gaborik being decently effective. As Tri has pointed out, they don't have anybody else on the roster with Gaborik's skill set.

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I guess this could explain Gaborik's disappearing act (torn rotator cuff). I understand gutting it out, but he has to say something to the coaches and the coach then needs to lower his ice time. Sucking it up is one thing, but when you are not effective, you are hurting the team.

http://www.snyrangersblog.com/2012/06/01/buzz-marian-gaborik-has-a-torn-rotator-cuff/

Did Tortorella really not know about this? Didn't Gaborik see the team doctor about it?

Edited by devilsfan26
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Believe he was also on the list for 2009. I was counting this year as well. Whatever it is, 4, 5, doesn't matter. Point is, he has had a lot more than 1 good year.

He wasn't. Thomas, Mason and Backstrom were 1-2-3.

I know your point and I agree that he has had more than "one good year" but don't inflate his stats and expect to gain credibility.

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Agreed. A North American player would have been lauded for playing through the injury, no matter how bad it got. And if Gaborik did sit out, he would have been bashed for doing so. To this day, Devils fans are still mad at Petr Sykora for not playing through an injury (I've long since forgotten what it was) during his first tour of duty with the team. And it's a good thing resting Kovalchuk in the Flyers series worked, otherwise the fan base was on the verge of turning on him too.

Sykora was accused of faking an injury, which is much different than not playing through one.

Did Tortorella really not know about this? Didn't Gaborik see the team doctor about it?

I think coaches, in general, don't want to hear about injuries. Their philosophy is - if you can play, I expect you to play to your full capacity, if you can't play, then you're out. Otherwise I don't want to know - injuries happen.

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Sykora was accused of faking an injury, which is much different than not playing through one.

I think coaches, in general, don't want to hear about injuries. Their philosophy is - if you can play, I expect you to play to your full capacity, if you can't play, then you're out. Otherwise I don't want to know - injuries happen.

Yeah I get that but why wouldn't the team doctor say to the coach what the players are dealing with? Unless Gaborik went to some outside doctor instead and he kept it a secret from everyone.

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Yeah I get that but why wouldn't the team doctor say to the coach what the players are dealing with? Unless Gaborik went to some outside doctor instead and he kept it a secret from everyone.

Because the coach has probably told him that he (Tortorella) doesn't want to know. I think coaches try to worry about things that are in their control and try to spend as little mental energy as possible worrying about things that aren't in their control.

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Agreed. A North American player would have been lauded for playing through the injury, no matter how bad it got. And if Gaborik did sit out, he would have been bashed for doing so. To this day, Devils fans are still mad at Petr Sykora for not playing through an injury (I've long since forgotten what it was) during his first tour of duty with the team. And it's a good thing resting Kovalchuk in the Flyers series worked, otherwise the fan base was on the verge of turning on him too.

He was hit in the arch or ankle with a shot by Stevens.... little fvck never came back <_< Stevens was the guy helping him find his game too. I took it personally so I can't imagine Stevens and Lou not feeling a little of the same. That's all we knew of it anyhow. Maybe there is more and I'm not being fair.

He's made up for it now though :evil:

Edited by Pepperkorn
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Agreed. A North American player would have been lauded for playing through the injury, no matter how bad it got. And if Gaborik did sit out, he would have been bashed for doing so. To this day, Devils fans are still mad at Petr Sykora for not playing through an injury (I've long since forgotten what it was) during his first tour of duty with the team. And it's a good thing resting Kovalchuk in the Flyers series worked, otherwise the fan base was on the verge of turning on him too.

Did not say he should sit out. Saying he shouldn't have played AS MUCH. He was clearly not playing well despite his effort. It is one thing to play through pain, another to play and hurt the team. I wasn't advocating scratching him, just limit his ice-time.

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This would not be said about a North American player.

Zipay reporting it might be 6 months - there go the buyout options.

By me? Yes, it would. Fine line between gutting it out through an injury, and clearly not being effective. He should have been lowered to around 10-12 min/night.

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Did not say he should sit out. Saying he shouldn't have played AS MUCH. He was clearly not playing well despite his effort. It is one thing to play through pain, another to play and hurt the team. I wasn't advocating scratching him, just limit his ice-time.

Should that be Gaborik's decision or Tortorella's? And really who else were the Rangers going to play that was going to make a difference? Callahan's leg? Gaborik at 75% is better then all but a handful of players on your roster.

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Did not say he should sit out. Saying he shouldn't have played AS MUCH. He was clearly not playing well despite his effort. It is one thing to play through pain, another to play and hurt the team. I wasn't advocating scratching him, just limit his ice-time.

That's fair, and that's on Torts. I think most people, including me, are defending Gaborik for trying to play through it, not defending his usage.

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Agreed, it is more on Torts. However, I also feel the player has a duty to inform the coaches or tell a teammate who can tell the coaches if you doesn't want to come off as a wimp for speaking up. squishy, he wasn't even 75%. Maybe 50%. Increase the icetime of Kreider, Stepan (although he was snake-bitten), even get your 4th liners involved more.

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Agreed, it is more on Torts. However, I also feel the player has a duty to inform the coaches or tell a teammate who can tell the coaches if you doesn't want to come off as a wimp for speaking up. squishy, he wasn't even 75%. Maybe 50%. Increase the icetime of Kreider, Stepan (although he was snake-bitten), even get your 4th liners involved more.

Gaborik shots per game, regular season: 3.37

Gaborik shots per game, playoffs: 3.00

Dubinsky said, when asked what % he was at health-wise, said 'We don't do percentages here'. Which means they don't. Can Gaborik play? Answer: Yes. So he's going to get the same minutes he did in the regular season. Increase the ice time of Stepan? He wasn't just snake-bit, he was awful. Increase the ice time of Kreider? He's never played in the NHL.

The Devils are going through the same thing with Kovalchuk now - he's not close to 100%. But they don't have anyone who can come close to replacing his ice time or what he does for the team, so he's largely been left in the same roles and with the same ice time. It's the playoffs, it's up to every player to try to lift their game, injuries or no injuries.

Edited by Triumph
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