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slasher72

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Everything posted by slasher72

  1. Yea, It's likely going to come down to the two names everyone's been mentioning for the past several weeks. Either team, Nashville or Calgary is going to get a haul. Good for them.
  2. I myself wanted to take a flyer on Kakhonen heading into this season (because of his play in Minnesota), so I was pleased to see Fitz grab him. Especially for a 1:1 swap of VV. So I give Fitz a lot credit for that. Fitz has done a lot of good things but the question mark in goal is a glaring issue. I think Kakhonen could be a solid back up. I do think Allen will get shipped out along with Holtz/Mercer/draft pick if we go for Saros. Back to the draft, I remember when Holtz was taken I also did not want him. I wanted us to draft Askarov because he was seen as a highly talented, rising star coming out of Russia and I was envisioning him becoming our own version of Shesterkin. But that's ancient history now. I don't think this team's current scouting group will ever draft Russian prospects in goal. Heading into next season, it looks like it's going to come down to Saros or Markstrom. Or if Fitz goes totally off the radar, maybe he takes a flyer on a player like Anthony Stolarz from Florida? He's from Edison, NJ, so local guy...
  3. Seriously, him saying he didn't want to acquire a goalie mid-season because he didn't want to hurt Schmid/Daws' feelings was just a horsesh!t excuse to cover up for his failures. Going into this past year with VV/Schmid/Daws was inexcusable. And yes, Lindy was terrible at putting players into the best position to succeed, in addition to his other egregious errors. In hindsight, just think if Fitz had drafted Askarov. We wouldn't be worrying about possibly shipping out Mercer, Casey, our first-rounder to anyone. But here we are now, desperate to find a starting goalie for the future. Fitz has completely failed in addressing goaltending up to this point. And allowing Rogalski to hang around hasn't helped matters either. Fitz has a lot of work to do. Chief among them, hiring the right coach. I really hope gets it right this time.
  4. Sure, Jack got into it with Aho a bit after he'd had enough but he's not a physically intimidating player, and nor do I want him to be. I'm speaking about our entire defense and forwards like Bastian, Haula, etc. Against Carolina, we had no answer in terms of their physical game and against larger, more physical teams it was the same way. You mention the Islanders, that's a good example. Outside of MacDermid, who will likely be gone next year, we have no one to counter Matt Martin, Romanov, etc. Sure, a coach like Berube will be awesome if Fitz goes in that direction, but these current players aren't bruisers. Let's please not kid ourselves. Meier has a somewhat psychical edge to his game when he plays his natural position (Lindy could never figure that one out) but even he's not a player you have to look out for on the ice. He's not going to bodycheck anyone into next week, nor intimidate anyone with his fists. And that's what I'd like to see on this team. Especially with the Rangers now gooning it up for the foreseeable future with their Frankenstein monster, it's even more necessary. That was my point.. our players by and large aren't a physical group. And they weren't drafted or acquired to be physical, which is fine. It is what it is. I agree with your last paragraph. But I want more than just size or grit. I want a few mean SOB's that opposing teams absolutely have to account for.
  5. Siegenthaler with a concussion. Hatakka coming in. I really hope he sticks.
  6. On the flip side, maybe a better coach could come in and correct those issues with MacD. I don't know who Fitz could sign that could stand up to the likes of rempe. With all the celebrity this kid is generating I think he's going to be a mainstay on the Rangers for a while. And that will mean he'll be head-hunting our players, with Trouba following suit. Maybe part of me longs for the days when the devils were an intimidating force during the '90s. I'm thrilled that we have highscoring finesse players, but when a team punches us in the mouth we wilt. And now we have to deal with a 6'7" goon who enjoys injuring our players.
  7. The only problem is name one other person who could possibly fight Rempe after he goes headhunting and injures our players? MacD is the most intimidating fighter in the league, even more so than Reaves. Rempe wouldn't fight him. We need an intimidating fighter on this team to keep most goons honest. You're not going to suddenly teach Bahl how to fight and Bastian can't take on someone like Rempe. And I don't think there's anyone on our minor team whom we could call up to fight him either, let alone available free agents. Saying our current guys have to get tougher is a pipe dream. They're a smallish group of players who avoid physicality at all costs. We need an accomplished fighter on this team.
  8. I don't think it's going to sink in with this kid unless he gets pummeled by another enforcer, and it happens more than once. He probably relishes in the fact that he's getting suspensions, thinking it adds to his reputation. And Rangers fans seem to love it also. I saw a video about Tie Domi where Messier pulled him aside during his rookie year after Tie was showboating after fights, and he told him, "to cut the sh!t". Messier said "if you don't treat other players with respect, no one in this league is ever going to respect you." Whether the advice sunk in or not is up for debate but that's the type of talk Rempe needs. No one on that team is going to give it to him though because they love the spectacle it's creating, including the head coach.
  9. Not coming for Jack, just want to see him grow as a leader for this team. Criticizing parts of his game that we'd like to see improve, to make him even better than he already is, isn't a bad thing. I hope the next coach pushes everyone on this roster to become better. And I hope they hold ALL players accountable without the celebrity double standards. Nothing wrong with that at all.
  10. Many great points. I just hope that Luke doesn't coast, knowing that he's protected by his older brother and will be held by a different standard than everyone else. As for Jack, it's great to be the face of the franchise but you need to be a leader who holds everyone accountable. I'm not sure if Nico does that as Captain, but if Jack is the de-facto leader of this team then he needs to act like one. We don't just need a showman who puts up great stats and has jaw dropping goals, we need a skilled leader in that locker room who can do it all and who keeps everyone in line. As much as I don't want to mention his name, we need Jack to become our "Mark Messier". I really hope a guy like Berube can come in here and show these guys how it's done. No more of this double standard bullsh!t that happened under Lindy. If Fitz goes out and gets a "player's coach", then it's over. Like you mentioned, this new coach will have to reassemble the D. This team needs toughness, physicality, and sound defense. I realize it won't happen overnight but it needs to happen. Carolina ragdolled them in the playoffs last year. Outside of Smith and MacDermid, and to a lesser extent Meier, there's no one on this team with any balls and physicality. That has to change. As others have mentioned also, we need a physical presence who can fight, to prevent teams from running at our stars. That is why MacD has to be brought back.
  11. I might be in the minority, but I definitely want this guy back on the team next year.
  12. I'd love for this to happen but this isn't the 1995 Devils we're talking about. The only way to get that type of grit and nastiness into the lineup is to either draft or acquire those types of players. When it comes to physicality, you either have it between the ears or you don't. At least, that's my opinion. With that said, a new coach can certainly teach better defense.
  13. The other thing to keep in mind is laviolettte encourages cheap-shotting from his players, going back to the days when he was the Canes head coach. So if we get rid of our only enforcer we are screwed in this division.
  14. It's maddening how soft Bahl is as a player. The guy is 6'6 and plays like a marshmallow.
  15. I totally hear you and I'm just as frustrated as you are. The coaching staff sucks. We need a piss and vinegar coach to take charge of this team.
  16. Only problem is you can't teach nastiness. All four of those guys you mentioned are Charmin soft and avoid confrontations. It's pathetic that we had to get a guy like MacD to at least show some fire on the ice when he was trying to challenge rempe.. Not one damn player would do that the last time these teams met, even after witnessing two of our players get crunched. I'm totally with you in that I want to see nastiness across the board. But to remove the one guy who's capable of blasting people in a fight, I don't want to do that. Rempe would not fight MacD because he probably knows he will get his ass kicked. When the Avs played the Rangers this year trouba was running away from MacD the entire game. What we need is a coach like Berube who will let this team be physical, and let our enforcers do their jobs at the appropriate time. Hell, the only time I would put MacD on the ice would be to instigate a fight.
  17. Just imagine how much worse it would have been if we didn't have him.
  18. The only problem is there's no one on this team outside of Meier and Smith who are somewhat tough, and certainly no one who can fight. If we don't have an enforcer on this team, our star players will start getting crushed by cheapshoting goons like Rempe. What the coaching staff should do is play him less. But having the guy on the team as insurance is a good thing imo.
  19. I disagree. This team needs an enforcer if they're going to play the Rags and Isles several times a year. If MacDermid wasn't on the ice tonight Rempe would have been headhunting our stars. He tried to go after Jack but was too damn slow.. Having an enforcer is a good thing. Having a gutless coaching staff and no defense is not.
  20. Same ol' sh!t. If Fitz doesn't hire coach who can light a fire under these guys, then he should be shown the door. The only two names that should be interviewed should be Berube and Sullivan (if he's fired). No one else.
  21. Seriously, this team has absolutely no balls
  22. My responses got merged. I meant Rempe is a punk. But yea, Luke needs a lot of time.
  23. He's a punk. Let's face it. If his last name wasn't Hughes he'd be nowhere near the ice.
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