Panarin was mostly worthless 2 playoffs row. Gotta try to move him and see who you can replace him with for offense that will transfer to playoffs. Bring in Quinneville. That will bring accountability. Maybe add more grit. I think a few changes can go a long way.
So Kane leads the team in shots postseason (by4) but now we must analyze these shots for location and quality as if no shot at all was a better option? Aside from Igor, blame can be placed on any Blueshirt, I wish Laflopeniere had 6 points and 23 shots on goal, the Rangers might have won!
Cute, so you have nicknames for the youngest player on the roster. Wonder why you haven't posted nicknames for any of the overpaid "stars" that did jack shit against the Devils.....
The overpaid stars aside from CK stunk it up but they got the Rangers to the Playoffs when many thought they were done. . Perhaps I had high expectations for Laf when he was drafted, who wouldn't? but after this lackluster effort the only positive after 3 years is he isn't going to cost the Rangers much to resign. If he comes in flabby, slow and unwilling to shoot the puck next year he should be called every name in the book. Drury had to make the moves for Tara and Kane because our youth line underperformed offensively and costed us the gritty Blais. Laf has had every opportunity to succeed here, Quinn caught a lot of crap for calling out Laf's softness which was harsh for a 19 year old but two years later he seems like the same player to me. CK went through much more bs with Torts and AV.
They had to trade for Tarasenko and Kane because they developed Lafreniere and Kakko as role players and that is what they are becoming. You develop role players, you get role players. Until that stops (like it every will), we will continue to have to trade for top-6 players come trade deadline. No one knows what they could become if they were given 18+ minutes a game for a full season on the top lines and PP1.
Kakko and Lafreniere have been given opportunity but haven't shown the ability that coincides with where they were drafted. It's as much on them as it is on the organization. This unfounded devotion to them is as unreasonable as those who would endlessly bash them.
Kakko and Lafreniere have not been given the opportunity. That is the perfect sentence you just typed which shows you and most of our fan base doesn't get it and simply doesn't want to look at facts. As I've said many times. Go look up all the top 3 draft picks the past 10 years. Go look at their icetime starting from their rookie year and their PP points. It's not hard to grasp yet we have tons of Rangers fans who don't grasp it. They all get about 17+ minutes of icetime and extensive PP time as rookies. Only this organization is so retarded that they didn't do that. They HAVE NOT been giving the opportunity. An enormous part of developing young, high ceiling offensive forwards is by giving them extensive PP time where the top scorers in the league get a ton of their points. That is a huge reason Gallant IMO will get fired. If you think Lafreniere getting less minutes than Kevin Fucking Rooney his second year in the league and NO PP TIME is getting an opportunity, stop watching hockey.
If they can add 20points more next years they will have 60pts. They’re still 22 and 21. They’ll need more PP time and Top 6 minutes. Kane and Tarasenko had only 5 goals more (39-34) than the two of them did all year.
Compare Laf to every #1 and he's trending more towards Yakupov than Hughes. When Laf hit 15 minutes of ice time his first few years the mouth hung open and the stick became glued to the knees, his wind is slightly better a few years later but 2 more minutes of ice time makes no matter when a player won't shoot or push the puck to create offense. I remember seeing a preseason tweet of Kappo Kakko unleashing a 104 mph slap shot which we never got to see in a game situation. Kappo at least has developed into a decent puck handler, still very soft but no inclination to shooting the puck. Laf's 2nd year he was 5th among Rangers forwards on PP ice time and had 0G/2 A, this year 5th on PP ice time with 3G/1 A, if you watched the games you would see the ample opportunity Alexi was afforded.
I’m sure the Drury is well aware that Gallant has been retarded, developing Lafreniere and Kakko. That being said Drury sucked this year.
