Good call! #2 overall pick is impressive. #1 for the Devils is crazy. As for Ottawa? That is brutal. Haha.
No it's fine for Ottawa, what that chart doesn't show is that the Senators had already traded their unprotected pick to Colorado. So yeah, the Senators really sucked that bad, they had zero incentive to lose. So basically the Avalanche won the lottery and then lost it
2nd pick in draft, probably Kakko coming, Fox, Shesty, Kratsov all signed, finally something to look forward too, especially Shestyorkin
The only wet blanket on that is the log jam at goalie. We have Hank at 8.5M for two more years and Georgie is a proven above average NHL goalie, and Igor is coming but he has an out clause in his contract that if assigned to the AHL out of training camp he can opt out and go back to the KHL in Russia
John Davidson named as new President of the Rangers. Gotta love it. I bet he still announces home games with Sam Rosen, gotta love that, too. Minor suggestion? Can someone please change the thread title to 2011-Present or something along those lines? I always have difficulty finding this thread! Unless there's more recent one? Grazie.
Aw, c'mon, I love JD. You sound like champ. "John Davidson was 0 for 39 in 1979 for bringing the LSC to the NYRs."
I am really happy to have JD back!!!! Good move by the team. I liked what JD was doing in Columbus. Having him appear in both with Sam just a little added perk. Now let’s draft Kakko!!
I have always liked JD, he just seems like a genuinely nice guy. Rangers are in a good spot right now, if he really was the guy who put the CBJ in a position to contend then the Rangers will turn it around quickly. That division is going to be the strongest in hockey for a time to come. My question to you is this, does your coach stay or will JD look for a Tortorella type coach?
He's an incredible young player. He plays as a winger, but he can also play as a center though probably not in the NHL. He played all season in the TPS League team as an 18 year old, and as the season progressed and the games got more important he seemed to always elevate his game higher. He was their best player late in the season and in the playoffs. As a junior he mainly played in the age group above his own, so he's played against older and bigger players throughout his career (though he's not a small guy either at 6`2). He made the records in most goals (22) and most points-per-game (.84) in the U18 age-group in the League, previously set by Aleksander Barkov whom many experts has compared him to. He is big and strong for his age, he can protect the puck really well. He may not be defensively that sound yet, but not many are at that age. He has won gold medals in U18's and U20's Championships. And if you have followed the men's World Championships currently on-going, he has been our best player by a country-mile. In practically every shift he makes something happen offensively. He has scored six goals in the tournament already outshadowing the projected number one pick Jack Hughes (although Hughes doesn't get as much ice-time with all the excellent players you have). He is one of the most promising prospect to ever come out of Finland and I think he is going to be hell of a player. One curious thing about him is his stick. He plays with unusually short stick for his size, all coaches throughout his career has wished him to play with longer one, but he always shortens them to his liking. He says that it helps with his stickhandling and in the corners and in front of goals where there is not that much room to manoeuvre.
RM, I wish he could bring Torts with him....CBJ were good but nothing special, when he was Blues GM, good but nothing special ...people like him because he's a nice guy and was a Ranger
Nice write up, I am very excited about Kakko, hoping Devils take Hughes...harder to have the 1st pick now if you screw it up and Kakko will be a star, he reminds me of Alexie Kovalev
Very insightful write up, thank you. Good points regarding the U18, U20, and World Championships. He's looked great in international play. I'm hoping the Devils select Hughes, as I'd rather Kakko.
Funny thing about Kak, I think one of his secret weapons is his health condition. He has celiac disease so he can't have any wheat which is basically everywhere in food. So he learned from a young age to eat protein protein protein and he's strong as hell able to compete against men. He also has genetic diabetes but it's not necessarily a problem other NHL players have done fine managing it
We all know what tonight is. The 25th Anniversary of . . . BEFORE! AFTER! I was at a sports bar for Game Six. It was complete pandemonium. What a great, great, time to be a Rangers fan. The place was going absolutely nuts. People who weren't even half in the bag were hugging complete strangers, screaming, yelling, jumping up and down, banging on tables, you could almost feel the building shaking. It was fantastic. Messier not only guaranteed a Joe Willie type win, he won the game all by himself with a hat trick in the 3rd period. How does that happen. I was so amped up I barely slept. @matt robinson 17, I've said this before and I'll say it again: that series vs. the Devils was better than the finals by far and was some of the most exciting hawkey I've ever seen. The series had three games that went into Double OT. I also used to work across the street from MSG and I was bumping into members of the team constantly. Great times. Sergei Zubov, he was like one the Smurfs of old, haha. Kovalev spoke zero English at the time. I went to little book signing of his of a book that his father had published about his life in Russia and his ascent to the NHL. It's more of a big pamphlet, really. I still have it. I literally ran into Brian Leetch when I was running for the PATH train once. Ooops! And Game 7, Holy Mother of Shitness. Double OT yet again, I was crapping pineapples. What a game for the ages. Matteau won it in Game 3 (Double OT) and he did in Game 7. Steve Somers to this day still says 'Rangers in seven' even when someone calls about something completely unrelated even though it's years later. I'm positive it's in here somewhere, but when the Jets beat the Cheats to knock them out of the playoffs at Cheatsette, Somers did such a memorable hilarious post-game broadcast. He kept playing the 'Matteau' call in response to elated Jets fans, hahaha. "So Steve, what do you think the Jets chances are against Pittsburgh?" It was either Rangers in 7 or Matteau. Alas, it was not to be. : (
