(2019) Brady Skjei, Jesper Fast, Marc Staal, and Henrik Lundqvist = (2020)K'Andre Miller, Alexis Lafreniere, Tarmo Reunanen, Igor Shesterkin.
Just to highlight the major player movement from last year, it's safe to say we made some sensible decisions to boost us long term. Still believe Miller and Tarmo will need to ease in their positions to prevent the ship from sinking. The defense as this, if all goes as planned, should be a lot better imo.
I think this defense has the tools to be a decent unit and uphold the team unlike this past year. Fox will continue to grow and improve, Lidngren as well, Trouba will hopefully bounce back with a respectable pair mate, DeAngelo will continue his scoring threat, and Tarmo Reunanen will staple a spot on the team.
As for the goaltending, It will come down to how Igor Shesterkin adapts to taking on the starting role for a full season which I believe he will excel at. With Georgiev being one of the top leagues backups, they should be a great pair, likely better even with the departure of Henrik Lundqvist.
And lastly, the forward core. Adding Alexis Lafreniere is one of the biggest additions this team will endure since the rebuild started in 2018 and along with Kaapo Kakko, Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox and others will be the back bones of this roster. The team still has glaring holes that need to be filled, such as 2C, 4C, and 4RW. Fixing the PK unit, and building a team that can be the best as configured within internal and external pieces.
Taxi Squad Players are my most obvious choices.
Brodzinski, Gettinger, Kinkaid are AHL staples that can make a minor impact if injures occur.
Hajek will be given one last look.
Smith and Johnson will be depth defenseman will save us cap with being on the Taxi Squad as insurance if Tarmo and/or K'Andre struggle. Rangers save $2.15M with this maneuver. Could patch up the 4C hole or add a player like Sami Vatanen. All potential final options to round out the roster.
So all in all, I think it'd be safe to say this will be our last sluggish year before the youth starts to settle in and the prospects will come up and make major impacts to climb out of the 3-year hole.
Have they changed the qualifications for bonuses? Because in a 56 game season it is highly unlikely anyone outside of Shesty hits many targets. That would open up space as well.
Have they changed the qualifications for bonuses? Because in a 56 game season it is highly unlikely anyone outside of Shesty hits many targets. That would open up space as well.
The Staal trade makes slightly more sense to me now that the salaries and roster are basically set. Paying a 2nd to replace Staal with JJ for 1/5th of the cost makes ~some~ sense. Though Staal is not as bad as JJ probably is, I understand why he had to do it. Trying to put Staal back and find $4.5 million in cap is difficult.
Also, I would expect Smith to start the season over one of the two kids. As much as I would like the rookies to come out flyin, it may not be realistic especially with a quick camp and no preseason. I don't hate Smith, purely because I saw him shoulder fake bar down Carey Price live. But he isn't the worst defenseman in the league, he's just the worst defenseman in the league who gets paid over $4 million.
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