Quoting: Hungry4Pucks
I don't disagree that Zibanejad is a pathetic excuse for a 1C. His effort level is most concerning to me, he treats every game like its a puck shoot at the local rink.
Having said that, in no world is Chytil the second-best center on the team. Trocheck is leagues better than him in all aspects of the game. Chytil is as inconsistent as it gets and it's looking more and more likely that we'll never seen him play for the Rangers again. Chytil is no savior. The only thing he would save us from is having to watch Brodzinski play for this team any longer.
Who cares about trading Jones? He is one of the worst defensemen I have ever seen play for this team and he has no place in the lineup. Use him as an asset and trade him to a team willing to give him a shot on their third pairing.
Adding sandpaper guys who will chip in on the score sheet is what turns this around for the Rangers. They haven't played hard in weeks and it's become a concerning trend with this core that they give poor effort quite often. Blaming Igor when the team is giving 50% in front of him is embarrassing and a bad look for you.
I'm not solely blaming Igor. There are plenty of issues with the Rangers. But sticking our heads in the sand and acting like he's been good this year is a delusional move. He has lost us some games. 3.25 GAA and far below .900 SV% is terrible. The Rangers would never do it (and they shouldn't) but those types of numbers are what got Samsonov and Campbell sent down to the AHL. He's not the ONLY problem with the Rangers, and he's not the cause of the Rangers problems, but to act like he's been good and not a problem AT ALL is a bad look.
Do I think he'll return to form? I'm sure he will. But if we can't have Lundqvist-level consistency, honestly I'm not comfortable paying a goalie 10m or whatever on his next contract, and we should move on from him ASAP. Let another team overpay him. That money could be spent in better ways. I'm fine having a "good but not elite" goalie if it means we can put a better overall team in front of them.
I honestly don't get why CF ACGM users underrate Chytil so much. He was our best forward last year, trained hard over the summer and looked like he was about to have another huge year. If by "inconsistent" you're solely talking about injuries, sure, but when healthy I don't think I've ever seen him coast the way some people (Zibanejad) do. Dude is a competitor through and through and was always putting in max effort. Last guy on the ice after practice, and I strongly suspect that his setback yesterday was because he was rushing back to help the Rangers out of this slump and pushed himself too hard.
Trocheck has been our best center this year but it's by default because MZ is beyond useless and Chytil hasn't played since November. He's a solid middle 6 C. On any deep, Stanley Cup winning team, he's not the #1 guy. And that's not a diss to Trocheck it's just the truth.
We should either hold onto Jones or package him in a BIG trade. He's not as bad as people make him out to be. The pairing with Schneider is awful and I don't know why they keep trying it. But he's been no worse than Miller defensively this year. I also suspect that the Rangers are not going to repeat the mistakes they made with Girardi, and will avoid locking Lindgren up long-term. So Jones might have a role when Lindgren is gone.