Whatever it is, It’s Awful!
I was wrong
I admit it
I thought JT Miller was going to be good for the NYR.
I thought Trouba had to go, and that Lindgren was toast
Kakko was a bust as a # 2 overall draft pick.
Can the Rangers develop anybody?!
We needed some new blood.
But man, was I WRONG.
I keep echoing the Fire Laviolette thought process. Especially, post game.
But No.
He is wretched. Just listen to his PGR. Your second grader (or insert any grade school age here) could do better than that, and they’d know better than he does. And, you know it.
C’mon now.
If you think otherwise, please feel free to establish your residency below. I’d Love to hear from you.
1st team to 3 wins, except WE CAN’T SCORE. Igor isn’t going to be the Seaver or DeGrom of hockey every night. He can’t generate run support. He can’t score to help the team.
JT Miller & Vincent Trocheck have helped KILL This Team. Straight-Up.
You can’t have “Pittsburgh grit” if you’re not actually from Pittsburgh. What TF is that anyway?! No offense, but we never wished we were from Pennsylvania. We’re Jersey Kids by-way of NYC.
We’re from NJ. North NJ for my family, and my wife’s family is from Central NJ & Brooklyn/Queens NY. If you know, you know. And, JT Miller is from East Palestine, Ohio. Born & Raised. Miller may have played Junior hockey in the ‘Burgh, but He isn’t from there, wasn’t born there, or raised there. Why does that matter? Well, mainly because of the false narrative being pushed in the media and propagated by the web. The one where Vinny T is the biggest and most Italian ever in history to play in NYC for the NYR. Ever. Can you believe that?
Even though his last name is Polish, and we assume he is Polish. It’s almost as if he is shameful about being anything other than Italian. Weird. Especially for myself, who is an actual Italian American. I’m also Irish and Polish. I’m proud of every drop of blood that I was blessed to have, but I don’t proclaim my nationality everywhere I go. My last name basically explains things for me, anyway.
But suddenly the media got their claws into this story and beat it further into death. Last time I checked the internet wasn’t clamoring to discuss Lafrenière’s French upbringing, or Kreider potentially being of German descent. Trocheck is the kid who needs constant attention. It is a silly distraction.
Everybody seems to be tired of the dynamic duo “dragging everyone into the fight”. WTF is that even? Cuylle is a good kid, but not a super skilled professional hockey player. Not yet. Please, re-evaluate if you find yourself on the other side of this argument.
To all the fans who have complained about the “Rotten-Core” that is “Too-Soft”, what say you now?
Wait. Think About It.
The NYR from ‘21-’22 to ‘23-’24 won 151 games. They had a 50 Goal Scorer, he most since 2000 in a 3-year time-period. They also made the playoffs 3 straight years, 2 game 6’s in the ECF. They had Igor, a Vezina winner. Fox, a top 5 Norris 3X’s. Winner x’s 1. A top 5 Hart in Panarin.
Add to that a bunch of legit Dudes who played for each other every night. We never complained about a lack of effort.
We watched Troubs light dudes up, fight, and throw helmets.
We watched a team down 3-1 to Pittsburgh and win game in O_T.
We saw Goodrow and Vesey back up Rempe in the INFAMOUS Line Brawl vs. NJ Devils.
Come Back from a 2-goal deficit in their Winter Classic dub vs. The NYI in the last 5 minutes; pulling the goalie, Mika Z-Bad tying it up before Panarin blew the roof off the Met Life swamps & 80,000 screaming G-O-A-L, G-O-A-L, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey!
We watched the longest tenured Ranger score a natural hattrick in a must win game 6 vs Carolina, again, down 3+ to lift us to the ECF.
Don’t YOU remember? As a die-hard Rangers fan? Of course you do. Unless you don’t. What a disappointment, if that’s the case.
If nothing else, the last three seasons have Fun. Absoluter Joy. What a Team. Don’t deny it. It’s brought you the same amount of joy it’s brought any Legit NYR fan. And if you question that, question your fandom. For reals.
As a one-time season ticket holder for Fifteen Years and a fan for 45, I’ve seen So Much. Too Much. A Lot.
Add My Dad’s 25 prior to me and its around 70 years of fanaticism.
My wife also lives & dies by this team, and we now live in the Denver area. Wyoming to be exact.
We travel to Denver and then euphorically drive 7 hrs to SLC. Happy to soak up all the live action, sitting on the glass for both games, and the Rangers (even this season) didn’t disappoint.
Maybe we were fortunate that it was January, and they had gone on a 7-3-1
streak that helped. But, after the JT miller acquisition, which we were happy about, things have changed.
The locker room, which was destroyed when Drury and Trouba had it out publicly over the summer and Goodrow was waived, continued to deteriorate.
Fans and talking heads lambasted the core for being weak and lacking leadership. When Mark Messier went on air and discussed the drama, he stated that Drury should not have publicly released the memo about Kreider and Trouba. He was right.
The family atmosphere had dissipated, heads were on a swivel, and guys were left wondering who would be the next to go.
The players are human. They are a tight-knit group that every fan seemed to love until the wheels started falling off.
When you work, or live, with 20 people for 6, 7, 8 + years it is incredibly difficult to see
friends/teammates go. I know that most people believe that when you make millions you have a built-in emotion blocker, or that the money somehow buys them some feelings killer that are expected to be a “professional who doesn’t care”. We have vaulted expectation, and if bothers you to lose a teammate it’s best to assume it bothers everyone who is going through it.
Now, consider losing almost 1/3 of your team.
I like Will Borgen, don’t get me wrong, but he isn’t Trouba. Be honest with yourself here.
Soucy, Vax…not exactly Lingren. And to everyone dissing Vak ease up. He is working, and he’s out there giving it hell. He’s going to end up beating the hell outta himself, and we may be looking at a “next” Ryan Lindgren sitchi. I don’t want that for anyone. He’s smaller like Lindy, he weighs about the same as Lindy, and they are abusing him like Lindy. Watch for him to be broken down by the time he seeks his next contract. Sheesh, they just don’t learn in RangerLand.
Kakko. Chytl.
I understand that hockey is a business. I get trading guys. Kakko was a scapegoat who needed a change of scenery. Chytl, as we all just saw, was one head injury away from possibly leaving hockey for good. It’s a shame. I certainly feel for him.
JT fell into Drury’s lap. He was only moving his no trade for one team. The Avs had a deal in place, and he blocked it. I could’ve made that trade, for cryin’ out loud.
Let’s examine the team since the trade. The Rangers are 9-7-2. Eh.
Mediocre to say the least. JT has added some hard-nosed play, but also some bone-headed decision making. You absolutely CANNOT let your emotions get the better of you when you have Igor Shesterkin saving your asses. And, JT has been a bit of a loose cannon.
Add to that the locker room being whipped into a frenzy. No more loyalty.
He & Fredo, oops, I mean Trocheck, now seem to be dividing the room. The clan looks dejected. Just last season this squad was unstoppable, ruthless, and vivacious. A Familiy. They were a cohesive and connected group of guys who trusted one another and believed in themselves. This season has taken its toll. The drama is breaking the dam.
There are two sides, it seems. We’ve got the Old Guard. The good guys. The teammates.
10, 20, 93, 13, 4, 23, 31. 79.
Has the squad struggled? Obviously, yes. But maybe it’s just not there year. That’s okay.
The AHL’ers : 22, 17, 18, 65, 73, 78, 6. 36.
On the other side we have the new triumphant trio: 16, 8, and 50. Can some of you guys pump the brakes on Will Cuylle is the second coming of Mark Messier? Please. Not even close.
Let’s connect the dots. This is wholly my opinion of course. Drury puts the memo out, trades half the team, shields 16 from any trade talks when he would have gotten us At the Least Cal Ritchie (or insert really great player available here), another top player, and a #1. Drury called Fredo about JT. Fredo calls up JT. The “Pittsburgh Bros” are reunited. We all must hear about the two bestest friends forever in the history of the world. Blah. We get it. You played pee-wee and juniors together. Cool. It sometimes looks like they’ve never played hockey ever in their life. Especially lately. P.S. They didn’t grow up together in the Burgh. East Palestine is in Ohio. Site of the shocking and tragic train explosion. It’s in a completely different state than Pennsylvania. Enough, please.
JT, who has now been traded three times, comes back to NY. Be careful what you wish for. Since the 4-Nations Trocheck has been awwwful. He lacks skill, speed, and heart. I don’t know about you, but I’m beyond exhausted with him “gliding” around the ice hunched over with his stick dangling from one hand. No effort. He doesn’t pump his legs. Barely able to skate, and when (or if) he gets the puck, he has nothing on his shot. Nada. He literally couldn’t hit the side of a barn. Always way wide left, or right, depending on the night. It’s cringworthy at best. I don’t know where his heart went. I have no clue where his skill went. He used to get into the dirty areas. He used to be an agitator. He used to win face-offs. This version of Trocheck blows. And, you know it. Last season, he was someone you looked forward to watching. This season you wish he wasn’t in the lineup.
And don’t even get us started on Laviolette. Just horrific. His line changes never work, and they usually don’t make a lick of sense. It must be terribly frustrating to be coached by such a dimwit.
In a recent article, Elliotte Freidman reported that Quinn Hughes, captain of the Vancouver Canucks, okayed JT getting traded over Elias Petterson. Apparently, Hughes was good on the locker room drama. And how could we blame him. Who wants to go to work every day and hate the atmosphere. Nobody. Including the Rangers, who have now taken on that drama queen. Yay.
And don’t give me that “JT & Troch bring the Pittsburgh grittiness and snarrrrl to their game”. Do they? Check the record. They aren’t dragging anyone into the fight (can people stop saying this. Please.). What they bring is a passive aggressiveness that is ugly. It’s always ugly to be PA. Did you guys see the John Giannone intermission interview with Trocheck? It was brutal. You don’t take your passive aggressive BS out on anyone, but especially a guy battling cancer. A guy who is just doing his job interviewing a dickhead who signed up to be interviewed. Good grief.
And don’t even get us started with the stupid penalties. Stop. 4 minutes a game, which is a lifetime, and when you have Stesterkin behind you don’t screw him over with unintelligent penalties. Childish. If someone is pissing you off that much drop the freakin’ gloves. Always talking shit, not backing it up. Face facts, Miller isn’t exactly what we hoped he be, and he’s potentially making this team worse.
JT and Fredo seem hellbent on trying to burn the place down, and the casualties will be massive. Watch for the backstabbing. Coming soon to a locker room near you, as if it hasn’t started already.
We know you see it. This team is broken, and the solution wasn’t JT Miller. It most certainly isn’t AHL guys. It isn’t daHaan, Soucy, Zac Jones. Ask yourself honestly if you really think, or want, the NYR to build a team solely around 16, 8, 50, and 23? I love Fox. Cuylle can grow. But gimme the old guard. No more AHL players, either. I know the NYR don’t exactly develop well, but 22 centering a line is asinine. And you know it.
Drury has screwed the Rangers. Check.
Locker room divided? (Tro)Check.
The game has obviously passed Laviolette by.
Laviolette threw out 2 lines Tuesday night, and it should tell you everything you need to know about future of this team.
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- Vs. 16. 8. 50.
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Old vs. New
Maybe that “rotten core” wasn’t so rotten after all.