Andrew Gross at Ranger Rants starts off his series of training camp previews by breaking down the Rangers defensemen...
"The Rangers will enter training camp with seven defensemen listed on their NHL roster: Michael Del Zotto, Steve Eminger, Matt Gilroy, Dan Girardi, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival and Marc Staal. Right now, Del Zotto and Girardi are the most secure with their positions with Staal unsigned, Eminger and Gilroy fighting for playing time, Rozsival still a candidate to be traded if GM Glen Sather can find a trading partner and Redden’s NHL career possibly in jeopardy if the Rangers need to shed his salary."
For individual breakdowns click the above link.
...great job by Gross but I feel that he completely neglected to mention Del Zotto's -20 last year and says that Eminger doesn't shy away from physical battles meanwhile the Anaheim Ducks beat writer says he was often pushed around last year.
...despite Gross saying that it's not inconceivable the Rangers will look to trade Gilroy before the season begins, my bold prediction for the season is that the former Hobey Baker winner bounces back big time for the Blueshirts.
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14 comments:
Kevin, can you please stop with the -20 talk. As hockey fans for many many years we both know this is a misleading stat. We all understand Del Zotto made some mistakes last year. We all knew coming into his rookie season he needed to work on his defensive play. Those minuses added up when Torts starting playing head games with the kid. A rookie playing in NY on the greatest stage is going to hit some bumps in the road. Taking this into account he is our future shining star.
Hockeybuzz says possible trade to SJ...Staal for Setoguchi...
I thunk its fair to point out the minus 20 if only to highlight the areas DZ needs to improve upon to become a more complete dfnsman. Torts' negative reinforcement/headgames will NOT help.
*think.
I watched Eminger play while he was with the TBL. He will play somewhat of a physical game but because of his size do not expect him to be clearing the crease-which is an area he will get pushed around in. He is adequate in the 5th to 6th slot but will get used and abused in the 3rd and 4th slot.
DZ had one -5 and I believe three -3 games. four games add up to -14. Four games. In one of those game he played almost 30 minutes. I think in those four games Valiquette played one and lundqvuist got pulled from two of them.
Yeah, it's not fair to point out his -20 as a rookie. He played a ton...also...he was the talk of NHL blogs as rookie of the year first half of the season.
The breakdown pretty much shows, at this point, the Rangers can really only rely on Girardi, MDZ and Rosival (until Staal is signed).
brooks orpik was a -36 his first season, and he doesnt have half the offensive ability mdz has
I don't think it's so wrong to point out at all. I don't care who is in goal a -20 is a -20.
And this doesn't mean I think MDZ isn't a good player, quite the contrary, I think he can be a star in the league.
But to just skip over it like it didn't happen isn't doing a complete job previewing the player in my opinion.
Redden was a +8 and Roszival was a +3 last year.
get over it Delury!!!
Marek Malik was like a plus 32 his 1st season with the Rangers....it might be the most over rated stat out there!!!!
Do you think DZ sits and gushes over his minus 20? You think he sits in his funky fresh new pad and rolls his eyes and says "Valiquette was in net. whatever"?
No. Get real people. He no like-a it. nuh-uh. If he's a professional, which I think he is, he is going into camp telling himself, a -20 is no bueno (spanish). A -5 game, a -3 game, as a dfnsman, is unacceptable. For his sake and the teams sake, I hope he is.
Malik, Scmalik, DZ wants more for himself.
the -20 is relevant and he needs to improve. hopefully he will as he just turned 20. but too often a good amt of our fanbase gives our kids a free pass and that is not right. also he faded a lot in 2nd half of season as he was most certainly worn out
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