(1) New York Rangers vs (8) Ottawa Senators - Playoffs Round 1

Big Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:Trading a 1st and Michalek for Ryan would be somethign they should look at. Might need to add in an extra piece but they should try and upgrade the wing.

Michalek peaked and he was the worst Sen by a mile in the playoffs. Nothing impressive about his game at this point. This is a case of selling high.

I thought he was pretty good tonight. And you wouldn't be selling high if everyone else thinks the same way. I do agree that he isn't the best 1st sniper out there, but even a guy like Gaborik, who is much better than Michalek as far as skill goes, was invisible for the most part.

I'm not sure they will go looking at a trade like that as they have the wing prospects coming. Silfverberg showed some of his worth tonight.

I honestly don't have anything bad to say about any player tonight or in this series and I am not sure that anyone should, really. They gave it their all. The Rangers just play an annoying defensive style that won't work against the better teams with more experience.

Super disappointed with Spezza, won't lie. For a guy that says all the right things and wants to be the captain he hasn't shown a thing to warrent that kind of praise. Everyone should know exactly what he is at this point, this series proved it.

I agree the Rangers play a frustrating defensive game, but seriously, I haven't seen Spezza and Michalek do Dung on the power play for 7 games, thats unacceptable.

NEELY wrote:
Super disappointed with Spezza, won't lie. For a guy that says all the right things and wants to be the captain he hasn't shown a thing to warrent that kind of praise. Everyone should know exactly what he is at this point, this series proved it.

I think MacLean will turn him around, he started regressing to his old habits in the playoffs, was far better in the season.

Hard to be effective when he's being shadowed the entire series. We need more offensive depth, it's too easy to shut us down.

Doan won't be going far from Pheonix. If they move expect a move to Dallas or LA, something along those line. Maybe Nashville.

Hoags wrote:

NEELY wrote:
Super disappointed with Spezza, won't lie. For a guy that says all the right things and wants to be the captain he hasn't shown a thing to warrent that kind of praise. Everyone should know exactly what he is at this point, this series proved it.

I think MacLean will turn him around, he started regressing to his old habits in the playoffs, was far better in the season.

Hard to be effective when he's being shadowed the entire series. We need more offensive depth, it's too easy to shut us down.

Wasn't covered on the PP and MacLean even took him off it in game 6. Spezza is what he is and he won't be getting another coach in Ottawa.

Still can't win a game 7 or overcome a 2-1 series deficit. As a sens fan, this stat has gotten extremely annoying 20 years later....

Great season for the boys. Too heart broken to disect this loss at the moment

NEELY wrote:
Wasn't covered on the PP and MacLean even took him off it in game 6. Spezza is what he is and he won't be getting another coach in Ottawa.

Our PP sucked, everyone on it was pretty much awful.

Spezza is paid to be the guy to make it work. Like it or not, that's his job.

Big Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Hoags wrote:

NEELY wrote:
Super disappointed with Spezza, won't lie. For a guy that says all the right things and wants to be the captain he hasn't shown a thing to warrent that kind of praise. Everyone should know exactly what he is at this point, this series proved it.

I think MacLean will turn him around, he started regressing to his old habits in the playoffs, was far better in the season.

Hard to be effective when he's being shadowed the entire series. We need more offensive depth, it's too easy to shut us down.

Wasn't covered on the PP and MacLean even took him off it in game 6. Spezza is what he is and he won't be getting another coach in Ottawa.

The whole line was taken off in Game 6.

Fair enough but fact of the matter is the teams highest paid player and "future leader" was part of it. 39 year old Alfi with a concussion I have a tough time blamming. Michalek and Spezza though, tons of blame.

NEELY wrote:Spezza is paid to be the guy to make it work. Like it or not, that's his job.

How is he supposed to make it work? The Rangers D and PK unit are pretty much flawless, I can't recall too many mistakes they made but I recall too many shots that didn't deflect off a player or a stick. And then there's Lundqvist.

It's a team sport, as someone pointed out Gaborik was invisible for the Rangers as well. We didn't have enough offensively talented players in our lineup, if we had more beyond Spezza, Alfie, Michalek and Karlsson it'd be different.

We saw brief flashes of it with Silfverberg tonight.

Im not putting it all on Spezza but he didn't compete. No one in the right mind would say he did. People had him picked as the captain after Alfi but guess what? This proved he can't be.

wprager wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Don't know if we can survive without getting a top line winger.

Love this team though, beautiful effort. Next year should be exciting.

Silfverberg showed some Alfieness on that one shift.

Stone needs to work on his skating but he's got size, soft hands and quick shot. He's the classic power forward that we *almost* had with Heatley (he had size but let his shot do all the work and rarely his feet). Noesen, too. Future's so bright I have to wear shades

Future's great in terms of Stone, Silfverberg, Zibanejad, Noesen - the 4 of which I'm convinced will have an impact soon on this team, some of them even as soon as next year. That said, I'd rather leave Stone or Z-Bad in the AHL all year, get a top line F somewhere and replace Alfie with Stone/Zibanejad year after next. Not sure where this top line F comes from though - everyone wants one.

We saw this series that while we have a top 4 that's pretty much as good as anyones in Spezza, Alfie, Michalek, Turris, we could sure use a top line LW for Spezza who clearly can't fight through that kind of checking and for Turris who's just starting to look like he could bring some consistency to the table in the 2C slot next year. One of those will be Silfverberg, who will the other be?...

PS, for 9 minutes, Silfverberg was a very strong player tonight. Bodes well for next year. That's in a Game 7 to boot, he'll have a nice summer now where he can prepare and a nice rookie tourney and a pre-season to get ready. He'll be a lot of fun to watch IMO.