Happy Friday, BSB’ers! The preseason is officially over and we are only five days away from the 2015-2016 opener in Chicago. There are still some cuts looming and possibly a roster move or two. Naturally, I have some thoughts…
1. The more I think about the concept, the more I like the idea of eight defenseman. The Rangers have a pretty diverse skill set amongst their backliners, so I think using some sort of rotation to keep certain guys (Boyle, Girardi) fresh and to take advantage of matchups is a good idea.
2. Kevin Klein is a difficult call for me. On one hand, he is overpriced for his place on this roster. I think he is a bargain for teams of lesser defensive depth, but he is a luxury for us. His presence makes for waiver exposure to cost-effective guys that are useful to the roster.
Klein is also a pretty solid player. Depth is good. Over the course of the season, a defenseman or two is going to get hurt. Having a third pairing guy that you are confident can eat top-4 minutes is not easy to find in this league.
Alternatively, I think the way the organization has handled Klein is poor asset management. I am very confident that he will never have a season as good as last year. His offensive peripherals were completely unsustainable. Moving him when his value is highest, especially when he is surplus to requirements, was the prudent decision. The window still exists to move him, but you have to think that the return would be less exciting than it would have been at the Draft, which begs the questions of whether the depth is superior to the return, at this point.
3. Jarrett Stoll hasn’t really shown a whole lot, but he can be the 13th forward. Obviously, my preference is to trade (ha!) or demote (much more likely) Tanner Glass. Stoll has some value in his skillset; he can win face-offs, kill some penalties, add size, you know, all those things Glass was brought in to do (face-offs notwithstanding).
4. There has been an oddly intense amount of talk about Emerson Etem’s security on the roster lately. I’m going to echo Dave on the fact that there is absolutely no way Etem does not make the club. He won’t clear waivers due to his upside and salary. Plus, the organization clearly likes the guy, or they wouldn’t have traded Hagelin straight up for him.
I also agree that if you give him sheltered third line minutes (like, 65% OZ starts) with Hayes and Stalberg, he will be fine.
Where I disagree is with his long-term value. I could be gun shy, but I see a lot of Frolov/Zherdev in Etem. The guy clearly has all the physical talent in the world, but the decisions he makes on the ice are curious at best and mind-boggling at worst. Hockey IQ is very difficult to teach, and if Etem wants to be anything more than a one-dimensional dangler/sniper, this is when he needs to commit to making his game more dynamic.
5. I know that Oscar Lindberg should be a lock for this roster. The question is, does he have enough offensive upside to anchor 3C at this stage of his development? If he does, you could move Hayes into the top-6 at wing, which is think is your best case scenario. I love JT Miller, and I think he can be a star. Right now, though, Hayes is the better player and I think he could make that second line extremely difficult to play against.
6. I like what I’ve seen out of Viktor Stalberg thus far. I think he will end up being a quality addition.
7. I think Raanta will be a very capable fill-in for Hank, as well. He has a ton of athleticism, and I think Allaire can do a lot with this foundation.
8. Tough draw facing the defending Champs on opening night. Hopefully, the core group can help the transition for the new guys into AV’s system to try and avoid a slow start.
Hockey is officially back, now the waiting game begins….
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