the rangers are better because they have made it to the playoffs 7 of the past 8 years and have made it out of the 1st round 4 of those 8 years including a run to the ECF one of those years.

the islanders have only made it to the playoffs 1 time in the last 6 years, and that 1 appearance was in a lockout shortened season when they got bounced in the 1st round.

after this season, it will be 1 playoff berth in the past 7 years and for the rangers, it could be 8 playoff berths int he past 9 years.

so for those reasons, the rangers are clearly better than the islanders.
- rangerdanger94

No one cares about playoff appearances that don't result in Cups. For 1 4-year stretch, the Flyers had the most playoff wins in the NHL. Did anyone care? No. Making the playoffs and winning a round or 2 equates to a footnote on the season at best. If I had to pick which team to be the GM of, I'd pick the Islanders actually, because they have the best amount of assets to build with. The Rangers (in my opinion) are in a holding pattern where they'll be good every year, but never good enough to win a Cup.

Im not at all familiar with him, I'd be willing to swap grigorenko for him though if you really wanted him out.
- jaumiller

SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!!! no way...


I'd take Grabner in a heartbeat for Stafford and a 2nd though.

not exactly "breaking" as everyone on earth knew he wanted to be reunited w/ his best friend in minn......isles should get a nice return from the penguins or kings for him

No one cares about playoff appearances that don't result in Cups. For 1 4-year stretch, the Flyers had the most playoff wins in the NHL. Did anyone care? No. Making the playoffs and winning a round or 2 equates to a footnote on the season at best. If I had to pick which team to be the GM of, I'd pick the Islanders actually, because they have the best amount of assets to build with. The Rangers (in my opinion) are in a holding pattern where they'll be good every year, but never good enough to win a Cup.
- jmatchett383

haha if the flyers missed the playoffs for 6 straight years, i bet my life's savings you guys will care about playoff appearances. anyone who says they'd rather not be in the playoffs than make it and not win the cup is lying.

i dont' think so......even if we could sign him

i wouldn't trade a 19 year old ceci or 20 year old zibby STRAIGHT UP for vanek, signed or not.

not saying they're better players right now, but vanek is 30 and will start to regress soon (if he hasn't already), while ceci and zibby have barely started to develop.

i'd gladly move some of our other prospects/players (wiercioch, prince, puempel, stone, etc) but would the isles have any interest....especially since ottawa doesn't have a 1st to add to the deal?

i think other teams could make better offers
- sensarmy_11

Hell no ,you are probably right ,but this is exactly the type of winger we need badly .Conacher and Michalek have killed more offense than they have created they need to just go

No one cares about playoff appearances that don't result in Cups. For 1 4-year stretch, the Flyers had the most playoff wins in the NHL. Did anyone care? No. Making the playoffs and winning a round or 2 equates to a footnote on the season at best. If I had to pick which team to be the GM of, I'd pick the Islanders actually, because they have the best amount of assets to build with. The Rangers (in my opinion) are in a holding pattern where they'll be good every year, but never good enough to win a Cup.
- jmatchett383

I will say last year was the first time in years the Isles went into a playoff series and actually had a reasonably good chance to win it, despite shaky goaltending. I enjoyed it, was hoping they'd take a step forward, but they've dropped back in a big way.

I believe the majority of it is due to our coach having no system and no capability of running an NHL bench, with an almost equal fault to the GM for not bringing in more talent early in the season when it was obvious we lacked depth and started to lose players to injuries.

End result, last year was last year.

He's just trolling, I'm done responding to him because he's ducking my responses and playing the same tune every post.

Hell no ,you are probably right ,but this is exactly the type of winger we need badly .Conacher and Michalek have killed more offense than they have created they need to just go
- top shelf 15

MacArthur has been a bright spot for you guys though..


Michalek's knees are just gone.. there is nothing there any more.

haha if the flyers missed the playoffs for 6 straight years, i bet my life's savings you guys will care about playoff appearances. anyone who says they'd rather not be in the playoffs than make it and not win the cup is lying.
- rangerdanger94

Would I rather them make it then not? Absolutely. 2 years down the line, I don't care if they lost int he 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or SCF. If they don't win the Cup, the season was not a success. That's all that matters.

What happened there, i was all of the Sabres trading for him, i was hoping he would have been part of the Vanek deal.

Is it just a case of bad fit in an organization, with no real spot to use him? Or is it he is just not good?
- ImThatGuy

He has skill. IMO he doesn't have the determination needed to succeed at the NHL level. It often looks like he's coasting around. When he does get the puck he over thinks it. He tries fancy low percentage passes. They're great the few times he threads the needle, but most result in a turnover. He doesn't dig in the corners. Basically he's just invisible for weeks at a time.

Im not at all familiar with him, I'd be willing to swap grigorenko for him though if you really wanted him out.
- jaumiller

done!

I will say last year was the first time in years the Isles went into a playoff series and actually had a reasonably good chance to win it, despite shaky goaltending. I enjoyed it, was hoping they'd take a step forward, but they've dropped back in a big way.

I believe the majority of it is due to our coach having no system and no capability of running an NHL bench, with an almost equal fault to the GM for not bringing in more talent early in the season when it was obvious we lacked depth and started to lose players to injuries.

End result, last year was last year.

He's just trolling, I'm done responding to him because he's ducking my responses and playing the same tune every post.
- Isles_since_6

i'm not ducking you responses purposely, there are just a lot of people to respond to and i originally started this discussion with that flyers fan and that other isles fan i keep responding to.

SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!!! no way...


I'd take Grabner in a heartbeat for Stafford and a 2nd though.
- JVince11

Id rather get rid of Leino first then stafford. Staff has actually scored this season.

haha if the flyers missed the playoffs for 6 straight years, i bet my life's savings you guys will care about playoff appearances. anyone who says they'd rather not be in the playoffs than make it and not win the cup is lying.
- rangerdanger94

why is this conversation happening??

Wang could have stepped in to replace the GM. Owner always has to take more heat since the Owner does not report to the GM.
- ses111

Wang has no business making hockey related decisions. None. despite what you may think abut Snow, there is absolutely no circumstance by which this organization would be better off with Wang stepping in to make hockey-related decisions for Snow. I don't care if he's the owner. Wang is there to set the budget, get the arena situation resolved (done) and cheer from the press box. That's it.

This is a significant set back. It's not that Thomas Vanek is Mike Bossy re-born, but it's another player turning down isles dollars to go somewhere else. It had happened a lot since 2006/07. The stories (rumors, albeit) of guys like Smyth, Hamhuis, P. Martin, Gomez (thank God) and others shunning the isles in free agency for the past 7 years has been demoralizing. No premier player in their prime entering UFA re-signs here or comes here in free agency.

Yes, we can flip Vanek for a decent haul and yes, it's not impossible that he'll re-sign with the isles in July if the Minny thing doesn't work out, but the odds of that happening are as long as the Titanic re-surfacing and sailing to Manhattan.

I'm beginning to hate even looking at these threads...they all become a pissing contest for Rangers fans.

MacArthur has been a bright spot for you guys though..


Michalek's knees are just gone.. there is nothing there any more.
- JVince11

Yep he was a good player ,but he is just a shell now.I like our team i think with another top notch winger ,for zibby not spezza .We can do some damage ,but i dont think its gonna happen this season anyhow

i'm not ducking you responses purposely, there are just a lot of people to respond to and i originally started this discussion with that flyers fan and that other isles fan i keep responding to.
- rangerdanger94

I'm done responding. It's getting way too repetitive.

Wang has no business making hockey related decisions. None. despite what you may think abut Snow, there is absolutely no circumstance by which this organization would be better off with Wang stepping in to make hockey-related decisions for Snow. I don't care if he's the owner. Wang is there to set the budget, get the arena situation resolved (done) and cheer from the press box. That's it.

This is a significant set back. It's not that Thomas Vanek is Mike Bossy re-born, but it's another player turning down isles dollars to go somewhere else. It had happened a lot since 2006/07. The stories (rumors, albeit) of guys like Smyth, Hamhuis, P. Martin, Gomez (thank God) and others shunning the isles in free agency for the past 7 years has been demoralizing. No premier player in their prime entering UFA re-signs here or comes here in free agency.

Yes, we can flip Vanek for a decent haul and yes, it's not impossible that he'll re-sign with the isles in July if the Minny thing doesn't work out, but the odds of that happening are as long as the Titanic re-surfacing and sailing to Manhattan.
- Jethro09

I do not want Wang making hockey decisions. I want him to hire the right GM and then stay the fck out of the way. I doubt Paul Allen is picking players for Seattle.

He has skill. IMO he doesn't have the determination needed to succeed at the NHL level. It often looks like he's coasting around. When he does get the puck he over thinks it. He tries fancy low percentage passes. They're great the few times he threads the needle, but most result in a turnover. He doesn't dig in the corners. Basically he's just invisible for weeks at a time.
- JimmyP

God it sounds just like grigorenko.

MacArthur has been a bright spot for you guys though..


Michalek's knees are just gone.. there is nothing there any more.
- JVince11

not necessarily....he's not as fast as he was in his younger days, but he's started getting his legs back.

the problem with michalek is finding chemistry with someone on this team....he had it with spezza before, but it seems to have disappeared.

he looked really good for the 2 weeks or so that he was playing with zibanejad.....almost rejuvinated.

like i said, not as fast as he used to be (but he used to be one of the faster players in the league) but still pretty fast.

you serious, Clark?

You guys are in for a world of hurt... with Buf already having retained part of his salary.. NYI cannot retain any more to make him fit into another team's salary cap... I don't know who would be willing to trade assets for a stubborn player who has turned down to Max offers...
- JVince11

A team who wants him as a rental to make a cup run. There are a handful of those teams out there they need scoring that would part with a good package to rent Vanek. Look at the going rates for rentals the past few years and you can see why it's not ridiculous that the isles will get back a good package. Maybe not great, but good.

I'm done responding. It's getting way too repetitive.
- NYI44

we all know if Vanek had signed he would have been in here trolling that whatever it was, it was too much money. Regardless of the situation, he's just here to troll.

not necessarily....he's not as fast as he was in his younger days, but he's started getting his legs back.

the problem with michalek is finding chemistry with someone on this team....he had it with spezza before, but it seems to have disappeared.

he looked really good for the 2 weeks or so that he was playing with zibanejad.....almost rejuvinated.

like i said, not as fast as he used to be (but he used to be one of the faster players in the league) but still pretty fast.
- sensarmy_11

This is the center we need to find a good top 6 winger for imho ,not spezza.

we all know if Vanek had signed he would have been in here trolling that whatever it was, it was too much money. Regardless of the situation, he's just here to troll.
- Isles_since_6

If Vanek signs, he's in here saying Vanek's overrated and it was a terrible contract. This is what we're seeing now that Vanek's not signing.

what do the isles need (organizational holes) and what would be a fair return for vanek?