In 2011 and 2012, I presented the Rangers and the Cap where you help decide should he stay or should he go. It was called the "Clash Edition", with slight modification and change of the pronoun from I to He, or for those who remember Monday Night Baseball/Football, the "IBM Presents, You Make the Call."
In each of those blogs, I presented a player, include his contract and status, either RFA, UFA, or signed, if signed, year's remaining, buyout hit, pros and cons and then odds on returning and throw it to you for your view and comments. In addition, in 2012, I gave a letter grade for their performance for the year, mainly concentrating on the regular season, with a move up or down a full or partial grade influenced by the player's post-season performance. Plus, I gave my view as to what role the player could fill next year.
In 2012, I went alphabetically, and as opposed 2011, where I mainly concentrated on the RFAs and UFAs and included players that many of us thought could be moved even if under contract, I hit on each player on the roster. We all know that to make these decisions, you can't operate in a vacuum and that one decision impacts several others. Plus, it's also impacted by how much the cap rises.
As part of those blogs, I asked each of you to provide your comments as to if you think a player will be back and why rather just a yes or no. In addition, some blogs had one player, especially if it was a key player, while others have several for bit players.
For the last two years, I went away from the Clash Edition to the 20+ offseason questions. While there was some similarity between the blogs, as salary and contract status were components of the answers, the question blogs didn't have a grade for each player nor was the entire roster covered. In 2013 and 2014, some of the questions were similar and I expect the same this year.
With that lead in, my questions to you are: 1) Would you prefer the Clash Edition of the 20+ offseason questions? 2) Regardless of which, what info would you like to see in the blogs that covered either one?
View this blog as almost, "Choose your Own Adventure," as your opinions will helps drive what's covered. In addition, i had asked this before but only got one response, so I am asking again. Please let me know which questions you would like covered. To get us started, here are five, maybe not the top-five, but five out of what would be the 20+ to be asked.
1. How good can Chris Kreider be and did he show enough this postseason to remove some of the questions related to his "defensive and hockey intelligence limitations" so he that he can attain true sniper status? 2. Will/should Rick Nash be traded and if so, who would you like to be brought back? 3. Do the Rangers have enough to win the Stanley Cup, even with making the right moves this offseason? 4. Must the Rangers find a physical forward and defenseman in order to take that next step or is something else missing? 5. Would you deal Cam Talbot, given the cap constraints and need to replenish the system, knowing there is no true back up goalie that can play 20-25 games behind Henrik Lundqvist in the organization?
If we go the top-20+ questions, the rules are simple. Each blog is usually limited to that question and as such, the comments on the blog should be limited to that question and not a different one from the list.
Let me know your questions and I will get a top-20+ list out with the first one answered in the next blog.