Jan Levine: Rangers win wild/thrilling game at MSG 5-4 on Lafreniere's overtime goal First game after break ends in victory

From the last blog:

Hate him.

He's reckless more often than not and hurts people. That and I don't find him to be a particularly effective defenseman.

Kind of like a modern Dion Phaneuf but without the slapper, and I think he's going to age the same way.
- BINGO!

Fair enough. Though I would argue that some of his "victims" need to do a better job of not putting themselves in that position. When he's out there your head needs to be on a swivel. There was nothing wrong with either of his hits last night but he was forced to fight for both of them. I wonder if that is just how other players are going to react to him now for everything.

He's their primary penalty killer, hitter, shot blocker

he's kind of taken over the role that Dan Girardi had for the team in front of Lundqvist
- jimbro83


And he is a real deterrent from teams taking liberty against our top players. We don't need a goon line Reaves who play 5 mins a night and adds nothing. Trouba shows other teams that there are real consequences. Just my take on how important he is - Charts are just not the whole picture for guys like Trouba.

Bingo: Appears Chytil is better than he was when he was 21 - what gives- getting better at age 24 and not washed up?

From the last blog:





Fair enough. Though I would argue that some of his "victims" need to do a better job of not putting themselves in that position. When he's out there your head needs to be on a swivel. There was nothing wrong with either of his hits last night but he was forced to fight for both of them. I wonder if that is just how other players are going to react to him now for everything.
- JRR1285

Reminds me of Scott Stevens without being a headhunter. Teams have to know when he's on the ice and keep your head up like with Stevens.

He's their primary penalty killer, hitter, shot blocker

he's kind of taken over the role that Dan Girardi had for the team in front of Lundqvist
- jimbro83


And he is a real deterrent from teams taking liberty against our top players. We don't need a goon line Reaves who play 5 mins a night and adds nothing. Trouba shows other teams that there are real consequences. Just my take on how important he is - Charts are just not the whole picture for guys like Trouba.

Bingo: Appears Chytil is better than he was when he was 21 - what gives- getting better at age 24 and not washed up?

- Greschnergy#4

I'm fine with Trouba's role, he doesn't provide enough offense to make his contract worth it, but that's not important right now, thats an offseason subject

I'm fine with Trouba's role, he doesn't provide enough offense to make his contract worth it, but that's not important right now, thats an offseason subject
- jimbro83

That's pretty much it perfectly. Though I do think he is capable of more offensively. He's already shown that he can do so.

All three hits, Troubas 2 and Blais were text book clean hits. Awesome to see. People are getting so used to seeing almost no physicality in hockey anymore, they complain about clean hits.

Reminds me of Scott Stevens without being a headhunter. Teams have to know when he's on the ice and keep your head up like with Stevens.
- Fenrir

I do think Trouba is trying to get in their heads and "hurt" them. What I mean by that is Stevens seemed to relish knocking a player out of the game and causing a serious injury. That isn't Trouba at all, at least not how I see it.

All three hits, Troubas 2 and Blais were text book clean hits. Awesome to see. People are getting so used to seeing almost no physicality in hockey anymore, they complain about clean hits.
- mdw7413

I agree but I think the time is coming where they will need to decide how to mitigate head injuries. Football and Hockey are at a crossroads.

Reminds me of Scott Stevens without being a headhunter. Teams have to know when he's on the ice and keep your head up like with Stevens.
- Fenrir

I'll never understand the hit Kariya. Like that was penalty then too.

From the last blog:





Fair enough. Though I would argue that some of his "victims" need to do a better job of not putting themselves in that position. When he's out there your head needs to be on a swivel. There was nothing wrong with either of his hits last night but he was forced to fight for both of them. I wonder if that is just how other players are going to react to him now for everything.
- JRR1285

I will add in trouba doesn't loom to fight, Phaneuf did. Plus, he purposely put himself out of position on his hits. Trouba lacks high end speed, so when he goes for the hit, he can end up out of position. If he isn't text book in how plays an angle, he gets beat wide. But he is a deterrent and can chance a game and series with his hitting. Plus he has shown he is a leader.

I'll never understand the hit Kariya. Like that was penalty then too.
- tomburton99

As a Kariya fan, please don't remind me. Don't forget hits on Lindros and Kozlov

I agree but I think the time is coming where they will need to decide how to mitigate head injuries. Football and Hockey are at a crossroads.
- JRR1285

No hitting is the only option. Because it's the repeated whiplash action that really is the onset to CTE.

I'll never understand the hit Kariya. Like that was penalty then too.
- tomburton99

An atrocious hit. The Lindros one too. Not to victim blame some more, but Lindros did himself no favors by always looking down.

As a Kariya fan, please don't remind me. Don't forget hits on Lindros and Kozlov
- airjan23

Those were bot hlegal then. Like they were poop hits. but with in the rules at the time. The Kariya hit was interfence then and now.

I agree but I think the time is coming where they will need to decide how to mitigate head injuries. Football and Hockey are at a crossroads.
- JRR1285

Well any deliberate shot to the head should be a serious fine and long suspension. Unfortunately there will always be concussion issues in any contact sport. The only way to mitigate it is better equipment and players being more aware who is on the ice.

Football I don't care about, they can all turn into drooling vegetables

No hitting is the only option. Because it's the repeated whiplash action that really is the onset to CTE.
- tomburton99

Football can't exist without it. Hockey would be a different sport altogether. Not sure where to go from here.

Well any deliberate shot to the head should be a serious fine and long suspension. Unfortunately there will always be concussion issues in any contact sport. The only way to mitigate it is better equipment and players being more aware who is on the ice.

Football I don't care about, they can all turn into drooling vegetables
- mdw7413

Equipment can do only so much. Unless you immobilize the head (still not 100% because the brain can still hit the inside of the skull) this is going to be a risk.

Football can't exist without it. Hockey would be a different sport altogether. Not sure where to go from here.
- JRR1285

If hockey turned into a non contact sport if would fold up in the first season

Football can't exist without it. Hockey would be a different sport altogether. Not sure where to go from here.
- JRR1285

I'm not saying I wan that, but logically you just have to remove the repeated act of violent hitting. I don't see how you eliminate the brain injuries without that.

I will add in trouba doesn't loom to fight, Phaneuf did. Plus, he purposely put himself out of position on his hits. Trouba lacks high end speed, so when he goes for the hit, he can end up out of position. If he isn't text book in how plays an angle, he gets beat wide. But he is a deterrent and can chance a game and series with his hitting. Plus he has shown he is a leader.
- airjan23

Rangers are 17-4-3 since Trouba threw the helmet and challenged his team. Coincidence? I don't think so....

Scott Stevens was a psychopath who enjoyed seriously injuring people. That was his whole schtick. I don’t need a rule or law to know I don’t want to scramble everyone’s brains

Football can't exist without it. Hockey would be a different sport altogether. Not sure where to go from here.
- JRR1285

Overall, the data showed that the three sports with the highest concussion rates are: men's soccer, with 10.4 concussions per 10,000 exposed athletes. Women's soccer suspended at 8.19 per 10,000 athletes. Men's hockey at 7.69 per 10,000 athletes.

Scott Stevens was a psychopath who enjoyed seriously injuring people. That was his whole schtick. I don’t need a rule or law to know I don’t want to scramble everyone’s brains
- picklerick

I would love to head shot everyone on this blog except Jan.

As a Kariya fan, please don't remind me. Don't forget hits on Lindros and Kozlov
- airjan23

I was 5 rows off the glass that side and to see him skate at the TV timeout was nuts... To see and surf with him occasionally now is really nice that he had no long term effects from it..

The way worse cheap shot was the one he took from that Scumbag Suter.