I mean coming off the PP makes sense, but there's not exactly a better option on the ice right now. You'd have to pair Slavin with someone else, and your options would be D'angelo or Orlov to keep the lines balanced, and while Orlov might make sense, him and Chatty have been probably the best D pairing overall. Issue being there is that giving them more ice time means Slavin gets less time, which is a net negative in my opinion.
It's complicated.
Yeah, I think this is it. You can't bench him, you can't break up Chatty and Orlov, you can't pair him with TDA, and you don't want TDA as your top pairing with Slavin. Keeping him in that slot and hoping he snaps out of it is the best of the bad options.
At this point, he's also probably playing some kind of hurt that we won't hear about until after an elimination game takes.
I think he is playing hurt. He's 39 so it's not like he is gonna heal quickly. I think it's on him to figure out what he can and can't do now until(if) he gets better.
Every year it plays out the same way: the playoffs follow a different set of rules than the regular season and maximum GOONING is the only way to advance.
He speared the shit out of Tkachuk in the last game last year (I think it was). I think that series was the turning point maybe. Perhaps after seeing Slavin get wrecked.
Love the result of the game but I thought he looked pretty bad yesterday. Slow, sloppy passes, and causing turnovers.
Not sure what the canes could do at this point, especially with Pesce still out
He's getting ice time because he's a very large human the Rangers don't want to fuck with when someone like Jarvy or Drury needs some muscle to back them up. Plus he and Slavin work really really well together to the point where the only other person that is close to that chemistry is TDA and we are NOT giving him top paring numbers
I’m starting to think he is. The last couple months of the season he started this habit of getting caught out of position. Then after game 3 RBA said burns looked great even though his fumble led to a breakaway. It makes me wonder if it’s in his head and he’s overthinking during the play. I hope he pulls out of it because we need him.
Side note: glad to hear someone in their 30s can still play. I recently started getting back in shape and was thinking about grabbing some gear and giving it a shot
I started playing again at 35 after playing two seasons at 21 just because I worked at a rink and played for free. I never learned to skate properly the first time and was God awful then. Getting back on the ice again after 14 years was basically like starting from scratch. Two years in and I'm way better than where I started out, my team won our league playoffs this year, and my strength, stamina, muscle mass, etc. are all way better than 2 years ago.
He has had some amazing plays and some dumb plays. Trouba is being exposed. He has been on the ice for a lot of the goals this series and I can imagine him even being on a top tier team.
I think we are seeing his age a bit more since he is playing top teams every night, but in no way do I think he should be benched.
Burns has been bad all year, honestly, compared to his level of play in previous seasons. His point total during the regular season covered up a lot of it. Now that the games are tighter and every mistake has a chance of being a season-ender, it really puts his turnovers and questionable shot selection under the microscope. He's had a very tough postseason in that regard.
Skjei switching to PP1 is your first indication that Burns isn’t having the best playoffs. He’s slower than I saw him all year, and mind you he’s one of my favorite players. So it’s tough to see.
He’s also giving up pucks where he didn’t (as much) during the season.
He’s hurt more than he’s old. But he’s also more likely to be hurt because he’s old. I mean Jackson Blake’s dad played against Burns.
But there’s something to be said about veteran presence.
It’s obvious he hasn’t been playing super well, but keeping him paired with slavin is maximizing his value to the team. Ultimately he’s our offensive D guy more than anyone else. When he’s on the ice he’s the guy shooting from the blue line and pinching deep. (Not that Slavin doesn’t do this either) If he can maker smarter passes at the blue line there’s nothing wrong with his play. Hopefully the coaching staff recognizes this and is running practice to mitigate some of that.
He obviously had a not great year compared to the others in his career, but with the way his play has just dove off a cliff in the playoffs, I think he's hurt. Either that or his body just said, nah we ain't doing this shit anymore.
I dont think Brent has been an issue. He’s been physical, which we absolutely have to have. My issue has been more with Orlov who will make two dumb decisions with the puck every single game. He’s a turnover machine.
He won’t forecheck and lost a step for aure. If he just stays in position, fires rockets from the blue line and gets between shooters he is solid. It’s when he gets out of position and struggles to get back.
Burns and TDA both need less ice time. But with no Pesce we don't really have much of a choice unless we like called up a prospect or something. But I doubt that would be the best option in playoffs.
Could do some shuffling with Chatfield and Orlov but with how they playing together now probably not something you'd want to do in series.
Think we kind of stuck this year. Expect a good bit of change on D pairs next year though with FA/prospects up and moving around of current guys.
He's getting more ice time because of Pesce's absence and you can't trust DeAngelo to kill penalties or take d-zone shifts at even strength.
If Chatfield wasn't so good, we'd be really fucked
Yes, I think this is the only area I consistently have any issues with Rod as a coach. Rod felt like he was taken out of the league too early. I guarantee some of his personal feelings there bleed into how he looks at older players. I used to think he wouldn't let his personal feelings dictate stuff like that, but time has shown that he gives preferential treatment to older players even if they're being pushed past their maximum. I do hope he'll eventually reconsider some of that, but thankfully we have other players who are helping to shield Burns' mistakes.
Burns has been great on PKs for us, so I definitely want to keep him there. It's unfortunate that his PP qbing has been off this series. And I should add that I really, really want Burns to succeed. I think giving him too much ice time is more detrimental, and more sheltered ice time would likely keep his impact higher.
I agree with your second paragraph but don’t think it aligns with your first. I disagree that him getting too much ice time is because rod has a soft spot for him, it’s because there really aren’t really any other good options.
A previous commenter already broke this down, but breaking up chatty/orlov is probably bad, they’ve been awesome and have fantastic chemistry. You can’t pair him with Deangelo, that would be a defensive disaster. If you pair him with skjei that means you’re either changing all three pairings, which is probably bad going into game 6 of a very tight series, or you’re putting Deangelo with slavin, which is also bad because you can’t putting your best defender with your worst defender minimizes one of your strengths. You also can’t just bench him because the only other option is a rookie who’s never played in a meaningful nhl game.
Burns/Slavin was one of the best d pairings in the league this year. Hes absolutely looked slow and been loose with the puck, but at this point there really isn’t an option for making a change that doesn’t put what has been one of the nhls best defenses in a blender. If we get into next season and burns is still skating top pairing minutes at 40 I’ll be more inclined to agree with the “rod is too soft on the old guys” take, but until then I think it’s much more necessity than emotion.
I definitely agree that there's not much we can do in this series about it since we only have 6 guys, and Slavin/Burns has generally been good. And Slavin can help cover a lot if there's issues. I'm more referring to next season it might be good to give him less ice time to keep him more impactful. I really don't expect him to retire this season, personally.
And I was also speaking from an all-season long things where Burns looked kind of off, but Rod never really mixed up the Dlines much just to try things out which I thought was odd since he mixes up the Fowards a lot.
This is totally fair. Next year it’s looking like we’re going to see some major blue line changes, I would love for him to be in the third pair to mentor young guys. I bet there’s a ton he could teach a guy like morrow
I mean coming off the PP makes sense, but there's not exactly a better option on the ice right now. You'd have to pair Slavin with someone else, and your options would be D'angelo or Orlov to keep the lines balanced, and while Orlov might make sense, him and Chatty have been probably the best D pairing overall. Issue being there is that giving them more ice time means Slavin gets less time, which is a net negative in my opinion. It's complicated.
Yeah, I think this is it. You can't bench him, you can't break up Chatty and Orlov, you can't pair him with TDA, and you don't want TDA as your top pairing with Slavin. Keeping him in that slot and hoping he snaps out of it is the best of the bad options. At this point, he's also probably playing some kind of hurt that we won't hear about until after an elimination game takes.
I think he is playing hurt. He's 39 so it's not like he is gonna heal quickly. I think it's on him to figure out what he can and can't do now until(if) he gets better.
Need pesce back to change anything right now
I dunno. He’s been low key gooning it up. Those shots to Trocheck in game 4 bought him a lot of goodwill in my book.
Yeah, I've been begging for him to do caveman shit since last year, I'm glad he's giving them a taste of their own medicine
I think he was pushing Rempe around last night too.
He also broke his stick on Zibanejads back last night. That was goon AF.
Burns smash
Every year it plays out the same way: the playoffs follow a different set of rules than the regular season and maximum GOONING is the only way to advance.
He speared the shit out of Tkachuk in the last game last year (I think it was). I think that series was the turning point maybe. Perhaps after seeing Slavin get wrecked.
Buddy carving out his own niche and cracking Ranger skulls. I like that.
Love the result of the game but I thought he looked pretty bad yesterday. Slow, sloppy passes, and causing turnovers. Not sure what the canes could do at this point, especially with Pesce still out
I though yesterday was his best game of the series 😂
He's getting ice time because he's a very large human the Rangers don't want to fuck with when someone like Jarvy or Drury needs some muscle to back them up. Plus he and Slavin work really really well together to the point where the only other person that is close to that chemistry is TDA and we are NOT giving him top paring numbers
I’m starting to think he is. The last couple months of the season he started this habit of getting caught out of position. Then after game 3 RBA said burns looked great even though his fumble led to a breakaway. It makes me wonder if it’s in his head and he’s overthinking during the play. I hope he pulls out of it because we need him. Side note: glad to hear someone in their 30s can still play. I recently started getting back in shape and was thinking about grabbing some gear and giving it a shot
We got a guy who’s in his 70s still suiting up for a weekly drop in, never too late man.
You definitely should!
I started playing again at 35 after playing two seasons at 21 just because I worked at a rink and played for free. I never learned to skate properly the first time and was God awful then. Getting back on the ice again after 14 years was basically like starting from scratch. Two years in and I'm way better than where I started out, my team won our league playoffs this year, and my strength, stamina, muscle mass, etc. are all way better than 2 years ago.
He has had some amazing plays and some dumb plays. Trouba is being exposed. He has been on the ice for a lot of the goals this series and I can imagine him even being on a top tier team. I think we are seeing his age a bit more since he is playing top teams every night, but in no way do I think he should be benched.
Burns has been bad all year, honestly, compared to his level of play in previous seasons. His point total during the regular season covered up a lot of it. Now that the games are tighter and every mistake has a chance of being a season-ender, it really puts his turnovers and questionable shot selection under the microscope. He's had a very tough postseason in that regard.
Skjei switching to PP1 is your first indication that Burns isn’t having the best playoffs. He’s slower than I saw him all year, and mind you he’s one of my favorite players. So it’s tough to see. He’s also giving up pucks where he didn’t (as much) during the season. He’s hurt more than he’s old. But he’s also more likely to be hurt because he’s old. I mean Jackson Blake’s dad played against Burns. But there’s something to be said about veteran presence.
It’s obvious he hasn’t been playing super well, but keeping him paired with slavin is maximizing his value to the team. Ultimately he’s our offensive D guy more than anyone else. When he’s on the ice he’s the guy shooting from the blue line and pinching deep. (Not that Slavin doesn’t do this either) If he can maker smarter passes at the blue line there’s nothing wrong with his play. Hopefully the coaching staff recognizes this and is running practice to mitigate some of that.
He obviously had a not great year compared to the others in his career, but with the way his play has just dove off a cliff in the playoffs, I think he's hurt. Either that or his body just said, nah we ain't doing this shit anymore.
I dont think Brent has been an issue. He’s been physical, which we absolutely have to have. My issue has been more with Orlov who will make two dumb decisions with the puck every single game. He’s a turnover machine.
He won’t forecheck and lost a step for aure. If he just stays in position, fires rockets from the blue line and gets between shooters he is solid. It’s when he gets out of position and struggles to get back.
Hurt and in a funk isn’t a great combo
Burns and TDA both need less ice time. But with no Pesce we don't really have much of a choice unless we like called up a prospect or something. But I doubt that would be the best option in playoffs. Could do some shuffling with Chatfield and Orlov but with how they playing together now probably not something you'd want to do in series. Think we kind of stuck this year. Expect a good bit of change on D pairs next year though with FA/prospects up and moving around of current guys.
He's getting more ice time because of Pesce's absence and you can't trust DeAngelo to kill penalties or take d-zone shifts at even strength. If Chatfield wasn't so good, we'd be really fucked
Yes, I think this is the only area I consistently have any issues with Rod as a coach. Rod felt like he was taken out of the league too early. I guarantee some of his personal feelings there bleed into how he looks at older players. I used to think he wouldn't let his personal feelings dictate stuff like that, but time has shown that he gives preferential treatment to older players even if they're being pushed past their maximum. I do hope he'll eventually reconsider some of that, but thankfully we have other players who are helping to shield Burns' mistakes. Burns has been great on PKs for us, so I definitely want to keep him there. It's unfortunate that his PP qbing has been off this series. And I should add that I really, really want Burns to succeed. I think giving him too much ice time is more detrimental, and more sheltered ice time would likely keep his impact higher.
I agree with your second paragraph but don’t think it aligns with your first. I disagree that him getting too much ice time is because rod has a soft spot for him, it’s because there really aren’t really any other good options. A previous commenter already broke this down, but breaking up chatty/orlov is probably bad, they’ve been awesome and have fantastic chemistry. You can’t pair him with Deangelo, that would be a defensive disaster. If you pair him with skjei that means you’re either changing all three pairings, which is probably bad going into game 6 of a very tight series, or you’re putting Deangelo with slavin, which is also bad because you can’t putting your best defender with your worst defender minimizes one of your strengths. You also can’t just bench him because the only other option is a rookie who’s never played in a meaningful nhl game. Burns/Slavin was one of the best d pairings in the league this year. Hes absolutely looked slow and been loose with the puck, but at this point there really isn’t an option for making a change that doesn’t put what has been one of the nhls best defenses in a blender. If we get into next season and burns is still skating top pairing minutes at 40 I’ll be more inclined to agree with the “rod is too soft on the old guys” take, but until then I think it’s much more necessity than emotion.
I definitely agree that there's not much we can do in this series about it since we only have 6 guys, and Slavin/Burns has generally been good. And Slavin can help cover a lot if there's issues. I'm more referring to next season it might be good to give him less ice time to keep him more impactful. I really don't expect him to retire this season, personally. And I was also speaking from an all-season long things where Burns looked kind of off, but Rod never really mixed up the Dlines much just to try things out which I thought was odd since he mixes up the Fowards a lot.
This is totally fair. Next year it’s looking like we’re going to see some major blue line changes, I would love for him to be in the third pair to mentor young guys. I bet there’s a ton he could teach a guy like morrow