Both teams still do have plenty of question marks, but my biggest thing is where their best players are right now. Obviously the kids can take a step back, as seen here. I think a lot for us rides in Morgan Frost , unfortunate injury this year, but none of these young kids really have that It factor. Farabee has had a nice season but he is still pushed around too often, he’s got a small frame, he’s a nice complementary piece but he’s never going to be the guy.
- ClaudeFather

Fox isn't exactly a big guy, but he's a sure thing

Not even referring to the Flyers. Just speaking in general about how the long-term reality of "just wait til all these talented young kids mature" often ends up playing out. The Rangers' forward group is formidable, as you note. The blueline? We'll see.

Fox is the real deal and looks like he'll be a star for many years. K'Andre Miller? Maybe he approaches his (very high) ceiling. Maybe he doesn't. Jacob Trouba is certainly a solid two-way D man and is in his prime. But is he truly an $8M a year, NMC, 7-year contract worthy defensemen? How much impact in the NHL will Zac Jones ultimately make?

Will Shesterkin approach the heights of Henrik Lundqvist? The talent is there but he's still pretty young.

The Rangers have a whole lot of potential. But I've seen this script in a lot of franchises over the years. There are still more steps to be taken for them to vault to being a Cup contender, and those steps get harder and harder to make (especially in a flat cap period) as players get in line for raises and tough decisions have to be made.

Over here, the Flyers used their first pick of the draft four times in seven drafts -- plus three second-round picks -- on defensemen. That's fine but none have become Fox-level players (and he was a third-round pick by Calgary, whose rights were traded twice). Provorov has come the closest. That would OK, too, if Nolan Patrick in particular had been making the hoped-for impact by this point or if Morgan Frost hadn't been lost for the season and had taken a year-two jump in consistency along similar lines to Farabee.
- bmeltzer

so you mean one good year doesn't mean every year gets better? Only the Flyers progress one year and then fall back? The picks they spent on their D, those picks are in the prime and are what they are? The Rangers will have higher expectation next year, like the Flyers this year, higher expectations will have no impact on those young kids on the Rangers?

Pp needs a change, I’d like to work it low to start with a cycle between TK and G, similar to what panarin and I want to say Zibenajad run at times. I’ve advocated for this a couple years back when backstrom and kusnetsov were running it for the caps. At least you mix it in to show a different look and it forces at least two players two move rather than the stagnant PP we have now.

Myers has turned into a huge question mark, certain plays he makes are highly questionable.
-ClaudeFather

Or you can just say Myers Sucks with a capital 'S'! Even last night bac in the lineup, I thought he was pretty bad and I would rather see Morin in there.

Not even referring to the Flyers. Just speaking in general about how the long-term reality of "just wait til all these talented young kids mature" often ends up playing out. The Rangers' forward group is formidable, as you note. The blueline? We'll see.

Fox is the real deal and looks like he'll be a star for many years. K'Andre Miller? Maybe he approaches his (very high) ceiling. Maybe he doesn't. Jacob Trouba is certainly a solid two-way D man and is in his prime. But is he truly an $8M a year, NMC, 7-year contract worthy defensemen? How much impact in the NHL will Zac Jones ultimately make?

Will Shesterkin approach the heights of Henrik Lundqvist? The talent is there but he's still pretty young.

The Rangers have a whole lot of potential. But I've seen this script in a lot of franchises over the years. There are still more steps to be taken for them to vault to being a Cup contender, and those steps get harder and harder to make (especially in a flat cap period) as players get in line for raises and tough decisions have to be made.

Over here, the Flyers used their first pick of the draft four times in seven drafts -- plus three second-round picks -- on defensemen. That's fine but none have become Fox-level players (and he was a third-round pick by Calgary, whose rights were traded twice). Provorov has come the closest. That would OK, too, if Nolan Patrick in particular had been making the hoped-for impact by this point or if Morgan Frost hadn't been lost for the season and had taken a year-two jump in consistency along similar lines to Farabee.
- bmeltzer

Good points, and this is exactly why you can't only draft and develop your way to a cup. You have look at your pool of young players and make a decision on which ones you think can develop and which ones you need to use in trade to augment your team right now and accelerate the build. You are not always going to be right, as you mentioned Fox's rights were traded away twice, but you have to do the best you can given the information you have. That is why IMO waiting for players like Sanheim or Myers to magically turn into legitimate top 4 defenseman makes no sense while you see young players like Fox, or Cale Makar making impacts on D almost right away. Thus you need to trade potential for actual and as you state augment your roster with good players with NHL experience.

Or you can just say Myers Sucks with a capital 'S'! Even last night bac in the lineup, I thought he was pretty bad and I would rather see Morin in there.
- jd250

Maybe we are starting to see why he went undrafted in the first place.

i don't know if it's because they are young or just permanently undersized but I did not love watching Farabee and TK get manhandled all night. If these are our young elite forwards we are in trouble.

I'm certainly not going to say you're wrong, Bill. You are simply saying nothing is guaranteed and that is 100% correct.
That being said, I LOVE where we are right now! We are not Cup contenders, as we have shown against the stronger clubs (except Wash. we've done well with them). But this is about 92% of the roster of the future and they are going to play and grow together for a long time.(
- Tonybere

Tbh, if this is 92% of the future, I am going to piss on your projected future coronation a little.

1. Are you happy with Mike Z and Strome as your 1-2 down the middle? Strome is having a great year, but isn't part of that because Panarin has been on his wing? And Mike Z, almost half his points have been against Flyers and Devils (teams ranked below you). Are you sure he is a 1C for a contending club?

2. Panarin turns 30 in a few months. Your young 'uns (Kakko, Alex, Miller, Fox) will hit RFA status within 2-3 years. After that they will all likely get big raises. There might be some risk that the window of development for the kids may not coincide with the time before some of them become unaffordable, and before Panarin starts to decline a little.

Thats all I got. I will not disagree your future is much brighter than us.