Thursday, March 4, 2010

Walking His Talk

When we did our interview with Chris Doyle we had this exchange:

PP: You are in 2nd among the prospects in scoring behind Ethan Werek with a chance to pass him.

CD: No I am going to be the leading scorer this season

With 23 points in 17 games, Chris Doyle (2008 5th) not only is the hottest scorer among New York Ranger prospects but he is also the leading scorer just as he said he would. Doyle has found himself new life as a player with the Victoriaville Tigres and the Tigre version of Chris Doyle is doing a great job of silencing his critics.

The game was supposed to be Ryan Bourque (2009 3rd) and his Quebec Remparts against Doyle and the Tigre but Bourque sat this one out recovering from his neck injury. The matchup would have been fun to watch as Bourque might have been the one to try to stop Doyle.

It still was an interesting game as Quebec came back from down 4-2 in the 3rd period to earn a win via the shootout 5-4 as the Tigre will look back at this one and have plenty of regret. From jumping out to a 3-1 first period lead to allowing the Remparts 45 shots on goal.

Still for us the story is Chris Doyle as he has turned his season around after such a rough start.

Since the trade from Prince Edward Island back in December Doyle has gone 8-23-31, a +9 and just 11 PIMs. It is as if Doyle has reinvented himself as a player which is good news for the Rangers as they can always use a power play specialist which is what Doyle has proven himself to be.

Now what Doyle needs to do is carry his play over to the QMJHL playoffs to earn himself the Ranger contract he dreams of.

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That the Rangers even got a single point from the game this evening is not due to their hard work or even because Henrik stood on his head; they got a point only because of a miracle. When you get outshot 55-16 you deserve nothing.

When you are outplayed like the Rangers were in the 3rd period consider that 1 point a gift that you will not be see many more of the rest of the season. Sorry Rangers fans should start doing is not consider squeaking into the playoffs but hoping to wind up with as high a draft pick as possible.

Playoffs would be a waste of time and a source of frustration for the Ranger fans. Why bother when you are not going to beat either the Caps or the Pens.

(Doyle courtesy of Kay Ep)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Missing the playoffs sucks. Even if we are eliminated in the first round.

As long as the team keeps drafting and developing well and at some point we become a contender, I am happy. I dont want to go through the horrible season it takes to get a no. 1 overall pick

Jess Rubenstein said...

The thing is though, this team continues to repeat the same mistakes which is spend money on free agents, draft in the middle of the first round and then fail to address key needs.

The difference between where the Rangers are today and making the playoffs is 8 spots in the draft.

That would make a world of a difference to get a higher quality player rather than suffer an embarrassing loss that exposes all that is wrong with the franchise.

Even worse is that making the playoffs creates a false sense that the team is closer to contending than it actually is.