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I found this amusing; After the Wild game where Pookie scored, the post-game show host was listing off the scorers. He couldn't remember Pookie's name so he paused and said, "That Finnish kid we traded for." I immediately corrected him, of course, but since I am in my living room and he is a couple hundred miles away he didn't notice. Then I thought about it. They bought out Vanek and claimed Pookie. Pookie has taken Vanek's place on the 4th line. (Note: 4th line at the end of the season. I don't remember where Vanek was at the beginning of the season.) For them, it was almost like a trade. They sent us a 4th line winger and got a 4th line winger in return. We, on the other hand, got a 2nd liner who is producing and let go a Press Box Boy. People may be upset that we didn't get anything in return, but if you consider it as a trade-off, we definitely got the better end of the deal. And, for the record, the Press Box Boys would be a great name for a band.

Sure Drew can kill penalties. But so can Helm, Abby, Sheahan, disney.com, Nielsen. AA and Larkin should also be seeing some PK time with their speed. All Miller is doing is keeping a guy like Mantha in the AHL when he should be learning to play at the NHL level. Having guys like Miller on the ice means you usually aren't playing WITH the puck very much. Our 4th line would score even more if a guy like Sheahan was on it instead. For the record, I do not hate Drew Miller. I've stuck up for him a lot in the past. But the team is at a point where they just don't need him anymore.

I know I'm definitely in the minority here, but if it came down to it and we had to give up one of Mantha or Athanasiou in a trade for a high end defenseman like Trouba, I'd trade Athanasiou. I know centers have more value than wingers, but I think Mantha has the higher ceiling. I see AA becoming a 2nd / 3rd line center (possibly even winger), and Mantha becoming a 1st / 2nd line winger. Of course, I'd much rather trade Nyquist or Tatar plus, but unfortunately that probably won't get it done...

Especially if Drew Miller was the front man.

I don't think Mantha has been an enigma at all... I think he has taken a natural path of progression, it's just that some fans had way too high expectations on the kid coming out of junior. He broke his leg two years ago, which naturally caused him to have somewhat of a down year. Last year he showed steady improvement, and he's off to an amazing start to this season... Mantha will be a very good NHL player, it just depends on when and with what team... Hopefully soon and with the Red Wings. He's exactly the type of player this team needs in their lineup.

not a smart man...

I'm very happy to see Sproul finally in! Ott in for AA just annoys me unless AA has an injury which I doubt.

Well we're not going to take out the guy who leads our team in game winning goals in one goal games! How's that for a major league stat! In all seriousness, I feel that guys like Miller or Ott can have a role, but IMO it should be healthy scratches that play when there is an injury. Similar to Cleary 2 years ago. I hate seeing a young guy like Sproul just sit in the press box, but its better then trying to clear him through waivers.

I'm well aware of that, but when the 1st page of the main discussion forum has topics on it that haven't seen a post in a week there's certainly room to break the discussions out. If it becomes a problem in the future then I'll address it then, but it certainly isn't one now.

No need for mega threads as catch-alls. The forum isn't useful (and discourages new visitors from registering and commenting) if there's a half-dozen threads total with any regular activity. I'm putting a moratorium on the mega-threads.

When you have to choose between a high-end dman and a high-end winger, you go with the dman. They are a hell of a lot more difficult to come by these days. Giving up Mantha would not be foolish. It would be a realistic asset to have to part ways with to acquire a potential #1 defenseman.

No there's no battle on the team, but there's always a battle on LGW. Lol But I think he was being showcased too with LA's situation. I found it weird that he was getting a start after only three games in which Mrazek was great overall and he's the #1. But then the Ottawa and NYR games were a day apart, and you have Howard's good numbers at MSG, which factored in as well i'm sure. If he keeps up his play when given starts, he might get his fresh start somewhere else soon enough.

Literally stopped reading.

Of the Wings' top-six forwards, Abby's P/GP dipped the least. (Left out Larkin, considering he wasn't here in 2014-15) Datsyuk: 1.03 to .74 = .29 Zetterberg: .86 to .61 = .25 Tatar: .68 to .56 = .12 Nyquist: .66 to .52 = .14 Abdelkader: .62 to .51 = .11 Not necessarily defending them, but both Nyquist and Tatar played fewer minutes, too. Gus' TOI/GP dropped by over a minute, and Tatar's by nearly two minutes. Full disclosure, Abdelkader played roughly 30 seconds more per game last season than he did in 2014-15. At the end of the day, I'd say there should be more concern over how this team is going to replace that "high-end" forward production, and less concern over its complementary wingers.

I love when he mentions that Abby scored 4 goals in 2 games and proceeds to exclude them from his argument

I was sighing every 2 minutes that game due to breakaways/ giveaways. Jimmy looked great last night.

Howard is from up state New York, his stats against the Rangers are pretty good from what I remember. Howard has something to prove to everyone and himself. He won the game last night with some help from Vanek/Nielson Glendenning/Miller Wings as a whole did not help out their cause again, 3 games now they have pretty much handed the game to the other team. Difference is the wings ended up winning last night, Petr played just as well in those games as Howard and we lost This was one game, not 10-15 in row. Yes LA and the Yotes may need a goalie, but doubt they will looking at Howard as an option this early on in the season

...and this:

I'm just gonna leave this here:

Trouba has wanted out of Winnipeg for quite a while now, and this situation is just making it worse. If they make him sit out an entire season without trading him, would he become a UFA after this season? Or would he still be an RFA? I agree with kliq that Cheveldayoff should be playing hard ball, or he could find himself in this situation again and again. But at what point should he be willing to accept a lesser deal? I mean, they haven't exactly been playing great hockey to start the season. They're sitting on a very good asset that obviously doesn't want to play for them, when they could get a pretty nice return to help the team now and in the future... I bet he eventually cracks leading up to the December 1st deadline, when there's a little more pressure to get something worked out... I have been VERY impressed (surprised) with Ouellet so far this season, and he has been our best defenseman for stretches in these 4 games. He was far and away our best defenseman last night, and the argument could be made about all 4 games... Maybe, just maybe he becomes an intriguing piece for Winnipeg. He's around the same age as Trouba (7 months older), left-handed shot, potential top 4, which is exactly what they're looking for... Obviously more would have to be added to make it work, but maybe Nyquist / Tatar, Ouellet and a pick could be enough leading up to deadline a little over a month away...

Well they are coming off a 5-1 win.

It's no problem at all. I'm also exploring ways to make organizing site downloads a bit better, and integrated better into the forums here (besides me just listing links in a post). I did that previously with the main site, but in lieu of that I'm looking at adding the "Downloads" add-on for the forum software. That way it'll be organized (and I can better track downloads to determine what's popular and not) and leaves options to add additional downloadable content. (Such as non-calendar wallpapers, mobile/tablet wallpapers, etc.)

On and On and On - Wilco

Not sure if anyone cares...but that's Van Pottelberghe struggling against his former club. https://www.hcd.ch/de/player/national-league/van-pottelberghe-joren Numbers don't look great so far. He'll continue to play though. The other Goalie, Gilles Senn, is also a youngster. Just one year older.

Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves