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Just think about the guys that should be the core of our team for the next 12-15 years. Mantha-a sniper, pure goal scorer. Svechnikov-sniper and play maker. Larkin-very good speed, good shooter and passer. AA-very good speed, good shooter average play maker, G Smith-big physical puck retriever with some offensive skill. These are the guys that will become our top 6. They will also fill out of top 2 PP units. What is missing? Front of net. No one else in the entire system can play that role. Adding Tippett doesn't solve that. He is another sniper, which is fine. But then we have to do something dumb like this year when we had to use Mantha and Vanek as the front of net guy, roles that they are not suited for. After Vanek it got worse and we had to use Sheahan! We also used helm and Nyquist in that role. This is why Rasmussen fits our team and the team needs so well. On paper anyway. Look at potential PP units down the road: Unit 1, using a 1-3-1: net front: rasmussen slot: Mantha RH wing: Larkin LH wing: Sproul/Russo Point: DD Unit 2, using a 1-3-1: net front: Smith Slot: Svechnikov RH wing: AA LH wing: Jensen/Cholowski Point: Lindstrom Those are not bad units based on potential. Now if Tippett was our choice we lack a net from guy and we take one of the wings out of the lineup. With him being a RHed shot it would be one of the Sproul/Russo or Jensen/Cholowski pairs.

Does Mantha look as good as anyone picked ahead of him in his draft? Sure does to me... The point is you don't know. The Wings wanted to get bigger and that's what they did. Ras could be the biggest steal at 9 or he could be a bust. We don't know.

People are trying to justify the Rasmussen pick because he's a "great net front presence". You don't draft a net front guy with your first top 10 pick in a quarter century. You pick the best player available. In the opinion of 95% of scouts, that would be Vilardi. If we're in such desperate need for a massive player that can bang in rebounds and play net front on the power-play, we could have very easily picked him beyond the first round. We could have even traded up in the 2nd and taken Ratcliffe who is a very similar type player. Rasmussen, may end up being a very good player, but there's a reason we're being viewed by many as "1st round draft losers". No one is saying they know how these kids will turn out, just that on draft day, there were better options available. Anyway, like I said before, Rasmussen is a Wing now, so I'm going to root him on like I do every other player in the organization, but I would have been much more pleased with this draft overall if we had taken any of the handful other guys that were available, rather than big Ras.

This is why I think Rasmussen was the right choice. The Wings organization has made the decision to change the make up of their team. To get bigger and be a more physical type of team. You don't draft a sniper over a 6'6" goal scoring center when this is the way you want your team to look now. All of their picks were big and fit into this new image, this new type of team. A player like Tippett does not. As Coach Herb Brooks said when he was building the U.S. 1980 Olympic hockey team: "I'm not looking for the best players - I'm looking for the right ones."

But no articles have said he's ONLY a netfront guy. That's what I was saying. He seems to have been reduced to such. Also, how did you turn "uses his size advantage" into a negative? That must be a first on LGW.com. 6'6" will always be big and if he's 221 at age 18, he could be one of the biggest forwards in the league - especially in any top 6 - if he gets there. He's already big than most power forward types like Simmonds, Benn, Carter. Maybe OV and Wheeler are a bit heavier right now... He'll still have a size advantage if he learns how to use it in the NHL. If all he had was size than it wouldn't mean much, but - watching highlights (and reading other places than LGW - I get the impression of more skilled guy - that was my point. And he's not manhandling people or doing the pile-on for netfront goals. He seems to have good hands in tight. I recommend watching a bunch of the footage of him on youtube, if haven't already. Finally, he was on pace for 43 goals when he broke his arm - I suspect it'd be a different reaction to drafting him if we were looking at that number. Anyway, I've said my piece on him - just arguing for a more balanced view. I'm out for a few days.

GUYS Holland lost his future 4th line center in Nosek to Vegas. Drafting Rasmussen was the fastest way to replace him. Make a little more sense now? Good, everyone calm your ****

Ummmm, yes he is, based on what both did. Sent from my LGLS676 using Tapatalk

Straight from the horse's mouth. They took him cause of character, plain and simple. It's funny, at one point Wright even says "and even if he's not producing offensively, at least he's hard to play against". Haha. First round pick gents. A guy with good character who may be hard to play against. Glendenning and Miller have great character too. Surprised they didn't go first round.

I cant figure out whos more stupid... Vegas for not selecting the worst starting goalie in the league? Or Holland for selecting a top 12 ranked player at 9? What morons, amirite?

He would be a very good bottom pair option at 1 mil to 2 mil... Or do you honestly think hes completely incapable of hockey?

I thought Green was our big puck moving defenseman? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One is a center who can make his linemates better. The other is a passenger who collects garbage and relies on his linemates and size advantage, something he won't have as much of in the NHL, for his offense. Sent from my LGLS676 using Tapatalk Tippett could play that role without being limited to only that role. Rasmussen later in the first would be ok, he was a bad pick at 9, there were better options. Sent from my LGLS676 using Tapatalk

I mean... even if he turned out to be exactly Holmstrom. Is that a bad thing? Hes not a franchise guy, but our team could reealllly use a prime Holmstrom mucking it up in the greasy areas.

I cant stand everyone bitching that we messed up with this draft!! You cannot tell until years down the road!!! What if our 1st round pick scores 40 goals his first year in the league, will you still be bitching??? Lets see how it pans out before we keep bitching over and over!!!!

I guess it's the effect of someone comparing him to Holmstrom in that one article, but he really doesn't seem to be only a netfront guy. He looks like he has a pretty great shot as well. From the 26 goals shown in this highlight video they definitely don't just show netfront goals. I broke them down as such: 6 up close side of the net (from passes, mostly) 5 netfront rebound 3 netfront tips 12 slot one timer/shot (mostly on the rush) some nice snipes The first few are cleanup type goals, though, so you can skip ahead if you want. One thing I liked in the descriptions of his game was that he's great a board battles and protecting the puck. That's definitely something we've been lacking. That also might be a case for moving him to the wing, but c'est la vie.

Do you honestly think Tippet is going to "win awards"? over McDavid, Crosby, Ovechkin, Kane? And with the new generation will he win awards over McDavid and Patrick Laine? You're out of your mind.

Skating has become as important as speed in this league. And so has special teams . YEAH RAM

What position is Tippett? Vilardi? Neither will be C's in the NHL. Yes we could have went D instead. I would have been very happy with Foote and less happy with others. I would have been happy with Tippett as well. But I don't believe he is better than Rasmussen either. Different players. They play a different game. We have snipers-like Tippett and have 0 front of net guys like Rasmussen. We all have been complaining-to include yourself about taking to many 50ft shots with no one there to bang home the rebounds. Now we have someone to do it.

Pretty liberal use of the term huge, but also way missing the point. Sure, a swing of 126 shots seems like a big deal, and all else being equal it is. But it should not outweigh the importance of how well you perform against the 3400 shots still coming at you. Even the very best possession teams spend close to half the game playing defense. Some people act like playing defense slightly less is more important than playing defense better. It isn't. And furthermore, Rasmussen by most accounts has a skillset that should fit well with a possession system. Strong with the puck, good in the corners and behind the net, effective forechecker, decent skater, capable passer, solid defensively. So this whole argument is largely moot.

Since Kip mentioned the Mantha comparison, I thought it be interesting to look at how he and Rasmussen compare at the same point of their careers. Here's their first 2 years in the CHL: Mantha Rasmussen 63gp,22g,51p 63gp,18g,43p 67gp,50g,89p 50gp,32g,55p (= to 67gp 43g, 74p) I don't think this reflects so badly on Ras. You could make this comparison more favourable for Rasmussen if you consider that Mantha was in the QMHL, which is acknowledged as a higher scoring league than the WHL. I doubt anyone was expecting some of Mantha's caliber since this was known to be a weak draft, but I just thought I'd look it up. Of course this is only looking at points not skill set. Anyway, I'm not incredibly high on this choice, but I don't think people should be as low on him as this thread suggests.

I'd agree to the principle, but Rasmussen doesn't seem to be the caricature that you're presenting. Jeff Marek’s Take: “A big-bodied centreman who blends power and skill." "His impressive hand-eye coordination was on display when he represented Team Orr in January." http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/prospect-interest-411-michael-rasmussen/ Wright said, “I’ve got zero issues with his skating. I actually think he is a good skater. He is a big man who is still developing. He is just going to continue to get stronger and when he does that, he is going to continue to add weight.” http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nhl/red-wings/2017/06/24/2017-nhl-draft-detroit-red-wings-michael-rasmussen/425814001/ And Vilardi has skating issues as well and isn't a great play-maker. I'm on the fence whether we should have gone with Vilardi (I'll wait for the commentary on why so many passed on him). My issue is that people are saying that size inflates status rather than just having it as an element of a players game. It's like saying a player's speed inflated his ranking.

Maybe! Probably! Definitely not! Who knows? Time will tell. Lets be positive, folks. Accept it or not, the people in charge of this team are smarter than you.

I honestly think some of you hate Holland more than you like the Red Wings. You would rather see these guys fail, and be right about Holland, than have these guys excel and have a successful team built by Holland.

First, I'd like to say everyone dumping on Holland and saying he's an "idiot" or whatever need to understand he's not making these decisions entirely by himself. These draft picks are the collective input from scouts, coaches, staff, ownership, etc. Some of you act like Holland is just ignoring the voices of reason and doing whatever he wants. Ultimately, he makes the decision, but he's making these decisions based on the input from a lot of other people. Second, while there are players I would have rather drafted in the first round, I have to give him credit for going against the grain. Back in the 90's, everyone looks for high octane offensive minded players and we went with speedy two way guys. Since we were pretty much the only team going in that direction, we had our pick of pretty much anyone we wanted. Today, the game has changed and there are a lot of teams drafting those types of players, trying to replicate that success. There's also a lot of teams shifting their defensemen to be more offensive minded puck moving, speedsters. After watching this draft, the Wings are clearly moving towards being a bigger, more physical team, which kind of makes sense. Most teams are not built the way the Wings are apparently going to be built now. Its a copycat league and if everyone is building their team to be fast, who's going to handle these big forwards standing in front of the net? Who's going to be strong enough to get the puck off our power forwards? Maybe this will end up not being the best idea and it won't work, but I'm going to give Holland and the rest of the front office decision makers credit for trying to do something different. Nobody ever got ahead by being like everyone else.

Osgood is tied 3rd all-time in goals at his position. It's baffling he isn't already in