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You mean blinded by their hate for Howard***

https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/DET/2018.html Larkin's leading our forwards in icetime. Mantha's 2nd among winger's just behind Nyquist (by :15) and 4th behind Lark, Gus, Z. He's had some rough stretches this year (the past few games included) so I think it's understandable that he's not up with Lakrin for icetime (also, he doesn't PK like Larkin does). I think these are fine. AA Should be getting more time, but he has been pretty underwhelming so far this year. A lot that could be credited to him missing training camp and coming in cold. Hopefully his icetime increases as he gets his game together. Mrazek should have gotten a few more games, but he hasn't made much of a case for himself when he's been in. I feel like the organization has already made a decision that he's not part of our future since they exposed him and reportedly tried to trade him in the offseason. I disagreed with those decisions, but if Howie is the way we're going for the next few years, then he should be the one playing the majority. And I don't see a conspiracy against youth here. Blash named Mrazek the #1 pretty early into his career and before he had really earned it. But I guess I somewhat agree with the spirit of the article and I hope we'll see callups from Bertuzzi and others soon (and less Wit - sorry fight lovers).

In Jimmy's first year as starter his competition was a Chris Osgood who was at the tail end of his career and putting up bad numbers. In 2011 Howard's competition was Joey MacDonald, in 2012 it was Ty Conklin. It's apples and oranges, had we had a vet goaltender at that time who was out playing Jimmy, I'm sure that Jimmy' would have been on a shorter leash. Also, it was a different coach, you really can't compare the situations. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Jimmy and Mrazek have been treated the exact same, they haven't. Why have they not been treated the same, IMO it's due to a variety of reasons, ranging from the coach, their attitude, the state of team, the competition, etc. Its not as simple as you attempt to make it seem. You sound as if you have blind hate for Jimmy, and blind love for Mrazek. I have said this before, but I want Mrazek to turn it around, unfortunately all signs point against that. What I dont get about you, is you seem to cheer for Jimmy to fail. I just don't get that mentality. I do wish Mrazek got a few more starts, but when he does get starts, its on him to impress. My issue is the entitlement that you and some other seems to have on behalf of Mrazek. He's not "owed" anything.

The forwards aren't that different outside of their one stud... I think Larkin is better than anyone on that team (besides Matthews). Mantha and Athanasiou are close to Nylander and Marner. Kadri and Van Riemsdyk are much better than Nyquist and Tatar. Hyman and Komarov are similar to Abdelkader and Helm. Marleau is similar to Zetterberg. Bozak to Nielsen. Brown to Frk. Martin to Glendening. And Moore to Booth. The defense isn't really close. We have Green, but he likely won't be a Wing much longer. They have two guys in Rielly and Gardiner that we don't have anything close to. To answer the question though, if we added a Matthews to this team, I think we would be a playoff contender, and potentially a Cup contender within a few years, IF we could get something figured out with the defense. The Leafs were doing a good job rebuilding before they landed Matthews, but he's clearly what put them over the top and into future contenders. If we could get lucky and land a stud like Dahlin in next year's draft, I think we could have the same quick turnaround. The pieces are there, we just need that one (or two) elite player(s).

#3 is diarrhea correct?