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I tend to agree. He had a great first season in the minors. Now let's see if he can build on it while playing 10 or so games with Detroit. If he does well, he'll more than likely follow Hicketts on to the team in fall 2019.

Sure, most players in the league are left handed, and most teams have more left handed shooter than right, but no team has been as right handed deficient as the Detroit Red Wings have been for the past decade or more. We haven't had a top 6 right handed forward since Alfredsson, 5 years ago. Before that it was Lang, 12 years ago. That is a serious issue in my opinion. Of course we're not struggling solely because of the lack of right handed shooters, but I think it definitely plays a part. The best power-plays (and offensive attacks in general) include both left and right shooting forwards and defensemen. To say it doesn't matter is wrong. There's a reason most teams and coaches in particular value balanced shooters on each side of the ice. No, handedness doesn't matter as much as skill, but to me, handedness is somewhat similar to position. We should draft best player available, regardless of position or handedness, but all else being equal, we need defensemen and right handed forwards. That's just my opinion. We're talking about the best players in the world for their age group. The difference in skill level in each tier of the draft is negligible. Give me a left handed forward and a right handed forward ranked similarly by various scouts, assuming all else is relatively equal, I take the right handed player because he fills a bigger need on our team.

I actually think keeping Hronek in GR is best for his development right now. He'll hopefully turn out to be more than a depth defenseman. If that's the case, then he needs big minutes over a lot of games against competition he can handle. He'll get that in GR. Not with the big boys. Bringing him up now either means he gets sheltered minutes or he gets absolutely destroyed by NHL competition considering who his D partners would be. Neither scenario would be good for his development IMO.

I have been known to give a pep talk from time to time... but nothing serious.

Athletic Article (Paywall) Summary: Detroit willing to move down from 6 spot Packaging Vegas's 1st and a 2nd to move up likely moves us into the 18-20 range Kotkaniemi is one of Detroit's targets Focus is on center and defense, making it less likely we take Wahlstrom or Tkachuk Bridge deal with Mantha is close, likely two years and less than $4million AAV. Talks with Green and his agent firm. Since Mantha is going to be signed pretty cheap they probably don't mind bringing back Green. Talks with AA and his agent were positive, but feelings are his deal is further behind in the process than Mantha's Xavier Ouellet is being shopped. Ouellet wants a fresh start and Detroit wants a spot for a young guy

I've harped on this before, but, again, it really is kind of nuts. The deficiency, I mean. It's to the point now where I'm wondering if there's a philosophical/strategic reason behind it. Frk, Vanek, Brunner, Alfredsson, Glendening, Witkowski. Those are the recent right-shooting forwards I can think of off the top of my head. That's it. And all of them -- with maybe one or two exceptions -- were/are specialists, as opposed to really solid players you could really count on to play big minutes in tough situations and such. I remember Babcock talking about how important he thought it was to have left-shooting defensemen playing the left side and right-shooting defensemen playing the right side. And I remember joking to myself that when Holland traded for Zidlicky, Holland called Babcock and said, "THERE. YOU FINALLY HAVE YOUR DAMN RIGHT-HANDED DEFENSEMAN. YOU HAPPY NOW? YOU PROUD OF YOURSELF? THE THINGS I DO TO MAKE YOU HAPPY. ALL I DO IS GIVE AND ALL YOU DO IS TAKE."

To be fair, Carlson isn't in the same league as those you chose to list. Not until he repeats this year a few more times. I'm not ready to pay him superstar dough.

Handedness is a thing. To say it is irrelevant is just as exaggerated as saying that its the most important thing. Clearly neither is true.

Yup. He was... three years ago...

What about all the players selected before Kindl that were complete garbage? 6 - Gilbert Brule 7 - Jack Skille 9 - Brian Lee 10 - Luc Bourdon 13 - Marek Zagrapan 14 - Sasha Pokulok 15 - Ryan O'Marra 16 - Alex Bourret 18 - Ryan Parent What about all the players selected just after Kindl that were complete garbage? 20 - Kenndal McArdle 22 - Matt Lashoff 23 - Nicklas Bergfors 26 - Matt Pelech 27 - Joe Finley 30 - Vladimir Mihalik 31 - Brendan Mikkelson 32 - Tyler Plante 34 - Ryan Stoa 36 - Taylor Chorney 37 - Scott Jackson 38 - Jeff Frazee 39 - Petr Kalus 40 - Mike Sauer That's 23 players in the top 40 that were MUCH worse picks than Kindl. Just because you can pick out a handful of players 10+ years later that we coulda / shoulda picked means nothing. You can do that with literally any team, any draft. That's why "re-drafts" are such a big thing these days. The funny thing is, Kindl would still be an early to mid 2nd round pick in a re-draft. Kindl was not a bust, he just wasn't a homerun pick. Draft are complete crap-shoots after the first 3-7 players depending on the year. Teams that pick the homeruns are lucky. Teams that pick the busts are unlucky.