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I mentioned this in a previous post, which is a huge reason I'm saying we shouldn't trade up. Pick best player available at 6, and try to move up after that.

Draft is gonna be lit, my dudes.

Phew! Our defensive troubles are over!

The more I read/get excited about the draft, the more I hope we can manage to get another top 10 pick. Picking Zadina/Wahlstrom and Bouchard/Hughes/Dobson is sounding better and better the more I think about it.

Athanasiou and one of our 3rd round picks for 10th overall?... That should be enough right?...

Yeah, good points. From the looks of the rankings, Boqvist could drop to the teens, similar to when the leafs got Liljegren. Obviously it’ll depend on team need on draft day a little, and how accurate TSN is, but he’s a guy I wouldn’t mind us trading up around 15 spots from 30 to get. Agree that there are a lot of exciting picks in the 25-40 range though. But if Zadina ends up sliding to us and that’s who we go with at 6, trading to get Boqvist too would be a pretty solid first round. Rasmus Sandin is another solid looking defense prospect ranked in the teens.

We could maybe need some size on defense. Too early yet to know if the kids we got last year will do anything, and Cholo and Hronek are both on the small side. Not that it means we need to draft size at #6, but on the other hand Bouchard at least is certainly one of the most skilled players in the entire draft. Dobson is no slouch in the skill department either. Boqvist seems to have fallen for most of the experts (though I still like him). Hughes seems to be the top guy atm, and I'd love him too, but all four look about as good as you can expect drafting 6th. Would be awesome, but trading into the top 10 typically takes a grade A asset. The only ones we have are Larkin and #6. Mid to late teens might be doable though, but I'm not sure anyone too good will drop that far. Some good looking players should be there in the 30s. Not much worse looking than the guys projected in the teens in my opinion.

The point is that Bergevin keeps making 1 for 1 trades where MTL ends up on the losing end. Subban for Weber, Drouin for Segechev, and now this. There is no doubt in my mind that had they played their cards better, they could have gotten more then Domi for for Galchenyuk.

Don't worry. If Frk gets 0 NHL offers, then you will turn out to be right. Even if he plays more than Pulks in the NHL, they are both still fringe NHL players with a big RH shot. You can have your "I told you so" moment then. BTW, I never disagreed with your assessment about their ability and lack of skill set. I do believe that Frk is slightly better than Pulkinnen tho and will probably end up hanging around longer than Pulks did. Just my 2 cents. But yeah, they really aren't that good. Would rather have Jurco over Frk to be honest, so fight me.

So we got our RH 1D. Cool.

Bob McKenzie said on his podcast Zadina might slip out of the top 5. But mainly because C and D prospects have really stepped it up and because of team needs in the top 5.

The more time Frk spends in the NHL, the more he turns out better than Pulks. He may indeed turn out to spend most of his career in the minors or overseas, but he would still be more of an NHLer than Pulks.

It's odd to me to see some many references to needing size. While that may have been true at one point, it really isn't now. We're not noticeably smaller than most other teams, and we've drafted for size since Mantha. We're actually pretty big going forward. If anything, I'd say we need more skill.

Ummm...I don't really want to go back and read all this Hicketts stuff so I'm just going to assume that some people REALLY want Hicketts on the team, and some people (correctly) think he's not very good. I'd only add that he was resoundingly outplayed by Hronek last season in the AHL and still got a call up, where he was gifted minutes he didn't earn (Blashill even acknowledged this) and scored enough powerplay points to make some folks overlook how abysmal he looked at even strength. He got badly outplayed in the AHL last season by Lashoff and McIlrath, so I'm not sure why anyone thinks he's better than Ouellet or Jensen. And we're leaving out the obvious fact that despite his supposed "grit" or whatever, the plucky little pluckster from Kamloops is one Tom Wilson forecheck away from death at the NHL level. He's neither big, nor quick, nor overly skilled. He's the Rudy Ruettiger of hockey, and while it makes a good story folks need to remember that Rudy never played an NFL game.

Libor Sulak will be the 6/7 D man this year. He played well in Finland last year had a good WC playing plenty of mins and is a very mobile player, he may need time in the A to adjust to the smaller ice pad but I think we have a steal here, and he will save the front office a lot of cap $’s

Which I've addressed. You're not addressing my counter point, just saying "wrong"

LOL. I can't believe I didn't see that. Anyway maybe some punctuation might be in order here. Erik Karlsson's Wife Harassed While Pregnant, by Another Player's Fiancee not Erik Karlsson's Wife Harassed, While Pregnant by Another Player's Fiancee I have to be honest. I would find the second one much more interesting. Erik

Oh man, on the HOF boards Habs fans are going nuts! Arizona fans seem to be disappointed because they liked Domi, but they get it. First Weber for Subban, now this.....Bergevin is giving Chiarelli a run for his money.

IF he is willing to sign a year deal, it could be more strategic for Kovy to sign with a team like the Wings then a team he thinks is a contender. With that being said, I dont think he's coming to Detroit. I think he's negotiating with as many teams as possible in order to up his value. The argument for coming to Detroit would be that they are not likely making the playoffs, meaning that at the TDL he could be traded to a legit contender. For a UFA, best case scenario is signing with a legit contender (but that's easier said then done), 2nd best scenario is signing with a bad team that can trade you at the TDL, worst case is signing with a fringe team that may be a playoff team, but not good enough to do any damage, and not bad enough to trade you (think us in 2014). At least by signing with Detroit, he has a high chance of being traded to a legit contender come TDL, especially if its 1 year with a modified NTC.

hahaha ya caught me. Really though, I'm more of a Kings fan than Sharks but when my friend called me out on liking the Sharks, I said no but I like (then rattled off 5 or 6 players) and thought maybe I do like them. But I mostly point them out for big name UFA/trade targets because they're a competitive team with more cap space (depending on who they re-sign and for how much) than competitive teams typically have. Then again, I forgot about that ridiculous Evander Kane contract so maybe I don't like them so much now

I can't prove it, but I think ur a Sharks spy. Every time a player is mentioned, you bring them up. Admit it, you take what you learn here and take it back to your Bay Area Cronies in order to help them pull a Caps and finally win a cup. I am on to you.

Yeah, that's pretty ridiculous. It is a little annoying that we're the only team "without an actual human operator" though... I vote this be our new mascot...

So The Hockey News ranked the 29 existing NHL mascots in their latest issue. They ranked the Wings' Al the Octopus at 29th and had this to say about it: "The only mascot without an actual human operator-and it glorifies animal cruelty. Doubling down on ineptitude." What? Animal cruelty? Are you seriously comparing throwing dead, leftover seafood onto the ice to running a dog fighting ring? By that logic, throwing an uneaten hot dog or chicken wing onto the ice would also be "animal cruelty". That kind of ignorant propaganda is exactly why I'm not renewing my subscription.

Are we done talking about the harassment now? Because I want to talk about how Karlsson's wife got pregnant by another teammate's fiancee.