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I'd be shocked if the Wings finish dead last this season. I think they will finish higher in the standings than they did this past season. I just hope we manage to get lucky in the draft lottery... If anything, Ottawa are determined to NOT finish dead last. Unfortunately for them, no matter how hard they try, I think they will finish bottom of the barrel, behind Detroit. I think they will try so hard to fix things this season, to not have to give up a top pick to Colorado, that they'll end up making things worse. That team is a mess, and we haven't seen the worst of them yet. The bold I agree with, along with everything else you said in response to joesuffP.

We lost so many one-goal games this past season that slight improvement is probably the safest bet. At the same time, Z's health and our garbage D corps could easily sink us. It's shaping up to be a pretty interesting season... Like you, my big hope -- beyond the younger roster players having big seasons -- is that we get lucky in the 2019 draft, even if we finish dead last in the league.

I kid

If he is going on LTIR; really there shouldn't be a someone else as a captain. LTIR doesn't always mean the players is done forever and because of that he really shouldn't be losing the captaincy till the contract is up seeing as how he's would still be on the roster. If he retires (he won't). It would and should be Kronwall; just like Kronwall replaced Z in the Olympics as Captain. Larkin should get it after that eventually. Abdelkader is basically like Kris Draper. He's just the lifelong "A" that will never be good enough or come close to being a "C".

There's a Water Cooler for a reason guys, let's keep things on track here and put the extra stuff where it belongs. Get back on topic and let's keep things a bit more respectable here. Thanks.

If Z quits on us, C: Abdelkader A: Kronwall A: Larkin It's @NerveDamage fault. He only posts memes, damn him.

I think Mantha will be a 30 goal scorer regardless how he's utilized on the power-play. Like I said, I don't think playing him as a net front is negatively impacting his scoring rate, I just think he'd be better utilized as a sniper, since that's one thing the team is sorely lacking. Blashill also knew him well enough to play him on the right point in Grand Rapids, and he excelled there. I get the point you're trying to make about Pulkkinen, but there's a big difference in a player that can do everything well and has an elite level shot and a player that has limited skill aside from an elite level shot. The reason Pulkkinen is not in the NHL has nothing to do with whether or not he is a sniper, it's that he can't do anything else well enough to stick in the NHL.

You're insinuating a lot here. I don't recall anyone saying he's being ruined. In fact, I don't think anyone called his deployment misuse either lol. I explicitly stated I would literally be happy whether he continues to be deployed in front of the net or not. I don't feel strongly either way... just that net front wasn't his play style in juniors... I think everyone agrees playing in front of the net made him more productive. Check out his PENIS size (interesting stat thread), one of the biggest on the team for that very reason. Christ. Jesus. s***.

It's seriously understated how good the kid is... and he just turned 22 two weeks ago. He's like a young Yzerman in a way. The talent is all there, character and compete level all there, just needs to continue to round out his defense and mature physically and emotionally. Sky's the limit in my mind. There's an argument to be made that we haven't drafted a forward of this caliber since 1999 in one Zberg. Note: I use Yzerman and Zetterberg as comparisons very loosely But enough about Larkin...

Oh Christ, this is going to turn into another Jurco/Smith situation isn't it. If a guy doesn't perform exactly as we imagined he would then he's been "ruined" by the coach. Mantha was top 50 among all forwards in powerplay goals and that's considered a bad thing? 9 of his 24 goals came on the powerplay. His 15 even strength goals (where he's not a "net front" presence) would have tied him for the top 100. Hell, his even strength goal scoring isn't even the best on the team (Nyquist and AA). If anything, moving him to net front on the pp made him a more productive goal scorer, not the other way around. Mantha can't play like he did in juniors because it wouldn't work. He dominated a bunch of kids because he was more physically developed. He won't be able to blow by NHL level defensemen and beat NHL goalies clean off the rush. He also probably won't score much as a shooter on the PP either because his lateral quickness isn't great. So Blashill makes a tweak to his game to give him more success (which works) and people *****. He had a 900% improvement on his PP goalscoring over the year before and Blashill is misusing him? Jesus.

then just say...