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HYPE! LGRW!

I'm happy for Hronek! GO WINGS!

Prob'ly. "Hope for the best, expect the worst." In fairness to Hronek tho, he did manage to put up three points in his six-game stint with the Wings. And certainly he's been lights-out for the Griffins this season.

Don't know why Veleno slipped, don't care. Here were the rankings for Centers just days before the draft: https://www.nhl.com/coyotes/news/nhlcom-top-10-centers-for-2018-nhl-draft/c-299061848 2. Joseph Veleno, Drummondville (QMJHL) NHL Central Scouting: No. 8 (North American skaters) Here is how the draft went down: Round one[edit] # Player Nationality NHL team College/junior/club team 1 Rasmus Dahlin (D) Sweden Buffalo Sabres Frolunda HC (SHL) 2 Andrei Svechnikov (RW) Russia Carolina Hurricanes Barrie Colts (OHL) 3 Jesperi Kotkaniemi (C) Finland Montreal Canadiens Assat (Liiga) 4 Brady Tkachuk (LW) United States Ottawa Senators Boston University (Hockey East) 5 Barrett Hayton (C) Canada Arizona Coyotes Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds(OHL) 6 Filip Zadina (RW) Czech Republic Detroit Red Wings Halifax Mooseheads(QMJHL) 7 Quinn Hughes (D) United States Vancouver Canucks University of Michigan (Big Ten) 8 Adam Boqvist (D) Sweden Chicago Blackhawks Brynas IF (SHL) 9 Vitali Kravtsov (RW) Russia New York Rangers Traktor Chelyabinsk (KHL) 10 Evan Bouchard (D) Canada Edmonton Oilers London Knights (OHL) 11 Oliver Wahlstrom (RW) United States New York Islanders U.S. NTDP (USHL) 12 Noah Dobson (D) Canada New York Islanders (from Calgary)1 Acadie–Bathurst Titan(QMJHL) 13 Ty Dellandrea (C) Canada Dallas Stars Flint Firebirds (OHL) 14 Joel Farabee (LW) United States Philadelphia Flyers (from St. Louis)2 U.S. NTDP (USHL) 15 Grigori Denisenko (LW) Russia Florida Panthers Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL) 16 Martin Kaut (RW) Czech Republic Colorado Avalanche Dynamo Pardubice (ELH) 17 Ty Smith (D) Canada New Jersey Devils Spokane Chiefs (WHL) 18 Liam Foudy (C) Canada Columbus Blue Jackets London Knights (OHL) 19 Jay O'Brien (C) United States Philadelphia Flyers Thayer Academy Tigers(USHS) 20 Rasmus Kupari (C) Finland Los Angeles Kings Karpat (Liiga) 21 Ryan Merkley (D) Canada San Jose Sharks Guelph Storm (OHL) 22 K'Andre Miller (D) United States New York Rangers (from Pittsburgh via Ottawa)3 U.S. NTDP (USHL) 23 Isac Lundestrom (C) Sweden Anaheim Ducks Lulea HF (SHL) 24 Filip Johansson (D) Sweden Minnesota Wild Leksands IF (Allsvenskan) 25 Dominik Bokk (RW) Germany St. Louis Blues (from Toronto)4 Vaxjo Lakers (SHL) 26 Jacob Bernard-Docker (D) Canada Ottawa Senators (from Boston via NY Rangers)5 Okotoks Oilers (AJHL) 27 Nicolas Beaudin (D) Canada Chicago Blackhawks (from Nashville)6 Drummondville Voltigeurs(QMJHL) 28 Nils Lundkvist (D) Sweden New York Rangers (from Tampa Bay)7 Lulea HF (SHL) 29 Rasmus Sandin (D) Sweden Toronto Maple Leafs (from Winnipeg via St. Louis)8 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL) 30 Joe Veleno (C) Canada Detroit Red Wings (from Vegas)9 Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL) 31 Alexander Alexeyev (D) Russia Washington Capitals Red Deer Rebels (WHL) Veleno was the 8th C taken in the draft. He was clearly the 2nd ranked C before the draft. Consensus is that there were many reaches at that position in this draft. Foudy and O'Brien weren't even listed in the top 10 among centers. Hayton, Dellanrea, Kupari, and Lundestrom were all rated lower, but were drafted before Veleno. Why? Who knows? Every article I read post-draft regarded Veleno as a steal at 30, and questioned why some of these guys were drafted before him, because they shouldn't have been. My guess is that since this draft was regarded as a "deep" one, teams felt more inclined to go for "home runs" instead of BPA figuring that even a "reach" would still turn out in the long run. More "boom" potential, less "bust" potential, leads to reaching. That's what happened, nothing more. Reading anything more into it is just pointless. Sometimes players drop. It happens. Doesn't make Veleno less of a prospect for it, nor does it mean we should look at other guys taken before him with any greater potential.

I want 2 Ws this weekend to place us within striking distance for a playoff spot. 2 regulation wins

I'll be here for this one tonight, by some Christmas miracle, I have a Friday night off so i'm gonna enjoy this one. Got a case of beer in anticipation of catastrophe, hoping for a big W but not confident with the dings in our D. LGW!!

The Athletic's Max Bultman is reporting that Green has a lower body injury and is going to miss 3-5 weeks. Filip Hronek is being called up. Aside the injury, which is a bummer for Green (who's been very good this year), I love this. Hronek gets much needed experience and we lose a really good player temporarily...hopefully yielding more losses.

Notes: Mike Green to miss three to five weeks [DetroitRedWings.com]

Let's go Wings!

Sucks so bad. Green has been playing great

It sucks that it's taking a Green injury to get Hronek in the lineup, but I'm excited to see what he can do in what will hopefully be an extended look. Let's hope he picks up right where he left off in his short stint with the Wings / season so far with the Griffs.

IMO, Green has been this team's third best player behind Larkin and Howard. I agree with you though. This will be great for Hronek, and great for the team's long-range goals.

ALANIS (from Ottawa) HYPE!!!!

Look, ask yourself whatever questions you want. I just think asking "why did he slip to 30" is as pointless as asking "Why did David Pastrnak slip to 25th". Who knows? But it's not even that interesting a question. Scouts and GMs mess up all the time (Exhibit A: Nicklas Lidstrom was drafted in round two). A more interesting question for smart people like you to ponder is, essentially, "is Veleno different than the guys drafted just before or after him?". And I think if you, or I, or anybody else thinks we know anything at all about hockey we should be able to answer that question and provide the reasons why we think so. Then all that's left is to see if we got it right, as you've correctly pointed out.

Didn't suggest that you should listen to me. I also have no idea why he slid on draft day. I guess my question would be, what does his draft position have to do with anything? You're not dumb, so surely you'll agree that players outperform their draft positions all the time. So the bigger questions are, does Joe Veleno have the necessary skills to be one of those players? And, based on his performance since the draft is there any reason to believe he's already moving in that direction. I think the answer to both questions is "yes".

Isn't knee-jerk undervaluing prospects and players just as intellectually lazy as knee-jerk overvaluing them? If you think the odds are that Veleno will end up like Sheahan, Smith, Jurco, Pulkkinen, or Sproul why not explain your rationale? Your current reasoning that "Veleno won't be that good because other guys weren't good in the past" seems too trite for someone clever enough to be meta while also being incendiary. Step your game up...like Joe Veleno has.