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Is mediocre not the expectation for rounds 2-4? I would think if you land an NHL regular in those rounds it was successful. If you get a Nyquist it was above expectations.

Hronek is destroying the AHL. I think he's going to be my favorite defenseman 2 years from now!

I really don't get Cholowski. 8 pts in his first 11 games... then another 8 in his next 40... I assume this is because the first 11 games he was basically the #1 Dman due to all of our Dmen being injured? Now he's like the 6-7-8th Dman and doesn't have the same assignment allowing him to score? Still, 18 minutes a night should allow a playmaking Dman to score I would think... Hronek seems to be able too. The -20 is particularly damning. Not sure if he's being too sheltered or being rushed too soon... I feel like Hronek should be in over Cholo

mods plz ban

I’m finally on the tank train. It’s weird. I still want to win. But I want to be 3st, and I really want Hughes. I’m open and ready for the rest of this season to be painful for the best chance.

Kronwall should not be brought back

Thanks guys. You're the best. (Please note my proper contraction.)

Absof***inglutely. The probability of anyone from 25-35 in the draft becoming an impact player (top 6 F, top 4 D) is approximately 15%. But the probability of at least one of the players in that range becoming an impact player I would say is fairly high. I think Veleno could be (hopefully will be) that player for us.

LOL. I misremembered something. That doesn't make me irrelevant.

I wasn't suggesting they were game changing talents. But all those guys were drafted in the 2-5 rounds. You're not EXPECTING game changing talent in those rounds. That doesn't mean they weren't really good picks. They were. Particularly Tatar. If you get a guy who scores 20 goals a year, ever year, in the 2nd round you've done a REALLY good job. I do agree though that we seem to be back on track with our drafting. And it's not even that we're drafting higher either. Trading back for Mantha/Bert, and Cholo/Hronek, were awesome moves that don't get talked about enough. Also, people LOVE to give Nill and McDonnell credit for Holland's successes but I never hear anyone say those guys are on the hook for Kindl, Smith, and Sheahan.

abby gone period

Trust me, I’ve been to many Habs/Wings games to experience enough of the insufferable Habs fans and Ole! and everything else but...win one for Tatar!

In other Czechbro news, Hronek is killing it in the AHL this season to the tune of 7 goals and 23 points thru 27 games. While he hasn't exactly set the world on fire in his stints with the Wings this season, he did quietly manage to register 3 goals and 10 points thru 23 games. That's roughly a 40-point pace. Not that I think he would've hit 40 points in a full 2018-19 season with the Wings (see: Cholowski hitting a brick wall after his very impressive start), but the point is he remains a very promising offensive defenseman.

Filip Zadina will play some games for Red Wings before season ends [MLive.com] Filip Zadina will get shot in NHL before end of the season [The Detroit News]

True

Zadina with a goal, his 13th of the season. So that's 13 goals and 25 points thru 41 games. Nothing earth-shattering, but it's pretty good for a teenage AHL rookie. His -14 rating is pretty damning tho.

Thoughts: - Teams have caught on to the fact that we willingly forfeit the top half of our zone in exchange for being in better position to clog the high-danger areas, and now they're figuring out how to exploit it. This is three straight games now where the opposition deliberately and continually backed us in with fast, aggressive dagger-thrust entries into our zone (made possible because our defensemen are generally afraid to keep a tight gap between the blue lines, because half of them can't skate and they don't want to get burned in neutral ice) and then got the puck to the late man who -- wait for it -- found himself all alone in the high slot. - Cholowski is -20 on the season and he isn't putting up points and he isn't generating anything on the power play. Rough. - AA is doing everything but score. He's scoring at will, minus the scoring part. Frustrating, but he's playing really well overall and I hope he sticks with it and doesn't start cheating for offense and playing like a poo brain. - I'm glad we didn't sign Mantha to a long-term deal. - Our transition game struggled enormously today, mostly because most of our first and second passes were crap. Defensemen hitting players in full stride with a clean, crisp tape-to-tape pass is simply not something this Wings team does, at least not with any regularity. That's on the passers as much as it's on the intended receivers. Drag the puck to our blue line --> wait for all the forwards to slow down and stand at the opposition blue line --> pass it into someone's skates or hit him with a pass and watch him pass-tip/dump it into the zone (because everyone's literally standing still at the blue line and so there's no skating momentum with which to enter the zone). Sad! - So. Many. Turnovers. - We have positional needs. These holes include but are not limited to 2C and 1D. But let's not sleep on the fact that no one on this team is a high-percentage shooter, the kind of sniper who you can count on to help your team outscore your mistakes. When you as a team are averaging about two goals a night, there's no room for error and it's both demoralizing and paralyzing. (I've played on teams with this problem. It's miserable.) That's why we drafted Zadina and that's why having a damn good shot at landing a guy like Hughes or Kakko is so important.

Abby to Toronto for their 1st round pick

Everyone above us has a game in hand AND is currently from 1 to 4 points ahead of us so even if they lose we are behind them!! Ottawa has a game in hand and if they win it goes to ROW and we are 31!! We have a really good shot at getting another GREAT piece for the rebuild. I am firing up my enthusiasm for the stretch run after the trade deadline.

What drives me crazy is after the bone head turn over yesterday, Abby should be benched. If Rasmussen, AA, or made that play, we would be hearing about it from Blash and Holland. But since it’s “Abby” it’s not even mentioned! Such a joke!!!!!!

Resign Kronwall? That's a joke. He looks horrendous.

What does a Abdelkader have to do to be demoted to a lower line? Apparently single-handedly losing a game wasn’t enough.

Good to see Abdelkader back on the top line after his stellar performance yesterday.