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This is an example of the Grade A thinking that made Wayne Gretzky a spectacular coach with the Coyotes after his playing days were over.

I agree with the bolded. Also as much as I'd love to see Veleno surprise and make the squad, and won't doubt the possibility, I'm not sold that he's ready. Love him as a prospect and the direction he's trending, but at this point I'm down for him being on the Griffins. Like you said too, even if he makes the squad I wouldn't be shocked to see him on the wing to start.

"He reminds me of Gilbert Perreault," Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky told Sportsnet. "He can skate, handle the puck. He's just around the puck so much. When you have that much puck sense, that much speed, I can see him being a center at the next level." Impossible, Wayne. I know you think you know a lot about hockey, but Kipwinger has already informed the rest of us that wingers cant play center. Nice try, tho.

There's a market for this kind of content! It's why I've joked about starting an LGRW.com YouTube channel where we all get on Skype or whatever and just yell at each other.

A hockey fan doing what he loves: talking hockey. I like hearing what he has to say about stuff. When it comes to the Wings, it's nice to get a well-informed outsider's take.

which is why, IMO, that Holland should've went with D instead of Zadina. I get the whole "Zadina was projected #3" stuff, I get it, but you don't get a shot at a Quinn Hughes/Evan Bouchard at every draft. The draft usually has more quality forwards available in the teens and 20's than D, I feel our team would've been in a better situation by drafting, let's say, Hughes, Veleno, McIsaac instead of Zadina. He has a lot of nets to fill to make up for us not taking D. With my history, I feel that I am going to scrutinize him for his entire career if he doesn't. I hope not, , but you all know how bad I was with Hossa v. Franzen! To me, my unfair high expectations is going to be 35+ goals a year and 10+ per playoff year(s) in order to make up for not drafting D. But again, that is just going by my past, I hope that I am not that critical anymore and when/if he does well, I just enjoy the 6 out of 9 Stanley Cups we'll be celebrating in the coming years! (wouldn't that be nice!) Bottom line is, life is full of "what-ifs" we have to move forward no matter what. What if we were able to draft Bure when we tried to, what if Gretzky chose Detroit instead of LA, what if the limo hadn't crashed, what if Marty Lapointe took less money to stay here, what if The Isles took Heatley instead of DePietro, what if they didn't take LaFontaine and Devellano did..what if the moon were made of cheese (would you eat it?) what if life was fair to everyone....you get it. In the history of drafts, there have been more busts than booms. Here's to hoping that Zadina IS filling nets in the NHL SOON and that the four D you mentioned above ARE legit NHL starters and a couple of stars too! We only need ONE "Elite" D along with 2 or 3 2nd tier stars, we've proven that already. Establish who is elite, build him a nice cast of supporting talented line-mates and we're golden.

Both McIsaac and Veleno may very well end up better than Zadina IMHO. Personally I think our forward depth chart is awesome. I'm much less keen on adding forward prospects, including centers, than many seem to be. Defense I still feel less safe. Outside of Hronek, Cholowski, McIsaac, and Seider it feels like a total crap shoot. Goalies I'm a little concerned about. If Larsson isn't our guy we could be in deep water. The rest of our goalie prospects are a total question mark. Personally I'd rather have the complete opposite and build from the net out like Nashville did.

It's bait, and not even good bait at this point. Don't take it.