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Stutzle up to #2 *and* Button believes he's a center at the next level.

Disagree. While I believe its a mistake to water down the sport to appease people who don't watch it anyway, I totally agree with removing predatory hits from the game. That benefits everyone. Hitting guys with your stick, cross checking players into the boards, taking out guys' knees...these are what SHOULD be removed from the game as well as the players who commit them. It's not castrating the sport. Its showing respect to the guys who play the game and protecting their livelihood.

I mean why ignore the bottom 6? We're never going to have 6 ELC players with top6 potential ready to play responsible NHL hockey year after year. We absolutely need solid bottom 6 players like Ehn and Glendening down there. Hunting for new ones every year and overpaying them on the UFA market doesn't seem like a very wise choice. There's a reason Glendening will have decent value on the trade market. Competitive teams need players like this. We're not competitive yet, but hopefully by the time Ehn is 26/27 we will be. Eh I think Glendog is solid 3rd liner on a lot of teams. 4th liner on a very deep one. I often advocate re-signing Glendening when trade talks come up because he's so great at his role I want to keep him. He's an upscale bottom 6 PK forward. Those aren't as easy to find as one would think, and most teams keep these guys once they have them.

Although he´s on the wing, he´s playing more like a center, always first one back. His offense comes from his defensive play, creating turnovers through hard backchecking. He´s really good, fast skater, thinks the game faster than any of his teammates, which makes me curious to see how he´s playing with better players. I have no clue how good he is on faceoffs because he isn´t taking any so far. All in all you get an 18yo with one year pro experience and the chance to play directly in the AHL if he is not making the team out of camp, who plays a responsible, mature game combined with speed and skill. Whoever is picking him will have real good player

If Yzerman waives Ehn at all I'll be ******* pissed. I really don't think Yzerman is that stupid though.

Got plenty of other picks for that.

I think Askarov is too risky of a pick with guys like Stutzle, Raymond, Byfield still on the board after the first pick.

Still dont want.

Craig Button's rankings, for what it's worth...Stutzle up to #2! Craig's List

Does anyone remember all those weird paper transactions with Zadina? Where Yzerman was sending him up and down, but not actually sending him back to GR? Was just thinking about this and what it means for the Yzerplan. I think if these strange payroll transactions are an indicator of anything it's that Yzerman intends on maximizing and weaponizing his payroll budget and therefore cap space at the deadline. Basically what @nyqvististhefuture has been advocating for for some time. We take on all the dead weight in the NHL in exchange for picks. Some of the more obvious trades I think we can make: Helm + Perlini for picks + prospects Green + Bowey for picks + prospects I think those are 4 players I can see Yzerman wanting to move on from at the TDL. I think he will be smart enough to hold on to AA and trade him at the draft, or this summer. Some of the more creative trades (bare with me, they're just ideas): Howard for Quick + picks. Kings get to escape that contract while they still have Doughty and Kopitar around, giving them a chance to re-open their playoff window. Howard plays out the season for them and is then let go. Yzerman reunites Bernier and Quick and now Yzerman doesn't have to go goalie shopping in the offseason. Plus we get at least a first rounder I would think? Ericsson for Alzner + picks Montreal again get to escape that contract and revive their team. You guys get it. It's trading in exchange for term. The only trouble is it definitely helps extend the rebuild. But with Nielsen and Abby on the roster for another 3 years, why not just add players like Quick and Boychuck who have another 3 years too? Then we can use buyouts as needed as the team grows. Plus a compliance buyout is coming from Seattle soon. IDK

THEE Corey Pronman said that? Wasn't Corey also the one who was forced to begrudgingly admit that he was wrong about Seider during training camp this fall? That he had him ranked way too low at the draft and that he hadn't even watched Seider play that much prior? Seider was THE BEST player in his draft class. Better and more valuable than Jack Booos and Krappo Cracko. Years from now folks will do their little re-drafts and Seider will be #1 without question.

If Veleno and Ras can become legit 2nd and 3rd line centers, I'll be pumped. I do not care which of the two becomes a 2nd line center, I just hope either can achieve that level of success. Ras is playing better right now, but he is also a year further into his development, and in his second full season playing pro hockey. Hopefully Veleno continues to improve in the AHL level, because the Wings need both of these guys to pan out, regardless of which of the two turns out to be better.

Respect it and understand the motivation, still disagree. Sports are a drug. U like light beer. I like hard liquor. I wanna see the toughest nastiest craziest s*** out there. These guys risk their health night in and night out. But that's the job. A lot of jobs require risking your health for far less pay. I mean, to take the extreme example, look at the military. Base pay is like 20K a year and these men and women are signing up to literally risk their lives and possibly have overwhelmingly traumatic experiences for that. Meanwhile base pay in the NHL is 700K a year. Far more than I'll ever make in a year even with my cushy corporate job. So sorry Johnny hockey, but you can afford to be clipped at the knees and crosschecked in the lower back a few times. Don't like it? Get a regular job like the rest of us. You know exactly what you signed up for.