Leaderboard

I think Zadina has the potential to be better than Oshie/Tatar/Nyquist/Hudler. I don't think that's a stretch at this point in time. I know you're not crazy about his game, and I respect that, but, for me, there's a lot to like. I think he can be elite(ish). Yes, Hughes is looking like he would've been the smarter pick. But time will tell. Beyond Hughes, no 2018 hidden gems have emerged: https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2018e.html We're in agreement about Zadina likely not being That Guy We Need; he's likely not going to be Pastrnak or Kucherov. ...Though, to be fair, Pastrnak and Kucherov have played with best-of-the-best players for most (all?) of their respective NHL careers, which has undoubtedly boosted them. In any case, I don't really hold anything against Zadina. He can only be the player he is. It's on the brain trust to fill the holes that need to be filled. I agree that the top priority has to be finding A Legit Superstar and that wanking ourselves off to our current "core" is starting to feel kinda stupid. We have sort of a "core by default," i.e. they're the best we've got, so we imbue them with importance and potential that maybe they haven't quite earned. But, as with Zadina, I don't really hold our situation against them. Hot take: Larkin is Toews without the Kane & Keith boost. Even with the Kane & Keith boost, Toews has cracked 70 points only twice in his career (76 in 2010-11, 81 in 2018-19). He's never hit 85 points. People can point to Toews's two-way play, which is fair, but I'd argue Larkin's underlying numbers point to him being a future Selke guy. People can point to Toews's intangible leadership qualities, but we all know he's a big baby. Ryan O'Reilly's never put up big numbers, but damn if he hasn't established himself as one of the most valuable players in the league. I think Larkin can become the player O'Reilly is today -- but even if he does, Yzerman needs to be winning lots of picks and trades and free agent signings for us to have a team like the 2019 Blues within the next three years. I don't really understand the "crutch" argument. Would you really have Yzerman trade our best young roster guys? If we do that, we could be gutting organizational depth that we've built up over years. Having Lafreniere and no supporting cast isn't much/any better than having a lot of good-not-great guys who lack a superstar leader. I think Yzerman has it right: We have some good young pieces, but it's not enough, and so we need to add, and we need a bunch of those adds to be big wins. I don't see why that has to take 10 years. These days, Cup-winners are generally driven by players in their late 20s and early 30s. I'd like to see us winning some playoff games by the time Larkin is 27ish, which would be three or four years from now. I think that's a reasonable timeline.

Yes, I understood... I was adding to your meme... Maybe I should have said: YuP. tRaDe LaRkIn. tRaDe MaNtHa. wE cOuLd UsE tHaT eXtRa $13M iN cAp SpAcE...

Core by default is a good term. That's what it feels like. I don't wanna build around an average core. I wanna wallow in the mud and the filth and feel all that good heavy soul crushing hurt until we draft a dynastic core. I feel like I'm the guy in the bar who gets a call from his girl 6 drinks in. "OMG CRL R U AT THE BAR DRINKING AGAIN???". And you guys are all like "You should probably go home dude, sober up and work on your relationship. Amy's a nice girl" My attitude is f*** Amy. She already caught me, I'm already in trouble, may as well have a few more rounds at this point and close the bar. I can get a new better Amy next weekend anyway if she decides to pack her bags. Thats my bad analogy for: f*** it dude, we're already in the NHLs basement. May as well stick around and stack some quality players while we're here. If Mantha ends up running out on us while we're down here then f*** him too, we're getting better Mantha's in the next draft. No doubt it's a fatalistic outlook, but it's also the quickest path to a dynasty in my book. My worst fear is Mantha is Franzen 2.0. Larkin is Toews 2.0. Seider is Kronwall 2.0. Zadina is Oshie 2.0... and we sneak into the playoffs in 4 years with this completely average team and never accomplish anything to show for it. Like 2011-2016 all over again. So far we've come out of these doldrums with two 6th overall picks. This year we will get something in 1-4. Frankly, even if we get Lafreniere, I don't think two 6ths and one 1st is a good enough haul for the pain we've already endured. Ideally I think we should be trying to come out of this trough with multiple top4 picks and supplementary 1st rounders as well. Say Yzerman gets the wheels on the bus going next year and we're picking 6-10 again. The year after we're in the 6-10 range and so on, leading up to a 4th year playoff appearance. I don't think adding one Lafreniere is the way to do this. Exploit the tragedy and get multiple of these guys is what I say.

Completely 100% agree with all of this...

I'd take on Seabrook if it were the primary part of acquiring Strome. Chicago dumping that contract would be HUGE for them. Wings will suck for most of the remainder of his contract. If the team does somehow get good and his contract gets in the way, it'll be an easy buyout to swallow at that point.

Correct. We used to think Howard was average. Now we thinks he's awesome.

Sources say the exact opposite is happening. He's getting bigger. Accumulating more mass. Remember when you were a kid and wondered why they didn't just put a huge fat guy in the net that can cover the whole net frame? You're about to see that what-if in action next season.

Because the pieces garnered from trading 60 pt centers are more valuable to last place teams than 60 pt centers are. By the time we have a new Yzerman, Seider is full Konstantinov, we have a competent goalie in place, and the depth is strong enough for us to make a cup push, Larkin will be traded/moved-on/or-dead. I'm amazed daily by how many ppl "like" this core. Everynight they are trash. I used to think Wings fans understood what excellence was... now i"m not so confident. Bert should get the C. Plays harder than 100% of this roster. But I'd like to wait for Seider. He's gonna be Lidstrom/Pronger leadership tier. I think it'll be worth the wait.