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*Scans information* So you’re telling me he has 13 multi point games as an AHL rookie getting his first taste of North American hockey? Including 4 multipoint efforts in his last 16 games (17 points in that span)? All while leading the Griffins in scoring? Good. But in all seriousness, it’s not like I think the guy is the next Johnny Gaudreau or anything like that. I’ve elsewhere described him as an Ales Hemsky or Val Filppula type. But given that most 2nd rounders never pan out that’s a huge win for the Wings rebuild.

The expression is brass "tacks". Another side note: Ras is also a much bigger player, and was lanky and not a strong skater when he was drafted. It can take a while for the bigger players to develop physically too.

Ras is a year ahead in his development. Was Ras better a year ago then Zadina is today in every single facet of the game of hockey? Serious question. I lean no but curious where you would land. I agree that Zadinas been disappointing so far in his young career offensively but disagree that hes bad defensively. I think that disappointment tho is driven by expectations based on where he was drafted which is kinda dumb.

It's an overpayment. So no. Roslovic is a strictly offensive center, with pretty severe defensive limitations. Which is why in my fantasy line combos I put him with two really solid defensive wingers. He's probably not going to get too much better on the defensive end, so you're gambling that he can become a Mark Schiefle type - offense only - center with more icetime and solid wingers. But that's a pretty big gamble since he's never scored even 50 pts in the league. And BECAUSE it's a gamble you're not giving up a top end 1st round pick. But I can't imagine Columbus would expect one either, thankfully. Look at all the 1st round picks that get traded each year and almost none of them are lottery picks. There is a reason for that. The only time you see lottery picks involved in trades is when a team trades (for instance) their 2023 1st before the 2022 draft has even taken place (so basically two years out) and then the team ends up sucking worse than they thought. Yzerman is smart, he's not doing that.

In other prospect news, Rogle is currently riding William Wallinder through the SHL playoffs. He's been an absolute horse, playing 20+ minutes a night of solid defensive hockey. Tasked with shutting down the other teams' top lines. I still don't see too much offensive upside at the NHL level, but if he can turn into a Matthias Ekholm/Danny Dekeyser type who can score 25-30 points at even strength and play really good defense for 20 mins a night I'm going to be pumped.

Step 1: Trade Suter, Zadina, McIsaac, and a 2nd to Columbus for Jack Roslovic and Vladislav Gavrikov Step 2: Move Ras to the wing permanently. Step 3: Sign Brett Kulak Step 4: Ice this lineup Ras-Larkin-Vrana Bert-Roslovic-Raymond Berggren-Veleno-Sodorblom Sundqvist-Stephens-Erne Smith Gavrikov-Seider Kulak-Hronek Edvinsson-Lindstrom Oesterle

Agreed, but it's not just that Berggren scores. It's HOW he scores. His skills are transferable. We wouldn't be having this discussion if we were talking about Martin Frk (for example) because he's got all the same problems as Zadina despite how good he is in the AHL. But we're talking about a totally different type of offensive player. Berggren has A+ skating, passing, vision, and smarts. Zadina has none of those things. Zadina had a good shot at lower levels but it's clear he can't consistently beat NHL goalies with it. And he doesn't really bring much else to the table.

Berggren basically lost 2 straight years of development and showed continued improvement once he stayed healthy. Zadina kept playing and he scores just as little as he did when he entered the league. Who cares what he could do in the AHL. It's his lack of improvement in the NHL that sucks. Berggren has shown improvement in every league he has played in. Many of us think he will show that same progress at the NHL level. That is the difference.

That was a typo I corrected, it was 4 in 16. As far as the second part of your post, I'd say a few things: Zadina probably would be tearing it up in the AHL. So what? Does that mean he's a good NHL scorer, or that Berggren won't be? Zadina was a better AHL scorer than Bertuzzi, and? Berggren will score more in the NHL than Zadina for a few reasons. One, he doesn't rely on his shot for points. He's a playmaker, and when he moves to the NHL he'll be passing to better shooters. Zadina, on the other hand has zilch for primary assists. Two, he's a MUCH better skater which (combined with his passing) should help him score more in transition than Zadina does. Third, Zadina sucks on the powerplay. He's a one trick pony (one timer off the flank), and that trick doesn't work in the NHL because his shot isn't very good. Berggren is a nightmare on the powerplay because his edgework is sick as f*** and his passing is elite. I don't care about Zadina, personally I'm blown away that a guy who's done SO LITTLE gets so much discussion from this fan base. Conversely I'm excited about Berggren because he's a lot of things Zadina isn't. But he will DEFINITELY score more, you can mark that down.