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HOW MUCH DID UNCLE GARY PAY YOU, KIP? WHAT WAS THE PRICE OF YOUR SOUL????

LONGTIME LGW.COM FAMILY UNITE

Your post got me thinking about an idea I've been kicking around for a while. What if you just never traded a first round pick? Like, as an organizational philosophy? BUT you always traded away talented (but not core) pieces after their primes? Over time would you be better off for it? So for example, you draft Filip Hronek and he turns into a top four defenseman. You keep signing him throughout his RFA period (usually ends around 27-28 years old, same as their primes). If you're out of playoff contention you trade him at the deadline for a haul, if you're in the playoffs you trade his rights in the offseason for something meager or let him walk for nothing. But you NEVER trade a 1st. That means you've got roughly 10 years worth of 1st round picks to find his replacement. Plus whatever additional picks you've gathered from similar trades previously. In the event of injuries you either sign a UFA (Chiarot or Maatta) or trade prospects and/or 2nd-3rd round picks to replace who you lost with a Walman level player. The advantages are this: 1. Over the hill players can still fetch big returns at the deadline. There are a million examples of teams getting 1st round picks in return for over the hill 30-35 year old players. So very often you'd have extra first and 2nd round picks to use however you wanted. 2. Trading a 1st round pick for a deadline rental almost never benefits your team. Lots of teams do it at the deadline and it only ever pays off for one of them. Even dynasty teams only win 2-3 times during their windows, so AT BEST you get a few trade wins and even more trade losses. 3. Your roster will always be full of studs to replace the guys you trade away at the end of their usefulness. You can confidently trade a Hronek at the end of his usefulness without any dropoff because you've got Seider and Edvinsson and Sandin Pellika coming right behind him. Obviously your drafting would have to be league average or better. You'd probably also only want to draft centers and defensemen with your 1st round picks. So in essence you ALWAYS trade your Manthas, Bertuzzis, and Hroneks, but never trade your Seiders or your 1sts. Am I crazy or is this a WAY better idea than trading a 1st for Elias Lindholm (for instance) and A) hoping that helps you win the Cup, and/or B) hoping the pick you traded away doesn't become Andrei Vasilevsky? Because Option A is unlikely and Option B is devastating.

It seems like forever since we've been able to be excited about a TDL. Every year we were spoiled, looking forward to the new toys that would be brought in. Exciting times. I have been a looooong time reader of these forums. Going back to the late 90's early 2000's. I've visited the site nearly daily and enjoyed following the discussions and laughed at some of the arguments. You guys are awesome. Many years ago my buddies older brother would come on here as GilchristFOREVER and post the wildest stuff. We would crack up reading his posts before he submitted them. Good times.( for those who know). My wish list is a decent goalie to give us a 2b option for the playoffs in case Lyon runs out of gas. And a scrappy Dman. Let's Go Wings!

Exactly. And if you have a David Savard you should ALWAYS trade him for a 1st.

I like it. Only if you have a(one) glaring hole on your roster should you trade a 1st round pick. But if we go by your thinking you should have a couple of extra 1st’s to fix that anyways. GMs are out there spending top picks on players line David Savard. That should never ever be done.

And gloved by Seiders

Keep the 1st round picks. I like the Barrons and Kesselrings better. This teams trajectory is looking great. Crack the playoffs, get some experience. Draft a ASP-like steal in the middle first round and inject more young studs into the roster for next season and keep on moving up. Cup window opens soon. Thats when we start dealing 1st round picks. Until then: only bong rips and smooth sailing.

You're probably in the ballpark, but it's hard to say how a trade packages will actually shake out these days because salary retention/cap casualties have value as well. Look at the Chychrun deal last year, or the Mantha trade a year before.

Interesting slate of games tonight gaps can widen/shrink based on tonight's results. But main thing we NEED to take care of business. I am banging on the table for a run at the Laffs. They have game in hand but only 4 points ahead of us. We win they lose and we keep in the hunt for 3rd in a big way.

I think moving Perron would be a mistake. He has to be very careful not to mess with this teams makeup-they claim Perrons speech is what made them turn it around, you don't want to ship out a player like this unless you have to. Sure he's slowed up, but he's so hard on the puck and is one of our best guys at winning puck battles-maybe the best tbh. It would be in our better interest to try and sign him to a cheaper team friendly deal, at least while he's still effective for the next couple years. AND HOLY HELL PLEASE SIGN KANER. That is all

Thoughts on this... To Det: Sean Durzi To Ari: Johnny Burgers, 3rd Round Pick

I'm watching the Capitals/Sens game right now and the Caps announcing team can't stop singing the praises of the Red Wings. It's absolutely wild how we've gone from "Detroit is behind Ottawa and Buffalo in their rebuild" to "The Caps better not play loosey goosey against Detroit tomorrow or the Red Wings will make them pay" in less that six months.

What's to stop Chris Chelios from coming out of retirement?

Thoughts on Scott Laughton and Rasmus Andersson?

and for the first time in what feels like forever we are in the mix so exciting

I think I posted exactly this. Let me go back and check..

Stroke of genius by Gary Bettman. The biggest complaint about sports with long seasons is that there are a bunch of meaningless games in the middle. The playoff chase hasn't begun yet and the enthusiasm of a new season has worn off. In baseball they call it the "dog days". Three point games mean there are no dog days in the NHL. The whole point is to keep games meaningful all season long and it works. I just watched a February game between Toronto and Arizona last week because of the playoff implications for Detroit. Bettman has been playing 3D chess for years. Fans boo him and blame him for things the owners do/want and meanwhile everything they really enjoy about the game is his brainchild. If you like fast paced, high offense, meaningful hockey games there's only one guy to thank for it.