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If I could pick 3 lottery winners, they'd be Detroit, Minnesota and Arizona.

Thanks for the short analysis as I still have barely looked into Drysdale. When you mention Hughes and Makar my interest is piqued. Your last line is the way I think though, and if we don't get Laff I'd really like any one of those guys. Byfield obviously, Stutzle would be cool for the german factor and because I really like drafting guys who've already played in men's leagues. Rossi seems risky due to his skating/size, but he just seems so stinking talented and also appears to have some exceptional balance, which may make his size less of a factor.

I won't search back thru hundreds of pages to find out where your analysis is coming from. I will link 2 pages that show that Larkin has been a 1C in scoring over the last 2 seasons. https://www.foxsports.com/nhl/stats?season=2019&category=SCORING&group=1&sort=3&time=0&pos=0&team=0&qual=1&sortOrder=0&page=1 It was a down year for Dylan this season, but he still finished 58th in scoring among forwards. Eliminate the wingers and Larkin finishes at 31st among centers. Out of 31 teams, that would make him the last 1C in, but still a 1C despite playing on the worst offensively and lowest scoring team. https://www.foxsports.com/nhl/stats?season=2018&category=SCORING&group=1&sort=3&time=0&pos=1&team=0&qual=1&sortOrder=0&page=1 This list puts him at 23rd among centers in scoring last season, making him comfortably a 1C.

I think you're probably right here. I won't mind it, and I think he'll probably make a good Captain. To CRL's point though I just hope he loses a bit of that petulant attitude, or at least makes it significantly less overt. He's only 23 though so I'm not worried about it. I mean, statistically it isn't ludicrous at all and supports me much more than you. But to call a 23 year old who nobody really touts that highly anyway overrated is just unreasonable in and of itself. Though you being unreasonable and having the argumentative depth of a puddle isn't really new at all, so carry on.

don't misrepresent what mackel actually said. He called Larkin overrated, when in fact most of us rate him just fine.

Nailed it. At 23 with no supporting cast. You have to try extra hard to argue otherwise, meanwhile It's really simple to portray him as a 1C. That should tell you something itself.

unzip me daddy

Good point. I've almost forgotten at this point how truly of an embarrassment we were. No coach should be able to survive that for as long as Blashill has already, let alone come back for another season. Sadly, It likely comes down to what @Barrie said. Why would any decent coach want to come here at this point just to tank their own career?

Click bait

I disagree. If the league had the backbone to do a 30 team playoff, we'd win the Cup this season to prove everyone wrong.

I don't really understand how getting blown out every night and going on multiple 10 game losing streaks makes him a good coach for young players. Like if we were losing 3-1 or 4-2 and we saw improvement from younger players, I would be defending him. Honestly, for me, its not the losing, its HOW we're losing. So many games were pretty much over after the first period because we're down 3-0 or 4-0. At what point is getting blown out detrimental to the morale of young players learning to play at the NHL level? In regards to the topic, I think if we win the lottery, 5 years from now, Blashill will be gone and we'll be a playoff team. Heck, I'm thinking 2-3 years from now we'll be back in the playoffs if we win the lottery.

You're adjusting for the things that support your argument, but completely ignoring the things that would go against it. QoC definitely plays a factor, one that you're clearly not considering here. Larkin goes up against all the top centers and defensemen in the league every single night. Despite this, he still grades out to be a borderline 1st / 2nd line center. He's doing this on the league worst team, in every statistical category, with very little support. You're also only looking at one season, one that was very clearly a down season for the team and player. Larkin was ranked 21st amongst all centers in total points just one year ago. This season, the team was historically bad, so you can't really expect every player to grade out well. Some did. Most didn't. You're also only looking at total points, when defense has to be taken into account in any of these debates. Like I mentioned, Larkin went up against the leagues best every single night, so while it was tough to score against these players, it was even tougher to defend these players. Yet, Larkin did about as well as he could have, all things considered. You also have to consider age, and that Larkin is only now entering his prime years. No one knows how Larkin's career will play out, but to right him off as a middle six center at this point, is just plain dumb. At the same age, Datsyuk was a rookie, playing 3rd line center with a hall of fame winger, on a Stanley Cup champion team, and still only managed to put up 35 points in 70 games. Zetterberg was playing his 2nd season, on Datsyuk's wing, in which he put up 43 points in 61 games. I'm not saying that Larkin will be Datsyuk or Zetterberg, but I think he will be much closer to that level of player, when it's all said and done, than your average 2nd (or 3rd LOL) line center...

I do have a bit of problem with the whole 31st center in scoring thing. First off, you're not adjusting scoring for games played. Guys like Crosby actually fall outside of the top 31 centers, despite us all knowing Crosby is much better player than Larkin. When you adjust for games played Larkin isn't a top line center. Second, when you adjust Larkin's scoring to points per ice-time he falls to about 59-61. Barely a 2nd line center. Thus I suspect when Mackel says Larkin would be a 3rd line center on some teams he's not far from accurate. Third, Hudler was #8 in scoring among all forwards in 2014-15. Do you honestly believe Hudler was a top 10 forward in the league that year? Or was he just a good player who was afforded top minutes with good linemates? This is the flaw with arguing with totality of points. You've all just witnessed an atrocious season from the Red Wings. Mackel and I are here warning you that your beloved players who participated in this atrocious season aren't that good. Choose not to believe us if you like, but don't say we didn't warn you.

Read somewhere that goaltending this year in the OHL has been abysmal. When asked about the goalie trademarket in juniors this year one scout said something like: "Can you even find two goalies in the OHL worth trading for?". Something to think about when it comes to Byfield, Rossi, Perfetti etc. Their numbers might be inflated. Sorry for not being able to provide source.

I bit the bullet and sifted through your nonsense, but see no actual analysis or what you're referring to outside of some stupid Staal/Bergeron comparison (shallow). I may have missed it or not looked back far enough, but I don't care that much to spend more time on it. Feel free to find it for me if you'd like. I'll say again, statistically he's a 1C, It's real easy to figure this part out, so easy I'm not going to do it for you since anyone with any basic reasoning skills can figure out how. He does this while being the sole threat his team has to offer, which if you don't think is a massive disadvantage, you're delusional (color me shocked).

COWARD!

I literally have nothing specific about him to point to. It's just one of those things where its what my gut is telling me. However, my gut can be wrong, so I won't stubbornly argue the point.

I'd been thinking all season long that Minny's gonna get one of the first three picks. Still think that. Just a gut feeling. Fair enough. Personally, I dunno what's not to like about him. He filled in for Byram at the WJC and performed admirably, becoming the youngest defenseman to represent Canada since Jay Bouwmeester. He has the elite skating and elite offensive instincts of guys like Hughes and Makar but he's also surprisingly good on the defensive side of the puck. Like Seider, he projects as a guy who eats minutes across all situations, a guy you can hard match against top talent. A guy you can really lean on. His bread and butter will likely be the power play, but I definitely don't see him as a one-dimensional power play specialist, if that's the concern. A top three of Drysdale, Seider, Hronek could be delicious. On the other hand, if we take Byfield/Stutzle/Rossi then we likely will have addressed our center depth problem, possibly for the next ten years.

It pretty much is unless player X is traded. Stripping Larkin of the C down the road is worse than appointing Glendening for a few years IMHO.

Yeah I think Glendening is the right age and would make an admirable sorta interim captain while we wait for everyone else to age up The biggest argument against Larkin for C is Seider, clearly. Basically my entire argument around Glendening for C rests on the real goal of creating time for Seider to receive the C. If Seider was just another great - but typical quiet passive European personality the Wings are used to drafting - I'd be much more inclined to just say Larkin's been groomed, he's the hometown lad, just give it to him. But Seider isn't that guy at all. We've all seen his big personality on camera, and we've seen his leadership on the ice now, and it's impressive. Impressiveness enough that I want to wait. Before the draft I really just liked Seider for his play. There was a few comments out there from his coach about how mature and confident he was, but you kinda take that with a grain of salt. Then he gets drafted and it's immediately clear, wow, this kid lights up a room. He's glowing. Maybe his coach wasn't joking. Then if you remember prospect camp, he comes right in and is telling guys where to go and what to do, jabbering on the bench at everyone, and gets aggressive with the Hawks Dach immediately. You could tell the moment he came out of that lockerroom, he was the quarter back, he was the big dick, and despite older guys like Smith being out there he was gonna lead the boys. Down the line he gets named captain of the German team and plays like a half hour a game leading the German juniors. He steps on to the Griffins and is immediately arguably the best player on the team. The picture of a future NHL captain is being painted here. Larkin had the same picture painted for him, but Larkin's was mostly based on being a normal guy who's just really good at hockey. I would definitely say - even if Seider turns out to be less valuable of a player than Larkin is - he exhibits way more true qualities of leadership and more propensity to being a captain. I would hate to find ourselves in a situation in the future where Larkin clearly isn't the lockerroom leader anymore but still has the C. I just want us to get this decision right the first time. Going without a captain for 1 or 2 more years while we suck and tank isn't that bad of a cost to pay even if we end up choosing Larkin anyway. Who know's, maybe we get Lafren and he outshines both Larkin and Seider by a mile. It will be kinda sucky if we have the next Mario Lemieux on our roster but we rushed to name Larkin captain before he could earn it.

48 goals in 68 games = scoring pace of 0.705 goals per game Apply that scoring pace to a full 82 game season = 57.8 goals 57.8 - 48 = 9.81 goals Hence my statement "he was on pace for another 9-10 goals this season" Who else needs a math class?

I wouldn't name a captain soley so we can name Seider captain the season after With coaches also consider that maybe Yzerman wanted Lambert out of NYI. Yzerman had till today to exercise his buyout option on Blash, but Lambert has to get ready to coach the Islanders playoffs now. Rona threw a huge wrench directly into that timeline if that's the case. Best to just stick with the bald idiot.

And zero more assists.

If Ottawa have two of the top three picks, I think they could take Drysdale, along with their center / winger. Otherwise, I don't see any other team taking Drysdale top 3. I also don't see any team taking Askarov top 10, let alone top 3... I'm still hopeful that we'll land a top two pick, but we should be getting a stud anywhere in the top four. I wouldn't even mind the Oilers (my 2nd favorite team), but the Leafs, Hawks or Pens would be disgusting... Imagine a top line of Lafreniere, McDavid and whoever... That would also be disgusting...

No Kip. I just choose not to irresponsibly jump to conclusions about what someone's intentions are based on one statement that doesn't clearly state them. It's called "Giving someone the benefit of the doubt." Perhaps you should try it. Not just in regards to what Datsyuk said, but in what others say in here as well. You may think you're omniscient, but ur not. Datsyuk: "I'm an Orthodox." Kip and CRL: "He's clearly homophobic. There's no other way to interpret it." Others: "I could interpret it that way. I could also interpret it as someone who's stuck in the middle who could be harmed publicly in Russia for speaking out. Saying 'I'm an Orthodox' is his way of ending a conversation he doesn't want to have. He may not even agree with it, but he's Russian and Orthodox, so he can't publicly oppose it. Either way, without clarification or a follow up response, I can't fairly make a judgment." But I suppose that would mean not thinking badly of other people. Or looking for the worst in people. I try to look for the good in others. I try to be fair and not jump to conclusions. You should try that. Maybe you wouldn't be so angry all of the time. It's not healthy. Don't worry. Kip gets plenty of exercise. Yeah. We should probably shut this one down, lol.