marcaractac

Bedard's WHL numbers are right there with McDavid. The difference is Bedard is on a trash team. Can you imagine what his scoring would be if he was on a contending team? Regina not trading him will set that team back for years. But Bedard basically sold out the Saddledome for a WHL game, so he does sell tickets. It's sucks he will end up with either a poverty franchise like Arizona or Columbus. Or even worst a team like Chicago. The league needs to interfere and get him in Detroit where he can win championships and cement a legacy. Learn from McDavid in Edmonton, Gary.

I'm guessing it would be similar to Hudler?

Larkin will be a Bruin next season. You heard it here first.

It also helps when one of your 70-point centers is a defensive beast like Bergeron or ROR. Larkin is good, but he is not on that level.

I feel you go after Horvat if you don't lock up Larkin. I see no reason to have both. If we want a vet to teach the younger players, sign someone who has won s*** in their career.

It's gonna be hilarious when the Islanders still don't make the playoffs and then lose Horvat for nothing in UFA. Speaking of UFA, I also hope Yzerman stays away from offering Horvat any long-term deal.

This. Give him a prove it contract and ship him out the moment he builds his value back up.

Cossa with .967 save % in his last five starts. Trending in the right direction with some consistency.

Yeah, brain fart on my part there haha. Don't mind me. Been a long week! But yeah, winning either of the two lottery picks would be huge. Love Bedard though. That kid simply wants to win. He carried Team Canada on his back in the World Juniors. Canada gonna have a rough go at the next tournament without him.

It's the multiple hand injuries that concern me. Hopefully, he can show in the next few weeks that his hand surgeries are not an issue.

Absolutely. There is also that slim chance of winning the draft lottery. Just imagine. I'd take Bedard and STILL try and move up for one of the two centers you mentioned.

I wouldn't be mad, but the man can't stay healthy.

This would be lovely. As much as I'd love Bedard, getting another center in the system with 1C potential is ESSENTIAL. We need guys that can take over when Larkin starts to decline in the coming years. My one and only concern with Larkin as 1C and nobody in the pipeline to take that spot is how short our contention window would be. Moving up into the draft to take the best center not named Bedard would very much curb that issue.

I wouldn't sign Bert long-term period. Offer a one or two-year deal, take it or leave it. Sell him on betting on himself on a one-year contract to have a rebound season. If it works, we have a valuable trade piece again. Then he can go and get paid his big contract elsewhere. Otherwise, we just got to hope he heats up within the next month.

I'll be pissed if that happens. If Horvat wants to be in Detroit, he can wait until UFA.

I've been saying this since he came into the league. Even before he was drafted he was so much more effective on the wing. Coaches just get too much of a hard-on with him as a center because tall. Imagine if he had a Tage Thompson breakout season.

According to Woodward Sports, Yzerman is not budging on his Larkin offer and will basically play the Stamkos game. Man if we lose Larkin for nothing because of Yzerman's ego...

Their excuse is always "we need to sell tickets" which is ******* bulls*** considering how much money Hockey Canada makes.

I think B is the answer here. Quality players come from the CHL program out of sheer volume. America has been catching up based on the quality of its program. Also, make hockey more accessible to lower-income families! The cost of being a successful hockey player growing up in Canada is ******* insane. Which is why we get so many rapey rich kids. It sucks.

Regulations relaxing on pot will help with this too. Many folks in many professions do coke because it's out of their system by Monday and they'll pass drug tests.

Sending guys overseas would be nice, but I feel like if every team started sending players not eligible for the AHL, there wouldn't even be close to enough roster spots available for them. Complete speculation, but there has to be a reason why we never see this as an option outside of scenarios that shut down the league. Wright vs Beniers is an interesting case. Beniers got to play in college on a stacked team for one more year. A much more competitive program vs the CHL where certain players just flat-out dominate the leagues. Seattle definitely should have s*** or get off the pot with Wright though. If you're scratching an 18 yo, maybe send him down so he can at least play. It definitely seems like the CHL agreement is the biggest obstacle facing player development. I feel making exceptions for top 10 picks would solve a lot of it. Or even every team gets one player that they can make AHL eligible that otherwise wouldn't be.

Definitely comes down to the player. With Canadians, it's a slippery slope because you get kids far too good for junior but struggle at the NHL level. So you have to wonder, is figuring it out in the NHL more beneficial than a cakewalk in junior? With many players from overseas, it's usually not bad because they can get development time in Euro leagues or even the AHL. The USA college hockey program seems to have s*** figured out. Canada gets boned by the CHL agreement. Jack Huges is probably a good example of this. He struggled early and was called a bust by many. But after two tough seasons, he figured it out. Some players in that situation would get killed by their confidence and Jurco their way out of the league.

But imagine adding that sort of talent to a competent franchise run by Yzerman.

This. The only players who have been on the roster this season that should see this rebuild through are Seider, Raymond, Berggren, Ras, and Soderblom. Maybe Hronek, but he likely has more value as trade bait.

100% agree. In Montreal he was so effective with Weber because Weber was the guy. I guess Chiarot saw Seider as a young padawan and figured he had to take the reigns. But yeah, coaching should have seen that wasn't working. Seider needs to be the go to guy regardless of his partner. Thank f*** for Walman.