Rick D

No way, we're trading for a center. NOBODY feels good about Copp as a 2C on a playoff team. I think we're going to land either Thomas or Trocheck (and probably a depth defenseman too). Then we'll make a big swing in free agency next year to land Quinn Hughes, who is from Michigan and expressed a desire to play here. Our top six forwards and top four defenders would be lethal
 
Kasper-Larkin-Raymond
Dcat-Thomas/Trocheck-Finnie
 
Hughes-Seider
Edvinsson-ASP
 

I may be in the minority, but there's never been a better "buy low" time than now for EP40. When I say buy low, it could still mean a 1st, grade A prospect, NHL player, and possibly a lower pick.
Also, for the D, Ya, I am being overly optimistic, but I believe Detroit can use a LHD and RHD. Hamilton and OEL fit that bill for now and a couple years down the road. This will make Chiarot LD3 and shelter ASP on the RD3 spot. AlJo and JBD would be odd men out in the press box, but they can rotate in now and then. Also, both OEL and Dougie could also be flipped on one of the following TDL's if need be.

Pretty sure Mrs. Panarin wanted LA and nothing but.

I always knew we were never in on the Panarin thing, it never made sense. We already have a bunch of guys that profile like him offensively. We need a center and I can't help but think we're all-in on Robert Thomas and a low cost 2nd/3rd pair tweener for the right side of the defense.

When the Wings inevitably trade for a new 2C I think they should seriously consider demoting Kane to the 3rd line at even strength. He's still really valuable as a leader and on the powerplay, but he's not especially good at even strength. I like the way Kasper helps elevate Larkin and Raymond by doing the dirty work, and I'd love to see Finnie provide the same thing to a new 2nd line. Debrincat and Finnie with Thomas/Kadri/Pettersson/Trocheck would be a bear to deal with. let Kane and Copp play with JVR on the 3rd line.

I've been singing AlJo's praises for a while...IMHO he's becoming our version of former NHL'er Niklas Hjalmarsson.

I've been waiting to post, but most of the dust has settled now.
Drew Petzing - New OC. Spent 3 years on a terrible Cardinals team, and did terribly. However, he's young, best friends with former OC Ben Johnson, and his style fits us, just like Ben Johnson did. 
Basic: he's a heavy run guy, favoring multiple, even triple, TE packages. Old school MCDC style football. Rumored to be wanted by his best friend Ben Johnson, so unsurprisingly the Lions made him an offer he couldn't refuse the moment the bears season ended 
Further: we also managed to nab Kafka from the Giants. A college phenom, who also struggled with a struggling giants roster. He's a pass concept guy who should have gotten an OC job elsewhere, but chose us in an assistant role...
My assumption is Petzing will run the offense in a heavy run scheme, but allow Kafka to call passing plays. And if Petzing fudges up at all, Kafka can step into play calling, so Dan doesn't have to, like last years morton disaster...
Looking at the roster:
Lions are $5 mil over the cap. Goffs $69 mil payout will certainly be restructured down to something like $50 mil. So that solves that.
Perssonel wise, we have to continue rebuilding what brought us to the forefront: our bread n butter: the Oline. Losing Zeitler and Ragnow was huge, and thinking rookies could replace them was the first serious misstep I've seen brad and Dan make. 
Rumor has it we are aiming to select Alabama's left tackle early, and Georgia tech's QB late for a backup role. All picks in between SHOULD be additional Olinemen OR linebackers or DBs. 
I will be insanely furious if we spend any draft capital on a skill position again like last year.

Seems like the Wings brass likes Ben with ASP. I do think having the veteran there to mentor the young gun is the right call. But I also don't think those two guys should be playing in any high-leverage situations. Enter Albert Johansson with his absolutely stellar play lately. It's starting to be clear to me that whichever defenseman we trade for is going to become Albert's regular partner. I've seen Logan Stanley's name out there, Braden Schneider too. I'd love either of those guys with Albert on a more shutdown-type pair, and leave the sheltered minutes for Ben and ASP. I can't say I hate it.
Edvinsson-Seider (Two-way, 25 mins a night)
Johansson-Schneider/Stanley/Other (shutdown/hard minutes, 18-20 mins a night)
Chiarot-ASP (offensive zone starts, PK/PP duties, and low leverage situations, 15(ish) mins a night)
Bernard-Docker (press box most nights)

TO NYR: 1st + 2nd + Mazur + Buium
TO DET: Panarin + Rempe
 
Dcat - Larks - Raymond
Panarin - Copp - Kane
Finnie - JTC - Appleton
JVR - Ras - Rempe
Send Kasper and Soderblom down to be the Griffins TDL acquisitions. Back up for playoffs as black aces 
Copp also has experience with the Breadman at NYR.
Rempe for playoff rough housing

Chad Smith chumming it up there too!

Cot?
Was he some sort of superstitious type, felt he needed to be punished by sleeping downstairs in a rather meager way, or was that for his Vietnamese side puzzy?
Was there a jug for urine and feces too?
Strange - he was a primary reason for getting here.

Shanny thought he was gonna leap frog managing and become the big dick exec of the biggest team, now he can't find a job and has to ask his captain permission to enter the suite and scout for free.
What Toronto does to folks.
Anyway since we're sharing player stories. My buddies mom sold Shannys home in Detroit. She said he had a large unfinished basement to store the mountains of Shanahan trading cards he had, and a single cot in that basement, which is where he would sleep alone on the nights before games.

I think the real key is the cap space and tradable assets (picks, prospects). Right now, this team is honestly pretty middling. But, we're getting quality goaltending, we have at least one lights-out goal-scorer (DeBrincat), Seider is the unicorn we'd hoped he'd become, Edvinsson-Seider is the two-headed monster we'd hoped it'd be, and our power play is actually capable of winning us games now. When you add all the cap space in the world + trade chips to that...Yzerman has the ability to turn this team into An Actual Great Team literally overnight.

As a kid in metro Detroit in the 90s the coolest thing you could own was a Fedorov jersey. Equipping that gave your character like +75 charisma with other child NPCs. 
I found a Lidstrom jersey in my loot box. So I will always be bitter towards Fedorov and how much cooler his jersey made you then lamewad Lidstroms did.

Arguably the most complete player to ever play the game. I get crap from all sides every time I say that, but the only thing the dude didn't do was throw hands twice a week. And you know what? He probably would've excelled at that too!

Sergei made hockey cool. He's why I started playing hockey. I was never a particularly good hockey player, but I could skate like nobody's business. Why? Because I wanted to skate like Sergei Fedorov. Talk about "selling the sport" and "growing the game"!

Anyway, this was long overdue and it's nice to get some closure, for lack of a better word. Long live the good old days!
I randomly met Dino Ciccarelli at a golf thing. Wasn't even in Detroit. I was like "Are you Dino Ciccarelli?" And he was like "Yeh." Profound.

Yeah well I met Yzerman at Carl's Golf Land when I was like 8, and now he's like king of the red wings, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it

Same here, he was our Ovechkin to some extent. White skates instead of yellow laces and a visor, but he was a rockstar and the dude every kid wanted to look/play like.

I was 9 when Sergei was drafted, and I was just starting to really get into hockey; he was the coolest player to me. I met him a few years later at an autograph signing at Gibraltar trade center and I can still remember how excited I was to meet him while I was waiting in line. Essentially for me, this is where it all started. 
I'm really excited his number is finally in the rafters where it belongs. 
 

I was 9 when Sergei was drafted, and I was just starting to really get into hockey; he was the coolest player to me. I met him a few years later at an autograph signing at Gibraltar trade center and I can still remember how excited I was to meet him while I was waiting in line. Essentially for me, this is where it all started. 
I'm really excited his number is finally in the rafters where it belongs. 
 

I was 9 when Sergei was drafted, and I was just starting to really get into hockey; he was the coolest player to me. I met him a few years later at an autograph signing at Gibraltar trade center and I can still remember how excited I was to meet him while I was waiting in line. Essentially for me, this is where it all started. 
I'm really excited his number is finally in the rafters where it belongs. 
 

It was a really cool moment for the team, organization, fans, and Sergei too. I think it went well overall and didn’t drag on too long. Sergei was the man, and for a few years there was the best player on earth. He’s got all the accolades and awards. He’s got the Cups. It was always coming and it’s cool they finally did it. He’s an indelible part of the history of the organization. 

Not sure who is watching, but this was so long coming! I never ONCE felt ANY ill will towards Sergei. He, along with Probert will always be my favorite Detroit Red Wings! Congrats Sergei!

What are we waiting for? Larkin is never going to be better than he is now. Raymond and Seider are elite. We have good depth scoring, a top of the league powerplay, strong defense and goaltending, AND the eastern conference is wide open. Trade for two guys that have term and open the contention window. Right now our 1st round draft pick would be in the mid 20s. We don’t need that pick nearly as much as we need a 2C and a top four defender to bump ASP down to the 3rd pair. I’d happily trade this year and next year’s first rounders if we can land a 2C and top four defender. There are plenty out there. Pettersson/Hronek, Kadri/Andersson, Scheifle, Zibanejad, Thomas/Broberg. I’d trade any prospect not named Cossa or Danielson plus picks. 

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