kipwinger

I think he'll make the Red Wings, but if he does go to GR I'm not gonna be angry. Defense is a hard position to learn to play correctly, even for top guys like him. Seider spent two years developing (if only because of the pandemic) and I think he's probably better because of it. Edvinsson still needs to work on his shot as well, so GR would give him a lot of reps doing that.

Edvinsson played 26 minutes lol. What a monster.

What are you talking about? I don't remember Franz Nielsen's contract aging badly after he was signed long term at the age of 31.

I'm in an awkward position here because I generally agree with you that his performance wasn't what you'd expect last season, but it was by no means "bad". His final stats in the WHL were solid, just not spectacular, during the regular season. During the playoffs he was a beast, and that's important because it's the playoffs, there are no bad teams to inflate your stats. Then he was great again during the Memorial Cup. The Red Wings event you're thinking of is the prospect tournament. He wasn't great at that event, I agree, but he was the youngest goalie there. He had just been drafted and got lit up by guys who were a few years older, some of whom are playing in professional leagues already. I'm not too beat up about it. You're also a little off base about the WJC. He didn't play, not because he was awful (he wouldn't have made the team if he was bad) but because Dylan Garand (who is a full year older than Cossa) had a monster season last year. He was the CHL goalie of the year. Canada went with the older, hotter, goalie. That's not uncommon, they always put older players in those positions. Remember when Joe Veleno was their 1C for the WJC despite never, ever, being the best center Canada had on their WJC roster? Me too. I don't know enough about Wallstedt to say he'll be elite. If you think so I'll defer to your judgement. I definitely want Cossa to be more consistent with his performance as well. So I'm with you on the fact that he's under performed. But goalies do A LOT of developing post-draft. Most don't even sniff the NHL until they're 23-25 years old. Igor Shesterkin, for example, developed for 5 years before he even got a cup of coffee in the NHL. Yaroslav Askarov is now in the draft+4 year, has been abysmal in international play, and was never a starter in the KHL despite being one of the top goalie prospects of the last 10 years. He'll compete for a starting job in the AHL this season. My point is, it's a little early to tell how Cossa is going to develop, but I agree that Wallstedt is obviously ahead of him at this point and looks to be the better player overall thus far.

I'd agree with some of this. But you're misrepresenting some things too. He was awesome to start and end last season. He had 5 shutouts and a 1.9 GAA in 19 playoff games? He just sucked during the middle of the season. He didn't play in any tournament games during the WJC in December. Also, there was no development camp last year. It was canceled as a result of the pandemic for two years. But all in all I think most reasonable fans agree that his performance isn't what we had hoped for when he was drafted, and given that there was another premium goalie available there will always be a bit of buyer's remorse if Wallstedt turns out better. I'm still not overly concerned until he starts getting lit up after having a year or two of pro-hockey coaching. I think he needs some mechanical tweaking to his game, but otherwise I still think he'll be fine. The next two years will be good for him. Hopefully it will give him a chance to work on his game without the pressure of having to go out and be "the man" every single night.

Sebrango will have a really hard time making this team as we continue to improve. There is still a place in the league for one-way defensive specialists, but typically guys like that aren't in high demand by good teams (see: Olli Maatta). Sebrango is a lefty, he's obviously not as good on either side of the puck as Seider, he's not as offensive as Johansson (likely PP specialist), and so he'll have to try to compete with guys like Wallinder, Buium, or McIsaac for a job. Is he so much better defensively than them that their clear advantage in the offensive zone is nullified? I doubt it.

He's a clown. Not like your boy Pronman though. That dude totally nailed the draft. Literally the only media type out there that predicted Wright falling to 4th. He had Slafkovsky, Jiricek, Cooley, Wright. Pretty solid analysis by Corey there, you have to admit?

Don't get me wrong, I totally agree. I'm not fan of Hughes and was very critical of the hype around him on draft day. I agree that unless he bulks up and learns to play a little tougher he'll get dominated by dudes like Dylan Larkin his whole career. I think he's basically a smaller Mark Scheifele. But I think many GMs still take that risk on draft day if they think they're getting a point per game center.

I don't think that Seider is obviously better than Jack Hughes, but I don't think anyone else in the draft class is going before either of them in a re-draft at this point. A point per game center and a top of the league #1 defenseman aren't getting passed over for "flashy top line center who's not as offensively gifted as Hughes and doesn't do anything else particularly well".

And the hits just keep on coming with Scott Wheeler. Today Scott Wheeler re-drafted the 2019 NHL draft. 1. Jack Hughes 2. Trevor Zegras 3. Moritz Seider 4. Matt Boldy 5. Cole Caufield Why (might you ask) is Seider behind Zegras? Because Zegras is "already one of the faces of this sport". I've said before and I'll say again, I hope to one day love anything as much as hockey writers love "the Michigan". Literal children (and guys in wheelchairs too!) do it ever single season, but let one NHL player do it and you'd think they had unlocked the key to nuclear fusion. There are probably not 5 GMs in the league that would rather have Zegras right now over Seider. I'd say it's 50/50 with Seider and Hughes. What a clown.

I mean, if he went I wouldn't be mad. I'm already looking forward to watching Edvinsson and Wallinder dominate. Watching Kasper do the same would just give me a reason to watch more games. But I'm good either way. Like I said, he did well in tougher games last year and is poised for a big increase in icetime this season. The big things I wanna see from him are A) playing primarily at center instead of wing, B) seeing a sustained increase in ice time, and C) scoring at a similar rate to Lucas Raymond's D+1 season in the SHL. If he does that then irrespective of his final numbers I'll be (even more) confident that he's going to produce in the NHL.

Big if true: I'm trying to find the tweet now to verify its authenticity but I'm told that Rogle's number one center is injured and on the shelf for the season. Could be a HUGE opportunity for both Neiderbach and Kasper. Edit:

I do understand the allure of watching a Red Wings prospect torch a bunch of Canadian teenagers, but he already played in the World Championships against men (including NHL players) and had 2 points (assits) in 7 games. At this point I don't really see a need for him to play in the World Juniors. What's he going to prove there that he hasn't already proven by contributing (and producing) in the SHL, the Champions League, and the World Championships against top men's league competition.

I saw that too. I’m fine with it. The WJC will be a good tune up for Edvinsson, who’s trying to make the team at training camp. Kasper isn’t competing for a roster spot so he does t really need the tune up.

Update: This article came out today and says Edvinsson is playing the WJC. https://www.nhl.com/redwings/news/red-wings-prospect-simon-edvinsson-vying-for-nhl-roster-spot-in-2022-23/c-335019320

Big fan of Helm. He's a culture guy (like Glendening and Abby). Good professional who can teach young guys how to eat, train, and live the life of a professional player. Every team needs a few of those guys, but the caveat is that they shouldn't get paid beyond their capabilities and they should never play higher in the lineup than their talents allow. 4th line Helm is a great player and great addition to a young team.

Ugh, I feel bad for the guy. Addiction is hard and relapses are common. He seemed to be sincerely trying to beat alcoholism and I'm sure he felt about as low as humanly possible as he sobered up in a jail cell. I hope he's able to start again, learn from this, and be more successful next time.

I saw that too, and it conflicts with what Edvinsson said earlier this summer. He may have changed his mind but I hadn’t heard that from anyone except Button.

Not that you're wrong about the things you've said here, but I'm much more inclined to compare Kasper to Larkin than I am to compare him to Veleno. I'm glad that Larkin is young enough to really push Kasper when he makes the team. I see no reason to think Kasper doesn't have Larkin-esque upside.

Savoie is a b*tch. I don't understand the love for that guy? He had an ALRIGHT offensive year, while splitting time on the wing. People talk about how he's this offensive wizard but I don't see it. He had 90 points. For comparison's sake, that's 11 more points than offensive superstar Joe Veleno had in his draft year. It's 30 fewer points than actual offensive superstar Marco Rossi had in his draft year and he is similarly sized. If the idea is that you sacrifice size for offensive upside, then wouldn't you want a player who had shown he's capable of the offense? Kasper is the guy. I think you're looking at a Bo Horvat or Ryan O'Reilly type center here. He's a horse. I love what SY is doing here. He's got absolutely studs down the middle, on defense, and in goal. And he's surrounding them with guys like Raymond, Vrana, and Perron to score the goals. Love it.

Typically I'd agree with this, but I'm not sure I do in this case. Berggren is more than ready. McIsaac/Hagg/Oesterle are probably AS capable as Maatta. Remains to be seen on Sodorblom and Johansson, but given that they've performed really really well in pro-leagues already they could be ready to step in at the deadline. Obviously SY isn't going to trade key pieces if we're in the hunt, but I can easily see a scenario where someone like Kubalik or Zadina could be moved (if the price is right) and replaced by Berggren/Sodorblom without any big loss to the team's momentum.

I agree with the bolded. Somebody has to kill penalties. Seider can, and probably will, but you need more than that. Remains to be seen whether Edvinsson can do it at this level but he was quite good at it in the SHL. I don't agree that we won't beat Toronto. Toronto sucks. I think we'll split with them in the regular season and we'd wreck them in the playoffs. They've got a terrible defense, terrible goaltending, and no depth. F*ck Toronto. I think we'll have a comparably good record to Toronto and we'll probably be better than Boston (and Washington). We're solidly a Wild Card team (Washington sucks too). It's not just that we added a lot up front (we did), but we're bound to have a better powerplay (and PK), our goalies are better, we'll have a full season of Vrana, and we'll be better overall defensively both A) because we're deeper and better defensively up front, B) addition by subtraction on the back end. Totally agree with selling at the deadline though. Especially if guys like Berggren, Sodorblom, Jahansson, or McIsaac are playing well in Grand Rapids. You could pretty easily trade guys like Suter, Zadina, Kubalik, Maatta, etc., replace from within, and come out with a better team AND draft picks.

As if Scott Wheeler of The Athletic wasn't a big enough clown, here's his top 15 prospects: 1. Owen Power 2. Luke Hughes 3. Shane Wright 4. Simon Nemec 5. Logan Cooley 6. Matt Beniers 7. Kent Johnson 8. Cole Perfetti 9. Matt Savoie 10. Juraj Slafkovsky 11. Jake Sanderson 12. Brandt Clarke 13. Mason McTavish 14. Simon Edvinsson 15. Quinton Byfield North American bias much? Kasper, Wallinder, Sodorblom, and Johansson didn't even make the list of top 50 despite playing at a very high level in one of the best professional leagues in the world. "Sure Elmer Sodorblom was a top 10 goal scorer in the SHL, but how would he do against 16 year old Canadian kids?". Lol Also love how Savoie is higher rated than Slafkovsky despite being significantly lower ranked on Wheeler's own draft ranking (which are only about a month old).

For sure. If you're totally out by Thanksgiving you've got almost no chance of getting back in because of the number of teams you'd have to leapfrog to get back in (and because if you're out by then you obviously suck).