kipwinger

I'm looking forward to seeing how Edvinsson looks at the World Juniors in August. If that kid is as dominant as he looked a year ago, and has a few weeks of competitive hockey before training camp, then I think he makes the big club. But just like SY said in his presser, Edvinsson looks bigger and thicker. Check out his chest and shoulders, he's a big dude: I think he makes it. And that might not even be the best thing for him. A part of me wants to see him stay in GR and develop his shot (which is the only weak part of his game). The D-corps will look like this: Chiarot-Seider Edvinsson-Hronek Maatta-Lindstrom Hagg (Oesterle waived) We'll be a Wild Card contender (even if we don't quite make it in). Edit: Low key favorite part of the Edvinsson interview is when Art Regner asked if he's a big as Elmer Sodorblom, Edvinsson replies "He's taller, and bigger...he's a Mountain". F*ck yes.

I think Cossa is more than a couple years out. He's definitely got work to do. At the Wings' development camp he was getting torched by older/better shooters. He needs to tighten up his game in the AHL for a couple seasons. I'd re-sign Ned.

We'll be expecting a full scouting report on Kasper, Niederbach, and Wallinder complete with video and quotes from the coaching staff.

Correct, but if you did that last year (for example) you'd have more "playoff" teams than playoff spots. Which is why it's technically true when broadcasters say "If you're in by American Thanksgiving you're likely to be in by the playoffs". But it doesn't mean much because lots of teams are still in by American Thanksgiving. It a no-brainer that some combination of the 12 Eastern Conference teams still in the playoff picture in November made it in last year. But it was very un-true for Detroit, Buffalo, the Islanders and Columbus (who were all still right there in November).

Whom?

Rumor has it you’re being pedantic? Edit: Also, by asking “why” it’s a rumor you’re accepting that it is. If you were questioning whether or not my response WAS a rumor the correct question would have been “HOW is this a rumor?”. Why’s that for pedantic eh?

This is true, but probably not for the reasons you think. It's a function of sample size. By American Thanksgiving the season is only a month and a half old. Enough games haven't been played to create real separation in the standings. So in any division most teams (like Detroit last year) are still in the playoff picture if only because they haven't played (and lost) enough games to be completely out of the picture yet. And those teams that are SO bad that they're already completely sunk were obviously not going to make it anyway. So last year (for instance) 12 teams in the east were still in the playoff picture at Thanksgiving and (obviously) 8 got in. So one could say 100% of the teams in the picture at Thanksgiving made the playoffs, but that's only because there were more teams in the picture than playoff spots. Conversely, you could say 0% of the teams who were obviously out of the playoffs ended up making it, but that's also a truism because a team like Montreal would have had to leapfrog 9 teams in the standings to get in (despite being abjectly terrible). Last year, Buffalo, Boston, and Detroit were all only separated by a game or two in the standings by Thanksgiving. Boston obviously finished with 30+ more points than either of the other two teams by season's end. In short, its not really indicative of anything and is basically a logic trick.

There’s gotta be a rule against it right?

Tkachuk for Huberdeau, Weegar, a 1st and a throwaway prospect. Good work by Treliving on the return but it's not as much of a fleecing as prognosticators are suggesting. For starters, Tkachuk is a better player than Huberdeau (just perhaps not a better scorer) and Florida got caved with their "all offense" approach last season so something had to give. With that said, even if Tkachuk and Huberdeau were a wash, the contracts make all the difference. Florida is getting Tkachuk for his prime 8 years. Calgary is getting Huberdeau and Weeger for a season unless they can re-sign them. But clearly they have a problem re-signing players because they just failed to get Gaudreau and Tkachuk under contract. Additionally, the 1st is likely to be somewhere in the 25-32 range. The winner of this trade depends entirely on whether Calgary can get these guys under contract (a tall order). Otherwise they'll be traded at the deadline (or lost for nothing) and you're looking at trading one of the best players in the game for a bunch of late 1st or 2nd round picks. If I were Calgary I would have preferred to get some quality prospects with team control in return rather than UFAs and picks, but I think Treliving did the best he could given the constraints he had.

Kirill blew his shoulder out and has been rehabbing for a year. I'm actually pretty excited to see if he can gain a little traction in the AHL now that he's healthy. He's a really weird player to watch with his herky jerky playing style.

Agreed, too rich for my blood. Hronek, Zadina/Berggren, 2023 1st, 2025 1st is my final offer. The picks are premium assets, the players are B level assets (but young). That's competitive. Particularly when you consider whatever team he goes to has to A) have the assets to acquire him, B) have the cap space to sign him, and C) be in the U.S.

I don't see any scenario where we land Tkachuk without moving Bertuzzi. I'd love to have both, obviously, but I just don't see it. That said, I'd still pursue the trade. Something like Bert, Hronek, Zadina/Berggren, and a 1st would get you pretty close. At which point I'd go sign Klingberg and we'd be all set. Edit: UNLESS...Calgary wants the draft picks more for a rebuild. I'd throw them two 1sts in a heartbeat. Hronek, Zadina/Berggren, 2023 1st, 2025 1st. As deep as our prospect pool is, we could easily eat that loss and still come out perfectly fine.

Dude has ZERO personality.

I'm actually fine with Smith being a 13th or 14th forward. I just don't want to see him playing too many games or too many minutes. But a tough guy who can take a few 4th line shifts now and again (and not get completely overwhelmed) is fine by me. I'd rather him be in the press box than someone who's actually good.

Don't hold your breath. The rest of the league knows he sucks too. At this point you'd be more likely to get the 3rd than the 1st.

Totally agree. And to be clear, he wasn't out there playing like Patrick Kane or anything. But he seemed to display just as many puck skills as guys like Cutter Gauthier, Shane Wright, or Frank Nazer (none of whom were criticized as having limited offensive upside). And unlike those guys his game is FAST. I don't mean "he's fast", as in, straight line skating. I mean the tempo of his game is crazy. He's always moving. So all the skill he displays is at a high speed and in game situations. This isn't Tomas Jurco trick stick handling in the locker room. This is a dude dragging pucks through defenders legs and no-look passing while taking the puck end to end a top speed. He'll be fine.

If, in 3 or 4 years, Chiarot is our 3rd pair LD behind Edvinsson and Wallinder/Johansson I'm not even remotely bothered by it.

Did any of you guys get to watch the development camp 3 on 3 tournament? If not, check out the games on youtube. You'll be surprised at how skilled Kasper can be. Fans and draft analysts kept saying he didn't have the skill of some other guys. That's not what I saw in the tournament. If he'd been in the CHL he'd have posted gaudy numbers and nobody would have thought that.

If I'm Filip Zadina I'd be packing my bags.

I love this pick up. Chiarot and Seider are going to absolutely wreck shop on the top pair.

I have it an A-. Kasper was the best pick at 8, and people are going to love how much better this kid is than what was billed. He scored marginally worse than Lucas Raymond in his draft year, despite playing fewer minutes for a more defense heavy club. Plus his coach in Rogle openly said they told him to play conservatively if he wanted to stay in the lineup. He's going to be awesome. Then we took another Bertuzzi/Mazur in Dylan James and two super skilled, high upside, guys in Buchelnikov and Lombardi. Only giving it an A- because the 3rd we used on Jusso got used on Aleksanteri Kaskimaki and I really liked him in the 3rd round before the draft.

I love this pick. Also love the Amadeus Lombardi pick. That's a sleeper. Kid looked really skilled at the development camp, just needs to get bigger. Big fan of the 2nd rounders too. Huge draft for Detroit.

Then 2023 1st (or top prospect).

I'd be looking to turn any reasonable combination of Bertuzzi, Suter, Zadina, Veleno, or prospects/picks (excluding 1st round picks, Edvinsson, or Cossa) into Martin Necas and Kevin Fiala. Carolina will look are looking to win now and would go for a trade centered on Bert and Necas (with picks coming our way too), while Minnesota has no money to re-sign Fiala and could use cost controlled players with upside while toiling in cap hell for a few years. To Carolina: Bert for Necas and 2022 1st. To Minnesota: Berggren, Wallinder/Johansson, 2nd for Fiala. Could further sweeten this by taking on a cap dump (maybe Kulikov) to help incentivize the trade.

Puljujarvi sucks. F*ck that dork. Why waste assets on that cornball when a million other dudes, who produce the same and aren't giant p*ssies, are available every single year. Two step plan to sorting out our forward corps. There are other, better, ways to do it too (such as exploiting Minnesota's deathly cap situation) but this is probably the easiest to get done. Step 1: Take on Sean Monahan's contract for a high draft pick or prospect (something like Monahan and a 2nd for one of Detroit's 4th round picks) Step 2: Sign Valerie Nichushkin for 5 years for 5.5 million. Bert-Larkin-Raymond Nichuskin-Monahan-Vrana Ras-Suter-Zadina Veleno-Stephens-Sundqvist/Erne