kipwinger

I'll agree, but more generally. I don't really care WHO we get to play LHD. Long term it's obviously going to be Edvinsson and one of Wallinder, Johansson, or Buium. But we need SOMEONE on the left side before we can judge the team (or coach). Leddy, DK, Staal, and Oesterle is an embarrassment. Walman seems "okay" but only as a 3rd pair guy...for now. Our defense is a catastrophe and that's on SY to fix.

Detroit has the 32nd ranked defense in the league this year. Dead. F*cking. Last. I'm sure that Blashill WILL get fired after this season, but I don't think this is on him. When he was given better forwards we scored more. If he had a halfway competent defensive corps, we'd defend better. Simple as that. I'm fine with him getting the can, we need to turn a corner and that'll help. But Yzerman (and Holland/Wright) bear a lot of responsibility here. We have a rookie goalie and our defense in front of him is Seider and a bunch of losers. What is Blashill supposed to do with that?

Frolunda playing Lulea at 1:30 ET today on ESPN+ in case anyone is interested in watching our guys. This will be Edvinsson's first game of the series, ditto for the new guy Andreasson.

All joking aside, could you imagine waking up one day to find that every news agency in Michigan (and a few national ones too) are writing stories about your inability to pee correctly. How embarrassing. He's got to be humiliated. Which...being a pervert...he's probably into.

Lidstrom talking about Marco Kasper in the tweet below. Sounds a lot like an Yzerman pick to me.

Doubtful. The Free Press article said Al's staff was entirely male. And the team is entirely male. Seems pretty clear that he's a perverted homosexual who just can't control himself. Good riddance.

The more I think about it the more I think Al was jerking off and got caught. We've only heard the "I can't walk 60 feet to pee" story from his lawyer's wrongful termination suit. If I got caught spanking it at work (I wouldn't because I'm not a gross old pervert) I'd definitely claim I was peeing too. What do you have to lose?

#culture

Marco Kasper, a guy I'm pretty high on, has 2 assists for Rogle in their SHL playoff game today against Farjestad. That brings him up to 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists) in 10 playoff games. Keep an eye on this guy, depending on how the lottery shakes out I think he's a guy who would very much be on Yzerman's radar.

We talking Stanley Cup winner, 3 time All Star, and 3 time 30+ goal scorer Danny Grant? Or are we talking Danny Grant that fell off a cliff after his first season in Detroit because of injuries? I'm hoping the former.

Me too, believe me. Then again I'm probably more psyched about Edvinsson though. He's a boss.

Two on one hand. I'm a freak.

Edvinsson for RoY, not Sodorblom.

Guy was pissed he got traded to Detroit and had no interest whatsoever in playing for the Wings. It's a miracle we got that 2nd for him, let alone Walman and Sundqvist. F*ck Nick Leddy.

Who has two thumbs and a massive boner for the future of our blue line? This guy.

I'm starting to talk myself into Cutter Gauthier with our 1st (assuming we don't win the lottery). Big, fast, tough, can shoot, can play center or wing (his numbers at center this year were better than wing). Rumor has it that Yzerman and Co. really liked Mason McTavish at the draft last year but he went off the board early. Gauthier fits into that mold. Reminds me a lot of Mika Zibanejad. I still really like Nazar and Kasper as well, so I'm not sure how I'd rank them, but Gauthier is solidly in the mix with those two for me now.

Another goal for Berggren tonight. Ho hum.

Anybody notice how Michael Rasmussen is legitimately fast now? Not quick, but his end to end speed is impressive.

Might still make a pretty good 3rd line

Beat me to it lol. That’s two games in a row where he’s picked the corners with his shot. He doesn’t use it enough, but his shot is actually pretty good. And as predicted his transition game is lethal.

1st period for Grand Rapids down and Berggren with ANOTHER point. He’s a primary assist machine.

I would be annoyed if we signed a guy who has done jack sh*t in his career to a 4 year contract. I'd look to package him in a trade this offseason, and if nothing materializes I'd give him a 1 year "prove it" contract for roughly the amount of money you've mentioned; which A) doesn't saddle you if he continues to suck, B) gives him an opportunity to improve, and B) is tradable at the deadline if he's "meh". And I'm going to mentioned again (for the zillionth time) that I'd astounded that fans are acting like "what to do with Filip Zadina" is some big existential question for Steve Yzerman. If this guy had the EXACT same career so far, but was drafted in the 2nd round he'd be Tomas Jurco and nobody would give a sh*t about him or what happened to him.

Yes Ras was better a year ago too. Throughout his NHL career Ras has CONSTANTLY been asked to do more, and harder, things things for this team and has still produced about as well as Zadina. First, he played in the NHL at 19 because he was too good for the CHL and couldn't play in the AHL (being a Euro on loan, Zadina played in the AHL at 19 like he should have). Then Ras was asked to be a defensive center despite only ever being a top line scorer in the CHL (a total role change). Then last year, when Jamie Benn broke Larkin's neck, Ras was asked to be the 1C for the last 15 games of the season or so. All while playing a much harder position than Zadina, having more responsibility on the ice, playing special teams, and taking faceoffs. Zadina has only ever been asked to do the thing that he's supposedly good at, shoot and score. All while Blashill moved heaven and earth to help him succeed at THAT (top six minutes, great linemates, powerplay time). And the results have been...not good. His .37 points per game is only marginally better than Rasmussen's .31 despite the fact that offense is supposed to be his calling card. Put another way, Rasmussen scores nearly as much while playing harder position, having more defensive responsibilities, AND having to drag around guys like Adam Erne, Givani Smith, etc. Zadina, on the other hand, can't score alongside Bert, Suter, Larkin, Raymond, Vrana and that's LITERALLY his only job. AND you're way off base defensively. Zadina apologists noticed a year ago that he was pretty good at stripping pucks on the backcheck and the "Zadina is a good defensive player" narrative was born. But the numbers don't support it. His defensive metrics rank near the very bottom of a team that's abysmal defensively. Finally, Michael Rasmussen is a whopping 7 months older than Zadina and has only played 17 more NHL games than Zadina. Much is made about how Zadina is so young and has never had a full year's worth of development in the NHL. It's worth mentioning that he was an older player for his draft class (Ras was on the young end), and that Ras battled serious injuries early in his career. Their developmental curves are nearly identical aside from the fact that Ras is asked to do more...as I've already mentioned. TLDR: Ras is MUCH better than Zadina.

1. Berggren and Zadina are nothing alike. The only similarity is that they're both offensive players. Otherwise they're completely different in terms of their physical skills, and completely different in terms of their playing styles. You can advocate for the Devil all you want, but you're off base here. 2. Zadina is not "dependable". He is bad defensively and he doesn't score. He's a non-factor on special teams too. What does he "dependably do"? Hustle? Sure, but so does Adam Erne and at least he doesn't get caved defensively while not scoring. 3. Rasmussen is better than Zadina in every single facet of the game of hockey, including on offense. And Veleno plays a different position. Both are MUCH more valuable than Zadina at this point in their respective careers. 4. I have never, EVER, said Berggren will be a 2nd line player. If you're not pulling that out of your ass then I'm not sure where you're getting it form.

It's an overpayment. So no. Roslovic is a strictly offensive center, with pretty severe defensive limitations. Which is why in my fantasy line combos I put him with two really solid defensive wingers. He's probably not going to get too much better on the defensive end, so you're gambling that he can become a Mark Schiefle type - offense only - center with more icetime and solid wingers. But that's a pretty big gamble since he's never scored even 50 pts in the league. And BECAUSE it's a gamble you're not giving up a top end 1st round pick. But I can't imagine Columbus would expect one either, thankfully. Look at all the 1st round picks that get traded each year and almost none of them are lottery picks. There is a reason for that. The only time you see lottery picks involved in trades is when a team trades (for instance) their 2023 1st before the 2022 draft has even taken place (so basically two years out) and then the team ends up sucking worse than they thought. Yzerman is smart, he's not doing that.