kipwinger

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

Fun stat of the day: Connor McDavid has scored 15 points in 15 career games without Draisaitl in the lineup. Likewise, Draisaitl has scored 49 points in 49 career games without McDavid in the lineup.

I like this draft board. I'd add David Goyette and Filip Bystedt as options for the 40oa, and Aleksanteri Kaskimaki as an option for 52oa.

What a f*cking loser. Lady’s talking about how sad she is to see Konstantinov pre-crash and McCarty says it’s “gonna f*ck”. I wish this dips*** had stayed in Calgary.

Since 2008 I'd consider both AA and Jensen hits (4th and 5th rounds respectively) that were drafted by Holland. You'd also think Regula (3rd) will play in the NHL as well given he's been pretty solid in the AHL. Under Yzerman we've drafted better in the late rounds, though I'd attribute that to the pandemic. Players weren't scouted as well, and better players fell. Sodorblom, Sebrango, Viro, Mazur, Savage, and Zito all have a shot at playing in the NHL. Some better than others.

Great, another thing for Darren McCarty to get stoned and wack off thinking about. Yawn.

Still really like Kasper and Nazar, but I'm becoming a Cutter Gauthier fanboy as well.

I agree with some of what you said, but have some issues with the bolded. In the case of Edmonton Holland DID walk onto a team with it's core pieces intact. But that's not really what happened in Detroit. Holland was directly responsible (as Director of Amateur Scouting) for contributing significantly to the dynasty Wings teams. Any GM will admit that they defer to their scouting departments during the draft. Devellano was no different. Guys like Lidstrom, Fedorov, Konstantinov, McCarty, Holmstrom, and Osgood where all drafted by a Holland led scouting department. THEN, as GM, he was responsible for bringing in Hull, Hasek, Robitaille, and any number of other FA's that contributed to Cup winning teams (edit: Chelios). He's had it easy in Edmonton, but Holland earned every bit of the success he received in Detroit. Edit: As GM he also made key acquisitions to the 2008 winner by bringing in Rafalski, Stuart, and Drake.

I'm not worried about Cossa at all. Bet on tools. The kid is 6'6 and athletic. Good enough for me. Yzerman seems to do this with most of his picks. Seider, Edvinsson, Wallinder, Buium, Sodorblom. All guys with great tools that had to grow into their bodies a bit. Cossa will too. I do think this is interesting and brings up something I've been kicking around for a bit. Is it possible that the Canadian Juniors leagues aren't the premier talent producers that they once were? Sure they'll always be a factory because it's Canada and all. But it seems like lately the really high end Canadian guys have struggled when going up a level, while the Euros have been more equal to the task. Same for the Americans playing in the NTDP. It's all well and good for Alexis Lafreniere to torch a bunch of 16 and 17 year old kids each night, but Trevor Zegras was doing it to college kids in his draft year. Raymond, Stutzle, Seider, etc. were doing it in men's leagues. If the skillsets are generally equal I think I'd probably rather draft a kid from those leagues these days. They're playing against much better players. Recency bias is a thing, so I'm not sure if this will continue but it's been interesting to note.

Typically I'd agree with you, but I think things are changing a bit these days. Teams have figured out that one way to manage the salary cap is to spend a lot on high end free agents and then underpay entry level guys to balance it out. That means teams have a strong incentive to find young, NHL ready (or close to it) talent, and get them into the lineup as soon as possible. In Raymond's case he could do it because he's super skilled (if underdeveloped physically). In Seider and Edvinsson's case they were already physically developed at 18. I think Kasper is close to those guys IMO. There is no noticeable flaw in his physical tools. He doesn't need to get bigger, stronger, faster (even though he will). If the Wings draft him I'd fully expect him to play his draft plus one year in GR (at center) and then be vying for a roster spot thereafter.

Agreed. I guess I was interpreting your original post more conservatively than you intended it? I don't think it's unrealistic for Kasper to be on the Raymond/Edvinsson timeline (on the Wings roster in his draft plus two year). That's not a "long wait" as your original post suggested, but it IS within the 2-3 year timeframe you mentioned.

Why do you think this? He's one of the most physically developed players in the top part of the draft and has already been playing productive minutes in a top men's league at 17 years old. Currently he's playing very well at the World Championships against NHL level talents. With Kasper the only drawback is upside IMO. He reminds me of draft age Dylan Larkin. Despite having every tool you'd want, it wasn't obvious that Larkin was going to be a top six center at the time. Obviously that one worked out for Detroit, but there was some unknowns there.

Lekkerimaki is Vrana 2.0. So, while I'd be annoyed with not drafting a center for the zillionth time in a row, if you're going to draft a winger draft him.