kipwinger

All the better if we pick earlier, but we're closer in points to the teams above us than the teams below us. We have a pretty tough schedule for the next little bit, but it evens out over the rest of the season. Down the stretch we play: Bad/Mediocre teams: Ottawa (three times), New Jersey (twice), Vancouver, Seattle, Philly, Columbus, Arizona, Winnipeg, NYI, and Edmonton. Lower End Playoff Teams: Pittsburgh (twice), Boston, Calgary, Rangers (twice) Lots of winnable games coming up against bad/mediocre teams. And we maybe will go .500 against the lower end playoff tems. Quite a lot of those bad teams are going to be in tank mode at that point too (whereas we'll only really be losing Leddy and Namestnikov). I think it's more likely that we gain a few more points in the standings than lose ground to the teams that are worse than we are, but that's just a guess.

I'm completely finished watching bad hockey. With Larkin playing the way he is, and with the emergence of our other top end young players, I don't think a Bedard is necessary. Besides, with the new rule changes you can only move up 10 spots max. We're going to finish around 12-15th this season. Next season we should be the same or better. So even if we won the lottery we couldn't move up high enough to take Bedard. As far as our center pipeline, we should be able to completely turn it around with the picks we currently have. There are lots of good centers coming along this year in the draft. A few guys I'd target by round: Round 1: Nazar, Kasper Round 2: Ostlund, Bystedt Round 3: Kaskimaki, Ronni Round 4: Sjodin

Larkin Nazar Eichel (My mistake, I didn't look closely enough and assumed that was his draft year) Hughes Other notable Development program centers: Zegras: USHL: 1.48 ppg USDP: 1.45 ppg Keller: USHL: 1.6 ppg USDP: 1.7 ppg The point of all this? Nazar is a very good center whose offense is in line with some of the better centers in the world (at the same age). If you can get this guy at 10-15 in the draft you don't overthink it.

Fun thought: When Lucas Raymond is 24 he’ll basically be Kirill Kaprizov.

Guess these players USNTDP players in their draft years: Player 1: USHL: .93 ppg USDP: 1 ppg Player 2: USHL: 1.5 ppg USDP: 1.2 ppg Player 3: USHL: 1.8 ppg USDP: 1.6 ppg Player 4: USHL: 2 ppg USDP: 2.24 ppg

#FrankNazar

Geekie is slow and Lambert plays like a p*ssy. Give me Nazar or Kasper.

Maybe they are kicking tires?

Maybe he’s a Brayden Schenn looking for a St. Louis. I’d at least kick the tires.

I'll take your word for it, again, I don't know much about the guy. I mean, is he that much better than Suter? I guess I don't see it. His best career offensive season was last year, and you're saying that was primarily on the wing? I'd really like someone with solid offensive chops. I think to move us into legit contender status I'd want a 2C closer to Larkin than Suter. Hence Trocheck/Hertl. I guess maybe Copp as a 3rd option, but I'm not excited about it (admittedly with limited familiarity with his game).

Id also consider re-signing Merrill too, if I couldn't get one or the other of Gustafsson or Kulak. Obviously he'd be cheaper than 3 mil. I don't know a ton about Copp, but if I'm not mistaken he doesn't actually play center. He's like Filip Forsberg, he's listed as a C/W but has only ever played wing in the NHL if I'm not mistaken?

Here's what I'd do if I'm Yzerman (barring trades for similar type players): Acquisitions/Promotions: 1. Push hard for Trocheck or Hertl. Trocheck is the local guy so that would be my preference (to help get a better deal) but either will do. Carolina is up against the cap and have a few decent players to re-sign, including Necas (who is essentially Trocheck's replacement as 2C). Hertl is almost certainly hitting free agency. Contract: 7.5 mil X 5 years 2. Sign Gustafsson and Kulak. Both are on dumpster fire teams and would both be getting top four minutes in Detroit. Overpay a little if necessary. Contract: 3 mil x 3 years 3. Sign Brayden Holtby. Good track record, bad year, bad team. Contract: 5 mil x 3 years. 4. Promote Berggren on ELC 5. Promote the better of McIsaac or Edvinsson: ELC 6. Promote Sodorblom: ELC Total Money In: 18.5 mil (roughly) Trades/FA losses: Nemestnikov (trade at deadline): 2 mil Gagner (UFA loss): 850K Rowney (UFA loss): 825K Leddy (trade): 5.5 mil Dekeyser: 5 mil Staal (trade/FA loss): 2 mil Stetcher (trade): 1.7 mil Greiss (FA loss): 3.5 mil Total Money Out: 21 mil (roughly) This leaves you about 14 mil over the cap. Sit on this money, the next offseason you have to re-sign Larkin, Bert, Suter, and (maybe) Lindstrom and Veleno. Lineup: Bert-Larkin-Raymond Zadina-Trochek/Hertl-Vrana Berggren-Suter-Fabbri Veleno-Stephens-Ras Sodorblom Gustafsson-Seider Kulak-Hronek McIsaac/Edvinsson-Lindstrom Oesterle Ned Holtby

He's listed as a center but hasn't played there much on his last two teams. Columbus is STARVED for centers and they don't even play him there. I'm all for Yzerman going big on a real 2C. But Domi probably isn't the answer there.

Constantly hurt. Recall reading an article a year or so ago about how he'll never play at 100% again because of the seriousness of his back injuries. And that was before this year (he's already missed about 20 games this season).

For better or for worse, there's a GDT. Tonight is Darren Helm's first time back in Detroit as a member of the Avs. Always loved that guy and wish he'd gotten a little more love as his career tailed off in Detroit.

I find Mickey Redmond absolutely intolerable to listen to these days. He used to have fun anecdotes and goofy sayings. Now he just ******* about how much better the good ol’ days were.

I'd argue that we should accumulate as many picks as humanly possible for the draft this year. A whole bunch of pretty good OHL (and Euro minor league players too) kids didn't get selected last year because they hadn't played in a year and teams weren't able to scout them properly. There are gonna be a ton of pretty good overagers this year on top of the first year draft eligible kids. The more 3rd, 4th, and 5th round picks you have the more shots you get a guys like Linus Sjodin (my darkhorse candidate), in the middle and later rounds. As such I'd honestly trade Namestnikov for a 3rd and a 4th (or something like that). Same with Leddy, Greiss, and whomever else. Think about this, we got Carter Mazur with a 3rd last year. Red Savage with a 4th. And Dower Nilsson with a 5th. Those are really good players at those draft positions. This year will be no different. Stack them picks.

He's a possession defenseman, kinda like Troy Stetcher but scores a little more. This also precludes the possibility of a trade for a better, cost controlled, defenseman. Something that is likely to happen given that the cap hasn't gone up and teams will need to sign their FAs. Either way, Lindholm just doesn't make a ton of sense.

McIsaac is the best defender in GR and is improving every game (considering he missed basically two full years of development). But I'm not even advocating throwing an all U25 defense out next season. Sign someone like Gustafsson or Brett Kulak (or both) to a 3 year deal at half the price as Lindholm. You'll get similar results (or better defensive results), have a veteran presence in the lineup if the young guys aren't ready, and they won't be an albatross in a few years if more young LHD (aside from Edvinsson) are ready. Something like: Kulak-Seider Gustafsson-Hronek Edvinsson-Lindstrom

Signing Lindholm is stupid. First, he's not that good. By most metrics he's a roughly as good as Filip Hronek, but scores less. Second, signing him in FA means you're paying a premium for a marginal talent. Third, you'd have to offer him term to get him to come to a worse team than the one he's on. So you'd be overpaying LONG TERM for a marginal player, Fourth, you've got about 85 LHD coming in the next few years. Better to see see what you've got in your cost controlled players first before free agent shopping to fill holes. Most people that want Lindholm just want to see a big UFA signing. However, there are quite a few free agents that can give you similar results as Lindholm at a fraction of the price (i.e. Erik Gustafsson from the Blackhawks). The more you know.

In the same day that Canadian hockey media is speculating about a Zadina trade, Detroit hockey media publish a series of articles on why Veleno sucks and should be sent back to GR. I think the writing's on the wall for these two puds. That or "they're still young".

He played for Kris Draper, so he was probably Kienan's buddy. I don't know though. In other overager news, my darkhorse for this year's draft is Rogle's Linus Sjodin. 19 year old, undrafted, playing in the SHL and performing well. Didn't get drafted last year, despite solid skill, because he was a midget. Then he grew about 3 inches and added 30 lbs. Would be a heck of a 3rd or 4th round pick.

Don't look now but Carter Mazur - overager, 3rd round pick, and Michigan man - is absolutely dominating the NCAA right now in his first college season. He's got 24 points in 22 games, good for 33rd in the NCAA overall (out of about 530 players) and 7th in U20 scoring. Plays a lot like Bertuzzi. And based on the interview linked below he might be as dumb as Bert too. Fer sure.

The amount of ink that Zadina gets is CRAZY. Red Wings media trip over themselves to make excuses for the guy. The most recent one is that he needs better linemates to really help him flourish. Fabbri and Suter apparently aren't good enough to drag Zadina around the ice but ARE good enough to outperform him on a nightly basis. "Give him Vrana" they say, as if Zadina's playmaking is any better than his shooting at this point.