kipwinger

To be fair Mike Babcock did the same thing, only with Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Rafalski, Kronwall, Franzen, and Hossa in the lineup, and he was called "the best coach in hockey" for it. Soooo, Blash for Jack Adams?

That makes sense to me. Two years to see what he's got with a (hopefully) improving roster. Aside from any trades/UFA signings he'll be getting Seider and Veleno to start the season, along with Larkin, Bert, and Fabbri back. By season's end he might very well have one of Berggren or Raymond as well. Next year he'll have the other of the two, plus Johansson (probably) and Smith or Pearson (maybe). If Blash can't get close to the playoffs with that influx of talent then it's time to bring someone new in.

Agreed with the bold. But like I said, if I had that pick I'd trade back to the 5-7 range because I don't like him enough and some defense starved team surely does. I genuinely like Beniers, I see him as basically a Bo Horvat kind of center. Those guys are super useful and exactly the kind of guy I have advocated acquiring (Ryan Johansen is essentially the same player too) to be our 2C. I just don't like him enough to take with a high end pick. But a team like Columbus, who needs centers worse than we do, will take him in a heartbeat knowing that's he's a pretty sure bet to hit his ceiling.

In either case I'd probably trade back. I don't think there's a big enough separation in talent between basically anyone in the top ten to justify making the pick. If I was Yzerman I'd be perfectly content trading back and seeing how the board shakes out, knowing full well that I'm picking one of Johnson, Eklund, or Lucius (whom I like in that order). I view this draft like I viewed the Seider draft. I'm not impressed with the top of the class (Hughes/Kakko) and would have been happy with any of Zegras, Dach, Cozens, or Turcotte. But that seems like a deflection. So, if I couldn't trade back and HAD to pick first I'd probably take Power and if he were off the board and I HAD to pick second I'd take Johnson.

I'd add Lucius, who I think is probably the most gifted goal scorer in the draft but is hard to really evaluate because he played so few games this year. I'd also remove Lysell, only because more and more I'm seeing him tumbling down draft boards into the late teens or 20's. He's kinda like Raty, he's got tantalizing skill but seems like a reach with the 5-8 pick. Based on the current standings (which will obviously change) I'd expect Buffalo, Anaheim, and New Jersey to all go with defensemen. Seattle takes whomever is the surest bet with their pick. Columbus will take a center. So I'm assuming Power, Evidsson, Hughes, Clarke, and Beniers are off the board by the time we pick. I presume we'll take Eklund. According to his scouting report he's super smart, works hard, and has some skill. Plus it seems like Yzerman favors drafting players who are already performing well in men's leagues. Wouldn't be my pick, but I don't really hate it either.

Yeah, I'd love either guy. Maybe not my "ideal" picks, but I wouldn't be upset in either case. The guys I really want to stay away from are Evidsson and Guenther. The first seems like Swedish Jay Bouwmeester and the second seems like Zadina 2.0. Both would probably be helpful but I think we need to take bigger swings with this year's picks.

So what? I've seen Clarke compared to Doughty, Eklund compared to Zetterberg, and Johnson compared to Marner.

It's completely irrelevant who's better now, what matters is who will be better in 3 years and beyond. The better question, this year, would be is Power going to be better than Clarke, Edvinsson, or Hughes, and will Beniers be better than Eklund, Guenther, Johnson, or Lucuis. Edit: I'd add that Power and Beniers are probably both surer bets than the others, even if they don't have the ceiling.

At least Chris Pronger, at worst Shea Weber. I'm calling it.

Edit: We are drafting no worse than 8th. Forgot Seattle.

I think you're right, but I don't think it's Blashill's "brand" as much as it's the only way you can win with a talentless roster. I'm sure he'd prefer to gain the zone with possession, all coaches would, but he's probably got one line that's skilled enough to do that consistently. And one defenseman capable of jumping into the play and helping. I'll continue to beat the drum that it's hard to judge Blash off what this roster can/can't do. He's got loads of talent coming the next two years, extend him and let's see what he can do for those two seasons before cutting bait.

Mantha, on playing for Detroit, and why it's absolutely necessary to get back to winning as soon as humanly possible: "It sucks," Mantha said. "You're playing hockey because you want to play in the playoffs. And when you don't have the chance, and you just pack every summer to go back home, and you're like, 'I'll just take two weeks off and start training again.' I mean, there's no motivation in that."

Apparently Craig Button felt like muddying the waters with his latest draft rankings. https://www.tsn.ca/craig-s-list-defencemen-dominate-top-of-nhl-draft-prospect-rankings-1.1638404

Like, I bet 80 years ago Buffalo and Toledo Ohio were basically the exact same place. Don't tell that to anyone from Buffalo though. Also, there's nobody more Italian, Irish, Frence, etc. than an American of European decent. Like, man alive are Americans really Italian ya know?

Can confirm. My lady is from Buffalo, been there many times, and have always loved how Buffalo residents are ALL ABOUT Buffalo stuff. I love that town though. It reminds me of mini Detroit. However, I was once in a brewery in Buffalo and was making conversation with some gals and made an offhand remark to one of them about how Buffalo is culturally mid-western (they are) and she WAS NOT having it. Must have been from Rochester or Ithaca.

So here's some good new, Washington's playing Boston (the hottest team since the TDL) in the first round. Boston is peaking at the right time and Washington seems to be in disarray. For the first time ever I want Boston to win something.

The number of top six centers supposedly on the market, and the number of teams expecting something similar back might make a lot of these trades a wash. Eichel, Reinhart, Kuznetsov, Monahan, Duchene, Johansen, Domi may just all sorta get traded for one another. I can see a world where Monahan plus could get an Eichel deal done. That type of thing. This is why I like the idea of Johansen, because he IS the bad contract. But one we can easily stomach considering his age and our team's needs. I think the ask for him is quite a lot lower than someone who doesn't have the baggage.

Agreed, they're working on an extension. If he was gone they'd say he's gone, but if he's staying they're not going to announce it until there's a deal. Otherwise management would essentially be handing over some of their leverage in the contract negotiation.

Yes. I’m making fun of Red Wings folklore because it’s stupid. Yours just happened to be the post I chose to do so with lol.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but when Steve Yzerman was 30 years old, slow, and broken, he started played defense because Scotty Bowman is magic. Ipso facto, Steve Yzerman now hates offense and finds goal scoring entirely incidental. Lane Lambert will be the hire. Defense now, defense forever.

This is going to be so bittersweet for you. Yzerman is going to let Blashill go, and then hire Lane Lambert (Blashill 2.0). We'll lose every game 1-0. The defense will be glorious.

Ras is going to be the "number one center" in the same way that Messier was with the Oilers. He's going to do all the hard work while Larkin racks up the points. Everyone will gush over 70 point Larkin and behind closed doors Larkin will be buying Ras fancy dinners and cases of beer (by that time Ras should have legendary beer drinking abilities to rival Andre the Giant) for his immense efforts. We'll win 5 or 6 Cups, Larkin will go down as one of Detroit's greatest Captains, and on the day his number is hung from the rafters of the brand new, state of the art, Jeff Blashill Memorial Arena, his speech will begin thusly: "This night really belongs to one man, another man, a real man. He was my champion, my protector, my hero. He's a man I shall never be, but can truly never forget". At the time of the speech Michael Rasmussen will be bedding all of his six or seven big boned wives in a log cabin he built in Montana.

C'mon, I know that Larkin and Mantha have a beautiful budding bromance but it's not even close to this level...

I'd honestly be thrilled with both at center if they could be good enough defensively to lighten some of the load for Larkin. With more favorable usage I don't think it's unrealistic that Larkin could get back to a 60-70 point center. That's not amazing or anything, but if you add in offense from Raymond, Zadina, Vrana, Bert, (maybe) Berggren it might be more than enough assuming we keep playing really tight team defense. I'm not in love with the idea of not having a genuinely gifted offensive center, but I look at St. Louis and Tampa the last two years as models for how it "could" work if we decided to go that route.