kipwinger

I'm actually growing fond of Zadina. I don't think he's going to be a stud offensive player, but I'm really liking how he's committed himself to puck retrieval on the forecheck. I'd be thrilled if he modeled his game off Mark Stone. Or Tomas Tatar is probably the poor man's version. 20ish goals, 60ish points, but hellish defensively. I've got plenty of time for wingers like that. Incidentally that's the same type of player Raymond is supposed to be. I DON'T have time for guys like Mantha. 20ish goals, 50ish points, and does absolutely nothing else well. F*ck that guy.

I think Mantha's probably a decent enough player, but this is what happens when a team has no offensively talented centers. I've been saying this for years now, our centers are trash. I like Larkin as a workhorse top six, matchup, guy. And I like all of Glendening, Ras, Veleno, and Pearson as bottom six guys. But we have no centers that are going to elevate a winger's game offensively. It's not surprising that we struggle to score. Until Niederbach we didn't bother drafting offensive centers. Imagine Mantha riding shotgun with a guy who could consistently find him in the offensive zone like a Backstrom or Giroux. He'd definitely be a 30 goal guy. He's just not going to do it for us because A) he's not good enough to do it on his own, and B) Larkin isn't that kind of center.

I mean, me too. Hence why I'd trade for him. But there's a lot of pressure on Washington to win again while Ovi and Backstrom and Carlson are still pretty decent. So maybe they'd gamble on those extra 20 points if they thought it would be a factor in the playoffs.

I just need him to come back so that at least two of my three "bold predictions" will come true. I said he'd outscore Mantha this year. That prediction was looking pretty damn good until Bert got injured. Thank god Mantha blows and hasn't really scored at all in a month and a half. Still have a chance to scratch out a win on that one lol.

Agreed. Though I thought I saw that he was finally skating as of the end of last week?

He was holding his upper arm/shoulder when he went off the ice in the game that he got injured. Hasn't been back since.

To get rid of the headache? I suppose they’d be gambling on the fact that on THAT team, with THAT coach, Mantha would be a 70-75 point player.

Hear me out... To Washington: Mantha To Detroit: Tom Wilson, Washington 2021 1st

This guy f*cks. He's too busy wooing b*tches to put on eye liner. Plus he was drafted by the Philadephia Phillies and served in the Army, so he's a high level athlete AND an American hero. Alternatively, Dave Mustaine spent his 20's and 30's glowering/posturing a lot and now spends his time spreading the good word. What a badass. You lose.

Is it customary for those girls to curl their hair before head banging each other...or whatever? Because that's how it looks. It's cool man, go ahead and like your fairy music. It's a free country. If you wanna listen to born-agains sing about how sad they are/ folklore then you're perfectly within your rights as an American to do so. And if you wanna make believe that's "badass" then bless your heart.

How much time can a guy spend on his martial arts "lifestyle" when he's THAT busy feathering his hair? And how much time can you spend on google learning obscure facts about martial arts? Get a life man. I'm paying attention to your posts by the Skin o' My Teeth. And watch your mouth, else I'll get Angry Again and you'll feel my Architecture of Aggression. Ugh. Megadeth references are sooooo lame.

He's a born again Christian, which is the LEAST tough thing you could be. Also, karate and taekwondo are like the McDonald's of martial arts. I respect Jiu Jitsu more, but he's only a purple belt. I smash those dudes all the time when I train, and I'm just a normal guy. Again, musicians are just drama kids with angst.

Ugh, I hate to involve myself in this but I'm bored. So oh well. With very few exceptions musicians are not "tough". None of them. They're almost all giant p*ssies who pretend to be. "Metal" musicians are probably the biggest b*tches of them all TBH. They wear black clothes, makeup, and use a kick bass a lot, so I can see how some people could be fooled, but they're a bunch of flabby, drunk, overly dramatic, dumbf*cks who yell a lot. They're like every has-been at your local bar, except with makeup and drama. If I were a betting man I'd guess some old timer like Conway Twitty, Jerry Reid, or Glen Campbell would smash every member of Metallic, or Pantera, or Megadeth, or whomever. And basically any guy who's ever actually beat someone up would smash THEM. Thinking musicians are tough is a lot like thinking athletes are smart. Anyone who's ever met a member of either group knows this to be untrue and yet the myth persists.

For the first couple of seasons he was with the organization I thought Hirose looked really slow, in addition to being small. But in his few stints so far this season I thought he looked a little quicker and a little bigger. He's a poor man's Hudler, but at least he has offensive skill.

Suzuki is just Larkin-lite. Good player but we have that guy already. I would prefer someone who can actually score in a variety of ways. I REALLY want a center that's a high end playmaker. Larkin does fine 5 on 5 and in transition but he's not a natural scorer and it shoes on the powerplay. Same with Suzuki. Zbanejad would be that.

Not that I'm some expert on Mika Zbanejad's thinking, but I do recall reading an article with some GM (for some reason I'm thinking Rutherford) in which he said that NMC's aren't really that hard to work around because if you want to move a player they usually want to be moved as well and tend to be willing to go to teams that want them. I think it was in reference to Patric Hornqvist agreeing to be traded to Florida from Pittsburgh.

Stop me if you've heard this one. Trade Mantha and a 2nd for Mika Zbanejad. Supposedly NYR want Jack Eichel, bad. To get him they're going to have to trade one of Lafreniere or Kakko (plus other assets). Larry Brooks speculates that they'd want to move out Zbanejad before any Eichel deal. But the Sabres aren't likely to want a 27 yo Zbanejad if they're starting over. So... To NYR: Mantha, Detroit's 2nd (32-34rd overall) To Detroit: Zbanejad NYR gets additional trading stock for an Eichel trade, plus a winger who fits their timeline and can score. Detroit gets a 2nd line center who scores at Mantha's rate and is the same age.

That Athletic trade board has Carolina's Jake Bean listed as well. The logic being that they'd rather trade him than lose him for nothing at the expansion draft. I'd definitely be all over that if I'm Yzerman.

Look, Mantha sorta does have a pulse.

He just blew by Larkin on the celly but then realized Larkin did all the work so he went back in for the hug haha. You love to see it. Really though, I like Brome. He’s a gritty little bastard and he scored there because he’s not afraid to play in the hard areas.

They're just throwing good money after bad. They have a convoluted system that makes no sense, and then to fix the idiocy of this convoluted system, they made it MORE convoluted. You don't need tanking protection. Teams that suck every single year and therefore drafted really high year after year are terrible despite having Hall, RNH, McDavid, Eichel, Dahlin, etc. It's not like they're gaining some advantage. They still suck because their organizations are trash.

Is there another pro sports league that has this much of an issue with the draft. This really shouldn't be too hard, just draft in reverse order.

I always get a kick out of the people who say they're not interested in these types of deals. Most don't work out, but that's not the point. There's zero risk and the history of the NHL is littered with undrafted guys, over-agers, and free agent euros who make this type of gamble worth while. Datsyuk was an over-ager when he was drafted. Martin St. Louis was undrafted. Panarin was a free agent euro. If I were a GM I'd take a swing on these guys every year. It only takes one Mark Giordano to make the effort worth it regardless of how many other guys wash out.

Sign Gallant, draft Beniers. If Beniers is off the board draft Johnson. If he's off the board draft Power/Hughes. If they're off the board draft Raty/Eklund. I kinda love the idea of hiring the coach with the fastest, most relentlessly offensive, in-your-face, system of hockey to coach a top top six featuring Larkin, Beniers, Raymond, Zadina, and Bert. Also, maybe trade Mantha because he's a big puss.

To paraphrase what I said to Neo above, people saying things on the internet IS NOT representative of anything at all. A handful of years ago there was a pretty "widespread effort" to vote John Scott into the All-Star game. That should not be taken as evidence that hockey fans suddenly had a newfound respect for John Scott's skill. It does, however, indicate that boredom and anonymity are a deadly combination that often lead (otherwise reasonable) people to say stupid/do stupid s***. Tony DeAngelo is not the victim of some left-wing mob cancel-culturing him out of a job. He's a victim of the fact that he's an obnoxious assh*le who doesn't seem to know the value of occasionally ingratiating yourself to others (i.e. being polite irrespective or your actual feelings).