kipwinger

That’s the one, did he play?

If you think that SOMEONE needs to be at the net front on the powerplay then your first unit is cooked. None of Kane, Larkin, Dcat, or Tarasenko are optimally used there. I'd replace Tarasenko with either Copp or Compher at the net front on the first unit and then have this for the 2nd unit: Ras/Copp/Compher (net front) Berggren-Tarasenko-Raymond Seider

Gustafsson is a much better defender than Gostisbehere, but with a good portion of the offense. I really like Gus and was pitching him for the Wings a few offseasons ago. I think people are going to really like him. I think there's even a chance he plays higher in the lineup than many fans are anticipating. He was an 18 minute a night defenseman on a team that won the President's trophy and went to the Conference finals. Clearly he's not a liability in the same way Gostisbehere was. As for Copp and Compher, I think both of those guys are really great and can be big parts of a Cup contending team...just not down the middle. For instance, if Compher gave you 50ish points as a 2nd-3rd line complimentary winger (opposite guys like Kane or Dcat) would anyone be mad that he's making 5 million? Same with Copp. I can see those guys being defensively responsible wingmen for more offensively minded linemates but still able to hold their own in the o-zone.

On a different note, yall remember when everyone around here thought Gostisbehere and Sprong were about to get PAID and we'd never be able to afford them in free agency? That was pretty comical. Raise your hand if you ever said something like "Ghost is about to make 6 million per year, no way we can keep him". LOL

We got a Norwegian when we traded Ville Leino. I'm not sure if he played any games tho.

Cost us the playoffs last year. We would have easily made the playoffs if we had even gone .500 during the games Larkin was out of the lineup. That's an extremely mediocre bar for a team that was 8 points up on Tampa for the 1st Wildcard when Larkin went down in March.

Why can’t we have all of them? Move Zegras to the wing when Nate and Marco are ready for all I care. We are STILL one Larkin injury away from a disaster and Zegras can insulate us from that for a bunch of pieces we don’t need.

Also, let's just trade next year's 1st, plus Berggren (and Johansson if necessary) for Zegras already. He's put up 60+ points at center (twice) and is no more or less useful in the defensive zone as most other offensive minded centers. I really like the looks of this... Dcat-Larkin-Tarasenko Kane-Compher-Raymond Copp-Zegras-Mazur Ras-Motte/Veleno-Fischer Motte/Veleno

This is something that needs to be talked about more. We've all heard the company line "we're not going to mortgage the future to win now". But it's hard to believe that there's nothing SY could have done - aside from trading away important future assets - to gain ONE ADDITIONAL POINT. The margin of error is so thin that it's hard to buy this idea that it would be cost prohibitive to do something additional (e.g. call up Edvinsson sooner, buy at the deadline, etc.)

Me too, but I genuinely think Kasper could use more time in GR (like Edvinsson last season). Kasper is 90% of the way there, but his finishing needs more work. I'd love to see him go down to GR to start the season, play as their 1C and get top powerplay minutes, work on getting his shot off sooner (it's already fairly accurate) and round out his game. I see his floor as a Sam Bennett type (20G, 20-30A) but if he could bump that up to 70ish points a season I'd be thrilled. That said, if he comes out and has a great camp and/or lights it up his first 10-20 games in GR then bring him up for good.

Not really sure I want a top six that doesn't feature a single winger over 6ft or 200 lbs. Our forecheck would be terrible and we'd get eaten alive. Kane isn't a top line player anymore. Hasn't been in a while. He doesn't even bother trying to win puck battles or forecheck. You cannot have that on the ice for 20(ish) minutes a night and expect to win games.

Honestly, I'm not too bothered by most of the moves made in the offseason. I think we have a legitimate top six (for the most part) and added size and skill in Tarasenko. The Walman trade was perplexing from an asset management standpoint, but I think Edvinsson is up to the challenge of eating those minutes. Seider will take over for Ghost on the top powerplay and Gustafson/Edvinsson/Johansson will take over the second unit. The goaltending is marginally better and you'd have to think any two of Talbot, Lyon, or Husso will be solid enough to give us adequate goaltending throughout the season. I even really like the thought of both Berggren and Mazur on the 4th line. My only issues are the 2nd pair RHD position (still Petry or Holl) and the 2C situation (We're still only a Larkin injury away from ruin). Tarasenko-Larkin-Raymond Dcat-Compher-Kane Ras-Copp-Fischer Berggren-Veleno-Mazur Motte Chiarot-Seider Edvinsson-Petry/Holl/Johansson Maatta-Gustavsson Petry/Holl/Johansson

Buffalo had about 2,000 small, finesse, wingers. Edmonton still believes that the reason they aren't winning the Cup is because they don't score enough. It's a match made in heaven.

Ekman-Larsson replacement

To be clear, I never wanted Chychrun…but…Washington gave a worse package for Chychrun than we gave to San Jose for nothing in the Walman trade.

If Kasper was the center version of Seider then MBN is the winger version. Would have preferred Hage but I love this pick. Kid plays like Matthew Tkachuk.

I'm really not sure why we'd want Stamkos. The Lightening had him, Kucherov, Hedman, Point, and Vasilevsky and they got demolished in the first round. We've got nothing like that. So how's he going to help us before he's told old to contribute? Same deal with Kane. I'd have preferred we kept Walman and Gibson and let the young guys on the team mature and grow together. If we're not getting someone under 26 years old (e.g. Necas, Sharangovich) I'm not really sure what the point is.

NHL executives drive me crazy sometimes. Hronek at 7.2 million is way too much but Holl and Petry at 5.7 million combined is fine. Likewise a 1st and 3rd is too rich for SY to trade for Noah Hanifin but he'll pull a 2nd out of his hat to trade Jake Walman for nothing. For a team that badly needs decent defensemen we don't handle those particular assets especially well. Also: If this move was just SY clearing the deck to sign candyass Patrick Kane I'm going to be really disappointed.

FWIW I think Craig Button's mocks and rankings are really useful. He's said in prior interviews that he doesn't even bother trying to speculate on teams' picks. Instead he puts together his own board (just like an NHL team would do) and works off that. This is why he's way higher on some guys than public consensus may be. Way lower on some too. But I think it's a useful tool because it factors in his own subjective preferences. While NHL teams might not share Craig's priorities, it's clear that they have their own. For example, SY has said he prioritizes competitiveness over other attributes. As such, he might view a guy like Sennecke lower than other teams who value skill or size or whatever. And it's not like Craig doesn't know team building. He was the director of scouting for Minnesota/Dallas, and then again with Calgary. He's got a laundry list of draft "wins" under his belt. In short, Craig's list is useful because it's not based on consensus. Why is this useful? Because teams view players differently and don't put their lists together based on consensus either. His list is a sneak peek into how NHL GMs might value guys differently on draft day than the public does.

I do not want Kane. I think we are all forgetting we were good without him in the lineup in October/November and then again in January. He’s clearly still got some gas in the tank but he’s a luxury and not a necessity. Look at the two teams in the Cup finals and you won’t see a single player on their teams as soft as Kane is on the puck. That’s not winning hockey.

Both Danielson and Kasper can fly, not sure where you’re getting “Larkin is the only guy with speed”.

I'm telling you dudes, Hage is the guy. Won't be mad at MBN though.

So what’s up with you guys tonight?

I'd imagine it's all situationally dependent. I don't really know what New Jersey needs but the article quoted their GM as saying something like "whoever we take with this pick won't be ready to contribute for another 5 years". They want to win now, so you'd have to imagine they'd want pieces that can help with that. My guess is that the package starts with the 15th OA pick plus Berggren/Walman.

Read an article that said New Jersey is open to moving the 10th overall pick for help winning now.