kipwinger

Not like Babs' playoff record in Toronto was some feather in his cap.

You're trying too hard. God love you, but you're trying too hard. Lot of teams have tough schedules, or deficiency at specific positions, or injuries. Hell, look at the mighty Blue Jackets laboring into the playoff picture despite dealing with all three. You know what lots of teams don't have? Tavares, Matthews, Nylander, Marner, Reilly, and Anderson to build around. There's not excuse for their early season struggles, and REALLY rapid turnaround, that doesn't involve an entire team quitting on their assh*le coach.

Is it possible for everyone involved in this incident, including Gritty, to die in a fire? Or is that asking too much?

First, Mantha shouldn't be fighting at all. Second, he gets hurt every single time he fights, so it's starting to get harder and harder to make it seem like it's a fluke.

I remember when they wrong an article entitled, "Why Brendan Smith Really Is That Damn Good". Mind you, this wasn't written before Smith played a game in Detroit, it was written in his 4th year or something. The crux of the argument was that Smith's advanced stats were really good. I'd a back and forth on twitter with the author where I pointed out that Kind's were even better, and asked why he wasn't as high on Kindl. His response, "because Smith plays a more fan friendly style". Meaning, "I like Smith". Obviously that was the last time I took WIIM seriously. I mean anyone, ANYONE, who was still fanboying for Brendan Smith after about his first 50 games has to be the dumbest f*ck alive. Like, waterboy for a Special Olympic Spelling Bee team type of dumb. And almost certainly ugly and pathetic too. But dumb, obviously, is such a person's defining characteristic.

So just checked in on Oliwer Kaski, now playing for the Charlotte Checkers. Remember how we traded him for some bum? Well he's got 11 points in his last 15 games (5 goals, 6 assists). I'm not too beat up about trading him, but starting to seem like we just gave this kid away without really knowing what we had in him.

Yeah, I mean I got that feeling too. Especially after Yzerman took over. Doesn't really fit into the "compete" ethos. But I also don't see the organization mismanaging him as an asset. And right now he's got far less value than he might, at say, the draft. I think they give him through the end of the season to rebound statistically. But if he doesn't then they're in a pickle because you've got to trade him or re-sign him. At that point, re-signing him might be the way to go because he'd be cheaper and HOPEFULLY he'll regain some of his offense next year so he can be traded then. Long story short, I agree that he doesn't seem in their long term plans. But signing him to a 4-5 year deal at a good cap hit might help facilitate a trade down the line.

I don't put a lot of stock in what sports people do or don't do. It took what, 100 years to use a 1-3-1 powerplay in hockey despite the fact that mathematically it makes more sense than a 2-3. Similarly basketball and football constantly do stupid, counter-logical, s*** because nobody's ever really done it differently. In football they still punt, despite it being dumb. And it took basketball a zillion years to figure out that you should just rebound and shoot 3's all game. These days moving the 1st is an even safer move because the 2nd overall guys are so good. I will concede, however, that because fanboys get so moist over each 1st overall pick every year, the move would be HIGHLY unpopular. So you'd better be able to sell it to your fans. Or at least fleece the other team so badly that it's obvious what a good idea it was. But play out the thought experiment. Say you trade the 2015 Connor McDavid 1st overall for Jack Eichel's 2nd, Buffalo's 2016 1st, and Rasmus Ristolainen (probably not even as good a package as you could get, but bear with me). Let's also assume for whatever reason Edmonton REALLY liked Puljujarvi with their own 2016 1st, regardless of the trade. Outcomes of trading the pick: Eichel, Puljujarvi, Ristolainen, and Buffalo's 6th overall. Given that it was clear by the draft in 2016 that Edmonton wanted defensemen (Hence why they traded Hall for peanuts at the draft) I assume they take one of Sergachev, McAvoy, Bean, Chychrun, or Fabbro all of whom were still on the board at 6th. Plus they probably don't trade Hall if they know they're getting a top ten defender and just landed Ristolainen. Outcome of not trading the pick: McDavid, Puljujarvi, and Adam Larsson. Which team is better?

And be saddled with another Nielsen for the next four years at a pretty significant cap hit? Nah, I think I'd rather not. Turris' productive days are behind him, and after we draft a center this year we'll be loaded down the middle.

Of course you do it, I've been saying this exact same thing for years. Might as well weaponize the HYPE around the consensus 1st overall. Particularly when 2nd overall picks are often as good, or better, than first overall guys. And you'd be getting other high end talent on top of it. Think about it this way, either Crosby or McDavid has been the best player in the world for the last 15 years or so. How many Cups do they have combined? Three. So the best player in the world won three of the last 15 Cups. Conversely, the best TEAM in the world has won 15 of the last 15 Cups. Fans DRAMATICALLY overestimate the value of the best individual players. Another way of looking at it: Connor McDavid is WAY better than Jack Eichel right? And yet, McDavid's presence, along with that of a bunch of other top picks, has not made Edmonton any better than Eichel has made Buffalo. Or rather, hypothetically could Edmonton have been any better off if they'd traded the 1st for the 2nd+++, drafted Eichel (who's now a legitimate star in his own right), and taken anything of value that Buffalo had to offer (especially draft picks and defense)? Hard to say? But it's worth pondering. Edit: It's also absurdly good strategy because you get to drive an extremely hard bargain in the trade, and if they don't take it, then your consolation prize is THE 1ST OVERALL PICK.

Maybe, or maybe Ferris realizes that his client is an RFA, the "I'll hold out and play in Europe card" clearly isn't phasing GMs anymore (see: Puljujarvi, Jesse), and that in the past Yzerman has balked at trade players' requests (see: Drouin, Jonathan) and then either A) go to arbitration where AA's miserable season ain't going to get the kid paid, or B) take the middling money on the long term and look to get traded at a later date. The only time holding out works is when you're coming off a solid season and your team needs you. If you suck, and your team isn't going to be good anyway, they have no reason to cave. Again, just look at Puljujarvi. You think AA wants to make bulls*** money in Switzerland or make 4.5 million in Detroit? I know what I would do.

As Wayne Gretzky once said (or at least surely thought), "you don't lose 100% of the fights you don't get into".

It's crazy, for years we had no enforcer, and league lowest fighting majors, and somehow Datsyuk and Zetterberg and Lidstrom managed to stay healthy anyway. But for some reason Mantha feels the need to defend every single teammate that gets bumped and for the 3rd straight year he's the one paying for it. What a bonehead.

So this is the 3rd year where he's basically f***ed his season by fighting for no good reason? Awesome. There's dumb, and then there's Brendan Smith dumb, and then there's this guy.

I don't think it's a guarantee that he should get traded. After the season he's had, his bargaining power is going to be pretty low, and he's an RFA to boot. If you can lock up a guy with his skillset to a reasonable long term deal, and get 20+ goals a season from him, then he's got a TON of value to your team. I also don't think he would have fetched a 1st last year at the deadline either, considering he didn't get to 30 without a pretty significant late season surge. But generally I agree, his value was higher a year ago.

My point was not that it's impossible, but that's it's probably a long shot. AA has never scored 30 goals AND 60 points. Plus, he's just so bad at every other facet of the game that he's not going to be an attractive option for some contender's top six. So I don't see them giving up that price. If I were Yzerman my two options for AA would be 1) hockey trade in the offseason for someone like DeAngelo or Dumba, or 2) sign him long term at like 4.5-5 million a year and pencil him onto our 3rd line permanently. Either has value.

I definitely don't think he's getting us anything like that at this year's deadline. Maybe if he finishes strong this year, and is looking solid next year he might be in the 1st+ range. But not given his current production. Dzingel got a good return because he looked like he was trending up. He scored 18, 23, and then 22 (before February's deadline). So it definitely seemed like he was going in the right direction. AA is trending down right now. If he doesn't go on a tear the rest of the season and top 20 (at least) then it's going to look like that 30 goal season was a fluke and bye bye trade value.

I agree that there's not a need to move AA until his trade value rebounds, but even at his peak he's not fetching a 1st+. So might wanna temper your expectations a bit.

You mean he didn't forget how to play hockey after signing with the Kings?

The point I'm actually making is not the scouts are wrong and Lafreniere could be a bust. I mean, technically anyone COULD be a bust but I think he'll probably be really good. I'm suggesting that they're probably overstating the difference between him and the other top guys (who will all also be really good). In the end I think that difference will end up being quite small. As a result whomever gets the top pick should at least consider A) trading it and fleecing another team for a bunch of other assets, or B) drafting for position. I've never suggested that the consensus top guys are likely to be bad, just that other top of the draft guys are likely to be better than they're made out to be. And the HYPE surrounding the top guys can be weaponized in your favor if you're confident in another player.

Good talk man. Thanks for playing.

https://www.thefourthperiod.com/jan-2020/wild-ready-to-sell-retool Any interest in a trade for Dumba? He's pretty awesome.

I'm not that concerned about his height, mostly because he'll probably grow another few inches. Most draftees do. But if he doesn't, and fills out to round 200 lbs, then there are literally dozens of examples of guys who were small and stout and successful. Off the top of my head, Brayden Point, Brad Marchand, Cam Atkinson, Marty. St. Louis, Mats Zuccarello, Daniel Briere, Tyler Johnson, Tory Krug, Theo Fleury, and our beloved Ted Lindsey all come to mind.

I 100% agree. But I also have to be prepared for the likely scenario that we end up drafting 4th and Lafreniere, Byfield, and Stutzle are off the board. And in that scenario I'd be very pleased with Rossi.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I honestly like the idea of Veleno playing wing the more I think about it. Let him be another Tyler Bertuzzi, and chase down pucks for Filip Zadina on the 2nd line with whomever we draft this year. He (and Bertuzzi) are the perfect "piano pullers" because they can get to pucks and win battles, but they're not completely devoid of offensive talent either.