kipwinger

I'm not in a position to look it up right now but weren't Datyuk and Zetterberg like 28-30 when we won in 2008?

Rossi and Lafreniere have the same usage. Rust and Matthews/Kucherov don't. So it's pretty easy to see which is an aberration and which isn't. Good catch on my math. Point still remains, it only makes a difference if Rossi plays 10 more games than Lafreniere, which he hasn't, and even then it would only be a difference of three goals (I'd be curious to know the points per game difference between the two leagues). Again, I don't care about pro scouts that much because, as I've already stated, they do obviously stupid things at the draft all. the. time. And presumably they don't care about me because I'm just a guy on the internet. You know who does care about my thoughts a lot though? The guys that responded to 25 of my posts this morning.

Also apparently he's a mean little bastard. He's been suspended already for dirty play, and nearly suspended a few more times. It doens't pay to mess Rossi it seems. He's not the biggest guy on earth, but you're not going to shove him around either. And as I feel obliged to keep saying, he scores more than Lafreniere. So yeah, he's dope.

I don't have the average fan's antipathy toward those guys, or the rivalry years in general. I remember reading Brendan Shanahan's article in the Player's Tribute where he fawned all over Joe Sakic and I sort of realized that while the rivalry was fun and all there was no reason to be delusional and act like guys who were really good actually weren't somehow. The beauty of the rivalry to me was that as insanely good as Sakic and Forsberg were, Yzerman and Fedorov were better. I actually feel about Larkin and our (hopefully) soon to be 2C the way I feel about Seider and Hronek. One guy scores all the points, one guy kicks all the ass. I like that setup. If you had Larkin and Veleno/Rasmussen eating all the hard defensive minutes and Stutzle/Rossi/Byfield torching subpar defenders I'd say you're in a pretty good situation.

Depends on the value of the 1st. Send him to a Calgary or someone who's likely to get bounced early and you're talking about a really valuable pick. I'd MUCH rather have AA and (say) the 19 or 20th overall pick than Fabbri and the 40th. But that's just me.

Most of the scouting reports I've seen suggest that Rossi is pretty stout, and strong one his skates, and very aggressive. He's already 180 lbs, despite being 5'9 so it's pretty fair to assume he'll be 200-210 lbs in his 20s. Most tend to agree that he projects out as a center because of this. He's also, as I've stated a few times, the most dynamic offensive player in the draft (and that includes Lafreniere) so I think he's as likely to have "game breaking" upside as anyone. With all that said, I don't think we need him to be a "1C". It's great if he is, mind you, but we've already got a 1C who can score 60+ points will matching up against the top centers in the game and logging heavy minutes. What we really need is a top six center who can score a ton of points precisely because he WON'T have to log Larkin type minutes. Let him be the Sakic to Larkin's Forsberg.

First Bold: Rossi is already a more talented offensive player than Lafreniere, and they're in the same league. So I don't know why he'd suddenly be worse than Raymond, who's quite a step below Lafreniere, regardless of league. Second Bold: That wasn't what I was suggesting at all. I'm a pretty astute sports better, and I would 100% percent bet that Lafreniere will go 1st overall. What I was suggesting was that it's not clear to me that he SHOULD go first, or rather, that he'll have the best NHL career. Much the same way that I was 100 percent sure Jack Hughes would go 1st overall, but that another player (such as Kakko) would have a better NHL career and would therefore have been a better pick at 1st.

Why take Raymond there when Rossi is outscoring Lafreniere? He's a more talented offensive player than Raymond AND he plays center. As far as drafting 1st I have consistently avoiding discussing it because A) Lafreniere almost certainly gets drafted there, and B) we almost certainly don't get that pick, so it's a pretty boring topic to discuss.

Agreed, no need to give him away. But like I said, if someone's offering a first, and you get to keep AA then it's hard to argue against it. Another big X factor at the deadline is Madison Bowey, who's quietly putting up some pretty solid numbers this year. Again, hard to imagine he won't be in play, though I think he's the kind of guy that would blossom in a Laviolette (or Gallant) type system.

I vacillate a lot because Rossi is outscoring Lafreniere right now in the CHL AND projects as a center, so obviously I love that. Stutzle is also a high offensive upside center. Byfield probably is less skilled than those guys (though it's hard to say by how much considering his age) but with his physical tools he's got the ability to be dominant in a way they can't be. At this point I'm genuinely fine with any of them and I don't see us taking a winger or defenseman so I'm pretty happy no matter whether we draft 2, 3, or 4.

Given that AA has pretty low trade value, and Robby Fabbri has played pretty well, if I'm Yzerman I'm taking calls on Fabbri at the deadline as well. Long term you need to keep one of the two, and Fabbri is definitely the better player, but if someone's offering a 1st (hypothetically) for Fabbri and we can lock up AA at a lower price (because of the down year) you have to consider it.

A little bit to add to this thought... Stutzle played center his entire life, projects as a center in the future, and is only playing on the wing now because he's a 17 year old playing in an adult league as a rookie. It's a little like Dylan Larkin playing wing his 1st NHL season. Far as I've read pretty much everyone assumes he'll switch back to center long term a la Larkin. Cole Perfetti is the only guy who's played center, who's likely to go around the time Detroit drafts, and who doesn't project down the middle long term.

I'm pumped about this development. Assuming we do no worse than 4th, we're basically getting one of Byfield, Stutzle, or Rossi to be our future 2C. Rossi just burst into TSN's Top 5 and is outscoring Lafreniere in the CHL and has been described as a highjlight reel offensive player.

The Athletic has him on their trade board because NY is stacked on defense, they need help up front, and he's a completely disaster defensively. Like, really bad. Which is why I think something like AA and a higher end pick gets it done. Keep in mind, Jacob Trouba was traded to NY for a middle pair defenseman (Neal Pionk) and a first round pick and Trouba is pretty easily a better all around defenseman. So I'd say the price is pretty close.

Assuming we don't draft in the top two, I'm all aboard the Stutzle bandwagon. Kid's got offensive skill, has decent enough size (and will grow), is torching a men's league (that is better than I thought it was a year ago), and could play in the AHL next year. Slam dunk.

AA and the lesser of our two 2nd rounders for Tony DeAngelo. Nuff said. Then draft Stutzle at 4th (being conservative with my expectations). Bert-Lark-Mantha Veleno-Stutzle-Zadina Fabbri-Ras-Berggren McIsaac-Seider Cholo-Hronek DK-DeAngelo

Watched all the games. Facts are facts bud. Canada's leadership group is woefully underprepared for this tournament. They have absolutely sucked. They aren't leading the team on the ice, they aren't leading the team in rivalry games, and they're making stupid mistakes that cause distractions and undermine the locker room. Not what I'd expect out of a once proud national team.

Sick burn. Let's hope Canada can raise themselves up from the depths, must half that moxie, and finish strong in this tournament because the World Juniors are basically all you have with respect to hockey.

Both of those "lapses in judgement" clearly demonstrate that the "leaders" in question don't have their heads on straight, and THAT probably does have an effect on their play.

You're right, this is exactly what Canada wanted out of their leadership group I'm sure.

Can't speak for Mab, but Matt's too busy making excusing for Michigan football to even update the layout of this page and remove Zetterberg and Tatar from the background. Something tells me that he, or she (given your theory), can't be bothered to "nuke" this site.

Not really into MAGA chicks.

Yeah, because you're such a big fan of things that mix up the status quo.

So does leadership not matter then? Who else should be blamed for their lapses in judgement? That's two lapses in judgement in a game against your biggest rival, by two team leaders. And can't we reasonably surmise that "leaders" who aren't dialed in to the task at hand, and keep having lapses in judgement A) are not demonstration the proper level of commitment, focus, determination, and intelligence necessary to win a tournament like this, and B) therefore, shouldn't be leaders at all. I say give the "C" to Lafreniere. I realize he's hurt, but at least he'd give the team something to play for. They currently can't put their egos aside long enough to play for their country...obviously.