kipwinger

This isn't the one I'm thinking of, but it'll work.

Holland said after the fact that the NTC never factored into any potential returns. But that's sorta beside the point. If you were getting basically a 3rd and a 2nd no matter what you do, just take a 3rd in 2019 and a 2nd in 2020 when they were sure to be worse. Instead we got a 2nd in the year they were reasonably good and a 3rd in a year they're pretty terrible. All of which could have been deduced with information available on trade day.

Remember that time we traded the Sharks Gustav Nyquist and Doug Wilson absolutely swindled Ken Holland on the conditions? That's the exact moment Ken Holland jumped the shark (no pun intended). Condition 1: We get a 2nd in 2019 and a 2nd in 2020 if SJ makes the Cup finals. Otherwise it's a 3rd in 2020. Condition 2: We get a 2nd in 2019 and a 2nd in 2020 if Nyquist re-signs with SJ. Otherwise it's a 3rd in 2020. Why did Ken Holland get swindled? San Jose had no cap space and Nyquist was hitting UFA for the first time in his career. So he was never re-signing there. SO, in order to get the 2nd in 2020 we had to A) Bet on SJ doing well in the playoffs (ahahahahahaha) or, B) get a worse pick (basically a 3rd rounder) in 2019. Ouch.

Bold strategy. Obama can't take them away if you don't even have any.

That's Comrade Smarty Pants to you.

Mozambique gained its independence through a Marxist (i.e. Leftist) revolution, hence the rifle. Marxists, as you'll certainly remember from books that aren't the bible, have a long history of putting working class tools on their flags (e.g. the Hammer and Sickle). Hence the crossed rifle and plow. FRELIMO, the Marxist party that won independence from the Portugese, had the same plow on their flag. So despite your best efforts to interpret that flag through a right wing prism, it turns out you're actually quite fond of a leftist flag. Coincidentally, both you and them (meaning left wing communists) find common ground on the necessity of firearms. The more you know.

Of the guys you mentioned I'd really only be interested in Markstrom. Maybe Krug, but I have concerns. I don't like Krug on a top pair, as he's pretty easily out muscled in the defensive zone, which means he'd have to be on a 2nd pair with Hronek (hate that combo for obvious reasons) or a 3rd pair where the lack of minutes would cut into his offense (thus negating any reason to sign him in the first place). I don't like Namestnikov because I don't like the idea of paying UFA prices for a 3rd line winger who's only topped 20 goals once in his career. I think we can probably find similar or better internally (Hi, Jonatan Berggren!). Ditto for Janmark, whom I like but who is probably not better than Veleno or Rasmussen are likely to be. I suspect we'll take a center in this year's draft as well, meaning only one of those two needs to be better than a Janmark. I don't think any of those guys are bad players mind you. I just think we have what they're offering (aside from Krug). I'd rather we not look at free agency until the following summer unless we're addressing the goalie issue.

I mean, I'm not advocating trading AA. I'm just suggesting that it wouldn't surprise me given A) the likely return on a guy like him to a contender, and B) the type of player he is vs. the type of player Yzerman seems to want. I do think if it's not for a 1st then it definitely doesn't happen at all. Basically there are four ways to improve this team over the next two years: 1. Let our crop of 1st rounders in Grand Rapids develop into impact players. 2. Trade something of value for a 1st rounder and hope the pick is an impact player (alongside your own 1st a la Zadina/Veleno). 3. Trade for an impact player a la Trouba (unlikely given people don't trade impact players often) 4. Sign an impact free agent (unlikely given those guys down want to play for bad teams). Obviously Yzerman will do the first one. Trading AA is the only way to do the second one. And the other two are probably just not going to happen at this point in our rebuild.

For sure. Stack them draft picks. At this point they're likely not going to factor into our next Cup window, but having them around for trading stock is never a bad thing. I also think there's an outside chance that AA gets traded at the deadline, having nothing to do with how bad his season is going either. He an RFA with a track record of scoring, he's not really an Yzerman kind of guy, and he's likely the only asset on the team that is both expendable and likely to yield a 1st round pick.

I'm gonna need the Wings to keep Helm on that top line. Aside from the fact that spreading our offense out has seemingly made the team a little better, he keeps getting quality chances. Pump them stats up and someone will trade for him at the deadline. Bound to happen. And since we're likely not trading Glendening, and Green's trade value has fallen pretty dramatically, getting a 2nd for Helm might be the best case scenario on deadline day.

Can't stand him. He's a 42 year old man who acts, and speaks, like a millenial. "Connor McDavid is fire". "Ovi winning the Cup gave me all the feels". Ugh. What a b*tch. Buccigross is a legit hockey fan though. Love that guy.

None of which bothers me (or is as scummy) as basically every single thing they did with respect to the new arena development.

Sure, but that's beside the point. The Illitch family is hiring a PR firm because the public has correctly identified that they are scumbags too. An easy way to solve that would be to stop being disgusting. Or just hire a PR firm I guess.

You'd have to drop Boston if your third criterion was "3. Not being insufferable douchebags".

Well they could start by paying their millions in back taxes, and the finish your "district Detroit" development in the way you promised, and finally stop being lying, opportunistic, scumbags. But that's just me.

Spooky?...Scary?

I hate Gritty so much. Anybody else, or is it just me?

He's in the same boat as Bobby Ryan. He's on the back side of his career so he's declining, but he's not nearly as bad as he's made out to be. But since he makes a zillion dollars a year everybody f*cking hates his guts and wants to see him fail.

It's so weird seeing Tomas Jurco sitting on an NHL bench. Like, logically I know he's a professional hockey player, but I just can't imagine how or why.

I know. It would be so sick. But since the Red Wings NEVER take players I want I can't allow myself to get excited about it.

For sure, but I was thinking someone more like Tom Wilson.

Marchand is the exact opposite of "having fight". He hits guys dirty and then does everything in his power to avoid having to answer for it. As a heel, I love him. As a man, not so much. Dude kicked so much ass. I'd get so mad at him for bombing three balls from six feet beyond the arch, but then I'd remember how the rest of the team were a bunch of vanilla midgets before he came and I'd give him a pass. Plus, how much more Detroit could a player be? He was the right athlete at the right time on the right team. Only good move Dumars ever made as GM.

Agreed. It's a favorable comparison, except that Larkin is probably a much better offensive player than O'Reilly was at this point in his career. If we can somehow land a 2nd line center who has offensive chops we'll be in the catbird seat going forward if that's the case.

Not that anybody really has a chance of effectively defending McDavid, but Larkin is the kind of guy who would have the best shot. He can skate with 97, he's relentless, and he doesn't mind being borderline dirty. How much fight does Dustin Byfuglien have? Because that's who I was always pining for.

A couple years ago I was beating the drum about how the Red Wings needed to sign/trade for someone who maybe wasn't the best player on earth, but who was full of swagger and confidence. In my mind's eye I was thinking of when the Pistons acquired Rasheed Wallace. Never fear, we now have Joe Hicketts. According to Ken Daniels that's why he's been called up. Ugh. I didn't think I needed to specify that I didn't want a midget.