kipwinger

I think it's fair value. Faulk is good, but expendable, and Bokk is a solid prospect but not an elite one. Edmundson is just a cap dump to make it work.

AND he's a right shot. I'm sure you'd be beside yourself lol. No, I wouldn't. He's another pissy pants loser who can't earn a spot on a wide open roster.

Sportsnet is rumoring that Jake Virtanen is going to be moved by Vancouver for another "change of scenery" player. I'm assuming that all of you who were in favor of trading for Jesse Puljujarvi are chomping at the bit for this guy right?

I'm a little annoyed that bum Hronek only had 5 shots on goal tonight. What a b*tch! Loved his goal though. That's the future of the Wings right there. Rasmussen winning a key faceoff and Hronek putting a laser on net.

The kid's going to be awesome, they just were in a tough spot in terms of his development last year. In two years that kid will be squating like 600 lbs, he'll be impossible to move, his mitts and passing are already nice, and he's a super intense guy. He's going to be a monster to deal with. He'll be Martin Hanzel with better scoring. Yikes.

Based on his history of being a good faceoff guy throughout his career. Even Larkin wasn't good at faceoffs as a 19 year old in the NHL, so I'm not really concerned with his rookie stats. He's always shown a willingness and commitment to the finer points of being a center. For the 3rd time, I'm only bringing up Vilardi because you seemed to think he's the "better player" and never had serious questions about his game despite him being pretty slow. And the reason I'm focusing on the "slow" thing is because it's the only part of your rationale that makes sense to me. If I'm understanding your sentiments correctly you seem to think Rasmussen is better suited for the wings because A) he's too slow to be a good center, and B) he's got some qualities that would make him a good winger like a net front presence and ability to win board battles. I'm having a hard time understanding this logic because: Rasmussen isn't really slow. You haven't had similar concerns about other slow players' ability to play center in the NHL. There are tons of good centers who aren't especially fast. And, lots of centers have qualities that would make them good wingers. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be centers. Larkin, for instance, was a great winger his rookie season. A much better one than Rasmussen has been FWIW. Thank god the coaching staff and GM preferred to keep him at his natural position.

He has a number of qualities which would make him a great center too. He's defensively responsible, good in the face-off circle, protects the puck well, and is a great passer. He'll get his net front looks on the PP anyway, so no worries there. He's also been a center for the majority of his life, so there's no learning curve. I bring up Vilardi because he's slower than Rasmussen, and you liked him ,and you never once questioned his ability to be an NHL center in all the lauding you did of him. So I was just curious why you didn't have the same "slow footed" worries about him as you do about Ras, but it sounds like you're suggesting that you might have those same worries now so no need to go further down that rabbit hole.

I'm not saying you need to agree with them. I'm just asking why you don't. If they don't think his foot speed will stop him from being an NHL center, and they clearly don't or they wouldn't be projecting him there, then I'm wondering why you do? Surely you have a rationale? I'm also doubly confused because as I recall you were really high on Gabe Vilardi in the same NHL draft that we took Rasmussen, and he's no great skater, but I've never heard you suggest he would have been anything over than a center because of his speed.

Done.

I'm not really following your logic here. Yzerman had no problem saying that he saw AA as a long term winger despite the fact that Athanasiou was drafted as a center, played center in the AHL, and played reasonably well as a center last year. Why would he treat Rasmussen any differently? Unless he genuinely doesn't see Rasmussen as a winger down the line. And if that's the case, why do you think you and Steve Yzerman don't agree on his suitability to play center? What do you think you're seeing that Yzerman and Blashill don't?

Ok, ill accept your premise for a second. But if Rasmussen's skill set is so obviously conducive to playing on the wing, why do you think both Yzerman and Blashill see Rasmussen as a center?

Off this were true you wouldn't hear NHL coaches constantly talking about how young centers need to "slow the game down". Often their speed is greater than their ability to process how the play is developing.

Speed is generally a more valuable asset to a winger than a center in most NHL systems. For instance, look how much more AA uses his speed as a winger. Very few centers consistently get breakaways, wingers do pretty regularly. AA certainly had more breakaway goals off the wing. Look at some of the better Wings centers just in recent memory. None of Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Glendening, or Nielsen are especially fast. Filppula is probably the best skating center we have had in the modern era until Larkin came along. And that's just our team. None of Toews, Getzlaf, Spezza, Malkin, Tavares, Thornton, Johansen, or Pavelski seem to have suffered as a result of not being especially fast skaters. And all of that is a little beside the point because Rasmussen is actually a pretty good skater, especially for his size. I think his skating is probably roughly as good as a many of the non Wings mentioned above. Hardly a liability.

Big fan of the fact that both Blashill and Yzerman see Rasmussen as a center long term. Gives me a lot more confidence in our depth at that position. He's a unique player because he can essentially to slotted in as a "shutdown center" but because of his powerplay ability he's still gonna score 20 goals a season. And even without him on the wing we have Mantha, Bert, AA, Zadina, Berggren, Mastrosimone, Svech, Grewe, and Hirose as options for top 9 wingers. Allows for a lot more versatility in next year's draft too.

Or we could be the new Montreal Canadiens. Not good enough to get good picks, but not bad enough to win anything. That scares me WAY worse than having a good team in place and then having to find quality goaltending later. It's also hedging a little bit. You're using a top pick on a goalie in case you don't get a solid young core piece when you could have just used the top pick on a solid young core piece.

I tend to think you don't really need an elite goalie, you just need good goaltending come playoff time. I know I've said elsewhere, but the three best goalies of this era (Lundqvist, Luongo, and Price) have zero Cups between them and at least two of them completely disappeared in the finals when they had their chance. Why use a bunch of cap space on a guy like that when lesser goalies tend to have just as much, or more, playoffs success?

Wouldn't that also make you a lesbian though?

How can we possibly know about things we haven't seen?!? Like black holes. Or, for half of you guys, a naked woman.

I'm confused by your use of "tony nips" as a pejorative. Are bigger nips better when discussing men you may need to fight?

My preferred method of governance would be if everyone was allowed to do, think, feel, and say whatever they want...in their house. But if you start being public with your s***, then you have to go one single round with a UFC fighter who feels differently than you do. If you believe it, bleed for it ya know? I think if you want to say publicly that interracial marriages are a sin (or whatever) then you've got to say it to this guy in the Octagon or shut the f*ck up.

Mother of god, he does look oddly of Charles de Gaulle. WTF! In other political news, Igor Larionov was appointed as an advisor to the Russian National Team. And this move will definitely not end with a show trail if the team fails to deliver. Putin promises.

Well then let me inform you. Government is like if Gary Bettman sucked at his job, and was dumber and more bellicose than everyone else.

...and you're gonna be in trouble hey-la-day-la Filppula's back!

The only job worse is Congressional Staff Member.

No denying that, but I'd gladly tolerate the name if it means we'll finally have two decent centers. Ok.