kipwinger

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.

Yeah, it's a s*** job. That's why retired players who don't need the money, and are used to the travel, are always doing it.

Only if you think that being thrown into Edmonton's lineup as an 18 year old top line center, during the bad old McTavish/Lowe days, was some sort of "advantage" and not a detriment. I don't agree. But nevertheless, the stats don't lie. RNH scores at a higher rate, over a longer period of time, than Larkin does.

I'm gonna say no. While in the old days Ken Holland might be tempted to break him in on the wing (and then pretend like no prospect has ever broken into the league at center), I don't think Yzerman operates that way. And since we've got about 400 s***ty centers on one-way contracts I'm guessing that barring injury he'll start in the AHL.

He scores more points, in fewer minutes, with roughly the same tough usage and he's just as good defensively. But other than that? No good reason.

Isn't that dude perpetually afflicted by some sort of rash? Talk about infected.

You'll love me in a few years when you've got a defense corps of... MsIsaac-Hronek Cholo-Lindstrom Regula-Seider Kaski

And RNH. Don't forget him. He's better than Larkin.

I do. Aren't they better than we are though?

Because his current gig probably pays WAY better than your average NHL scout? Yeah, he's higher on Seider for sure. I've seen those articles. One of the things I generally like about the guy is that he routinely re-drafts and shows what he got wrong. Not many people in any profession who are willing to do that.

I mean, if you want an older, s***tier, player then sure. Why not? Why would I mean something dumb?

Our centers are going to be so sick when we sign Ryan Nugent-Hopkins after this year and rolls Larkin, RNH, and Veleno in the top 9. So nasty.

Well, I mean The Athletic's subscriber base is projected to surpass a million before the end of the year. So a big part of why he's being quoted more is because he's being seen more. But you don't even get that job unless you're frequently right about prospects. I read somewhere that Pronman's accuracy rate for the first round (meaning which 31 players go first, not order) is insanely high. I'll try to dig up where I found that. I'd be curious to know the extent to which your standard North American (or European) scout could accurately pick the top 31 guys off the board. I know NHL central scouting does two different lists so they don't even bother. It's not an easy job by any measure.

You mean you don't enjoy watching adult men act like doofy man-babies?