kipwinger

Yzerplan step by step off-season guide: Step 1: trade Mantha, Lindstrom, and potentially the 6th for the 8th pick for Ryan Nugent Hopkins. Step 2: Use 8th pick (trade back if you still have the 6th for more assets) to select Matthew Boldy or BPA if better. Step 3: Sign Gus Nyquist to 5x5 deal. Have this in a few short years: Bert-Larkin-Nyquist Boldy-RNH-AA Ras-Veleno-Zadina Svech-Glen-Berggren/Hirose Abby

Anybody at all concerned that in his entire career as a general manager Steve Yzerman never drafted a defenseman who was worth a damn?

And so is Jack Hughes. He's the Garry Kasparov of the Hockey world. Mark it.

Like this ^^^^^^^^^ Or worse?

Says the dude who wrote a page long response to my late night ribbing, outlining everything I've said bad about Jack Hughes in the last 6 months. Probably feels good to get that off your chest huh? Reminds me of that time you gave me a stern talking to for being so mean to the poor little MAGA dips***s. Boy you really put me in my place that time too.

I'm old enough to remember you not slobbering all over Pettersson in his draft year like you did with Hughes. Again, he's chess right? He's just playing a whole different game than everyone else. So who cares about his tourney stats, he's not a phenom like your boy Jack.

Hasn't Kakko been better all season? He just had a record breaking season in a much harder league.

William Nylander might actually be better than Larkin. He has been better for significant portions of his NHL career. The only year he was obviously worse was this year, so that's actually a terrible example of what you're trying to prove.

I agree with everything you say, but I'd add that many analysts believe Hughes projects as a winger at the NHL level and he's most often compared to Patrick Kane and Johnny Gaudreau, both wingers. So this take - though sound in principle - might not be that relevant in the case of Kakko and Hughes.

That's just because Hughes is chess, and Kakko is checkers. Hughes' impact takes a really long time to set up, he'll probably deliver the coup de grace in USA's final game...long after they're out of medal contention lol.

So Kaapo Kakko is still torching NHL players at the World Championships I see. Not bad for a guy who's definitely not even close to as good as Jack Hughes eh @Dabura?

He's cost controlled, and nobody knows what he's going to turn out to be. Might as well hang on to him and see what you've got. Given his limited NHL time and injuries you wouldn't get s*** for him in a trade anyway.

I got a couple things wrong in the OP. He was 1st in the Liiga in defense scoring, AND he hasn't officially signed yet. Won't sign until after the World Championships where he's got 1 assist in 3 games for Finland.

Mantha and Hronek looking really good at the World Championships. Happy to see both doing well. Larkin used that tourney as a springboard and it would be nice to see others doing the same. Kakko is currently dominating there as well. Dude's apparently a beast.

Ummm, we have a team in which Nielsen, De La Rose, and Glendening all took regular shifts at center last year and we don't have a spot for Datsyuk? Lol. Deplorables.

A few things about Mrazek. The knock on him in Detroit, and the reason Howard stayed over him, was that he wasn't receptive to coaching. He wanted to do things his way. So he got bounced to Philly. Sucked there. Signed a bargain basement deal with Carolina, which would likely have been his last NHL stop if he hadn't improved. I think it's likely that he realized he better start listening and doing things right rather than free wheeling it in goal, and THATS probably the cause of his improved play to a large extent. These coaches didn't get to the NHL level by being dumb. If they tell you to play a particular way you should generally listen. Guys who do, like Cleary or Mrazek, have longer careers. Guys who don't, like Brunner or Jurco, end up in 2nd tier leagues or in the AHL.

Have to imagine Podkolzin's stock fell a bit after a miserable U18 in front of all those scouts. He had like, 1 goal? My boy Zegras looking filthy though. 9 points in 5 games. Two fewer games than everyone else and still outpaced draft comparable like Cozens, Turcotte, Krebs in points per game. Newhook also raised his draft stock a bit with a strong tourney.

No, but if he's not willing to sign with a solid team in their Stanley Cup window then you have to think at the very least he wants to hit UFA. If that's the case we've got as good a chance as anyone, and probably better than most given that A) he's from here, and B) we have all the cap space in the world. Plus any team he'd likely to be traded to will be a bottom feeder because contenders don't tend to have an extra 7ish million dollars in cap space lying around. So given all that it'd be pretty dumb to trade for him. Agree with KRsmith, wait and sign him in UFA.

Matt Duchene is showing up huge for the BJs in the playoffs. Really solid pickup at the deadline so far.

This thread warms my heart in a way few others have over the years. I feel...complete?

While looking up Rasmus Dahlin's career stats I accidentally stumbled across the reason why the Buffalo Sabres continue to suck despite having good talent...because they're a team full of ginger dorks. How the hell are you going to win with these dweebs?

Fans seem to like Broberg more than scouts do. He has steadily fallen all year on pretty much every list I follow. At this point I'd be surprised if he goes in the top 15. Zegras probably goes top 10 though, so I'm not sure what they're thinking.

This is one big problem that will hopefully be addressed over the next year or so. You're absolutely right, Luke has been a third liner. But only because guys like De La Rose and Ehn are on the team. Getting Svech, Ras, Zadina, and Veleno into those middle six roles should push Luke, Helm, and Abby down the lineup where they belong. A fourth line of Helm-Glendening-Abby isn't terrible. A third line with those guys on it is a disaster. Since buying out Abby or Nielsen would cause as many problems as it would fix, I'd probably try to trade Helm. You'd get a taker, especially if you retained a bit of salary. Then make Nielsen-Glen-Abby your fourth line.

You can watch it live on the Red Wings facebook and twitter pages if you have either of those.

Tampa has drafted really well the last handful of years, but so had Detroit under Tyler Wright. I've been thrilled with how our picks have turned out since 2014, particularly the later round picks. So I hope they don't throw the baby out with the bath water.