kipwinger

Probably will but the total doesn't really matter. And just imagine how many more goals AA would have if they had similar ice time. Larkin is top 3 in the league in 5 on 5 ice time amongst forwards. AA played most of the season on the 3rd line with a bunch of scrubs. They're neck and neck.

Well, that and he's the better goal scorer.

Ok, didn't recall that. I stand corrected. Don't look now, but McIsaac and Veleno are both playing like studs in the first round of the QMJHL playoffs. 5 in 4 for McIsaac and 6 in 4 for Veleno including 4 goals.

Most of this I agree with, except the Tkachuk part. Literally nobody prior to the draft considered Tkachuk an equal pick to Zadina. Not even close. With the advantage of hindsight you can say that Tkachuk's as good, and maybe he is, but I defy you to find a single pre-draft ranking or scouting report that had him in the same conversation as Zadina.

What tangible steps would you recommend the team or management take to "stop the useless winning"? No bulls***, what would you like to see them do to ensure the team loses in the way you obvsiously prefer they do?

Reefer madness at its worst bro.

Well McCarty doesn't seem to have any shame, but yes. Different thing than illegal though. Of all people I thought you'd understand. If some hippie manufactured outrage in order to drum up money to support their drug habit I assume you and your tribe would be up in arms right?

Yes, because obviously I'm being literal and not figurative. He's a financial profiteer was the point.

He's an opportunistic deadbeat? He preys on people's legitimate feelings of nostalgia for weed money? Because once a year he does some Bulls***ting interview about how his "blood still boils" when he thinks about the fight, but then smiles and jokes and shakes hands with Lemieux during autograph signings...signings which people pay for and which "bad guy" Lemieux does for charity and McCarty does for weed. When I think about March 26th I think about how awesome Igor Larionov was for wrestling a goddamn*d horse. Or Brendan Shanahans flying tackle. Or the goalie showdown. But McCarty can go to hell because I HATE carpetbaggers.

I was actually referencing Gentleman Jack Gallagher the pro wrestler. But now that I think about it, if we can used Jack Hughes' star power to promote underage alcohol consumption I don't see why we shouldn't. I mean, the population needs the culling that's for sure.

Can we all at least agree that if we do draft Hughes we're going to call him "Gentleman" Jack Hughes? Please?

I'm glad people still remember March 26, 1997. If not, Darren McCarty would have no way to make enough drug money to have a good time this weekend.

I mean, there are some scenarios in which I think there's a good opportunity to move up. Just depends on how the lottery plays out and who we like that the top of the first round. Say we pick 4th, and New York picks 10th, and we're pretty much equally high on any of Zegras, Turcotte, Cozens, Krebs, Byram, and Dach then we should consider trading back on that pick, along with one of our 2nds, if New York wants to move up early and may be willing to part with a later 1st rounder to do so. Then just take whichever one of those guys falls to 10th. Something like Detroit's 4th, and 35th picks for (let's say) New York's 10th and 25th (or whatever it would be). But that's a ton of "ifs".

Kenny's pretty conservative, and I can't think of a single scenario in which he moved up. I think it's far more likely that he stands pat and takes multiple picks in the 2nd. I guess I was alluding to the fact that if a bunch of players are rising, then that means that a bunch of players are falling and we might be in a position to scoop one or two of them up in the 2nd. I'd be blown away if Ken Holland moved up in the draft TBH.

Yup, happens all the time. But I'm actually way more interested in what happens at the end of the first round and beginning of the 2nd. Looking at Craig Button's draft rankings that just dropped this morning and a bunch of big names are falling. He's got Dach, Krebs, and Newhook all way down the board compared to their early season rankings. If good players continue to slide, it could make our 2nd round picks a lot more interesting.

The top 5 to 10 players in this draft seems especially deep to me. Like, you could legitimately get game changing talent in that range. And at the end of the day that's what really matters. I don't tend to get too hung up on the top picks because the odds are so drastically against it. But as I've said elsewhere, missing out on the next Patrick Kane (Hughes) is a lot easier to stomach if you land the next Nicklas Backstrom (Zegras) or Tyler Seguin (Cozens) three picks later.

Marner is an RFA, he can ask for whatever he wants, he can even sit out for a portion of the season (ask Nylander). Nevertheless, he's not getting 12 million dollars. So I don't think it's that big a concern.

How's that now?

I actually think he'll maintain his value because of HOW he scores. He's basically immune from changes in shot volume and shooting percentage (things that tend to get worse as you get older) because so much of his offense is generated from breakaways. And while he may not get quite as many, he's still 300 percent faster than pretty much everyone so he'll get plenty. Grabner still does. Aside from Ovechkin, the guys who I worry about are the ones who rely on shot volume to produce lots of points. Because as your physical attributes diminish and you cant do what you used to be able to do you get less ice time and your shot volume goes down. If you don't need much ice time and only need one shot to score one goal then it's less of an issue.

Well, don't get too far ahead of yourself because AA's corsi has actually improved pretty significantly since the move to center. So while I think it's a bad metric for capturing what makes him so dangerous offensively, there's a very real possibility that he'll have "2nd line center types metrics" by the end of the season. Hard to say until the last game is played though. And just as a point of clarity, I wasn't saying that AA played "like Grabner". I was saying that they both have the ability to contribute significantly to team offense without needing sustained possession to do so. Pavel Bure did the same thing, but it would be equally questionable to say AA "plays like Bure".

Seriously, Mike Babcock is complaining his team isn't "deep enough" because one of his two 50 point defensemen from the last two years is hurt and all Kyle Dubas did was go out and get a top pair defenseman from a Stanley Cup winning team to augment their depth. Try winning games with Trevor Daley the ghost of Niklas Kronwall you f*cking pu**y.

For the moment, yes. Also, ascribing our current bottom five status to Blashill's coaching completely ignores the long downward trajectory we've been on since about 2013. Tends to happen when your players get older and you don't have many 1st round picks. But that's seeing the forest AND the trees, someone most fans (including you apparently) aren't capable of. I'm still up in the air about him, but I'm not ready to condemn a guy based on poor performance when he's had a league worst defense, league worst center depth, and few quality prime age players since his tenure began. If I wanted a guy who loses with superstar level talent I'd hire Mike Babcock.

If he turns out to be the next Claude Giroux or Nicklas Backstrom like I think he will then I may very well propose.

Thanks babe.

Na, we're going to be awesome in two years. Count it. Kids continue to develop in a system they know and have bought into. Old, useless veterans are phased out and more young talent is brought up. And we nab some high end draft picks this year and next. Next year we surprise people and almost make the playoffs. UFA's see we're a team in the rise and sign up in the offseason. The following year we're in contention.