kipwinger

Kivenmaki with another assist today. The little fella's on fire.

Sportsnet has Kakko in their top spot according to their most recent draft rankings. https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/sportsnets-2019-nhl-draft-prospect-rankings-march/

Yeah, but you weren't complaining about the handedness of those two guys when they were drafted. It's only because he hasn't acquired any righties since then that you care. I mean, you could say the same thing about Larkin or Mantha right? But you liked those guys more on draft day so they seem to get more of a pass for being lefties.

I should clarify, I when I say "elite" in this case I'm talking about elite offensive production. I don't see any of the rest being able to dominate games offensively in the way that I think Championship caliber teams need. There are a few other guys I think have high-end two ways games but who aren't likely to dominate their peers offensively (Dylan Larkin types).

I'm sure the next time Holland has to choose between two Zadina-esque prospects, both of whom he's equally capable of landing he'll do so. I'm just not going to hold my breath waiting for that scenario. You take the best talent you can get, Holland has certainly do so. It's not like he's turning away high-end right handed forwards.

That depends on whether or not we hit on a game changer this year with our top pick. If a couple teams jump us in the race to the bottom, and we get bad lottery luck, and end up drafting 6-8 overall, I think we're a good but not great team going forward. Because I don't see us being this bad again next year. If we draft one of Hughes/Kakko/Zegras I think we've got that kind of upside. I realize I'm an outlier here, but I think Zegras has elite level upside, I don't see that from anybody else not named Hughes or Kakko.

I actually think Kuffner will end up being better than Hirose. I've never heard of this kid before but he's got better college numbers than Zach Hyman had, and comparable stats to Jimmy Vesey. Both those guys are pretty productive depth wingers. Hirose seems too little and slow to be good in the NHL. Clearly skilled though. He's like the Joe Hicketts of forwards.

Yeah true, but if you leave those guys out you've really got nobody.

A third of the guys on this list aren't even prospects. Probably a third of this list is still developing and we have no idea how good they'll be...but could end up being very good. 25 percent are probably have middle six six/middle pair upside, but not high end. Another 25 percent of this list are depth guys. And we're about to have four of the top sixty picks in this year's draft. I'm not sure how this is supposed to be a damning indictment of our prospect pool? For the purposes of debate I'd consider someone a prospect if they would still qualify as a rookie next year. I'd sort your list as follows: Guys who aren't prospects at all: Larkin, AA, Mantha, Bert, Rasmussen, Bowey, and De La Rose Prospects with high-end NHL upside: Hronek, Cholowski, Zadina, Veleno Prospects with mid-level NHL upside: McIsaac, Lindstrom, Berggren Prospects with NHL replacement level upside: Ehn, Sulak I'd add these guys to your list: Prospects with high-end NHL upside: Filip Larsson Prospects with mid-level NHL upside: Jesper Eliasson, Otto Kivenmaki, Prospects with NHL replacement level upside: Chase Pearson, Alex Regula, Ryan Kuffner, Ville Sarijaarvi

Is it just me, or is our prospect pool stacked? And we're about to add our highest first round pick in years and like 3 second rounders. I'm feeling pretty good at the moment.

Would be cool if Kuffner turned out to be a Zach Hyman type. I could get on board with a dude like that on our 4th line.

Poor Sedins. They dragged more wingers to 30 goals seasons than anyone not named Joe Thornton. Burrows. Samuelsson. Old man Vrbata.

Let me ride shotgun with the Sedins and my nickname game will instantly become respectable.

Turns out I'm bad with nicknames. I really wanted everyone to call Joe Hicketts "Cricket". When obviously he should actually be called "Rickety Hickety". I just miss the mark on these things too often to be reliable.

So we're all in agreement that if Kivenmaki plays for the Red Wings one day we're calling him "Otter" right?

Yeah, I'm not sure I agree with the "we're in cap hell" narrative either. The last difference maker UFA that we tried to get and didn't was Stamkos, and we actually HAD enough cap space to get him, he just didn't want to come here. So I'm not sure how those bad contracts have hurt us actually.

I did not watch the game today so maybe I'm out of line here, but how does Mantha only have one shot on goal? He's supposed to be a core player, and he's supposed to be offensive, and there's a perfect opportunity for him to step up and carry the load while Larkin is hurt and he only has ONE shot on goal against the Panthers. Yikes.

Considering I thought this game was going to be a bloodbath I'm actually pretty happy with how well it has gone.

I mean, no question he's a top six player. But if he could be a top six CENTER it would be huge for this team. It would just give us so many more options at the draft and in UFA.

3 Cups with 3 different core groups, plus the majority of the streak, suggests GOAT to me. I mean, what other GM had to rebuild a winner twice?

Yeah, it was a really nice set up. Having a rookie who can run a top NHL powerplay unit is HUGE. I'd have that kid living with Mike Green in the offseason if I could.

Here's a fun thing to speculate about... IF, and I know it's a big IF, Holland rebuilds this team (and wins another Cup with another core group) does he go down as the greatest GM in the history of the league?

Yeah, he's on pace for like 40 points over 82 games as a rookie. On one of the league's worst teams to boot. The guy is a legit offensive dynamo and he's decent defensively to boot. One solid off-season in the weight room and we won't be as worried about our defense going forward. I love how that dude is always looking to get a puck on net. Plus he's really good on the powerplay. Plus he's got a wicked right-handed one timer.

I LOVE how heavily Blash is leaning on Hronek too. Bodes well for the future. That dude is going to be a monster.

Agreed, he'd get caved in for sure. But if he was able to get some chances against a top flight first line, it might be a really good building block. Long term I still like him at wing better, but I've been wrong about things before.