kipwinger

How does someone as big as Mantha lose as many puck battles as he does?

I mean, totally agree, but at this stage of his career is Howard happy to make the playoffs or does he want a realistic chance at winning a Cup? Because while we might make the playoffs next year, we're almost certainly not a Cup contender for at least another 3 years I'd think.

It's not even that I wouldn't want to re-sign him either. He's a good enough goalie. It just doesn't make sense for either party (again, provided he wants to win). We're not winning any time soon, so no reason he should want to stay with the team. And when we're ready to win again he'll be old and suck, so no reason the team should want him to stay.

You've got to figure that Howard gets traded regardless of the return right? I mean, provided he wants a chance at a Cup. Let's say Holland re-signs him, we're realistically a few years away from Cup contention best case scenario. Holland would be crazy to sign him for more than a few years. Meaning, MAYBE in the final year of his new contract he'd have a realistic chance at playing for a Cup. At which point he'll be 37 years old, and will likely suck. So he probably wouldn't be playing anyway. I think this whole, "we may re-sign him" thing is smoke screen to get the best deal possible at the deadline.

Not necessarily: Bert-Larkin-AA Ras-Duchene-Zadina Mantha-Veleno-Svech Neilsen-Glen-Abby Helm The bigger concern would be if we drafted a center that was ready to play in the NHL within a season or two. But the draft comes before UFA, so if you did land a Hughes type guy, you just wouldn't sign a Duchene. Not really that hard to navigate.

The thing I like about Duchene is what a nightmare he'd be to play against in a 7 game series. The dude is like Larkin, super fast, super engaged, motor always running. Between the two of them I think they'd skate you into the ground over the course of a series. We're FINALLY getting a team identity and he fits right in. I actually really liked Ryan O'Reilly as a trade option last year for the same reason.

Nobody is saying that KH is going to play every card right, I'm saying he's got plenty of cards to play and that the Cap isn't an issue unless he makes it so. If I were KH I would do the following for the remainder of the season: 1. Trade Nyquist for Devon Toews and a 2nd to the Isles, who have been rumored to be in on Nyquist. 2. Trade Howard to Columbus for a 2nd and a prospect. I proposed a 3 way trade earlier with FLA which I think makes sense, but obviously those are hard. 3. Trade Jensen for a 3rd 4. Go hard for Duchene, but don't be afraid to walk away if the bidding gets ludicrous. 5. Draft the best available center with our first pick. 6. Kronwall, Frk, Witko all walk in the offseason.

All of our big s***ty contracts are expiring just as fast as young guys will be needing raises. Even faster actually. There's a very real possibility that we could be shedding all of Kronwall, Nyquist, Howard, Vanek, Frk, Jensen, and Witkowski this year. Green, Ericsson, and Daly next year. Bernier, Glendening, Helm the year after. Long story short, our Cap situation is looking REALLY good. We've got more than enough money to pay our RFAs and sign UFAs. The key, of course, is making sure the UFAs you sign are worth it. I think Duchene this year, and Trouba next year would be excellent acquisitions.

Filip Hronek with two goals tonight for the Griffs. Does he even still count as a prospect at this point?

YOU'RE kidding right? 1) Pretty sure I said I didn't think he'd cost much money. DEFINITELY didn't say we should give him 8-9 million dollars. You just made that up. 2) I said the teams he played for (Colorado and Ottawa) had defensive systems, not that they were good defensively. You just made that up too. 3) He's scored over 25 goals twice in the last 7 years (what an arbitrary number you picked!), last year and in 2015-16. So you made that up too. Are you trying to be this bad at posting things online, or are you just sorta effortlessly terrible? Are you the Jack Hughes of making up stupid crap on LGW? Lol. I almost did. I was so close. Ultimately I decided to stick with just the one correction considering he got the same one wrong over and over and over. Let this be a lesson to all the kids out there, when you don't pay attention in school and eat too many Doritos your brain may turn to mush.

It's called attribution. I didn't "conclude" anything. I said that Pronman listed them as one of the worst. Which he did. That information was used as context and I never pretended that more people than just him had said it. I also explained why I listed Pronman in particular in a subsequent post. Wait, did you think that I was trying to pretend like I spent my time evaluating the prospect pools of each NHL team? Or that I was trying to pass someone else's work off as my own? Lol. Not me man. Here's the thing, I read stuff about hockey on the internet, and then I talk about my thoughts on that stuff here on LGW with you dingbats. I don't know s*** about hockey. I DO know s*** about organizing thoughts around coherent concepts though.

First, it's "you're", not "your". For example, "You're more likely to be taken seriously when you spend a few seconds making sure you've chosen your words correctly". Ok, here goes. Why do I want Matt Duchene? 1) He's one of the fastest skaters in the NHL, which fits our team identity. 2) He's really good in the face-off circle. 3. He plays center primarily, but has produced well on the wing so he provides versatility if Veleno becomes a stud and we draft another high quality center this year. 4. Despite being on teams with extremely defensive systems, he's shown he can produce 2nd line center numbers. 5. His production history means he likely won't cost as much as a top center (which he wouldn't be on our team). 6. He produces well on the powerplay. Or, ya know, he's a floater who doesn't care.

It's been so long since I paid attention to you that I forgot about your posting methods. BOTH Duchene and Stone play for the same team "nobody cares about". Both are having career seasons in their contract years. Both have never won anything. But in your eyes one is a "warrior" and the other is "not a winner". You don't need to agree about Duchene, I honestly don't care. But your rationale for feeling the way you do about each player is pretty obtuse. Given that this is the internet, I assume that being obtuse is the point though.

So when you said "I've seen PLENTY other rankings that have Tampa in the top 3rd of the league (#7), and Raddysh ranked 3rd or 4th in their system", you really meant that you've seen ONE such ranking? It's not a big deal, I only referenced one ranking as well. The difference between us is that I attributed mine to one person and didn't exaggerate, while you claimed to have seen PLENTY when in reality you didn't. Maybe don't do that anymore?

I know those rankings are Pronman's. That's why I attributed them to him. He's the most thorough evaluator of teams' prospect pools out there at the moment. Which other sources did you see that ranked Tampa in the top 3rd of the league? All of The Athletic, The Draft Analyst, Dobber's Prospects, and the Hockey Writers question his speed. Maybe it's his quickness, maybe not. But when lots of sources are all questioning the same part of someone's game I'd be pretty reluctant to gloss over it. However, I agree that targeting prospects and 2nd round picks might be the way to go at this deadline. Just wouldn't target this guy.

Mark Stone is a really great player, and is going to get PAID. I'm guessing in the 8.5 to 9 million range on a max deal. Which will look really good on the front end, but probably less good on the back end. Not sure where you're getting this "playoff warrior" stuff from, Stone's played 27 playoff games in his career. Not like Ottawa has been some perennial playoff team or anything. I'd honestly target Duchene this offseason and Trouba next in UFA.

I'd stay far away from Taylor Raddysh. His best attribute, being a net front PP guy, we've got in Ras and Mantha. He's not shown the ability to play center at the AHL level. He's not a very good skater. And his offense has been inconsistent since being drafted. Pronman had him listed at Tampa's 6th best prospect in his farm system rankings this summer. And Tampa has one of the league's worst farm systems. Buyer beware.

I had fun coming up with it?

Fun trade proposal I just made up after hearing about FLA's interest in Bobrovsky. To CBJ: Jimmy Howard, Derrick Brassard, FLA 2019 2nd. To Detroit: CBJ 2019 2nd, James Riemer, Aleksi Heponiemi To FLA: Sergei Bobrovsky, Detroit 2019 3rd.

Edit: NVM

Could relate to any team that's in the same general cap position, has the same general needs, has a similar prospect pool, and is in a similar position in the standings as the Islanders. So...like...nobody else.

I don't "like" McIsaac. I don't know him. The whole point I was making is that "liking" players is dumb. Trying your best to analyze them against criteria is better, but that means that sometimes you'll find out the players you "like" aren't very good, or players you don't "like" are. I'd argue that "liking" players is what gets you, KRSmith, into trouble because then you tie yourself in knots trying to explain away their failures. I probably wouldn't project either guy at this point. Why? Because they're still in junior hockey. They have no real track record and they're playing against kids. Same with Veleno. I like their skill sets, but unlike you I don't care as much about skill sets. There are plenty of 6'4, 200 lb, hockey players who are total puds. Only in REALLY rare circumstances can you accurately project how good a 2nd round pick is going to be this early in his career.

I corrected the stats above because I caught my mistake on the ppg thing. This year they're both at 1.1 ppg (1.12 for McIsaac, 1.19 for Wilde). The difference between the two, .06 equates to 3 points over a 60 game season (which is what most junior players play). Last year McIsaac had a higher ppg by a more considerable margin. Not sure why you think the USNDP is a "tougher" league than the Q? They're both extrememly offensive leagues. Crosby scored 130 points as a 16 year old in the Q. Matthews scored 117 points as a 16 yo in the USNDP. Clayton Keller scored 107 points in the USNDP. All in about 60 games. You're talking two of the highest scoring leagues in the junior hockey. Also, this year the top scorers in the OHL are actually scoring MORE than their QMJHL counterparts. So even if the OHL has traditionally been the lower scoring league, it's not true this year and this is the year we're comparing McIsaac and Wilde. And they both have 1.1 ppg. And I notice you didn't even address the fact that the consensus is that McIsaac is better defensively that Wilde according to most sources. So even if their offense is a wash, which statistically it isn't, McIsaac should probably still get the bump given that he's the better defender.

Check my edits to the post above. See, I was like you; prior to the draft I though Wilde was probably the better option. But it turns out I was very wrong. McIsaac seems to be as good or better offensively AND better defensely. FWIW, The Hockey Writers magazine says they both have top pair upside. So that's something.

Just out of curiosity what do you project your boy Bode Wilde being? Because you seem really high on him, even said you would have preferred we took him over McIsaac and all. But McIsaac has the same ppg as Wilde this year. And a better ppg then Wilde did last year. Plus most scouting reports say McIsaac's defense is better. And he made Canada's WJC team in his draft plus one year, something Wilde didn't. So if Jared is only going to be a 3rd pair guy, Wilde is going to be...a 3rd pair guy? And if that's the case, then why do you like him so much?