kipwinger

Lol. Wait, are you saying I should criticize guys who AREN'T on the team more than the guy who IS? Alright man, you win. The next time Ericsson turns the puck over in the defensive zone I'll be sure to blame Brendan Smith. In your world that will be "fair and rational". Also, nobody "hates" Ericsson. They think he sucks. And he does suck, so what's the problem? If you were the GM of this team would you let Jonathan Ericsson play on your blueline for 10 years? Other than Witkowski, Ericsson is DEFINITELY the worst defenseman on this team.

I still don't see why this trade was concluded today. Something isn't making sense to me, unless they genuinely liked Bowey as a prospect which I don't understand.

Despite feeling a strong kinship with all things Wisconsin and Minnesota, I HATE the Wild's uniforms. Like, bad. They looks like Christmas sweaters. They're awful. For years I've wanted to like this team because I feel like Michigan and Minnesota are basically the equivalent of cousins or something, but their puke sweaters and boring hockey club make it impossible. Even their "star" players are the laziest, most boring, possible options. Suter is good and everything, but he's like if you made some inanimate object (like a shovel, or stone, or cardboard box) be really good at hockey but retain every other characteristic of that object. I don't hate them like I do some teams, it's that I want to like them and there is literally nothing likeable about anything they've done, past or present.

The fact that his career has been better than one could reasonably expect doesn't mean that he still needs to be on the team, or that we should all tip our hats to his ability to exceed expectations. Another way of looking at it might be, why did a 9th round pick play on your blue line for 10 years when such a thing as free agency exists? Congrats on a quality career Big E, now please, PLEASE, go the f*** away.

Are you sure Jensen is gone, or is that what the Social Justice Warriors want you to believe?

This trade is fine, so I'm picking nits here. But given the recent reports that the defenseman market was thin, and that there was a lot of interest in Jensen, why not wait until Monday and see if you couldn't get someone to give a 2nd rounder in this year's draft? Maybe it doesn't happen, maybe it doesn't matter if it did, but I don't think the return was so good that they needed to jump right now.

That ****** gives the puck away in the offensive zone, after a won faceoff, because he's utterly offensively inept. Did Green, Hronek, and Jensen all fall suddenly ill in overtime or what?

WHY IS DEKEYSER ON THE ******* ICE IN OVERTIME?!?!

Wonder what Filip Zadina is up to lately?

If it does I'm sure they'll console themselves with all their money and Cup rings.

Well Nyquist is a much better player, so that bodes well.

Charlie Coyle to Boston for their top prospect (Ryan Donato) and 5th rounder. Looking good for Nyquist's trade value.

They recalled Hronek today. Not sure if he's in the lineup or not though. Edit: Looks like he's in tomorrow.

Larry Murphy says he likes Athanasiou's "package". Don't we all Murph, don't we all.

#FreeFreeFreeAthanasiou

Surprised Brady Tkachuk has any thumbs given the look of him.

Surprised Guy Boucher bothers dressing forwards at all. Has anyone ever dressed 18 defensemen in a game before?

AA is so good and he just plays with scrubs all the time. Imagine if that centering pass just now went to anybody else other than Glendening?

#FreeFreeAthanasiou

#FreeAthanasiou

I'd give him a two year contract. I think we went from losing and looking really bad a year ago to playing a lot of close games this year with a bad roster. I like that we play with speed, our defensemen are active, and we're a little meaner. Plus, ALL of our young guys have developed into legit NHL players, and in some cases difference makers, under Blashill. I think he's earned the right to see what he can do with a real roster...something he's never had as an NHL coach. If he flops in two years, find someone else.

I'd be SUPER irritated if we took a defenseman with our top pick. This is a weak year for defensemen and a very strong year for centers at the top of the draft class. Unless we somehow fall down the draft board a bit I would consider taking a defenseman a reach in the top 10. Maybe Byram, but I'm not even sure about him. Then again, a lot will change between now and draft day.

I'm pumped about Berggren too. He's been injured, but people were comparing him to Arvidsson when he was drafted. Some going as far as to call him the steal of the draft. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do when healthy. Even if he turned into another Tatar I'd be thrilled. We should be a player with elite upside in this year's draft. I'm happy with whomever as long as they're a center (Dach, Zegras, Krebs, Newhook). And then we go shopping to fill in the gaps. But again, "elite" is really hard to nail down anyway. You've said before you don't think Kuznetsov is elite, and that dude was the Caps leading scorer in the playoffs a year ago and looked like a man amongst boys. So maybe you don't need "elite" per se. Maybe you just need dudes like that, whatever they're called.

I've been saying for a while that our defensive prospects were better than what people thought. Some of the stuff I've been reading on Lindstrom suggests he's the same type of guy too. I'm genuinely excited about the potential for a Cholo-Lindstrom, McIsaac-Hronek top four. Two lefty/righty pairs (for those who care about that), two offensive guys, two fast skating/hard hitting defensive guys. And that's not counting this year's draft and our project guys from the last two years either. As I've said elsewhere, people who think Kenny hasn't done a good job with the rebuild probably aren't paying attention to just how good some of these guys are playing.