kipwinger

Here's three I found in the last 30 seconds lol. He's getting the same treatment as Dahlin got last year, when he was described as the "Connor McDavid of defensemen". People DO put too much stock in the WJC. But people also love trying to spot the next superstar. Trouble is, there is a HUGE difference between McDavid or Crosby and even the very best of the rest...which is sorta what I object to. If I were a betting man I'd take the odds that Kakko turns out like Kopitar WAY before I'd take Hughes being the next McDavid or Crosby. http://www.sportingnews.com/us/nhl/news/jack-hughes-nhl-draft-2019-world-junior-championship/nt8oxhtf6zns11k4dlrwokofu http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/23864766/nhl-meet-jack-hughes-record-breaking-no-1-ranked-2019-nhl-draft-prospect https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-draft-teams-need-jack-hughes-most/

Exactly. Nobody is saying Larkin isn't a top line center. It just takes two guys who are that good to really compete for Cups against elite teams.

It's insane how quickly a single tournament can change people's minds about a player. Prior to the WJC I'd seen Hughes described as the best prospect since Connor McDavid, and even that he's not far off from McDavid as far as his offense. Now he's neck and neck with a guy based on this one tourney. Just in case anybody thought pre-draft hype wasn't a thing.

I generally agree with this. Say we land a Cozens, and he turns out to be a Kuznetsov level talent. I feel quite good about that team, provided Hronek, Cholo, Ras continue to get better (don't see why they wouldn't), and Zadina and McIsaac turns into a top six and top four players respectively. And that's not even including all the rest of the picks we get this year and next. Then just add complimentary pieces in UFA and you've got a quality team.

I basically agree. We need another high end center. I feel really good about our wingers, we're basically all set there. I feet pretty good about our defense, it needs improvement but not a superstar per se. But we absolutely need another center, preferably one with top end offensive talent in the 80ish point range. Fortunately there are a few guys in this draft with that kind of upside I think. Aside from Hughes, I'm curious to see if Kakko plays center at the NHL level. I also like Cozens, Zegras, and to a lesser extent Newhook and Dach as top end offensive guys. Then I'd just fill out the rest of the roster with UFA signings.

Oh I definitely think he can be a defensively responsible center who chips in 50ish points. Trouble is, in today's NHL that's not good enough as a 2C. Lets say Larkin turns into a solid, two-way, 70 point center, and Veleno is a solid, two-way 50-60 point center. That seem like a reasonable projection for both right? That's still not good enough. The Caps had 70 and 80 point centers last year, Kuznetsov/Backstrom. The Pens have Crosby/Malkin, Matthews/Tavares, McDavid/Draisaitl, Stamkos/Point, etc. etc. etc. It's possible that Larkin/Veleno could be the next Bergeron/Krejci, but I don't even think that team could win again. Or maybe they become the new Hawks and have a low scoring 1C and a ton of excellent supporting players on the wings and on defense. Entirely possible. But in general the modern blueprint calls for two top end centers. Ideally Larkin would be your 2C and matchup guy and you'd have a 1C scoring machine anchoring another line. I don't think Veleno fits that bill.

I hope so, but that's asking a lot out of a guy who wasn't very good offensively until this year. I'm still waiting to see on Veleno as a 2C.

There aren't many guys in the NHL making 8 million per, so that's probably reaching a bit. Given his track record and comparables (Ryan O'Reilly for instance) he'll probably make around 6.5-7, which is pretty much fair value. I'd be way more worried about the kind of term he would get than the actual salary considering how many ELCs and bridge deals we'll have on the books over the next couple years.

I don't know whether it's impressive or not. We just haven't had a 30 goal scorer since 2009, and only two 20 goal guys last year. We're getting a ton of scoring from the guys who need to be. We just need more depth scoring (which is on the way) and some points from the defense (which is also on the way) and we might start looking like a real team. Need a second line center though.

I mean, we definitely need some addition via subtraction on the defense but I actually think our defense is better this year than last year (at least offensively) and our long term defensive situation is probably better than we give ourselves credit for.

It's entirely possible that we'll end the season with two 30 goal players (Larkin, AA) and two 20 goal players (Mantha, Bert), and still be one of the worst teams in the league.

Saarijarvi with a three point night for the Griffs this evening. Would love to see him get the monkey off his back and start producing.

I don't really know why Philly would be in "tank" mode though. They've got a decent enough team, on paper, and have some really good prospects in the pipeline. I mean, they might as well tank now that their season is lost, but they seem like a team that was set up for long term success.

This is a bummer, Nash was always one of my favorite non-Wings. Guy was an absolute force for a short period there and is exactly the kind of guy I always hope Mantha will model his game after. Busted his ass every shift and was "physical" by virtue of being a physically dominant human being. Much has been made about how big guys are unfairly criticized for their effort because they're just so athletic that it looks easy. Not a problem with Nash. He never looked like he was coasting. At his peak he looked like the biggest, fastest, most skilled, guy on the ice. Mostly because he was.

I love redrafts. They're proof positive that the talent in the first round is WAY closer than what everyone makes it out to be in most instances. Year after year we hear about "tiers" and how such and such guys are heads and tails better than such and such guys. And then they aren't. It's great to see how little anybody actually knows about how these kids will turn out.

Russians...so enigmatic.

We shouldn't try to sign a better goalie. So you're not putting words in my mouth. "Acquiring" a top pair guy isn't easy. There currently aren't any available for trade. Karlsson "might" be available as a UFA, but even he doesn't really fit in with the competitive cycle of our team. He'll be on the downswing of his career before we'll be good enough to compete. So I guess we're going to have to go with what we've got, and draft and develop better than what we have in the past.

Good point. You should totally abandon drafting and developing because Brendan Smith, Jakub Kindl, and Ryan Sproul all suck.

I'd probably not trade anyone for an established defenseman at this point. It would cost a fortune and we're not even sure we need one. We'll run the "our defensive depth is bad" bell so automatically, and for so long, that we've probably not taken enough time to determine whether it's still relevant or not. Cholowski and Hronek are both playing like top four defensemen. McIsaac is as good a defensive prospect as almost anyone has. Good depth in Sulak, Saarijarvi, and Lindstrom as well. Not going to count on anything from Setkov, Barton, Regula, but there's third pair upside there as well. I'd honestly sit tight, draft another defenseman this year, and look to augment that group via trade or free agency in a couple years when we're looking to be competitive.

Ton of good players on that list. Should drive returns down for everyone.

Yeah. I clearly got that wrong. I called for him to play center for years. But he's a pretty good winger eh?

How do people feel about Matt Duchene in free agency? He's having a monster year in Ottawa, but his track record suggests he's a good, not great, player. Super fast, very offensively capable, and would fill us out down the middle for a few years at potentially a reasonable cap hit.

This, like all other discussions of the type, is really one of semantics. He's not an elite scorer. But neither were Bergeron, Toews, or Kopitar (until a year ago). Yet all of those are names that would have probably come up if asked about "elite" centers over the last 5 or 10 years, largely because their two way game is so good. Dylan clearly has shown that type of two way prowess this season. If he can continue to do it consistently then he's as much an "elite" center as those guys were...if they ever were. Depends on how you define it. If "elite" only refers to elite scoring then there's probably only a handful of elite players in the league. Popularity also plays a big part in who gets the "elite" tag. I'd guess most people wouldn't complain too much if Tavares, Stamkos, or Thornton were called "elite" but would stop well short of calling Ryan Getzlaf, Niklas Backstrom, or Jason Spezza elite despite the fact that their career numbers are comparable or better than anything the others have done.

The Athletic's Max Bultman is reporting that Green has a lower body injury and is going to miss 3-5 weeks. Filip Hronek is being called up. Aside the injury, which is a bummer for Green (who's been very good this year), I love this. Hronek gets much needed experience and we lose a really good player temporarily...hopefully yielding more losses.

Look, ask yourself whatever questions you want. I just think asking "why did he slip to 30" is as pointless as asking "Why did David Pastrnak slip to 25th". Who knows? But it's not even that interesting a question. Scouts and GMs mess up all the time (Exhibit A: Nicklas Lidstrom was drafted in round two). A more interesting question for smart people like you to ponder is, essentially, "is Veleno different than the guys drafted just before or after him?". And I think if you, or I, or anybody else thinks we know anything at all about hockey we should be able to answer that question and provide the reasons why we think so. Then all that's left is to see if we got it right, as you've correctly pointed out.