kipwinger

There's going to be a fight in the 2nd period. Larkin and Benn were jawing a bit and Dallas is getting outplayed. Kostin vs. Benn might not be a pipedream.

Sprong needs a contract asap, what an effort on the Dcat goal

What a shot

It’s a kinky S&M thing. I like to see husky men getting dominated.

If he dies, he dies.

It was exclusively tied to his size. Hughes was known for elite skating and offense, but there were questions about whether he'd be able to defend against NHL players. If you look at the top defensemen in that draft you can kinda see a pattern. Dahlin was ranked the highest because he had the offense, skating, AND size to defend. Bouchard was consistently ranked next highest because he had the offense and the size but not the skating. Hughes and Boqvist were interchageably ranked next because both had skating and offense but were not considered strong defenders.

I wanna see Kostin vs. Benn immediately following puck drop.

I think it's reasonable to criticize the Zadina draft but I don't think it's a given that we would have taken Hughes if not for Zadina. I'm not even sure it was obvious that Hughes was a better choice on draft day. Even if it was close I think it's hard to assume on draft day that a 5'11, 165 lb. defenseman is more likely to be a star player than the 6'0, 190 lbs scoring winger. If only because it's so much harder to be a good defenseman in general and especially at that size. It was a miss, and a very costly one. You can (and should) make the argument that it was obvious that Zadina had issues on draft day. But it was NOT obvious that Quinn Hughes was going to be a star at the time. That's why most draft rankings had him outside the top five. If anyone really suspected he'd be this good he'd have been ranked in the top 3 easily. I think it was reported after the fact that Holland had eyes for Bouchard, not Hughes, before Zadina fell down the board.

Not to throw cold water on all the Kasper talk, especially since I've been pumping his tires for a while now. But if you go back a look at his goals recently you'll notice that many of them are of the soft variety. The good news is that he's been generating so many chances that even a few weak ones are going in. But he's definitely going to need to work on his shot. He reminds me a little bit of (early career) Larkin in that respect. His work ethic and wheels create more chances than his finish ability is currently translating. Hopefully, like Larkin, he'll continue to improve in that area and it will become a strength for him. Larkin's wrist shot went from being below average to a real strength over the course of his development.

I actually agree. I think he’s plenty fast enough. He just doesn’t play with pace. I even agree that it’s probably his conditioning. He needs time to learn how to move his 250 lbs body nonstop for 45 seconds most effectively. It’s mot as simple as it seems. Years ago I remember Blashill talking about how Larkin was killing himself by going out and flying around as fast as he could for a shift and doing nothing more than skating himself into trouble or wearing himself out. Winning your shifts and playing with pace isn’t about speed, or lack of it even. Look at Perron, he’s slow as hell but he doesn’t stop moving his feet and he never quits on plays. THATS what Sodorblom needs to learn how to do.

100 percent.

Sodorblom said in a video last year that he benches 350 lbs. I’m not sure strength is his issue.

We are currently playing really really well and beating good teams. If we keep doing so I'll be thrilled, even if we do it with Debrincat and Kane contributing less than we'd otherwise have imagined. Right now the best wingers on the team are Raymond, Sprong, and Rasmussen. Honorable mention to Perron and Fischer. I'd like to see us pursue a physical wingers with some scoring punch to play with Larkin and Raymond. Someone who plays stylistically like Jake Debrusk but would be available at the deadline (Ridley Greig or Shane Pinto from Ottawa?). Otherwise I think our forwards are looking really really strong. And can we please extend Sprong and Fischer. These guys (plus Kostin) are forward versions of Jake Walman and are part of the solution around here. Give them a home.

I agree Zegras is scrawny, but I wouldn't consider him "soft" per se. He's kinda chippy on the ice, almost like Debrincat. He obviously doesn't have the size/strength to be a physically imposing player but he isn't a "turn the other cheek" type guy either.

Who knew you aren't allowed to take your dick out wherever you feel like it at work? I'm flabbergasted.

I think with Kasper the hope is that his ceiling is an O'Reilly/Kesler type of defensive 2C with above average (but not elite) offense. The floor in his case is probably someone like JT Compher. With Zegras the ceiling is really hard to determine. There aren't too many centers in the NHL that are all offense and no defense. The responsibilities of the position simply don't allow for it. So the ceiling is probably a Panarin/Marner type elite, creative, playmaking winger. The floor is probably what he is right now, which is all those things but at a non-elite level. Given what Zegras has already done in the league I think it's fair to say that he's closer to hitting his ceiling. But Kasper is only 19 and his ceiling is easier to hit (if that makes any sense). Plus the type of player you hope he becomes is much more valuable to a contending team.

I like Debrincat way more than I thought I would. He's pretty feisty for a goal scorer and he hustles his ass off on the forecheck most shifts. He doesn't impact the game in as many ways as some top two-way wingers do, but that's to be expected out of someone tiny. But he doesn't play afraid and I like that.

We were all over them for 10 minutes before that goal.

Christian Fischer needs to stick around awhile.

Pat Verbeek would be delighted. If the rumors are true and Zegras really is being shopped then I think Anaheim is handling it all wrong. There's really no obvious need to trade him. He's young, talented, under contract for two more years after this one, and still and RFA when his deal expires. So basically if they're moving him it's because they don't like him as a player and they've basically broadcast that to the entire league. THAT, in turn, will lower the asking price I'd think. Verbeek: Hey, anyone want Zegras? Other GMs: Why are you trading him? Verbeek: Well, I've never really liked his game and now that we have Gauthier I don't have to tolerate him anymore. Other GMs: Oh...well...what do you want for him? Verbeek: Your best assets? Other GMs: LOL

Elmer's game has been picking up a lot lately too. He's making things happen on the ice and piling up assists to show for it. His goal scoring hasn't come around as much tho. IMO he has three main issues that hamper his scoring right now. First, Watson gave all his AHL veterans a really long rope to start the season and all the younger guys were pushed into down lineup roles with little special teams minutes. Over time (and with a lot of disappointing performances from the vets) he has reversed course on that and integrated the younger guys into bigger roles and the team has flourished. Second, the pace of play really messes with Elmer's game. It's not that he's slow per se. He can move when he gets up to speed (think Mantha and Franzen). But he doesn't play quickly and struggles with the tempo of both the North American game AND the Red Wings' system. Third, his special teams role is currently occupied by other (better) players and so he's forced to play at the net front. In the SHL he did a lot of damage off the wall because he's got a really good shot. But with guys like L'Esperance, Hanas, Kasper, Lombardi on the half wall he's just not going to get looks there. As a result he doesn't get to use his best offensive weapon on the powerplay and that hurts his goal totals. Think of him like Klim Kostin (without the fighting). Klim was drafted in the first round and has obvious offensive skill. But because he's not good enough to grab a spot on the powerplay he's left to score at even strength, in a down lineup role, and that kills his totals. I think he's still going to play for an NHL team and contribute, but he's going to need more runway than the average player to get there. He's also going to need to really dedicate himself to improving his quickness, both in terms of his speed but also how quickly he plays the game. Rasmussen had the same issues and worked through it so maybe Detroit already has a plan for Elmer.

I HATE the way Zegras has developed but I'd still take a good long look at him if I were SY. I think some of the things I don't like about his game are the result of a lack of solid veterans in the locker room during his first few NHL years. He needed guys telling him to cut the cute sh*t, quit complaining to the refs, and play hard. He's an undeniably talented player but he reminds me of young Jack Eichel in the sense that he needs to mature his game a whole lot. Maybe a team of established NHLers that play the game correctly would help with that. Edit: For what it's worth, he trains with Larkin and a few other guys in the offseason so there's a Red Wings connection already in place.

This is a good point, even on draft day there were GMs that didn't wanna touch this guy. Otherwise he wouldn't have slid to us. But for the sake of fairness I'll add that he wasn't talked about in the same way Veleno (for instance) was. Joey V slid down the board because he lacked offense. Pretty much everyone agreed that if he didn't make it at the NHL level it would be because he couldn't score much. That's why he fell. There was no such consensus around the bad parts of Zadina's game. The Wings found out that he was a quitter who didn't want to work, didn't want to compete, was lost defensively, and couldn't hit a barn with his shot. But NOBODY was talking about those issues pre-draft the way they did with Veleno. It was almost taken for granted that he'd score in the NHL, even if he did so in the mold of other purely offensive guys (e.g. Vrana, Hoffman, Duclair).

I thought the Shack thing was a lot of fun. I watch a ton of non-Red Wings games and their broadcasting crews aren't a tenth as entertaining as our guys. The shack was fun because they were all drunk and goofing off, but they do things like this all the time on the broadcast. They're always ribbing each other or talking trash. It's cool that whomever produces Red Wings tv really leans into the fun of it.

Wonder what happened with Lambert? When we were looking for a coach he was the top guy (in terms of style and readiness) on most commentator's lists. Being Barry Trotz's understudy isn't bad on the job training. Wonder why he fell flat? Aside from the Islanders being old and really sucking balls that is.