kipwinger

I do agree that the team seemed deflated after the deadline last year. Management neither committed to rebuilding nor gave the team any help chasing the playoffs. Yzerman's "trades are expensive" excuse fell flat when we tied with Washington. Were there any moves he could have made that would have helped us land ONE point? Seems likely. We have a glaring hole on the 2nd defensive pair that needs addressed. In addition to that I'd like to see ASP get a chance down the stretch on the 3rd pair. Outside of that I'm not going to turn my nose up at a 2C, but lately it seems like we don't need that as much as it seemed to me before now. Maybe run with what we have there so that we don't lose assets in a trade and then just promote Kasper or Danielson a year from now. So maybe a quality LHD? Provorov, Byram, someone like that? Chiarot-Seider Edvinsson-Johansson Provorov/Byram-ASP

Which HS is that?

Octopi have 9 brains. Squid have 1 brain. Idiots love to eat squid as appetizers during bachelorette parties. Squid are so lame.

They really did look like they had unreal chemistry today. Looked crisp. Love this lineup minus our 3rd pair.

Anybody who thinks Detroit didn’t draft any “elite talent” during this rebuild clearly haven’t watched Seider and Edvinsson defend. Simon Edvinsson is better at being a defenseman than Conor Bedard is at being a center.

We are starting to look just like the Kings did under McClellan, but all our guys are 5-10 years younger.

Aaaaaand just like that Ken Daniels announces that Kasper is getting credit for the first goal. Screen the goalie and good things happen.

I agree, but I think this is good for Marco because he’s been dragging losers to scoring chances since he and Berggren were setting up Tarasenko a billion times a game. Then he and Ras were making Motte look like a star for a minute there too. Glad to see him get rewarded for doing the work.

His system was so reactive as well. I like that we make other teams defend now.

Lalonde took “tie goes to the veteran” to an absurd degree. McClellan elevates Berggren, Veleno, Kasper, and Johansson and the team is better for it.

For now. Larkin was on Zetterbergs wing at the same age. Yeah he’s been really good the last couple games. Smart of McClellan to recognize Jahansson and Edvinsson had played a full season together last year in GR.

If the offensive upturn is sustainable I would be comfortable riding with Larkin/Copp/Compher/Veleno until Danielson is ready. I’d like a Cozens, but if we keep playing this way he isn’t a “need” in the way a defenseman or two would be.

Yawn…what a boring game lol

JT Miller is the s***, but that contract is horrible. I want him to go to the Capitals. That would be entertaining.

Seems dubious.

So the offense is finally humming, the powerplay is still good, the PK is league average under McClellan, and the goaltending is holding up. We dominated a bad team last night, just like we should have. But we still gave up 3 goals. The defense needs bolstered. We do that and I think we’ve got a real good chance at winning our divisional games and making the playoffs.

What skill or trait do you think is most overrated in today’s game? Fighting? Faceoffs? Hits? For me it’s stick handling. Remember how we were all supposed to be impressed when Jurco spun all around with the puck on YouTube? Or the popularity of “The Michigan”? People love when you can dink around with the puck but it doesn’t mean diddly.

Yep, reminds me of this play from Seider's rookie season. Edvinsson is basically at that level now too. If you don't dump and chase or play give and go with a teammate you basically have no chance of getting past either of them. Certainly not by stickhandling.

I agree that the value is in the correct ballpark, but these kinds of trades rarely have more than two prospects thrown in. I'd imagine it would be Kiiskinen OR Buium/Tuomisto/Wallinder. Not both.

Sure, but he's the exception and not the rule. Way too many players spend a significant portion of their development learning how to dipsy doodle instead of check, or PK, or work on faceoffs, or whatever. I'd imagine because it's more fun, and it looks cooler. But unless you're a Pavel, or Kane, or someone like that, the chances of you stick handling around NHL defenders is basically zilch.

I don't agree that he doesn't "play to his size", or rather I don't see it that way. I mean, he definitely doesn't fight, and until McClellan took over he didn't hit much on the forecheck. I suspect that was a team thing, neither did anyone else, and they're all doing it more now that Todd is in charge. But he protects the puck down low extremely well on the cycle, wins his board battles, uses his reach on defense, screens goalies reasonably well, and gets a fair number of rebound goals. I think sometimes we tend to think too much in binary (either score or fight if you're big) and I agree he's neither of those things. Reminds me a ton of Martin Hanzal; tons of defensive value (especially at even strength) and a moderate amount of "hard" offense. Love the guy.

I agree, but there's a financial element to every trade as well. Sometimes you have to make the dollars work and you select players based on who is available in a given salary range. I'm sure Ras is a desirable player to them, he's a desirable player to us for the same reasons. I'd do Ras and a protected 1st though, unless you needed more salary going the other way to make the deal work, then it would have to be Compher or Copp (assuming they want a center in return to replace Cozens in the lineup).

Buffalo might like Compher too as a veteran, and Cup winner, on a team that clearly lacks leadership.

That makes our center group WORSE, not better. I'm okay with moving Kasper to the wing in the short term (like how Larkin broke in on Zetterberg's wing) but what you have above doesn't blow my hair back. Ideally we'd be able to move on from one of Compher or Tarasenko in any trade scenario. But I'd like to see something like this: Kasper-Larkin-Raymond Debrincat-Cozens-Kane Sprong-Copp-Berggren/Tarasenko Ras-Veleno-Motte/Fischer Edit: Were he not injured, I'd like Mazur as the other wing on the 4th line and not Motte/Fischer, but alas.

Daniel Sprong hit waivers today. I actually think this would be a good claim. He clearly didn't like Lalonde, but which player did? Snag him from waivers and then you can play him in Berggren's spot on the third line once you trade Berggren as part of a package for Cozens or whomever. I didn't hate Sprong's game last year, he's strong, fast, and can score. He's a poor man's Tarasenko but he's cheaper and better at this point.