kipwinger

Here’s my bold prediction for this season. Edvinsson will have better defensive metrics and will out score Seider at even strength if they both play more than 50 games.

Edvinsson is going to be sooooo good. He’s dominating tonight

So far tonight I’m liking Sprong, Kostin, and Kasper

I'm not sure whether he's a major league shop wrecker but he's fought a lot of the tougher dudes in the league and done pretty well.

Three goals in three games for Sandin Pellikka.

Excited to see Klim Kostin tonight. Training camp doesn't really allow super physical guys to show off their true talents because they don't want to hurt their teammates. This will be the first chance he gets to really impress management and the coaching staff. Look for him to be a wrecking ball tonight.

Agreed, there is no deterrent effect from having a fighter. Even back in the old days guys like Brian Marchment, Ulf Samuelsson, Claude Lemieux, etc. had no problem hitting guys dirty and then dealing with the consequences later. If fighting was a deterrent then having McCarty, Shanny, and Kocur on the roster should have ensured that Kris Draper wouldn't get his face rearranged. Alas, it did not.

In that case I think Ras, Kostin, and Fischer are all pretty good at hitting and/or fighting. But I'd also say that Fabbri, Copp, Perron, and Compher are all underrated in that regard. Veleno too seemed to get more physical toward the end of last year. I'm probably an outlier on this, but I think just having bigger, more athletic, guys tends to increase the physical wear and tear on the other team. Sodorblom isn't the "toughest" guy on earth but I guarantee getting run into the boards by him hurts worse than if Marchand did it. Or Brendan Galligher. Or Lemieux. Or many other guys who are noted for their "toughness". In terms of pure, all around, toughness though I'd say Kostin is our main attraction. People are going to be pleasantly surprised by him. I watched almost all of Edmonton's playoff games last year and he was a force. Reminded me a lot of Tom Wilson. Big, strong, fast, mean, can hit, can fight, and loves to do so. He was a monster.

What's tough? Fighting? Hitting? Blocking shots? Does toughness mean that you make the other team fight like h*ll for every single loose puck and in every single board battle? I'm not sure. I think our team a year ago failed at almost all of these, and was therefore not very "tough". But I thought Seattle was a pretty tough team a year ago. Florida too. I think this year's team should be better at all of the above as well.

Slavin is one of the best defensemen in the league right now. What don't you like about him?

I’d smash.

Yep

Speaking of ghosts, Gostisbehere looked really awesome as well. I think our offense is going to be substantially better.

He looked good tonight, created a lot of chances. I could see it.

Danielson with another great defensive play and scoring chance.

To no one’s surprise I think Raymond and Debrincat are too weak on the boards to be on the same line. This game just reinforces that.

When he fills out he’s gonna be a horse. Reminds me a lot of Pierre Luc Dubois.

Danielson! Strips the puck, give and go with Hirose, and he buries it. Coaches are gonna love this dude.

Wallinder is looking really good, Edvinsson too.

I see that Edvinsson and Petry are both in the lineup tonight. I'm really hoping that's a pair two weeks from now.

I agree with most of this but I think you’re underselling how talented we are. Sure we didn’t get top three picks, but we still got the better players. In a redraft the only person that goes higher than Seider is Hughes, so Seider is essentially a top two pick. In a redraft the only guy that goes higher than Raymond is Stutzle so he’s essentially a top two pick. The only guy obviously better than Edvinsson is Beniers. Draft rankings and order go right out the window as soon as the players are picked. We may not have drafted high but we definitely aren’t building around unskilled players.

I don't think I've been this excited about a season in quite some time. Absolutely pumped. The team is better, we've got more talent waiting in the wings, and most importantly they've got some attitude. I love the Lalonde is playing up the "everyone is counting us out" angle. We're tougher, we're more skilled, we're deeper, and all our best players are in their primes or haven't even gotten there yet. We're going to be very competitive.

Yeah, good catch. I meant to say each of Ghost and Petry had 40(ish) points (I was posting from memory and throught Petry had 41 pts and not 31 pts). I agree about Walman. I think his goal scoring will be high but his point totals will be low though. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I think the Wings are going to be under-represented in these types of lists because they're primarily made by looking at statistical models that lack context. For example, their model is predicated on Dylan Larkin being the exact same player he's always been in the NHL. But is there any reason to think Dylan Larkin will outperform that expectation? I think so. He's got a legit top winger for the first time in his career AND for the first time in his career there's enough depth that he can't be keyed on all season. In addition, the powerplay is going to be better. For those three reasons I'd expect Larkin to have a career year this year. Likewise, the model is predicated on losing Bertuzzi, Vrana, and Hronek. All of those players' values (in the model) are determined by their careers up to this point, but with the exception of Hronek neither of the other two contributed to the team last year in any meaningful way. Likewise, guys like Ras, Raymond, Berggren, Seider, and (maybe) Edvinsson are all poised for a breakout and the model won't capture that because they don't have a track record to build on. Then there's the obvious improvements in goal and on the defense (Gostisbehere and Petry combined for 40 pts last season). The other thing these models don't account for (and can't) is inevitable injuries. What if Marchand gets hurt? Or Crosby? Those teams ahead of us aren't deep enough to sustain those types of injuries and they happen all the time. Obviously we need to win the games we play, especially against the Eastern Conference teams, but I think we're in a good position to do that.

I don't think that's out of the question. Edvinsson is 20, he's far from being done developing. Hedman didn't really start dominating the NHL until his 3rd season in the league.