kipwinger

Prior to last season Bunting had only played 26 NHL games. I don't think it's a stretch to say he's still figuring out his game at the NHL level, irrespective of his age. But to be clear I'm not suggesting we throw a HUGE payday at the guy. Also, Zucker isn't a great example. He was just as productive in Minnesota as he was in Pittsburgh despite playing with a bunch of nobodies. See, I'm on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. I want them to waste McDavid and Draisaitl's primes. Think about it, who cares if McDavid wins a Cup? What's it going to change? There are people already saying he's better than Gretzky. Winning a Cup now adds nothing to his narrative. The Oilers losing with McDavid is FAR more interesting than them winning with him. I want him to be like Ray Bourque. I want to see an old McDavid have to ride the coattails of a "less talented" (but way better) team to his big Cup win when he's like 76 years old. THAT would be interesting at least.

Nah, they suck too. And why are you suddenly being nice to Canada? Cut that sh*t out. I still like Bunting. People forget he's a second year player. He's going to get better at being a "pest". He obviously cost his team last night, there's no sugar coating it. There are a lot of effective players who played the same type of game and had to learn to manage it as they matured. Every (valid) criticism of Bunting was also said of Marchand, Gallagher, Tkachuk, Kadri. But I like that he battles, isn't intimidated, draws a ton of penalties, and scores goals. Yzerman and Lalonde both identified adding scoring and toughness as priorities in the offseason. Bunting provides both irrespective of how annoying he is. You just have to be sure that you've got a quality leadership group that can help him figure out how to manage it.

I'm confused, are you guys telling me that it's NOT a good idea to spend so much on your top six forward group that you have to ice replacement level guys for the remainder of your lineup?

Sooooo is Toronto’s plan to goon it up against the Lightening and make the whole series a contest between Tampa’s powerplay and Toronto’s goaltending lol? Good luck with that.

My bad, I see what you're saying. I'm not really worried about the asking price TBH. Dorian HAS to trade him this offseason or qualify him (@9million). And since he DEFINITELY doesn't want to qualify him, then he's got no other option than to trade. But other GMs know he's up against a rock and a hard place and they're not going to offer too much. Plus there are only a limited number of teams that A) he's willing to sign long-term with, and B) can take on his eventual cap hit. I think he goes for a decent prospect and a 2nd rounder.

The Wings don't hold his rights and therefore don't have to qualify him. They can basically name their price and if he doesn't agree (in principle) then they simply don't make the trade. The asking price is really only an issue if A) you're Ottawa and have to qualify him or lose him for nothing, or B) you're a general manager dumb enough to trade for him without an extension in place.

So you don't know what it is, but you're pretty sure it's too high, despite him being a very good player?

What's the asking price?

I'm a really big fan of Debrincat. He's a great shooter, quality playmaker, and a right handed threat on the powerplay. He's also very fast, competitive, and highly durable considering he's short. Yep, he's short. That's literally the only knock on him. Otherwise, what's not to like?

Severson is good, but if he's overpriced then I agree that it's better to pass. But Debrincat should be pursued. We need goals, he's a consistent offensive force, he's 25 AND he's from Michigan. Obviously SY should only trade for him if he agrees in principle to an extension beforehand. No way would I qualify him at 9.

Ottawa traded that much for Debrincat when he had term left on his deal and team control at the end of it. That has largely changed. He's a free agent with arbitration rights now. You'd be crazy to trade for him at this point unless you're sure he's going to sign long term because he can just go to arbitration, get awarded a one year deal, and walk in FA next summer. This will drive his price down (along with his 6+ million cap hit). As such, not many teams can A) afford him, or B) take the risk he doesn't want to re-sign after a year. The number of teams vying for him will be small and so will the ask (a la Chychrun). I think one of our 2023 2nds, a B-level prospect, and a roster player gets it done. I'd start with our second 2nd rounder this season and Albert Johansson. If Ottawa needs more I'm willing to add Zadina. If they STILL need more then I'd upgrade to our first 2nd rounder. If we land a top ten pick, another 1st round pick, two 2nd round picks, and Debrincat in the offseason we're looking really really good.

Supposedly he’s a good faceoff guy and works hard defensively. Plus he’s a really smart player and he’s till growing. All of that bodes well for him sticking at center. I don’t really get the AA comparisons though. Aside from being fast they’re both verify different players. One is a playmaking center with a high compete and a good brain, the other is a big dumb p*ssy.

Amadeus Lombardi with a nice assist in his first AHL game. Good skating and vision to make the play.

100%

Kasper and Edvinsson in for the Red Wings tonight, Wallinder and Mazur playing for GR today. F*ckin' A.

I really like the Edvinsson-Chiarot defense pair. For whatever reason they seem to play well together despite it making no sense whatsoever. More generally, I'm a huge fan of what SY did bringing in Chiarot, Copp, Maatta, Husso, and Walman to go along with Larkin as the leadership group that's meant to guide the young core of Seider, Edvinsson, Raymond, Berggren, Ras, Cossa, Kasper, etc. into contention. They're veterans, they plan the right way, they all work their butts off, and none of them are breaking the bank for what they bring to the table.

Three point night for Carter Mazur in his fourth AHL game. That brings him up to four points in four games. Is that good? I can't really tell if that's good or not.

I do like our team. It's just not lost on me how much better all our young guys are going to get. Think about how much better Larkin is now than when he was a 1st or 2nd year player. He's WAY better. Now apply that same principle to Ras, Berggren, Seider, Edvinsson, Raymond, Mazur, Kasper, Cossa, Lombardi, Wallinder, Sodorblom. This team is going to be awesome, they've just got to age into it.

Lolonde already said it's nothing that will affect him long term and that he'll be able to have a (nearly) full summer of training before camp. Nothing to worry about.

Any word on how Ben Chiarot is responsible for breaking a rookie's kneecap?

Shutting him down was the right call, even if the injury hadn't been so serious. He's way too young, and the stakes are way too low right now, for him to be playing through injuries like this.

We clearly see him very differently. I was just thinking the other day that he works his ass off defensively. He's a solid forechecker and he's always hustling and pestering puck carriers on the back check. He's not Dylan Larkin or anything but he does take his defensive assignments seriously and works at it IMO.

In a way it's almost a weird vote of confidence because it's like "Hey, we know you'll get scoring chances even if we put you with total puds". Sucks for him though.

Berggren is on a line with Luff and Czarnik tonight. What else does that guy have to do to play with talented players?

I don't agree that they're our "best players". They're our players with the most potential. There's a difference. Kasper, for instance, wasn't even the best center on his SHL team. That would be Adam Tambellini by a pretty sizeable margin. That dude never even made the NHL, not a single game, and he was MUCH better than Kasper this year. Similarly, for most of the year Edvinsson wasn't even close to the best defender for the Griffins. He was heavily sheltered until he started to figure his game out. If you want the best players to play, and not the players with the most upside, then you're going to be stuck with the Oesterles/Ernes/Haggs of the world for a bit while your young guys are young and improving. Seider, and to a lesser extent Raymond, are the exceptions and not the rule.