kipwinger

In light of the news reports that Detroit management only ever wanted Klim Kostin to be "an enforcer" and nothing else, I can't help but re-iterate how badly I think SY and Lalonde handled that situation. According to Kostin the Detroit brass made it very clear that they only wanted him to fight and not play actual hockey and that he wasn't interested in playing that kind of game. I'm not sure why we'd trade for a guy AND buy out another player's contract if we weren't sure he would actually fill the role we intended for him. I'm also not sure how/why we didn't have room for him to play actual physical hockey on the 3rd line considering all our bottom six wingers were either A) redundant, or B) milktoast af. Like, isn't Kostin the exact player that management hopes Sodorblom will be? It's not some organization altering failure or anything, but it's pretty hard to see what the plan was with that one.

I'd agree with this more or less. I expect all of Edvinsson, Kasper, Johansson, and Sodorblom to be better this year than last. For Edvinsson that means continuing to be a defensive rock against top players, taking on (and excelling) a bigger role of the penalty kill, and (hopefully) becoming more of a difference maker with his even strength offense (which was already quite good). For Kasper it means spending a full season in the top six at center and anchoring his own line. His line will get easier usage than Larkin's (because Dcat and Kane are likely to be his wingers) but he'll still need to take his defensive assignments seriously and make sure the line isn't getting caved defensively. I'd also consider it "growth" if he continued his offensive output from last year because he'd be doing it against better players. Given how young they are, if both those guys reach those benchmarks I think you can comfortably say they're fully on track to be difference making NHLers throughout the remainder of their careers. Edvinsson as an all situations workhorse who can shutdown the league's best, and Kasper as a 200-ft, two-way, matchup center with plenty of offense to be a top-of-the-league 2C. For Sodorblom I'm looking for complimentary scoring. I think he understands that he's going to have to use his body more in the NHL than he did at lower levels and I saw movement in that direction last year. I don't expect him to blow guys up, but if he can use his size to increase his offensive output (kinda like Franzen) by protection pucks down low and learning to score around the net, I think that's growth. But what I really want to see is growth in his confidence/mindset. He's got the ability to be a difference maker as a 3rd line wing if he grows out of the young player "deferential" mindset and starts being assertive with the puck. If he begins to impose himself a little more with the puck on his stick I think he'll score 20 goals and be a real down lineup asset. For Johanson I think growth means that he takes over a spot on the 3rd pair and embraces a role centered on eliminating depth scoring against Detroit. I think he was above his head on the 2nd pair last year and did the best he could. But ideally I think he's a guy that can be a difference maker on the 3rd pair by erasing easy goals against from depth players. Nothing is more back breaking than giving up a goal to some 3rd/4th line pud because you just killed off a penalty or ended a powerplay and all your good players are on the bench getting a breather. I think Aljo would excel in a role like this and have plenty of room for growth as a matchup guy. Trouble is, even if all this happens it may not be enough to propel us into a playoff spot. We badly need to solve the 1st line LW and 2nd pair RHD questions adequately. So far my money is on Copp/Ras for the 1st line winger spot, and Bernard Docker for the 2nd pair RHD spot. I'm not sure Copp or Ras would excel offensively in that role, but at least they wouldn't get caved defensively against the league's best. That's my worry with Van Reimsdyk. I'm actually reasonably optimistic that Bernard Docker will be an improvement over either of Johansson or Petry on the 2nd pair tho. I think he's primed to take a bigger role than he's had elsewhere and run with it. I'm expecting him to be a more physical Olli Maatta.

I'm not a football fan and don't plan to be. But everybody I know is a Lions fan and I'd never adopt a non-Detroit team. Given that the holidays are coming up and I'm almost certainly going to have to talk about the Lions, anybody willing to give me a brief overview? I know about Dan Campbell's coaching philosophy, I know about their near misses in the post season, I know about how they lost their big brain offensive coordinator. What else should I know to have an informed discussion heading into the season?

To me, to be a top player you need to be able to play against the best players in the world at even strength and give as good as you get. Obviously the elite players give more than they get, but that's a different conversation. And by that definition we've got two wingers (Raymond and Debrincat), one center (Larkin), two defensemen (Seider and Edvinsson), and one goalie (Gibson) who are credibly amongst the world's 20-30 best players at their positions. We'd basically need another player at each position before we can call ourselves a consistent playoff team.

I ate so many Hot-N-Ready pizzas in college. It would be egregious of me to say that I payed someone like Datsyuk or Lidstrom's salary with my pizza purchases. But Aaron "One Punch and He's" Downey can thank me for the Toyota Corolla he's almost certainly driving these days.

This is why it’s so important to scoop players up via trade when they’re available. Many of them aren’t hitting the market otherwise and the ones who do get overplayed. Look at Columbus, they traded for Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro for peanuts a few years ago. This year those guys were two of the top free agent defensemen and Columbus re-signed them before they ever hit the market.

That's what I'm saying. It's not clear to me that he'll ever go "all in". I don't think he cares about winning as long as his team is making money.

I think of it a lot like playing poker. You play a smart hand over and over and over just to stay in the game and keep yourself competitive, waiting for that moment when you go all in and try to win the whole damn thing. Mike Ilitch wanted to win...badly. So he was never shy about going all in when the time was right. Conversely, Chris plays the smart hand over and over. He's not a bad owner. He knows the right plays because he's been around competent sports management his entire life. But I'm not positive he really wants to win. I think he just wants to make money. That's what doomed the Lions for so long. They sold tickets whether they won or lost so why would they spend any extra to field a winner?

I think Chris Ilitch is a decent enough owner, but not a great one. His dad had principles, sand the hockey club was a point of pride for him. Both of which showed through in his decision making. Being a nepo baby, Chris doesn't have the same attachment to the team. He runs it like a business, and when business is bad hockey clubs drum up things like this to put butts in seats. His dad would never have allowed Fedorov's number to be retired because Sergei did Mike Ilitch dirty. And there's no way that Mafioso Mike was gonna pump your tires if you f*cked him. It's the principle of the thing and I liked that. Why should the Red Wings give a sh*t about Fedorov when he so publicly didn't give a sh*t about them when he made the decision to leave like he did?

I've always felt that Fedorov (like the Grind line, Holmstrom, Probert, and maybe a few others) should be given a "Sergei Fedorov" night at the arena and be memorialized at the stadium in some way. Maybe a ring of honor or a walk-of-fame or something. But I just don't think he deserved to have his number retired.

I hate it. Sure he was an amazing player. Nobody is debating that. But he was also a poopy pants baby who left the team to make less money elsewhere because he was butt hurt that he didn't get more accolades (beyond his three Stanley Cups, two Selke's, and one Hart Trophy). Boo hoo. I always liked that for the most part the players in the rafters in Detroit where exceptional players AND great team guys/guys who cherished playing for Detroit. Fedorov was exceptional no doubt, but he never had any great love for Detroit until after the fact. I genuinely don't think this would even be happening if our team didn't suck so much right now. 0/10 Hate it.

Duplicate topic. I didn't see it had already been posted. Disregard.

I don't really mind it. It's a nothing move, but at least it creates some competition for those open RHD spots. I wouldn't have felt especially good rolling into training camp with Holl and JBD guaranteed roster spots.

Prediction: Before the start of training camp the Red Wings will trade for Rasmus Andersson and sign Maxime Comtois to potentially fill their second pair RHD and first line LW spots.

I saw that too. I'd shoot SY with a gun if he moved one our best trade chips for Jonatan Berggren 2.0

These "Cossa to Edmonton" trade rumors are f*cking hysterical. What on earth does that organization have by way of trade bait that we'd actually want? Their NHL roster is made up entirely of untouchable players or easily replaceable players and their farm system is one of the worst in the league. Oh, and they don't have any draft picks either. Who are they trading for Cossa? Bouchard?

Casey Mittelstadt is rumored to be on the trade block from Boston. Seems like most are saying it's a cap dump situation and that they'd retain salary. I think I'd like the move. Maybe flip Berggren for him. Whatever the deal turns out to be, the cost would be minimal and he's shown he can score a lot in limited minutes. If he could play and produce as a 3C then that would free up Copp to play with Larkin and Raymond or else put Copp at 2C and let Marco play on the top line. Copp-Larkin-Raymond Dcat-Kasper-Kane Sodorblom-Mittelstadt-JVR Ras-Compher-Appleton

There is an open spot at left wing and an open spot on the 2nd pair RHD. Or rather, those spots are up for grabs. Don't be surprised if some combination of Mazur, Danielson, or ASP make the opening night roster in lieu of any additional moves from outside the organization.

The judge was also a woman.

I didn't really follow it too closely, but the fact that they had their day in court and a female judge said the accuser's claims were "not credible and not reliable" seems pretty shut and dry to me. But I don't really care about the case. I'm curious when these guys will be able to play again. Carter Hart and Alex Formenton are both dudes that could really help this team given that they're not rapists.

Looks like the Canadian World Junior defendants are being exonerated today. Wonder how long it will take NHL teams to start scooping these dudes up?

You'd have to imagine not very much considering the cause of the impasse is that Minny management don't believe Rossi is a top of the lineup player despite his point totals (according to reports). If that's true then I'd imagine you'd have to give them a comparable bottom six roster player and a B-level prospect (given that Rossi is cost controlled). I think something centered around Compher/Berggren and a prospect would do it.

I was listening to a podcast with Max Bultman from the Athletic and he claims that Max Plante was an already over 6 feet tall on draft day. Bultman claims that his own height is a “true” 5’11 and that he looked up to Plante upon meeting him for the first time. Perhaps he’s a grower and not a show-er?

I agree and think Plante, in particular, is going to be a very good center in the NHL. Like, I think he’s going to be one of those “how did he fall to the 2nd round” sort of guys.

I put some feelers out to CBJ fans on Reddit to learn more about his defensive game and physical game. I know he's not some kind of Tkachuk style "power forward" but if he can use his size to protect pucks, win board battles, and crash the net then he may just be an option with the guys you mentioned. I just don't know enough about his game to know if he's got top line potential, but it's an interesting thought.