kipwinger

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Posts posted by kipwinger

  2. Posted · Report reply

    4 minutes ago, AtlantaHotWings said:

    my mind reading days are well past me...LOL

    I was just looking at young guns that have some size and coming up potentially X years.  To be honest I have completely forgotten about Elmer ...not good. 

    Elmer is having a good season, he just doesn't play the right way. He'd be a dominant power forward, but he's content being an average skill guy.

    The other guys you mentioned definitely have some bite to their game, but not a power game. Like, Kasper is a lot like Ryan Kesler. Feisty, agitating, strong, and bordering dirty. But he's not going to run a guy over to slam home a rebound. Danielson is like Larkin. Tough, strong, sturdy, but not a power guy. Mazur is like Bunting, Bertuzzi, or Gallagher. Dirty, agitating, feisty but not a power forward.

    I would have liked to see SY draft Koehn Ziemmer last year instead of...checks notes...Noah Dower Nilsson? Woof.

  3. Posted · Report reply

    1 minute ago, AtlantaHotWings said:

    Looking at GR and sliding Danielson into that group for compare to try to alleviate number 3 decient 

    Nate is 6 2 187

    Kasper is 6 1 183

    Hanas is 6 1 180

    Mazur is 6 175

    praying they all go on the Raymond plan and gain 15 pounds of muscle  this summer which barely gets them to ~200....

    None of those guys are what I mean when I talk about "power wingers" though. The first two are centers and the others don't play a power game. When I say power winger I mean someone like Josh Anderson, Tom Wilson, Alex Tuch, Brady Tkachuk, etc.

    The only guy in our organization with that kind of potential is Sodorblom. And it's getting to the point where I'd tell him that he either needs to start developing a power game or he's going nowhere in this organization. We don't need another winger that plays like Hanas and Mazur, we've got them.

  4. Posted · Report reply

    1 minute ago, GMRwings1983 said:

    So you don't think Lalonde is an issue?

    I do, I just meant with respect to roster construction. I do think Lalonde is an issue, but I also think he's a good coach. I think he's inexperienced and doesn't fully understand that the "process" that coaches talk about with their players also applies to him as well.

  6. Posted · Report reply

    3 minutes ago, GMRwings1983 said:

    We could probably criticize every player on this team for something.  In fact, we usually do.  I don't expect Rasmussen to score more than Copp or Compher.  I do, however, expect a 6'6 forward to be more physical than a badminton player.    

    Rasmussen will always be expected to do more because of his size.  That's just the stigma with being a giant.  Just think of every large pro wrestler who never became a major star.  Those guys get more flak than smaller wrestlers whose gimmicks never made it.    

    I think that's a fair criticism to a point. I think the entire team could be more physical, and guys like Ras, Fischer, and Chiarot should be leading the way. I've mentioned that we're soft as warm butter a lot lately. I DO think Ras uses his size and reach effectively in the offensive zone. Both in terms of protecting the puck and extending possessions, as well as on the forecheck getting the puck back. I get the feeling that the team is generally discouraged from running other teams and playing that type of game, which is a coaching decision IMO.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    14 minutes ago, GMRwings1983 said:

    Compher and Copp have never been big scorers.  Their numbers this season aren't a big outlier.  I realize scoring is up in the NHL from several years ago.  So that's a counterpoint.  Debrincat is helpless without linemates.  Larkin being out hurt his scoring stats.  He doesn't score even strength because he's small, soft, and overly reliant on powerplay scoring.  Just like this entire roster.  The powerplay is their offense.    

    I agree that Compher and Copp have never been big scorers. Neither has Rasmussen. So why criticize Rasmussen for not scoring and not the two guys who score about the same, get paid more, and were both brought on board to play in more prominent offensive roles (2C)?

  8. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, stephen-gregory-yzerman said:

    Wasnt Eaves very good defensively and 1 of our top PKers along with MIller and Helm?

    I don't remember it that way, but that's not really the point I'm making. The point I'm making is that Eaves clearly had more offensive upside than guys like Helm or Abby (or later Glendening) but never got half the opporunity in the top six that those guys did. Something about their game was "safer" than his. Maybe he was fine defensively and they were better. Maybe he was too "risky" or something. In whatever case, Babs felt better playing guys in the top six who had no potential to score over a guy that did. If he was nearly as good defensively that only proves the point I'm making, which is that in many cases you can improve a guy's defensive much more easily than you can improve his offense. 

  9. Posted · Report reply

    2 minutes ago, The 91 of Ryans said:

    Bergrren will be 24 starting next season. You might be able to squeeze a little D out of him but he probably is what he is at this point. 

    I'm more intersted to see what he can do with Edvinsson and maybe one of Johansson/Mazur/Kasper. 

    Regardless, If Y is going to keep Derk around, he needs to find a way to add a LEGIT top 4 D to this team next year or they may as well trade Seider and move the team to Atlanta. Holy good christ

    I was just using Berggren as a hypothetical. He's actually solid enough defensively, he just turns the puck over at bad times. That's why he's in the press box. I think that's an easily coachable issue. My point is that getting someone who scores to play better defense is an easier task than getting Czarnik to score.

    I 100% agree that we need a top four defenseman. But someone who can actually defend in big minutes. Doesn't have to be Tanev/Gudas, but in that mold. That way you can free up Seider and Walman to play in the offensive zone a little more and utilize their actual skill instead of asking them to defend all game long.

     

  10. Posted · Report reply

    18 minutes ago, stephen-gregory-yzerman said:

    Derek has to go.

    Well, I think he's a young coach caught in a logic trap. He thinks that you have to be great defensively to win (which I agree with). He talks all the time about how Tampa had to learn to play the right way. But that's the thing, Tampa had a team full of talented players who evolved into a solid defensive team. Lalonde is trying to skip to the end by icing a team full of guys that can defend, regardless of whether they're talented.

    Babcock used to do this too and it made me crazy. He'd rather have Darren Helm in the top six than Patrick Eaves because Helm was better defensively. Meanwhile you've got a 30 goal scorer in your press box and your team can't score enough goals to win. Why not play Eaves (understanding he's not as good defensively) and make the focus of his development that he become an adequate defender? Ya know, coach him?

    I'm blown away that we're losing every game, can't find icetime for Berggren and Kostin, but have Czarnik in the lineup. At the very worst why not lose every game, play the guys who can score (or hit and fight), and teach them how to be better defenders? The outcome would be exactly the same but one of the two options at least has growth potential.

     

     

  11. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, LeftWinger said:

    If Danielson only becomes a 4C, then it's a waste of a top 10 pick. Waste of a 1st round pick. This is why Rasmussen and Veleno are busts. You don't draft bottom 6/3 talent in the 1st round. 

    BOTH Danielson and Kasper better be top 6 when they are consistent NHL players. Edvinsson better be top 2-3. You just don't draft (keep these top picks) for them to be bottom anything.

    Rasmussen has not earned his contract and Holland blew a #9 pick by drafting him. Not saying he sucks, but he's never played up to his draft position, will be a career 4th line player, and does not deserve the contract. At least Veleno was a #30 pick.

    Lefty...you're high. First, Rasmussen is roughly the tenth best player taken in that draft and we took him 9th. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that pick. Same for Veleno. Literally nobody "drafted for bottom 6/3 talent". It was hoped that Ras would be a top six player, and he isn't. That why he's only making 3 million bucks next year.  He's tied with Raymond for most points during this awful streak of ours, plays against top opposition, and kills penalties. He's a useful player that with middling offense. He's not Valeri Nichushkin and doens't get paid like it either.

    You know who you maybe SHOULD point a finger at (aside from SY and Lalonde)? Guys like Alex Debrincat. This dude makes 7.8 million dollars a year and has FOUR even strength goals in his last 50 games. Andrew Copp makes 4X as much as Rasmussen and has the same number of points. JT Compher makes 5 million a year and has 4 points in his last 10 games. By comparison Joe Veleno has 3 points in the last 10 games and makes less than a million. Jake Walman gets top pair minutes is MINUS TEN during our losing streak and looks absolutely befuddled in the defensive zone (so much that he was scratched a few games ago).

    If you're looking for problems with this team right now and your finger rests on Rasmussen and Veleno I seriously question your judgement. It absolutely doesn't mean that those guys are above criticism (Ras had a costly penalty yesterday) but overall those guys are more than earning their money and limited icetime. There are a WHOLE bunch of dudes on this team that are not earning either of those things right now.

    stephen-gregory-yzerman reacted to this

  12. Posted · Edited by kipwinger · Report reply

    38 minutes ago, stephen-gregory-yzerman said:

    I think Michael McCarron would be a good pickup if were looking for a big physical winger that can answer the bell. Still has 2 years with NSH but could probably be had for cheap and is a MI native and can chip in offensively in a bottom 6 role.

    Why bother? We just had that exact player, only five years younger, and Lalonde wouldn't play him. I think it's got to be a player with enough offensive upside to justify keeping him in the lineup. Otherwise I think Derek will default to whatever "safe", two-way, guy he has handy. I mean, we literally have Czarnik in the lineup right now but couldn't find a spot for Kostin and Berggren is in the press box. Derek wants "no event" hockey out of his bottom end guys, clearly.

  16. Posted · Edited by kipwinger · Report reply

    13 minutes ago, The 91 of Ryans said:

    Now ask yourself how shiddy Kostin must have been to not even be able to fill the role he had cornered the market on>I know we all get boners for muscle around here but c'mon

    Agreed. He'd prob be an upgrade over Bergrren

    That's a good retort, and effective for winning a debate, but you and I both know that it comes down to what the coach prioritizes. Lalonde would rather NOBODY fill that role. Which is why nobody fills it. Same with Holl. He's not great, god knows, but if size and physicality were a priority he'd play over Maatta.

    I don't envy coaches, they've got a tough job. They have to figure out the right mixture of traits for every player and every team. It's okay that Kane is soft, and non competitive, and risky with the puck because he's scores a ton. It's okay that Chiarot gets lost in the defensive zone because he's good in transition and on the PK. It's alright that Ghost and Raymond are horrendous defensively because they're dynamic and good on the powerplay. Apparently Kostin's recipe of traits wasn't what Lalonde wanted or he'd have played more. But it's hard not to think that's a mistake when A) you see him playing well elsewhere (Edmonton and San Jose) and B) we get absolutely ragdolled every single time we play a physical team.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    1 minute ago, The 91 of Ryans said:

    *psssssssst* so does Kostin (but don't tell anyone shhhhhhhhh) 

     

    I don't think Kostin is "good", but he's plenty good enough to play on our 4th line so that we don't get physically humiliated by teams like Ottawa and Florida. That's what we acquired him to do, and then the coach just decided not to use him anymore. My point in mentioning his production in San Jose was both tongue-in-cheek, but also meant to show that he's not actually a bad player.

    I don't understand recognizing that we get pushed around, making moves to address it (Kostin, Fischer, Holl) and then not really using these guys. Kostin is averaging 3 more minutes of icetime in San Jose and not surprisingly he's scoring a little more. Obviously it's a small sample size, and he's not going to score .75 ppg. But let's say he scored .30 points per game (roughly his career average). That's 24 points. Over the course of his career he's also roughly had as many assists as goals, so that 24 points breaks down to 12G and 12A. Conversely, Robby Fabbri (for example) is on pace for 36 points (21G, 15A) this season.

    Now ask yourself which we need more, 9 extra goals/3 extra assists or the ability to fight back a little bit against the Tkachuks of the world?

  21. Posted · Report reply

    1 hour ago, stephen-gregory-yzerman said:

    Is he a NHL 2C?

    Graf attended the Panthers and Preds training camp the past 2 summers and is from the Boston area. Why would he sign with the Wings?

    I don’t think he plays center. As far as the other part I don’t know, I’m just repeating what I read.

  24. Posted · Report reply

    22 minutes ago, Motor City Mullets said:

    If I were DBoss I'd sit out for the rest of this miserable season and demand a trade this summer...

    Seriously, if we don't find an actual 2C in the offseason I'm going to make "Free Dylan Larkin" t-shirts to wear to every game I attend next year.

    I cannot believe we've been looking for a 2C since we signed Stephen Weiss and we still don't have one.

    Rick D reacted to this