krsmith17

Ah, the most important stat... +/-. Erik Karlsson is a -11. Evgeni Malkin is a -8. Taylor Hall is a -9. Mantha has struggled this season, there's no denying that. But he's been starting to heat up, and if you don't think he's a huge part of this team, you're kidding yourself. Especially if you're basing that on such a useless stat as +/-...

F***ing brutal. I'll admit, I was happy to see Mantha stick up for Larkin, but immediately after the fight, I was concerned he might have hurt his hand again... and here we are... He really needs to stop fighting, if this is the outcome every time... F***!

You have ZERO interest in Dante Fabbro? He'd instantly be our top defense prospect. We'd finally have 4 quality young defensemen in the system with top 4 potential (Cholowski, Fabbro, McIsaac, Hronek), 2 lefties, 2 righties. If we're trading Nyquist, Nashville is the team I'd like to trade him to, for that exact reason. The Preds have plenty of defensive depth and the Wings could really use a guy like Fabbro. How is it that Nyquist can "suck" for years as a Red Wing, but now that he could potentially be traded, he's worth TWO 1st round picks or a 1st and a top prospect? I think we should trade Nyquist for sure, but you're setting yourself up for disappointment if that's the sort of return you're expecting. A late 1st is probably best case scenario, and I'd be happy with that.

Who are we getting with our first and the first from the Howard trade?

I'd like to draft Newhook for the simple fact that he's a kid from my hometown and my cousin has been training him for the past several years. I met him a few years ago and my cousin was telling me "he's a hell of a hockey player", "definitely going to be an NHLer". I kind of scoffed and said, "you said the same thing about (James) Melindy" (drafted 88th overall by Phoenix in 2012, 24 years old and never played an NHL game, and likely never will). Never thought Newhook would actually be considered a potential top 10 NHL draft pick a few years later. IF we end up around the 8-12 range again, he's a player I'd love for us to target.

He's now 7 points back of the lead (4 fewer games played), and leads the league with 1.8 PTS/G.

What about Ehn for Sandin?

But he's... left-handed... Yup, he'll be a Red Wing for sure. No interest in Cozens or Dach...

I refuse to "like" kliq and CRL's posts, because f*** the Leafs, but yeah, I completely agree. The Leafs are going to be a power house for quite a few more years (unfortunately). There's no way you can spin the Tavares signing into a negative. He's worth every penny of that contract, as will be the case with Matthews and Marner. I do think Nylander was slightly overpaid, but I think he will be traded in the next year for a top 3 defenseman. As much as it pains me to say it, the Leafs are finally doing everything right to build a legit contender. I just hope they never win it all...

... is the player I'm least interested in the Wings drafting in the top 5... Noteworthy: I had the same opinion of Elias Pettersson in last year's draft... What the f*** do I know? Best Player Available. In Holland We Trust.

"Dubas probably (definitely) wouldn't do it though"...

Yeah, there's not a doubt in my mind that Hronek will be a top 4 defenseman in Detroit by next season (or sooner). He's been great in Grand Rapids and showed glimpses in his short 6 game stint in Detroit this season as well. I hope he gets another extended look after the deadline (or sooner) this season. Hronek is currently 17th in the league in points, and 11th in point per game (0.87) amongst defensemen. I think he'll climb that list a little higher over the next couple months as well. Good to see Zadina starting to get acclimated to the pro game as well. I haven't been able to watch as many Griffins games as I'd like this season, but I trust @Wheelchairsuperhero 's scouting report. Zadina is currently 17th in the league in points amongst rookies, but everyone ahead of him is also older (some even 3 to 4 years older).

4th in points *per game* (1.05 PTS/G). 6th in points, but has played 5-10 games less than anyone else ahead of him. If he continues to progress at this rate, he could possibly make the jump right from junior, like Cholowski did this season, in the 2020-21 season. Veleno had another 3 point game (2 goals and an assist) last night, and has 12 points (6 goals, 6 assists) in his last 3 games. Like McIsaac, he now sits 6th in the Q with 40 points (18 goals, 22 assists) in 24 games, and 4th in point per game (1.67). He's bound to have a few more 0 point / 1 point games, but if he continues having these 3+ point games as often as he has, he could be up to a 2 points per game pace very soon.

Oilers claim Zykov... F**** sake Kenny. Would have preferred Zykov over de la Rose... Kind of surprised 11 teams passed on him though. Oh well...

If any team is offering a significant return (high draft pick and / or high end prospect) for Howard, you have to trade him. In my opinion, the short-term pain would be well worth it for the long term gain. We could add some high-end assets as well as improve our draft odds. Win-win. All other pending UFA's (Nyquist, Vanek, Jensen) should be shopped as well as a few others with term (Nielsen, Helm, Glendening, Ericsson, Daley). I think the most likely to be moved at this season's deadline would be Howard, Nyquist, Jensen and Daley, and even then, it will likely only be one of them, maybe two...

Without looking at who we could potentially get in the upcoming draft(s), I see our depth chart looking something like this... ??? - Larkin - Mantha Rasmussen - Veleno - Zadina Bertuzzi - Athanasiou - ??? ??? - Turgeon - ??? Also in the mix: Svechnikov, Frk, Berggren, Holmstrom, Smith, O'Reilly, Adams, etc... Cholowski - ??? McIsaac - Hronek ??? - ??? Also in the mix: Lindstrom, Saarijarvi, Kotkansalo, Barton, Regula, etc... Larsson / Petruzzelli ??? Also in the mix: Fulcher So in my opinion we need to add an elite / superstar forward and number one defenseman to pair with Cholowski. The rest of the holes can be filled relatively easily, be it internally, or via trade / free agency. Assuming most of these players hit / come close to hitting their ceilings, we should be in pretty good shape going forward. Another huge draft next year similar to the '18 draft, and we'll be getting pretty damn close.

We have a nice young core of players on the team now, with more coming. The six players you mentioned, plus all of Veleno, Zadina, McIsaac and Hronek should be top six forwards / top four defensemen. I still think this team will finish bottom 5-10 in the league, so that should be another high end player. We're headed in the right direction, with a lot of really good players, we just need a couple "elite" players. Maybe they're already in the system, maybe they're in the upcoming draft... I agree on the goaltending. I think one of the three or four goalie prospects currently in the system will emerge as an NHL quality starter over the next 3-4 seasons. Barton is the guy I'm really watching out for. He's taken a similar path as Cholowski up to this point. I'm not sure which junior team owns his rights, but I'd like to see him continue on a similar path as Cholo and move over to the CHL after this season. Regula likely won't be anything more than a depth defenseman, but I guess he (or anyone) could exceed expectations. I've heard good things on Lindstrom and Kotkansalo, but no idea where they'll end up. Overall, I think we have plenty depth in all positions, some very good players, we just need some true game breakers.

I'd love to see Holland take a flyer on Zykov. Big, skilled right-handed winger, with top six potential. I remember being really high on him in his draft year. He hasn't panned out yet, but he's still only 23 years old. Off to a rough start this season, but put up 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) in 10 games with the Canes and 54 points (33 goals, 21 assists) in 63 games with the Checkers last season.

Another counterpoint: Filip Zadina.

In Holland we trust. Not going to happen.

I guess Kyrou is out too then... Bokk? Nope, another righty... Damn it!

If we could trade Howard to the Blues for Robert Thomas... that would be HUGE. Holland could really take advantage here. I think he's going to end up getting a similar steal as the Tatar trade, not in pieces, but quality of return.

Also: *shuttt up!* Seriously though, if Yzerman is a general manager anywhere over the next few years, it will definitely, 100% be with the Red Wings. He's leaving Tampa to "be closer to family". He's not going anywhere but Detroit.