krsmith17

It's not deflecting at all. It's an opinion... My opinion. Mantha deserved to be scratched after that brutal game against Montreal. Abdelkader, if he were treated similarly to the young players, should have been scratched after a couple games as well. He works his ass off, still sucks, but he tries hard so he shouldn't be scratched... Neither Abdelkader or Kronwall have ever been healthy scratched for a bad game. The only reason they've ever been "demoted", if you can even call it that, is due to natural progression, or in their case, regression. Some young guys have forced the coaching staff, but that's not the same as demotion due to a bad game or a bad shift. Sometimes I question if you even watch the games... You're literally the only person I've heard argue that there is no such thing as a veteran bias. There absolutely is, and if you don't see it, you're clearly not paying attention. I don't even take it near the level of most fans, but it is definitely a thing in Detroit, and it has been for some time. Of course you can point to examples where there wasn't a bias toward veterans, but there are many examples where there is. Rasmussen is going to be a healthy scratch again tomorrow. Do you really think he's been the worst forward on the team thus far? I don't. I'm not one to rag on Abdelkader. In fact, I've defended him countless times over the years. However, he's been awful so far this season. In my opinion he should be scratched for a game or two. He won't be though because he wears an A, makes over $4M and is a good ol' Michigan boy...

It'll never happen, but I agree with this.

I'd like to trade at least one (preferably both) of Nyquist and Vanek, as well as one of Daley or Ericsson, and Howard. I'd retain salary on any / all of them. With all 4 players (not including Howard) having some form of NTC, it may be difficult to move some of them. I don't think Vanek is going to waive his. Chances are, we'll trade one, maybe two of those guys... I think we'll add a 1st (plus ours), but I highly doubt we'll add two more.

Hard to say. That could be their 2nd or 20th round...

I agree. I like those pairings a lot.

Nah, Big Tony's waiting until after the 10th game to start playing...

"But doesn’t mean he won’t go back to juniors later in season." He's not going anywhere. They're not going to burn a year of his ELC, only to send him back to juniors later in the season. I guess he kind of has to say that though to make sure Ras doesn't get too comfortable after that 10th game.

Great news. I would assume Hicketts. Probably something along the lines of... Cholowski - Daley Kronwall - Green Ericsson - Jensen What happens when DeKeyser comes back though, assuming everyone else is healthy? Ideally Kronwall would be scratched, but I'm betting it would be Jensen, despite being one of our better defensemen...

LOL you're going to accuse me of "deflecting", when you're trying to once again turn this into something it's not / put words in my mouth... I've admitted that Mantha was deserving of a demotion, but yet I'm trying to "make excuses" for him...

You're still acting as if I don't think Mantha should have been demoted... I think he should have been and I said as much when it happened... You're obsession with me is getting a little creepy to be honest... I mean, countless people here say the things I'm saying now on a regular basis, but you never say jack s***, until I say it... Abdelkader's minutes have dropped in the past three seasons? Amazing. They finally realized that he's not a top six forward... Kronwall's minutes have dropped too? He's still playing 20 minutes a night with two bummed knees... Trying to deflect and make excuses? LOL. You always try to create false narratives. Turn things into something they're not... Mantha has been bad. I'm not trying to justify his play. I agreed that he should have been demoted, and I wouldn't have even been upset if he were scratched for a game after his abysmal performance against the Habs. But yeah, just trying to make excuses... He really is lazy and he sucks...

You know what else I said? Blashill demoting Mantha was the right thing to do. You're acting as if I said Mantha shouldn't have been demoted, and only Abdelkader should be... That's not what I'm saying at all. But you can't argue that the vets get the same treatment as the kids when they f*** up, over and over and over again... I'm completely fine with accountability, but hold the same standard across the team. I agree that Mantha has failed miserably at finishing, but up until his demotion (prior to the Montreal game), he was still generating offense. I do think Abdelkader has been MUCH worse than Mantha at their respective "jobs" though. But then again, I'm of the mindset that every player should provide offense, and defensive specialists, aka checkers are overrated. You know who defends better than a checker? A skilled player that spends more time in the offensive zone. I don't think I need to argue that point with you though. I'm pretty sure you share that same philosophy, and have even advocated in the past to run 4 "scoring lines". Again, Mantha's play for a couple games there was horrible, and the demotion was just, but he's far from the only player that needs a message sent his way...

I wouldn't exactly consider Rasmussen a "strong playmaker"... That's never been his game up to this point and I doubt that changes. Hughes isn't in the system *yet*. Larkin is a decent playmaking center, and we hope Veleno will be as well. Mantha will never drive offense, but he's a proven finisher. Larkin can drive offense, and they've had chemistry over the past couple seasons. Mantha deserved a demotion after the awful performance against Montreal, and since then he's responded. Hopefully he gets going here soon. The thing that pisses me off though is that Abdelkader can play like s*** several games in a row and still remain in the top 6 or on the top power-play, but a young player, Athanasiou last year, Mantha this year, gets demoted immediately. Same goes for Kronwall. He has been awful all season, but he still gets top pair minutes and is on the second power-play unit. Stop gifting the vets minutes...

Hey man, I'd rather be lazy as s*** and still have enough skill to produce (even if it is at a lower than usually rate), than work my ass off every game and have no skill to produce...

He crawled out of the doghouse last game, playing on the TOP line with Larkin and Helm. Ehn works hard and sucks.

None of the vets have been great, but Kronwall has been the worst in my opinion. Jensen has been our best "vet". DeKeyser was playing well before the injury. Daley and Ericsson have been okay...

25+

Good stuff. Send Hicketts down too while you're at it.

Right? Game's easy.

Yeah, I couldn't have been more wrong on my Smith assessment. To be fair though, he did have all the physical tools to be a top 4 defenseman, he just didn't have the hockey IQ... I think Sproul is very similar in that regard. Everyone gets some wrong from time to time, but for the couple I was dead wrong on, I was right on with a few too. When everyone was clamoring over Ouellet and Marchenko, I said that neither were anything more than depth defensemen. True. When everyone had given up on Jensen (except me and Lefty), I said he would be a solid bottom pairing defenseman. True. I guess I was wrong about Sambrook too though, because I thought for sure he'd be a solid bottom pairing defenseman. I now think Regula will fill that role. We'll have to wait and see... You want a hot take on a defenseman? You said Cholowski has the potential to be a Duncan Keith type defenseman. I think Seth Barton has the potential to be a Brent Seabrook type defenseman... He's big, physical, mobile, great first pass. I really liked this pick in this past draft, but we'll have to wait and see how it pans out... I've never really been a big fan of Saarijarvi. He's probably the exact opposite of Brendan Smith, which I suppose is a good thing... He's one of the smartest players on the ice, but lacks the physical tools (size, strength). He might make it, but I still have my doubts... I sure as hell hope I'm as wrong on Saarijarvi as I was on Smith and Sproul, but think it'll be more like Ouellet and Marchenko...

What future Norris winner was available 2 seasons ago for Mantha?

Hot take! I like it. I disagree, but I like it.

I think you're giving Jonas too much credit...

I guess the Canes are wearing their "home" jerseys to match their "home" arena... Black and red seats in the LCA is such a terrible look...