joesuffP

I can see a team taking Howard if we eat 1 or 2 million. Nyquist+Howard @ 2.5M and sprinkle in a prospect and that's a pretty nice package

I don't think many scouts would agree with you that Hicketts is a much better hockey player than Saarijarvi. I'm not saying Hicketts is a bad hockey player, it's just Saarjarvi is a much more promising prospect and is more likely to have an impactful NHL career.

I like how the defense is playing right and for the majority of the season. We no longer have to rely heavily on Kronwall because we have three well balanced pairs that the coach trusts. It's been a while since we haven't had a third pair we had to hold on breath for everytime they hit the ice

Sarijaarvii has a very high hockey IQ and awareness which makes it possible to make a career even though he's small (surprised at his size in the tourney, didn't look that small) he reminds me of Brian Rafalski Hicketts is small and low skill who uses a physical element to his game. Hard to transfer that against huge men in the NHL. Ah yes but the intangibles

Pretty good for us that our two most important non-pro prospects are playing for gold. Should go a long way in their development

In all honesty I rarely look up stats. I think his ice time is very telling though, or maybe it's more telling of Kronwall?

Mrazek was great. He does a lot of little things that really help the defense when the puck is around the net and he made the big saves when he needed to. The Wings didn't look very dangerous, but that could be because of New Jersey's stifling style of play. The E and Kronwall pairing was no doubt the worst but I'm optimistic that E just needs time to improve, also doesn't help they were playing a very good, physical forecheck. Smith looks confident out there and making the smart plays in his own zone. Pretty sure Marchenko led the Wings in ice time again? If this kid had the same amount of hype when he entered the league as DD I wonder what the depth chart would look like. If any defensemen is struggling just stick Marchenko on his pair and he'll turn it around. He's the Larkin of defensemen

I don't necessarily think we need a Shea Weber, Subaan type on D, especially when we have a potential star goaltender in Mrazek. If we could put together a balanced group like the caps we could be winners

We just have to be patient and when we find that championship core, you have to go for it every year. The hard part is making sure we pick the right guys going forward. Between Mrazek, Larkin, AA and Mantha there's a guy or two that are core players but we need a dman of that caliber

I've been thinking about this the last few years. Once we start being championship ready and perhaps put together a little bit of a dynasty we might be a very popular team for Americans

I haven't watched Russia play at all. I hear Svechnikov has been a disappointment? Does somebody have a good analysis of Red Wings prospects?

Mantha should get a call up sometime this year similar to AA with significant ice time just to get his feet wet. A season of being the go to guys and a deep playoff run with another good training camp and they'll both be approaching overripe status and should dominate the AHL next year (until their full time red wings at least)

Losing to this team again is not an option. Wings should come out flying after their two embarrassing losses to them

Reffing is just as bad in North America. I don't like watching elimination hockey with 10-15 penalties. I understand when the game is getting rough and players could get hurt but their usually ridiculous calls

Starting to question the ref bias to Finland a little bit. One thing I hate about this tournament is the reffing is always bad. These knockout games shouldn't be a special teams fest

Mantha with 20 points in 25 games. Looks like he's starting to adapt nicely, especially considering the Griffins abysmal start. It would be nice to see more goals from him but it's hard to complain. He's making a lot of progress and that's all you can ask at this point.

4-1 Win

Boychuk and Hamilton are the best defensemen that have been traded in a very long time. Both from Boston who were going in a different direction. Not likely we see a #1 get moved, and if one does and it's not to us, than you can blame Holland.

Big guys just aren't ready yet. Don't even seen any good physical players coming up either. Since 2010 the playoff streak has been more of a curse for us. This rebuild took an extra 3 years because of it

I think our defense has issues but the young guys aren't the problem. Kronwall and Ericsson just crumble under pressure and they always have. Hard to sit these guys. Smith and Marchenko just keep getting better every game. Ericsson has never had a good overall season for a true top four defensmen. I think we are the only team in the league that would have handed him that contract. He got rich off circumstance because their was no better options and being a bad team wasn't an option

I think Buffalo plays us well because they're pretty big and physical when they want to be. Same reason we lost that Pens game. We're not good when they raise up the intensity and physical play

Yes. You think we barely won because of the refs?

About the caliber of player of that division

A win is a win but not an encouraging sign going forward

That last scoring chance is why we need Abby and more like him. Kane owns us we have no answer for him