Richdg

Ok, the second round. The perfect choice for the Red Wings is of course, Mike McCarron. He is 6-5/227 shoots RHed and from Detroit. He fits all needs. But what happens if some other team grabs him? As much as roiting in the streets appeals to me, we need to have other names. That brings us to the players. Of course, if any of the above names from the first round fall, take em! Justin Bailey is a good possibility. By most draft experts/mock drafts, he is going to go very late in the 1st or first half of the second round. Another tall forward, that shoots RHed, is fast, and puts the puck in the net. Another good option is: John Hayden. Big 6-3/210, RHed shot, 2 way C. Would be a great 2nd line C to pair with Mantha, who C's the first line. Jason Dickinson 6-2/180 LW/C would be a good opion. Yes he is LHed. But he is another fast scoring forward.

2 points! YES!!!!!!!!

Gordie Howe But again you are making an argument based on the past. yes the CHL for many many years was the best in the world. It also happens to be the biggest-75 teams. That is 5 times the size of the USHL. Law of averages alone says they will produce 5 times as many players. It does not mean from top to bottom the 3 CHL leagues are better than the USHL top to bottom. Again, those that follow and working the draft for a living have MORE USHL players per team in the top 100 than WHL teams have. That is the only fact we have in play. Everything else is opinion. Untill they start playing each other, on a regular basis, that is all it will ever be.

Not a fan of Domi, and it has nothing to do with his dad. How is he different from the other forwards that we have? Nyquist, tatar, Jarnkrok, etc..... he is a small play making good shooting F. We have a ton of those guys. As for Rychel, I see him and think a young Dan Cleary. He is an effort guy no doubt. But that is all that he has that stands out. Average size, speed, skills. I just have a hard time seeing him as a future star. IMHO of course.

Some Bailey's for your coffee?

Valentin's day: Coming up Roses:

A little love for Nichuskin. Big time for big Fred.

Yes. Let's not confuse their declining skills with a lack of effort. Both are giving everything they have. The issue is father time has changed their abilities, as it does to all of us. It doesn't help things that they are our only real scoring options 90% of the time. That is not on them, it is on management. But Z and Dat are the ones paying for it.

Now, who would be on my 1st round list? Mantha would be choice 1A. But there is a close 1B. That would be Valery Nichuskin. Most expect him to go in the top 10. Maybe even top 5. But he is Russian and has signed a 3 year extentsion with his team in Russia. I think he will drop. Nichuskin and Mantha are almost twins. Both are about 6-3/190, LH shooters with great speed and finishing touch. Either one would be fine with me. But if we have the choice, I take Mantha becasue we know we can sign him and he will be in Detroit within 24 months. Both of these guys are Malkin types. Tall, fast, goal scorers. My third choice is a different type of big forward: Frederik Gauthier. He is bigger 6-5/210, LHed, and is a great 2 way player. he is not a pure scorer like Mantha and Nichuskin are. But he is better defensively and a better passer/setup guy. Think Joe Thornton when thinking about big Fred. If all 3 of these guys are gone when we pick, I would like to move down. The next batch of guys are considered late 1st rounders/2nd rounders. More picks is better. This is based off of the thought we will be picking in the 12-18 range. If we are picking 1st or 25th or later, this becomes a mute point. Now if the big 3 are gone and we move to the late 1st round with our pick, who do I like there? Here are some really good forwards that fit the bill: Valentin Zykov. He is a 6-1/210 pound Russian RHed forward. Very good 2 way player, has grit, and is already playing in NA. Jacob de la Rose. LW/C 6-2/200. Typical Swedish forward. Does everything well, both ends of the ice. has good size and uses it. Justin Bailey. RW/C. 6-3/190 play making forward. A Modano type of player. On to the second round. Later.

You are trying to create a difference when there isn't one. So what if guys are committed to go play in college? How does that reduce or enhance their talent? it doesn't. Now, if they could play in the CHL and still play in the NCAA, would there be a mad rush to leave the USHL? maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it. There is very much a cultural difference between the US and Canada when it comes to college sports. College athletics are huge here and not so much in Canada. That plays a huge role here. But again, that isn't the point. The point is the talent level. Now we cana rgue this untill the cows come home, which is fine. But it doesn't prove anything one way or the other. The USHL has done a GREAT job improving their league and is on par with the CHL as a whole. Yes the OHL and QMJHL still is ahead. It would be great to see the champs all play an end of season tourny vs each other. This just in: Gordie Howe loves the USHL! LOL BTW, the US U-18 team had a very similier winning % vs the USHL teams and the NCAA teams that they played this year. Better vs the USHL, but it includes DIII colleges as well. Back to big Mike. He is going to have a big running mate at WMU next year and hopefully a future red Wings as well. Mike McCarron 6-5/227 RW from Detroit is going there. I hope Murry puts them together on the same forward line!

Anthony Mantha highlights: I love the idea of him in the 1st!

The hard part is figuring out how many holes we will have. So let's take a semi educated guess. Forwards: Bet, Sammy, Cleary, Z, Datsyuk, Franzen. Best guess is, maybe 1 will be left playing for us, at most. All of these guys will be 38-43 in the 2017/2018 season. That fills 1 of the 14 roster spots. Filppula, Abdelkader, TooToo, Brunner, Miller, Eaves. Best guess, 3 of this group will still be here in the 2017/18 season. That makes 4 spots of the 14. Andersson, Nyquist, Emmerton, Tatar, and Sheahan. All made it to Detroit this year, some still here. I would hope that at least 3, maybe 4 are here playing full Time, and here is the key: producing. That means 7 or 8 of the 14 forward spots are filled. Of this group, only 3 are RHed and only 2: TooToo and Miller even have a chance of still being here. To say nothing of if they are producing anything. Propsects we already have: Small forwards: Jarnkrok, Pulkkinen, Callahan, Ferraro, Raedeke, Athanasiou, Coetzee, Hudon, and Quine. 5 of this group happens to be RHed. Who knows which if any of these guys make it and become producers. Big Forwards: Jurco, Parkes, Bodin, Tvrdon, Nestrasil, McKee, Aubry, and Frk. 2 of this group is RHed. Again, who makes it? No idea. Out of these 16 players, maybe 3 will really make it and become something. History shows 1 out of 5 turn out. If 3 make it, we have 10 or 11 spots of the 14 forwards filled. Defense: We are much better off on the D. Kronwall and Ericsson will both be in the mid/late 30's in 17/18. Kronwall 37 and Big E 34. Plan on 1 of these 2 still playing. Core group: Kindl, Dekeyser, Smith, and Lashoff. All 4 should be here. Kindl is the only 1 over 30 at 31. The other 3 will all be 28ish. Prospects: Almquist, Nedomel, Fournier, Backman, Marshell, Oullett, and De Haas all LHed and will be in their mid 20's. Nicastro, Sproul, Jensen, and Marchenko are all RHed and will also all be in their mid 20's. This group has 5 vets and 11 prospects. We need two to make it, and out of the 11 guys we should have them already. Point is, we are set at D for the draft for a year maybe two. Goalie: Howard, 34 and still here. With his stye of play he should still be playing at a high level, baring the I word. Propsects: Mrazek, Coreau, and Paterson. 3 very good young G's in the system. Again we are set for a year or two. Now when looking at this list, we see the weakness at F. Some grinder/checking types and several 3rd line guys. No real stars. Also, we lack RH RWers and RH C's. We need to stick up on both, and good news: this draft has a ton of forwards 6-2 or taller that are RHed. Of course any supers drop, you take them!

But they are also trending downward in games played-which is normal as guys get older. This year should be thrown out however. hard to get any real ideas about things. yes Z and Datsyuk started great. But they were already in game shape, where as half the league was not. Go back and review our season. For the first 10-15 games the team as a whole played poorly. but Z, Datsyuk, and Brunner where on fire. Since then, the team as a whole is playing much better, but those 3 have dropped off. Z and Brunner have done so big time.

IMHO nothing to get excited about. Ferraro-taken 1 spot before O'Reilly is not very good. he is an average AHL player. Nothing more. Callahan could be Eaves, maybe someday. But again, not now and has a long way to go.

So far this year, we have scored 3 or more goals in only 42% of our games. No further discussion needed about our issues.

That would be McCarron. he is already 6-5/227, shoots RHed, from Detroit and this year has a higher points per game average than facshing and hayden for the US Under 18 team. Now he is committed to play at WMU-with McKee, so it will be 3 years before we see him. But he is the perfect fit for us in the 2nd round. In fact, he is the only option in the 2nd, unless he is taken earlier by someone else, which could happen.

Yes. 6-3 forwards that have netted 50+ goals, with great speed are really hard to come by.

What sad is, we have only scord 3 goals or more in 19 games. Forthose ofus old enough to rememer the late 70's and 80's, 6-5 was a common score. Plus we had fights in those games!

But Howard=Average......Hmmmmm something doesn't add up.

Now, thanks for all the comedy! But, back to reality. This years draft is very deep with scoring forwards. Many of which are righthanded shots. many of which are big and or tall players. Points of need. Next years draft has much of its talent on the blueline and small skilled forwards. But it isn't as deep. Now looking at our roster and prospect list, we are pretty good at D and G. 5 G's that are or have the potential to play in the NHL. Our D is sitting in the top 10 in goals allowed this season, and it is a fairly young group. But we cant score. we have limited scoring prospects coming. In fact, this year I might not take a single blueliner in the draft. Grab as many forwards that are 6ft or taller that have shown the ability to put the puck in the net. 4 or 5 should be RHed.

Back to Z and Dat for that matter. I mentioned this last summer. both f them have been in a slow decline for about 5 years. Here are Z's point totals since 08: 92, 73, 70, 80, and 69. Not including this year. in 08-his career year Z scored 43 goals and had a 12% shooting %. Since then his shots have remained the same. but the goals and shooting % have dropped. 31, 23, 24, 22, and 9 this year. his shooting % has gone from 12% to 10%, 7.4%, 7.8%, 8.2% and 5.7% this year. Datsyuk is the same, but not as bad. His career years were 80 and 09 with 97 points each year. Since then he has had seasons of: 70, 59, 67, and 41 this year. His goal numbers have also dropped off. He had 31 nad 32 goals in 08 and 09. Since then he has produced: 27, 23, and 19. 13 so far this season. His shooting % has remained fairly stable though. Now both are still good players. Neither is done. But Z is becoming a 60 point per year guy and datsyuk is closer to a 70 point per year guy. yes things could be worse. But neither is an offensive force that can carry a team by themelves anymore. They need to help to be effective, as this season has shown. We are 26th in goals scoed this year, as of today. Think about that. 26th!

Can we get over the Suter and parise thing already. It is done.

As much fun ans it is to hate on Q, he is not the problem. Last season, coming down the stretch we were terrible. But then again, Nicky was hurt, Helm was hurt, datsyuk and z were playing hurt etc...... How is that on Q? it isn't. This year, after the first 10 games or so our D has been playing well. As a group not to bad at all. In fact, as of today we are 8th in the NHL is goals allowed. Top 10! That is great! It is the other side that we are having our issues. We can't score. As of today we are 26th in goals scored! That is pure 100% crap! Every forward on the team is to blame for this. So are the coaches, the front office, and to some degree the Dmen who pass the puck.

That makes jarnkrok about 5-8/140 BTW....... which may be right.

Pretty simple with 4 games and points out there. Win them all! if we get 8 points we are in! 6 or 7 point about 75% chance. 4 or 5 points 50-50 at best. 3 or fewer and what time for the tee times next week? Just win baby!