kickazz

Quick everyone say OT

Witkowski scores in the 15th round of the shootout for a winner. Then drops his gloves and fights the entire Panthers bench. Subsequently gets banned for the season causing the Wings to lose the rest of the season. Dahlin shows up to training camp in September 2018.

The only thing you have to be shocked about is the poop on your head at some point in the near future.

Should I cuss him out?

If you jinxed this, I will poop on you.

I know. It's slightly riskier, but drafting ain't a guarantee either.

You're exactly right. They are a superpower. But they aren't better than USA or China and they want to be. It's like that ranking system in grade school. You're the 3rd best student but the 1st and 2nd ranked ones are always a step ahead of you and it pisses you off. Of course they can never get to number 1 with technology or military, we've pulled way too far ahead. So the way to flex the muscles is through sports and Olympics and say "Aha! see, we're better than them!" But the truth is, that olympics and sports don't mean a thing. I mean Norway is excellent at Winter Olympics but are they a superpower? Lol no. Anyways, I think we're pulling into the non-sports politics and should tone it down before Mabus comes and spanks us. But yeah, I think this is just another way to flex political muscles and now Russia just can't do it.

I'm just saying that this may be an alternate strategy since the current trajectory we're on isn't all THAT promising. I know we're all hoping that it is but we honestly don't actually know. I mean think about it, you mentioned hypotheticals for Karlsson + Tavares to work out. I could say the same to you about whoever we get in 2018 and 2019 draft. Hell even the idea of Mantha panning out is hypothetical. At least with Karlsson and Tavares we have a product that's established and proven. Maybe I'm more optimistic about being able to keep Karlsson for an extension. But I am a firm believer in attracting players by using other players. For instance, even if my scenario worked out and Tavares came, that itself would be a reason for Karlsson to sign an extension. The possibilities of getting one big name just opens so many doors up for a franchise. Snowball effect.

Defenders prime last wayyyy longer than offensive players. Also getting Karlsson and possibly Tavares effectively ends the rebuild. There’s no hard fast rule that we have to go through some rebuild. Wouldn’t you rather get an elite defenseman and an elite center NOW and actually win the Stanley cup? Look at what we did between the 90s era and the Euro Twins era. Yzerman, Federov and Shanahan checked out. Then we signed Osgood, signed Rafalski. The mid young players were Datsyuk and Zet. No rebuild took place, just 2-3 players that were the core and the right signings. Btw my scenario is not impossible. Getting Tavares and Karlsson is very possible. It’s just depends on whether Holland wants to do all the work for it. A core of Tavares, Zetterberg, Larkin, Nielsen, Tatar, AA, Karlsson, Howard can definitely win you a cup Sign Karlsson, use him and Nielsen as an incentive to bring in Tavares. Rid contract like Green, Mrazek, Helm, Nyquist. You have to be a bold GM to pull this off. You know who can do it? Jim Harbaugh. If only he was a hockey coach.

No I still include the 1st rounds because statistically speaking our 1st rounders have a higher probability of being outside of top 5 anyway. Cuz we’re try-hards. I doubt we get Dahlin or Svech well probably end up getting another guy that’s going to spend a few years in juniors and then in GR. Just going by the way we’ve trended. By the time Karlsson is up for his contract, Larkin and AA should be at their peaks. If they’re what we hope them to be then Karlsson has a good reason to stay right? A dynamic offense that he would defend for. And if he’s producing well then of course we offer him an arm and a leg. We certainly would have the money to do so by 2019. Imagine if by some miracle we do trade successfully for Karlsson. Guess whose looking at us all of a sudden. Mr. John Tavares. It’s certainly going to peak his interest. Karlsson would be a stepping stone to a quick rebuild. We’d be giving up a ton, we may have to drop and clear some space (not re-sign Mrazek of Green for instance). Trade Helm etc etc

Idk man, a once in a lifetime defenseman is finally available and ya'll being all question-ey about going for him. Ya'll confusing me and s***. All I hear about on this website is how Holland doesn't make trades blah blah blah and when one could finally be available; a HUGE upgrade, people turning the cheek. I agree we won't get him. Probably because Holland will think it's too expensive and the other reasons you listed. Anyways, I bet we really don't get a top 5 pick in 2018 or 19 cause we try-hards that end up somewhere outside of that.

Swedish persuasion is just one of the factors. And I'm not so sure these guys would leave the U.S. Maybe Z leaves since he has a young family, but Franzen's kids are American born aren't they? I doubt he just leaves. We also have a lot of Swedish players drafted coming in the system. Lindstrom (our 2nd round pick last year), Holmstrom, Elfstrom and others. Maybe some of them don't pan out, but I assume as long as Hakkan is our scout, there will plenty of Swedes drafted for years to come, especially since our 2nd highest pick last year was a Swede. Either way, Giving up Nyquist and Mantha for possibly the best defenseman in the league is not as bad as some may think. Mantha isn't Brett Hull and Nyquist isn't Paul Kariya. But Karlsson is following in Lidstrom's footsteps. You simply don't pass on that opportunity just because Karlsson "might" not re-sign here. If you put the tools in place for a guy like him, and you're good at your job as a manager, you can definitely keep the guy. We have Larkin, AA, Tatar, Rasmussen, Svechnikov. So many forwards with potential coming through. Giving up 2 of them for a generational talent, especially one that is a defenseman which are near impossible to get a hold of these days is really not that bad. I'm fully certain Ken Holland will pick up his phone and make a call to Ottawa as will the other GMs.

But we have a Swedish Don who would convince him to stay. I’m not kidding either I think the Swedish pipeline is pretty impactful. Pretty sure Alfredsson bought a house here. Franzen’s still lives her (another good friend of Karlsson according to his instagram) Karlsson would gave plenty of reasons to stay.

Trade Mantha, Nyquist and 2 first rounders for Karlsson This team would still have Larkin, AA, Tatar, Svech

You know how everyone thinks Zetterberg is the Swedish Don? Well if there’s any point we want this to actually be true, it’s now. Erik Karlsson and Henrik Zetterberg are very close friends. Karlsson is generational talent. He might go down as one of the best offensive defenseman in league history if he continues to play like he has in his career. You wouldn’t trade Larkin or Mantha for him? Shoot I would trade all of Larkin, Mantha and Nyquist for that guy. Nyquist and Tatar aren’t much more than secondary scorers and the jury is still out on Larkin and Mantha. They could be elite, they could end up like Nyquist and Tatar. But Karlsson is already established himself as the best of the best and he will be for at least another 10 years. This guy wouldn’t jist fix our defense, he would fix our offense too. Karlsson is younger than Nyquist and the same as Tatar’s age btw.

He does. He mentioned it in his interview when he first signed. Detroit suburbs are good if you have a family. I could see the younger guys being open to leaving for the bigger cities and warmer places though. For example Helm.

Excellent post. 100% agree. This is why they piss me off when it comes to Olympics and sports. They have major inferiority complex issues and have to cheat to be at even level with USA and China in Summer Olympics and Canada, USA, Norway for Winter Olympics. And somehow their performance translates to them being a "mightier" country. Wtf?

And it's unlike Babcock because Babs called out both Osgood (in 09 season) and Howard in 2014 and that just pissed both Osgood and Howard off even more and didn't really improve their performance at the time.

Because believe it or not, Blashill might not be a good enough NHL coach, he's still a smart human being that understands his players' personalities well. Howard would never react well to criticism like that. His personality doesn't fit that mold. Howard is the type of person you want to remind that you believe in him. The type of guy that himself comes out and says "I haven't been good". People that are simple minded (the media people you're talking about ) don't get that concept.

I am. I can switch from southpaw to orthodox in boxing. Still better at Southpaw though. And playing piano I guess since it requires both hands. TPBM thinks Todd Bertuzzi took too much flack for the Steve Moore incident

Yea Phaneuf was probably a different situation but just one other player who declined.

So do boys like us. Late 20s, 30 somethings that want bloodshed

And Phaneuf. But seriously, would your male ego want to stay in a place where your boss straight up tells you, “can you please ******* leave?” Not unless you have some good reasons and suck it up to stay. Like Frans Nielsen just having a new born like last year or whatever. I could see him saying no.

They’ll agree. Maybe not everyone but a few would. You really think someone would stay employed at a place where their boss doesn’t want them anymore? A lot of players waive their NTC/NMC. Fleury did it last season for example. He had no reason to really, he could have said no and stayed with Pitt and won possibly a third cup. No one in Detroit has even remotely that type of incentive to stay

My man Demon King.