ChristopherReevesLegs

I've still got hopes for Paterson, but yeah unfortunately our goalie prospects look like Machoman right now

Those Sudbury Suds

Somewhat surprised by everyones reaction. He's going to the NHLPA, not Dallas. His contract was up at the end of the month anyway, if he didn't want to re-up with us there's not much we can do about that. Wasn't he in a very limited role anyway?? As much as I love Chelly, this isn't a significant blow to the organization in any way.

I'd like to see these graphs with games played, minutes played, and points scored factored in on the player side, and in the first round height of draft selection factored in. Obviously that's a lot of work though and I'm not gonna do it.

No I meant Dylan Sadowy

Big D Dylan is gonna carry our young ones to the Calder Cup

Ill go by my drunk system and say 10 to 5

It does disspell the "Wings pull gems late in the draft" narrative. I think it persists because we pulled two legit superstars late and in succession. Combined with drafting a lot role players in the middle rounds.

Remember how much crap Holland took when we drafted Bertuzzi? Kid oozes confidence

Martin Frk

We do a very good job finding good players in rounds 2 - 4 San Jose is extremely good at picking in rounds 5 - 7 St. Louis does the best at selecting in the first round. Arizona is god awful at drafting across the board. My only problem with this graph is the first round should take into account what number pick you have. It doesn't, and this skews a lot of the data, making teams like Detroit, who always had low picks, appear worse than they are in the 1st round.

Perhaps we should select this Valimaki kid. He's 204 lbs! Certainly a whole different beast than either Patrick or Vilardi

200 lbs? Wowzers. Patrick is definitely the heavier and therefore better player. I always said the Leafs f'ed up taking Mitch Marner. Should've taken 206 lb Paul Bittner when they had the chance. Suckers.

Yeah I see your point. I don't think Butts see Tippett like one would see... say Larkin or McDavid. Tipps is fast... but not that fast. And guys like Larkin and McDavid are extremely creative and versatile, whereas (as Craig would argue) Tippet is not. He leans heavily on the rush in order to score. When in the zone he does not cycle the puck well, or even try to cycle it at all. He almost always tries to move the puck to the center of the ice, or as one might call it a scoring zone. Problem with this is it apparently results in Tippett taking a high volume of low percentage shots, which often results in a turnover. So I think in Button's mind Tippet has mastered one way to play, and that's it. And all its going to take from NHL teams is to anticipate his game and shut it and him down. In my mind this is what makes speedy guys like Larkin and McD so dangerous. You cannot anticipate what theyre going to do. Time will tell if Button is correct or not. Who knows, maybe Tippetts NHL coach can teach him to adjust his game effectively. Button said the same thing about Virtanen in his draft year, and has been mostly right so far. I don't swear by Craig Button or anything though.

Did some investigating on Button/Tippett Note: Craigs list is not a mock draft, but his own personal feelings on the ranks of these players. He actually projects that Tippett goes 6th to Carolina. He ranks Tippett at 20th because he does not feel Tippetts game will translate well to the NHL. According to him, Tippett is a very one-dimensional player who heavily relies on his explosive speed to score on the rush and defeat defenders one-on-one. Button feels that in the NHL, where defenders are much more defensively disciplined, Tippett will effectively lose this aspect of his game, which is essentially all of his offensive game. Specifically, Tippett isn't very good cycling the puck in the zone.

Pettersson invited to visit Vancouver for an extra interview. Looks they may be leaning towards taking him at 5.

Rasmussen is a dumpster fire on skates

True, I didn't notice the age gap

Big, RH, offensive D-man. I heckin hate the Hawks.

Hischier is 6'1" 176 lbs as an 18 year old and already plays in North America.... (but yes he is born in Europe, so he is naturally inferior) Agreed. I'd like to see some other post-combine mock drafts to compare where he's ranked.

Button has Poehling, Joseph, Tolvanen, Andersson, Chytil, and Lipanov all above Tippett. I've never even heard of these guys. I'm sure I do not follow the draft as closely as you, but I think that fact is quite telling. The lackluster combine performance doesn't help either. Drafting Tippett at #9 doesn't mean we get Phil Kessell, just like drafting Pettersson at #9 doesn't mean we get Henrik Zetterberg. They're style of play comparisons. That's it. I would be happy to have Tippett, I think he's a great player, but I'm not in favor of using the 9th pick on a guy ranked at 23.

Tippett would be a dumpster fire of a pick at #9

I'm hoping Pettersson drops to us at 9. Button compares him Zetterberg, which obviously helps for a Wings fan, but the thing everyone keeps hammering home about this kid is how offensively creative he is. I like this. I want this. I would not be unhappy with Liljegren, Necas, or Suzuki though. Tippett must have had a pretty poor showing at the combine to drop that far so late. Anyone following the combine care to comment?