Gniwder

I am arguing DPS got it wrong here if u hadnt figured that out. 
So what was all that about evans being defenseless and vulnerable? Had a few to many?
1. Yes, but cut off speed 35 ft prior to contact. Opposite of a charge.
2. Yes
3. No
4. No
5. No
6. Yes
s*** i think u can easily say no to half that BS. Are you honestly retarded or u just a big drinker up there?

Its ok he’ll feel the same pain when seider takes over

Son of a *****.  

Remember when u agreed to fight me in the parking lot of the dundee cabelas and then didnt show up?
U got me good bro. 

Completely disagree. A 1C's job is to generate points - a lot of points - and also to do that while dealing with often the toughest matchup trying to shut u down. If larks cant handle that responsibility hes not a true 1C.
Furthermore we've watched Larkins linemates excel and grow. Bertuzzi, Mantha (except this season) Fabbri, Zadina, and now Vrana. Yet Larkin regresses while they develop. So your theory about its just his weak ass linemates, isnt at all true. 
Larkin is an impressively fast, defensively capable, top 6 center. He does not possess the play making ability to ever be a true backbone 1C in this league. 
 

My two cents. Judging a guy's correct role on a team by the points he scores can be misleading. Especially when you're talking about the linemate/ice time effect. Remember when Ian White came to Detroit and immediately had a career best year because he was paired with Lidstrom? Sure looked like the expanded role and better partner upped his game. But did it really? Probably not. He was never a top pair defenseman, despite Lidstrom dragging him around the ice. His improved stats only obscured the fact that we now had a bum on our top pair and the team was worse off for it.
Same with Abdelkader riding shotgun with Datsyuk. Sure his stats improved, anybody's would have. But was the team better for having a 3-4th line tweener on the top line? Nope.
Whether or not Larkin scores 50, 60, or 70 pts., he's not the kind of player that drives play at both ends of the ice if his offense is reliant on his linemates. And that's the type of guy you probably don't call a 1C. Or rather, if it takes Bertuzzi and Mantha/Vrana to get Larkin to 70(ish) points then imagine how much a real playmaking center would score with them?
In an ideal situation you'd have a line with an offensively capable center, and offensively capable wingers, and that line would score a lot. And then a Bertuzzi-Larkin-??? line that scores at a solid, but unspectacular, rate and can match up with top lines. That creates a competitive advantage. Giving really great offensive opportunities to a line centered by Larkin is a bad idea if you've got better alternatives. 

In fact u should be excited when Yzerman drafts the #25 at 6. It means Mo Seider 2.0 incoming. 

I would throw Viro into that mix on the LHD side. IMO he's honestly our best D prospect outside of Seider and Johansson. McIsaac and possibly Wallinder should be in there too. I'm really not as high on Tuomisto as many folks are. I'd list Viro, Wallinder, and McIsaac ahead of him.
At forward you're missing Smith and Pearson. Both look like NHLers to me.
Petruzelli should be considered at goalie. His time is approaching.
 
 
 
We need superstars at any position. That's the hole. Maybe less so D cause of Seider.

Exactly. And also exactly why basing suspension on injury is the most moronic thing the league has ever done.
Clean legal hit? Too bad - Evans got hurt from the ensuing incidental head bonks. Now your clean hit is considered dirty and you must sit 4 games.
This league is approaching total clown-world real quick.
If you want to make that Scheifele hit illegal, great. Change the rules to make it so. But to pretend that hit was egregious under the current rules is more laughable than the leafs franchise still claiming it was their cup year.
And I'm honestly shocked how many folks agree with the league here. Big hit hockey is dead. If this is the reaction to this hit then we're going to be going by women's rules sooner than I could've even imagined (not hyperbole).

We wouldn’t be talking about the hit or the suspension had Evans not gotten injured.

I like that Edvinsson does MMA. So alpha.

The whistle had not blown, Schiefele had stopped his strides 15' prior to impact, and the hit was shoulder to chest.  The proof that this play was very arguably clean is the official at the goal line keeping his hand down.  If it was egregious, the arm would have gone up immediately.

This team needs to be big and bad like Scheifele

Exactly why it's even a questionable charging call. He was doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing, and it was a weird rare play that ended in a collision. Not an intentional charging play where a player unnecessarily skates down from the blue line to deliver a hit in the corner.
How? Roughing is for on ice altercations, not hits during a play.
What's the personal foul? Delivering a hit to player with the puck?
Defenseless? How? He's square on to Evans. Not Scheifele's fault Evans not watching the defenders. And where is this all coming from that players need to hold back on hits and attempt to lessen impacts? That's not a thing.
The puck crosses the goal line about 0.5 second before Scheifele makes contact with Evans. This bit about it "it was going in anyway" is pure malarchy. A half second sooner and the goal may not even happen without a poke play.
 

This team needs to be big and bad like Scheifele

Watch the ref on the goal line.  He doesnt even put his arm in the air.  That's how clean that hit was.  Big guy knocking down a small guy who put his head down and forgot he was playing a contact sport.  I am not a big Sean Avery fan, but he has the correct take here.  This isnt Scott Stevens taking elbow shots at heads or Ulf Sammuelsson sticking legs out to wreck ACL's.  The is Evans forgetting he is playing a playoff game in the NHL and getting trucked by an opponent who was playing until the whistle.  Shoulder to chest.  Whamo.  The injury sucks, but you better keep your head up and on a swivel if you are gonna play hockey.  It's not curling.

Apparently, he has no disciplinary history. I would agree that a 4 game suspension is excessive.

How I have missed this

Gimme a 2nd round pick for him? Yes. Take him on without any compensation? No.

Mikko Lehtonen.
27 year old, 6'0" 200lb LHD. Top KHL Dman for two years in a row prior to this covid season. Lured to the NHL this year by the Leafs, then traded to CBJ. Leafs no longer needed him once Dermott emerged and Lehtonen wanted to play somewhere. Keefe also complained he wasn't assertive enough away from the puck.
Fast and a gifted puck mover.
The type of stealth pickup that could be really great and inexpensive for our left side and powerplay. After this first year of adjustment to NA ice I can see him doing much better in a more normal year next year. 6 pts in 26 games so far. Was PPG in the KHL.

Man people are gonna be that upset when larkin gets eventually dealt and seider gets named captain huh . Fun times ahead

Sam Reinhart Jack Eichel Evgeny Kuznetsov Nolan Patrick Johnny Gaudreau Sean Monahan Canucks looking to aggressively trade (Jim Benning the master of being fleeced) Lots of big name centers possibly getting moved this offseason. Could be the year to move on one. Especially with the flat cap and revenue downturn this year. Teams may be more desperate to move pieces than in the past...
 
 

A conversation with @Akakabuto and @marcaractac has completely reversed my thinking on the Staal brothers. I will no longer shill for those aging has-beens. Both are nearing retirement and uselessness and our roster doesn't need to rely on players like that.
If Marc Staal wasn't here, I would have no interest in Eric. If NYR didn't pay us to take Marc last season I would have no interest in Marc.
Vrana - Larkin - Bertuzzi
Fabbri - Rasmussen - Zadina
Erne - Namestnikov - Glendening
Smith - Veleno - Panik
Svechnikov
Cole - Seider
Oleksiak - Hronek
Oesterle - Lindstrom
Cholowski/Dekeyser
Cole = $4 x 2
Oleksiak = $3 x 4
Oesterle = $2 x 2
 
 

If a situation arises where Raymond makes the team, putting us over the 23 man limit, just waive Panik/Svech/Lindstrom/Dekeyser. No one is claiming those fools.

A conversation with @Akakabuto and @marcaractac has completely reversed my thinking on the Staal brothers. I will no longer shill for those aging has-beens. Both are nearing retirement and uselessness and our roster doesn't need to rely on players like that.
If Marc Staal wasn't here, I would have no interest in Eric. If NYR didn't pay us to take Marc last season I would have no interest in Marc.
Vrana - Larkin - Bertuzzi
Fabbri - Rasmussen - Zadina
Erne - Namestnikov - Glendening
Smith - Veleno - Panik
Svechnikov
Cole - Seider
Oleksiak - Hronek
Oesterle - Lindstrom
Cholowski/Dekeyser
Cole = $4 x 2
Oleksiak = $3 x 4
Oesterle = $2 x 2