LeftWinger

I'm still baffled on how Knights were able to fleece Anaheim into trading them Theodore in the expansion draft. Welcome to Detroit Karlsson.

3-0! Good for Columbus, they were buyers at the deadline and need this. Tampa learning 62 wins (asterisk) mean nothing.

Good for the isles, I picked them as my eastern conference team. Plus, f*** the pens.

So, no Hughes or Kakko, lets say Cozens and Byram are also gone, do you draft a D man that high that "might" be a top 4 guy, do you draft another C that won't be here for awhile (especially since you already have Veleno coming soon) or do you deal the #6 pick away? Would you trade the #6 pick and a player/prospect (Helm & Svech maybe) to WPG for Trouba and their 1st? I guess for WPG to want to make that deal they'd have to fail miserably in the playoffs. But honestly they are probably going to have hard time with Trouba again, so maybe they'd welcome the #6 pick for him. It's just valuing their 1st that depends on what to add to the package. Helms NTC is void until the start of the season due to the clause that the Wings failed to make the playoffs, I happened to think Helm and Svech would be worth a late round 1st, but I really don't know for sure. Anyhow, for me, if Byram or Cozens are both gone, that's what I would do. to WPG: #6 Pick, NHL Player, Prospect to DET: Jacob Trouba, 2019 1st round pick (TBD) Not enough to WPG? What do you think?

I think the top 3 picks will be: Hughes, Kakko, Podkolzin, so that leaves both Cozens and Byram, but lets hope 4 and 5 don't take them. I don't know too much about Turcotte. I actually don't know too much about the rest either. Haven't kept up like I use to do. But I trust TSN and their top 10, they say, all are NHL players, so I guess we'll see who we get. Here is Craig Button's post-lottery picks up to us. He and I agree on the top 3, honest I didn't look at it before I typed above! Considering the 2 extra 2nd rounds picks are way back there (pending eliminations) I am hoping we can snag a diamond with our 2nd. I usually don't prefer the shorter forwards, but if Cole Caufield fell to us in the 2nd, that would be a nice pick! Right now he is ranked #16. I hear a ton a nice things about him!

With losing the lottery, this is the 1st year in a long time that I really don't care who they take, I;m sure anyone we take will be at least 2 years away anyhow. But if I had to choose: D - Byram F - Cozens I know, bold picks! So, that being said now, it's guaranteed Holland won't take either.

Can't say it much better than this. There is NO reason why a team that just missed the playoffs should be drafting ahead of teams that have struggled and lost all year and were out of the playoffs since before the TDL. Not unless they've traded for that pick of course. In the same breath, you can't keep rewarding the same teams over and over.

Until they killed Kurt Cobain. WHAT!?!?!

Great post, thanks for sharing!

Exactly. 3 out of 6 Cups less than 10 years ago disqualifies any sense of having a top 3 pick in the draft. Same with picking 1st already within 5 years.

The NHL provides the franchise player, that player plays like a franchise player, he can't help the team build around him, can't sign UFA'S or hire coaches. Said player sells tickets and merch. Uncle Gary does not care about if the team wins, he cares about having reasons for fans to spend money. Detroit has one of the largest fan bases in the NHL, he feels they don't need a #1 pick to make money. It's all about money and that's why the lottery is rigged. I'm not so mad that we dropped as I am of 2 of the 3 teams that won.

I totally agree. We've put up with THREE pie-hole season's for what? None of Rasmussen, Zadina nor whomever we take this year are franchise, generational players, so we get a pretty good prospect at 6 this season and maybe we see him in a few years. Meanwhile, if Holland doesn't make any trades, buyouts or UFA signing's (from outside the organization) we will be looking at the same BS for another year. Then for 6-8 months we'll all be riding the tank wave (again) hoping that yet another dumpster season will reward our fans with something. Like I said, this lottery is BS, Chicago barely off 3 Cups in 6 years should not even be in the top 10, let alone #3. Devils just picked First two season's ago, they should be disqualified from winning another #1. Rags and Kings I am fine with, but those other 2 should not be allowed up that high. Ottawa? They should be out of the league, but that is another story.

Well the lottery screw job changes everything. Once again... So, I guess we forget trades, UFA's, may as well just keep the same team with the healthy vets. I cannot sit through yet another dump-hole season just to hope for a top pick again. Whoever we pick at 6 is not going to make the team out of camp. I am 100% convinced that E and Daley will NOT be bought out,so they'll be here, along with Green, and Kronwall will get his year (this doesn't bother me) and We'll see Hronek in GR most the season again. I am so tired of waiting for an injury to see a more deserving player in Detroit. Sorry, I am just shaking my head at that lottery, I'll have to come back after a bit so I can look at it more objectively...damn.

I am very mad.

Let's hope you're right.

Rigged. Chicago just recently won 3 Cups in 6 years, there is no way they should be anywhere near a top 5 pick, let alone #3. I knew Wings would get screwed. But I guess Dach or Cozens should be there maybe...

NM

I'd love to see Ericsson and Daley bought out. I'd love to see one of Nielsen or Helm traded somewhere. I'd love to sign Karlsson and Skinner (Nyquist secondary) on July 1. Of course I'd love to get a top 4 pick and get one of Hughes, Cozens, Dach, Kakko. I'm ok with signing Kronwall for a year if he wants, either way, meh. I'd rather have him than Ericsson. If we kept Daley and bought out Green that'd be ok too. As long as we make room for Karlsson and Hronek full time. That being said, I am sure we won't be making many splashes, but that's ok, as long as the kids continue to dominate the vets and our D has Hronek on it. Also, IMO, BOTH Cholowski and Rasmussen need to spend at least 1 year in GR. edit: Honestly, if we bought out those two and traded Neilsen, add to that the LTIR of Z and Franzen, we could give Karlsson $12M, Skinner $10M and Nyquist his $5.5M he wanted. I'm going by the rumored $85M cap next year too, so that could change a lot. But here is what I did: ...this would be nice. I think if we did this, we could be a pretty solid playoff team.

Hughes, Kakko, Cozens, Dach, Byram...if we end up in top 5, we are looking very good!

Here is the simulator: I am ok with this. Here is the prediction! Philly drafts Kakko, Vancouver BEGS us to not draft Hughes, the want to unite the brothers, we swap 1sts, draft next BPA, in exchange they send us their 2019 2nd, 2020 1st and Jett Woo. Or Philly just drafts Hughes and we get Kakko, or vice versa. That being said, most of the sims I did had us dropping out of the top 5 and Philly or Montreal moving in to the top 3. I ran it about 20 times and more times than not they jumped into the top 3. Either the program is just random, or this is going to be some big BS tonight!

and this would be awesome! Let's hope it happens, or he steps in to our organization early!

I'm sure Yzerman is not hurting financially, but his bills, lifestyle, quality of life is fat different than any of yours. You cannot look at his salary and compare it to your life. Money ca not stop coming in whoever it is. Bills, taxes, etc...no matter his past earnings, he isn't going to remove money from savings, investment accounts, etc...to wait for Holland. I have plenty of money in my 401k that would allow me to take a year off, but do I want to withdraw the $70,000 estimated it would take to "live" for a year without income? We don't know what kind of money he needs live per year. His normal expenses per year might top $5M, you just don't know. I'm sure he would prefer not to have to go without pay just because Holland regards himself as the 2nd coming when it pertains to the Wings.

I have a weird feeling that this off season is going to be majorly disappointing. Yzerman cannot go without a pay check for a year, so unless Holland or Jimmy D plan to not be here next season, I'm betting Yzerman gets hired elsewhere. Lottery is today, let's all cross our fingers that this starts the off season in a great direction.

Islanders.

So you win #1, do you draft Hughes or see how bad the #2 team wants him, make a deal for a young prospect to not draft him and take Kakko? IMO, the #2 team has it easy, either way you're getting an NHL ready impact player, it's the #1 team that has the tough choice to make...