Dabura

Agreed. Eh, I dunno. While Bertuzzi is indisputably a very solid NHLer and indisputably one of our better players, he's not your typical Very Solid 26-Year-Old in Need of a New Contract case. Consider: > He has 2.5 NHL seasons under his belt. That's a small body of work, a small sample size. > His season point totals: 24 (48 GP), 47 (73 GP), 48 (71 GP). Not good enough to render the aforementioned sample size consideration moot. > He missed pretty much the whole 2020-21 season because of an injury. While he did put up an impressive 5 goals and 7 points through the 9 games he played, his even-strength zone starts split was OZ-60.3/DZ-39.7 and his shooting percentage (25%) was unsustainable. > He's coming off back surgery. Point being: Bertuzzi didn't necessarily have a particularly strong case for anything more than a show-me contract. Even if he did, I'm sure he understood that trying to twist Yzerman's arm by sitting out would not be a smart play, as 1) everyone knows an RFA will get zero concessions from Yzerman in a holdout war, and 2) if he wants that big next contract, whether it's with the Wings or a different organization, he really can't afford to be sitting out. In any case, Bertuzzi's days as a Wing probably are numbered. I dunno that it's as sure a thing as some people here are making it out to be. But, yeah, it's probably where we're headed.

Witkowski is Best Luke, confirmed.

I'm expecting the center situation to be extremely fluid.

HYPE!

So, anecdotally... ~60% of the Chicago fan takes I've seen = "WTF. No. Dude can play. Good center. We should've kept him." His shooting percentage (12.5) may (not) be sustainable. He wasn't great on faceoffs this past season (42.6%). His possession stats aren't particularly good. But, all things considered, this is a low-risk, high-reward signing. I like it.

Prob'ly not, but he did put up some points this past season.

Nailed it.

The author's problem is it's SB Nation, which is Vox, which is cancer.

Where was this zero-f***-given alpha mullet man in 1996 when we were getting spanked by the Avs???

I dunno what Werenski's situation is; I've heard, like, nine different takes about why he will or won't be a UFA and will or won't bend the BJs over a barrel and blah blah blah. If we're talking full value, I figure Kekalainen's preference would be a hockey trade. Which would mean Larkin. If we're talking a full-value package...well, looking at the big trades that went down last week, we'd probably be competing with s*** like Alex Turcotte + Tobias Bjornfot + LA's 2023 1st. Because cocaine. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This. Like I was saying last night: Having Hronek, Seider, and Edvinsson means the "draft, draft, draft" chapter of the D rebuild is basically over. (Knock on wood.) I mean, we're still gonna draft defensemen. But we now have two kids with legit 1D potential and a proven scoring defenseman in Hronek. Now we can allow ourselves to think about adding a big-name guy like Werenski.

Right. Just sayin'. If we accept that top defensemen are generally harder to get, it makes sense to load up on D. Though, I dunno that this is an actual pre-planned strategy we're seeing play out. We probably just like these defensemen we took more than we like the other options. The hockey blogger intelligentsia set is salty over this pick, which makes me like it even more.

I think it's worth noting that, coming into this draft, our D pipeline wasn't all that great; outside of Seider, it was a bunch of maybes. McIsaac can't stay healthy. Tuomisto is a question mark. Wallinder is a question mark. Johansson should be playing in GR next season, but instead he's playing in Sweden, which could be a sign of tension between him and the org (probably not, though). This Buium kid is another question mark, but with drafting defensemen being a crapshoot, we're improving our gem odds.

#Winning

That, or we spend the surplus depth on forward acquisitions. Win-win.

I don't know anything about this player. People are always going on about how Yzerman found gems outside the 1st round when he was in Tampa. Clearly he's thinking this kid could be a gem. (Or, at the very least, he's high enough on him that he didn't want to risk losing him.) That has me pretty pumped.

We're in an arms race with Seattle!

Yzermadman is at it again.

Yeah, McKenzie's one of the reasons why this pick shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. I might be misremembering, but I think he had him as high as #2 at one point...? And, for anyone who doesn't know, McKenzie's lists are based solely on where his scout contacts have these players ranked – so, Edvinsson's very much been on actual NHL people's radars for a while now.

Yzerdog

Taking defensemen with prime picks is actually the one area where I'm not so sold on Yzerman, given his iffy record on that front when he was in Tampa. But, yeah, this isn't one of those picks that makes you scratch your head and wonder what they were thinking. Edvinsson was definitely going in the top 10. More than a few people felt he was worth taking in the top 5.

Honestly, I think it's just that they feel he's that good. Dude's been crazy-dominant at the CHL level. Everyone seems to believe 1) his strengths will translate to success at higher levels and 2) there aren't any notable downsides to his game. Also, everyone says his work ethic is off-the-charts. I can't say why that makes him better than Wallstedt in the front office's eyes, but I've got zero remorse about us not taking Wallstedt. Seems like a stud.