Dabura

Nah, they were just going on the standings at the time.

I think conditioning stints like this are allowed.

I remember Malkin getting away with spearing someone (harpoon, whales and stuff etc.) I'm probably misremembering things tho. I know he went after someone and should've been suspended, but it's all a bit fuzzy. I've spent many years trying to forget the '09 SCF.

Don't forget Evgeni Malkin's brilliant turn as Captain Ahab! Actually, was it a spear or just the punches? I don't even remember. Ahab or Rocky, same s***.

I think what I like best about the lack of hockey in late Janurary is how it's cold as s*** outside and people are staying inside at night and there's no football and there's no hockey. Really wooing those target demographic groups.

A classic, for sure. Can't believe it didn't win Best Picture.

That too.

I'm guessing GMs are waiting for that Columbus domino to fall.

https://www.nhl.com/redwings/schedule/2019-02-01/ET this seems fine

Didn't Matthews also play his first game back from injury against us? And Oshie? -__- Yes. The difference is that everyone hates the Leafs as a matter of principle. No one actually roots for the Leafs. Not even their fans. Wings were hated because they put their money where their mouths were and won Cups and were consistently elite over a very long period of time. Leafs ain't won s***.

I hope they're out in the first round and I hope some GM does the right thing and tries to destroy their cap situation with a predatory offer sheet.

Yuuuuuuup. And guess who Muzzin makes his Leafs debut against.

To be fair, I think they were just going on what the standings were at the time. Put me in, coach! I'm ready to be a pundit!

Sorry for the delay. Real life has been hectic this week. BUT IT'S OK NOW! I'M BACK TO SATIATE YOUR RAVENOUS HUNGER FOR HACKFRAUD AMATEUR SCOUTING REPORTS! yayyyy I think I'ma devote full posts to single players. Last time it was Kakko, this time it's Podkolzin, next time it'll be Cozens, and so on. Right. So. Vasili Podkolzin. It's fair to say Podkolzin has emerged as the midseason consensus #3... Bob Mckenzie ranks him third, based on a ten-scout survey Craig Button ranks him third Adam Kimelman, Mike G. Morreale, and Guillaume Lepage rank him third (or they simply believe the Kings should take him if they get the #3 pick) Central Scouting ranks him second among international skaters, behind only Kakko Do I think this level of HYPE! is justified? I don't think there's truly a clear-cut #3 guy at this point in time, so, in that sense, I would say the Podkolzin HYPE! is a bit much. I think he'd be a good pick at 3rd overall. I just don't feel he, or anyone else, should be considered THE #3 guy right now. But make no mistake: there's a whole lot to love about Podkolzin. Like Kakko, he's an all-around scoring winger with enormous upside. Lethal shooter from as far out as the tops of the circles, like Zadina. Willing to get dirty and crash the net, like Bertuzzi. Sophisticated, deliberate playmaker, like Larkin. Has a motor that's always going at 100%, like Larkin. Is a natural leader who leads by example, like Larkin. Plays in all situations and is leaned on in critical moments, like Larkin. Is committed to being a good all-around player, like Larkin. Ultra-competitive, will put everything he has into getting the job done, like Larkin. Very strong on his skates, like Larkin. Heavy on the puck and knows how to "lean on" guys in a checking context, like Zetterberg. What really stands out to me is how mature his game is. It's hard to explain, but when I watch him...he almost looks like a pro player trapped in a kid's body. He plays a smart man's game. He's the kind of player Mike Babcock adores: all the skill in the world plus a blue-collar ethos. He's not really what you'd call an elite two-way player, but I think he has the potential to be a Delta Force Swiss Army Knife Ninja Jedi Operator who can be counted on to do a ton of heavy lifting and consistently win power-versus-power matchups. My only concern lies with the skating. It's not bad, but he needs to generate more power in his strides and in his first steps. If he's to continue playing an effective Larkin-esque game at higher levels, he has to get more out of his legs, IMO. tl;dr Not sure I'd take him 3rd overall (especially if I'm the Wings), but, all things considered, he's as tantalizing as anyone not named Hughes or Kakko.

Personally, I'm 100% sold on Kakko being THE #2 guy. One of the key reasons Kotkaniemi was so attractive is that he performed well against men in the Finnish Elite League (SM-liiga, "Liiga" for short), the top Finnish pro league. Another key reason: he stood out at the WJC. 10 goals and 29 points through 57 Liiga games (2017-18) 3 goals and 9 points through 7 WJC games (2018) Remember all the HYPE! surrounding Patrick Laine? Same deal: 17 goals and 33 points through 46 Liiga games (2015-16) 7 goals and 13 points through 7 WJC games (2016) Jesse Puljujarvi: 13 goals and 28 points through 50 Liiga games (2015-16) 5 goals and 17 points through 7 WJC games (2016) Mikko Rantanen: 9 goals and 28 points through 56 Liiga games (2014-15) 2 goals and 5 points through 7 WJC games (2015) Aleksander Barkov: 21 goals and 48 points through 53 Liiga games (2012-13) 3 goals and 7 points through 6 WJC games (2013) Mikael Granlund: 13 goals and 40 points through 43 Liiga games (2009-10) 1 goal and 7 points through 6 WJC games (2010) So that gives us some perspective. If you're surpassing or even merely flirting with 30 points in the Liiga as a 17-18 year old and your name isn't Jesse Puljujarvi, your floor is probably high and your ceiling is wayyy up there. (Barkov is arguably the best two-way pivot in the NHL. Laine, Rantanen, and Granlund are big-time scorers.) That being said, here are Kakko's numbers: 11 goals and 22 points through 29 Liiga games (2018-19) 2 goals and 5 points through 7 WJC games (2019) My thoughts on Kakko, beyond just the production? I think he's pretty close to perfect. He's elite in nearly every meaningful category and he doesn't have any meaningful shortcomings. He's the Platonic ideal of the modern-day power-forward made flesh. The total package. If Jack Hughes is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers, Kakko is crushing everyone at checkers. Is he better than Kotkaniemi was at this time last year? I think so, yes. Kotkaniemi is maybe more valuable because he's a centerman's center (Kakko's a natural winger who plays center sometimes). Beyond that, I think Kakko has him beat in pretty much every way. The biggest thing is the skating; Kakko is an outstanding skater, which gives him a dimension that Kotkaniemi lacks. If Kotkaniemi skated like Kakko, Kotkaniemi might've been drafted 2nd overall. I'd say Kakko is more similar to Svechnikov; they're both ultra-projectable all-around scoring wingers. I think Kakko is a little more tantalizing than Svechnikov was at this time last year, as Kakko is excelling in a tough pro league (Svechnikov was dominating the OHL) and Kakko arguably delivered the more impressive WJC performance (Svechnikov registered no goals and 5 assists through 5 games at the 2018 tournament). tl;dr Kaapo Kakko is the real deal. I'll follow this up with some thoughts on Podkolzin and Cozens. Have to head out for a bit.

Hughes unanimous No. 1 in look at first round of 2019 Draft [NHL.com]

We must rebuild.

This is an example of what I'm talking about: Can someone explain why Dennis Cholowski is a healthy scratch? [Wings Nation] The author acknowledges that sitting a young player can help that player, but the main thrust of the argument is "Cholowski is way better than Ericsson and he needs to be playing every night because that's what's best for his development and the team. Look at these numbers. Cholowski is better than Ericsson. This is outrageous." IMO, it's focusing too hard on the numbers.

Right, which is why I said I don't have a problem with the stats themselves. The Cholowski-over-Ericsson argument can be a winning argument based on empirical data, but there's a reality beyond pure numbers. Maybe Blashill will sit Cholowski and not Ericsson because it's smart to give a rookie a break every now and then. Maybe when people say there's no reason why Cholowski should be sitting instead of Ericsson, they should also point out that Cholowski's underlying numbers suggest he's been struggling. I'm expressing frustration that's been building for a couple of years now. I'm seeing more and more people becoming intellectually lazy and/or dishonest in the way they value and employ these stats. That's just my experience, though. To be clear: I'm not trying to slag the many people who do good, honest, important work with analytics. Agreed. Point was, basically, we seem to have a system that more or less gets the job done in the D zone. If you cycle in new blood that can 1) play this system effectively and 2) provide better puck movement and other contributions on offense, that might (*might*) be all we need. In that sense, I agree with you that our defense isn't necessarily the disaster that it's generally understood to be and we might not need a Victor Hedman type. Hell, every time we lose a close game I wonder where this team would be if it had a dependable power play.

Literally who?

(Note: None of the following is really directed at you, it's just a rambly anecdotal response that kind of fits with the stuff we're talking about.) I was big into advanced stats for a few years. They led me to totally re-evaluate my understanding of the game, made me believe that so much of what so many people say is underinformed bulls***. That NHL coaches get so much wrong. That scouts get so much wrong. That general managers get so much wrong. That pundits and talking heads are, in fact, professional fools. That the exalted have been rendered obsolescent by the analytics revolution and its keen insights. Lately, I find myself becoming increasingly disillusioned with analytics. It's not really the stats themselves, it's more the way I see them being (mis)used by a lot of people. I find they inspire intellectual laziness in a lot of people who rail against decidedly "old-school" hockey people for being closeminded -- and I find the irony delicious. "Ericsson should be sitting instead of Cholowski because look at their HERO charts." "Blashill mistakenly believes scoring chances are more important and revealing than shots-on-goal and shot attempts and this is just more proof that the Wings are out of touch and behind the curve." I see people make these cases. I myself have made similar arguments. It's cringey. Weirdly, it's actually our D corps and their performance this season that has me questioning my convictions (souring on the analytics community) and thinking our D situation might not be so bad. We don't win many games, but our broken-ass defense generally plays well enough to give us a chance to win every night. We allow a lot of goals, but so many of our losses are one-goal squeakers. We allow a lot of shots, but I think Blashill might really be on to something with his strategy of playing extremely deep in the D-zone and conceding the perimeter to the opposition as an acceptable price for focusing more intently on clogging the high-danger areas. Maybe we're not doing an especially good job of limiting high-danger chances, but the logic behind what Blashill's trying to do makes sense. If we can assemble a D group that's a bit more mobile and a bit more offensively capable and is able to play this kind of zone D a bit better, we might have something.

For me, it's someone who can reasonably be considered one of the ten best defensemen in the league (e.g. Keith in his prime, Doughty) or someone who's managing to put himself in that conversation with an amazing season or two (e.g. Carlson last season). A "franchise player," or something close to it. Labels can be dumb, but I'd wager most people are thinking of roughly the same player when they talk about how badly their team needs That Guy.

I would roughly define a 1A defenseman as a Norris-caliber bus driver and I would say it's brutally difficult to win a Cup without a guy like that -- unless, perhaps, you have Crosby & Malkin at center and/or unreal goaltending. I'm all for being optimistic about our defense and I'm open to the possibility that we already have all the components of a future Cup-winning defense, but at this point it's speculation. Lindstrom hasn't played a single NHL game. McIsaac hasn't played a single NHL game. Cholowski and Hronek have performed pretty well as rookies, but it's early days. If the situation at center looks better at the moment, it's because we have a proven 1C in Larkin and a solid prospect in Veleno and we'll probably be adding a high-end pivot in the upcoming draft. Realistically, if winning Cups is the goal, the centers we currently have in the system probably won't be enough and the defensemen we currently have in the system probably won't be enough. If I had the choice between adding a powerhouse centerman or a powerhouse defenseman, I'd *probably* go with the centerman and hope that our outstanding center depth cancels out any shortcomings we might have on the blue line. Ideally, we get both the C and the D. Though, even then, we're probably still at least one key piece away from being as good as the 2018-19 Lightning.

We need all the things. And even when/if we get all the things, that probably won't be enough and we'll have to get more things. Winning Cups is hard.