Dabura

I dunno, maybe I'm overthinking this.

I guess I've just been conditioned to accept that if you want to acquire a good young defenseman in a trade, you'd better be prepared to offer up a pound of flesh. In our case, I'm guessing that would mean Mantha or Athanasiou, as they're the best non-Larkin trade chips on our roster and everyone knows the 'canes are (always) looking for top-six scoring forwards. Would I move Mantha or Athanasiou for Hamilton in a 1-for-1 swap? Maybe, maybe not. Tough call. If, by some miracle, the 'canes decide they're ok with selling low on Hamilton and the ask is, like, Hronek/Rasmussen + 2nd? I probably take that action. But do they pivot so soon from "Hanifin for Hamilton is a good trade" to "Mistakes were made. Hamilton can be yours for a couple futures"? I mean, Tom Dundon appears to be one of those "unconventional" GMs, so maybe that's exactly what's going on. Wouldn't count on it, though. Also worth considering: Hamilton has two seasons left on his contract (next season and the season after that), and I believe he'll be UFA-eligible in the final year (2021). Barring lottery luck and/or a series of aggressive "outside-the-box" moves, I have a hard time seeing the team becoming super-competitive within the next two years and I don't know that Hamilton would be with us beyond that time frame. That's why I said I would feel a lot better about trading for Hamilton if I felt like it was part of an ambitious plan to accelerate the rebuild timeline. If we're trading for Hamilton with the expectation that he's singlehandedly going to be a major agent of change for this organization over the next two seasons, i.e. the dreaded "My name is Ken Holland and I finally made a hockey trade, now get off my lawn and leave me alone" scenario, maybe we're better off not trading for Hamilton -- or anyone comparable -- at this time.

I'm inclined to agree. On the other hand, it could have the opposite effect, because of teams feeling they need to keep up with the Joneses.

Pick a side! We're at war, damn it!

And even if we somehow could get jobbed out of 1st, Kakko would be quite a nice consolation prize.

Jack Hughes! First one looked like a no-look, faking the pass the whole time. Hot.

Points update: Athanasiou (2G) - 17 goals and 27 points thru 39 games Nyquist (1A) - 10 goals 37 points thru 45 games

Game over. Wings lose 2-3. Larkin not happy with that final sequence.

KRONWALL'D! 2-for-1 -- Gallagher and the ref!

I do not like that PP unit. I really, really do not like that PP unit.

I'll do it right now! Time for some Choloics!

Tats to the box. Crucial PP coming up.

Wings smell blood in the water. Hopefully it's not theirs. I don't think we've had a hat trick this season. Or have we? hmm. Definitely hoping for an AA hatty. Agreed re: Jensen. Quietly solid.

Athanasiou (17) PPG from Mantha (6) and Nyquist (27) - MTL 3, DET 2

These extended homestands are killers. Was the same way last year. Refs hate us, what can I say. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

STOP FORCING PASSES! BAD! WE DON'T DO THAT IN THE HOUSE! WE DO THAT OUTSIDE!

booooo

HYPE! LGRW!

Don't even get me started, lol.

End of 2nd. Wings trail 1-2. Wings were the better team in that period. I like that they pushed back when they went down by two goals. Lots of small acts of stupidity are adding up to hurt us. Gotta clean it up and go for the jugular. No screwing around. He's pissing me off, not gonna lie. This is why I complain about a lack of accountability with this team.

I'm not drinking tonight, maybe that's why.

lol how did I not notice the "pit of misery" until now?

I'M NOT BLOWIN' IT, LET'S GO PP

Bert hurt by Mantha bomb. Bert back on the ice.