Dabura

He's been a good soldier and he's been paid well for his service. Time to close the book next year, whether it's at the trade deadline or in the offseason. I'm tired of two-year veteran retirement tours.

Gut check time: How much do we like Cholowski? Because... ...I'm feeling like he's probably not part of our future. While he did pretty well in his latest stint, I'm still not convinced he isn't a Jakub Kindl. Here's Kulikov: He's been a low-key revelation this season – and it's carried across three teams, which is at the very least interesting. Solid CF% and solid CF% rel despite brutal zone start splits = good two-way hockey. Stecher's somewhat similar: So...yeah. Maybe Cholowski gets dealt this summer. Or maybe we don't protect him in the expansion draft and he gets claimed. (Unlikely.) I dunno. Of course, Kulikov probably gets way overpaid, which means this is all probably moot. [shrug]

My dudes, here's the top 10 pool (give or take) + the goalie: Beniers, Matthew Clarke, Brandt Edvinsson, Simon Eklund, William Guenther, Dylan Hughes, Luke Johnson, Kent Lucius, Chaz Lysell, Fabian Power, Owen Wallstedt, Jesper Point being: It's gonna be ok, we're gonna get a good player.

getterdunsteve.wmv I do feel like Cossa is a legit possibility, assuming he's as good as advertised. Yzerman took Vasilevskiy with a second 1st, 19th overall (as we all know). I think Dmitry Kulikov could be a really good UFA add. That means someone would have to go, though. And it wouldn't address the PP QB problem. meh

I'd be good with all of this. I think you're right about the kind of player we need to be mining for with our first two picks. In 2018 (which was billed as a weak draft), we took Rasmussen over the likes of Necas and Suzuki. Because 6'6", or something. That felt dumb at the time and I dare say it doesn't feel any less dumb here in 2021. Vrana creating offense out of nothing on a toothless Wings team serves as a reminder that the kind of high-end scoring prowess we so desperately need isn't something that can be taught; a player has it or he doesn't. So you have to identify young players who ooze offensive wizardry and you have to spend your valuable picks on them. I know you and I both really like Trevor Zegras and I know that's the kind of player you have in mind. And I'm with you on that. Taking Seider over him was probably the right call. So now let's find a Zegras. Kent Johnson, to me, screams That Guy. Mackie Samoskevich is underrated. I'd be perfectly ok with those two picks. Any sense of what the hypothetical ask for Johansen might be?

BAH GAWD THAT'S NIKITA CHIBRIKOV'S MUSIC

I think there are good arguments for that and good arguments against that. At the end of the day, I'm not sure it really matters who's coaching this team right now. If we can bring in an absolute madman with a great track record who wants to coach this bottom-basement team? Awesome. But, like, is Gerard Gallant that guy? I'm not so sure.

more like christopher coDUMBus Sure. I hear ya on that. I want Yzerman and his people to have as many options as possible. I guess all I'm saying is I'm just not as invested as I normally am. And that's because I honestly don't see much separation within the first 10+ guys. No clear-cut top dogs, IMO. But that's just me.

Blashill probably will be re-signed. I'm ok with it. The team was an absolute disaster in 2019-20; this season, we were back to 2018-19, i.e. playing reasonably good hockey and losing close games because we don't have high-end horses. With Yzerman confirming that the target date for the end of the rebuild is three or four years from now, there's no point in punishing the head coach. Well, unless you believe he's destroying the young talent. And maybe you could make a strong case for that being the reality. But, personally, I think our problems are ~85% roster and ~15% coaching. We have cap flexibility. Yzerman understands how valuable cap flexibility is. And Yzerman doesn't like hunting big game in free agency. So we're good on that front. I'd really like to see Bernier return. Throw money at him. I dunno what happens with Vrana, but I'm assuming Yzerman gets him on a good contract. I'd like to see the team start young and stay young. Do we need nine Filppulas providing insulation for younger players? No, I don't think we do. I get that injuries are a thing, but, hey, here's a counterpoint: I don't care. How about we don't go into a season with the mentality that we're going to get bent over a table by injuries. At some point that starts to look like an annual self-fulfilling prophecy. Enough. Seider is 100% NHL-ready. He is an absolute beauty. I think Raymond is still about a year away; he needs to get bigger, stronger, and a little quicker, and he needs to get used to the smaller ice surface and the different style of play. Worth noting: The SHL game is the opposite of what a lot of people who haven't watched it logically assume it is. It's low-scoring. It's smothering, stifling, boring. It sucks. So, while Raymond never tore the SHL apart (and was never given a major role), that might not mean much. It's possible he tears the AHL apart. Though, of course, the AHL isn't exactly known for high-flying offense. Berggren probably needs a season in the AHL. Johansson probably needs a season in the AHL. Our top pick in the upcoming draft is almost certainly not going to be an NHL-ready player. So, Seider is the big rising prospect. I've liked Rasmussen at center. I've liked Veleno at center. I'd like to see them playing center in the NHL straight out of the gate. Again, I don't want to see them spending half the season in Grand Rapids. Run them in the middle-six slots. "That means playing Namestnikov on the wing." ohnothatsucks.gif Hronek's had a not-super-great season, but we're kind of short on better options. Maybe Seider has himself a Calder-caliber rookie campaign. Cholowski's been surprisingly decent in a top-pairing role. That's cool. Stecher's been solid. We need serious help at LD. lol. So, yeah. That's where I'm at.

Maybe I'm in the minority on this, but I genuinely don't care about our lotto positioning for this draft. It's not that I don't like the available players. I do like the talent. I just think perceived separation is kind of out the window this year, at least for amateur dinguses like us. So I'll trust that Yzerman's scouting machinery will do its best to identify and snag a gem at, like, 8th overall. If Yzerman's the mad genius people say he is, he'll murder at least one of these 1st-round picks in this "weak" draft. Also, f*** 'lumbus.

Couldn't be me.

who dat

http://www.mynhldraft.com/2020-nhl-draft/mock-draft/ https://www.draftsite.com/nhl/mock-draft/2020/ https://www.eliteprospects.com/draft-center/2020 https://www.nhl.com/news/alexis-lafreniere-headlines-2020-nhl-draft-prospects/c-308003352 https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/the-top-five-2020-nhl-draft-prospects-at-the-world-junior-summer-showcase https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/future-watch-top-ten-2020-draft-prospects-to-watch-at-the-hlinka-gretzky-cup https://dobberprospects.com/2020-nhl-draft-rankings-november-2018/ https://dobberprospects.com/early-2020-draft-class-viewing/ https://dobberprospects.com/2020-nhl-draft-ranking-european-prospects-august-2019/ https://dobberprospects.com/team/2020-nhl-draft/ https://lastwordonhockey.com/2019/07/15/2020-nhl-draft-an-early-look-and-rankings/

https://lastwordonhockey.com/2019/07/23/detroit-red-wings-prospects-2/

If Bertuzzi's merely a complementary player who doesn't create his own offense, Mantha's an inconsistent, injury-prone 28-goal-scorer who gets to feast on a cake ES zone starts split of 55/44. Holmstrom was really good for us. Cleary was really good for us. Players like Bertuzzi aren't necessarily easy to find. If they were, we'd have a lot of them. Fortunately, we get to have both Mantha and Bertuzzi. All I'm saying is I dunno that Mantha is *much* more important than Bertuzzi.

This is kinda where I'm at. I like Mantha and I'm glad we have him, but I dunno that there's a huge gap between him and Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi's quietly emerging as a really solid straw-that-stirs-the-drink type.

True dat. And besides, it's all about forward pairings these days. It's likely gonna be a while, yeah; there are definitely deficiencies in his game, and they're not all gonna be resolved in two years. Though, I'd like to think that some of it owes to the simple fact that he's missed time due to health stuff. That he's dunking on same-age competition despite the missed time is encouraging. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are two of the precedents I'm thinking of when I say he has the potential to overachieve. Not saying he's gonna reach those heights, mind you. Just reminds me of those those two in some ways.

Nah, I agree. I'm definitely not setting my expectations at 1C. But I do think that potential is there. I think about Yzerman's success with smallish RH centermen back in Tampa. While I can't really draw a solid comparison between Niederbach and Tyler Johnson or Brayden Point or Yanni Gourde, I'm sure Yzerman sees Niderbach as someone who fits the mold of what he generally looks for in a non-marquee center prospect. https://thehockeywriters.com/theodor-niederbach-2020-nhl-draft-prospect-profile/ The Jets got him.

Funny you should say that...

I was super glad we got Niederbach. I love this player. But even I wasn't expecting him to explode out of the gate like this. Could he be a sleeper 1C?

So, uh, Niederbach is kind of a beast.

It's GREAT to see Berggren dominating! He's had really bad injury luck and, right or wrong, that's led me to adjust my expectations for his career trajectory. I was hoping he *might* bounce back with a nice full 2020-21 SHL campaign and then maybe we talk about bringing him over at some point in 2021-22. If he keeps dominating like this and he ends up coming over post-2021 trade deadline, I'm a very happy camper.

I've got lots of time for cursing perceived anti-Wings chicanery. The complaining is at the very least cathartic. At the end of the day, though, it's on the Wings to take care of business with what they can control. Even if we're not picking in the top three, we've still been tanking for a few years now and collecting lots of picks and cashing those picks in...and I question how well we've taken care of business on that front. That's my real concern. Dropping in the 2017 lotto draw? That sucked, no question. But if we nail that 9th overall pick and/or a later pick, it probably wouldn't matter. And so we took Rasmussen at 9. And Carolina took Martin Necas at 12. And Vegas took Nick Suzuki at 13. And St. Louis took Robert Thomas at 20. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Heiskanen is a dreamboat and I was totally wrong about him. Just wanna put that out there.

YES. YES, THEY DO.