Dabura

I'm generally not a fan of The Athletic, for political reasons which, being political in nature, I won't get into. That being said? Yeah. We can argue about that list, but what it says about the state of our rebuild is valid. We've been bad for roughly half a decade now and we don't have that ultra-sexy group of young talent that makes all the other teams and their fans drool. Hard not to be at least a little disappointed with where we're at. Now, that's not to say the brass has definitely misplayed these basement years. Too early to say. Certainly there's nothing to say that what we have in the system right now won't soon become the core of some great Wings teams. Y'never know. We could win the Cup seven years from now and all of a sudden we look back on these basement years kinda fondly and tell ourselves and each other that things had to happen the way they happened. But in terms of sheer HYPE!? We haven't gotten that payout that we'd hoped for. We're not at the point where Wings fans can talk s*** about how great we're gonna be in a few years. We're still in the "We need a couple more key pieces. *Then* the s*** talking will commence" stage.

Absolutely. Every team likes being on the attack. Every player likes being on the attack. Attacking is easy. Attacking is natual. So, how well you defend and how well do the hard, menial things necessary to launch your attack up the ice will ultimately separate contenders from pretenders. That would be sublime.

Defense is the key of keys. It's a truism, not even worth debating. However, I do feel like the past few seasons have shown that a "winning defense" can come in many different forms in today's NHL. Historically, I've been very pro-"You'd really, REALLY like to have a superstar 1D." While I'd still take having a superstar 1D over not having a superstar 1D, my eyes have been opened to how far a modern-day team can go with "the right mix," whatever that mix may be. Find something that works for your team. Just make sure it involves a solid team commitment to taking care of business on the defensive side of the puck.

I dunno whether Raymond's gonna be better than Lafreniere. Could go either way. I won't be surprised either way. But I agree that people are sleeping on the CHL-versus-SHL angle. Raymond would've torched CHL competition this past season.

Ah. That explains it. I like CRL. We've talked in DMs a buncha times, just shooting the s***. He's actually a very chill, very normal dude; he's clearly playing a character with his trolling. I would argue that every self-respecting online forum needs at least one divisive heel. Back when the Wings were still contending and this place was buzzing, there were always multiple beefs. Beefing is good for business. Though, I suppose maybe now might not be the best time for a CRL type. Or, on the other hand, maybe we need a CRL type now more than ever. I dunno. *shrug* Fs in the chat for our fallen tovarishch. I *am* pissed that my Stacher post got deleted. Oh well. The gist of it was that Stecher appears to be low-key legit -- and I am here for it. (That's how bad things are right now.) Think a hardcore shutdown guy like Nemeth -- but capable of 1) potting points at even strength and 2) playing in all situations. I love that he has the shutdown chops he does while being 5'10-185. That means he's an outstanding puckmover. Some stats: https://www.nhl.com/player/troy-stecher-8479442 https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/s/stechtr01-advanced-ev.html Look at that f***ing zone starts split. Beautiful. (And, as a matter of fact, damn near identical to Nemeth's.) In adding Stecher and Merrill, Yzerman basically pulled a respectable middle pairing out of his ass. Nemeth Hronek Merrill Stecher DeKeyser Seider Staal/Lindstrom All of a sudden, we've got a blue line that looks like an Yzerman-constructed group. That is to say: We've got a bunch of big, mobile, quietly effective two-way guys. That's the formula. We've got McIsaac, Wallinder, Tuomisto in the pipeline. The 2021 draft class features a bunch of really good defensemen in Brandt Clarke, Carson Lambos, Owen Power, and Luke Hughes. Dougie Hamilton could hit the UFA market next year -- and Yzerman's going to have crazy cap flexibility to work with. I think we should feel pretty good about the future D situation.

So I wrote this whole big post on Stecher last night and the thread was deleted? This place sucks. Real talk. JFC.

lmao can you imagine

I like the signings Yzerman has made. We might actually win a couple games next season.

I'm sure I've said this before, but I played against Bobby Ryan back in peewee. He was reelgud back then. Good dude who's been through a lot in his life. If we can't have lots of talent, I'll settle for lots of character.

We want the Cup.

https://puckprose.com/2020/10/08/2020-nhl-draft-grading-every-teams-draft-class/

Will try! lol

I love Raymond and Niederbach. Wallinder fits the mold of what Yzerman looks for in defensemen. We drafted a lot of defensemen. Cross Hanas is an awesome name and he's from Texas. I'm good with this draft.

DID SOMEONE SAY JAN MURSAK BAH GAWD

Nah man, we did good. Kinda sucks that we didn't get another 1st, but it's not a big deal. I wasn't expecting it anyway. As for the one selection we did make? Yzerman didn't overthink it, and I'm grateful for that. Raymond's easily the best prospect we've had in ages. He's played in an elite pro league as a 16- and 17-year-old. Despite the disappointing scoring stats this season, he played really good hockey as an SHLer. Against grown-ass professional players, he's solid. Against same-age peers, he's super dominant. (Which is why he's playing against men.) He would've dismantled CHL competition this season. Probably would've excelled in the DEL this season, possibly even more than Stutzle did. So, there's an argument to be made for Raymond being the true second-best player in this draft. His limited and limiting role on his SHL team might've done us a huge cosmic solid. If he lives up to his potential, he's gonna be something like Panarin, Pastrnak, Marner, Barzal. And, IMO, there isn't really anything about him that suggests he won't hit those heights. Which, in theory, sets up a pretty nice top-six winger group in Raymond, Mantha, Bertuzzi, Zadina. I think we're more or less set on the wing now, in terms of the rebuild harvest. The 2021 draft class is looking like it's gonna be defense-heavy at the top. So, we wrapped up our wing rebuild and in the next draft we can put a bow on our defense rebuild. Welcome aboard, Swedebro! Nope! Just garden variety apathy.

nahhh

I didn't even know the draft was happening. lmfao So it's Raymond, eh? Fine by me. If I'm not mistaken, he was on record saying being picked by the Wings would be extra special for him, or something to that effect. We finally get a kickass RH forward in the pipeline. I think he could be a bit of a project. But we'll see. I'm satisfied.

This is basically where I'm at. I don't have a strong opinion about what to do with Mantha; I'm not necessarily against keeping him and I'm not necessarily against moving him. Whatever we do, I want it to fit with whatever The Plan is. If Yzerman is thinking we're heading into year two of a five-year rebuild (having reset the clock when Holland left), trade Mantha. If Yzerman wants us back in the playoffs within the next two or three years, keep Mantha and do what you can to make sure we don't waste the back half of his 20s.

That's fair.

If it's a "We're getting Danault and he's not particularly happy about it and he's probably going to test the UFA waters next summer" situation, I'm not giving up much. I think a 2nd would be reasonable, yeah. If, on the other hand, it's a "We're getting Danault and we firmly believe he's open to doing an extension right away, because we feel we need a Danault for a few years and we believe he knows we feel that way" situation, I might go as high as Fabbri + Rasmussen.

I get it. I really do. Admittedly, I'm leaning into this a little harder than I normally would, because I'm just that bored with the rebuild. But I do firmly believe this rebuild effort would greatly benefit from the addition of at least one older player who can make life much easier for the younger talent. The focus should of course be sowing the seeds of future success. But a big part of that is making sure the soil is suitable and can allow those seeds to sprout and grow and become what we need them to become. I worry that if we continue to dick around with this 2C hole, we're only hurting the rebuild. So I'd really like to see us add a guy who can absord a big chunk of Larkin's workload and give us so depth and insulation and veteran leadership and all that good stuff. If Danault can be had and extended for a reasonable asking price and on a reasonable contract, I feel Yzerman should pull the trigger. A team that's as thin and beaten-down as ours needs some fixed-point rocks that can always be counted on to do some very heavy-lifting and give us some very good hockey and put up more points than Glendening. We're really missing Zetterberg and Kronwall.

I just feel like this is an overly passive way to approach things, given the season this team just had. I feel like it's setting up a self-fulfilling prophecy. "We're supposed to suck, so let's suck. If we don't want to hardcore suck, maybe Yzerman can sign some UFA 3C who sucks and we can tell ourselves Yzerman tried, c'est la vie. Gotta wait for Veleno. Can't get older. Can only get younger. Can't worry about the here and now. Eyes on the horizon." Like, I get it. But I also don't. Why not ice a really good top-six forward group right now? Why not see what this team can do with a borderline-Selke-caliber centerman slotted behind Larkin on the depth chart? Let's score some goals. Let's allow fewer goals against. Let's learn good habits. Let's get these players and the fans feeling better about themselves and the direction of the team. Let's get that dopamine and those endorphins going. Let's get some veteran leaders who don't suck and don't see this gig as a comfy retirement plan. Let's take some of that crushing weight off of our (unofficial) captain's shoulders so he can perform better and feel better about himself and not be breaking sticks behind the bench out of overwhelming frustration. Let's figure out what we really have in our winger group. (Possibly a little late for that now with Mantha and Bertuzzi set to get paid, but still). Let's get back to that whole winning culture thing. Let's get people buying in again. Let's get people believing again. I disagree! (Sort of!) (Meh!) 2019-20 Filppula CF% (EV) = 44.3 CF% Rel (EV) = -2.6 Zone Starts (EV) = O 49.3 / D 50.7 2019-20 Nielsen CF% (EV) = 45.1 CF% Rel (EV) = -1.7 Zone Starts (EV) = O 39.3 / D 60.7 (!!!) Nielsen was basically deployed like Glendening. Nielsen's clearly still a nice defensive player -- but, physically, his body isn't at all suited for a hardcore checking role. That's why he gets ragdolled every night. That's why he's been dealing with injury problems. I can't really fault Blashill for deploying Nielsen the way he did this season. Blashill was given a roster with one legitimate top-six centerman. Only one. Exactly one. One more than zero. One less than two. One. Only one. And that's the problem. With the luxury of hindsight, I can tell you that that's no way to construct a team, even one that's built to finish in last place. You've gotta give your troops a chance to win every night. You can't just hang them out to dry. You've gotta provide them with some genuine help, players who can lift them up and not just take up space. Lesson learned (I would hope). Get these players some real, genuine, bona fide help. I would say the dropoff is pretty drastic. Granlund's basically a winger. Haula's not necessarily a full-time centerman, and he's dealt with some serious injury problems. He was not good in his stint with the Panthers. There's a whole lot of meh on that UFA list. Danault is, functionally, pretty much Larkin; he can eat really tough matchups and keep his head above water. Tatar--Danault--Gallagher was an outstanding line for the Habs. If we put Danault between, say, Zadina and Craig Smith (we need some good veterans and we need some right-handed shots), we potentially have two monster lines, largely because each one would be centered by a two-way workhorse, which means the lines could trade tough matchup responsibilities as Blashill sees fit, which in turn means either line potentially could victimize other teams' lesser talent on a near-nightly basis. As Danault gets closer to 30, Veleno, Rasmussen, Rossi/Perfetti close in on becoming legit NHL centermen. I don't see the problem. If anything, it's problematic to expect Veleno to become a borderline-Selke-caliber centerman. It's a possibility, but I wouldn't count on it. And if we're adding, say, Rossi, we're adding someone who projects out as a better NHLer than Veleno anyway. Fabbri + Rasmussen.

Good call on Nugent-Hopkins. Shame on me for not catching it. But, yeah, point still stands: He's not a realistic option. I'm not prepared to die on this Danault hill. Or maybe I am. I don't know. I may be overselling Danault a bit, but I think you and @nyqvististhefuture are undervaluing him a bit. Dude's done yeoman's work as a 1C on some offense-starved Habs teams. He's a centerman's centerman. A possession beast. A playmaker who makes his linemates better. A guy who can handle tough matchups. It May Be Time for the Montreal Canadiens to Move Phillip Danault [Last Word On Hockey] Check out the CF% and the corresponding Zone Starts splits: That's beautiful. That's crack cocaine. I want that centering our second line. Imagine if Bertuzzi-Larkin-Mantha could be freed up *even just a little bit* more to spend *even just a little bit* more time beating up on other teams' secondary and tertiary players. Filppula sucks. He's a 4C, if that. Nielsen didn't score this season, but his usage was absolutely brutal, so he gets a bit of a pass from me -- but, even so, he's absolutely not a 2C. Glendening is not a 2C. I'm not expecting Veleno to become a really solid 2C within the next couple of years. Danault makes us better now, gives us a 1-2 punch at center for two or three years (if we can extend him), takes some of the pressure off of our prospect centermen (if we extend him). Maybe the ask for Danault is way too high. In which case, forget it. Maybe the ask is reasonable but he doesn't want to agree to an immediate extension, in which case he's possibly just a rental. In which case, forget it. All I'm really saying is that Yzerman should be kicking these tires.