Dabura

can we please stop talking about zadina who scored at a 0.54 PPG clip (albeit in a small sample) as a 20-year-old on a team that couldn't score

This.

People were saying that it was unrealistic to expect any big announcements today and that Tuesday (tomorrow) would probably be the day for a news drop. So maybe we'll get some closure tomorrow, or at least a solid update.

Welp.

Welp.

No. You're confusing me with Taylor Hall, who is the primary antagonist of DBZ. I hear ya. For what it's worth...

I was gonna make this joke but about the Panthers. Then I had PTSD flashbacks to all those empty lower bowl seats in our brand new barn. Then I cried.

TBH, I've never had very strong opinions about lotto formats. I'm 33 years old. I started following the Wings in '94. Point being: Prior to this rebuild, I never really had any reason to get super-invested in this stuff. Even now, a few years into our rebuild, with no lotto luck to speak of...I can't muster up legit hatred for the 15-team lotto. And even now, with the Wings coming off a historically bad season and the whole fan base being trolled with the possibility of a guaranteed top-two pick...I'm just kinda rolling with it, I guess. I dunno.

Sup Lefty. Imma do a deep dive on your post -- not because I'm trying to pick on you, but because the boards are absolutely dead and we need some good discussion. I think what makes this situation unique is that the hypothetical scenario that would help the Wings was being proposed. It's not like the system is already in place and "Well, whatever happens, happens. [wink wink]" The feelers were put out and there was a ton of pushback. Like I said, I don't really care what other organizations think; I want what's best for the Wings, other teams be damned. But, realistically, the five-team lottery was never going to be a thing. That's an interesting angle. Personally, I don't think other organizations would be all that butthurt over compliance buyouts giving us even more cap flexibility than we were already set to have. If every organization gets a compliance buyout or two, that's pretty fair to everyone, right? It helps everyone. Maybe it helps some organizations more than it helps others, but it wouldn't seem like the fix is in. The five-team lotto plan? That straight-up punches a whole lot of organizations in the gut. No upside for them. I think we need meaningful and immediate help at center; I'm not sure Rasmussen is going to be a solid full-time top-nine centerman and Veleno is probably still at least a couple of years away from being a guy we can really lean on. Whether that means draft or trade or UFA, I dunno. But I do think Yzerman needs to be looking. At the same time, I agree with you about the D situation: It's brutal, *BUT*...if you add Drysdale and an above-average veteran UFA or two, all of a sudden we've got a future foundation of Hronek, Seider, Drysdale, [UFA(s)], maybe Tuomisto. Granted, of the kids in that group, Hronek is the only one with any NHL experience. So, even if all those other kids are destined for greatness, it's probably going to be 3+ years before it all comes together on the back end. But I do love how this 2020 draft class is deep enough that we could miss out on the "top-tier" guys and still come away with a cornerstone-type defense prospect who would largely put the "OK, but what are the Wings going to do about their defense?" question to bed, at least for a little while. Even with all the attention and praise he's been getting, I feel like the average hockey fan is kinda sleeping on Drysdale. He has the skating and offense and creativity of guys like Hughes and Makar *PLUS* a pretty robust two-way game. He projects as a legit high-scoring, minute-munching, all-situations, top-pairing workhorse. That's what I love about a hypothetical core of Hronek, Seider, Drysdale: It'd be three well-rounded all-situations guys, any one of whom you could hard-match against the other team's top forward. I'd be ok with Yzerman taking Drysdale 2nd overall. I'm not necessarily saying Yzerman *should*. What I'm saying is, basically, no matter who we get, it's going to be a huge boost for our rebuild. We have needs at every position and we're going to come away from this draft with one of the skating positions "solved." Word.

Bruh. C'mon.

Easy for Wings fans to say, I suppose. If I'm a fan of the Sabres or Devils or Habs, I want my team in that 1st overall mix. As a Wings fan, I'm fine with telling those teams to get f***ed. We had the worst season in recent memory; give us our damn handout. But I think those teams are absolutely right to want no part of the five-team plan.

Yeah. It was too good to be true, I guess. It's kind of surreal that it was a thing at all. Like I said, I genuinely wouldn't be surprised to learn it was a calculated, boldfaced attempt to take a little short-term hit in the draft integrity department in the hope of shaving a few years off the Wings' rebuild. On the other hand, maybe this is just the standard "ask for more than you actually want and 'concede' to walk back your ask to what you (secretly) really wanted all along" play. I dunno.

For whatever reason, Bill Daly said there's no urgency. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

She is aging very well. Word.

I mean, I get it. The fact that this proposal is even being discussed right now kinda makes it look like the powers that be are trying to engineer a corporate bailout for the Wings. They could be saying to themselves: "Lots of empty seats at the LCA this season, in a good economy. The economy's probably gonna be s*** for a year or two, maybe more. So, we're looking at the real possibility that LCA's going to be empty every night for a while. Even the corporate bulk sales would dry up. We expect some franchises to be black holes every year and we expect Detroit to be an economic engine every year. These expectations are baked into all our projections, all our models -- our whole business plan. We have to save that franchise." Sean McIndoe is a dirty Leafs fan, but he's not necessarily wrong here: Fortunately, being a Leafs fan, Sean is able to see what really matters here, which is that several stupid non-Detroit Atlantic teams would be getting screwed: No ones hates the Wings in the year 2020. Not even Leafs fans. The Wings are completely irrelevant. Give us our handout and let your hearts be gladdened by the tears of Frenchies and fake Americans in Buffalo. Hell, I'm not even sure long-suffering Sens fans can really hate on this proposal, as the absolute worst they could do is owning 3rd and 4th overall.

You is hot, Scully, let's do the sex. Shut up, Mirtle.

Yep. Word on the street was he'd signed with us, but that got walked back and there's been basically zero buzz about him since then. Maybe that bodes well for us. Personally, I doubt he signs with us.

Yeah, left off Larkin because he's a full-time centerman. I know the plan is for Rasmussen and Veleno to be full-time centermen at the next level, and maybe that happens. I think it's almost certainly going to happen for Veleno. Rasmussen, I'm less sure about. But I'm talking only one or two years from now. I can imagine both Rasmussen and Veleno centering lines for us at the end of next season, and I can just as easily imagine both of them playing on the wing at the end of next season. FWIW, the Lightning under Yzerman didn't seem to have much of a problem with running young centermen in highly demanding roles. Different organizational situations, of course, but I kinda suspect Yzerman, being one of The Great Centermen, has some strong opinions and preferences regarding young pivots and isn't afraid to make his thoughts known to his people. What he looks for, how to handle these players, etc. A major reason why I won't be surprised if Marco Rossi is our pick in the upcoming draft, even at 2nd overall: I think he screams "Yzerman Guy." Very comparable to Brayden Point and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Yanni Gourde and Tyler Johnson. And, of course, Yzerman recently drafted a guy in that mold in Ethan Phillips.

So I've talked to people on, like, five different platforms and I've gotten pity love from our direct lotto competition in each and every discussion. Sens fan on Reddit: "Honestly, the league should just rig it for Detroit. They need Lafreniere way more than we do" Kings fan on Twitter: "Honestly, the league should just rig it for Detroit. They need Lafreniere way more than we do." Sharks fan on Facebook: "Kill me now. Please. I'm begging you. I live in unceasing agony. Put me out of my misery. Please. I can't do this anymore." Ducks fan on HFB: "Honestly, the league should just rig it for Detroit. They need Lafreniere way more than we do." Devils fan on 4chan: "Honestly, the league should just rig it for Detroit. They need Lafreniere way more than we do." We've done it, lads. We've become That Team.

And you call yourself an American.

Yup. I'm all for taking flyers on guys like this. It'll be interesting to see how our top-nine winger depth chart shakes out in a year or two... [2020 1st rounder...?] [UFA(s)] Bertuzzi Brome (?) Fabbri Mantha Rasmussen (?) Smith (?) Svechnikov (?) Veleno (?) Zadina That's a lot of names. Even if several of them don't pan out (e.g. Brome, Svechnikov), we're likely still looking at a logjam. Hopefully it's a better class of logjam than what we've grown accustomed to in recent years. We need a shining star or two at the top of our forwards chart.

So it seems the scouting report on Brome is that he's a good skater, he works hard at both ends of the ice, and he's a natural scorer. I'm not expecting him to be a difference-maker, but I'd settle for a guy who's good enough to hang around for a few years in a middle-six role. Yay depth? Yay new blood? Yay low-risk, high-reward signings?

what even is this thread

Veleno isn't quite ready for prime time; he's probably gonna spend at least half of next season on the farm. I figure if we do get Lafreniere, Yzerman probably goes out and gets an upgrade at 2C, because Filapoola is poop. The theoretical 2C upgrade would probably be Lafreniere's default centerman, but Lafreniere would surely be bouncing around lines 1-3 throughout the season. I can imagine him doing well with Larkin and Mantha on some shifts and I can also imagine him getting crushed with Larkin and Mantha on other shifts. If we're talking big picture? I mean, I'd certainly hope he'd establish himself as our #1 winger, maybe as soon as early 2021. The hope would be that he becomes the Kane to Larkin's Toews, but I don't know what our center situation is going to look like 2+ years from now. I don't know who he'd ultimately be flanking on the top line. I'm assuming Veleno is going to be a slow and steady riser; if he becomes a 1C, it'll likely be several years from now. I suppose it's possible Yzerman trades a winger or two for a centerman, as the addition of Lafreniere would make things pretty crowded on our winger depth chart.