Dabura

Right, this is where I was coming from before. We want a top three pick, obviously, and it'll suck if we don't get one -- but this is going to be a really good top ten where the players that are taken in the 4-8(+) range will be better than your average consolation prizes. Even if we pick, say, 8th, there's a good chance we're getting a player who could've cracked the top three in last year's draft. Hell, I'm not as high on Oliver Wahlstrom as most people seem to be, but he'd be a huge addition to our thoroughly underwhelming prospect pool. To quote Kris Draper: "This is a great draft." https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nhl/red-wings/2018/02/10/detroit-red-wings-kris-draper/323124002/ And there's nothing to say Vegas won't crash out of the playoffs, causing their pick to become a mid-1st. Which would be all kinds of great. Evan Bouchard + Bode Wilde/Joe Veleno/Rasmus Kupari? That'd be an outstanding 1st round for any organization.

Help us, Canucks and Canadiens! Save us from ourselves!

I could be in the minority on this, but I'm perfectly fine with the numbers he's put up this season. One reason: the two wrist injuries he's had to come back from, like you mentioned. Another reason, which I've talked about before: we drafted him with the understanding that he's sort of a power play specialist -- i.e. not a pure scorer (Mantha) or a dynamic two-way center (Larkin), i.e. not necessarily someone we should be expecting to put up ridiculous numbers at this time or at any point in the future. (And, indeed, this is why I and others were unhappy with the decision to take him at 9th overall.) Kind of like Franzen, who people had pegged as an unremarkable 3C when we drafted him and who didn't become a true scorer at the NHL level until his third or fourth season. I suspect Rasmussen could be one of those players whose production (or lack thereof) very much depends on the talent level of the team he's playing for and the specific players he's playing with. We're arguably seeing that with Hicketts right now -- disappointing AHL season (at least from a production standpoint), but he's putting up points as a Red Wing and making our team better and helping us win games. Granted, the Wings aren't stacked with really high-end talent, but I think there's a fit there between player and team that would be beneficial for both parties, starting next season. He still has to earn it in camp, though. Totally agree.

5 goals and 7 assists through four games. Americans sweep the Rockets. I'm gonna be mad if Rasmussen doesn't make the team out of camp next season. I don't think spending another season in the WHL is going to do much for his development. Could even hurt his development. He needs to be playing with and against grown men.

They do seem to have good chemistry now, and Kane has been a revelation. There's definitely something to be said for not messing with a good thing. But how good a thing is it? The Sharks' singular mission, at this point, has to be winning their first Cup. They've spent years on the cusp of winning a Cup but they've never been able to take that final step and get the job done. I doubt Kane gets them there this season. They have an enviable core, but it's an aging core (Pavelski and Burns are 33, Couture is 29) and I'm just not convinced it's Cup-worthy. I'm sure they're hoping a prospect or two turns into a game-changer, but, at least on the surface, their pipeline doesn't rate especially high on the HYPE! scale. Admittedly, I'm an absolute sucker for center depth. I know defense wins championships, but, in terms of roster construction, nothing can make me geek out like a killer 1-3C depth chart can. That being said, I would run all of Tavares, Pavelski, Couture at center and I would laugh maniacally while doing so. And, like I said, I'd relish the option of playing any of them on either wing on any line on any given shift. That's the stuff dreams/nightmares are made of. (Imagine the power play possibilities!) I hear Edmonton people talking about how they're not so keen on having McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins down the middle because that's too much money wrapped up in centermen. I think...that they're not really thinking.

Pretty much what krsmith said. Thornton ($8M), Kane ($5.25M), Ward ($3.275M), Hansen ($2M), Fehr ($2M) are all on expiring contracts. I dunno that the Sharks *need* Tavares, but they could be the only perennial playoff team that has significant cap flexibility this summer. Sharks want to finally get over the hump and win their first Cup? Being able to run Tavares-Pavelski-Couture at center and having Burns anchoring the back end would probably make winning a Cup an inevitability. Don't want to have all three of those guys playing center? Play any one of them on the wing on any given shift. Boom. Matchup nightmare.

I'm down!

If Tavares doesn't stay with the Islanders, the Sharks could be a good fit. I imagine he has zero interest in coming here. And I'm ok with that. $12M x 8 is a scary-huge commitment. What's crazy is Matthew Barzal (78 points in 77 games this season, as a 20-year-old rookie centerman) is making a case for being a legit successor to Tavares. All of the wondering and worrying and obsessing over how the Isles could possibly overcome the loss of Tavares...and they pull Barzal out of a magic hat. If they believe Barzal can be a truly elite 1C, it might honestly make sense for them to trade Tavares, assuming they could get the massive return that they'd want.

Sabres and Coyotes won last night. https://www.nhl.com/standings/2017/league DET - 65 points (76 games played, 22 ROW) OTT - 63 points (75 games played, 24 ROW) VAN - 63 points (76 games played, 27 ROW) ARI - 63 points (76 games played, 24 ROW) BUF - 60 points (76 games played, 23 ROW) bruh

I miss David Legwand.

I'm hoping we're now bad enough that we can finally start winning some of these players over to our side. Methinks Holland has, historically, been reluctant to promise these college UFAs roster spots and big roles, but I'm pretty confident that he'd be fine with Brickley immediately sliding into our top four, given the sorry state of our blue line.

Seems the Wings are in the mix for top college UFA defenseman Daniel Brickley: http://themalikreport.com/2018/03/24/friedman-weighs-in-on-khs-future/

Only because we will have signed Ray Whitney, Steve Thomas, and Mikael Samuelsson to keep Rasmussen off the roster and make him sad.

Anything can happen, but I want the best odds and the best slide insurance. It'd definitely suck if we finished 31st overall and the 27th overall team got the 1st overall pick, but, still. Fortunately, we're not even really outright tanking, which is why I don't feel morally conflicted about being ok with all of this losing. We're icing pretty much the same lineup we've been icing all season long and we're reasonably competitive on most nights, we're just coming up short against teams that are simply better than us and have more to play for right now.

Everyone focuses on the 1st overall odds, but we should also keep in mind that no matter where we finish, we could end up being pushed back as many as three spots (see: last year, as you noted). So, I want the best 1st overall odds and I also want the best slide insurance; I want us to finish 31st overall because of Dahlin and also because a slide from 1st to 4th would be better than a slide from 2nd to 5th, 3rd to 6th, 4th to 7th, etc. I'd be more than ok with us losing all of our remaining games, in regulation. The tank HYPE! is real. FIGHT ME, NERDS.

Plot twist: "Michael Rasmussen" is just two kids in a trenchcoat.

HYPE! LGRW

As krsmith noted, Cholowski doesn't necessarily count as a "little" defenseman. And that's one defenseman out of our last five top picks. Granted, all of our top D prospects are under 6'2" (if you don't count Gustav Lindstrom or Kasper Kotkansalo or Jordan Sambrook or Malte Setkov or Patrick Holway), but I don't think that points to Hughes being #3 on our list of preferences. I do feel the organization has misguidedly fetishized the whole MICHIGAN TIES!! thing in recent years, but I doubt Hughes being a Wolverine means a whole lot to our draft crew. The Wings have basically committed to a rebuild, but they want the rebuild to be as short as humanly possible. That being the case, I'm not expecting any cute (i.e. high-risk, self-indulgent, "gut feeling") selections in this draft. At least, not in the first two or three rounds. If we're picking in the 3-6 range, I doubt we take Hughes. But that's just my take. I could be totally wrong.

HYPE!

Let's be fair: Mantha, Larkin, Svechnikov, Cholowski, Rasmussen isn't a group that screams "We're gonna use our first pick on an undersized defenseman who's playing at Michigan, because of course we are." I'm guessing Tkachuk and Boqvist are ahead of Hughes on our preferences chart. Possibly also Zadina, Bouchard, Dobson, et al. I'm sure The Powers That Be have done their homework and know what's at stake. Draper has said this organization needs to hit some home runs in the drafting department.

HYPE!