Dabura

Well, that was a thing that happened.

Snipe! That's, what, Nyquist's fourth point on the night?

Agreed. I just saw an opportunity to take a cheap shot at our D situation and I took it.

Hicketts has been our best defenseman tonight. This is encouraging and troubling.

Wings' goals from last night: https://www.facebook.com/DETROITREDWINGS/videos/10155208976904139/

Probably. You didn't miss much. Larkin scored a nifty goal from behind the goal line. That's about it. We struggled to string passes together, execute plays, sustain offensive pressure. Ice surface looked terrible, puck was bouncing all over the place, guys were falling over. Bruins had the much more talented lineup and it showed.

That's what I was thinking. lol

Very -- dare I say it -- Zetterbergian.

Holy crap, Larkin with an impossible angle goal. Nice.

I'm hoping it's a comfort/confidence thing. I agree that he hasn't impressed tonight. And he wasn't impressive in his short stint with the Wings last season.

Bertuzzi's more a Maltby than a McCarty. The hope is he can become a top-six version of Maltby. If we want a bruiser, Witkowski can do that, I guess. But we have trouble scoring goals and Bertuzzi has a scoring touch that Witkowski doesn't have.

Rasmussen's lanky, but he does look physically imposing, difficult to move and outmuscle. In a couple of years he's gonna be a siege engine. Hopefully he develops a mean streak, a la 6'6" Martin Hanzal. The more I watch Cholowski, the more I like him. He reminds me of a young Toby Enstrom.

Blacked out for me. Lame.

My heart says Svechbro. My head says Dahlin. "If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!" - Kierkegaard

Agreed. At this time, Dahlin and Svechnikov appear to be a notch or two (or three, or four...) above the rest of the draft class. And it's widely believed this is going to be a relatively deep draft class, so that's saying something. We do currently need a top-tier defenseman and a top-tier centerman very badly, but Dahlin and Svechnikov are both looking like franchise gamechangers. It's not necessarily a stretch to say Svechnikov projects as a bigger, meaner Tarasenko/Kucherov. Plus, he wants to be a Red Wing.

Khan on the Svechnikov-Larkin-Mantha line: That's what I like to hear.

I'm hoping Larkin and Mantha develop some special chemistry. Euro NA Twins FTW.

Right. I wasn't really considering the cap situation, just saying those appear to be Blashill's ideal lines and pairings, cap situation be damned. Kronwall might go straight to LTIR, though it sounds like he'll be suiting up for Game 1. Someone will probably get hurt in a preseason game. There are whispers that the Pens are interested in Sheahan...

So it's looking like... Tatar Zetterberg Nyquist Abdelkader Larkin Mantha Athanasiou Nielsen Helm Bertuzzi Sheahan Glendening DeKeyser Daley Kronwall Green Ericsson Jensen ...I think?

Nyquist yo.

Personally, I don't think anyone short of Crosby or McDavid is a can't-miss. But, yes, Dahlin is looking very much like a future franchise defenseman.

And, from what I've seen of him, that label seems genuinely appropriate (for once). Kid is an absolute stud. He even Kronwalls people! A. Svechnikov is pretty much equally studly and is being hyped up as the most promising Russian prospect since Malkin and possibly even Ovechkin. The problem ("problem") is, he's a winger. Ovechkin's a winger, but he's arguably the greatest goal-scorer in NHL history. And Malkin's a franchise centerman. The Wings need top-end talent at every position, but everyone knows a Dahlin-type defenseman is at the top of the organization's wish list. (I think you and I are both in agreement on this stuff. I'm saying this more for people who aren't at all familiar with Dahlin and/or A. Svechnikov.) There would be riots in the streets of every major Canadian city. The league would be forced to shut down indefinitely. It would be chaos, anarchy. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! I want it. I want it so badly.

Cool beans. I haven't been following the diggers/Malik too closely this summer, so you have a better feel for this than I do atm.

I'd be cool with Ouellet-Green / Daley-DeKeyser as our top-four. I feel Daley and Green are too similar and having them together could make our pairings imbalanced, too top-heavy. Re: the center situation...I was just assuming Glendening would be our 4C and that Sheahan being at center therefore meant Blashill had him slotted as our 3C. I think Sheahan should be our 4C and it sounds like that's the plan, so hurray for that, I s'pose. As for Larkin...probably 3C, right? Overall, I think your roster's realistic. If Bertuzzi makes the cut, he's probably a fourth-line winger. Guess we'll see what we see. ehhhh...

Actually, I just realized that running Sheahan at center doesn't necessarily mean Larkin won't be at center. And, indeed, HSJ makes it sound like he will be. Which is good. Brain fart on my part.