Dabura

They should not be allowed to set market prices.

So what you're saying is Tippett's Lost Mustache was the source of his power and we need to find it and give it to Blashill to wear like some kind of half-assed yamaka. I can get behind this.

I think what you're trying to say is that Athanasiou was our most efficient scorer, based on points-per-60-minutes.

Yes plz.

Zetterberg was our best player. Zetterberg IS our best player. AA played a limited role and produced well enough in that limited role -- though, his underlying numbers were mostly ugly. Can he put up big numbers in a bigger, more demanding role? Can he be counted on to go toe-to-toe with top talent every night and win those matchups? Remains to be seen. At present, AA is a middle-six winger who needs to grow his game. He has gamebreaking ability, but he's not (yet) an all-around great NHLer and we can't be certain he's ever going to become much more than what he is right now. The jury's out on him. (And, to be fair, it's also out on Larkin and Mantha.)

Yeah, Fu Manchu was actually my first thought. +1 for you. (It's June 22nd and we're making Foo puns. This is what it's come to, folks.)

Too obvious. GTFO.

Everything's coming up Nillhouse.

I really hope the Knights do well straight out of the gate and only get better from there. I want pro hockey to become A Thing in Vegas. It'd be awesome.

All My Life or No Way Back FTW, IMHO.

Back when Coreau was called up, I made a few tongue-in-cheek posts here to the effect of "Coreau is The One. Coreau will save us all. Hail Coreau!" Because that's kind of how it works with new backup goalies and Red Wings Nation. And...well...it would seem The Prophecy is being fulfilled. Or not. I dunno. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We don't know why Howard was protected and Mrazek was exposed. On the surface, yeah, it's a bit of a head-scratcher. But I don't feel comfortable saying it makes no sense and was definitely the wrong decision. We can't rule out the possibility that it was a goof and we also can't rule out the possibility that it wasn't a goof.

Friedman was commenting on management's opinion of Coreau. He wasn't saying, "Coreau's been better than Mrazek." He was saying Mrazek's fallen out of favor with management. For all we know, Mrazek doesn't want to be a Wing anymore. For all we know, it's a total smear campaign with almost no basis in actual reality. For all we know, it's a total smear campaign with almost no basis in actual reality AND it was a bluff meant to dissuade Vegas from taking Mrazek. Ultimately, we just don't know.

Someone's never seen The Game Awards. (I envy you.)

THE ABSOLUTE MADMAN

Like her or not, HSJ is much closer to things than we are and, unofficially, gets paid to say what the organization wants her to say. So, the fact that the past six months or so have seen her become decidedly bearish on Mrazek and decidedly bullish on Coreau is not insignificant. More specfically, it suggests Mrazek has been on the outs for at least the past six months, probably longer. ("Their contract negotiation in the summer of 2016 was tense, and it carried over. There was a ton of mutual frustration last season." - Friedman.)

The more insider takes I read, the more it seems the organization is simply done with Mrazek. Elliotte Friedman: What to make of Detroit’s decision to leave Petr Mrazek unprotected? That last season was a rough one between the player and the organization. Their contract negotiation in the summer of 2016 was tense, and it carried over. There was a ton of mutual frustration last season. It’s also clear that Jared Coreau, who won the Calder Cup with AHL Grand Rapids, passed Mrazek in the organizational structure. One year ago, Mrazek was the future star and Jimmy Howard was on the outs. Things change fast in the NHL. The big question becomes, what happens if the Golden Knights don’t take Mrazek? Friedman is one of the most credible, respected names in professional hockey rumormongering; if he's saying it's clear that Coreau has passed Mrazek on the organizational depth chart, we can be pretty sure that Coreau has, in fact, passed Mrazek on the organizational depth chart.

Thanks for clarifying. I see where you're coming from now. I wouldn't go so far as to say Holland has been "TERRIBLE with player selection over the last 10 years" and is "WASTING our draft picks." Certainly there's no reason to believe we'll more than likely have "ZERO NHL players come out of this draft" and that "There's a great chance our 9th pick turns out to be crap, based on Holland's recent track record." Our amateur scouting and our drafting and our prospect development has, arguably, been problematic for the better part of a decade now. It's a discussion that more people should be having, IMO. But let's not overstate the problem.

Yeah, I've been wondering about this. If it's true, things make a little more sense, I guess. Why might Holland risk losing Mrazek for nothing? Because a bad attitude could make Mrazek more trouble than he's worth in the eyes of the powers that be, and maybe they'd just be happy to free up the $4M in cap space and move on. Why might Holland have failed to find someone willing to trade for Mrazek? Attitude problem + $4M cap hit + hasn't established himself as a really good NHL goalie. Maybe Mrazek has a "reputation," one that makes him unlikely to be taken by Vegas. It could just be spin. But, at the very least, we know there was that incident where he skated off during practice (or whatever. I don't remember the exact details) and supposedly caught flak for it. And HSJ has been kind of passive-aggressively anti-Mrazek for the past several months. I know HSJ says dumb things, but I wonder if that whole "The Wings should protect Coreau and trade Mrazek" thing wasn't based on some inside info -- specifically, that the powers that be aren't happy with Mrazek. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My butt is ready to be hurt.

But is Mrazek's trade value actually anything to write home about? Is he, in fact, the best player on our unprotected list? Personally, I'm not sure I believe the answer to both of these questions is "Yes, absolutely." Difference of opinion, I s'pose. I probably would've protected Mrazek over Howard, but I'm not feeling the f***-you-Holland juices coursing through my veins on this one. Though, granted, that's because I think Mrazek is probably safe. If I'm wrong, and this is Holland just doing Holland things, and Vegas takes Mrazek...well, we'll cross that bridge when if we come to it. So, assuming Holland knows something that we don't (Mrazek is almost certainly safe), I'm ok with protecting Howard. If, on the other hand, this is a "Whatevz" decision on Holland's part and Vegas ends up taking Mrazek, I will say mean things about Holland.

True, true. And that's one of the reasons why I love and need LGW in my life.

I guess I just feel like this is overvaluing Mrazek and undervaluing Helm, Sheahan, Ouellet. Vegas will have their pick of goalies who are better than Mrazek; it's going to be their one position of strength. On forward and defense, it's going to be dicey. On a really bad team, Helm or Sheahan might be a not-horrible choice for the 2C role. Ouellet's sneaky-good, young, affordable, and he could turn into one of those RFA top-four defensemen that GMs fetishize and overvalue. Yes, McPhee could probably flip Mrazek for something, but, honestly, having a Helm or a Sheahan or an Ouellet on the roster might be more important to him. As for the hypothetical conversation...I mean, sure. I guess I was taking it as a given that the hypothetical "Meh" would've been a *hard* "Meh," but now we're going down a rabbit hole of ifs and maybes.

Is Mrazek clearly the best player on our list, though? Ouellet's a serviceable second-pairing defenseman. Sheahan's a serviceable 3C. Helm's a good 3C. Mrazek hasn't established himself as a bona fide starting goaltender. Granted, you could argue a good backup goalie is more valuable than a 4D or a 3C -- but, point is, I don't think Mrazek is necessarily the clear choice. For all we know, Holland -- who has said he's spoken with McPhee -- could've asked McPhee how he felt about Mrazek and McPhee could've said, "Meh."

That's what I'm thinking. I wouldn't say there's NO WAY they take Mrazek, but, yeah, he's probably safe.