Dabura

I'm not sure this team is capable of going on a tank-busting tear. Our recent wins have been squeakers and the other teams were bad (Sharks, Habs, Sens) and I don't expect Bernier to keep playing at a Vezina level. And we're still 12 points behind 30th.

I think we can all agree that Larkin hasn't been good enough this season and that he's far from blameless in this team's borderline-historic futility. I think we can also agree that a 1-2 center punch of [Guy who is better than Larkin]-Larkin would be better than our 1-2 punch of Larkin-Filppula. I think everyone not named CRL is probably taking this more seriously than CRL is. Beer leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to s***posting.

They see Mullet Pirate rollin'. They hatin'.

Larkin put up 32 goals and 73 points last season. He did that in 76 games. Mantha put up 36 points in 60 games in 2016-17. He put up 24 goals and 48 points in 80 games in 2017-18. He put up 25 goals and 48 points in 67 games last season. He's put up 12 goals and 24 points in 29 games this season. Athanasiou put up 30 goals and 54 points in 76 games last season. Bertuzzi put up 21 goals and 47 points in 73 games last season. He's put up 16 goals and 34 points in 45 games this season. Hronek put up 23 points in 46 games last season, as a 20-21-year-old rookie. He's put up 8 goals and 25 points in 43 games this season. He plays hard minutes, all situations. I'm not saying any of these players is the second coming of Datsyuk or Zetterberg or Lidstrom, but let's give credit where it's due. If you put these players on a mid-'90s Wings team, they're probably monsters. If you put these players on a mid-2000s Wings team, they're probably monsters. Give this team a Nick Lidstrom and we probably make the playoffs this season. Put young Datsyuk and young Zetterberg on this team and we might not have very nice things to say about those two. If we're gonna talk about what past leaders were doing in their early 20s... Datsyuk was 23 years old for his his whole rookie season. He put up 35 points in 70 games. The next season, he put up 51 points in 64 games, as a 24-year-old. Season after that, he put up 68 points in 75 games, as a 25-year-old. Season after that, he exploded: 87 points in 75 games, as a 26-year-old. Zetterberg was 22 for his whole rookie season. He put up 44 points in 79 games. The next season, he put up 43 points in 61 games, as a 23-year-old. Season after that, he exploded: 85 points in 77 games, as a 24-year-old. Franzen turned 27 halfway through his rookie season. He never put up superstar numbers in the regular season. Kronwall hit the scene at 22 or 23 years old. He put up 5 points in 20 games. The next season, he put up 9 points in 27 games, as a 23-24-year-old. Season after that, he put up 22 points in 68 games, as a 24-25-year-old. Season after that, he hit what would ultimately be his career high in points: 51 points in 80 games, as a 25-26-year-old. So, I mean, yeah, Datsyuk and Zetterberg were really good in their early 20s, but maybe not quite as good as we remember them being.

I believe injuries have cost Mantha two 30-goal seasons. 25 goals and 48 points through 67 games last season. 12 goals and 24 points through 29 games this season. Dude is a solid producer. He just can't stay healthy. Which, admittedly, is beginning to concern me a bit. But not enough that I think Yzerman needs to be desperately looking to move him. I might move him for the right defenseman. I'm kinda over AA. Moving him is probably addition by subtraction. Bertuzzi's become a really good player. I've got zero beef with him.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I simply disagree with your main criticisms of Zadina, tbh. Or, at least, I think you're leaning too hard into them. For example, I don't think Zadina is always chasing the play. I think he had a tendency to be behind the play until fairly recently, but, I mean, we all knew he had to adjust to the pace of the North American pro game. Now that he's more comfortable, seems to me like he's chasing the play less. Holding up Bertuzzi as the model for a not-physically-gifted-but-extremely-smart player strikes me as kind of weak sauce, as it took Bertuzzi a pretty long time to become the player he's become. (Dude was drafted all the way back in 2013.) Was Bertuzzi a 0.76 PPG NHLer at 20 years old? Was he even a *0.55* PPG NHLer at 20 years old? Were we raving about his hockey IQ when he was 20 years old?

I mean, *I'd* be ok with that deal, I guess. I just figure Gorton would want more than a defensively suspect middle-six goal-scoring winger who isn't scoring goals this season...and a 2nd. I could be wrong tho.

I was just being hyperbolic. I figure the gap would be much closer (possibly nonexistent) if Byfield were Lafreniere's age, but Lafreniere is such a mutant that he'd probably still be top dog.

His somewhat disappointing showing at the WJC cooled the HYPE! just a wee bit.

Thanks for the report! Do you think Rasmussen has a realistic shot at forcing his way into a middle-six center role with the Wings next season? I realize it's a really small sample size this season, but it seems like putting up points in a tough 1C role is no big deal for him at the AHL level...

Byfield with his second five-point game of the season. 63 points through 32 games. Reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated.

So the Griffins had themselves a game tonight. https://theahl.com/stats/game-center/1020189 Cholowski goal. Seider goal. Two Rasmussen goals. I love the Seider goal for multiple reasons, the biggest one being that Seider would even be the F1 in the first place... Dude is pure concentrated DGAF and I love him for it.

I WASN'T TALKING ABOUT HANDJOBS, NEO, GET YER MIND OUTTA THE GUTTER

HYPE! LGRW!

I hear ya. I don't necessarily agree that we need to get a forward if we're picking 3rd or 4th, but we'll see where the chips fall.

Gudas is actually a sneaky-good player. Much more than just a goon, way more capable than Witkowski.

I'm saying Drysdale could end up being the smart pick at 3rd or 4th.

I'm not particularly concerned about D handedness at this time, especially if Hronek can comfortably play the left side (and it's looking like he can). Let's say Hronek-Seider is our top pairing; what's our RHD depth look like beyond those two? I'll keep Hajek in mind tho. Simon Kubiceck is a 2020 draft-eligible LHD who plays a similar game. He's coming off a very impressive WJC.

I was talking about Zadina's game in the 2018 draft thread months before we'd drafted him. I've always been up for talking about his game. Thing is, I've never seen much in his game that's worth criticizing. Mackel's always been the big Zadina critic here and he talks about him in a way that strongly suggests he's never actually seen him play and/or he's trolling. You say you could write a book about all the things you don't like about Zadina's game. I'd like to read that book. The idea that I've missed an entire book's worth of shortcomings in Zadina's game genuinely intrigues me. The fact that I badly misjudged his NHL readiness in 2018 is a humbling reminder that I don't know anything about anything. I'm just some dude on an internet message board. So maybe I am, in fact, totally wrong about the kid. I'm open to being persuaded. Would I bet good money on Zadina becoming as good as, say, Pastrnak? At this time, no. I think it's fair to say he's trending closer to Tatar than to Pastrnak. But I feel like a very small minority of Wings fans have kind of fallen in love with the "Tatar 2.0" angle and are going HAM on it when this kid just turned 20 a month ago and, to my eye, is playing pretty solid hockey, all things considered. Like, I see people say he doesn't have any It Factor to his game. My position on that is I simply disagree. He isn't knocking anyone's socks off with superstar ability, no. And that's kind of a bummer, yes. But, for example, I've seen the puck follow him around on the forecheck and cycle in a way that basically doesn't happen with your average 20-year-old Wings prospect. It's a small thing, but it makes me smile when I see it. If Zadina isn't going to flat-out obliterate the opposition this season, I at least want to see some promising signs that suggest he's only scratching the surface of his potential. Your mileage may vary, but I believe he's showing some signs. Again tho, I'm open to having my mind changed.

Isn't Edmundson pretty physical? Either way, I'd say he and Gudas are both depth guys that you add for a playoff run. In the Wings' case, I think we could use more size and snarl and steadiness on the back end.

If he keeps playing this way, absolutely. We're winning lately (won 3 of our last 5, I believe) largely because we're getting pretty solid goaltending from him. IMO.

DeAngelo's on pace for 21 goals and 69 points and he's coming off a 30-point 2018-19 season. So I'm guessing AA and a 2nd wouldn't be enough.

I'd like Edmundson and/or Gudas.