Dabura

Guys, plz don't fight. It breaks my heart. We're all on the same team here. Let's remember who the real enemy is: Mackel.

RE: The Larkin drug "rumors"... unless I've missed something, the only whispers about it are a couple of tweets from some rando who claims to be a Wings media person. I mentioned him and these tweets on this forum a few weeks ago and I suppose I shouldn't have done that. Rookie move on my part.

Pretty much. I guess the one X factor consideration is that Yzerman surely knows how he wants his team to look and play...and it's possible that, say, Mantha doesn't fit into that vision the way, say, Noah Hanifin maybe does. Who knows.

I was young and I needed the money.

HYPE! LGRW!

I agree that Yzerman would want at least one significant roster player; in my hypothetical package, that would be Fabbro, who seems to have established a foothold in the NHL this season. I think my hypothetical package is pretty close to what Yzerman would want...and I think there's no way Poile would pay that price. And that's the dilemma (if you want to call it a dilemma) -- Larkin means more to us than he does to a team with, y'know, *actual depth*. I could refine the package to make it look a little more realistic, maybe add Turris to the equation, maybe add Cholowski or Athanasiou to the equation. But I think we're all in agreement that Larkin isn't going anywhere and all of this is therefore moot.

We are leading 2-0. wtf is going on.

ZADINA = BUST

I'll admit that I'm not feeling the "I can't imagine where this team would be without Larkin" vibe like I was last season. But, I mean, yeah. We all know the situation. If we're moving Larkin, it's for a huge return, e.g. Dante Fabbro + Philip Tomasino + NSH's 2020 1st (unprotected). And even then, I'm not sure I'd pull the trigger, as we'd be trading a proven 1C for three maybes. How many teams would be willing to pay that kind of price for Larkin? I reckon not many, if any. Because Larkin means more to a historically awful bottom-barrel team like ours than he does to a team that isn't a flaming trainwreck. Eh, I dunno. I think I'd rather see Yzerman make some aggressive moves around our top young talent. If we're getting Lafreniere, who should be ready to be a very good NHLer next season, Yzerman should put this team in a position to make the 2021 playoffs. If we're getting anyone not named Lafreniere with our first pick, Yzerman should be targeting the 2022 playoffs. (I'm not sure any of Byfield, Stutzle, Raymond, Holtz, Perfetti, Lundell will be ready to be a very good NHLer next season.)

I was gonna say something along the lines of "You're allowed to win this one, boys. Go nuts," but then I remembered this is an NBC broadcast, so... On the other hand, the Titans ended the Patriots' season, so anything's possible.

Hot take/Real talk: This generally isn't a tournament for 17 year olds, so any good they do should be applauded and any "oof" moments should taken with a grain of salt. I get why we as hockey fans put a lot of stock in these international tourneys, but I've always felt like a lot of people overdo it. Elias Pettersson finished his draft season WJC-20 with 1 point through 6 games. Jesse Puljujarvi finished his draft season WJC-20 with 17 points through 7 games. Hockey is dumb. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also, FWIW, I would say Larkin deserves some credit for the big season Bertuzzi is having (currently on pace for 60 points), as the two of them have been linemates for most of the season. If you put Lafreniere on Larkin's wing next season, a lot of people who are currently down on Larkin will probably be singing his praises. I'm not saying that as a pointed jab at any fans; rather, I'm saying plants need water and sunshine and love.

TBH, this season hasn't really changed my opinion of him; I still think he's a solid-not-spectacular 1C. *Ideally*, we find a gamebreaking powerhouse 1C and Larkin slots in at 2C. So, in that sense, I agree that we have a hole at 1C in that we don't have a Nathan MacKinnon. But I dunno that we *need* a Nathan MacKinnon. Would be awesome to have one, but if Larkin can become something akin to Ryan O'Reilly, I'm more than ok with that. I think it's worth pointing out that Larkin's basically our only serviceable top-six centerman this season. Nielsen's a ghost. Filppula's a bottom-six centerman. Glendening is Glendening. So Larkin's in tough this season. I'd like to see him do a better job at rising to the occasion, I guess, but it is what it is. No big deal (imo).

Lashoff is the key to all of this.

LARKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely. Dude is more skilled than everyone AND he plays a gritty, aggressive, heavy, well-rounded game. Total throwback player. Impossible not to love what he brings to the table. Imagine having Bertuzzi, Hronek, Seider, Rasmussen, Smith, and Lafreniere all on the same team. Truculence for days. ok but who would we be sending to the rangers

>Flanking Veleno >Scoring at a 2 PPG clip (6/3), which isn't too far off from his QMJHL clip of 2.19 (70/32) >Came back from big injury scare The Virgin Byfield vs The Chad Baguette.

You should definitely check out the other titles in the series!

Nah fam, it's always been about memes first and mechs second. (Actually, I'd argue it's never been about mechs at all; they're just plot fodder military porn MacGuffins that make for cool cutscenes and boss battles.) Especially Revengeance, which cranks the doofiness dial up to 11.

HYPE! LGRW!

Assuming some/most/all of those "D"s and "D-"s are basically "F"s, I'm down with these grades.

Just have 'em play Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.