Dabura

>Get Kostin because of Ottawa >Get Ottawa'd by Florida - with no Kostin - a year later

Then we're in a lot of trouble.

You do not know futility until you have watched the Detroit Red Wings try to score a single goal against the Florida Panthers.

If Freud were alive today, he'd be an analyst at Sportsnet.

Once you see the sheer intellectual laziness and dishonesty of their way of thinking, it's impossible to unsee - and you see it everywhere, from everyone, all the time. Dan Rosen's a guy I generally don't mind. Inoffensive. Middle of the road. Pretty reasonable. Even this take of his I'm about to complain about isn't super-unreasonable - but I'm gonna complain about it, because I think it reflects the slow creep of the hockey journo brain rot that's turning people stupid. Here: https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-fan-mailbag-for-february-28 So basically, to translate: "Ya gotta be a Real Good Team to beat the Real Good Teams, because it's only the Real Good Teams that ever beat the Real Good Teams, and the Real Good Teams are teams like Boston and Toronto, teams that are killing it in all three zones, playing the Real Good Team Hockey that allows them to be Real Good Hockey Teams, which gives them a shot at winning the Cup, because ya gotta be a Real Good Team to win the Cup, and to do that, ya gotta be a Real Good Team that plays the Real Good Hockey. And, frankly, I'm just not seeing that from the Wings, who've got question marks all over, because they don't play the Real Good Hockey, and if ya don't play the Real Good Hockey, you're not a Real Good Hockey Team." I am absolutely loving how everyone is pretending we don't see at least one massive upset in the playoffs every year. Here's what you have to do to beat a team in a best-of-seven series: f*** that team's s*** up. Find their weaknesses and hammer those weaknesses harder than they hammer your weaknesses. Execution, execution, execution. The Bruins have been playing like crap. They've lost one of the greatest matchup guys in the history of the game in Bergeron. They're soft, mentally and physically. But we're supposed to cower before them because they're A Good Hockey Team. And don't even get me started on Tronna.

I definitely want him up. Might not be this season, which is OK. Land a Rasmus Andersson, move a dman or two, give Edvinsson a full-time job next season straight out of the gate.

Fair. I haven't seen a ton of him, so I'm talking out of my ass a bit here.

I think what people have to realize is that "NHL-ready" doesn't really mean anything to Yzermanager when it comes to icing an NHL roster. Because all "NHL-ready" really means is you appear to be ready to hold down an NHL roster spot. And, well, Yzermanager simply does not want his plans for any given season hinging largely on rookies who are merely ready to hold down a roster spot. Maybe he's doing Berggren dirty. Fair enough. Edvinsson? He was coming off surgery and he wasn't overly impressive in training camp. He's now more than just ready to be an NHLer - he's ready to log big minutes as an NHL workhorse defenseman. Personally, I don't care much about Johansson. We've been talking about him for what feels like 15 years. Maybe he's a stud NHLer. But probably not. Given the choice between Johansson and, say, Radko Gudas, I take the latter. If we were in cap hell, I might say differently. But we're not. (Yet.) ASP? Have to assume it's gonna take him a season or more just to get used to the smaller ice surface. So I think he's not close, despite the extraordinary season he's having in Sweden. Wallinder? Yzerman said about a year ago that Wallinder still had a long way to go. He's made strides this season, but he's still at least a year away from being merely NHL-ready. Tuomisto? Blah. Now we're just saying names for the sake of saying names.

Yeah, I noticed that about the power rankings. Not surprising, but it's so stupid. I'm not expecting the media to ride our bandwagon. The nerds can't show us too much love because a "bad team" winning means their whole shots- and chances-based value system isn't all it's cracked up to be. And the traditional dinosaur media can't show us too much love because, well, they've hated us for decades.

We are, in fact, so back.

What's to stop Chris Chelios from coming out of retirement?

HOW MUCH DID UNCLE GARY PAY YOU, KIP? WHAT WAS THE PRICE OF YOUR SOUL????

Thoughts on Scott Laughton and Rasmus Andersson?

LONGTIME LGW.COM FAMILY UNITE

*Global Series *12 goals

In your defense (and, really, everyone's defense), who honestly thought he'd be THIS good? And I'm talking more than just the points; "He's a poing-per-game player" doesn't capture how huge an add he's been for us. Time travel back to before we signed him. Let's say right after we faceplanted in the Stadium Series. "Bro. We sign Kane. And, bro? Believe me when I tell you this: You're gonna be begging for two or three more years of him. I s*** you not. End of February, the game in Chicago - circle that on your calendar. Dude wins it in OT, on a breakaway, from center ice. That makes it 11 goals and 28 points for him through 27 games played. (He gets hurt on January 14, misses some time, comes back even better.) Eight-game point streak for him. And it puts the Wings at 70 points through 58 games played. The team's fifth win in a row. First wild card spot. A point ahead of Tampa, with two games in hand. Bro, believe me, bro."

LET'S F***ING GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How is it that half the league qualifies for the playoffs...but qualifying for the playoffs is this tough a grind? I mean honestly now. Who's the manager? I want to speak to the manager. I want to file a complaint. I'm not paying for this meal. The service was terrible. We've been on an unholy heater since January 1st and we could easily go to bed on Sunday night with 70 points in the bank...and I still won't feel comfortable. And the soup was tepid. This f***ing division, man.

Yeah, I think a guy like Wennberg makes a lot of sense. I've gotta think at bare minimum we're adding a player like that, given what Lalonde has said. I'll be disappointed if Rasmussen or Veleno is in our top six after the deadline. I get the idea of having a utility/complementary guy there, but I wanna double down on goal scoring. Gimme Wennberg AND a scorer.

Speaking of Guentzel... Again, I doubt Yzerman's spending major assets on someone who's just about 30... ...But Guentzel is really, really good.

Sure, but I mean a 30-goal scorer right here, right now. Add Guentzel/Buchnevich to the top line or Vatrano to the 2nd line and this team becomes terrifying.

You joke, but...

WHERE YOU AT, NERDS? WHERE YOU AT?

Buchnevich turns 29 in April. So he's just about 30 - with only one season left on his contract. I love the player, but I feel like Yzerman's not gonna spend major assets on a 28/29-year-old who isn't even guaranteed to stay past next season. Same thing with Vatrano. Though, Vatrano would probably be a bit cheaper. Idk, maybe I'm wrong. Part of me hopes I am, because I do think we have a need for a top-six scoring winger, even with Kane being a point-per-game player.

OK THE BLUES-ISLES GAME IS OVER NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW AND IT WAS A THRASHINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG