Dabura

[rubs eyes in disbelief]

I don't think I've ever been this unexcited about a Wings game. I'll pop in if something interesting happens.

z a g i n a ™

Let's hope so! I say that as a human being first and a hockey fan second and a Red Wings fan third. And a demon king fourth.

Seider is a madman.

HYPE! LGRW!

For what it's worth: Hughes - 3 G + 27 A = 30 P thru 42 NHL games (0.71 PPG) Zadina - 4 G + 7 A = 11 P thru 22 NHL games (0.50 PPG)

To me, saying, "Zadina isn't a star and that's a problem," implies that we clearly should've taken someone else with that pick. So which player drafted after Zadina in the 2018 draft is performing like That Player right now in the NHL and making Holland and our scouts look like fools for taking Zadina where we took him? http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2018e.html I can accept Quinn Hughes as a respectable answer, though I'm not convinced he's the kind of cornerstone talent you're talking about. (Gostisbehere looked like the second coming of Erik Karlsson in his rookie season. Today? Not so much.) Beyond Hughes, I don't see any reason for getting bent out of shape over the Zadina pick.

Yup, we're basically in agreement on all points. My thoughts on Lafreniere are more for those who maybe don't feel the same way or don't know what to think. "With Lafreniere and Byfield being more or less equally talented, we should go for position of need and take Byfield" is a solid argument if you accept that Lafreniere and Byfield are in fact more or less equally talented. Personally, I'm increasingly convinced they're not. "Byfield is significantly younger, so that's a knock against Lafreniere" is a solid argument if you ignore the fact that Byfield is bigger, stronger, faster than his peers (i.e. Byfield's physical advantages "artificially boost" Byfield as much as if not more than Lafreniere's age "artificially boosts" Lafreniere). "We're not going to win a Cup with Larkin as our 1C and the kind of 1C we need doesn't exactly grow on trees, so we need to take advantage of this opportunity to get one" is a solid argument if you accept that Lafreniere wouldn't make Larkin a much better centerman.

Sure. I don't really disagree with any of this. I'm just saying "If he's truly That Player, why am I not seeing him doing galaxy brain things?" strikes me as kind of a nitpicky take. I would say he *is* displaying a worthy-of-6th-overall hockey brain. Even if he's not, he's still putting up points and being defensively responsible and showing well in the possession metrics -- and he's doing all this as a just-turned-20 kid on a horribad team that can't do anything right. All this while being a smallish guy who doesn't skate like the wind. He'll continue to get stronger, his skating will continue to improve, the NHL game will continue to slow down for him. I'm expecting really good things from him. bruh c'mon

"With the 4th pick in the draft, the Detroit Red Wings select no one. I'm done. I quit. Thanks for coming to my impromptu press conference. Bye."

I think in some people's minds the thought of getting a Scheifele/MacKinnon who can push Larkin down to 2C is a couldn't-script-it-any-better, made-for-Hollywood outcome for this otherwise dreadful season. The idea of passing on that cosmic handout for a winger is a hard sell for some. And that's fair. My counterargument, of course, is that Lafreniere is simply That Good. The more I see of him, the more he reminds me of Crosby. He's not particularly big, he's not particularly fast, but he's smarter than everyone and more skilled than everyone and he plays a heavier, grittier game than you would expect from "a pure scorer." He 100% has the "it factor"; every time he touches the puck anywhere on the ice, you know there's a very real possibility that you're about 5-15 seconds away from seeing his team score. Could Byfield end up being the better NHLer? Of course. Does the thought of a 1-2-3 punch of "Scheifele"/"MacKinnon"--Larkin--Veleno/Rasmussen get me hard af? Of course. (Veleno looked really good yesterday, btw.) But, like, if what we're looking for is a gamechanging, gamebreaking miracle worker...and we're picking 1st overall...I think we have to pick Lafreniere, because I think he's the guy who's most likely to become That Player.

That's what I'm saying. I hear the arguments and I understand the logic, but I'm not really on board with them. I think the big pro-Byfield talking point is that big, fast, high-scoring 1Cs with great hands are basically unicorns. If you have an opportunity to get one for free, you absolutely should get him -- unless there's a Lafreniere available.

So Lafreniere put up four points today. I get the arguments for taking Byfield 1st overall, but I'm not feeling it at this point in time. Lafreniere is simply unreal.

Hell yes he does!

Meanwhile, Zadina's currently outperforming Hayton at the NHL level. Imagine having Keller and Kessel and Hall AND Zadina. To be fair tho, they really do need centermen. Like, horribadly.

And Byfield.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, LGW FAM! CHRISTMAS HYPE!

When I am mod you will be first against the wall.

Zagina?

HYPE! L G R W

I hear ya. Guess I'm just wondering 1) why he has to be a galaxy brain and 2) what that would entail. I'd say he's a better player now than Nyquist and Tatar were at his age. (Let's remember: He turned 20 a month ago.) He's not yet the destroyer of worlds that we'd all hoped he'd be by this point, and it's entirely possible he never becomes that player. But I feel like Zadina's more or less what you'd expect from your average 6th overall pick. Quinn Hughes is probably the better player right now and that stings a little bit. But I continue to be more than ok with the decision to take Zadina. 8 points through 13 games and he's only going to get better. You do make good chocolate, I'll give you that. Agreed.

Muzzin with the slew foot, AA with the knee. I genuinely do not understand how Fabbri's spear is the only thing that warrants punishment.

Zadina is 20 years old; he's washed up. Injuries really took a toll on the guy. It's downright unfortunate. Oh well.