Dabura

OK, cool. The thought of a 1-for-1 AA-JP swap gives me anxiety. High potential for regret there, I think. IMO, the Oilers need an AA bad enough that, if these trade talks are a thing, Yzerman should be pushing hard for EDM's 2020 1st in addition to JP. We don't need to move AA; Holland *does* need to move JP (apparently) and he *does* need to bring in legit scoring help that can help the Oilers right now.

So do we have confirmation on Yzerman being present at the tournament? I'd seen the rumors in Finnish media about him planning to attend and I'd seen people suggesting he was there to talk with Holland about Puljujarvi. But, y'know, grain of salt and all that. Glad to get your take on this. Admittedly, I haven't seen much of the guy. I know he scored at a crazy-good clip in the Liiga and international tourney play in his draft season, so I've always assumed there must be some serious deficiency in his game that's been exposed at the North American pro level. Like Martin Frk on steroids or something. Based on what you're saying, it sounds like Edmonton just hasn't been a good fit. I guess that would be my biggest concern with him -- that if he can't produce with McDavid (I don't know if he's spent any time on his wing or not) or any of the other Oilers centermen...I'm not sure what we could offer him in the way of superior talent. Maybe it's more of a needs-more-playing-time thing?

There's also the age factor. Dude's gonna be 36 in March. That's not ancient, but, uh, it ain't exactly young either. I'm guessing his poor play is just a combination of old age and the s*** defense in front of him. Too much for him to overcome on many/most nights.

I was wondering if that was a thing. Makes sense. Thanks for all the info. I didn't know about that deadline.

You like Puljujarvi that much, eh? Interesting.

Well, that's the hope. If the Wings aren't 101% sold on you being a full-time centerman, your ass is playing on the wing. It's been that way forever and I assume it's continuing under Yzerman, at least for the time being. Hopefully Fabbri plays well enough that he gives his bosses no choice but to run him at center.

I've gotta think Virtanen performing pretty well right now + VAN performing preetty well right now means we wouldn't be able to get Virtanen cheap at this point in time. The absolute most I think I'd consider giving up is Cholowski. Puljujarvi might be a more realistic target. I dunno tho. I have no idea how Holland feels about him. I wouldn't have thought de la Rose could get us Fabbri, so there's that to consider, I guess. Sometimes it's not just "Does this guy score at roughly the same rate as this guy?" Sometimes it's just about addressing needs. (I think de la Rose should be a really good fit with that Blues team.)

You may be snarking (not sure), but this is a low-key sharp observation. Was thinking about it last night... Erne = Muscle guy Biega = Lesser Nick Jensen guy Perlini = Goal-scoring winger guy Fabbri = Playmaking center guy I think I'm gonna start a running list of potential targets, as we now know Yzerman is looking to add players who fit a certain profile. Specifically: low-risk, high-reward 22- and 23-year-old RFA reclamation projects with good draft pedigree (former 1st- and 2nd-round picks). Relevant: https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/rfa/ I still like Haydn Fleury as a possible target. He's the only perfect fit I can think of without really digging into other teams' depth charts, which I haven't done in a while. Jake Virtanen seems to be doing pretty well now. Daniel Sprong seems to be a dingus who refuses to grow his game and has pretty much played himself out of the NHL. I dunno that Julius Honka makes much sense at this point. Maybe Puljujarvi?

Stockpiling young former 1st- and 2nd-round picks is kind of an ingenious life hack for an organization in our position. Helps us make up for some lost time/picks. Closes the young talent gap between us and other teams by a little bit (at a time when any and every "little bit" counts). Gives us more players who are playing for their next contracts and fighting to keep their NHL careers alive. If they perform well, that makes them valuable to us as keepers and/or as potential trade pieces. If they don't perform well, we simply don't re-sign them. To Holland's credit, I think that was his thinking with Bowey and de la Rose and maybe Hirose & Kuffner. Had Holland stayed on as GM, he probably would've tried to do the same thing Yzerman is doing. I doubt he would've been as aggressive as Yzerman is being tho.

Narrator:

I've lived and died with this team since the mid-90s. A Red Wings loss has always been a huge bummer to me. That loss to Anaheim earlier this season (our first loss of the season)? Pissed me the hell off. I was so mad at Bertuzzi for turning the puck over and letting the Ducks back in the game when the Wings had pretty much locked down the win. Fast forward a month to now and I'm just numb. 25 years of being upset over every loss and it took this team just a few weeks to overwrite that fundamental part of my programming. That's how incredibly bad this team has been since that outstanding, cathartic win in Montreal. I don't know how hardcore Wings fans survived the Dead Things era.

This tank runs on paisano power.

Real BlueAdams hours

I'm bookmarking this for when the Nielsen-McDavid trade is announced.

Spaghet's Go Wings

Some deets: https://www.nhl.com/redwings/news/robby-fabbri-acquired-from-blues/c-310977366

Guess we know why de la Rose wasn't in the lineup tonight. ...Which makes me wonder if Yzerman's working on a Nielsen trade too... Hell, maybe a Green trade as well.

He smol. He play C. That's all I've got. Yzerman likes him some small centermen, so I'm fully expecting Fabbri to become Brayden Point. REBUILD'S OVER, NERDS. LET'S GO.

But is he lazy?

What if we just pretend that the Wings won? Like...who's gonna stop us?

IMO, that was a valid feel-good point in recent years. Not this year tho. Games aren't even close anymore.

^^^ This has been Inside the Coach's Brain, presented by Ford.

Right. Just gotta grind it out until the trade deadline or the offseason.