Dabura

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

CAPS BEAT THE BOLTS IN REGULATION BLUES BEAT THE ISLES IN REGULATION NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU, PITTSBURGH RANGERS THRASHED THE DEVILS IN REGULATION WE EATIN' GOOD TONIGHT BOYS LET'S GOOOOOOOOO WAIT SORRY THE BLUES-ISLES GAME ISN'T OVERRRRRRRRR

I almost want the Leafs to make it out of the 1st round again just so we get to be the ones to kick their asses.

I actually don't care all that much about shots in and of themselves (which is why I hate the fancy stats arguments). It's more that we play very loosely on the defensive side of the puck. That's OK if you've got great goaltending and great scoring depth, which we do. I just hope those things hold up. Because they have to. As for everyone having flaws, I agree. I said so in my post. (Well, OK, I said bubble teams. But yeah.) Tronna is hugely flawed. But they know how to get that 2nd/3rd seed. Matthews scoring 100 goals a night helps. tl;dr We're on the same page, but I get why some people - even (or maybe especially) Wings fans - would have reservations re: how good we really are.

I mean, I'm a pretty big believer in this team, but I don't really disagree with @Scott R Lucidi. It's not that we aren't good...it's just that we're living in the age of parity and all it takes is a run of bad games to knock you out of a race like this. We saw it last season. Granted, we're a better team this season. But we've still got flaws, just like any other bubble team. Like, I D-E-S-P-I-S-E the fancy stats arguments for why we aren't a good team - but, in fairness, the arguments aren't totally unreasonable. For one thing, we're fundamentally incapable of locking down our half of the ice. Every night we write a blank check for 33+ shots against us and we hand it to the other team and they cash the check. Maybe most of those shots aren't "high-danger," but it's playing with fire. It was killing us before Lyon stepped in and stepped up. Fortunately, we can flat-out score. Which means we have two engines: scoring and Lyon. Either one can falter a bit and it won't necessarily be catastrophic, provided the other one holds up. The concern is that both Lyon and our shooters are probably overachieving a bit and are probably due for some regression. If that regression hits on both fronts at the same time, that could be the season right there. But I'm optimistic. The 2nd wild card spot is ours to lose. The Devils haven't shown that they're any better than us. Nor have the Isles. The Pens are fading. The Caps refuse to die, but we'll see. As far as I'm concerned, that's our competition right now. Those four Metro teams. We're not catching the Leafs. (Watch me eat those words.) F*** them and everything they stand for - but if there's one thing they know how to do, it's finish 2nd or 3rd in the division (and implode in the 1st round). Finishing above the Bolts is more realistic, but they're a veteran team that you expect to get serious when things get serious, and things are getting pretty serious for them. The funny thing in all this is that I really like our chances against the Bruins or Rangers in a best-of-seven. (I want no part of the Panthers, but I'll embrace it if that's how it's gotta be.) I like our chances so much that I almost feel like going toe-to-toe with one of them would be easier than this race we're in now.

I'm just being a little s***.

A GM isn't gonna badmouth a player he's trying to trade.

Gonna be honest, I lost any interest I had in Tanev when I saw Larkin box him out in Markstrom's kitchen on this goal:

I'm not sure we can call Berggren a prospect at this point. He seems to be more like an NHLer who Yzerman simply isn't all that high on (anymore), if only because we have a pretty deep forward group and he's become kinda redundant. Maybe that's a misread on my part. But I do feel like the shine has faded, at least in Yzerman's eyes. Chychrun's a very good point-producing defenseman. If we could get him for a 1st + Berggren + Wallinder, I'd do it in a heartbeat. He'd immediately become our second-best defenseman. My one concern with him, long-term, is that he's always hurt. But, point is, I'd take my chances if the package is largely centered on Berggren.

Isles beat the Pens in OT. Not ideal, but whatevz.

Caps thrashed the Devils.