Connor McDavid

[kliq 3,755]

I watched Connor play in person for the first time tonight, and damn was I impressed! He sticks out like a Man playing with Boys. It wasn't even about points, it was the way he just seemed to dominate.. Things like the ease he moved with the puck, the way he made no look passes, etc. Completely unselfish player, in the third period with a few seconds left he had an empty net and he passed it to his teammate. Hes going to be a stud! (not that everybody doesn't know that).

[number9 3,297]

Shoulda tanked

[Bannedforlife 403]

Dont worry, well see him in a Wings uniform before his 40th birthday.

[chaps80 1,591]

Dont worry, well see him in a Wings uniform before his 40th birthday.

LOL

Long as Edmonton does'nt get him i'll be happy.

[number9 3,297]

All my Sabres friends talk about nothing but McDavid. They are honestly irate that Lindback has rediscovered his form since coming to Buffalo. They would rather see their once highly touted goalie fail miserably than become a valuable asset to the team. And that goes with all their young ones stepping up and playing well right now. Yet they still will only have a 20% chance a McDavid if they finish last. And therein lies the conundrum with tanking. Wishing your players to suck in order to get the greener players on the other side of the hill.

Then when they get said player they wonder why they still aren't winning and their other 22 players suck. It's madness.

For everyone who points to PIT, CHI, and tanking as the answer, I point to Detroit, Montreal, Tampa, NYR, Boston, Columbus, Edmonton, STL, Nashville, Minny, LA, SJ. For some of those smart rebuilding has worked, and the others tanking has failed. CHI and PIT are the exception, not the rule.

[wings87 1,290]

Shoulda tanked

Watch yourself...

This has been going on for a year straight, if your joke starts this again. I will... I will... Well I won't do anything but I'll be very disappointed in you young man.

[rick zombo 3,739]

All my Sabres friends talk about nothing but McDavid. They are honestly irate that Lindback has rediscovered his form since coming to Buffalo. They would rather see their once highly touted goalie fail miserably than become a valuable asset to the team. And that goes with all their young ones stepping up and playing well right now. Yet they still will only have a 20% chance a McDavid if they finish last. And therein lies the conundrum with tanking. Wishing your players to suck in order to get the greener players on the other side of the hill.

Then when they get said player they wonder why they still aren't winning and their other 22 players suck. It's madness.

For everyone who points to PIT, CHI, and tanking as the answer, I point to Detroit, Montreal, Tampa, NYR, Boston, Columbus, Edmonton, STL, Nashville, Minny, LA, SJ. For some of those smart rebuilding has worked, and the others tanking has failed. CHI and PIT are the exception, not the rule.

Great post 9.

Backing off the "tank" philosophy for a minute. Most of those teams you mentioned have reaped the rewards of at least one abysmal season. Star players like Price, Stamkos, Johansen, Pietrangello, Jones, etc all went top 5, but only Stamkos was a #1 pick. So you don't "have" to tank. Plain old being regular bad works too.

As much as a loathe the "tank it" philosophy amongst some around here, I can understand a Wings fan's frustration about never getting a Price in the draft. Just look at how excited everyone was to draft 15th last year for frig sakes.

But ultimately, cheering for your own team to suck is impossible for me to condone.

[number9 3,297]

Great post 9.

Backing off the "tank" philosophy for a minute. Most of those teams you mentioned have reaped the rewards of at least one abysmal season. Star players like Price, Stamkos, Johansen, Pietrangello, Jones, etc all went top 5, but only Stamkos was a #1 pick. So you don't "have" to tank. Plain old being regular bad works too.

As much as a loathe the "tank it" philosophy amongst some around here, I can understand a Wings fan's frustration about never getting a Price in the draft. Just look at how excited everyone was to draft 15th last year for frig sakes.

But ultimately, cheering for your own team to suck is impossible for me to condone.

AGREED.

We are in the rare circumstance of having scouts and managers that don't need a single influx of highly drafted talent to revitalize the team. It's not glamorous, but it works great for us.

And at the end of the day, that's what I see true pro-tankers as. Individuals who want solely to salivate over highly publicized prospects.

[frankgrimes 1,836]

McDavid and Eichel aren't the usual top picks they're young phenom. Especially McDavid has the potential to become another Crosby or maybe even better.

It pisses me of how much crap Buffalo is getting for doing the right thing. Ufas won't sign there (for now), centers are hard to come by do what other option do they have? None talents like McEichel aren't going to be in every draft.

I hope McDavid can do for them what The Captain did for us. I also wouldn't be too cocky about never needing a top pick because well when Pasha is gone...The blow has to be lessened somehow and soon after him Z too.

[amato 3,210]

LOL

Long as Edmonton does'nt get him i'll be happy.

I'd rather Edmonton get their annual first pick than Toronto get mcdavid for sure

[number9 3,297]

McDavid and Eichel aren't the usual top picks they're young phenom. Especially McDavid has the potential to become another Crosby or maybe even better. It pisses me of how much crap Buffalo is getting for doing the right thing. Ufas won't sign there (for now), centers are hard to come by do what other option do they have? None talents like McEichel aren't going to be in every draft. I hope McDavid can do for them what The Captain did for us. I also wouldn't be too cocky about never needing a top pick because well when Pasha is gone...The blow has to be lessened somehow and soon after him Z too.

Mouslon, Gionta, Meszaros, and Benoit disagree

[DRW Dominance 255]

being close to Oshawa, i've had the privilege of watching Lindros, Tavares, Marc Savard etc. JT and the Big E were on another level like Mcdavid. Never got to see Crosby as a kid. now, will probably never to get see Mcdavid before he jumps ship to the NHL which sucks balls.

[Son of a Wing 1,644]

McDavid and Eichel aren't the usual top picks they're young phenom. Especially McDavid has the potential to become another Crosby or maybe even better. It pisses me of how much crap Buffalo is getting for doing the right thing. Ufas won't sign there (for now), centers are hard to come by do what other option do they have? None talents like McEichel aren't going to be in every draft. I hope McDavid can do for them what The Captain did for us. I also wouldn't be too cocky about never needing a top pick because well when Pasha is gone...The blow has to be lessened somehow and soon after him Z too.

Drafting top picks are not the only way to acquire and/or develop elite players.

As a Wings fan, you should know better.

[kipwinger 8,522]

Seems like every few years there's some new kid in the draft that's the elite of the elite. The next Crosby. The next Stamkos. The next Ovechkin. The next Tavares. The next whoever.

So what?

Crosby, Stamkos, Ovechkin, Tavares, only have one cup between them. Lots of teams do lots of winning without generational talents. And lots of generational talents weren't drafted with the top pick.

Connor McDavid will probably be a good NHLer, but I doubt he's going to be so otherworldly good that we'll all be left in awe. At best he'll be Crosby level good. And is anybody really that blown away with him anymore? Sure he's a great player, but not so much better that development, and management, and team building, don't matter.

Connor McDavid is more likely to be an Eberle, Yakupov, RNH, or Hall than he is to be another Crosby. Because he'll likely get drafted by a team that only knows how to get that much out of him.

[Smite 399]

You do not need a "elite top pick" to be good.

When is the last time Detroit had a player win the Art Ross? Individual awards mean nothing to this organization.

Since we started winning the cup back in '98 Detroit has had 1 player break the top 5 in scoring leaders and 6 times in the top 10.

Detroit has always focused on depth instead on star talent.

When Pasha is gone hopefully Manta, larkin or another player will fill his shoes as Z and DAts took over for players like Yzerman and Shanny.

[krsmith17 7,191]

I agree with everything you said there Kip except the last part. I do think he is a lot more likely to become as good as a Crosby then he is to top out at any of the Oilers top players. But will that put whatever team that is lucky enough to draft him over the top into a Cup contender? No, not with him alone. It's still going to take great drafting and developing of the players around him. I definitely agree that a team doesn't need these number one picks and generational talents to have success and also, as shown by Edmonton, getting these type of players don't guarantee anything...

[kipwinger 8,522]

When Dats and Z are gone we'll have (just listing them here, no particular order)

Tatar-Athanasiou-Mantha

Nyquist-Larkin-Abby

Pulkkinen-Sheahan-Jurco

Helm-Glendening-whoever.

Yeah, I'm sure we'll suck lol.

[krsmith17 7,191]

whoever (Callahan or Bertuzzi)

[Son of a Wing 1,644]

Nastasiuk...

[krsmith17 7,191]

I'm sure someone is going to come along and say, "you know not every prospect works out right?"... That's the thing though, pretty much every player mentioned above is as close to a sure thing as it gets (aside from maybe Callahan). It's not like we're talking about Turgeon, Holmstrom, Tvrdon, etc. (although I don't think it's out of the question that any of these guys make it either). Sure, it's going to suck when Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Kronwall retire but we're going to be in great shape thanks to Mr. Holland.

Our defense doesn't look too bad for the future either, with DeKeyser, Smith, Ericsson, Marchenko, Ouellet, Sproul, Jensen, (Wheaton, McNulty, Nedomlel). Like I've said before though, I do believe we do need to concentrate on drafting defense in this years draft (especially the first round).

[rick zombo 3,739]

whoever

Edited March 20, 2015 by rick zombo

[kipwinger 8,522]

franks future hero:

Who needs Connor McDavid anyway?

[rick zombo 3,739]

Who needs Connor McDavid anyway?

This guy could punch McDavid so hard, that the next 10 future first rounders would retroactively be born with concussions, sending a "message" throughout the cold depths of outer space . Which, of course, would somehow lead to the Red Wings winning more games.

[VM1138 1,921]

People point to Chicago and Pittsburgh all the time but seem to forget that they each got two major talents within a year of each other. Pittsburgh wouldn't be as good without Malkin and Chicago wouldn't have won much without Kane. So whoever gets McDavid is at the start, but unless they luck out in the following draft again it will be a long road.

[rick zombo 3,739]

People point to Chicago and Pittsburgh all the time but seem to forget that they each got two major talents within a year of each other. Pittsburgh wouldn't be as good without Malkin and Chicago wouldn't have won much without Kane. So whoever gets McDavid is at the start, but unless they luck out in the following draft again it will be a long road.

People also don't give Chicago enough credit for making shrewd moves to navigate the cap and keep the team contending on a yearly basis. They've basically one a cup with two different teams of role players to compliment the core. They also drafted extremely well (Sadd and Keith in the 2nd round were great picks).

That was painful to type. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go barf.