2023 Playoffs General Thread

[The 91 of Ryans 3,019]

12 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

Nah, they suck too. And why are you suddenly being nice to Canada? Cut that sh*t out.

 

I still like Bunting. People forget he's a second year player. He's going to get better at being a "pest". He obviously cost his team last night, there's no sugar coating it. There are a lot of effective players who played the same type of game and had to learn to manage it as they matured. Every (valid) criticism of Bunting was also said of Marchand, Gallagher, Tkachuk, Kadri. But I like that he battles, isn't intimidated, draws a ton of penalties, and scores goals. Yzerman and Lalonde both identified adding scoring and toughness as priorities in the offseason. Bunting provides both irrespective of how annoying he is. You just have to be sure that you've got a quality leadership group that can help him figure out how to manage it.

He's 27 years old and has been in and out of the NHL for the last 5 seasons. 

Also, like other UFAs such as Zucker, you have to wonder how much of Bunting's production comes from playing with 3 elite offensive players for the past two season. 

[Walman6million 250]

12 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

Nah, they suck too. And why are you suddenly being nice to Canada? Cut that sh*t out.

Bruh, the Oilers are gods gift to man. Three 100 pt players. McD with 150. Defenders who can barely manage their own zone, but can move the puck up ice. Terrible goalies. High octane scoring. Maximum firepower. Im all in on western Canadian oil dependancy. 

[kipwinger 8,771]

1 hour ago, The 91 of Ryans said:

He's 27 years old and has been in and out of the NHL for the last 5 seasons. 

Also, like other UFAs such as Zucker, you have to wonder how much of Bunting's production comes from playing with 3 elite offensive players for the past two season. 

Prior to last season Bunting had only played 26 NHL games. I don't think it's a stretch to say he's still figuring out his game at the NHL level, irrespective of his age. But to be clear I'm not suggesting we throw a HUGE payday at the guy. Also, Zucker isn't a great example. He was just as productive in Minnesota as he was in Pittsburgh despite playing with a bunch of nobodies.

 

1 hour ago, Walman6million said:

Bruh, the Oilers are gods gift to man. Three 100 pt players. McD with 150. Defenders who can barely manage their own zone, but can move the puck up ice. Terrible goalies. High octane scoring. Maximum firepower. Im all in on western Canadian oil dependancy. 

See, I'm on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. I want them to waste McDavid and Draisaitl's primes. Think about it, who cares if McDavid wins a Cup? What's it going to change? There are people already saying he's better than Gretzky. Winning a Cup now adds nothing to his narrative. The Oilers losing with McDavid is FAR more interesting than them winning with him. I want him to be like Ray Bourque. I want to see an old McDavid have to ride the coattails of a "less talented" (but way better) team to his big Cup win when he's like 76 years old. THAT would be interesting at least.

[marcaractac 3,963]

6 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

Prior to last season Bunting had only played 26 NHL games. I don't think it's a stretch to say he's still figuring out his game at the NHL level, irrespective of his age. But to be clear I'm not suggesting we throw a HUGE payday at the guy. Also, Zucker isn't a great example. He was just as productive in Minnesota as he was in Pittsburgh despite playing with a bunch of nobodies.

 

See, I'm on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. I want them to waste McDavid and Draisaitl's primes. Think about it, who cares if McDavid wins a Cup? What's it going to change? There are people already saying he's better than Gretzky. Winning a Cup now adds nothing to his narrative. The Oilers losing with McDavid is FAR more interesting than them winning with him. I want him to be like Ray Bourque. I want to see an old McDavid have to ride the coattails of a "less talented" (but way better) team to his big Cup win when he's like 76 years old. THAT would be interesting at least.

McDavid to Detroit in his 30s confirmed?

[kipwinger 8,771]

4 minutes ago, marcaractac said:

McDavid to Detroit in his 30s confirmed?

I'd rather have Draisaitl. We've developing a pretty strong group of German speaking badasses here and I don't want to mess that up. Draisaitl, Seider, Kasper, and (soon) Reinbacher. Beware the Huns.

[Walman6million 250]

10 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

I'd rather have Draisaitl. We've developing a pretty strong group of German speaking badasses here and I don't want to mess that up. Draisaitl, Seider, Kasper, and (soon) Reinbacher. Beware the Huns.

They destroyed Rome, united catholic Europe, the colonial era of Europe, and small mustaches. The modern NHL should be a cake walk for them. 

27 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

Prior to last season Bunting had only played 26 NHL games. I don't think it's a stretch to say he's still figuring out his game at the NHL level, irrespective of his age. But to be clear I'm not suggesting we throw a HUGE payday at the guy. Also, Zucker isn't a great example. He was just as productive in Minnesota as he was in Pittsburgh despite playing with a bunch of nobodies.

 

See, I'm on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. I want them to waste McDavid and Draisaitl's primes. Think about it, who cares if McDavid wins a Cup? What's it going to change? There are people already saying he's better than Gretzky. Winning a Cup now adds nothing to his narrative. The Oilers losing with McDavid is FAR more interesting than them winning with him. I want him to be like Ray Bourque. I want to see an old McDavid have to ride the coattails of a "less talented" (but way better) team to his big Cup win when he's like 76 years old. THAT would be interesting at least.

No no I want McD to destroy Gretskys records and win more cups so we can unretire 99 and call Wayne an overrated loser

[kipwinger 8,771]

4 minutes ago, Walman6million said:

They destroyed Rome, united catholic Europe, the colonial era of Europe, and small mustaches. The modern NHL should be a cake walk for them. 

I agree with the bolded, but would caution that dominating Europeans isn't really all that difficult. They seem to fall prey to a new autocrat every other decade or so.

[kipwinger 8,771]

27 minutes ago, Walman6million said:

No no I want McD to destroy Gretskys records and win more cups so we can unretire 99 and call Wayne an overrated loser

It's not that I have any reverence for Gretzky. I don't. He's ancient history. He's like the Pyramids. He's just a magnificent, old, thing that has lost its luster. Like the pyramids I barely even remember he exists. However, if someone came along and tried to build new pyramids that were bigger and taller it would tickle me to no end if they toppled over and sank into the sand instead.

In short, everyone sucks except the Red Wings and Canadian prima donnas suck most of all.

Edited April 19, 2023 by kipwinger

[Walman6million 250]

I would like to announce my official endorsement for Radko Gudas for the Wings. Guy is stepping up in the playoffs.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

20 hours ago, kipwinger said:

I'd rather have Draisaitl. We've developing a pretty strong group of German speaking badasses here and I don't want to mess that up. Draisaitl, Seider, Kasper, and (soon) Reinbacher. Beware the Huns.

We could have drafted Stutzle if Ottawa didn't luck out one pick ahead.  Our own Holy Roman Empire.  

[Walman6million 250]

5 minutes ago, GMRwings1983 said:

We could have drafted Stutzle if Ottawa didn't luck out one pick ahead.  Our own Holy Roman Empire.  

The Howe Wings are the first 1st dynasty. The Lidstrom Wings the 2nd. The Seider Wings are the 3rd empire..?

[marcaractac 3,963]

54 minutes ago, Walman6million said:

The Howe Wings are the first 1st dynasty. The Lidstrom Wings the 2nd. The Seider Wings are the 3rd empire..?

I'm not yet convinced this iteration of the team will win any cups. I feel like this will be what the Rangers were before their recent rebuild. win a series or two every playoffs, but not get all the way there. 

[kipwinger 8,771]

35 minutes ago, marcaractac said:

I'm not yet convinced this iteration of the team will win any cups. I feel like this will be what the Rangers were before their recent rebuild. win a series or two every playoffs, but not get all the way there. 

It's way too early to tell, one way or another. If I were "convinced" the Wings would win a Cup with this team then the rebuild would more or less be over. But at the same time I'm not at all convinced that Kasper can't be as good as Matt Barzal, Edvinsson can't be as good as Jacob Slavin, and Mazur can't be as good as Tyler Bertuzzi ya know? Add that kind of talent to Larkin, Raymond, Seider, Ras, Walmn, Fabbri, Husso and you're starting to look at a very very competitive team. And that's without any outside additions and/or hitting on guys like Wallinder, Lombardi, Buchelnikov, Johansson, etc.

[marcaractac 3,963]

23 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

It's way too early to tell, one way or another. If I were "convinced" the Wings would win a Cup with this team then the rebuild would more or less be over. But at the same time I'm not at all convinced that Kasper can't be as good as Matt Barzal, Edvinsson can't be as good as Jacob Slavin, and Mazur can't be as good as Tyler Bertuzzi ya know? Add that kind of talent to Larkin, Raymond, Seider, Ras, Walmn, Fabbri, Husso and you're starting to look at a very very competitive team. And that's without any outside additions and/or hitting on guys like Wallinder, Lombardi, Buchelnikov, Johansson, etc.

Oh, I agree that it is too early to tell, just more of a hunch based on what we see in the system now. If Yzerman can add a couple young, high-end scoring players up front, one of which being a center, I'll feel pretty confident about Tampa-like potential.

I also base this on being roughly 5 years from being a contender. Once that window of contention opens, we need another young, high-end center to keep that window open for a long time. The window with Larkin as a top center is probably not a very long one.  

[kipwinger 8,771]

1 minute ago, marcaractac said:

Oh, I agree that it is too early to tell, just more of a hunch based on what we see in the system now. If Yzerman can add a couple young, high-end scoring players up front, one of which being a center, I'll feel pretty confident about Tampa-like potential.

I also base this on being roughly 5 years from being a contender. Once that window of contention opens, we need another young, high-end center to keep that window open for a long time. The window with Larkin as a top center is probably not a very long one.  

Thankfully this year's draft is loaded with quality forwards and we've got a bunch of picks. I agree that when we finally get around to winning Larkin isn't going to be "the guy" anymore. However, with that said I do think he'll still be a valuable piece. I've been beating this drum a lot lately, but it cannot be overemphasized how much young guys improve from 20-22 to 26-28. Their point totals aren't always that much different, but if they're coachable they're going to be massively better after they have 5 or so years of experience under their belt. Imagine if Seider was still a 50(ish) point defenseman is stronger, faster, and has more experience defending top guys effectively. Same for any of our young guys.

[marcaractac 3,963]

8 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

Thankfully this year's draft is loaded with quality forwards and we've got a bunch of picks. I agree that when we finally get around to winning Larkin isn't going to be "the guy" anymore. However, with that said I do think he'll still be a valuable piece. I've been beating this drum a lot lately, but it cannot be overemphasized how much young guys improve from 20-22 to 26-28. Their point totals aren't always that much different, but if they're coachable they're going to be massively better after they have 5 or so years of experience under their belt. Imagine if Seider was still a 50(ish) point defenseman is stronger, faster, and has more experience defending top guys effectively. Same for any of our young guys.

Oh for sure. I'm not at all worried about the players we do have. At all. I just think we're in need of one more center and winger to get to that Tampa level. 

Larkin will still be valuable even beyond his current contract. Hopefully, at that time he goes full-on Bergeron and sticks around for little money to keep the train rolling. 

If we luck out and win a lottery pick, I will quickly switch to that rebuild over, we're all set frame of mind.

[Walman6million 250]

Theres a report saying the Pens are prepared to make Dubas GM and President (no Shanahan to answer to).

Lmao teams already know hes fired

[kipwinger 8,771]

Just now, marcaractac said:

Oh for sure. I'm not at all worried about the players we do have. At all. I just think we're in need of one more center and winger to get to that Tampa level. 

Larkin will still be valuable even beyond his current contract. Hopefully, at that time he goes full-on Bergeron and sticks around for little money to keep the train rolling. 

If we luck out and win a lottery pick, I will quickly switch to that rebuild over, we're all set frame of mind.

I don't give a single f*ck about the draft lottery. Good scouting > draft lottery every day of the week. We lost the draft lottery in 2019 and got the first/second best player in the draft when we took Seider. We lost the draft lottery in 2020 and got the second best player in the draft in Raymond. We lost the draft lottery in 2021 and got a defenseman that I think is just as good as the consensus #1 player drafted (Owen Power) when we took Edvinsson. We lost the draft lottery last year and got a comparably good pick to the consensus top picks (Shane Wright and Slafkovsky) when we picked Kasper.

Obviously Bedard is supposed to be on a totally different level than those concensus top picks. But there are still some questions about him (whether or not the Canadian media wants to address them) that could lessen his projection at the NHL level. He'll obviously still be a top end player no doubt, but I'm incredibly skeptical that he's going to be a generational talent. He doesn't have elite size or skating to be in the realm of a McDavid, Draisait, MacKinnon, Matthews, or even a Jack Hughes. He's got a really good brain and a great shot, but his playmaking isn't that great (relative to elite NHL centers) and I think that suggests maybe he'll play on the wing at that level.

[Walman6million 250]

Tronna up 3 to 0

We got to cocky Yzerbros

[F.Michael 4,590]

3 hours ago, Walman6million said:

Tronna up 3 to 0

We got to cocky Yzerbros

[marcaractac 3,963]

19 hours ago, kipwinger said:

I don't give a single f*ck about the draft lottery. Good scouting > draft lottery every day of the week. We lost the draft lottery in 2019 and got the first/second best player in the draft when we took Seider. We lost the draft lottery in 2020 and got the second best player in the draft in Raymond. We lost the draft lottery in 2021 and got a defenseman that I think is just as good as the consensus #1 player drafted (Owen Power) when we took Edvinsson. We lost the draft lottery last year and got a comparably good pick to the consensus top picks (Shane Wright and Slafkovsky) when we picked Kasper.

Obviously Bedard is supposed to be on a totally different level than those concensus top picks. But there are still some questions about him (whether or not the Canadian media wants to address them) that could lessen his projection at the NHL level. He'll obviously still be a top end player no doubt, but I'm incredibly skeptical that he's going to be a generational talent. He doesn't have elite size or skating to be in the realm of a McDavid, Draisait, MacKinnon, Matthews, or even a Jack Hughes. He's got a really good brain and a great shot, but his playmaking isn't that great (relative to elite NHL centers) and I think that suggests maybe he'll play on the wing at that level.

I think Bedar's shortcomings mentioned here will certainly give him a tougher time adjusting to the NHL than a guy like McDavid did. But I do think he will be a top-10 player in the league in due time. 

Will he put up McDavid numberS? Absolutely not. We may never see that again after McDavid. But I do think he has that dedication, work ethic, and will to win that will have him put in all the work in the gym and on the ice to keep getting better. 

I feel like his development trajectory will be closer to Jack Hughes than Connor McDavid. But I think Crosby COULD be his ceiling. But it won't happen overnight. He will have to work for it, for the reasons you have mentioned. 

Of course, when I talk draft lottery picks, Fantilli is very much a part of that conversation. While I agree that lottery picks are by no means the end all, be all many make them out to be, getting one of those two top players would be a huge deal for this rebuild.  

[Walman6million 250]

I fell asleep after the krakheads went up by 2 last night.

I can only assume Darren Helm scored a hattrick for the Avs after that. SOB. 

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

I forgot what it's like to root for Detroit in the playoffs.  

[F.Michael 4,590]

On 4/19/2023 at 12:58 PM, kipwinger said:

I'd rather have Draisaitl. We've developing a pretty strong group of German speaking badasses here and I don't want to mess that up. Draisaitl, Seider, Kasper, and (soon) Reinbacher. Beware the Huns.

Techno Viking approves…

 

36 minutes ago, GMRwings1983 said:

I forgot what it's like to root for Detroit in the playoffs.  

I know.

For 25 seasons we had something to look forward to. Fresh air, warmer weather, and Red Wings in the playoffs. April in the D.

[The 91 of Ryans 3,019]

2 hours ago, F.Michael said:

I know.

For 25 seasons we had something to look forward to. Fresh air, warmer weather, and Red Wings in the playoffs. April in the D.

Hang in there everyone. Just another 5 years or so to go…..