kipwinger

Probably, but I don’t agree that it would take ASP as well. Teams that are “going for it” don’t usually trade roster players. In that case you’d just tell St. Louis to keep Broberg and pay a lesser price for Thomas. Again, we aren’t taking about superstars here. Thomas is Larkin-esque and Broberg is probably less valuable than 3 of our current defensemen. But if not those two than Kadri/Andersson or Pettersson/Hronek. Any combination of these guys, plus anyone from the Rangers or Winnipeg. I just think the price wouldn’t be too great to pay considering what we’ve already got on the roster and what’s also in the cupboard. Let’s do it.

That’s a Hughes level return for guys who aren’t on that level. Nobody thinks any of the guys I listed are that good. We are talking about pieces that put us over the top. Give St. Louis our next 3 1sts, Augustine, Bear, and Wallinder/Lombardi/Mazur for Thomas and Broberg. Throw in Compher/Appleton/Ras to make the cap hits work. Why would they say no?

What are we waiting for? Larkin is never going to be better than he is now. Raymond and Seider are elite. We have good depth scoring, a top of the league powerplay, strong defense and goaltending, AND the eastern conference is wide open. Trade for two guys that have term and open the contention window. Right now our 1st round draft pick would be in the mid 20s. We don’t need that pick nearly as much as we need a 2C and a top four defender to bump ASP down to the 3rd pair. I’d happily trade this year and next year’s first rounders if we can land a 2C and top four defender. There are plenty out there. Pettersson/Hronek, Kadri/Andersson, Scheifle, Zibanejad, Thomas/Broberg. I’d trade any prospect not named Cossa or Danielson plus picks.

Given that the Eastern Conference is a bit of a mess this season, it sure seems likely that Detroit will find their way into the playoffs for the first time in a decade. I've already made clear that I think we should be "all in" starting now. Larkin, Raymond, Seider, and Debrincat are bon a fide stars. We havea good starter and a decent backup. We can expect continued growth out of ASP, Edvinsson, Kasper, Danielson, MBN, etc. over the next 5(ish) years. I think we should find some good veteran workhorses to plus up for the playoffs and go for it starting right now. I like Kadri and Andersson, but anybody like them would work. Veteran, workhorse, top of the lineup guys. I don't think it would cost much for a package deal. A first this year and next, plus a top goalie prospect Cossa or Augustine but not both, and a few of the B-level prospects (Mazur, Wallinder, Lombardi, etc.). What say you?

I actually think ASP will get eaten up in the playoffs and would really like to see him on a sheltered 3rd pair. Ed-Seider Johansson- Rasmus Andersson Chiarot-ASP

So what’s everyone’s impressions of the season so far? I’ll keep mine short. I’ve loved our forward lines and the emergence of Seider-Ed as a dominant defensive pair. Goaltending has been good enough to keep us in a divisional seed so it’s hard to complain about too much. We are weak at 2C and on the second defensive pair. Veterans at both positions would give us as good a team as any in the east (except healthy Florida).

It's been a while so I'm going to hit the ground running. 1. I don't understand waiving Berggren and calling up Leonard on the same day, especially in view of the Kane injury. There isn't any scenario in which Berggren isn't a better player than Leonard. If Kane is injured play Berggren in that spot AND THEN waive him. I'm happy for Leonard, seems like a good dude and all, but he's not a better player than Berggren and I want to win games. 2. Now that the Hughes situation has played out I hope we can turn our attention to more realistic trade options. Specifically, I'm interested in Nazem Kadri (to be our 2C) and Rasmus Andersson (to play in the top four). It's looking like we've got a really good chance to make the playoffs here and those two would help us a fair bit. I think ASP has been really good, but you most definitely don't want a rookie playing top four minutes in the playoffs. He'd get schooled. I like the looks of this better... Finnie-Larkin-Raymond Cat-Kadri-Kane Kasper-Danielson-Sodorblom Ras/Appleton-Copp-JVR Ras/Appleton Ed-Seider Chiarot-Andersson Johansson-ASP JBD Gibson Talbot Looks like a playoff team to be gents.

They wanted a young center coming back and Detroit doesn’t have any centers who are both expendable AND better than Marco Rossi. Ohgren is a Carter Mazur level prospect and Buium is comparable to ASP. So basically Minny gave up a package equivalent to a better Danielson/Kasper, ASP, Mazur, and a 1st. I’d have been happy to trade something like that for Hughes, but we just didn’t have the premium piece they needed at center.

Really solid road game tonight. Fourth line has looked good.

Couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season. But with all the good things that I’m seeing on the ice there are a couple things I’d like to see them clean up. First, the defense fails to clear the puck…a lot. We create a lot more offensive zone time for the opposition than they rightfully deserve based on their own play. Failed cleats will kill us when games matter against good teams. Second, our second line hasn’t been working like it was in the preseason. I’m not sure what you do there. I don’t like MBN with Debrincat because they’re both shooters. We need a top six that creates matchup problems for the opposition. Right now that’s not happening. Those are my two biggest issues so far.

Turns out Larkin is pretty damn good when he doesn’t have to drag a team full of losers around the ice.

That was probably our best opening period of the season.

That was an exceptional win last night. You don’t blow out the Panthers. Any win against them is going to be a grind, and that’s exactly what we did. The defense turned the puck over a lot in the first period and they need to clean that up, but they got better after that and we won the 2nd and 3rd. Finnie and MBN were quite good. At some point this season I’d like to see them with Kasper and Dcat with Larkin and Raymond. Maybe give Kane a bit of a break at 5on5 during the middle of the season. I also thought Ras/JVR/Sodorblom were really good last night as well. Had some really excellent shifts in the offensive zone and controlled the puck. I’m really liking this team so far, even with the obvious issues on the blue line.

Really good 2nd period there from the boys. The first was pretty ugly but look like we tightened things up in the 2nd. Especially the sloppy turnovers by the defense corps.

Good work on the GDT Leftie, well done. Curious to see what the lineup looks like tonight. Not sure I love the idea of Mason Appleton on the first line but I’m pretty positive McLellan knows better than I do.