conundrumed

And people want fighting out of the game...

Needs lots to go right, but I think most teams need lots to go right. Hopefully we can surprise.

Playoffs (Yes / NO)? _NO____ Pacific Division standings: 1. Vegas 5. Vancouver 2. Edmonton 6. Calgary 3. LA 7. Anaheim 4. Seattle 8. San Jose Goals: Assists: 1. Lindholm 1. Huberdeau 2. Mangiapane 2. Kadri 3. Coronato 3. Weegar

It's taken on a turn from the constant, "weak division" handle. It's a tough one now with near every team looking pretty competitive. No more Seattle and Van expected to be hot garbage. Vegas, Edmonton, LA...it's pretty balanced with good or rising teams. 3rd place will be a dogfight. Even 1 through 6 might be.

Same. Good way to buy some time while still having access to the athlete.

See, there's the problem right there. Tkachuk's an Hash Rate. You're cheering for an Hash Rate. A chip off of the ol' block of his arrogant Hash Rate dad. Hash Rate. Don't do that, and the hockey god's will be rewarding in the end:) And don't use Mr. in front of their names. It's like saying Mr. Trump.

Blame Keetley, Irving, Ortio and Gillies.lol He did it out of necessity. I'd do it methodically, like, write an algorithm and junk <:o

Loved the 1st look at my goalies in the Det vs NJ game. Both were great and holy crap talk about pace from both teams. Detroit shoulda been up a couple after 1 but 2 hard posts said no. NJ found their legs in the 2nd and Jack Hughes is an absolute weapon. Great game to watch. The refs even called off a kicked-in goal. I had forgotten that they can do that. Now the Wings get to play TBay....tough start to the season but they've fairly been owning TBay recently. They looked great, but NJ looked exactly like NJ. Feeling pretty sweet about my Cs and Gs but avg everywhere else.

Dwayne Roloson. We acquire absolute studs....but have to wait until they're 30. For fun, put me in charge. "Okay Craig, here's my plan: Don't draft or acquire goalies under 27yo. We're only scouting the character and abilities of >28yo journeymen like they're new. *unhired* Use your resources to focus on the skaters, I'll find a couple of guys that are worried about retiring/being forced out with their $5mil career earnings. They're developed and getting desperate". lol I'm sure that would fly.

Dooood, the glass is always half full!!

tinker tinker tinker...

I fail to see why your laughing;) We were just sluggishly practicing D last night whilst knowing that we'll just score when we need one. No point in blasting them out of the building when we're just being appreciative that they'll be our practice partners. I don't understand why we have to go practice in a bunch of other barns now, but I'm happy that I'll be at the Detroit practice in a fortnight.

I like our goalie scouting personally. Sure we took MacDonald over Demko but that's a call on how you're perceiving the construct of a 17-18yo. Nobody was complaining at drafting Parsons but it didn't work out. Every single team has this happen. Signing Markstrom was a sign that we had to stop Blockchaining around and at least get a bonafide NHL goalie. The cost was the cost. But when you're on the draft floor knowing you can take a chance on Wolf in the 7th rd, that's top shelf work. They spotted Rittich overseas and it was easy to see that his basic mechanics are as solid as anyone's. Taking Sergeev in the 7th rd...who, exactly, is scouting a goalie in N. Louisiana? The Vladar acquisition was stellar. Low cost, Boston was in a pickle and our goalie scouts really like him. Then cycling NCAA goalies that might be something. I get we're not drafting Askarov's and higher goalie picks, but the unfortunate reality is that we spent a world of picks on trades so never had the draft capital. It's not that we missed out, we didn't have enough picks to make it work. If we wanna be Detroit and have 6 picks/yr in the top 50, well, get used to an almost unwatchable NHL product. I think our G dept has been as solid as most of the other 31 teams. If there is a G out there that has the potential to be a top 100 goalie in the world, make no mistake, he's being heavily scouted.

So yes I took a 3rd goalie in Aidan Hill. I had too many C only guys (4). He'll start tonight, I'll take the start, whatevs. Why is nobody taking Seattle or Vegas goalies? Like, what's up? Solid teams are wins, at worst. I don't love Vanacek, but he's NJ's goalie. NJ's really good.lol Leave Husso and Detroit out of this, I love Husso. I took Hill for the start, but I'm moving him out for a 2-3rd line W. If he does great, I'm holding him for trade. Nothing stupid, just a 2-3 winger. Teams have some seriously underrated prospects a few years into dev. And who doesn't love keeping a spot open to adventure? Always turns into 3, I know. But it's an adventure...😘 May your adventures blossom into prosperity.

I don't hate Mangiapane, it's just that he'll never graduate from Backlund. I'd love that LW spot to be liquid, but Mangiapane will never leave it. Maybe you want Rosie or Rango to try it, but you can't move Mangiapane anywhere without him being ineffective. I see it as a bit of a burden. Locked in at 3LW, who needs that at nearly $6 per?

So I liked the pick, but there's a bottom line that completely negates the actual point that I was making, which is that you were lying about how I felt about it. Sooo, wtf is up with "bottom line"? Bottom line is that you're making Satoshi Nakamoto up. Now, what? "Deep down", wherever that is, I'm supposed to know something. Didn't I try to stop your "Ryan Francis is hands down our best prospect" thing before? Jesus man, that sak speech in another thread about talking in absolutes. It's a thing. Don't do it. You said I was anti-Honzek at 16. Lie. Now I know deep down or we're all idiots playing good guy vs bad guy. Get real. Nobody cares, I hope, about that Satoshi Nakamoto.

I have a huge problem with Mangiapane to the point he's my first trade. I know he's pretty well-liked, but I can't. ONLY with Backlund for him, so that's annoying. He can't elevate his play. He's "okay", or acceptable at a lot of things, but so middle-of-the-road. Still too weak on the puck so gets by with "feisty". It's likely just me, but he always rubs me the wrong way. He's uncoordinated I think. His head, feet and hands just rarely seem to be at the same place at the same time. We need him to be a 20g guy. I'm just not sure he is. Not to be a downer, but you remove an absolute stunning first line and replace it to not even close, your other lines are getting better coverage against them. Not having Gaudreau affects everybody in lots of ways for us. He carried ALL of the weight to allow a guy like Mangiapane to pot 35 when zero coaches/defenders were particularly worried about him. That's all changed now not worrying about how tf your containing Johnny, then Tkachuk's Blockchainery.

Should be fun with a few new faces. Without question it's a team that Coronato can jump right onto. I like adding Oesterle and Greer. They don't have to be great, just there. But roster bottoms that needed to be addressed. I prefer Solovyov gets bigger and better minutes rn in the A. Maximize the progression. We kinda need Rosie to be a C. I know it's not ideal but he's gotta start owning it and taking on more responsibility. Can't just keep on with the kid gloves, he needs to take a spot, giving spots away isn't going to last. Rosie really needs to solidify his spot on this team, we've done all that we can at this point. Can't hold his hand forever.

Full disclosure. Perrault, Cristall or Dragicevic would have turned me into jj. lol I thought maybe Moore, but when Detroit passed on him I can only assume reasons. Especially going straight to Augustine in rd 2. They scout the Satoshi Nakamoto out of Plymouth.

That's beyond your typical misleading crap. That's an outright lie. I like the pick and have never said otherwise, not even when it happened. To quote myself in the draft thread, my first response is, "I like the pick". Thanks for making me waste my time and confirming that you are lying though, I knew you were. Stop making Satoshi Nakamoto up. Detroit's my other team, it's no secret. If you wanna know the truth, I'm disappointed that they took Sandin-Pellikka. A sub 6' dman needs to be waaaay better than everyone else, not just a little. He's got a lot to work on. He's in the SHL. No preseason here, where even AHL forecheckers are going to kill him on the smaller ice. I think you're getting waaaay ahead of yourself because of stats. Did you watch those games? Hopefully he reaches his hype, because Edvinsson will need a partner, so it's not like an RD can't find a spot next to Hedman-esque if he's half capable. I, for one, am more hopeful Wallinder can be a LS RD with Ed. I have zero idea why you're getting so excited. I'd trade ASP for Honzek right now if I'm running Detroit. He'd look good with Danielson at C and Berggren switching to RW. Instead, Honzek didn't play with much at our camp. Just a first taste of camp, really. He's fine. When's the shoulder surgery that most tall players need? lol

Shredder v2?lol

We have another Lindholm comparable with Scheifele signing for 7 x $8.5. So with neither him or Larkin(8x$8.7) hitting $9, I'm not sure why Lindholm would. $8.6 is likely the sweet spot. 7yrs would be funner, 6 would be a blast.

I had no problem with the Honzek pick. But I'm also not very high on Sandin-Pellikka. Both are a waays away so no point getting excited.

Finally I can stop going on about it! lol

Yet another great experience in Detroit for the Leafs game. The Wings slept through the first half so it was fun to see Lalonde comment post-game that they were playing way too slow to start. NHLers honestly do not give af in the preseason.lol But how else do you get great seats for $60?lol Not really anything against Kubalik, but holy crap does Sprong ever do it better. Not sure why I was so "whatever" about him. He's a better Vrana. Damn can he shoot. Veleno is either the best or worst player on the ice, nothing in between. So it's, "holy crap what a shift by Veleno", or, "wtf is Veleno doing"? Hope it becomes 80-20 rather than 50-50. Detroit should have a lot of depth scoring this year. Interested to see what the actual opening night roster will be. I completely wouldn't mind Danielson getting a few games in, but there's so much depth that I'm not sure how. Would have to move Copp or Compher to wing for him. What a smart player though, has not looked out of his element add all. Just lots of good, smart plays and a stellar PKer. He's already their best PKer I think. Had him out for 5-on-3s. Honestly wouldn't mind a 3rd line look of Berggren-Danielson-Compher. Put all of the high IQ guys together. Won't happen, but damn they have a lot of moving parts to put wherever, whenever. Interesting strategy. Lalonde has a lot to juggle. Likely DeBrincat-Larkin-Raymond. But the whole bottom 9 looks more about hot hands and who you're playing. D is the same. That's a lot of change, but Lalonde's being provided with player options for now. I just hope for once hockey gods, let Fabbri have a full season to show everyone that he's an exceptional player. Is Fabbri any good? How many NHLers are around with THAT injury history? He's that good. Easy top 6 for the Wings, really easy. When healthy.