buddha

keep watson and cut kasper because....youre the red wings.

when you've lost bacon...

i actually have more confidence in them now than i did before the game. but before i thought they were a 6 win team, now i think they might win 7 or 8!

can jack tuttle turn the season around?

i havent seen anything from johannson that says he's nothing more than a bottom pairing guy. they have to keep him or cut him, i wouldnt be surprised if they waived him.

kasper with 2 goals already. are you watching stevie?

welp, so much for jack campbell.

another guy who could have more value than you might think is rasmussen. big and physical and on a good deal.

it might be better for the team long term if they are out of it at the deadline and they can deal a physical defenseman like chairot to some contender for a 2nd round pick. copp is unmoveable on his deal but teams always value a physical defenseman at playoff time.

i dont think copp and compher are necessarily the "problem." their contracts are potentially a problem. the "problem" is that those two are role players who are overpaid. the "problem" is they dont have enough high end skill players on offense so they end up with compher and copp playing roles they were unsuited to play for a playoff team. but you can still win with copp as a checking line center and compher as a "200 foot center" who does the dirty work between two skill players like kane and tarasenko. the issue up front to me is that larkin/raymond/debrincat need to take a step up and be a better line. theyre good, but they need to be amazing. i think wheeler and pronman still underestimate raymond. he needs to turn into panarin or zabinijad if the wings want to be a top team in the east. the other elephant on the ice is the defense. edvinsson must be on the seider track and turn into a 1b defense. petry and chairot should be 3rd pairing defense (petry shouldnt even be that) and instead they are top pairing and second pairing. they need one of their younger group of defensemen to take that step up, be it johannson or wallinder or eventually ASP. theyre never going anywhere until guys like petry are no longer necessary and guys like chairot are in a role that suits him.

i've never seen a manager take a team to 31-11 and a playoff spot with basically one starting pitcher. one and a half good starters? its been amazing what they've done.

absolutely. a lot of his job is keeping players motivated and interested and used correctly.

ive always been in the "managers dont really matter until the playoffs" camp, but this year's performance by hinch was master class.

i agree with you for the most part. people forget they were the worst team in the league (and one of the worst teams in nhl history) with one of the worst farm systems in the league when he took over. that said, the good sized contracts for middling to average players are now coming back to bite them a bit and those players are now blockinh prospects. the other avenue - besides signing older vets to get the team to be average - would have been continuing to be bad and sell off assets and draft higher in the lottery. the blackhawks route. which way is better? we shall see. but to your point, i think yzerman has done a decent job given the terrible hand he was dealt. the proof comes next year, imo, when kasper/danielson/mazur et al should all be in detroit.

but to your point, they dont seem to have superstars. and the league has played a role in preventing them from drafting them because theyve been ****ed in the lottery.

i have faith that they have a lot of really high quality players. but theyre in the minors and they refuse to give them a shot because we need a fourth line checking wing who has played three years in the league RIGHT NOW.

if they tread water this year and just miss the playoffs again, we'll see if he ditches lalonde should a big name coach become available.

is 31-11 the new 35-5?

this is all very exciting.

wallinder and johannsen seem like roster filler. mazur and kasper should be on the team, but theyre blocked by yzerman's bottom rotation signings. i would rather have this year be a "step back to step forward" year than see petry, maata, and holl out there every night. why motte AND fisher? one would be fine but leave the other spot for a rookie. why three goalies? four really if you count campbell. i get the idea. rookies have to earn it. but has motte earned it over them? campbell AND talbot when you had lyon and husso already signed and cossa as an emergency? i get compher. i even get chiarot and copp. but some of these other signings i do not understand. blood your young talent. spend money to supplement it. not the other way around.

hockey analytics seem off to me. i dont get them at all.

Athletic pre-season prediction: 81 points

i'm too cynical to get excited about media proclamations anymore. i think "ausar is working on his shot" is the new bonderman changeup. interested to see holland in an nba setting. i wasnt impressed with summer league, but its summer league.

"insider" is hilarious. they're PR guys who just send out information from agents.