buddha

michigan and illinois numbers heavily boosted by final four and, in michigan's case, the championship game.

not that michigan isnt a popular team, but they dont get more eyeballs than duke.

14 minutes ago, Cruzer1 said:

No, I wouldn't trade Rasmussen. He has good size, and was injured all year. I would use every pick possible to get better.

rasmussen has been total **** for 2 years.

16 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

5 game first round series probably just means more gaps in the schedule.

They want the Finals to finish up mid-June so that flows into the draft a week or two later, which flows into free agency a week later, which flows into summer league a week later.  Then the entire offseason is wrapped up before the 900 pound gorilla opens training camp at the end of July.  

why would a five game series result in more gaps?

the real issue is the nba insisting almost all the games need to be scheduled so they dont conflict with each other.

10 minutes ago, Cruzer1 said:

The Red Wings are not without talent. They should be able to bring up Carter Mazur and MBN next year, and hopefully Danielson. They have a really solid defense, which should be intact. Their goalie situation will be better with Cossa joining Gibson. I think the Wings will have two studs on the left side in Carter Bear and Eddie Genborg soon. I think they need to move on from Kane, Perron, and van Reimsdyk. They need to keep their roster younger and fresher. I think the biggest impact next year will come from Cossa, which will allow Gibson to stay fresher longer in the season. I wouldn't bring back a single UFA next year, and I think it's obvious they need to sign Edvinsson to a long term deal.

but what level of talent?  do ANY of those guys profile as a first line skilled scoring winger?  maybe bear? 

looks like second and third line guys, which is fine, but not totally what they need.

plus, if history is a guide, none of those guys are going to make a meaningful contribution next year.  if the spine the wings is a bunch of rookies, they are likely to miss the playoffs again.

I would deal ASP.  too small.

but i doubt you'd get a first round pick back.

woukd anyone attach a 4th rounder to get rid of ras?  what would you attach to get compher off this team?

On 3/14/2026 at 11:26 PM, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Come to the Michigan Democratic Party's convention in April and vote for Amir Makled at the convention. He's running to make a real change at the university and not just be another feckless Regent. He's running to take on Jordan Acker.

https://amirmakled.com/

And WHY are the pulling endorsements?  Because he's a big fan of organizations whose entire goal is to kill Jews.

I'll take "feckless" Jordan Acker.  thanks.

4 minutes ago, DTroppens said:

Waiting until Sunday is going to be painful.

the entire nba playoff schedule is painful.

7 game first round series are dumb.  not having same-series games every other day is excruciating.

2/3 in my preseason bets.

wings to make playoffs.  loss

rangers to miss playoffs.  win!

ducks to make playoffs.  win!

2 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

What is the Slovenian word for bitch?

NBA to delay awards voting for Luka Dončić appeal

We are serious about rules!

(keeping in mind there is a "Lakers exception" to every rule.  see also, celtics exception).

NOW you come back in the 3rd.

and celebrini has been better, which might sting a little.

24 minutes ago, slothfacekilla said:

I imagine Wings fans would call Bedard a bust at this point if they had him

he was hyped to be the next sidney crosby and he's fallen well short of that standard.

that said, the hype was the problem, not bedard.  he may be more like patrick kane, and i'm sure the hawks would take that.  besides, they used to call kane a disappointment too 

3 hours ago, Deleterious said:

JB and his staff should be watching that PHX-DAL series from a few years ago 

I think Phoenix scored something like 85% of their points in the first two games when the hunted Luka. Kidd made adjustments, including heavy pressure on the ball, even doubling the ball, before the screen. Completely took Phoenix out of rhythm and Dallas made the big comeback to win the series. 

Cleveland isn't much of a concern.  They are one of the softest teams in the league. The pistons feast on soft teams. 

we'll see.

6 minutes ago, Betrayer said:

I really wanted NYK in our bracket. CLE is a pretty bad matchup for us. I think that's going to be a tight second round series that could go either way.

mitchell and harden will hunt duncan all day long.

the bulls are such a waste of an organization.  if they had decent ownership they could be dominant.

theyre STILL living off mj's legacy.  they are putrid and still lead the league in attendance every year and still sell more merch than most teams.  if reinsdorf and his investors ever sold the team, they could get billions quite easily.

45 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Current odds from DK.

nuggets a decent bet at that number.

pistons in 6

celtics in 4

knicks over hawks in 6

cavs over raptors in 5

cavs over pistons in 7

celtics over knicks in 6

celtics over cavs in 5

not to get all "gen x nostalgiac" on you, but can you imagine jordan or isiah or bird or magic not wanting to play?  not wanting to win?

take the all star game, they actually used to try to win the game.  how novel.  i know this sounds old mannish, but i think its generational.  does lebron really care about winning every game?  or is he more concerned with brand and "mental health"?

Almost everything about the league's regular season is embarassing nowadays.

from marginal players setting records for offense, to teams deliberately playing g-league lineups to lose games, to sitting star players every other night, to the massive blowouts as teams do not care if they win.

its a real problem in the nba.  the fact that the players do not care enough about the game to play every night is an issue that will haunt the league.  i dont know how you fix that.

they should give the commish the ability to punish teams for sending out inferior lineups to lose.  give it real teeth and not the half-assed measures they use now.  in other words, give the commish the ability to take picks away, or to lower the draft odds, or say the team cant pick higher than 8th because of repeat tanking offenses.

they can tweak the lottery in ways that will help, but i doubt they have the cojones to do it.  make a win "floor".  if you dont finish with at least 25 wins, the highest you can pick is 8th.  something like that.  but make it so teams have to win a certain number of games during the year.  

2 hours ago, Hongbit said:

Here’s a random guys idea.  Think both teams would welcome the switch. 

 

just shuffling the deck chairs.  no thanks.

one thing in their favor for a larkin trade is that he's on a really good contract, assuming he doesnt crater.

put him as a #2 center on a team and he'll thrive.

5 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

The question is whether he is a poor coach given that his team collapsed at the finish, or a good coach that had them playing way over their heads through a good part of the season until reality struck against other teams raising their games?

Personally it always seems unlikely to me the personnel on this team should have been able to achieve and hold a divisional lead for as long as they did at all.

i think its more on the talent on the team than mcclleland.  lots of fragile players in that locker room, it seems.  it could also be that when other teams turned up the heat and started playing hard, the wings cant compete.  they may also have been playing through injury.

regardless, i think its more on the team than the coach.

if danielson and kasper arent 2 and 3 c next year with cossa in net and asp somewhere on the blue line, then the team is trouble OR theyve been traded for actual nhl talent.

1 hour ago, Jason_R said:

We must never stop blaming Kenny! His failure was abject and complete and will still be felt for another five years. If anyone other than Yzerman was responsible for cleaning up the nuclear waste dump Kenny left, Hockeytown would have chewed them up and spit them out a long time ago. 

I haven't said a word about trading for Matthews. Not sure where that is coming from. Their best trade option is probably Edvinsson, once they sign him to an extension. I'm not sure I'd want to part with him now that he and Seider are the on the way to being the best pairing in the league. Would I consider trading him for Brady Tkachuk if he told Ottawa I'm not re-signing here and if we could get him extended? Now that would be interesting. 

i thought you mentioned a matthews trade at some point.  my bad.

i often wonder if detroit has shopped its prospects and people dont want them (other than edvinsson)?  the "no one wanted danielson" rumors were all over the place.  if true, it says a lot about detroit's drafting the last few years.

yzerman's success in drafting has been greatly exaggerated.

to stanley's point, its still a little early for most of the picks.  otoh, you could see seider/raymond as hits right away.  edvinsson took a year.

kasper has had 1/2 a good season and a flop.  danielson flopped this year.  asp was shown to be quite flawed.  while every prospect develops in their own way, if they were going to be stars you would likely know it already.

and the success of finnie and kasper on the top line next to raymond/larkin tells me more about larkin than it does about yzerman's drafting.