tarasenko is so worthless. he has an easy clear and instead of half asses it and the blues keep it in, pass it around, and then score.
abaolutely worthless.
i still remember falling asleep at night listening to bruce martyn on the radio.
lots of randy ladoceour, reed larson, and john ogrodnick. early 80s. pre-yzerman days.
it will be an interesting thought experiment to look back in 10 years on this team and wonder whether they should have traded larkin in his prime.
we'll never know what the offers would have been, but the market for a captain who could step in as a 2C on a stanley cup contender would probably be really high.
since that time he has had a couple almost ppg seasons all while playing special teams, good defense, and being a good locker room guy. however, he may have peaked already and he has had a couple injuries that were pretty serious.
the wear and tear may finally be getting to him because he has not been as good this year as in the past. at least not to my eye test.
those improvements were not because those teams were on an upswing. the 86/87 improvement was simply the wings getting yzerman back for a full season.
the 77/78 improvement was a complete fluke as the team totally tanked for the next 5 years until they drafted yzerman.
what all of those seasons may have in common is that you're not really going to compete without at least one superstar forward in his prime and the red wings right now dont have one and arent in a place to get one without losing out this year and/or spending big this summer.
someone else will do it. you dont get him unless you overpay.
if you want a scorer on the cheap, you go for someone whonis already massively overpaid like lavine. or about to be massively overpaid like irving.
fox will be paying attention for sure.
also, the big ten does a lot better in the ratings when michigan and ohio state are both good.
two years ago um-osu did 19 million, this year only 12.5. imagine if they put it on in prime time?
you can get an auto-bid for every conference, but dont automatically give them byes. the big conference champions arent automatically 1 seeds in the bball tourney and they shouldnt be here either.
no way should boise st be seeded higher than penn state or ohio state or texas.
the best thing for them long term is to be so bad as to nab a top 3 pick this year.
are seider and edvinsson outperforming their draft position? not sure. theyre probably in line with what to expect from #6.
kasper is actually performing better than i thought he would. strange to say, but he's being weighed down by the dead wood at wing on his line.
tarasenko has been awful. what a waste of a signing. rasmussen has been non-existent. veleno is meh. copp and compher are just third and fourth line try hard guys. kane has lost everything but his hockey brain.
raymond is a really good player but too small to be a dominant force. larkin looks off this year, like the age and the injuries are just starting to take their tool. still a good player, but not the 1B center he has been the past few years. debrincat is a luxury player. a streaky scorer that is too small to be anything else.
they need size up front and someone who can get pucks in corners. ras was supposed to be that guy but he isnt.
according to srs, the worst three red wings teams of all time were 85-86, 19-20, and 76-77.
85-86 was the year yzerman got hurt and missed almost the whole year.
nothing tops 2019.
that group had mantha, larkin, bertuzzi, and hronek.
this group has larkin, seider, edvinnson, raymond, kasper. i think seider, ed, and raymond give this group the edge...