buddha

the nba salary cap rules really have ruined a lot of the fun of the sport.

check the last 15 or so posts before yours. 😉

first of all, its not enough money. cozens makes $7 mil. he has 10 goals in 53 games. just like andrew copp. now, he had one season where he scored 30. he's only 23. in a sense he fits their timeline as a #2 center. but if i'm making that kind of deal and taking on that kind of money, i dont know if i'm giving up a first. otoh, someone else might. and buffalo isnt giving him up without getting a first in return. if stevie thinks he is a true #2 center, then a #1 plus berggren and velenonis a steal.

saw it on twitter. i dont listen to detroit sports radio.

who is this person we just traded for?

but before we (me) get ahead of ourselves, they were headed for the playoffs last year and one dylan larkin injury and the whole thing collapsed. its going to be tough sledding down the stretch. we'll see if they do anything at the deadline. pretty sure they have the best record in hockey since mcclellan took over.

i think a lot of us owe steve yzerman an apology (except for the pro scouting department, they still suck). making the playoffs this year puts them ahead of schedule, imo. seider/raymond shouldnt even be in their primes yet... and lucas raymond might need a new agent.

kane wins the shootout with an amazing move. streak is alive!

sloppy play and bad goaltending. 4-4

elmer! 4-2. nice play by veleno.

there is nothing admirable about jimmy butler. not even bizarely.

i feel like duren had five a few days ago against the bulls.

i love hongbit the michigan defender. 🙂

ball's been pretty injury free so far this year. and if all youre giving up is tec or thj and a second rounder, i'm good with taking that risk. i do think that won't be enough, and at the end of the day someone might pony up a late first for him. he's a solid player when healthy.

he did say danielson could have been #2 on the list. but then goes on to say he doesnt look like a #1 center and the offense isnt there. i give credit to wheeler for putting out as much stuff as he does about hockey prospects. he's got great knowledge of a lot of different people. but having a wide base of knowledge doesnt always correlate to a deep base on each player. which is ok! there are hundreds and hundreds of these guys and i wouldnt expect him to have a deep knowledge of each one of them. i appreciate what he does while also disagreeing with him because ALL i do is follow wings prospects so i have different opinions about them. and im a little biased. 🙂

or mcgary. but jamal crawford was the worst. michael oher becomes a national hero and his guardians did the same thing as what happened to crawford. like you said, the ncaa doesnt care about common sense or the purpose of rules, they only care if something has been violated and then if you cooperate with them. the osu stuff with "tattoo-gate- was the same level of ridiculousness.

amen seems to be progressing much faster than his brother.

additions to this year: mbn, plante, kiiskinen, finnie subtractions: edvinsson, soderblom, gibson, dower-nilson edvinsson and soderblom aged out. the same analysis as usual for detroit: deep with no stars. fwiw, they said the same about raymond too (as in, they said he was good but not a star. i think he's becoming a star). wheeler and others often seem entranced by smaller, quicker skilled forwards who light up the lower levels and then turn into decent nhl players but not stars because theyre so small. like.....buchelnikov or plante. but its interesting then that he thinks so highly of mbn who is the opposite of that: big, strong, physical, with not a lot of razzle and/or dazzle in his game. it looks like the wings are set up nicely in net for the future provided they dont trade one of them. they have a steady line of 3rd pair defensemen from both the right and left side. and they have asp, who profiles as a likely second pair defenseman and power play specialist. what they need is a star. we'll see if this is the year they go out and pay for one.

tiers: 1 2-6 7-15 rank: asp mbn kasper danielson cossa augustine buchelnikov mazur wallinder buium plante lombardi kiiskinen finnie johannson

wings come in at #5. down from #2 last year. "The Red Wings have a pretty unique pool in that the pools that typically rank in this range have a true star forward prospect; they have several very good ones but none that project to play on a first line. Instead, their star prospects are on defense and in net, with one of the top D prospects in the sport and two of the top goalie prospects in the sport supporting strong depth up front. Axel Sandin Pellikka’s emergence as a potential top offensive defenseman moved the Red Wings from more of a top-10 pool to No. 5 for me."

hartman gets ten games for that on stutzle??? jamie benn did so much worse to larkin and got like nothing.

i'd do it. ball has been shooting much better lately and improved a lot under....fred vinson. i doubt the bulls want fontecchio and his contract so it probably wont work.

wheeler's annual top team prospect rankings are almost done. he's up to #6, columbus. and has said the top 5 are in a tier all their own. no wings yet, so were top 5.

just a strange coincidence that they both happened to be corners....or defensive tackles a few years before that. weird. "need" always enters into the formulation. always. there is no black line rule definition of "best player available". the criteria for what that means likely includes "team long term need." you make it seem like they either take "the best player" or "a player in the position for which they have an immediate need." the two are not mutually exclusive. again, teams likely have round grades on players. lots of players likely fit a certain grade. you take that and consider all sorts of things when you make that decision, team fit, need, scheme, etc.

so - in theory - the lions would take a qb in round 1 over a dt, de, or iol? arnold and rakestraw just happened to be the bpa at a pivotal position of need? come on. they have a board with a bunch of guys lumped together with similar traits and scores and they take the "best" one. the definition of "best" can also include "immediate need" or "long term need."