slothfacekilla

Lalonde had an awful defensive system that didn't allow for players to have any sort of agency or creativity outside of this person needs to be here and when you get the puck immediately flip it out of the zone. You could really see it with Seider, any sort of creative plays he used to do with the puck dried up the last two seasons. I also feel that his defensive system seemed to rely more on collapsing into your own zone instead of trying to stop flow through the neutral zone, which I hate. Then on top of that, I feel like the last season and a half he was coaching scared to lose his job and stifled the offense even further. They weren't chasing after dumping and they basically had no way to generate scoring chances. You could tell that the system absolutely crushed most of the players, they didn't seem to be interested in doing more than going through the motions because the system was so rigid and based around not giving up a goal. Todd, while he runs an overall defensive oriented system with players collapsing more into a trap type scenario when the opposition is breaking out, it seems like emphasis is placed on hounding the puck carrier in the neutral zone. On top of that the players seem to be given the chance to actually make plays with the puck, passes or carrying, instead of instantly flipping it out. It seems like guys are jumping up on offense more and possessing more as well. Honestly in the end it all boils down to his "just play ****ing hockey" rant. Lalonde basically coached these guys into being robots in his system which wasn't flexible at all. Todd wants them to rely less on falling back to the system, but work within that system using your instincts and skills to make plays. Plus Lalonde was an absolute moron when it came to deploying people, especially young players. Johansson is playing 20+ minutes a night and he would barely leave the press box under Uncle Fester. Kasper was being shoehorned into a bottom six checking role. The man put Motte on the top line. In retrospect it is kinda crazy what he did to this team, no wonder all the signings looked awful!

It is very nice to see Todd giving Kasper the rookie Larkin treatment. Larkin got to play wing next to Zetterberg his rookie year and I think putting Kasper at wing on the top line is a great call. He honestly looked fine at center to me, and I think the way he plays makes everyone on his line better. Down on the fourth line it didn't mean a lot more than keeping the puck out of the Wings' net, but now he has a chance to play a little less defensively (at the very least he won't have as much responsibility being on the wing) and with good players and he's showing he can put up points. He's still very young and seems like his body still has some maturing to do as well, so I'm very excited to see him develop in the NHL.

AHL is definitely a developmental league, and I know a big part of Soderblom playing well this season was that Auston Watson took him under his wing in GR, showing him how to play harder and more physical. I honestly had written off Soderblom until part way through this season when it seemed like something clicked. Kasper only played one season of AHL after recovering from a broken knee (that happened in the NHL, I feel like many people forget that the Wings brought him over and played him in Detroit before Grand Rapids). Johansson only spent two seasons in Grand Rapids and it definitely helped him get accustomed to NA ice and game play. I know we all want our prospects now but I'm not sure we should be upset about Johansson and Edvinsson already playing 20+ minutes a night and Kasper fitting in well on the first line. Seems like their development has been alright to me? Something I forgot about too is how young Kasper is, only ~4 months older than Danielson.

It looks like Seider literally scored their second goal for them lol. Since it is on NHL Network and in Southern California I can't watch...

He's not a huge dude but he could at least go after Kucherov and Lilleberg if they pull that kind of **** like last game

WOW!! This is something out of a movie. Hometown kid from Michigan, undrafted and signs a tryout with Grand Rapids in 2017. In his eighth year in the AHL after never playing in the NHL he's leading the Griffins in scoring and 1 off his career best in points. At age 31 he finally gets his NHL shot. Really hard working dude, love to see it even if he doesn't do much in the NHL.

Kuch has always been a huge baby and poor sport

Seeing a lot of praise for Shai Buium lately, seems like he's passing Wallinder on the prospect depth chart. woohoo Very exciting stuff

I wouldn't give up Raymond in a Rantanen trade, it feels like you're still a player or two away and paying Rantanen top league money. It would need to be something more like Kasper + Danielson + whatever or something like that otherwise I don't see why you do it but I also don't know much! I do know that the Blackhawks were pretty dumb, I thought they got a third just for helping with retention and didn't realize Hall was gone. They might have a bad GM there lol.

I totally get that opinion. It’s tough to discount how good the teams were in front of him. As an ex-goalie before my knees gave up on me, I will say I found those games with 15 or so shots against really tough haha. It is tough to stay in the zone when you don’t get much work, and I preferred fairly steady (but easy!) shots throughout a game so I would keep a feel for the puck and my angles. There is a give and take with that too! Managed to time my nap perfectly for the Lightning game!

Watching back old Wings games (I've been doing it a lot this season lol) it always strikes me that Osgood came up with a ton of huge saves in big moments that I forget about.

Max Plante is up to 12 points (5+7) in 9 games as a 18 year old Freshman. I'm very excited for him, I think the Wings found something nice with him.

Elmer so close with a goal, couldn't bury it

Should be at on of fun to see a game in Montreal! I've caught a little of the game, great to see them up 2-0

Shows off the top 5 prospects pretty well. I thought it was worth mentioning Kasper broke his knee playing in the NHL when he first came to North America. EP mentions he started slowly in the ahl but no mention of the circumstances with the injury recovery.

How did Elmer look? I haven't been able to watch the last like three games...

Motte has been out so I imagine they'll use him instead of Fischer. I couldn't find a new injury other than that. Someone in the winging it in motown comments said Veleno is hurt but I couldn't find it via Google. I also think Lombardi and Mazur are either back or close to back for Grand Rapids so this creates some lineup room down there too.

From what I've read he's been playing really well in GR, forechecking well and throwing the body like we wish Rasmussen would. I hope he keeps it up.

It's a shame Ned didn't get in a scrap for the Gordie Howe Hat Trick

Reading back my posts from yesterday I feel like I was more aggressive than I intended so apologies about that. We had to put a pet down and I'm not in a great headspace. My internet was out all day yesterday so I couldn't even watch the game, that sucked. I hate these fires man. But is it a great feeling to have the Wings winning games. It is insane the turnaround from the new coach. I felt like Gustafsson was one of the worst Wings I ever had the displeasure of watching earlier this year and now he's actually making plays. It is crazy. He has 6 points in 7 games and a +2 in January!

To me I feel like that just strengthens my point because if you're good enough to play, you will as we've seen with the players I've mentioned. The better players usually get drafted higher and the lower picks take longer to develop. Sure, but I think it ignores a lot of context surrounding Cossa. Not every draft crop is the same, so even just a blanket statement like top 15 picks need to play in the NHL within 4 seasons or they're being held back is tough to apply across drafts. Then when it comes to goalies, even first rounders take longer than skaters in the same pick range. Askarov was drafted the year before Cossa and he's only now this season getting "regular" NHL time as a backup with 8 games played so far (after starting the season in the AHL). He was a much more touted goalie than Cossa and drafted slightly higher (11th), and it still took an offseason trade for him to show up in the NHL for an extended period of time mid year.

Everyone seems to ignore that Raymond made the wings at 19 and Seider at 20. Marco Kasper is playing at 20. If they think you're good enough to play in the NHL / don't have specific big things in your game to work on you'll be in the NHL. It seems like fans don't want to hear it but guys like Edvinsson definitely had stuff to work on in the AHL before becoming full time regulars (and he's a NHL regular playing 20 minutes a game at age 21!!!), putting young guys in the NHL just to do it isn't usually going to be helpful. Especially for a goalie. So I personally disagree with this notion that Yzerman keeps prospects in the AHL just to do it.

In my opinion, with young goalies there is definitely a delicate balance between letting guys grow from mistakes and hurting their confidence. It was probably for the best he didn't experience Lalonde's defenses for extended periods of time. What I'm hoping for is that he finishes a great AHL season this year, and then he has a great playoffs for Grand Rapids. He starts backing up Talbot next season, maybe eventually working into a 1B situation. If they re-sign Husso at all then I'll lose my mind....

Looks like he's been pretty solid so far which is awesome for him. I honestly had written him off.