Jason_R

Stevie’s best chance is to get lucky finding a team that is hungry for a goalie. It is the one area where the system might have some assets with relative trade value.

The Mantha trade has not worked out. If there is a culture problem in Detroit, the explanation for it runs through the question of why both Mantha and apparently Soderblom are flourishing in Pittsburgh when we couldn’t get rid of them fast enough.

There is clearly something off in the locker room. I don’t know what it is. Maybe there is something stifling about the culture of the old Red Wings dynasty in the front office. Maybe it is just that they have a lot of small players, and big players who play small. I tend to think the latter explains a lot. They are still relying a lot on hired guns. The interesting thing to me about this season is what’s going on in Grand Rapids. The Griffins are having a great season, despite injuries to Danielson and Mazur. I get that a lot of those players are past prospect status and a lot of the prospects will never make it. But the kids are now playing meaningful hockey in a system where they have to earn their ice time. This is a big offseason for Yzerman. He can’t do nothing. I believe he took a swing at Thomas and at Petterson at the trade deadline and couldn’t make either work. I expect him to bring in a top-six forward with some size. Fingers crossed.

Other than Celebrini, 9 of the top 10 current NHL points leaders were drafted in 2015 or earlier. Four were drafted ten seasons ago (2015), one eleven seasons ago, one twelve seasons ago, one thirteen seasons ago (David Pastrnak, drafted after Larkin), and two fourteen seasons ago. It is tough to hear but we are still paying the price for Holland’s poor drafting today and will still be paying the price for it for another five seasons easily. A long rebuild was inevitable and the only one with a leash long enough for it is Steve Yzerman.

The management change needed was to trade out Ken Holland for Jim Nill.

Seider is the only untouchable IMO but it is hard to imagine a Larkin trade that makes the team better. Not saying there isn’t one but you’d need to get one of about 25 top centers back just to tread water. I’m not sure Larkin is the problem though. I still see too many players that are just here for the paycheck with not enough competition to force them to earn it. I’ve said it before but the rebuild isn’t over until Copp, Compher, and Rasmussen are off the books and replaced by some combination of Danielson, MBN, Lombardi, Genborg, Bear, and maybe a free agent. And in the meantime, re-sign DeBrincat.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Kenny had drafted one of the fifteen players in 2017 who were picked behind Rasmussen but have better career numbers? But why draft Robert Thomas or Jason Robertson when you can dream about putting together a trade package for them eight years later.

He dropped the gloves last night.

If this was not allowed by the language of the contract, the player and the agent would say this is not allowed by the language of the contract. Evidently it is allowed by the language of the contract, and I have no problem with parties to a contract abiding by the terms of the contract.

Hear me out… 😂

https://x.com/chrisbrown0914/status/2038704858778206427?s=46 All your fastball are belong to me.

Hope everything is OK.

“We love to play base because we can dictate. But we have options.” He talks about nickel, end, big end and LB. We could go 4-3, we would go 5-2, we could go nickel. Depends on the draft.

Decker burned the bridge.

True. The wings were so good for so long because they had an edge in European scouting, they had an edge with an owner, willing to spendin free agency, and they had the appeal of being a dynasty with several Hall of Fame caliber players. But Holland whiffed on so many draft picks and left so much talent on the draft board that they are rebuilding the roster almost from scratch. If it were me, the only untradable player would be Seider. But I don’t see any advantage in trading Raymond unless he was part of a package to get a top 10 scorer. The wings do not need any more prospects, they need players that are proven to score at five on five. But everybody else wants those players too.

True. The wings were so good for so long because they had an edge in European scouting, they had an edge with an owner, willing to spendin free agency, and they had the appeal of being a dynasty with several Hall of Fame caliber players. But Holland whiffed on so many draft picks and left so much talent on the draft board that they are rebuilding the roster almost from scratch. If it were me, the only untradable player would be Seider. But I don’t see any advantage in trading Raymond unless he was part of a package to get a top 10 scorer. The wings do not need any more prospects, they need players that are proven to score at five on five. But everybody else wants those players too.

IIRC his stint at LT was a little rough, but he was a rookie. He’ll be fine there now and I’m sure Brad doesn’t want to have the highest paid RT in the NFL.

The Lions were a bit unusual in their use of base 4-3. Teams today are generally playing more base nickel or have a hybrid safety/LB. Now that they let Anzalone walk, it will be interesting to see if they are dogmatic about fielding three LBs.

The Alabama connection is probably just coincidental. Big-time programs get big-time athletes. But I suspect they also liked prospects coached by Nick Saban. Per https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Kadyn-Proctor-OL-Alabama: “He was a consensus All-American and finished second on Bruce Feldman's Freaks List: 815-pound squat, 535-pound bench, 405-pound power clean. Alabama handed him the ball five times during the year as a nod to his athleticism.“ The only “character” concern I’ve seen is weight. Apparently he got up to 370 pounds and suffered in pass protection. But at the combine he weighed in at 352.

So if I have this right, Decker tells Dan he wants to come back. Dan says great I’ll talk to Brad day after tomorrow. Tomorrow Decker goes public knowing Dan and Brad were not going to talk until the day after. Again, this seems at best short-sighted on the part of Decker. Maybe it was even manipulative, in attempting to circumvent Brad and the salary piece of it, which he had to assume was at least a possibility. Decker is not coming off as a sympathetic character in my view.

But he is a Brad pick in the sense that he is a physical freak and played at Alabama. Brad has used three of seven first round picks for Alabama players. I am not a scout, but if Brad thinks he will be an elite run blocker and capable pass blocker for ten years, pick him at 17. But the position is deep enough that there should be good players available at 22, 24, even 30 or 31. If he can move back and pick up a third to use on his Kerby Joseph insurance, he should do it.

Charlie Campbell has the Lions taking Kayden Proctor at 17. IIRC Campbell had Detroit linked with Gibbs before that draft. Other mocks have Proctor going late 20s, even early second round. Would really love to see Brad move back in the first to take his OT of the future, and pick up a 3rd round selection.

Gibson was not sharp on the second game of an away to home back to back. No more back to backs. No more excuses. No more margin for error.

Mazur and Raymond both turned 24 today. One of them has 324 points in the NHL.

I think I just saw him finish a check! This team doesn’t do that very often.