Random NHL comments/thoughts

[buddha]

speaking of yzerman, his free agent signings this year have worked out much better than last year.

still pisses me off a bit to see tarasenko scoring in minnesota when he was such a POS here.

[Hongbit]

I hope that I’m wrong but the decision to choose Edvinssson over Quinn Hughes may go down as one of Stevie’s all time worst decisions.   

[lordstanley]

Last March the Leafs traded a conditional 2026 1st rounder, a 2025 4th and some kid named Fraser Minten in exchange for defenseman Brando Carlo. Was considered by many pundits at the time to be a strong pickup for the Leafs. Minten was a 2nd round pick by the Leafs in 2022 and had picked up 4 points in 19 NHL games in parts of two seasons. This year Minten has broken out with 13G 12A 25pts in 52 games for Boston.

https://www.nhl.com/news/boston-bruins-trade-brandon-carlo-to-toronto-maple-leafs#:~:text=Brandon Carlo was traded to,in the 2025 NHL Draft.

[sagnam]

59 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

I hope that I’m wrong but the decision to choose Edvinssson over Quinn Hughes may go down as one of Stevie’s all time worst decisions.   

I can’t tell if you are joking or got both the GM and the player confused.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

I kept thinking and waiting all season that Florida would get healthier, turn it around, sit all the little kids in the division down, and take over once again. That hasn't happened. In-fact, they're probably going to miss the playoffs at this point, barring a miraculous comeback. I believe they will be the first Stanley Cup Champions since the 14-15 Kings team to miss the playoff after winning The Cup. 

[Hongbit]

7 hours ago, sagnam said:

I can’t tell if you are joking or got both the GM and the player confused.

None of the above.  

Would’ve been a tough move to give up on a really good young defensemen that’s only getting better but the return was arguably the  best blue liner in the league.   Hughes has put up 25 points in 21 games, has 4 games with 3+ assists, and leads the NHL in ice time since coming to the Wild.   

[gehringer_2]

12 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

None of the above.  

Would’ve been a tough move to give up on a really good young defensemen that’s only getting better but the return was arguably the  best blue liner in the league.   Hughes has put up 25 points in 21 games, has 4 games with 3+ assists, and leads the NHL in ice time since coming to the Wild.   

QH for Edvinsson - assuming that trade was available, would only have been a good move if Hughes was signed -- and if he is set on joining his brothers (which granted, we don't know for sure) he wasn't going to sign with Det.

[Hongbit]

5 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

QH for Edvinsson - assuming that trade was available, would only have been a good move if Hughes was signed -- and if he is set on joining his brothers (which granted, we don't know for sure) he wasn't going to sign with Det.

By every account it was available.    He’s under contract for 2 years and would’ve been a huge lift to turn the team into a real cup contender.   As for failing to sign him, he’s a cornerstone player that wanted to be in Detroit.  They wouldn’t have let him walk.   Even if crazy things happened and he left in 27-28, they would’ve had 2 strong seasons to take a real shot at getting to the final again. 

[gehringer_2]

if you want a clue as what Yzerman may have been thinking consider that QH has 57 blocks, 5(!) hits  and 20 takeaways for the season while Simon has 104,63,18. 

In giving up Simon you are not just giving up a good young player - you are giving up a player that is providing exactly the what Wings teams have been the most short of for the last 10 yrs and have had to work the hardest to get back. If the Wings were not a team that has been chronically short of toughness since he got here, I could see Yzerman being more willing to give some up for Hughes.

[sagnam]

2 hours ago, Hongbit said:

None of the above.  

Would’ve been a tough move to give up on a really good young defensemen that’s only getting better but the return was arguably the  best blue liner in the league.   Hughes has put up 25 points in 21 games, has 4 games with 3+ assists, and leads the NHL in ice time since coming to the Wild.   

Oh! I thought you meant in the draft, because Holland actually did choose Zadina over Quinn Hughes.

 

I wouldn’t have traded Edvinsson as part of a Hughes deal. If they wanted a defenseman prospect, it’s would have had to be ASP.

[slothfacekilla]

I was curious what people were going to complain about now that the Wings are playing so well

[gehringer_2]

13 minutes ago, sagnam said:

Oh! I thought you meant in the draft, because Holland actually did choose Zadina over Quinn Hughes.

 

I wouldn’t have traded Edvinsson as part of a Hughes deal. If they wanted a defenseman prospect, it’s would have had to be ASP.

and Luke Hughes and Edvinsson were in the same draft but Luke was gone before Yzerman took Simon.

[buddha]

edvinsson is a big, young, strong actual defenseman.  hughes is a forward playing defense.  edvinsson should be able to be re-signed by detroit for long term.  hughes is not signing and is likely to leave than to stay.

hughes is a great player, but edvinsson's development combined with the uncertainty about re-signing hughes would make me balk at including edvinsson in any deal.

i'd rather have edvinsson than zeev buium too.

[Hongbit]

2 hours ago, slothfacekilla said:

I was curious what people were going to complain about now that the Wings are playing so well

A team focused more on building for the future rather than trying to take advantage of a great season and win it now.  It’s the same issue with every other team in this city.  
 

 

[gehringer_2]

13 minutes ago, buddha said:

edvinsson is a big, young, strong actual defenseman. 

speaking of big strong Dmen, the network guys were comparing Sieder to Chris Pronger the other night. They didn't mean to be insulting but I were Moritz I'd be insulted. He's just as good and does it without being a dirty player.

[Hongbit]

Edvinsson is a top pair Defenseman at a young age.  He’s a stud.  Guys like him don’t grow on trees but they are around across the league.  

There’s one other player in the league like Quinn Hughes.  He’s a very unique talent that eats up minutes and is not even close to a liability in his end.  I don’t get valuing a great defenseman over an elite one.  

I can’t even imagine him on the PP with Larkin, Raymond, Seider, and Cat.  Lethal.  What about 3 on 3 OT.  

Edited 2 hours ago by Hongbit

[lordstanley]

18 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

Edvinsson is a top pair Defenseman at a young age.  He’s a stud.  Guys like him don’t grow on trees but they are around across the league.  

There’s one other player in the league like Quinn Hughes.  He’s a very unique talent that eats up minutes and is not even close to a liability in his end.  I don’t get valuing a great defenseman over an elite one.  

I can’t even imagine him on the PP with Larkin, Raymond, Seider, and Cat.  Lethal.  What about 3 on 3 OT.  

I wouldn't have included Edvinsson in a deal. I know the story is that a potential Wings-Canucks deal broke down over Edvinsson, but you'd have to think there are other options that would have been seriously considered by both sides. For example, what about MBN, Carter Bear and this year's 1st? I would have done that and I think the Canucks could sell that to their fans. Or Kasper, Bear and next year's first. Or Bear, this year's 1st and next year's 1st. Basically, I feel Hughes is worth three 1sts if you think (even if you don't know 100%) you can re-sign him and I think the Wings could have. Wanting to play with his brothers is a bit overblown. Only NJ even if you could now in the same conference with him at least? Only NJ even if your new team is in the same state where you went to school? Only NJ even if the Wings win playoff rounds the next two seasons while the Devils miss the playoffs? Only NJ even if you enjoy seeing your brothers at Thanksgiving and Christmas but would get under each other's skin if you see them day in day out?

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Hongbit said:

Edvinsson is a top pair Defenseman at a young age.  He’s a stud.  Guys like him don’t grow on trees but they are around across the league.  

There’s one other player in the league like Quinn Hughes.  He’s a very unique talent that eats up minutes and is not even close to a liability in his end.  I don’t get valuing a great defenseman over an elite one.  

I can’t even imagine him on the PP with Larkin, Raymond, Seider, and Cat.  Lethal.  What about 3 on 3 OT.  

two counter points. The first was already mentioned - you can probably have Edvinsson for his whole career, you are only sure of a season and a half from Hughes. If you can remove that uncertainty you do drastically change the math - no argument there. Unless Yzerman or Vancouver tell us, we can only speculate how close they did or didn't come to what deal.

But aside from that, you also have to look at differentials - who is he taking off the ice? The biggest improvements come when you replace the worst players on your roster with better ones. In this proposal you take Edvinsson off the ice, so you don't get half the incremental gain you might from taking a 2nd line forward or a 2nd or 3rd pairing Dman. Practically speaking, I believe you get better results team wise replacing a bad player with a good player, than replacing a very good player with a great one. Of course if you can replace a bad one with a great one, you are golden, but you can usually only get that when you hit on your own draft picks.

All that said, I think Yzerman probably did all he could to make the for Hughes - but the cost was ending up too high.

Edited 56 minutes ago by gehringer_2

[slothfacekilla]

In a complete vacuum would I swap Edvinsson for Hughes?  Sure, you would be dumb not to.  But there are so many other considerations that go into this.  The trade wasn't a one for one swap, there was a lot of value in addition to Buium in Rossi and a first round pick going the other way.  Edvinsson is 4 years younger and is a restricted free agent after this season, with a projected long term deal at 7 years $7,700,000 per that I've seen.  Hughes wouldn't commit to a long term contract (or couldn't? I never really looked into it) and he's a free agent after next season looking at a $12-14 million per year or more extension.  So you're risking a guy walking for nothing, and if you do get him signed it is going to be at a significant cost of your cap space.

Edvinsson has shown he works incredibly well with Seider on the top pair.  He seems to be well liked by his teammates and coaching staff.  I feel like I see him getting better and he seems to work hard.  I am more than fine betting on his situation here. Especially when the Wings would still need to go out and get defensive help for the third pair imo.  Swapping Hughes in for Edvinsson isn't going to completely alleviate that this season even if you force feed minutes to Hughes.   

And it isn't like suddenly the Wild are some unstoppable juggernaut with Hughes as they've gone 11-5-5 so just a game over .500 counting wins and losses.  Somehow got spanked by the Devils and Jets back to back.  So I reject the notion that this is the only way to navigate the current successful season.

[lordstanley]

37 minutes ago, slothfacekilla said:

 

And it isn't like suddenly the Wild are some unstoppable juggernaut with Hughes as they've gone 11-5-5 so just a game over .500 counting wins and losses.  Somehow got spanked by the Devils and Jets back to back.  So I reject the notion that this is the only way to navigate the current successful season.

Nor were the Canucks an unstoppable juggernaut with Hughes (plus EP+Boeser+Hronek)