2025-26 Prospects Thread

[sagnam]

I think the Wings are out of rope for missing on 1st round picks. We are at the point that making the playoffs would feel like winning the cup. We aren’t even expecting to win a series, just make the playoffs.

[gehringer_2]

4 hours ago, sagnam said:

I think the Wings are out of rope for missing on 1st round picks. We are at the point that making the playoffs would feel like winning the cup. We aren’t even expecting to win a series, just make the playoffs.

Well I hope the 'daily converations' between Yzerman and Bill Guerin have helped cement their personal friendship, because it has apparently done diddly for the Red Wings team.

[buddha]

8 hours ago, sagnam said:

I think the Wings are out of rope for missing on 1st round picks. We are at the point that making the playoffs would feel like winning the cup. We aren’t even expecting to win a series, just make the playoffs.

its ok, we'll just trade them in 5 years for MORE first round picks!

[Cruzer1]

14 minutes ago, buddha said:

its ok, we'll just trade them in 5 years for MORE first round picks!

Or, like Chicago did, trade a bunch of top picks for a middling dman.

[lordstanley]

9 hours ago, Shinzaki said:

Name a team who doesn't miss on a 1st rd pick...

But the main thing Yzerman boosters hung on their hat on is the quality of his 1st round picks. We've just lost 5 years on Cossa. And this may be a make or break year for Kasper.

In the four seasons after his draft year, Zadina had played 160 NHL games with 25G 36A 61Pts. In the 4th season alone after his draft year, Zadina went 10G 14A 24Pts in 74 GP.

In the four seasons after his draft year, Kasper has played 159 NHL games with 28G 28A 56Pts. In the 4th season alone after his draft year, Kasper went 9G 10A 19Pts in 81 GP.

[Jason_R]

4 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

But the main thing Yzerman boosters hung on their hat on is the quality of his 1st round picks. We've just lost 5 years on Cossa. And this may be a make or break year for Kasper.

In the four seasons after his draft year, Zadina had played 160 NHL games with 25G 36A 61Pts. In the 4th season alone after his draft year, Zadina went 10G 14A 24Pts in 74 GP.

In the four seasons after his draft year, Kasper has played 159 NHL games with 28G 28A 56Pts. In the 4th season alone after his draft year, Kasper went 9G 10A 19Pts in 81 GP.

Yzerman failed Cossa. He deserved a start after playing in relief and winning a shootout. There was nothing else Cossa could have accomplished in Grand Rapids and it wouldn't surprise me if his confidence was shot by the thought that being a 2x AHL All Star was still not enough to get him an NHL start.

This fear of making a mistake runs throughout the organization. This was the first thing Todd emphasized when he took over as head coach. I think it goes way beyond anything that Lalonde instilled, and ultimately runs up to Stevie.

Kasper ended the season on crutches. Hopefully this is not a Kerby Joseph situation, and assuming it is not, I expect him to bounce back. Danielson is close to having the "injury prone" label stuck on him which is a tough break for the kid because his first injury was a vicious cross check to the back. It is unclear whether his subsequent injury was related. If he is healthy for next season, he'll get a chance to show what he can do, and I recall him making some high-skill plays in the few NHL games he played. Maybe they are busts but I think that is premature to say. 

It is too easy to say "Stevie good" or "Stevie bad." He has brought in some foundational pieces to rebuild an utterly barren roster. He has some players in the pipeline who have potential, including a Norris Trophy candidate. The alarming thing is that he has not built a culture where prospects are being developed in a way that maximizes their potential. Worse, he appears to have built a culture where the potential of some prospects is being squandered. He needs to fix that ASAP and if he can't or won't, Chris Ilitch needs to deal with it. 

[buddha]

32 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

Yzerman failed Cossa. He deserved a start after playing in relief and winning a shootout. There was nothing else Cossa could have accomplished in Grand Rapids and it wouldn't surprise me if his confidence was shot by the thought that being a 2x AHL All Star was still not enough to get him an NHL start.

This fear of making a mistake runs throughout the organization. This was the first thing Todd emphasized when he took over as head coach. I think it goes way beyond anything that Lalonde instilled, and ultimately runs up to Stevie.

Kasper ended the season on crutches. Hopefully this is not a Kerby Joseph situation, and assuming it is not, I expect him to bounce back. Danielson is close to having the "injury prone" label stuck on him which is a tough break for the kid because his first injury was a vicious cross check to the back. It is unclear whether his subsequent injury was related. If he is healthy for next season, he'll get a chance to show what he can do, and I recall him making some high-skill plays in the few NHL games he played. Maybe they are busts but I think that is premature to say. 

It is too easy to say "Stevie good" or "Stevie bad." He has brought in some foundational pieces to rebuild an utterly barren roster. He has some players in the pipeline who have potential, including a Norris Trophy candidate. The alarming thing is that he has not built a culture where prospects are being developed in a way that maximizes their potential. Worse, he appears to have built a culture where the potential of some prospects is being squandered. He needs to fix that ASAP and if he can't or won't, Chris Ilitch needs to deal with it. 

it would have been nice to see what cossa had at the nhl level before they dealt him.  same with lombardi.  same with wallinder (who hasnt been dealt, but hasnt seen a sniff at the nhl level while they give rotting corpses like hamonic a full run).

danielson got cross checked in the back and his team sat there and watched and did nothing.

[gehringer_2]

5 hours ago, buddha said:

danielson got cross checked in the back and his team sat there and watched and did nothing.

and how many times have we seen Larkin and Raymond get run and nothing? There is a rot at the core of this team, either in the locker room culture, or more likely just in the assembly of players on the team, and I don't think it's Dylan Larkin's fault. You don't need a team full of Stu Grimsons but you need guys that can pay back or at least match the other team when they they try to play a physical dominance game-raise the energy level it costs the other team, and Yzerman has failed across the board to build that team. That's why they fail every April, they are built to. Teams put pressure on Larkin and Raymond and that's it.

Edited June 28 by gehringer_2

[buddha]

37 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

and how many times have we seen Larkin and Raymond get run and nothing? There is a rot at the core of this team, either in the locker room culture, or more likely just in the assembly of players on the team, and I don't think it's Dylan Larkin's fault. You don't need a team full of Stu Grimsons but you need guys that can pay back or at least match the other team when they they try to play a physical dominance game-raise the energy level it costs the other team, and Yzerman has failed across the board to build that team. That's why they fail every April, they are built to. Teams put pressure on Larkin and Raymond and that's it.

that's why he brought in chairot, re-signed rasmussen, and tried like the devil to get trouba.  

chairot really hasnt taken on that persona, rasmussen quit playing hockey, and they couldnt land trouba.

larkin was probably the guy who defended his teammates the most.  

[gehringer_2]

43 minutes ago, buddha said:

that's why he brought in chairot, re-signed rasmussen, and tried like the devil to get trouba.  

chairot really hasnt taken on that persona, rasmussen quit playing hockey, and they couldnt land trouba.

larkin was probably the guy who defended his teammates the most.  

Big D men are fine, but you need strength up front too where the offensive game is being played. And he seems allergic to keeping big forwards around. He moved Tyler, moved Soderblom, moved Sundqvust, and keeps Rasmussen who plays like he's 5' 8". Maybe sometime you have to look a little beyond a player's scoring total to figure out what he contributes to the team's overall presence on the ice. It's so ironic that Yzerman's own team couldn't get over the hump until they brought in Shanahan, who brought Yzerman's teams exactly what he's never put on the ice for this team.

[Jason_R]

30 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Big D men are fine, but you need strength up front too where the offensive game is being played. And he seems allergic to keeping big forwards around. He moved Tyler, moved Soderblom, moved Sundqvust, and keeps Rasmussen who plays like he's 5' 8". Maybe sometime you have to look a little beyond a player's scoring total to figure out what he contributes to the team's overall presence on the ice. It's so ironic that Yzerman's own team couldn't get over the hump until they brought in Shanahan, who brought Yzerman's teams exactly what he's never put on the ice for this team.

It is true that Stevie hasn’t brought in a power forward like Brendan Shanahan, but which future hall of fame, 35-goal-averaging winger would you have recommended he signed? And how do you know he didn’t try? Or which one should he have traded for? And with what assets?

Fact is, every team wants a player like that. But there are not enough to go around. 

[gehringer_2]

58 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

It is true that Stevie hasn’t brought in a power forward like Brendan Shanahan, but which future hall of fame, 35-goal-averaging winger would you have recommended he signed? And how do you know he didn’t try? Or which one should he have traded for? And with what assets?

Fact is, every team wants a player like that. But there are not enough to go around. 

You can have some presence without being a hall of famer. He had a player like that Bertuzzi  - and admittedly I was tired of his act during Covid, but I'm not a GM who probably should have recognized that he had no-one else to bring what Tyler did. He had Sundqvist who wasn't much of a scorer but when they threw he, Rasmussen and Soderblom out there together for a few weeks I thought they had something they should have kept working on. He had Solderblom, who could be a disruptive forechecker with his reach, who they never gave much a shot to and went to the Pens and put promptly put up 1/2 per game - all at even strength. How much did the Wings need more of that? You can justify getting rid of each of those guys under the circumstances at the time, but when it become a pattern of not valuing size and toughness in the forward core, then overall it becomes a problem. A team is more than 20 individual skill sets, it has to be 20 guys that complement each other.

Edited June 29 by gehringer_2

[Jason_R]

Just now, gehringer_2 said:

You can have some presence without being a hall of famer. He had a player like that Bertuzzi  - and admittedly I was tired of his act during Covid, but I'm not a GM who probably should have recognized that he had no-one else to bring what Tyler did. He had Sundqvist who wasn't much of a scorer but when they threw he, Rasmussen and Soderblom out there together for a few weeks I thought they had something they should have kept working on. He had Solderblom, who could be a disruptive forechecker with his reach, who they never gave much a shot to and went to the Pens and put promptly put up 1/2 per game - all at even strength. How much did the Wings need more of that?

The Soderblom thing is perplexing. Another guy who goes somewhere else and suddenly looks better. 

Maybe this Russian Vinogradov has what we are looking for. They say he would likely be a winger in the NHL  

 

[gehringer_2]

1 minute ago, Jason_R said:

The Soderblom thing is perplexing. Another guy who goes somewhere else and suddenly looks better. 

Maybe this Russian Vinogradov has what we are looking for. They say he would likely be a winger in the NHL  

 

lets hope

[Hongbit]

13 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

It is true that Stevie hasn’t brought in a power forward like Brendan Shanahan, but which future hall of fame, 35-goal-averaging winger would you have recommended he signed? And how do you know he didn’t try? Or which one should he have traded for? And with what assets?

Fact is, every team wants a player like that. But there are not enough to go around. 

Nobody is talking about a top 35 goal Brandon Shanahan type of power forward.  

Mathieu Olivier, Mason Marchment, and Logan O’Conner are all bottom 6 forwards that would provide the needed toughness along with a bit of offense that would fit the bill perfectly for the Wings.   

[Jason_R]

25 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

Nobody is talking about a top 35 goal Brandon Shanahan type of power forward.  

Except the person whose post I replied to.

[1984Echoes]

I want a Brendan Shanahan for Larkin's line.

Or a Brady Tkachuck (I know he's no longer an option... just sayin'...), or Alex Tuch, or...

It's not like there is only ONE big, tough, scoring power forward in the NHL.

[Jason_R]

8 hours ago, 1984Echoes said:

It's not like there is only ONE big, tough, scoring power forward in the NHL.

Yes… you named two! 😂

One of them was just traded for a king’s ransom. The other will sign a very large FA deal. 

I know there are more than two… but are there more than ten guys who are 6’2” 225 and can score 20+ goals? 

Yzerman can be blamed for a lot of things but guys like this are very hard to find. Hope that MBN and Genborg fill out and have good enough hands. 

[1984Echoes]

2 hours ago, Jason_R said:

... Hope that MBN and Genborg fill out and have good enough hands. 

This is probably what we are left with (and maybe Carter Bear too, not as big, but maybe plays much bigger than his, still, decent size...). Just a thought.

And I don't mind that, actually...

Just wish they would hurry up!!!

And if Larkin is a casualty due to this long wait (and his run out of patience...), I can live with that. It's a small (one player) but not insignificant (I'm playing this way down obviously) reset... Just get the right deal for us Stevie... whatever that may be.

[1984Echoes]

2 hours ago, Jason_R said:

... Hope that MBN and Genborg fill out and have good enough hands. 

PS: I really like the looks of just-drafted Luka Arkko too... but he's a 6th rounder so... long shot. And several years away if even that.

 

 

Edited June 29 by 1984Echoes

[buddha]

8 minutes ago, 1984Echoes said:

PS: I really like the looks of just-drafted Luka Arkko too... but he's a 6th rounder so... long shot. And several years away if even that.

 

 

hope springs eternal.

[Jason_R]

Yegor Vinogradov is listed at 6’3” 203. Probably still needs to fill out a bit but maybe he has enough juice to make the NHL roster. 

[1984Echoes]

41 minutes ago, buddha said:

hope springs eternal.

always!

[1984Echoes]

6 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

Yegor Vinogradov is listed at 6’3” 203. Probably still needs to fill out a bit but maybe he has enough juice to make the NHL roster. 

See what I mean!!!

[slothfacekilla]

 

I am absolutely shocked they got this guy to come to camp, work it out!