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- Yesterday
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I think Yzerman is still building this "particularly deep" lineup. Add Danielson and ASP and Cossa and Augustine and Mazur and and and... Since SY has taken over the plan was never to build around Larkin. Larkin (if he's still around) will be the old man on the Cup team. Just like Yzerman was. The actual core of the team started with Seider. I think @Jimmybigrigs69said the exact same thing years ago. The Red Wings didn't win diddly squat when Yzerman was their best player. They started winning when Lidstrom and Fedorov were their best players. Florida won a President's Trophy BEFORE they traded for Tkachuk. Yzerman is building a team of work horses and then he's (hoping) to go get a superstar or two to put them over the top. And it's not like his track record on this has been bad. His workhorses keep exceeding expectations. He's accomplishing the mission. I think you could argue that it's the periphery moves that are killing the momentum. For example, we drafted TWO absolute units on defense and they're were/are both playing out of their minds at an EXTREMELY early part of their careers. Things couldn't have gone better with Seider and Edvinsson and our defense still blows because we've surrounded them with puds. And it's not like we just couldn't land better talent. We ALREADY HAD IT. Swap Walman, Gostisbehere, and Maatta for Gustafsson, Petry, and Holl and your defense isn't a total nightmare. Keep one of Sprong or Fabbri instead of Motte and maybe our even strength scoring isn't absolutely abysmal. Swap Perron for Tarasenko and your team has a pulse... ...then add the Edvinsson, Kasper, Johansson, Sodorblom that we saw this season and you're looking at a much better team. Maybe not a contender, but a playoff team for sure. And you keep building from there. Nobody can blame this season on "too many kids, not enough experience". Our pro scouting has absolutely f*cked this team for two seasons in a row. Combined with the fact that Lalonde (and the organization as whole) has a default preference for milktoast puds who "defend well" over dynamic players who bring a number of other elements to the table. They justified Motte's roster spot because of his PK "prowess" and our PK is historically bad. Gustafson was supposed to be a cheaper, more defensively responsible, version of Ghost. In reality he's barely cheaper and no better defensively, but MUCH worse offensively. Tarasenko costs more, and scores less than any of Fabbri, Perron, or Sprong. There's no problem with Yzerman's plan (build around HIS draft picks). That's actually going really really well. The problem is that no team is built entirely of their own draft picks. And when SY and the gang flesh out the rest of the roster they routinely shoot themselves in the foot.
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It is with a heavy heart that I announce that muh habies and muh oilies are at it again.
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Lions cooking 5 star meals in the draft again. 1st rd - DL Tyleik Williams - 6'3" 326 lbs out of OSU. Big n fast. Film nerd who loves to prep. Perfect replacement for McNeil (injured) and then for Reader (likely gone after this year). 2nd rd - IOL Tate Ratledge - 6'6" 320 lbs out of Georgia. Reporters saying you couldnt have stopped Dan from selecting this guy even if you had heavy weapons. Mullet. Mustache. Loves hunting. Him and Ragnow are about to be boyssss. Perfect Zeitler replacement. 3rd rd - WR Isaac Teslaa - 6'4" 200+ lb out of Arkansas. Grew up in Hudsonville MI. Fast and big. The white/light version of megatron. Vanillatron. This is your jamo replacement when we cant afford to pay him after his 4th/5th year. Lions drafting, development, and culture is insanely ahead of the rest of the league. Yzerman needs to take notes. Dynasty time boyos lez go.
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Shapiro reports Westlund is out. I believe Bultman had reported Wings being pleased with him, but that was under Lalonde I think.
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My point is we don't pop in either of the senses you're describing; we don't have 5,000-point scorers and we're not particularly deep. In a perfect world, we're Florida and we just run over everyone because we have no holes and our big guns kill and we forecheck like our lives depend on it. But teams like that are rare. My "realistic" hope is we become a team that's a pain in the ass to play against because every player is good and pulls his weight. But this is two straight seasons now that our personnel has wilted when the intensity ramped up and the stakes got real. A serious team doesn't drop both of those Columbus games. So, we can talk about Brayden Point...but do we have a lot of Brayden Points? Do we have any? Do we have x factors? Do we have the ingredients we need to become a team that gets it done in [insert any way you want]? To be fair, this is fan fatigue and frustration talking; I'm not being super-objective. But I look across the table at the super-objective crowd and it's just stats nerds and podcast bros (but I repeat myself) who will spend this summer writing Athletic pieces about how Yzerman needs to weaponize our cap space and take on some bad contracts in exchange for second-round picks, because that's how you build a winner. It's not all bad. Like I said, we do have good pieces. Edvinsson could end up being better than Seider; that's how good a rookie season he just had, imo. Kasper's a breath of fresh air. DeBrincat silenced his critics this season; he was great. Raymond's just getting started. ASP could be a gamechanger, or at least a really good complement to Seider and Edvinsson. (Maybe.) But is this going to be enough? Have we planted the seeds of perennial contention? Is time the only thing that separates us from glory? Or do we just have a lot of nice pieces and are we all going to feel quite silly if Carter Mazur's career is over before it even began? These are the questions that should be keeping Yzerman up at night.
- Last week
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Pagnotta reports Todd is planning a big shakeup and rework of the coaching staff. >Yawney - i dont see him leaving. Hes been Todds right hand man everywhere with him. >Tanguay - maybe gone? But I thought he did well with his responsibilities, PP and scoring. >Westlund - again id be surprised. Its been reported the wings are very happy with the new goalie coaches work. >Varaday - as good as gone. Surely a big shakeup cant mean just Varaday?
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God bless the Saints for not taking Sanders last night lol Honestly I can see how Saints mgmt would think that. Campbell is a "players coach" and I complain about these types all the time in regards to hockey. Mostly because I think the mast majority of them are not effective in this approach, and one who is is really rare.
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Ya I miss Dan. We couldn't keep him because our mgmt team in N.O. thought he was just an overgrown cheerleader with no real football IQ. Our loss.
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It's really Campbell IMO. It's amazing how quickly a great coach/leader can fix an entire franchise. Lions players will go through walls for him, and other teams players want to play for him. We went from Gronkowski saying he'd rather retire than play for the Lions, to 5 years later Gronk saying he'd love to come out of retirement to play for the Lions. And Campbell and Holmes are really in sync. Always talk about how they make all decisions together. Dan has a blueprint of the type of player he wants, and if a guy doesnt fit that, Brad aint drafting him. Lions team mantra is "GRIT" I wish the Wings had something like that... or any type of mantra for that matter...
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Who TF cares about these semantics at this point? Larkin's been taken off the PK. Copp takes on the elites. Larks still not producing and now whining publicly. Seider gained a legit teammate in Edvinsson. Still playing like the neutered version of his rookie self. I highly doubt Marco Kasper is the key depth piece that magically fixes this roster from top down. Maybe injecting a true "difference maker" turns the middle mush around. Maybe injecting 5 more solid depth pieces does the same. Who TF cares? Neither is happening anytime near soon. This roster is still so far from competitive its sad. We have a cultural problem that starts from the top down. Yzerman has accomplished none of his goals. 6 seasons in and we're employing an interim emergency coach picked up mid season because no other team wanted him. We have a captain that is morally shattered, publicly disastisfied with the team, and IMO has learned to be a "loser". Our other leader - Kane - already has his cups and is content coasting into retirement on a builder. Only reason he's even here is bc Detroit is perfectly nestled between his home in Illinois and his home in Buffalo. Team needs a collosal facelift shakeup IMHO.
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I don't agree with your conclusions. Recent history has shown that deep teams, with more top end talent throughout their lineup, are better than teams that have elite top end talent but not as much depth. I can't imagine too many GMs would rather be Edmonton than Florida despite the fact that the Oilers have the better "difference makers". Contrary to what most people think, I don't believe we need those pad the stats guys. We need guys that will allow Seider to go from 45 points to 65 (think Duncan Keith) points and still be a rock defensively. We need the guy who eats some defensive zone starts so Larkin can stay healthy and score 95 points. Same with Raymond. We haven't had those guys because we've've lacked qualtiy depth forever. So our top end guys get keyed on. Depth changes that. If Marco Kasper can eat those "Anthony Cirelli" type minutes, then Larkin gets to play "Brayden Point" type minutes. Same with Raymond and Seider. Those guys stand to gain a lot when they're not eating the best the opposition can throw at them for 20 mins a night.
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I have tonnes of Lions fans for friends and as a Saints fan I'm pretty jealous. You have a GM who you trust completely and your team benefits from his smarts and how he puts his team together. My draft viewing party of one just keeps muttering things like don't fugq it up. again.
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Well, the plan is to wait for the kids to magically turn us into a contender. Which sounds nice, but I'm not seeing it. I mean, I like the pieces. Don't get me wrong. Raymond could be a 100-point player in his prime. But if we're being brutally objective, it's looking like all Yzerman's really assembled is the bare minimum core you'd expect from a non-elite playoff team. We have a good 1C. We have a good 1D. We have a couple good scoring wingers. Edvinsson's good. Kasper's good. But if ASP isn't an absolute monster or Cossa isn't Carey Price...then I don't know what makes us special. So, yeah: mushy middle.
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Stoked for the draft tomorrow! Brad Holmes is one of the biggest draft day wheeler dealers, so I'm expecting action. Thinking he may try to move up in the 1st to snag the edge rusher he wants. But if that guy isnt in range I could see us taking an interior O linemen as well. One of the interesting storylines is NFL insider Breer reported Monday morning that the Lions are open to trading WR2 Jameson Williams at the draft. Breer is a bit untrustworthy... so i didnt put much stock into that. Losing your already primo WR2, whose probably going to get even better, doesnt make much sense when your in the superbowl hunt....right? But then later that day Williams started posting a buncha angry cryptic messages on his instagram about "loyalty" and "suckas" and "choosing sides". And I was like fuqqqqq maybe the Lions already informed him to prepare for a trade. But then Lions social media posted a pic of Williams this afternoon saying "were all good here!" So maybe the insta crap was an unrelated coincidence??? Either way, were not going to be able to afford keeping all our young stars, and as long as we have StBrown, Williams is expendable. Couple that with his off field antics, and rookie contract ending after this season, I see a case for moving on him from now... i just dont know how you replace his talent b4 the season starts... Also, Kerby Joseph extended today. Now the highest paid safety in NFL history. Lez fuqqin gooooo
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And then say fuq it and trade for Rempe too. This team needs a radical new identity. Larkin leaving is the perfect time to flip that on its head. NYR cant re-sign all their boys and may very well be losing Rempe anyway. To NYR: Berggren + Rasmussen + the extra 1st acquired from CBJ To DET: RW Rempe + LHD K'Andre Miller Johnny Bergers and Ras are too soft and gray for our teams new in your face mentality. Go do your perimeter scoring in the big apple. Miller has been on the block with NYR bc they likely cant afford his extension. But we can. Big 6'5" scary black man who can score. Welcome to the D big pimpin. Dcat - Kasper - Raymond Soderblom - Sillinger - JTC Tarasenko - Copp - Olivier Mazur - Danielson - Rempe Edvinsson - Seider Miller - Chiarot Ajo - Gustafsson Is this lineup going to win you the cup? No. Will it get pushed around while Kasper, Danielson, Soderblom, Sillinger, Mazur, Edvinsson, and Ajo develop? FUQ NO! That lineup would be littered with highmotor young guns in big roles, with nasty shopwreckers to back them up. Its okay to lose - but push the other teams s*** in every night and make them pay for it.
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I doubt they wanna move Fantilli or Johnson. Theyre basically younger versions of Larkin so thats be a lateral move at best. BJs do make a lot of sense though. Theyd be adding a vet leader their young group needs after losing Gaudreau, and uniting butt buddies Dylan and Zach. They also have an extra 1st this year, so sending one to us is something they can easily afford. To CBJ: Larkin To DET: C Cole Sillinger + RW Mathieu Olivier + 1st Sillinger is the young replacement center we can develop. We drafted his dad Mike way back when, and he narrowly missed winning a cup with us in the 90s. Mike would be familiar with our entire nepotistic front office, and has done scouting work in the past, so might as well give him a job too. Olivier is probably the best pound for pound fighter in the league, outside maybe Rempe or Reaves. Except Olivier can also put up 30+ pts a season unlike those two goons. We could nab him now b4 his NTC kicks in. Dcat - Kasper - Raymond Soderblom - Sillinger - JTC Mazur - Copp - Olivier Berggren - Ras - Tarasenko
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Nucks are looking to add 2nd line C so I'm guessing they really don't want to lose/trade Petey. His full no-trade clause kicks in July 1st though so... Contract is a joke and the Nucks moving him would need to cover 25% to keep him under our self imposed salary structure. Tom Willander falls under the Isaac Howard category. He's headed back to Sweden supposedly because VCR is cheap and won't include performance bonuses. I don't know what this kind of deal would look like seriously. Pettersson 25% + a signed Willander for what? Danielson, Ras/Compher + protected 2025 1st? Flame away.
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Details emerging about the CHL rape case thats gone to trial... I'll preface this by saying the allegations are horrifying and i do not condone them. But I found one of the allegations somewhat interesting. Victim alledges that Cal Foote "stripped naked and did the splits over her, rubbing his genitals on her face" DISGUSTING AND NO ONE HERE IS LOLING CAL
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If our whiny baby captain who dissapears every March actually wants out... IMO this is who's next in line for the C. I've said it before, but he has NHL coach written all over him. Articulate, insightful, honest... and yet measured. He's a true student of the game, and is superb with the media. He came here and was asked to basically sacrafice all his personal stats to be THE shutdown center. Has he ever complained once about that? No. What happened when he went down for the season this year? Team totally collapsed. This is a hometown kid, good soldier, and leader in the lockerroom. My favorite interview of his will always be between periods after he scored his 100th goal. Q: Andrew, what does it mean to you to have 100 goals? A: It doesn't mean s***. Hopefully the next 100 come faster. Copp is a fuqqin G
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Speaking of Larkin's EOY presser... Where is Yzerman's??? Never taken him this long to do it in the past... fuqqing coward.
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I feel like this Pettersson situation is a lot like the Eichel one with respect to how the Wings should view it. I recall everyone in the league being afraid that Eichel's injuries would prevent him from living up to his lofty contract. Scared more than a view potential suitors away. But we're a team without an elite offensive center, and those players are REALLY hard to get ahold of. It was clearly a gamble for Vegas, but it was worth the risk in acquiring Eichel because they didn't have an elite center either. Nobody is going to hand you a top end 25 year old stud center for no good reason. Anyone available is going to have a question mark or two. With Pettersson the question mark has never been about his scoring. It's more than he doesn't really have that "killer instinct" that any decent 1C needs to thrive in the NHL. He's wilts when he's the top guy. But Larkin is the compliment to that. He's been getting nearly crippled (Jamie Benn? Mathieu Joseph?) for years because of all the hard minutes he plays and HE STILL scores 70-80 points. Give him the hard minutes and Pettersson the soft ones. It's the same deployment Edmonton uses with McDavid and Draisaitl. Watch them play, McDavid gets the soft minutes because he can score a zillion points if he doesn't also have to check top players (something he blows at). Meanwhile, Edmonton has a workhorse 2C that can eat the hard minutes AND provide offense. It's not a bad "direction" for the team IMO.
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Trade him to the BJs so he can play with his good time buddy Zach. I’ll take Fantilli or Kent Johnson+.
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Look, I don't love Pettersson as a player. I think his game is too soft to be an effective 1C. And I think Larkin's offensive game isn't quite good enough to be a high-end 1C. AND we aren't getting a MacKinnon, Barkov, Matthews, etc. any time soon. So we are going to have to do things by committee to some extent. Pettersson has shown that if you have another center to log the heavy minutes (something Larkin has been doing for years) that he can deliver elite offensive outcomes...something we badly need. Trading one for the other would just be an exercise in "digging one hole to fill in another", but together they might add up to a winning recipe. I don't like the contract either, but I'd take solace in the fact that A) the cap is going way up, and B) we have Larkin, Raymond, and Seider on less-than-market-value deals already. If you can get them to take a bad contract (Tarasenko) in return to make the trade work then Pettersson's deal isn't really that big of a problem going forward.
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Pettersson at $11.6m is a disgusting overpay. No thanks. Also no thanks to Marner at $15m. Yzerman should be aggressive this summer and trade a 1st and/or top prospect but not for an overpaid primadonna.
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I wouldn't mind a trade like you've mentioned, but it only takes one dumber/desperate GM to overpay for Petey. I could see the Sabres offering more without retention. Most Nucks fans want a ransom. Saner Nucks fans would be willing to pay to get out of that contract.
