buddha

AJD Melting Pot. really good substack from one of the mgoblog boys. i think the wings' problem is not yzerman per se, but that yzerman has allowed the wings' front office to become the wings' retirement home. yzerman led a really good front office in tampa bay, one that has continued to be good after he left. here, he has draper and horcoff. guys who have been here for a decade. a decade of losing and tiny improvements on the ice and - outside of three top 6 picks - has failed in the draft. why are they still here? why are the only additions to the staff nick kronwall and lidstrom? julein brisebois never played an nhl game in his life and now he's the best gm in hockey after being there with yzerman. it takes talent to find that guy. it takes no talent to find kronwall or lidstrom, theyre literally contacts in his phone. time to overhaul this mess. go get the next julien brisebois, and if yzerman isnt ruthless enough to fire his underperforming ex-teammates, then go find someone who will.

multiple good pieces out there in the substack-verse on the need to overhaul the front office. "Look, those are the three most important picks Yzerman has made, since they were the highest. But you also get less credit for nailing them. Getting a really good hockey player out of the 6th, 4th, and 7th overall picks should be the baseline expectation for any GM in the National Hockey League. But can you get really good (or even just regular good) players when you pick 9th or 14th or 20th? Or out of the 2nd or 3rd rounds? That’s what differentiates strong front offices from average/weak ones, and what elevates rebuilds into contenders. Right now, it’s not great. Only seven Yzerman draft picks played more than 40 games for the Red Wings this season, in year #7 of a rebuild. Of those seven players, one is a third pair defenseman, one is a young D who was clearly not NHL ready, and the other is a former 7th rounder who scored 30 points. The final name is Marco Kasper, who went from one of the most exciting players at the end of last year to scoring just 19 points. That is close to a five-alarm fire for me. As it stands currently, Detroit doesn’t have a single impactful NHL player out of the 2022 or 2023 drafts. Maybe that will happen in the future but I’m not feeling great right now. Nate Danielson, the 2023 first rounder, came up and played 28 games, making little impact. Together with the Kasper, the players you picked 8th and 9th overall in ‘22 and ‘23 combined to score 26 points. "

you wrote that you didnt think they were far from being the top team in the conference. i think theyre miles from being the top team in the conference.

is it a coincidence thar kawahi played exactly 65 games this year? the bare minimum.

$25k. pocket change for him.

he could "shoot" back in detroit. the difference is that when he was in detroit after he signed the big deal, he thought he SHOULD be shooting. now he is just a bit player who shoots in garbage time for the laughs.

i like this new keith gave.

i'd be surprised if they do anything this year. they'll suspend him for a couple games next year.

he was really good the second half of the season. he dominated tarris reed in the post, reed was one of the best players in the tournament and mara shut him down. michigan kind of unlocked mara's passing too. good vision for a big man. he'll get walked physically for a while, but he can defend the paint and pass.

i dont see how you can watch this team and think that. they got caved in by the best teams quite regularly when those teams turned up the intensity.

i think it will be quinn hughes this year.

i thinm the wings collapsed. they were never as good as their early season results, as evidenced by their goal differential. if there is any bad luck involved, its that they play in the toughest division in the sport. those things are cyclical and the wings are in a bad place for their own cycle. the real question were all asking is why is it taking so long to get better? their peers are doing better than they are. i just dont see the positives in the farm system. they have no star players it seems. that's what they really need. I would not be surprised if they get desperate and shell out the farm for EP40.

i was agreeing with you. 🙂

lamelo ball has to be one of the more unlikeable players in the league. 2-16 from 3? intentionally hurts the other team's best player? totally selfish and stupid player. immensely physically talented but just a **** and a dumbass.

Once again with feeling: prospect ratings have very little correlation with results on the ice. wheeler and pronman are great, but their ratings have much more to do with draft position than anything else. and if you are to take them seriously, all they show about the wings is that they have a lot of players projected to be 3rd liners and second pair defensemen, and no stars. nate danielson and marco kasper were both top ten picks. both dropped like a stone in those rankings once they got on the ice against men. asp now too. most of us really overrate red wings prospects. me included.