buddha

i really like duren, but the more i watch the less comfortable i am paying him $30m this summer. the argument for doing that is that he is getting better every year and is young enough that you can anticipate more growth. perhaps a reliable jump shot emerges that turns him into a decent floor spacer? the argument against is that he's a more athletic andre drummond. when cade is out, duren cannot carry the team. in fact, he often looks useless without cade throwing him lobs. maybe that's on the pistons for not finding a comparable second ball handler/distributor, but it also shows duren is not a bona fide #2 scorer all teams need next to their superstar. if you pay duren (and then have to pay ausar), you've now trapped yourself with cade and two non-shooting, non-scorers as your robins to his batman. i dont think you can win with that. but if they DONT pay duren, then what do they do?

you called for asp and danielson. theyre here and are part of the problem. what makes you think the "big kids" in GR who arent as good as those two will suddenly come up and be better? i'd like to at least SEE wallinder, buium, and lombardi to just get a look at them at the nhl level. but i have no illusions they'll be improvements this season. maybe buium would be, but i highly doubt it. as for line one upgrades, i think we have one in kasper but they refuse to move him back up.

i understand, but i dont know if that is "good for the sport." i dont necessarily think parity is automatically good for interest in sports. i think the sport is better when its franchises with large fan bases are involved in championships because more people care about those teams.

the red wings have been pretty unlucky shooting this year. they should have more goals than they do. they have a third pair defense that is awful and constantly caved in. their second pair isnt great either. theyre about to get passed up by other teams who have played less games. but goal difference is a bit misleading, i dont think they've been seriously outplayed much this season (this game notwithstanding).

why?

michigan shoots like ass. their best player gets hurt. another starter gets hurt. playing a top 25 team. win by 30.

boo.

michigan looked like complete garbage for the first three or four games of the season. now they look like one of the best teams in ncaa history.

as long as were talking disappointing, can we talk about nate danielson? is anyone a bit disappointed in him? i see solid defense and good responsibility, the ability to grow into his body, and a good two-way checking center. i do not see 1C. that shouldnt be disappointing, but i was hoping to see more offensive spark. you can see the occasional glash with a great pass here and there, but not a ton of play driving or great offensive tools. a lot of "good."

if it werent for his time on the first line last year, i'd already be saying he is a bust. but he was so complimentary to larkin-raymond and so successful (even with elevated shooting %), i think he is just having a rough go of it this year and not in zadina territory. i know everyone loves finnie, but kasper was better last year in his line one time, and their initial insistance that kasper be 2C held them back on line one (marginally) AND line 2 by forcing copp out of the role he was so good at last year before his injury. i didnt think it was a good idea at the time and ive been proven right. they may need to just suck it up and admit that kasper is better on the wing.

well sure, but we cant give up Song just to marginally improve at 3b, he's the 16th highest rated prospect in our system!

i'll be happy when the pistons are no longer in first place so teams will stop getting up to play them...

wallinder was a big time project. he was a "reach" when they drafted him (but so was seider...). he was big and talented but unrefined and seen as soft. he's still big and talented and still seen as soft. i'm not sure that plays in the nhl. like you note, they may wait until after this year and bring him up like they did with johannson. but will they have room? say they trade for faulk. that gives them seider-ed, faulk-johannson, asp-chairot for this year. i know chairot is up at the end of this year, but i can definitely see them giving him an extension over johannson/wallinder/tuomisto. chairot is still a viable 3rd pair dman who can play 2pair in a pinch and not get caved in. johannson just isnt cutting it, imo. too small and cant move the puck. just to bring this roundabout post full circle, i could see then bring up wallinder next year and let johannson go. wallinder at least has nhl size.

The general philosophy of not spending big money on a free agent is a good one. dont pay ridiculous prices for the down years of production when you can often get similar production from younger, cheaper players. that's been a mantra from the more analytical type observers for a long, long time (shoutout to baseball think factory and those of us who used to read rany and rob on the royals...). however, there are exceptions to that rule. i would argue that the tigers were in such an exception when they were blessed with one of the best pitching talents of his generation and seemingly decided to only tinker on the margins to help them win. results wise in the major leagues, i think its hard to argue harris has improved the major league team dramatically outside of skubal's starts. when skubal doesnt pitch, the tigers are decidedly average. results wise in the minor leagues, the tigers have succeeded in producing some highly anticipated talents. if they pan out, harris' approach may yet be vindicated. my analytical brain likes to think it will be. my "old man who has watched baseball for 50 years" side still has doubts.

i'm more interested in anton johansson than albert or wallinder or tuomisto.

bill geurin is tough! he needs tough players! lol.

This is the correct take. class is dismissed.

his performance in bringing in and developing young talent has been really good. it's great to see the team's minor league system being lauded. otoh, he got played by eduardo rodriguez. he totally blew the offseason by failing to sign bregman. and he single handedly knee capped the team with his trade deadline acquisitions. and he's done nothing of substance this offseason. it seems he's developed a reputation as a mark around the league. i'm starting to edge out of the harris camp, but i'm still "harris curious." let's see if mcgonigle, clark, and maybe briceno pan out into impact players. my overall mood is that they are wasting skubal's best years because they have a "philosophy" and refuse to deviate even a little bit even if the circumstances change. but we'll see. i generally agree with the philosophy, but a little bit of bending this time might have benefitted them.

the tigers are one injury to skubal away from bring a below .500 team. progress is not always linear. ask the detroit lions.

loss. raymond ****s up a 2 on 1, edvinsson whiffs a clear, pittsburgh comes down and letang snipes a goal. i really hate the penguins.

overtime.

debrincat saves raymond's bacon. he missed a wide open net by so much that it bounced off the boards to debrincat who tapped it home.

bad loss.

asp just got lucky. gave away the puck at center ice, then got manhandled in front of the net but brazeau missed it wide.

bull****.