slothfacekilla

FWIW I have read rumblings that the Wings' board was Stutzle 1 then Raymond 2 so they could have shocked everyone if they won the lottery! I have no idea how true that is though as it didn't come from anyone in the Wings' org directly so could have just been revisionist stuff after Lafreniere took a while to get going.

In my mind he's one of those dudes with all the tools, but not the toolbox, so I'm skeptical he'd turn it around in Detroit but stranger things have happened. I also don't watch a ton of Buffalo games, but I've just been unimpressed with his hockey IQ when it comes to his own zone. If his contract wasn't so awful I would be way more willing to try, but his lack of offense after getting his deal makes it pretty ugly right now. Maybe he can rediscover whatever he did to get paid on another team.

No to Dylan Cozens. He's absolutely awful on defense and doesn't put up enough points to make up for it. He just doesn't seem like a Yzerman type center to me.

I'm hoping the Wings are trying to sign Johansson to a contract extension in season, I would love to lock him into a cheaper long term deal before he plays 20+ minutes a night too much!

They also said Kasper couldn't play on the first line! Seems about right for Wheeler, honestly I'm shocked he had them in the top 5 after Edvinsson "graduated". He's notoriously been more down on Danielson than other evaluators and he generally doesn't change his tune even after the draft, so it is nice to see he still rates them well I guess!

Slowly but surely the yzerplan is coming to fruition

Too be fair he has an extensive disciplinary history, and he’s also a douche though I guess so is Benn. But I am glad these guys are finally getting games for these boneheaded plays. Benn should have been suspended too and I hate him to this day!

Raymond's contract is going to be such a steal with the cap going up

And here I was posting in the January thread last night like a fool!

This is a good team, enjoyable to watch

That second goal was Edvinsson from Soderblom and Berggren. The kids are alright!

Lalonde had an awful defensive system that didn't allow for players to have any sort of agency or creativity outside of this person needs to be here and when you get the puck immediately flip it out of the zone. You could really see it with Seider, any sort of creative plays he used to do with the puck dried up the last two seasons. I also feel that his defensive system seemed to rely more on collapsing into your own zone instead of trying to stop flow through the neutral zone, which I hate. Then on top of that, I feel like the last season and a half he was coaching scared to lose his job and stifled the offense even further. They weren't chasing after dumping and they basically had no way to generate scoring chances. You could tell that the system absolutely crushed most of the players, they didn't seem to be interested in doing more than going through the motions because the system was so rigid and based around not giving up a goal. Todd, while he runs an overall defensive oriented system with players collapsing more into a trap type scenario when the opposition is breaking out, it seems like emphasis is placed on hounding the puck carrier in the neutral zone. On top of that the players seem to be given the chance to actually make plays with the puck, passes or carrying, instead of instantly flipping it out. It seems like guys are jumping up on offense more and possessing more as well. Honestly in the end it all boils down to his "just play ****ing hockey" rant. Lalonde basically coached these guys into being robots in his system which wasn't flexible at all. Todd wants them to rely less on falling back to the system, but work within that system using your instincts and skills to make plays. Plus Lalonde was an absolute moron when it came to deploying people, especially young players. Johansson is playing 20+ minutes a night and he would barely leave the press box under Uncle Fester. Kasper was being shoehorned into a bottom six checking role. The man put Motte on the top line. In retrospect it is kinda crazy what he did to this team, no wonder all the signings looked awful!

It is very nice to see Todd giving Kasper the rookie Larkin treatment. Larkin got to play wing next to Zetterberg his rookie year and I think putting Kasper at wing on the top line is a great call. He honestly looked fine at center to me, and I think the way he plays makes everyone on his line better. Down on the fourth line it didn't mean a lot more than keeping the puck out of the Wings' net, but now he has a chance to play a little less defensively (at the very least he won't have as much responsibility being on the wing) and with good players and he's showing he can put up points. He's still very young and seems like his body still has some maturing to do as well, so I'm very excited to see him develop in the NHL.

AHL is definitely a developmental league, and I know a big part of Soderblom playing well this season was that Auston Watson took him under his wing in GR, showing him how to play harder and more physical. I honestly had written off Soderblom until part way through this season when it seemed like something clicked. Kasper only played one season of AHL after recovering from a broken knee (that happened in the NHL, I feel like many people forget that the Wings brought him over and played him in Detroit before Grand Rapids). Johansson only spent two seasons in Grand Rapids and it definitely helped him get accustomed to NA ice and game play. I know we all want our prospects now but I'm not sure we should be upset about Johansson and Edvinsson already playing 20+ minutes a night and Kasper fitting in well on the first line. Seems like their development has been alright to me? Something I forgot about too is how young Kasper is, only ~4 months older than Danielson.

It looks like Seider literally scored their second goal for them lol. Since it is on NHL Network and in Southern California I can't watch...

He's not a huge dude but he could at least go after Kucherov and Lilleberg if they pull that kind of **** like last game

WOW!! This is something out of a movie. Hometown kid from Michigan, undrafted and signs a tryout with Grand Rapids in 2017. In his eighth year in the AHL after never playing in the NHL he's leading the Griffins in scoring and 1 off his career best in points. At age 31 he finally gets his NHL shot. Really hard working dude, love to see it even if he doesn't do much in the NHL.

Kuch has always been a huge baby and poor sport

Seeing a lot of praise for Shai Buium lately, seems like he's passing Wallinder on the prospect depth chart. woohoo Very exciting stuff

I wouldn't give up Raymond in a Rantanen trade, it feels like you're still a player or two away and paying Rantanen top league money. It would need to be something more like Kasper + Danielson + whatever or something like that otherwise I don't see why you do it but I also don't know much! I do know that the Blackhawks were pretty dumb, I thought they got a third just for helping with retention and didn't realize Hall was gone. They might have a bad GM there lol.

I totally get that opinion. It’s tough to discount how good the teams were in front of him. As an ex-goalie before my knees gave up on me, I will say I found those games with 15 or so shots against really tough haha. It is tough to stay in the zone when you don’t get much work, and I preferred fairly steady (but easy!) shots throughout a game so I would keep a feel for the puck and my angles. There is a give and take with that too! Managed to time my nap perfectly for the Lightning game!

Watching back old Wings games (I've been doing it a lot this season lol) it always strikes me that Osgood came up with a ton of huge saves in big moments that I forget about.

Max Plante is up to 12 points (5+7) in 9 games as a 18 year old Freshman. I'm very excited for him, I think the Wings found something nice with him.