Jason_R

Yes, Edvinsson was down below the face off dot when he threaded that needle to Kane. With his size it doesn’t seem like he should be so nimble but he is. Can we please get ASP on a training program and bulk him up to grown man weight? Maybe we might be on the way to having a good defensive core.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Proctor love is real. Brad loves his athletic freaks and Proctor is one of the freakiest physical specimens in this draft. Dan wants a run game that physically dominates defenses at the line of scrimmage. Proctor is the most dominant run blocker in the draft. You don’t have to pass block very often if you are always in 2nd and 3. But yes, sometimes their visions for how players will develop or fit in are not realized and you don’t want to whiff on a first round player who balloons to 400 pounds.

Tackle? Not so fast my friend!

They look pretty good when they are buzzing around the ice.

https://prashanthiyer.substack.com/p/what-the-hell-happened-to-the-detroit Worth a read. One passage stood out to me: “At the team-level, this is a team that simply could not disrupt the opposition’s cycle, allowing a league-high 560 cycle chances against at 5v5 this year. They allowed the 7th most 5v5 high-danger chances against while generating the 3rd fewest.”

Yes and what do I know, I last played hockey when I was eight. But it seems like this season has revealed some untapped offensive potential in the defensive corps. And it makes me wonder when I see guy like Faulk coming in from a different system, streaking up the ice as a defenseman, creating a passing lane for a breakout pass from a forward, then burying a breakaway chance… what have the Wings been coaching their defensemen to do previously. Has this kind of selective aggressiveness by defensemen been encouraged or discouraged? Either way I like it and hope to see more of it.

Of course the roster isn’t good enough but you play with who you have and you have to maximize their effectiveness. When you are talking about needing incremental improvements to make the playoffs, you can’t afford to under-utilize talent. It should raise questions when we see players leave for other teams and suddenly flourish elsewhere. The roster not being good enough is why ASP made his NHL debut at age 20 weighing probably 165 pounds. Nobody thought when camp started that he would make the NHL roster; everyone thought he needed time in GR to acclimate to NA play and bulk up to grown man weight. The roster was thin enough that they called him up and put him in a role he wasn’t ready for. Now that Faulk is here to anchor the second unit, is ASP ready for sheltered minutes on the third pair and on PP2?

Faulk was back the other night, and scored a majestic goal splitting the defenders and finishing a breakaway. Edvinsson had a brilliant move to set up a goal last week. ASP can drive offensive play. Seider is offensively skilled. Even Johansson has flashed some offensive flair. If you don’t have the forwards to drive offense at 5v5, you need to allow your defense to drive offense, and you need a system that has your defensively responsible but offensively limited forwards to cover for them.

Rasumussen is on for another two years too! 🫠 This is partly (mostly?) wishful thinking, but I expect Stevie to make a significant trade in the offseason.

I feel for him. I'm sure he loved playing with Detroit and he was a good player and a good Lion. It is hard to see guys like him go, but it is the mark of a good team that they let good players go.

I’m not trying to meme this into existence and I’m not saying I want him and I’m not saying this isn’t a smokescreen, but the smoke is there.

I get it but his timeline is not the fan timeline. That is the real point. I believe his timeline (and Ilitch’s) is when C/C/R come off the books.

There was enough smoke around him being involved in conversations about trades for a couple of high end forwards that I believe he was trying to pull off something big. I don’t expect he will be a big player in FA until he gets Copp/Compher/ Rasmussen off the books. But I expect he will revisit potential trades over the summer and I don’t rule out the possibility that he could surprise us.

In 2019-20, the Wings had 39 points, 0.275 points percentage. In 20-21, the Covid season, they had 48 points (0.429). In 21-22, 74 points (0.451). In 22-23, 80 points (0.488). In 23-24, 91 points (0.555). In 24-25, back down to 86 points (0.524). This season, with four games left, they are at 89 points (0.571). As disappointing as the end of this season has been, they are likely to finish this season with their best record since their last playoff season. As disappointing as it was not to get a big trade at the deadline, Faulk’s return last night is a reminder that he is a significant upgrade on the second pair over ASP. If we had Faulk all this season it seems pretty easy to say this team would have made the playoffs. He will let the team play ASP on the third pairing and pp2 while he develops I think Steve was looking to make a big deal at the deadline for a top forward and I expect him to fill that gap this summer. I also expect we will see the team move on from at least one under-performing vet.

Sewell and Hutchinson were pretty obvious. Charlie Campbell had them high on Gibbs. I feel like in 2024 a lot of the buzz was with Quinyon Mitchell who went two picks early and left them with Arnold. I think most people were matching Detroit with defensive ends last year but they picked Tyleik Williams. The draft is a crap shoot and Brad has a history of surprising people.