Compete Level

Grand Moff Larkin wrote: ↑Wed Nov 20, 2024 12:12 pm I'm not as down on the Wings or Yzerman or even Lalonde as the general commentariat. Even with how they've played, they're not out of it by any means -- they're one point back of Ottawa and Buffalo, three points behind the current 8 seed (the Islanders, who they play on Thursday). Is it good to lost all three games on a West Coast road trip, especially when you lead two of those games midway through against teams you should beat? No, it isn't. But I can only read so much "THE DISASTER OF THE WINGS" stuff. The world's bad enough as is, you know. I don't get anything from catastrophizing the hockey team I follow.

But in terms of the Yzerplan, I'm of two minds. The first is that so many pieces haven't made it to the Wings yet. Goaltending hasn't been the problem this year, but Cossa / Augustine looks like they could win games. Cossa's been awesome in the AHL the last two years and I don't think the Prospect Knowers fully appreciate that because they're stuck on his early post-draft struggles. Kasper's on the team now but Danielson, Brandsegg-Nygard, and Mazur are getting close. Lombardi, Finnie, Buchelnikov -- they have more options coming up front. It seems like Sandin-Pellikka could be a gamebreaker on the blueline and Buium, Wallinder, etc. could be third-pair guys with big frames and skating ability. I don't think the Yzerman is done yet because so many of the players on the current roster are placeholders until the next wave arrives.

THAT SAID, my biggest concern is Yzerman's taste in defenders. Not the first-round guys -- Seider and Edvinsson are awesome, look like the right picks, ASP went against type but he looks like he could be great -- but the NHL guys (especially this year) and some of the prospects. I've talked a lot about how NHL bluelines have shifted due to only one defender being on most PP units, which means that more of the guys end up being suited to PK duty, where you need at least four. But between Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry, Justin Holl, and Erik Gustafsson -- 2/3 of the current blueline -- it's hard not to wonder "What do you see in these guys?," especially when they let Gostisbehere go, dumped Walman, and traded Maatta. You need guys to kill penalties, sure, but Chiarot needs to be a third-pairing guy, not a 3D. Petry was a cheap acquisition, but they didn't need both him and Justin Holl in the same offseason, and dumped Maatta (the best of the three) because they couldn't move Holl. Gustafsson seemed like he would be able to run a PP, but he hasn't even been good at that. Gostisbehere had plenty of flaws, but at least he accumulated points. I don't know what was going on with Walman behind the scenes but even if his on-ice performance isn't as good as the hype two season ago, I'd still take him over Gustafsson. As for the defensive prospects, they've reached for guys like Brady Cleveland a few times -- big bodies with a mean streak -- and the profile of "big, toolsy, good skating defensemen" like Buium / Wallinder has not yet delivered any players to the NHL, so the jury's out.

I'm less concerned by the forwards. If you can get Patrick Kane for nothing and keep him on a cheap, one-year deal, yeah, you do that. He hasn't gotten it going this year at even-strength, but he's still worth 4 million. Compher and Copp are insulation for Larkin and stopgaps until the prospects arrive. Compher's been super frustrating this year, Tarasenko can't score, etc. Maybe a coaching change would fix that, but it's not like Lalonde hasn't tried Compher and Kane and Tarasenko with almost every forward combination available.

So in short, not going great, but not the end of the world.