Which Hawk gets the ENT
- HenryHockey

Debrinket

Third period thoughts - Chicago pulled their own goalie in an act of Charity. Detroit couldn’t capitalize.

Third period - Greiss was joined by Jonathan Bernier in the “I gave you every chance and you couldn’t do it” club. Detroit managed 29 shots on goal, but to no avail. Chicago even briefly pulled their own goalie in an act of charity, the Wings were still unable to capitalize. Debrincat’s empty net goal seemed a bit over celebrated, but that’s coming from a place of immense frustration. Chicago outscored Detroit’s efforts, again. The team is loaded with scoring, and can get the puck out of their zone. Both Chicago net minders are having career seasons, which helps greatly. Somehow, Detroit isn’t in last place yet. Ottawa has a massive -29 goal differential to Detroit’s -19. Buffalo is behind Detroit, but with 5 games in hand. Unfortunately, the Ottawa dumpster fire comes right at the time the league is changing the draft. As in this game, in the draft Detroit just can’t catch a break. There are, again, positives in Detroit’s game, but it is overshadowed by an absolutely anemic power play. At some point, someone else needs to be in charge. It is beyond dreadful. To be sure, Chicago is the surprise team in the Central. Nashville has swapped places with the Blackhawks and is looking at a fire sale. Detroit has 1 point in 4 games against Chicago. That is a strong sign that the team isn’t meeting even the lowest expectations at this point.

Speaking of the draft lottery. I would love for them to just get rid of it and adopt the gold plan.

All I can say is that the goaltending this year has been A+ defence B offence E. I have never seen a team more inept at not being able to put the puck in the net. If this team played against an empty net for a full game the people would still not get the free curly fries. I will say the effort is there but changes need to be made up front. Hirose and smith should be in lineup every night as there offence abilities is way beyond filipula and Nielsen

Trouba out 4-6 wks.......Rangers are seriously short of RD. Can there be someone to trade them a RD to help them out or do they bring back ADA..

We are not giving up Hronek!!! (maybe for ADA and Zib)

Trouba out 4-6 wks.......Rangers are seriously short of RD. Can there be someone to trade them a RD to help them out or do they bring back ADA..

We are not giving up Hronek!!! (maybe for ADA and Zib)
- HenryHockey

We can give them Staal back

Third period thoughts - Chicago pulled their own goalie in an act of Charity. Detroit couldn’t capitalize.

Third period - Greiss was joined by Jonathan Bernier in the “I gave you every chance and you couldn’t do it” club. Detroit managed 29 shots on goal, but to no avail. Chicago even briefly pulled their own goalie in an act of charity, the Wings were still unable to capitalize. Debrincat’s empty net goal seemed a bit over celebrated, but that’s coming from a place of immense frustration. Chicago outscored Detroit’s efforts, again. The team is loaded with scoring, and can get the puck out of their zone. Both Chicago net minders are having career seasons, which helps greatly. Somehow, Detroit isn’t in last place yet. Ottawa has a massive -29 goal differential to Detroit’s -19. Buffalo is behind Detroit, but with 5 games in hand. Unfortunately, the Ottawa dumpster fire comes right at the time the league is changing the draft. As in this game, in the draft Detroit just can’t catch a break. There are, again, positives in Detroit’s game, but it is overshadowed by an absolutely anemic power play. At some point, someone else needs to be in charge. It is beyond dreadful. To be sure, Chicago is the surprise team in the Central. Nashville has swapped places with the Blackhawks and is looking at a fire sale. Detroit has 1 point in 4 games against Chicago. That is a strong sign that the team isn’t meeting even the lowest expectations at this point.
- Jeremy Laura

I watched the last 10min of the game last night. The sustained pressure was great to see. But, reading everyone's comments & look at the overall stats, we sucked the rest of the game (overall).
See above; You're spot-on, J. At some point, leadership changes are needed for us to move forward as a team. We didn't have puck-luck at the end of the game, but we should only need it on rare occasions, not every freakin' night. The guys are good, not stellar, and should have a more comprehensive game plan, less line juggling (seems to be the coaching default setting: "Screw with the chemistry"). It's to the point where the players are embarrassed, nightly. I watched the body language, most guys were amped up and playing out of the minds (again the, last 10min or so of the game), but they aren't firing on all 8 cylinders. I fear that this shall remain the norm in hopes of either winning the lottery (Feds, above, had a good comment on that....as did a few others), or making an earth-shattering move. Either way, without a more effective leader, any change will be for naught.

Trouba out 4-6 wks.......Rangers are seriously short of RD. Can there be someone to trade them a RD to help them out or do they bring back ADA..

We are not giving up Hronek!!! (maybe for ADA and Zib)
- HenryHockey

No way on Gordie's White Ice would I condone trading Hronek. NONE. Let the Rangers wallow in their despair alone...

We can give them Staal back
- Feds91Stammer

THAT'S a good call, right there. Open up a spot for someone younger, more hungry...Staal's been ok, nets a few goals, but his turn-overs are dismal, his speed & footwork are slow as molasses. 1 "Oh ship" cancels out ALL of the "atta boy" events.

Speaking of the draft lottery. I would love for them to just get rid of it and adopt the gold plan.
- Feds91Stammer

Detroit's been bent over every year in the "lottery". It needs to go the FRANK away. How in the hell can a team that made the "extended" play-offs be justified is taking the #1 pick in the draft? NO ONE can justify that to me, or anyone else.

The NHL wants to avoid any perception of a team tanking, I got that. But for the sake of all things human, level the playing field. The bottom 4 teams draw for the Top4 picks, then go by season record; throw darts at numbers at a wall; bet on horses; who can eat the most hot dogs in a minute; SOMETHING has to give....or at least give the Wings a kiss before bending us over every year.

Detroit's been bent over every year in the "lottery". It needs to go the FRANK away. How in the hell can a team that made the "extended" play-offs be justified is taking the #1 pick in the draft? NO ONE can justify that to me, or anyone else.

The NHL wants to avoid any perception of a team tanking, I got that. But for the sake of all things human, level the playing field. The bottom 4 teams draw for the Top4 picks, then go by season record; throw darts at numbers at a wall; bet on horses; who can eat the most hot dogs in a minute; SOMETHING has to give....or at least give the Wings a kiss before bending us over every year.

- mcmastermike1968

That’s why I love the gold plan. Teams control their draft pick destiny but they have to win games to do so.

That’s why I love the gold plan. Teams control their draft pick destiny but they have to win games to do so.
- Feds91Stammer

No to gold plan. If you sucked all season and are in the cellar at the TDL, then you have to suddenly switch to winning to get a decent draft position??? Then you can't sell your better players at the TDL for futures because you need them to be competitive in a season that is already lost???

I wonder if Virtanen would be a fit here? Wings would have to send a young forward for him. Maybe this could be used to help the Wings lack of LD as well.
Virtanen and Juolevi for Fabbri and Cholo
Hate to give up Fabbri but that would make Benning salivate.
Wings get an upgrade at LD, Cholo goes home and might prosper, Virtanen is a bigger body that is harder to play against, but may lack the offence Fabbri has.
I like it!

I wonder if Virtanen would be a fit here? Wings would have to send a young forward for him. Maybe this could be used to help the Wings lack of LD as well.
Virtanen and Juolevi for Fabbri and Cholo
Hate to give up Fabbri but that would make Benning salivate.
Wings get an upgrade at LD, Cholo goes home and might prosper, Virtanen is a bigger body that is harder to play against, but may lack the offence Fabbri has.
I like it!
- HenryHockey

I’d rather get a more proven commodity back if we have to give up Fabbri.

How about Virtanen, Eriksson, and a 2nd for random throw in for SPC purposes?

I wonder if Virtanen would be a fit here? Wings would have to send a young forward for him. Maybe this could be used to help the Wings lack of LD as well.
Virtanen and Juolevi for Fabbri and Cholo
Hate to give up Fabbri but that would make Benning salivate.
Wings get an upgrade at LD, Cholo goes home and might prosper, Virtanen is a bigger body that is harder to play against, but may lack the offence Fabbri has.
I like it!
- HenryHockey

H, not sure about anyone else, but I personally would be VERY hesitant to trade Fabbri. Cholo, I think, would do well in a new environment, so would be ok seeing him go. I just think that Fabbri's found a home, kinda like Ryan, and will fit in nicely once the rebuild really takes hold. He's proven himself to be a viable asset for the Wings.

I'd offer up Svech & Cholo for Virtanen, maybe throw in a 3d as well. I've watched Virtanen play; he's pretty solid, got some agility issues every now & then, won't pot a bunch of goals, but has good anticipation and sees the game fairly well....from a layman's perspective, he'd be a pretty good get. We do need upgrades on the D-line, so he may fit in. He moves the puck well on the PP as well.

Just spit-ballin', of course....

No to gold plan. If you sucked all season and are in the cellar at the TDL, then you have to suddenly switch to winning to get a decent draft position??? Then you can't sell your better players at the TDL for futures because you need them to be competitive in a season that is already lost???

- HenryHockey

It's not really like that, because under Gold drafting teams start accumulating points for the "draft standings" once they've been mathematically eliminated. Really awful teams are eliminated much earlier than merely mediocre teams, giving them more games to rack up Gold points.

Wings would have had the No. 1 overall in 2019 with Gold drafting.

They almost certainly would have had the No. 1 or at least the No. 2 locked up last year as well if the full season been played, despite being historically awful. By the time the season was cancelled the Red Wings already had 5 "gold points" in the bank, with no other teams eliminated yet and Ottawa really the only other team even close to the cutline.

In short, under Gold the worst teams still have the best chance of drafting first. But instead of cheering for your team to lose and then cheering for ping pong balls, you simply cheer for you team to win.

It's not really like that, because under Gold drafting teams start accumulating points for the "draft standings" once they've been mathematically eliminated. Really awful teams are eliminated much earlier than merely mediocre teams, giving them more games to rack up Gold points.

Wings would have had the No. 1 overall in 2019 with Gold drafting.

They almost certainly would have had the No. 1 or at least the No. 2 locked up last year as well if the full season been played, despite being historically awful. By the time the season was cancelled the Red Wings already had 5 "gold points" in the bank, with no other teams eliminated yet and Ottawa really the only other team even close to the cutline.

In short, under Gold the worst teams still have the best chance of drafting first. But instead of cheering for your team to lose and then cheering for ping pong balls, you simply cheer for you team to win.
- Sven22

I don't now the full details of gold, I just quoted a writer from the Athletic as to what he said on it. I just want it like it is now with the rule that you can only improve by 3 spots max, and the bottom 4 teams can only degrade by 2 spots max. You do not automatically get the best pick by tanking, but you don't have "bad luck" (or Bettman) take you out of the top 3 if you are the worst team.

How about Virtanen, Eriksson, and a 2nd for random throw in for SPC purposes?
- Feds91Stammer

I guess we could use Z's LTIR contract for this year with all that salary and buy out Eriksson next year.....but I was hoping Neilsen would be bought out....$5M of dead money for both for a couple years is a year too long....They should retain $1.5M on Lou and make it a 3rd instead of a 2nd
Give them Hirose for the throw in?....they what a forward back.

I don't now the full details of gold, I just quoted a writer from the Athletic as to what he said on it. I just want it like it is now with the rule that you can only improve by 3 spots max, and the bottom 4 teams can only degrade by 2 spots max. You do not automatically get the best pick by tanking, but you don't have "bad luck" (or Bettman) take you out of the top 3 if you are the worst team.
- HenryHockey

I get you.

There's really no perfect way to do it unfortunately, because no matter what you're going to have problems.

Heavily based on reverse standing points? You end up encouraging tanking and put fans in the awkward position of cheering for their own team to lose.

Heavy lottery system where teams can make big jumps and falls? Brutally unfair to teams who really need the help.

What I like about Gold most is that it significantly reduces the incentive to tank and the incentive for fans to cheer for their own team to lose, while at the same time still giving the worst teams the best shot at the best picks. The actual draft order ends up being pretty close to reverse standings anyway, because the extra "runway" bad teams get to accumulate "gold points" will typically more than make up for their lack of ability to win games.

Remember when Buffalo and Edmonton both tanked hard for McDavid and had like three late-season games against each other with last place on the line? You had fans in the home building loudly cheering against their own team. Imagine, instead, fans could cheer for their own team to go out and win the first pick. Seems a lot more fun than praying for ping pong balls. (Buffalo would have gotten McDavid if 2015 had used the Gold system, FWIW.)

There are still some downsides to it, of course. The biggest ones I can think of are:

(A) makes the trade deadline less interesting by reducing the incentive to sell off expiring contracts

(B) if one conference has a significantly higher playoff cutline in a given year than the other, their non-playoff teams would be eliminated sooner and be at an unfair advantage.

It's not really like that, because under Gold drafting teams start accumulating points for the "draft standings" once they've been mathematically eliminated. Really awful teams are eliminated much earlier than merely mediocre teams, giving them more games to rack up Gold points.

Wings would have had the No. 1 overall in 2019 with Gold drafting.

They almost certainly would have had the No. 1 or at least the No. 2 locked up last year as well if the full season been played, despite being historically awful. By the time the season was cancelled the Red Wings already had 5 "gold points" in the bank, with no other teams eliminated yet and Ottawa really the only other team even close to the cutline.

In short, under Gold the worst teams still have the best chance of drafting first. But instead of cheering for your team to lose and then cheering for ping pong balls, you simply cheer for you team to win.
- Sven22

I'm not overly familiar with the Gold system, so I need to do some reading on that to make any type of cogent comment.

Here's a suggestion: End of season, have a 3-way play-off for draft seeding (#1 has a bye, 2 & 3 play best of 3, then winner plays best of 3: Draft seeding is set by random draw for the final 3 teams with the overall loser picking 1st, 2d place choosing 2d, 3d place gets last....). Heck, I dunno…..What I do know is that the worst teams have consistently been dorked in the draft, so SOMETHING has to change.....

I'm not overly familiar with the Gold system, so I need to do some reading on that to make any type of cogent comment.

Here's a suggestion: End of season, have a 3-way play-off for draft seeding (#1 has a bye, 2 & 3 play best of 3, then winner plays best of 3: Draft seeding is set by random draw for the final 3 teams with the overall loser picking 1st, 2d place choosing 2d, 3d place gets last....). Heck, I dunno…..What I do know is that the worst teams have consistently been dorked in the draft, so SOMETHING has to change.....
- mcmastermike1968

My issue with any kind of playoff system for drafting is that I'm not really sure why the players would / should care. Are they going to be happy about shortening their vacation, playing extra games with no chance at a championship and risking injury so their GM can draft a player who will likely just take one of their jobs?

If you want to guarantee the worst teams get the best picks, just do reverse standings. You're going to see lots of GMs tanking as hard as possible, though, especially if a McDavid-caliber prospect is in play.

If you want to guarantee that teams won't deliberately tank, do a wide-open lottery where all non-playoff teams have the same or very similar odds and can move up / down a lot. But then you're going to see the teams that need the most help screwed again and again, and the worst team finish outside the top 3 more often than not.

I like Gold because I think it represents a good compromise between discouraging tanking, giving the worst teams the best chance at the top picks, not adding extra games to the schedule, and maintaining a high level of fan engagement for all teams all season long.

It also actually ends up better for extremely weak teams, like Detroit was last year. In 2019-20 the Red Wings had one of the worst seasons ever, and were worse by far than even the second-last team. But just like any other last place team in recent seasons, they had less than 20% odds to pick first and 50% to drop to 4th (which happened). Under Gold, they would have been virtually guaranteed first or second overall. (That's because very few teams are mathematically eliminated before the last week or so of the season, whereas Detroit had a month and a half to accrue Gold points.)

Incidentally, Micah Blake McCurdy of HockeyViz has been tracking unofficial "gold standings" for the last several years and Detroit would have benefited greatly under the system.

2020: Season not completed, but Detroit had 5 gold points when games were canceled and all other teams had 0.

2019: Detroit would have picked 1st (actual: 6th)

2018: Detroit would have picked 5th (actual: 6th)

2017: Detroit would have picked 6th (actual: 9th)

My issue with any kind of playoff system for drafting is that I'm not really sure why the players would / should care. Are they going to be happy about shortening their vacation, playing extra games with no chance at a championship and risking injury so their GM can draft a player who will likely just take one of their jobs?

If you want to guarantee the worst teams get the best picks, just do reverse standings. You're going to see lots of GMs tanking as hard as possible, though, especially if a McDavid-caliber prospect is in play.

If you want to guarantee that teams won't deliberately tank, do a wide-open lottery where all non-playoff teams have the same or very similar odds and can move up / down a lot. But then you're going to see the teams that need the most help screwed again and again, and the worst team finish outside the top 3 more often than not.

I like Gold because I think it represents a good compromise between discouraging tanking, giving the worst teams the best chance at the top picks, not adding extra games to the schedule, and maintaining a high level of fan engagement for all teams all season long.

It also actually ends up better for extremely weak teams, like Detroit was last year. In 2019-20 the Red Wings had one of the worst seasons ever, and were worse by far than even the second-last team. But just like any other last place team in recent seasons, they had less than 20% odds to pick first and 50% to drop to 4th (which happened). Under Gold, they would have been virtually guaranteed first or second overall. (That's because very few teams are mathematically eliminated before the last week or so of the season, whereas Detroit had a month and a half to accrue Gold points.)

Incidentally, Micah Blake McCurdy of HockeyViz has been tracking unofficial "gold standings" for the last several years and Detroit would have benefited greatly under the system.

2020: Season not completed, but Detroit had 5 gold points when games were canceled and all other teams had 0.

2019: Detroit would have picked 1st (actual: 6th)

2018: Detroit would have picked 5th (actual: 6th)

2017: Detroit would have picked 6th (actual: 9th)
- Sven22

Gold plan is definitely the least flawed.

Additionally the concern of not moving rental players would potentially be mitigated by the demand for rental players. If more teams hold onto rental players the available ones prices would go up which should entice teams to move rental players. At least that’s my thought on that concern.

And wow imagine having Lafreniere, Hughes, Zadina, and Glass.

My issue with any kind of playoff system for drafting is that I'm not really sure why the players would / should care. Are they going to be happy about shortening their vacation, playing extra games with no chance at a championship and risking injury so their GM can draft a player who will likely just take one of their jobs?

If you want to guarantee the worst teams get the best picks, just do reverse standings. You're going to see lots of GMs tanking as hard as possible, though, especially if a McDavid-caliber prospect is in play.

If you want to guarantee that teams won't deliberately tank, do a wide-open lottery where all non-playoff teams have the same or very similar odds and can move up / down a lot. But then you're going to see the teams that need the most help screwed again and again, and the worst team finish outside the top 3 more often than not.

I like Gold because I think it represents a good compromise between discouraging tanking, giving the worst teams the best chance at the top picks, not adding extra games to the schedule, and maintaining a high level of fan engagement for all teams all season long.

It also actually ends up better for extremely weak teams, like Detroit was last year. In 2019-20 the Red Wings had one of the worst seasons ever, and were worse by far than even the second-last team. But just like any other last place team in recent seasons, they had less than 20% odds to pick first and 50% to drop to 4th (which happened). Under Gold, they would have been virtually guaranteed first or second overall. (That's because very few teams are mathematically eliminated before the last week or so of the season, whereas Detroit had a month and a half to accrue Gold points.)

Incidentally, Micah Blake McCurdy of HockeyViz has been tracking unofficial "gold standings" for the last several years and Detroit would have benefited greatly under the system.

2020: Season not completed, but Detroit had 5 gold points when games were canceled and all other teams had 0.

2019: Detroit would have picked 1st (actual: 6th)

2018: Detroit would have picked 5th (actual: 6th)

2017: Detroit would have picked 6th (actual: 9th)
- Sven22

Thanks for all your research! I see that Gold might be a better system .....however, for those bad teams that wish to blow up and trade all they can for draft capital might not trade if they have to win a few of there last games to gain better Gold points. Maybe if the TDL were moved a week closer to the end of the season that would not be a problem.

Thanks for all your research! I see that Gold might be a better system .....however, for those bad teams that wish to blow up and trade all they can for draft capital might not trade if they have to win a few of there last games to gain better Gold points. Maybe if the TDL were moved a week closer to the end of the season that would not be a problem.
- HenryHockey

One other suggestion that has occasionally been made is for teams to be able to "declare" themselves out of the playoff race and start to accumulate Gold points even when they haven't technically been mathematically eliminated.

You could set a cutoff date (can't declare before 55 GP or whatever) or even limit it to teams that are a certain number of points out to avoid a scenario where a team declares super early with a huge portion of the schedule to go. Plus, there's the fact that declaring yourself "out" would lock you out of the playoffs even if you went on a tear and finished inside the top 8.

Not 100% sure I'd support that modification but it's interesting to think about.