Can you guys please win in regulation tonight, thank you in advance
- Symba007

Calling up Lalonde now to let him know

I don't see a logical path to Larkin leaving but you never know.
- Feds91Stammer

I think the same thing about Pasta, but I never underestimate Sweeney's ability to (frank) a situation up. I would have thought a contract for Larkin would have been waiting for him the second he was able to sign an extension.

All the waiting doesn't give warm fuzzies.

Vilardi was the consensus best pick at the time. He would be much better than Rasmussen.
- Feds91Stammer

So is this a Draper decision based on the scouts, Poot scouting, or something else. I’m not a fan of Draper, and drafting his own son was the last straw. Need an overhaul of this portion of the organization. I’m disappointed with drafting.

So is this a Draper decision based on the scouts, Poot scouting, or something else. I’m not a fan of Draper, and drafting his own son was the last straw. Need an overhaul of this portion of the organization. I’m disappointed with drafting.
- down_in_a_hole

IIRC the 2017 draft was a Wright/Holland (frank) up where they specifically focused on size over talent and didn't take a player under 6'

IIRC the 2017 draft was a Wright/Holland (frank) up where they specifically focused on size over talent and didn't take a player under 6'
- Feds91Stammer

Besides Ras and Lindstrom, that draft produced only one other player who played in Detroit's system. Cole Frasier made it to the Toledo Walleye. After taking Svechnikov & Cholowski in the first round of the previous two drafts, it was nice to at least get a player capable of making an NHL team.

Raz's QO is limited to 120% of his AAV, or $1,752,000
- HenryHockey

I don't think this is correct or else why would anyone be saying that DeBrincat needs to be qualified at 9 mil (his salary this season, his cap hit is 6.4 mil) and the same with Timo Meier 6 mil cap hit but salary is 10 mil so his qualifying is 10 mil. Pretty sure it goes by the salary in the last year of the contract not the AAV of his contract.

The same thing will happen with Zadina who will be making 2.73 mil in his last year so his qualifying will have to be that. GMs might do this to bring down the AAV but you can end up shooting yourself in the foot by having to qualify a player at a salary he isn't worth which he can just accept or not qualify him and lose him for nothing. Yes there are other options like working out a decent contract with the player or trading him but teams might not have too much interest unless they know they can sign the player for a decent salary or they can just hope you won't qualify him and sign him as a UFA like the Wings did with Kubalik and give up nothing.

IIRC the 2017 draft was a Wright/Holland (frank) up where they specifically focused on size over talent and didn't take a player under 6'
- Feds91Stammer

It honestly felt like 3 straight years of first round big men, the best of which is serviceable bottom line (bottom 6 may be generous). How many times did Tyler Johnson humiliate this team while in TB? Shouldn’t that have been a sign?

I think it can't be overstated that Rasmussen wasn't even a particularly good junior player. He was a net-front PP specialist in the WHL. He tapped in a lot of goals on the doorstep, but he relied on teammates to drive play and give him the puck in tight. His even strength primary scoring (goals plus primary assists) was barely above average among draft-eligible WHLers.

His limitations were obvious and his skating, passing, and hockey IQ were all (rightly) questioned from the very beginning. But unfortunately a lot of scouts and GMs still get fooled by "size + goals!!!" and in 2017 that included Ken Holland.

The only way he was ever going to be a scorer at the NHL level was as a net crasher with his linemates generating all of the chances. That strategy is questionable in any case, although if you're Holmstrom and Datsyuk and Zetterberg are getting you the puck it can definitely work. If you're Rasmussen and you're relying on Larkin and Perron (to say nothing of Erne, Sundqvist, Suter, Copp ...), good luck.
- Sven22

I'm very cautious about the numbers of any kid that has NHL size playing in the CHL. Too many times they have a big advantage with their size playing against younger/smaller kids and put up numbers that make you think they are better than they are. When they get to the NHL, they can't overpower everyone like they do in the CHL since it's full of big players that are stronger than they are.

This was one of the reasons i wasn't as high on Byfield (that and he looked invisible in the WJC against his age group). Byfield does have the skills and IQ though so i get why he went that high. Ras shouldn't have even though that draft was kind of weak.

I'm very cautious about the numbers of any kid that has NHL size playing in the CHL. Too many times they have a big advantage with their size playing against younger/smaller kids and put up numbers that make you think they are better than they are. When they get to the NHL, they can't overpower everyone like they do in the CHL since it's full of big players that are stronger than they are.

This was one of the reasons i wasn't as high on Byfield (that and he looked invisible in the WJC against his age group). Byfield does have the skills and IQ though so i get why he went that high. Ras shouldn't have even though that draft was kind of weak.
- dcz28

The thing is, there's not even that much of a size difference anyway. The average NHLer is about 6'1" and 200 pounds. The average CHLer is 6'0" and 180.

I'm certainly no expert when it comes to the science of size versus playing ability but I tend to take the perspective that a player's size is already "baked into the analysis," so to speak. Or in other words: even if, all other things being equal, it's better to be 6'5" than 5'9", that still doesn't mean you should draft based on size. If a short guy is outperforming a big guy against equivalent competition, despite the disadvantage of being small, that's a good indication that he's just that much more skilled, and those skill advantages will probably persist in the future.

I don't know if you are right or wrong that prospects with "NHL size" translate less of their CHL performance to NHL performance than smaller players. But I'm not sure I agree that Rasmussen's size was the primary reason to be skeptical about his NHL projection. The problem wasn't that he could dominate junior players but couldn't dominate bigger, stronger NHLers. The problem was that he wasn't even dominating junior players. Once you looked at any stat other than total goals it was apparent that he kinda sucked.