News Article: We are gonna be significant. - Derek Lalonde

[odin1981]

I see this as meaning we won't unload assets, if we are still in the playoffs hunt come trade deadline.

 

[better Red than Dead]

Speaking of significant

https://twitter.com/JDietzSports?re...ly20Destination20for20Patrick20Kane20Revealed

 

[jkutswings]

Speaking of significant

https://twitter.com/JDietzSports?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1698450208714059858|twgr^d9195cfea490a4133b60a35d351037ad2cf90098|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https://www.markerzone.com/news/BREAKING20Likely20Destination20for20Patrick20Kane20Revealed

He's a highly accomplished player that might have another very good season or two left in him.

He's also a Richard Cranium of a human being.

So to say I'm torn about the possibility of him playing for Detroit would be an understatement.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

He's a highly accomplished player that might have another very good season or two left in him.

He's also a Richard Cranium of a human being.

So to say I'm torn about the possibility of him playing for Detroit would be an understatement.

Elon's link didn't work for me but it looks like it's about Patrick Kane.

Honestly the main reason I'd ever want him on the Wings is to infuriate Blackhawks fans.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

What does this even mean?

 

[DamonDRW]

I don't know what he means by significant when he also says we aren't there yet.

The season will only go as far as health of either/both of Larkin/Seider play most of the games. Either one of them gone for a good stretch and we are are toast.

This is something people heavily underestimate. We still don't have any "talent" depth. The minutes Larkin goes down, we have Copp or Compher as our 1st line center which is comparable to the worst teams in this league.

 

[Pavels Dog]

The season will only go as far as health of either/both of Larkin/Seider play most of the games. Either one of them gone for a good stretch and we are are toast.

They played 80 and 82 games last season and we didn't make the playoffs. They're important, but I don't think we're that kind of team where our success should depend on 2 players. If that's how things go I think it's because the team's depth isn't as good as we hope. Obviously we can't survive long-term injuries to them, but I think that goes for most teams and their best players.

 

[Oddbob]

They played 80 and 82 games last season and we didn't make the playoffs. They're important, but I don't think we're that kind of team where our success should depend on 2 players. If that's how things go I think it's because the team's depth isn't as good as we hope. Obviously we can't survive long-term injuries to them, but I think that goes for most teams and their best players.

We absolutely are dependent on exactly those 2. If either of them missed let's say half the season, we are bottom 1-3 easily. The teams that are good can survive at least 1 star or important piece missing and still make the playoffs, we are nowhere close to that good yet.

They both handle way too much of the important ice time to have them gone. You might be ok for 5-10 games, but over the long haul we would cave without them.

 

[Pavels Dog]

We absolutely are dependent on exactly those 2. If either of them missed let's say half the season, we are bottom 1-3 easily. The teams that are good can survive at least 1 star or important piece missing and still make the playoffs, we are nowhere close to that good yet.

They both handle way too much of the important ice time to have them gone. You might be ok for 5-10 games, but over the long haul we would cave without them.

I definitely disagree that we'd be bottom 3, but your best players missing half a season would obviously be massive for any team. We shouldn't be as reliant on them this season though. Ideally Debrincat and Raymond both challenge Larkin for being our top offensive guy, and ideally Ghost challenges Seider for #1PP and Holl takes some PK duties away from him. Between Compher and a healthy Copp our center depth should be much improved, and there's Kasper coming up as well. If Seider goes down, there's a chance that gives Edvinsson a call-up - not a bad one.

Point being - if we're sitting here in December talking about how we would struggle badly without Larkin/Seider I think something has gone badly wrong because our biggest weapon SHOULD be depth.

 

[Gniwder]

What does this even mean?

Word salad.


The only important thing that came out of the interview was this:

"He's just managing his game, he's maturing his game, and same with Razor. He's going to take a step; he just has to do it physically, and he has. I saw him when I came back from Dylan's wedding, and he literally put on eight, nine pounds, didn't even look like the same athlete"

 

[Frk It]

Don’t tell me, show me.

 

[Henkka]

I don't remember was it this thread, or some another thread, when talking about playoff hopes.

I did predict something like: "How you can't predict injuries, but some team is always gonna have them and cuold have adisaster season. You just don't know which one."

Now Tampa Bay has Vasilevskiy injured. Back injury, at least for 8-10 weeks.

Their most important player for winning games.

In what form will he return..? He could be their next Jimmy Howard struggling and trying to play and never will be the same as healthy and in prime.

Without Vasilevskiy, and also after losing all their great team depth to contract extensions and salary raises (and replacing them with lesser and lesser replacements), it could be Tampa Bay as the next candidate as out of the playoffs.

You couldn't predict this, it could have been Toronto losing some of their stars with same style of thin depth or some other team.

This Atlantic Division is gonna have some new things happening at this season. What can Boston be without BOTH Bergeron and Krecji etc.

It could be our time. NOW.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

I don't remember was it this thread, or some another thread, when talking about playoff hopes.

I did predict something like: "How you can't predict injuries, but some team is always gonna have them and cuold have adisaster season. You just don't know which one."

Now Tampa Bay has Vasilevskiy injured. Back injury, at least for 8-10 weeks.

Their most important player for winning games.

In what form will he return..? He could be their next Jimmy Howard struggling and trying to play and never will be the same as healthy and in prime.

Without Vasilevskiy, and also after losing all their great team depth to contract extensions and salary raises (and replacing them with lesser and lesser replacements), it could be Tampa Bay as the next candidate as out of the playoffs.

You couldn't predict this, it could have been Toronto losing some of their stars with same style of thin depth or some other team.

This Atlantic Division is gonna have some new things happening at this season. What can Boston be without BOTH Bergeron and Krecji etc.

It could be our time. NOW.

The other thing is the team has the right players for Lalonde's system. We're seeing it in how well the team defends the slot now and pushes play to the defensive corners. I know it's just preseason, but when playing their C squad, Detroit was able to keep a game close in a loss by playing the system. The B squad blew out the Hawks. Half the A squad blew out the caps. And they all looked very structured while doing it.

 

[jkutswings]

The other thing is the team has the right players for Lalonde's system. We're seeing it in how well the team defends the slot now and pushes play to the defensive corners. I know it's just preseason, but when playing their C squad, Detroit was able to keep a game close in a loss by playing the system. The B squad blew out the Hawks. Half the A squad blew out the caps. And they all looked very structured while doing it.

Yeah, I saw the lineup of forwards for the Chicago game and figured that Detroit would struggle to score. And they shelled the Hawks 6-1.

Miniscule sample size notwithstanding, it does feel like the roster has at least reached the threshold of not only being able to play a real system, but possibly playing it very well.

 

[Detroit Knights]

Yeah, I saw the lineup of forwards for the Chicago game and figured that Detroit would struggle to score. And they shelled the Hawks 6-1.

Miniscule sample size notwithstanding, it does feel like the roster has at least reached the threshold of not only being able to play a real system, but possibly playing it very well.

This is what happened last year.

The games where they played the system correctly, they won every game and it was night and day. Not to mention, when we were up by two goals and were playing the system, it was like watching a suffocating boa squeezing out the opponent and frustrating them even more and they make mistakes (and we didn't have to have anxiousness while watching a 2 goal lead just evaporate like it has been for the past 5+ years). When they started chasing and playing other teams systems because of whatever reason, we lost every game and it was bad losses too (buffalo and ottawa for example).

We had the most 1 goal games or 1 goal losses (forgot which one) last season over every other team. Having guys like DBC, ras, raymond, and even sprong judging by his shot in preseason step up, we will be able to overcome those 1 goal games, ESPECIALLY when we play the system.

If we play the system the right way every single game, those blowout losses will be like 1 or 2 a year and not once every week it seemed like. And every game will become winnable. To this day, I struggle to understand what the system was under blashill other than throwing a toddle in the pool that has never swam before and told them to figure it out (don't think we ever did).

 

[dalem177]

To this day, I struggle to understand what the system was under blashill other than throwing a toddle in the pool that has never swam before and told them to figure it out (don't think we ever did).

I suspect it might have been the equivalent of

"Major Blash!"
"Yessir!
"We have to hold our position. But we also have to advance against opposition."
"Yessir!"
"I want you to take these young sprouts fresh from boot camp, combine them with some talented journeymen from the previous campaign, and succeed!"
"May I rely on long-term relationships between the journeymen and the sprouts?"
"Mmmm, no. We're going to be cycling a bunch of players through here."
"OK... can we get rid of some of the broken-down guys?"
"Oh, no."
"Can we focus on training the new boys and not worry about actually advancing?"
"Oh lord, no."
"Can we at least not add new journeymen at the end of their careers every couple of years?"
"Ha ha! No. That is going to happen."
"Yes sir, I'll get it done, sir."

 

[Gniwder]

Now Tampa Bay has Vasilevskiy injured. Back injury, at least for 8-10 weeks.

Johansson just pitched a shutout against the Canes with Aho/Necas and a few other regulars in their lineup. With their luck, he'll wind up being their Binnington. (Jonas is 28 yo with very limited action the past 3 years).

 

[PajamaBoy]

NHL is full of swings.

No one predicted New Jersey to jump up from 63 points to 112-point team.

That was crazy. They just did build the roster on a right way, got Jack Hughes 100% after injury-lost later season etc. They still had crap goalies and weaknesses on the roster, but hey, that's the reality in cap world.

No one is having a perfect roster.

But Wings have got better at almost every position versus last season. That makes huge things. No wonder Lalonde is full of trust. He does feel it. He knows it. It's time to make things happen.

I am glad we are building the right way thru the draft but at the moment we have no one that can sniff hughes talent wise. And it isnt even close.

 

[jkutswings]

I am glad we are building the right way thru the draft but at the moment we have no one that can sniff hughes talent wise. And it isnt even close.

Zetterberg was never as talented as Crosby, and yet he worked him like a rented mule in 2008.

I just mean that not only am I very happy with what Yzerman has done with the cards he's been dealt, but I think the current pipeline is definitely capable of eventually contending for championships (even without a top 5 caliber player in the league).

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Zetterberg was never as talented as Crosby, and yet he worked him like a rented mule in 2008.

I just mean that not only am I very happy with what Yzerman has done with the cards he's been dealt, but I think the current pipeline is definitely capable of eventually contending for championships (even without a top 5 caliber player in the league).

Let's not count our chickens before they hatch. But this is how I view it.

Larkin with a legit scoring winger could be a top 10 center in the league. He wasn't far from the top 10 this past season when you count overall play and scoring.
Seider is very likely to become a top 5 defender in the league one day.
Edvinsson's potential is through the roof and if he doesn't become a top 10 overall defender I think we still see him become a top 10 defensive defender.
Raymond still has a lot of untapped potential. I don't know if he could become a top 10 right winger but it wouldn't shock me.
DeBrincat is a guy I expect to be a top 15 LW this year. And he's still young enough that we're going to get several good years from him.

We don't know exactly what we have in ASP, Danielson and Kasper yet. Or Mazur, Hanas. (who just might be our Bert replacement.) We don't fully know what we have in Wallinder but I'd bet that he will be a very good puckmover at the least. And Soderblom is another guy that could be a terrific get but might also turn into a literal giant nothing. This year is going to be very telling about the true strength of our system.

 

[Indrid Cold]

If Boston falls out of the playoffs, Detroit should take that spot over Twattawa and the Ice Water Birds.

 

[Detroit Knights]

Let's not count our chickens before they hatch. But this is how I view it.

Larkin with a legit scoring winger could be a top 10 center in the league. He wasn't far from the top 10 this past season when you count overall play and scoring.
Seider is very likely to become a top 5 defender in the league one day.
Edvinsson's potential is through the roof and if he doesn't become a top 10 overall defender I think we still see him become a top 10 defensive defender.
Raymond still has a lot of untapped potential. I don't know if he could become a top 10 right winger but it wouldn't shock me.
DeBrincat is a guy I expect to be a top 15 LW this year. And he's still young enough that we're going to get several good years from him.

We don't know exactly what we have in ASP, Danielson and Kasper yet. Or Mazur, Hanas. (who just might be our Bert replacement.) We don't fully know what we have in Wallinder but I'd bet that he will be a very good puckmover at the least. And Soderblom is another guy that could be a terrific get but might also turn into a literal giant nothing. This year is going to be very telling about the true strength of our system.

Just for clarity when you say top 15 LW this year, are you talking about goal/point production or overall?

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Just for clarity when you say top 15 LW this year, are you talking about goal/point production or overall?

Overall. DBC is a legit first liner. If he and Larkin develop chemistry then he’ll probably be top 15 in LW production too.

 

[Ezekial]

I am glad we are building the right way thru the draft but at the moment we have no one that can sniff hughes talent wise. And it isnt even close.

I know Henkka made the original point but the example to use from last year is Seattle, not Jersey. They had a 40 point increase and their major additions were Beniers and more castaways with a point leader of 70 points.

 

[norrisnick]

I know Henkka made the original point but the example to use from last year is Seattle, not Jersey. They had a 40 point increase and their major additions were Beniers and more castaways with a point leader of 70 points.

They weren't deathly afraid to get scored on. Thus their depth lines produced and outscored their defensive/goaltending woes. That's not going to happen here.

Our games are managed.