Canada wins the world junior tourney for the 3rd time in 6 years with a big third period comeback in the gold medal game against Russia. Putin was undoubtedly watching, so eff you Vlad. The win avenges a 6-0 drubbing the Russians gave the Canucks in tourney play, the worst loss the Canadians had ever suffered in the World Juniors.
Tourney MVP is Alexis Lafreniere, who the Red Wings will have the best shot of drafting in June. Last place would give them roughly a 30 percent chance of picking 1OA in the draft lottery. And Lafreniere would undoubtedly be the pick for them. This would be the biggest star they’ve landed since Yzerman. Fingers crossed they can get him. He might be the best prospect to come out since Sidney Crosby.
No he is not McDavid. McDavid is the best prospect since Crosby .Tavares was also a better prospect. That said he is really really good. He is the best player out of the last 3 drafts.
McDavid is on a tier of his own since Crosby. Then Tavares. Lafreniere, Eichel, Matthews,Laine are the players, all have similar pre draft grades. So since 2005 I have him in the top 6 prospects. Mackinnon, Stamkos, Doughty, Hedman, Patrick Kane are the next tier as prospects grades. But a cut below the top 6. Lafreniere is a franchise player and would be a huge get for Detroit. Yzerman is the best GM in the league. He fleeced St Louis already for Fabbri. Detroit needs help pretty much everywhere.
Yeah I’m not going to take anything away from McDavid. I do think Lafreniere will win more Cups than he will. Just got the feeling that he’s destined for Stanley Cup glory. He’d look great in red and white, but the Wings haven’t had much luck in the draft lottery. I don’t think they’ve ever moved up, only down. This is the kind of player they need. They do have a shit ton of young prospects. They need that one player to bring it all together and Alexis could be that guy. I expect him to end up elsewhere. I’ve played too much Hold Em in my day to not like a 1 out of 3 chance.
I don’t think Detroit’s prospect stable is very good. Holland did a piss poor job at the end. On the roster you have: Larkin, Mantha, Fabbri, and Bertuzzi are all decent 4-9 forwards. Hronek is a nice piece on the backend and is very young still. Zadina may or may not be good. The kid they took at 6 last year looks to be a decent prospect as well.
In the system I do not see: Rasmussen, Veleno, Svechnikov, Givani Smith, Cholowski are all blown recent top picks by Holland IMO. Yzerman has a lot of work to do. Especially on the back end. He inherited a garbage situation.
I like some of those prospects better than you do, but I’ll admit to being pretty out of touch with today’s NHL. There does seem to be an uptick in quality play, but for years I’ve watched the game devolve into a dump and chase style that just bores me to death. Now, there seems to be more skill creeping back in, to the point where I might start watching again. It would help if the Wings were better. I just don’t feel like watching a lot of pro sports anymore. My father had seasons tickets to the Spits back in Ernie Godden’s day. Now that was fun hockey.
Godden’s 1980 stats: 68 games 87 goals 66 assists 153 points and… 185 penalty minutes! He had the eye injury that really killed his NHL career. Too bad. He was a Fleury type before small players got a shot at the big time.
I like Veleno, and wish we had a chance to take him rather than go through the garbage Tatar ordeal.
I agree on Rasmussen – I don’t see much more than a potential third line ceiling there. MAYBE a guy you park in front of the goalie on PP2.
Lafreniere is definitely good. I sort of hope he goes to Ottawa with San Jose’s pick to give them even more punishment for the absolutely terrible Erik Karlsson deal.
Funny thing is one of my local sports buds hates Maurice and insists he’s holding the team back. I figure if he can make the playoffs with the losses on defense and the injuries on offense, you extend the man.
This is pretty good. When I was a kid growing in Windsor, the Spitfires were the hottest ticket in town. I went to tons of games. And we even billeted a player at one point. That was Frankie Janicek, who made the team but the editing made it look like he was a cut. Thinking of Ernie Godden the other day made me sentimental. He’s #15 and still holds the OHL record for goals scored in a season. You’ll see a teenaged Claude Julien, currently the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens.
Windsor Arena was opened in 1924 and was the first home for Detroit pro hockey before the Olympia was built. It had a capacity of 6,000 when packed to the gills, and was a great old school place to see a hockey game for more than 80 years. Known as The Barn, it was a hockey landmark until it was replaced by an arena on the outskirts of town (don’t even talk to me about that, Wayne Gretzky was an investor to build a new arena right downtown but the city council fucked that up, grrrr).
There are a bunch of short videos that I just found the other day with footage of the Spits kids and their story for the season 1979-80. They are 16-19 year olds (I think they were only allowed one 19 year old and the rest were 16-18) hoping to get drafted into the NHL.
The Barn was known as a tough place to play, with a loud intimidating crowd with a rabid taste for hockey. Brings back so many memories. Also reminds me of Slapshot “Old Time Hockey.” It was the home of the Detroit Cougars when it opened it’s doors. The first link is about the arena, the second is the story of the Spits season. Really amateur videography, but it was 1979 lol. Also, if you keep watching the autoplay vids, you’ll see a teenaged Brendan Shanahan in a bench-clearing brawl vs. Windsor in 1985. Old time hockey.
Both of Yzermans HC hires in Tampa we’re guys with JR and AHL experience only. No retreads. I don’t see him going after laviolette. I will throw 2 names out here who will be the new HC in the off season. Kris Knoblauch or Steve Ott. I lean knoblauch and fans will have no clue who he is.
I’d be one of those fans lol I used to live an breathe hockey back when I was playing it. I just don’t have the time or interest to follow it as much now that the Wings have been a dumpster fire for so long. I’m starting to pay a little more attention JUST because of Yzerman, he’s my guy.
This is the first time I’ve visited the Off Topic Tavern and didn’t see the hockey talk here.
Die hard Edmonton Oilers fan (yes, Oilers and Lions fan. I don’t know why I bother) and pumped about the BoA (Battle of Alberta) tonight. This is their 2nd playoff run in 13 years so I enjoy the ride as much as I can.
Lets keep hockey talk alive. I know there must be some Red Wings fans around here but I don’t blame you guys if you don’t want to talk about them. Kind of scary as an Oilers fan that this current Red Wings team is the one that Holland built but he’s off to a pretty good start with the Oilers so far.
Assuming Vegas doesn’t end up with the last wild card, I fully expect them to make it to the WCF. The pacific is so bad. Edmonton Vancouver and Calgary are all frauds. Arizona could cause minor issues for Vegas, but I doubt it. The west winner will be either St Louis, Dallas or Vegas.
The east I could see 6 teams possibly winning: Tampa, Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh. Outside chance is NYI and Columbus. Columbus has been playing good for awhile now. Torts should probably win coach of the year. Bobrovsky, Duchene, and Panarin all left Columbus for greener pastures . None wanted to be there and all 3 of their teams are doing worse than Columbus.
