I'm making a very brief appearance and catching up on a few things;
1) I was right about the defensemen. Spurgeon and Brodin are very effective regular season defensemen, but ineffective in the post-season. Faber seemed to be a pretty good defenseman, but that isn't going to fix the issues. I honestly don't see a defenseman on the roster or in the minors that is absolute number 1. Faber is close, but Lambos, O'Rourke, Hunt, Peart, and whoever else don't scream franchise defenseman that can help win playoff games. Faber needs to chip in offensively more and that'll probably come with time.
2) I was also right about Zuccarello. I hope, HOPE, Minnesota trades him this off-season. He's a no-show in the playoffs. 2 goals in one game and pretty much nothing the last two games.
3) This team is the very definition of milquetoast. There is nothing to get excited about. They got blown out again. And now they have to face Bedard and a reloaded Chicago team? As well as Anaheim with MacTavish, Fantilli and Zegras? Yeah, keep spinning the wheels like the hamster on a treadmill.
4) Barkov and Huberdeau are a big reason why Florida is wrecking havoc (well Tkachuk btw of Hubbie), but damn. I was right about Zito. And Fenton is showing why he's the best in the business as a scout/advisor. Bringing in Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Brandon Montour, Eetu Luostarinen, Gustav Forsling. They built around their star players (Ekblad, Barkov) and knew who to trade off (Huberdeau). Weeger is going to hurt, but damn...
4a) Also Staal had more goals this season than Sam Steel, Brandon Duhaime, Marcus Foligno, Mason Shaw, Connor Dewar while being their like 4th center.
5) Kaprizov better not go back to Russia. There are rumors that he is, but he better not. The drama last season isn't worth him going back to Russia this season.
6) Guerin bringing back the old coaches - Evason is fine, but the assistants as well is a joke. His loyalty is the opposite of Fenton's disloyalty and both of them are huge issues. He sounds like a jerk, and that he knows better than most because he played the game. Guess what? Bertuzzi played the game as well, does that make him a good GM?
7) I don't see Michkov going in the top 5. Teams need help now and Michkov isn't going to come over until 2025 at the earliest. Teams aren't going to wait 2 seasons if they have a top 5 pick for an unknown Russian regardless of how talented he is. Plus the headaches of getting his papers and such.
8) Minnesota should absolutely look at getting a top 5 pick in the 2025 draft. If they get Misa and then with all of that cap room? Yeah they could actually make some noise.
9) None of the prospects Minnesota have excite me at all; Khus and Yurov are probably the ones that have the most promise, along with Wallstedt, but most of them have low ceilings, high floors. Does anyone have ANY idea how Haight and Lorenz did because there was like zero coverage of them other than stats? Ohgren honestly seems like a rich man's version of Johan Larsson.
10) I hate all of you, because I'm officially old, grumpy and yelling at kids to get off my lawn.