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Alex Lyon now joins Dylan Larkin as being ousted from the IIHF tournament due to injury. As exciting an opportunity this is for Trey Augustine, Detroit now has 2 goalies injured going into the summer. Husso’s situation isn’t well known and likely won’t be until post surgery. It can be hoped that Larkin and Lyon just need to rehabilitate. Still, it starts to become clear why the NHL isn’t always thrilled with sending players to these tournaments.
Reimer is the lone goalie standing from last year’s roster and remains unsigned. Depending on the severity of Husso’s recovery and what Lyon is dealing with, it certainly at least begs the possibility of Cossa’s pre season performance being of higher importance than last year. So far, nothing has been said indicating that Trey has been asked about turning pro. After what we saw near the end of the season, starting without Larkin in the lineup would be less than ideal. Again, it will all sort itself out and there’s a long summer ahead.
Yesterday’s entry summed up 8 different mock drafts. Simply by stating that 5 different writeups out of 8 examined put Nygard at the forefront is enough to trigger fans right now. To be perfectly clear, I have given up on trying to guess Yzerman’s picks.
All the blog did was put forth the opinions of different sources, and it was curious to see 5 that were in some sort of agreement. This could be due to placement in picking and a feeling of near certainty that Nygard will be available. We don’t know if Detroit will try to move up at all (enter the Berggren rumors again here) or what the internal list looks like. Sweden and Germany have gotten a lot of attention from scouts over the past few years. However, without seeing the travel logs and attendance sheets, it’s tough to guess. If a scout saw the same team 5 or 6 times and then invited someone from the office to fly over, you can guess that there’s someone they seem to like.
Save for the top spot, getting drafted is (in my opinion) an opportunity to prove that you can adjust to instruction in development. The physical and mental changes from age 18 to 23 are immense. The last of the baby fat burns off and the last of the grey matter (frontal lobe) develops. Whatever Yzerman, Lidstrom, Draper, Cleary, Horcoff, Fischer and all the scouts see gets laid out in the teams final evaluation. Interestingly, Fischer completely changed part of player development. It was around 2009 when my wife and I saw him at camp in Traverse City. He looked at the food table and had it cleared. Everything was replaced with whole grains and fruit. Apparently the Dman whose career ended far too soon calls prospects throughout the year to check on them. A lot of hours go into the “in between” portions.
Unless it gets leaked, none of us know how Detroit views the field right now. Central Scouting seems to be off past the 3rd or 4th pick. With the decentralized draft, it may make it even harder to guess where teams are looking. So, for final clarity, I’m freely admitting I have no idea where this team is looking. At least 5 people thing Nygard will fit the bill in terms of their mock drafts. As more teams are eliminated more deals will start being constructed or revisited if they weren’t completed at the trade deadline.
So, let me know. Do injuries at IIHF events sour you at all to the dispatch of talent? Some fans can’t get enough, others don’t really seem to plugged in (especially depending on the time zone differences). How much stock do you put into the mock drafts year over year, and where are they most effective? As always, let me know in the comments.
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