In Red Wings Land

Wings’ Yzerman, Draper preparing for draft

All teams in same boat as they rely on information they already have – RedWings.com

I usually don’t clip the sub-header with the headline, but this one was kinda snarky so I liked it and wanted to share. The idea of the NHL holding the draft on June 5th with new odds that guarantee the Wings can’t fall below 2nd overall have already made the rounds around here, but Wakiji shares what Yzerman and Draper have had to say about it:

“My thought is why would you do that? Why would you need to do that? There’s a lot of things that are affected. Obviously, the draft position hasn’t been established. We don’t know who’s in the playoffs, who’s out of the playoffs in some cases. So there’s a lot of questions and ultimately, if it needs to be done prior to, we’ll figure it out but at this time my own opinion is I haven’t heard a good reason why we should do it prior to the end of the season, if we do conclude the season.”

This is the juicy bit that has been getting a lot of attention because it’s funny to hear the GM of the guaranteed-worst team in the league say this, but it’s also a case of Yzerman getting in front of potentially being the beneficiary of an idea that a lot of people are going to hate (especially Toronto and Montreal fans lol). I don’t have to pretend to hate this because I’m completely comfortable being a Wings homer, but Yzerman probably shouldn’t do that.

Aside from that part, you really should give the whole thing a read because there’s a TON of good info shared by Kris Draper on the process they have been and likely will be following to prep for the draft.

Around the NHL

Laraque says having coronavirus is ‘the worst thing ever’ – NHL.com

I have no idea how many people are still going on with the “eh it’s basically the flu” trope, but that remains a silly flex.

“It’s so crazy because I was running six days a week, 10 kilometers a day to get ready for a marathon; I was doing that for months,” Laraque said. “Now, after the COVID attacked my lungs, I can’t even get up to go brush my teeth without struggling.

“It’s the worst thing ever. It takes all my energy just to get up.”