carpandean

To clarify, I was assuming Sam/Jack are gone (my ideal outcome if they stay is very different), and trying to project realistic expectations on what comes out of the dust from their trades. Looking back before the two COVID seasons, the 10th and 11th worst teams (since we'll have one more team in the league) were over 20 points better than the last-place team, but 7-10 points out of the playoffs. The young kids took big steps in the second half of last season, looking like a much more competitive team, but still lost a lot (19 out of 28, if I remember correctly.) I expect the first half of the season to build off of that, so we'd like what we're seeing, but the points wouldn't be playoff pace. Then, as things gelled and improved, they start to pick up more wins/points. They'd rise up to 83 points or so by producing above a playoff place. Then, they'd luck into adding Wright to the youth movement. All-in-all, they'd be a truly competitive playoff team the following year and for a long-time after. That's a whole lot different than selling everything to finish at the very bottom and coming out with just that star center surrounded by crap. Besides, the above isn't something that a team could actually try for, unlike what we went through for Jack. I was simply saying that with reasonable expectations in the wake of losing those two players, this would be the ideal result to luck into (note the very, very small chance of them winning the lottery at 11th worst.)

Very happy that it didn't end tonight. My least favorite thing (besides seeing a team other than the Sabres win it, obviously) is when a team clinches on the road. It's just not the same. I want Tampa in 5 or 7, now.

The "best" outcome for next year (assuming rocketing to winning the Cup is not possible) would be to show marked improvement and growth with a solidified (new?) core and an answer in net, but still finish 22nd (11th-worst) and win the lottery (max increase is 10 spots) to pick Wright. 🙃

I'd rather have that than ... We had the "trade for a bad package when you didn't have to" scenario play out with O'Reilly. It can't happen again.

Many ranges have rentals that you can use as long as you have your permit. Try before you buy. Ergonomics are very much an individual preference - for example, a particular grip angle may point naturally for one person, but aim high/low for another - as is trigger type (DAO vs. SA/DA, etc.) One thing to remember with pistols is NY's 10-round magazine limit. That means that pistols designed for long, double-stack magazines that hold 15+ rounds don't provide their normal benefit and tend to be less concealable. A shorter grip (possibly with a compact, angled finger extension) double-stack or a long single-stack may still give you 10 rounds, while being more compact. I have always favored Sig Sauer pistols - their ergonomics and mechanics just worked for me - but I don't have any experience with the current generation. I've heard that their quality control may not be what it used to be.

Brutal no look pass in his own end in OT in a potential series-clinching game. If Tampa and Vegas lose, he and Fleury will have to meet up to compare gaffs.

Oh, you said Ru ...

Little Pauly B with a burst of speed, then put it where mamma hides the cookies.

Individual events matter little in analytics. A forward who has the skill and drive to do what McDonagh did will tend to cause his team to score (and, thus, win) more. Likewise, a defenseman who puts in the effort and sacrifice that Pulock did will tend to cause his team to be scored on less. That's what the data will reveal over time. It doesn't care about the small details of the play that we admire. An oversimplification, but you get what I'm saying. The beautiful things that we all admire and think lead to winning more may or may not actually prove to do so in aggregate when the data is crunched. We find that unsatisfying, even it's true. That's why things like deep neural networks with thousands of hidden layers that find and learn from patterns that often couldn't be effectively explained to humans, even if they were revealed, are both effective and frustrating.

So, he (with seven others) bought the Lightning for $206M in 2008, they missed the playoffs twice, and then he sold the them two years later to Vinik for $160M. I can see why he'd be eager to do that again. 🤪

Would have been a goal-of-the-year candidate by McDonagh, if Pulock hadn't gotten there.

Granato was an easy (convenient) choice for Interim Head Coach. People are, rightfully, fearful of him being chosen as the Head Coach also because it's easy. What we need to remember is that an easy choice can also be the best choice. It's just important that whoever is selected, easy choice or not, was chosen because they were actually (with due diligence) deemed to be the best. Unfortunately, it can be difficult for an outside observer to determine whether or not they were in cases where the easy option is selected. Granato's selection would come with suspicion and skepticism, fair or not.

I wouldn't say that. It seems to be working for them this year (though, they haven't actually won the cup yet and really should be down a game - can't credit them for Fleury's bad play with a late lead), but hadn't really done much for them through most his tenure (assuming we're using a bar higher than just "better than the Sabres have done.") They technically hadn't won a playoff round since he signed the big contract extension until this year (last year's win was in the "qualifying round" not the playoffs) and had missed the playoffs more years than not.

That did change after RK was given the boot. They still had some bad games, but in most games, they played until the end, and they even had multiple late comebacks. A glimmer of hope, anyway.

But would she have been one year after graduating and having gone into a career not related to biology?😋

While I hope this encourages players to get vaccinated, this is like asking a recent engineering major if flying on the newest Boeing is safe, or a finance major what to do with your retirement savings.

Nah, that was Joel; this is Yoelle. 😜

No, just like he said, it would technically still be a penalty, but wouldn't affect the outcome of the play. In both cases, it should be called (rules are rules), but not because it actually gave the team an actual unfair advantage. It's unfortunate when something like that is missed. However, there are cases where missed calls actually affect the outcome, which is unfair.

This thread?

I have to suffer through several such shows, and relatively speaking, I find it to be pretty good.

(It's the off-season for everything, so ...) I found out what happened to Kyle Williams after he retired; he's got a home improvement show on HGTV: OK, not really. My wife and daughter love this show (Home Town; it's actually pretty good.) It's not a perfect match, but every time we watch it, I think, "it's Kyle!"

Plus, it's one throw from each. I'm sure there's variation for each, so the difference could just be due to the "noise" in their processes.

(Twice in one week that I got to use this gif!)

The wouldn't spin it in a way that supports the anti-vaccine camp; they would spin it as supporting the personal choice camp. Those two camps (sets) intersect, but neither fully contains the other.