carpandean

How many times have we heard guys who were in the NHL for a handful of games before going back to junior, AHL, etc., say that the experience really changed their mindset? That's what this is (though, Casey's not going back to college.) It's a chance for Casey to see what the NHL game is really like before the offseason. The outcomes of these games don't matter, so he doesn't need to tear things up; seeing what he'll be working for is. He may very well go to Rochester next season, but he'll go with some knowledge and experience that he wouldn't have otherwise had. Plus, yeah, it probably was good from a marketing standpoint.

For anyone who hasn't seen it, this is the video that Marty and Duffer were talking about: Pretty well done. Made me laugh out loud.

Wasn't that in the WHA?

Nigeria? I hear that have great banks. I'm waiting for my check from this great deal that I got ... just had to pay a small upfront fee ...

Understandable, but there is one thing that would be worse than that ... winning on goals by (the likes of) JORDAN FREAKING NOLAN. I can accept wins, in spite of decreasing draft odds, if we're getting our goals from Jack or Sam or Guhle ... guys who will be important down the road. My ideal would be hard-fought losses with goals by those guys and unfortunate brain farts by guys who won't be here. They could even sprinkle in a few HOME wins against rivals (Toronto, etc), which would feel particularly good for the deserving crowd.

Not good enough! Forget goals, altogether. Toss the nets and cut all the goaltenders. Play 6-on-6 for 60 minutes and then see who best possession numbers at the end. It would be like a giant game of keep away. Use RFID chips in the pucks, sticks, players' gear, etc, and let a computer keep a running number.

There would be problems even if they couldn't. What happens if the Marlies win and move up? Their team is made up of Leafs' prospects and career AHLers. Do they go to the NHL with just the latter? Do they get the contracts from the relegated team? A parent team having a strong prospect pool doesn't mean that the minor-league team is better run than the NHL team that they would be replacing.

Actually, the probability of getting at least one #1 pick in those 6 years was/is 56% (=1-Product(1-Probability(#1))). The average number of #1's that we would get by playing those lotteries over and over again would be about 0.75. In fact, we had about exactly a coin flip's chance of getting at least one #1 during the previous 5 lotteries. The average number would have been 0.62.

Everyone agrees it's disappointing. Even those who expected very little return are disappointed because they hoped they might be wrong, which would have been good for the franchise. Nobody is saying, "Wow! This is an awesome haul!" We may never know whether it was GMJB's failure or just an overestimation of how much GMs would value his services, given his past. We will need more data before we can evaluate GMJB (hard to detect patterns with so few data points.) This certainly isn't something that paints him in a good light, but there is at least a reasonable alternative explanation for what happened.

Has anyone posted this: Starting at 0:10, Jack pursues Harvard player coming out of their zone and forces him to cough up the puck to ... Rodrigues, who steals the puck and makes a beautiful backhand pass to ... O'Regan, who roofs in the double-OT semi-final game winner!

I suspect that any mistake that was made happened in November/December/January, when Kane usage changed. In trying to fix the team, he was no longer put in the best possible position and his individual stats dropped way off. I'm sure GMs took that as a sign of a bad attitude, which would fit with his off ice reputation. Also, who wants to pay a lot for a "scorer" who hasn't scored in months. Apparently, 4 goals in 7 games recently wasn't enough to convince him that the real Kane is a true goal scorer.

You just have to admire that shot.

:thumbsup:

If he's not, I would love to have a reporter ask JB, "so, since Kane is playing, can we assume that there isn't much interest in him? I mean, you wouldn't risk injury on a valuable player in the 11th hour, right?"

Yeah, that would be that slight bit of disappointment that crept in when they won in overtime last game. Straight-up tank-based loser mentality. Trying to kick it, but when they are officially eliminated, it's easy to slip back. Trading expiring contracts at the deadline when your record isn't very good? G.M. S.O.P.

I've got to disagree, We've. The trade deadline is a very binary thing. If he's healthy, they get something that could potentially help the win when it actually matters (i.e., still in the hunt for the Cup) for years to come; if he's injured, they get nothing. Winning these two games, while nice for the fans in attendance can't (at this point) help accomplish any more than the win, itself. Besides, what's the real affect of sitting Kane vs. not? There's a very good chance that they lose both with him and also a small chance that they win both without him. Really, you're talking about cases where they would have won with him, but don't without him. Plus, there is actually a chance that we would lose with him and actually win without him. For the playoffs, that incremental (expected) net gain is worth a lot. But when you're already out of the playoffs ... I guess my decision would depend on what's on the table. If there's a couple of very solid offers that you're working on, then he sits. If all you've got is tire kicking or offers of a second and/or mediocre prospect, then he'd probably play.

Unfortunately, this is flawed logic. It only works when there's just one bidder. Karlsson is an extremely valuable asset with many, many interested teams. GMs won't stop outbidding each other because of Ottawa's situation. Competition, alone, will drive his final price up.

Four goals in his last seven games ...

Boy, that really [de-]escalated quickly. I mean that really got [back to reality] fast.

Fallin' for Dhalin? LOL'in for Dhalin?