Taro T

When it happens every 2-3 years, almost like clockwork, it reflects on the one doing the hiring (& firing). Personally, don't see the need for the public mea culpa & absolutely won't expect it.

Appreciate that Appert is standing up for his player, but really not sure how COVID recuperation caused him to leave 4" above his shoulders when squaring up for shots for months on end, some of which were prior to COVID being identified. He's stopped doing that (oddly enough right after Dell got called up) and has looked like he might be a goalie after all since then. His movement in the crease has also improved since the Dell call up. Still believe it was a mental block that affected his play after the hip surgeries and am very pleased for him & us that he seems past it.

Why couldn't we have heard this rumor before Ullmark was lowballed? The weird apple pie thing alone won't be enough. But if the master of the phat panny were still here, ... We're talking gold, Jerry, GOLD!

Has it been reported whether Beasley's exhibiting symptoms or not? If he is exhibiting symptoms, then he is mistaken & it is in fact COVID that is keeping him out of Sunday's game. If he is asymptomatic, then he may have a technical point that it is indeed the NFL that is keeping him out of that game. But, those were the rules in place when he joined the team this summer while having not been vaccinated & he knew what those rules were & are.

And in Turin Italia. And in ...

Or those that had concerns about the vaccines creating other health issues or had other concerns about getting vaccinated realized what a nightmare it would be to try to be going across an international border regularly while unvaccinated and didn't want to deal with the peer pressure that would come from being unvaccinated and decided that their own personal utility was maximized by getting vaccinated. Certainly many did it for altruistic reasons & many did it because they believe overall their health will be better having been vaccinated. But overall wouldn't read more into it than nearly every player decided that he personally would be better off, all things considered, by being vaccinated rather than by not getting vaccinated.

A lot of the European teams end up letting athletes of their heritage play for them in sports they'd otherwise be completely clueless in.

Well, just because they failed to become the DeBeers of RHD under Botterill doesn't mean controlling the entire supply of puck moving LHD isn't possible. It merely means the exercise hasn't yet been tried. Didn't you know Adams' mother's maiden name was Hunt? 😉

In theory, correct. But as the host country they can put an athlete/ team in every event. And they will.

Not sure whether the testing requirements were relaxed in November, the league was going to review them at that time to determine if adjustments to the testing were warranted, but per the league's protocols formulated before the season, ALL players were being tested at least every 3 days regardless of vaccination status. And supposedly only Tyler Bertuzzi is unvaccinated. Truly doubt many businesses &/or individuals that have 100% vaccination rates are testing at that frequency as a general rule. Doubt many at lower levels of blanket vacinnations are testing that frequently either, though readily admit that belief may be misheld. And, presently, the league has upped that to daily testing. Just curious, how often are asymptomatic people that aren't by choice now living a hermit's lifestyle in general testing? And by that, don't mean self assessing & checking their temperatures, but actually getting the swab up the old cranial cavity to verify they're COVID free, at least at the time the test was performed?

Good chance he wasn't going anyhow. This actually works in his favor as he doesn't have reason to rush his recovery.

Hope they do. Would serve 'em right.

What's the record for most golds & most total medals at a single Winter Olympics? Those records might be in jeopardy.

It also gives the players that may now be having 2nd thoughts about participating in the Olympics a way to avoid playing in them without admitting they don't want to play given the severity of the consequences of a positive test. So, in a roundabout way, it may be meaningful. Interestingly, though the Olympics is in question, things are still proceeding towards the All Star Game & its associated festivities proceeding as planned.

Well, they aren't going to cancel games, so ...

No data. But he didn't participate in yesterday's practice. As there was no morning skate today, no info on whether he would've participated.

At this point cynically wondering if the guys that would likely be going to the Olympics are realizing just how big of a deal a 5 week quarantine in Beijing truly is and just how possible/likely that would be and whether the PA might be pushing behind the scenes for this measure to have a "face saving" excuse to skip the Olympics. Can't see any way at this point for the league to participate in the Olympics unless the unplayed games end up canceled rather than postponed.

That may be, but it is timely.

Yep. Next game is Monday at home vs the Aisles.

Don't believe the BJs care about the Sabres competitive advantages nor disadvantages, but they're right in the mix w/ Detroit & the B's for the last WC. Losing 2 to a bottom feeder like the Sabres could put a serious crimp into that playoff drive. Get that no morning skates was the league's idea. Expecting not flying last night was Columbus' & not necessarily for as virtuous a reason as they'll claim. Realize it's a cynical take, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily wrong. (Doesn't necessarily mean it's right either.)

Cynically am curious if the BJs would've been so willing to postpone the next couple/few games if Jenner & Roslovic weren't 2 of the 3 guys out.

Surprised to see this GDT pop back up. The game stunk, but yours truly got a free shirt on the jumbotron, so it was all OK in the end. 😉 And it was the biggest crowd of the year because Roswell gave out a ton of tickets. Minus those, it would've been another typical Monday attendance. (And, no, currently no personal ties to Roswell at present.)

Expected, but still a bummer. Was looking forward to Tuch's debut.

Don't know about that. There'll still be Mittelstadt to kick around. Usually only need two whipping boys and w/ Dahlin not going anywhere they should be covered on that front.

The NFC's even more jumbled. 15 teams are either in a playoff spot or "in the hunt." Basically, everybody but Detroit could still make it after 14 games have been played. Which is nuts but what the NFL wants.