shrader

Does anyone have a good feel for what type of internet connection speed you need for netflix? I'm trying to get the lowest package I can get by on and netflix is really the only thing I use that is actually eats up any resources. I do use the PS3 occasionally too, but almost never online.

And just imagine what we may have to pay out in three years when both Eichel and Reinhart are up for new contracts. I'm sure we will get them done before they become RFAs, but man it could get ugly fast if they don't.

I don't want to get into ranking goalies, but do know that both Crawford and Bishop wouldn't be near the top of my list. I'd love to see what Price could do with a better roster behind him, especially some stronger forwards.

Which is kind of crazy when you think about it. In Carrion league standards, that team made one hell of a heroic charge in the second half last year. They just dug too much of a hole early in the year and had such a little chance at catching up.

I'll put it here because the Darwin award candidate I saw this weekend was awesomely stupid. I was driving on a busy highway yesterday and a teenage kid was riding his bike (bicycle) on the left shoulder. Not only is it a busy road, but it's also undergoing a lot of road work so it's bumpy as hell. I was in the left lane when I saw him and he was bouncing around and weaving due to the bumps. I broke pretty hard, but I was convinced I was going to be the one to end that kid. So wait, there's the awesome part, I didn't hit him.

I'm not sold on the idea of needing a top 10 goalie, probably mostly due to the fact that I have no idea what that is anymore. If that blue line grows the way you're hoping, give me just a serviceable goalie and I think we can go a long way. I realize I'm probably just playing a game of semantics with what I just said, but I'm not sure I really see the value of the superstar goalie at this point. Sure they can take you somewhere (ie. Carey Price), but if you put the right team around even an average goalie, you're going to be in good shape.

But then they just match the offer sheet...

So did the Hanifin free fall start after that? I know each time I looked at Button rankings he had Hanifin well below the standard #3 ranking. I see that as of January that he had him at 5, so I'll claim the technical victory because I said "this year" (and this is where I'd put the winking emoticon if I wasn't on my phone)

Nevermind a player going the Europe route instead of playing in college, this kind of thing doesn't happen with any North American players. It's not really a viable option for these European leagues really. They usually have rules that limit the number of players you can import from outside of the country/region. They're not going to use one of those slots on a teenager unless he's elite.

I haven't religiously followed his rankings, but it does seem like each time there is one specific guy that he likes to bury down much further than where everyone else has him. I know he's been burying Hanifin all year.

I'd be willing to bet that you don't make it to the Sabres second pick. I remember going to the draft in Buffalo the year Lecavalier went first overall. We left long before the Sabres drafted Kalinin. It was way too boring.

You go to this "exception vs. the rule" argument far too often. That and youtube videos must be right on the first page of the LGR cliche handbook. I mention Reinhart simply because he is probably the third listing in your handbook. Anyway, if this list is generated on a yearly basis, you will so those rankings fluctuate quite a bit. To put it in your words, Reinhart would actually wind up being much more of the rule instead of the exception.

My personal favorite was a few years back during a Bruins-Canadien game where the Boston fans were chanting it... there was not a single American born player dressed for the Bruins that night.

I don't mean to call what you are doing foolish. You've put a lot of time and effort into it, that's great. I just question how much, if any conclusion can be drawn from it.

So how does your "Sam Reinhart will be fine" mantra fit with this? An attempt at ranking a draft class that has played a cumulative total of 181 NHL regular season games is beyond premature. There may be some messages that can be taken away from it, but to use it to say that one team is drafting better than another is foolish. Take a look next year when he re-runs it and the whole thing gets reshuffled and looks nothing like it does right now. What will the message be then?

Oh he definitely will. Flash back a few years to when Collin Wilson was the talk of the combine with all of the strength tests. It'll be that all over again. Their program at BU produces beasts.

Isn't this whole analysis incredibly premature?

The BC defenseman? HBO is really scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point.

And a 1 in 13 shot of being the second president of the United States.

What this is more than likely about is that Matthews doesn't want to play for Everett and was hoping to get his rights traded somewhere else.

I expect growing pains, lots of growing pains. We obviously don't know what the roster will be yet, but for the first time in a while, it should at least be interesting to watch. Like CV said, this year will be all about laying the foundation. There's finally direction here and hopefully these kids can gel quickly.

It's scary that my first thought was who would be the guy who can't do any this year. But Eichel won't be a concern. Instead of pulling himself up, he'll actually be pushing the earth down.

They really need to hide that points percentage thing somewhere in the middle. That number is about to take a nice little hit this season. The rest you can't take away from him though.

The best part of that breach of protocol is that my brother was very quickly on the phone with an attorney after hearing it.

It's an actual pail isn't it? Butchered the pig himself I'm sure.