shrader

Rockford, not Grand Rapids. ;) I haven't seen this one yet. I randomly came across this story online. Remember the whole story where Jack Johnson's parents screwed him out of a ton of money? They apparently did something similar to his paternal grandfather (also named Jack Johnson). I hope they eventually get what's coming to them.

I think most people would agree with you on that. Fortunately, those organic fights don't seem to happen all that often, so you don't have too many chances to feel guilty.

Are his fight calls a lot less wild or are the fights themselves a lot less wild? It doesn't seem like there's much there with fights anymore, especially when compared to Ray's days.

I wish they'd stop reporting this stuff. News flash, they're scouting everyone. These reports of who is scouting who get very heavy at this time of year and they almost always lead to absolutely nothing. If a guy like Mantha really is a target, you better believe that the team knows just about everything about him at this point.

They do have insurance policies in football for top tier guys like Winston, and from what I've heard, the NCAA actually allows the school to pay for them. I'm not sure if the insurance companies cover the hockey players or not though. If they do, the money concern might not be as big as you'd think.

That's what happens when you play for the US developmental team. They have a limited league schedule and then mix in a lot of tournaments and exhibition games which aren't included in the stats. Christian Fischer is the only one from that team on the list with a large number of games played listed, but I have no idea where that is coming from. Other sites I'm looking at have much smaller numbers for him.

I kind of wish that we didn't get to see these Super Bowl adds ahead of time. It actually gives me less reason to watch a game like this year's where I hate both teams and instead I'm rooting for Bane. I understand why they do it though. If I was paying $85 gazillion for an ad, I'd want it to be seen as many times as possible too.

I think the key ultimately will be finding someone to step up for our second line. We are going to have the first line talent thanks to these last two drafts. Someone else is going to have to step up and provide that secondary scoring, either from within the organization or someone else brought in. Just look at Tampa Bay and the production of their second line of Palat, Johnson, and Kucherov. That's probably a bit of an extreme example, but that is the reason they're on top of the east right now. If we can put together that productive second line, it will open a whole world of opportunities to the rest of the roster.

I'll add a little more to this than had already been stated yesterday. Nothing Eichel has done to this point indicates that he cares about his fanship one bit. He was a BC fan his whole life, but he wound up going to BU, their huge rival just down the street. He went there even after the coach who recruited him retired before he even got on campus. There is zero indication that he would try to pull any games. On top of that, if he does try to do something like that, he's stuck waiting four years to do it. That's a whole hell of a lot of lost income just so he can play where he wants. And on top of that, once those four years are up, he'd still be stuck in a much cheaper entry level deal for a year or two more. These ideas don't fly in today's NHL for the top draft picks because there is very little incentive to do so. It hurts them far more than it helps.

The kid is a powerplay pointman in the waiting. I was wondering when he would make it to the show. Looking at his AHL numbers, just like in college, he's an assist machine. I wonder if it's as simple as him just being blocked in Chicago's system.

The problem with the mega trades is that there's this little thing called the salary cap. There's so much complication on both sides to make everything balance out.

I can see some scenarios where a player wouldn't be able to talk. All of them would be extremely rare though. In Lynch's case, I see it as nothing more than an act of rebellion.

Schultz was a special case based on a specific set of criteria. He left school early, but it had already been 4 years after being drafted. Basically, when a college player is drafted, the team retains their rights as long as they are in college. If they leave early, they still hold onto their rights until they are 4 years removed from being drafted (unless they were 20 when drafted, then the team only gets 2 years). All scenarios that lead to the player being a free agent are tied into when the player leaves school. There is one scenario actually where a team can essential give up the rights of the player. I can't say I've ever seen this happen though.

I'd also like to know why the league, knowing that he won't talk, puts him in a high profile location on media day. Why not just bury him with the practice squad players that no one wants to talk to. Actually, I know that the league loves the attention this gets, but there are so many ways around it if his refusal to talk actually had legitimate causes.

The drafting team retains the rights of a college player for at least 4 years. That would make them too old to be eligible for the draft at that point. It looks like it might be possible in the crazy case where a kid entered college at like 15 years old, but that's not happening.

Deals like that would be funny to see now thanks to the contract limit. We would have to send the first pick along with guys like Sundher and Bagnall just to stay under that limit. It would be like sending Riley Boychuk to the Devils for Tallinder, except having three more of those bottom feeders included.

I'm sick of hearing about Marshawn Lynch. Once he uses the same response to the first two or three questions, why do people bother to ask more? I understand being there at the start of the talk, just out of the chance that this could be the day he finally says something. He makes it clear very fast that it isn't that day.

Are you hitting on me?

Go read a few more Yuri posts. Sabrespace is apparently whatever your sick and twisted mind wants it to be.

This may be the most unintentionally funny exchange I've ever seen on this board. It's so very toddkaz, don't you think inky?

Hey, that's me third from the left!

Both of the college guys will stick around for the standard 3 years. They haven't taken the step forward this year that you would like to see from a prospect. At the same time though, they're one bounce back season away from picking up a max entry level deal. The time isn't right for them and I'd have to think that any family adviser (ie. agent) would tell them as much.

It's going to depend on the perceived quality of the two drafts too. If this year is as deep as they like to say, you may be interested in a guy in the mid to late 20s, not only because of the deep draft, but also because he would be one year ahead on the growth curve compared to that 2016 guy.

Sizzle, I think you're looking too far into the future for that draft pick trade bait. The extra picks this year may very well wind up being that piece instead.

The whole thing is very dependent on a lot of factors. That Nashville team last year just happened to have the best goalie in the league out with an injury, had a defenseman who many believe to be the best in the league signed up to a long term deal, and were one year removed from drafting another defenseman with a very high ceiling. They had a good foundation in place so it was much easier to go the route they did. Buffalo didn't have that in place yet. There may have been a collection of moves that would have put Buffalo up into immediate playoff contention, but let's face it, the path they took was easier in the short term. And if karma cared one bit, there's a long list of winning teams across all sports that never would have gotten that far.