nfreeman

I listened to the interview that @WildCard mentioned above -- it was with Dobber Hockey's (which is a fantasy site) Finnish correspondent. FWIW, he raved about the FNG -- said he was a very gifted offensive player who plays a complete game -- e.g. he led his team in PK minutes in addition to the scoring categories. I agree with @dudacek that it makes sense to keep taking shots like these -- sooner or later one will hit.

Ryan Lambert, who covers the NHL for Yahoo, was on with Schopp and Bulldog yesterday. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-08-ryan-lambert-yahoo-sports-schopp-and-bulldog FWIW, Lambert said, among other things, that most NHL observers think MacL used the Sabres to get a better deal out of LA, and that he thinks the Sabres' job isn't super-attractive due to years of suckitude. My impression is that Lambert isn't as plugged-in as Friedman or some others, but he's not a bozo either.

I feel a bloodbath coming on next episode.

Well, there is some truth to your point about KO, but 2016 was a pretty skinny year for UFAs, and the Sabres seemed poised for an upswing at that point. Since then, they've backslid in year 2 of DDB, gotten GMTM and DDB fired, finished DFL under Howie, then run for the bus at New Year's and gotten Howie canned. The best UFAs may not go to the best organizations, but I think they tend to avoid the teams that stink every year.

I agree that location and $$ are very important, but I think winning organization is just as important. When was the last time an elite UFA went to a lousy organization?

I think in most cases, a high-end UFA is not going to be interested in a team that is in the bottom tier every GD year. Skinner, to the extent they get him, is an outlier - a bit of an odd bird personality who wants to be near home and has an opportunity here to play with a very-good-to-elite elite center for a team with the cap space for an expensive winger. However, I think goalies are a bit different from skaters in this context. Since most teams have a clear-cut distinction between the starter and the backup, and since there is a substantial percentage of GMs who don't believe in giving big contacts to goalies, there are fewer openings for high-end UFA goalies than there are for skaters, so the goalies have fewer options. This makes them more open than elite UFA skaters are to joining a crappy team if that team will deliver a fat contract. In addition, UFA goalies, along with everyone else, know that a big upgrade in net can have a huge impact on a crappy team -- so they might be less put off by the prospect of joining a chronically lousy team. Coincidentally, the Sabres are dying for better goaltending. I think JB needs to be right about the coaching and the goaltending for next season, or else the team will stink again and he'll deservedly get canned.

I think @LGR4GM is right on this one. Dragonstone is pretty close to King's Landing, and I think they were planning on setting up their staging area there. When the survivors washed up on shore, it was at Dragonstone.

Pretty solid episode IMHO. The funeral and subsequent feast were great opening scenes. I liked most of Sansa’s reunion with the Hound but not the end. Arya roadtripping with the Hound again was very nice. Also thought they did a good job showing the tensions between Dany, Jon and the Starks, including the reasonableness of each side’s perspective. I’ll pour one out for Rhaegal (good shocker there) and of course Missandei. I thought his number was up.

I'm not much of a fan of most superhero movies, although a few have been better than most, while a few have been worse than most. This one was in the mediocre middle IMHO. There were some funny lines, some clever plot points (among many dumb and/or cliched ones) and the scene with Tony Stark and his dad was really good. I liked the Captain America resolution. The low point was probably the women's rush near the end -- ridiculous PC pandering. Having said that, I'll probably see the new Spider-man movie this summer -- the preview looked good and I'll enjoy taking my kids to it.

Hang in there sir. It will hurt like hell for a while but then it will get better. In the meantime if you can force yourself to exercise it will help your spirits. It will be alright.

Well, I don't think the percentages necessarily should match. I could certainly believe that that the minimum costs to operate an arena for games, run a sports organization, etc. could well exceed 50% of projected revenues. (This shouldn't be difficult to calculate, since both the costs and the revenues are more or less known quantities.) Someone running this league could certainly look at the numbers and decide that based on costs and revenues, the owners will need 80% or more of revenues in order to break even. For that matter, it's quite possible that even 100% of revenues wouldn't cover expenses.

@WildCard -- I think you are right. I have a hard time believing that the owners are raking in cash -- or making any money at all for that matter -- from this league.

My understanding is that each of the OP and the mods has lock/unlock privileges. I think in this case the OP unlocked it in order to re-name the thread but wasn't able to figure out how to do so, leaving us all with an unbearable situation until a mod came flying in like Arya Stark to rescue the situation from certain death.

I think I want Tippet the most out of anyone that’s been mentioned.

I just completed the re-watch. It was a freaking masterpiece. Riveting, tense, moving and beautifully filmed and scored. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that there will probably never be another episode of TV like it.

Here’s a pretty entertaining professional breakdown of the living’s battle plan: https://www.wired.com/story/game-of-thrones-winterfell-battle-tactical-analysis/

I'm locking this. Lou -- LMK whenever you're ready to change the title and/or the proposed trade.

Edit the title please.

I don't think this is correct.

Incredible.

It was certainly questionable to trade 2 4th-rounders for a pick at the end of the 3rd round, and use that pick on a TE with zero career TDs and only 15 catches, but still:

As to the bold — no, you aren’t. As I’m sure you understand, “I want to express my opinions in my own way” isn’t a free pass to say whatever you want. The 2nd paragraph is just gibberish.

BFP -- welcome, but please fix the thread title and the busted link.

Again -- you are free to think there's nothing funny about it. That doesn't make it OK to start name-calling here to those who disagree with you. This misses the point by a mile. So telling someone not to call other people ***** is the same as calling people *****? Really?

I don't think it's funny or OK to post a spoiler, and I agree that it's a dick move to post a spoiler -- but that doesn't mean that someone who does think it's funny or OK is a dick, and it definitely doesn't mean that it's OK to start calling people ***** who think it's funny or OK. There's way too much thought policing going on in certain quarters.