nfreeman

You are probably right. But still: - Seabrook is significantly better than the other defensemen you mentioned. - It's reasonable to expect him to continue to play at a very high level for the next 2 seasons, and at a pretty solid level for the 2 seasons after that. Thereafter? He could keep going at a reasonably good level, or he could easily fall off the table. - Leadership, playoff experience, locker-room credibility, etc., etc. - If the Sabres want to make a serious playoff run, say, the season after next -- Seabrook would contribute more than any other defenseman likely to be available this summer.

Submitted for your consideration: Brent Seabrook, RHD, 6'3", 220 lbs. Age -- he turned 31 last week; he's played 11 full NHL seasons Contract -- next season is the first year of an EIGHT-year extension with a cap hit of $6.9MM per year. Full NMC. Stats -- 49 pts in 81 games last year; just under 23 min per game in ice time. Chicago has major cap probems and is going to need to take major steps this summer. Still, I don't think they would unload Seabrook yet -- he's too integral to their core, and he has an NMC. For discussion purposes, though -- would you take on that contract? And would you give up, say, Zemgus, McCabe and #9 overall in this year's draft for him?

It was a great night. I think everyone who's even a little interested should see him once.

Did anyone notice that Mr. Fancystats claimed that there were only 2.71 goals per game this year?

Awesome. I'm in. I will of course need complete editorial control. And 4 limos for my entourage.

I think WC has it right here -- i.e. Corsi (and its derivatives) are more accurate metrics than plus/minus because the sample size is much larger.

The Caps have unleashed their secret weapon, Mike Weber, so they will put the Pens away in 5.

For comic relief, I kinda liked the scene where Danerys was hauled before the Khal, who muses about the first sight of a beautiful naked woman being the best thing in the world, at which point his homies kept coming up with other things that were better, resulting in him finally, and exasperatedly, stating that seeing the naked woman was top-5.

I wasn't referring to her death -- just to the likely end of her highly compelling scenes of disrobing. If you don't like it, you don't like it. Related question: was it you that was surprised that I didn't like "Boardwalk Empire?" If so, there's a grave and gathering credibility issue here. And FFS, the show has dragons, giants and resurrections -- are we really going to try to nitpick all of the "unrealistic" items that present themselves?

I don't agree at all. I saw a kid in his first NHL season play a tough game in the d-zone while flashing quite a bit of offensive ability. Was he given, due to lack of alternatives, a bigger role than would've been ideal? Yes, of course, and I'd like to see them add one or two guys so that he's in the 3rd pairing next season at about 16 min or so per game. But IMHO McCabe is a legit NHL defenseman with all the tools to be a good top-4 guy. More broadly, for both Bogo and McCabe, I think you are not sufficiently considering the "get up to speed" factor for guys in a new situation -- new coach, system, teammates, league (for McCabe), etc. Bogo missed all of camp and the first month of the season. That is a major hurdle to overcome. By the 2nd half of the season he added a lot of value. My bottom line is that Risto isn't as good yet as we want him to be, and that Gorges isn't a top-pairing defender. There also isn't an obvious solution coming onto the market this summer. So we'll need to hope that Risto and McCabe develop, that Bogo is healthy and more comfortable to start the season next year, that the Sabres can get good 3rd-pairing play out of Pysyk, Franson and/or Nelson, and that GMTM can add a better defenseman in FA than he's been able to add in either of the past 2 summers (or that a good one pops loose on the trade market due to cap issues and that GMTM wins the auction).

Melisandre is going to be tough to replace. Presumably Edd will return with Tormund, a giant or 2 and some others, and they will take Ser Aliser apart? And maybe Melisandre's necklace will revive Jon Snow?

I wasn't there, but evidently Bruce Springsteen opened his concert last night with Purple Rain, and told the audience that whenever he saw Prince perform, he always left the show feeling humbled.

I pulled the trigger today on tickets to take the family to see Bruce Springsteen on Monday night. Pretty psyched.

That is a pretty good theory.

I don't really agree with this, but it's pretty well-written and I found it interesting: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/04/18/better_call_saul_is_better_than_breaking_bad.html

Holy mackerel. That was incredible. I knew he could play the guitar but that was some high octane Jimi Hendrix rocking right there.

Awesome.

Sad. He was great. I wish I had seen him in concert.

Here's another complaint: Prince has passed away.

What year and model do you have? I checked specs on Edmunds out of curiosity. The 2014 Golf TDI has 15.2 cubic feet of trunk space with the seats in place; the 2014 mazda 3 hatchback has 20.2 cubic feet.

Very sorry to hear this We've. I think ALS treatment has progressed over the last 15-20 years (I lost a friend to it about 20 years ago), but it's still no picnic. I also think though that there are varying degrees -- hopefully your family member isn't stricken too severely. Sorry about this too Claude. I can totally empathize. I posted a couple of weeks ago that an old friend from HS, with whom I'd lost touch many years ago, also died suddenly of a heart attack. He left a wife and 3 kids. SFiNS astutely noted that one of the reasons I've been dwelling on this a bit is what you said above (in bold). I have life insurance, but my family needs me for more than paying the bills. I don't like thinking about my kids having to grow up and figure out how to navigate life's many challenges without me, or my wife having to handle everything she does now, plus everything I do (I like to think her initial euphoria about her newfound freedom would fade after a while). It's sad and scary. I exercise and try to eat right, but I think genetics play a huge role in mortality, and both of my grandfathers died in their 60s from heart conditions. OTOH, spring is in the air and I think the Sabres are on their way back -- so there's a lot to enjoy before the sandman comes. I think you're right that the prudent move would be to sell the car back and take the $5K. Also, Mazda makes a pretty nice and sporty hatchback.

Interesting. Thanks for posting. And you too should post more often! Very nice. Keep 'em coming. And both of you might consider changing your avatars.

OK -- I'm really starting to look forward to Sunday night.

Great post, CT. You should post more often! I would just add that the other benefits to a huge upfront bonus are (i) the time value of money and (ii) elimination of risk of catastrophic injury, strike, terrorist attack, etc.. $50MM now is worth more than $50MM 5 years from now. Separately, another factor that may chill the bidding frenzy is Stammer's blood clot disorder. I have no idea whether it's similar to Chris Bosh's disorder, but if it is, I would assume that GMs would consider that risk in their analysis (i.e. I think Bosh has had to stop playing mid-season in the last 2 seasons).

My take on the list was that Chicago, Vancouver and Philly are all great cities with committed owners and passionate fan bases, while Buffalo has at least the latter 2 qualities (and the first, depending on the eye of the beholder) and is a team on the rise. I haven't been to Edmonton or Ottawa, so I can't comment on how nice they are as cities, but the Senators doesn't appear to have any of the above-mentioned team qualities. Edmonton has good ownership and passionate fans but could be permanently stuck in the basement.