thewookie1

Honestly I get the feeling we may destroy Ottawa in the 1st game then look average against Tampa. Remember unlike Ottawa our team has a huge chip on its shoulder, the crowd will be into it and thus triggering the offense to light it up.

Girgensons, he'd have a hattrick of these then.

All players staying healthy for 80 games minimum is assumed Kane/Ennis 60+ Moulson/Eichel/O'Reilly 50+ Girgensons 40+ Larsson&Legwand combined/Reinhart(if he gets at least 70 games)/Franson/Gionta/Mcginn 30+ Foligno/Risto/Bogo/Pysyk 20+ Deslauries 15 to 25 pts

If there's any team I'd question being above us is maybe Philly, Boston and Colorado. Colorado solely because what I've seen of them in the preseason has been seriously ugly. Boston is 1 injury on D from having a D no better than ours or even worse and a far older top 6. Philly is typically just a wild card thus I have no evidence to support them being better or worse than us.

I'd partially disagree in light of it having about a 50% success rate. For every Sweden there's a Greece. I'd also like to point out that part of the reason European nations can fund so many programs is due to their lack of military and many other foreign affair fees. The US funds about half the UN and a 1/3rd of the IMF. We also have a larger military in part because we must support our many allies around the world which benefits Europe directly. Not to mention we literally rebuilt Europe on our dime, granted it had long term benefits to us as well. Thus I'd guess Europe would be negatively effected by the US trying to be more European since suddenly the money would start drying up. After all theres only so many rich people you can gouge for utterly useless programs that they'll never admit to being a waste. (Yes there are many good programs, but until anyone can convince me the incompetent government is better at managing itself than individual people then I can't agree with socialism on any level. As they say, Capitalism has the haves and have-nots while Socialism just has everyone be a have, but a far smaller have. The average for Capitalism is far more effective, more inline with human nature, and fosters ingenuity. Is it perfect, God no, but it certainly beats anything else. In terms t the foreign affairs thing, as the whole Syrian crisis has shown, when we fail to step up as the leader, others fill the vacuum. The primary fillers being both rivals and partially enemies to the US. Oddly I will admit to having some Socialist ideas, but more in ground floor services and less in taking care of everyone from cradle to grave. For instance I'd eliminate most loopoles in the tax code. For instance: Here's our tax codes..... 10% Up to $9,225 15% $9,226 to $37,450 25% $37,451 to $90,750 28% $90,751 to $189,300 33% $189,301 to $411,500 35% $411,501 to $413,200 39.6% $413,201 or more I would make the tax rates closer to their actual effective rate. 10% Up to $9,225 15% $9,226 to $37,450 25% $37,451 to $90,750 28% $90,751 to $189,300 33% $189,301 to $411,500 38% $411,501 to $1mil 43% $1mil plus However the last two brackets would have some choice in where the 5/10% over 33% goes. That money would then be divided among an assortment of programs and intiatives. Programs would have a minimum % required while intiatives can be ignored completely. So lets say its split 30/20, each program gets a min of 1%. If you're big on supporting special needs, you can give them a larger amount of the total. If you don't wish to fund any intiatives the money will be split even among the programs. With this technological world we live in this should all be possible. Not to mention, then it would at least lessen the feeling that you're funding things you don't believe in and they still get some control over that money.

In theory lets say both make it to the playoffs as the 3rd in their respective divisions, who does better? I'd say Buffalo partially due to East vs West competition is lesser, but mainly due to the Sabres being built far more geared to the playoffs than the Oilers.

If this happens, all we need is average play from our D and goalie for us to have a good shot at the playoffs.

I remember a while back saying Gionta might have one of those last hurrah type of seasons that great players sometimes have when they are older. I could easiy see him, if he ends up on the 2nd line, putting up 50 to 60 points if he can stay healthy. The guy was an near-elite goal scoring talent is his prime so while he's certainly not elite anymore, the skill set is still there just used up a bit more.

Yup, well done. With that in mind I'd give Girgs credit for his bright spot in the dark room category. Mike Weber gets the "I went through a tank, and all I got was this shirt" award.

Well that might be true, but I think while the Junior schedule is more grueling, paradoxically college players tend to be more ready made for NHL competition since they had time to train and likely played older players. So Eichel will very likely have an impressive start to the season, McDavid will likely have a better end to the season. That being said they'll both be great overall over the course of the season. I'd also take a guess that Eichel may have more goals on the season while McDavid would have more assists.

In his mind he was swearing up a storm about his wife and shoes

I do certainly hope though we light up a Leaf outside their goalie ;)

Even if it was a clean hit, seemed borderline to me, if someone challenges you to a fight after a big hit then you shouldn't let the refs protect you.

Phaneuf is an utter joke, if your going to throw the big hit; you'd better have the balls to take up a fight.

I'd actually say the fight against Tampa was a high point to be honest, it showed they were in it as a team. Low Points: Sabrepede (That one game against SJ) January 2015 The Fan infighting The infamous cheering for Arizona game PL leaving in a tantrum of sorts

Sorry about your beer. ;)

My Little Reinhart, his passes are magic.

PM me the stream to please

As long as we have space, I'd keep him up to 9 games played, then have Murray give him a list of to-dos like we did with Reinhart. Giving him a taste of the NHL can only help the kid.

Leafs over Sabres is a joke

I agree entirely.

Let's get this season underway!

Michael Grabner to Leafs for Taylor Beck, Carter Verhaeghe, Matt Finn, Tom Nilsson and Christopher Gibson Just broke on twiter from a bunch of the heavy hitters

86. Matt Ellis..... The Matt Ellis of hockey players

That isn't the sole reason..... He's young and put up 40pts last year, his second full NHL season. I have to agree with LGR though, no idea how we'd fit him on the roster at this point.