LTS

Chicago won a cup and then had to move out pieces like Byfuglien, Ladd, and more. Watch what happens with them this year as well. They'll likely take a step back next year, but they'll remain strong because they have the right core talent in place. They only need 1 new guy a year to really make a mark on the lineup to remain strong. They have a few this year step up. Teravainen, Saad are both setting themselves up to be with the team. When you are the GM of a team with minimal talent you have 1 option. Move picks and future players. The point right now is that Kane, Eichel, Reinhart, O'Reilly, Ennis, Girgensons will be with this team for some time. Add Larsson, Foligno, Deslauriers to the mix as your longer term 3/4. Now the Sabres get hits with any of Fasching, Bailey, Carrier, Baptiste, and they are even better off. Now add the next three draft years in getting presumable the first rounders and second rounders and the Sabres establish a pipeline. Once some of these other players get older, they can move the ones they need to (if they need to) and get picks back, The key is knowing which talent to keep and which to get rid of. This was never what Regier was good at, but good GMs and intelligent hockey people know. One last thought. Murray said at the press conference about Lehner that the guy he wanted would still be available with the 31st pick. Now we all know, ROR was that guy.

Wow.. that's a great score for Calgary. The Flames D were already pretty good last year and they just took a huge leap forward. Calgary can afford to part ways with those picks given the players they have up front. That said, the trade is the kind of trade Boston can make to try and pick up a few pieces that will help down the road. They are going to go through a rough couple of years. I wouldn't be surprised if a few other big names get dropped from their roster in an effort to shore up some quick high picks in the next few years. As a Sabres fan I won't be sorry to see Hamilton in Calgary.

Coolio. So, I would recommend things like Sierra Nevada Nooner Pilsner, Victory Prima Pils, so many of the session IPAs as well. Nooner Pilsner is estimated at 104 calories per can. Miller Lite is 96.

Schoop is that you?

We don't have that kind of time man.

You really couldn't be further from the truth. People totally care what they play it on. I think the lines between consoles and PCs will get more blurred over the next 2-3 years but up until now there has been a world of difference between the two. The question is not the ability of developers to write efficiently. That comes in perhaps making games take full advantage of hardware. But the attention to detail and the desire to accept mediocrity in their work is a huge issue. Sadly, this is not just a problem within the video games industry. I'm not trying to go on some super diatribe here but the ability to be detail oriented, have pride in one's work, and generally do a quality job has gone steadily downhill across all aspects of society over the past 10 years. The number of missed grammatical and typographical errors in news reporting, the type of work I get handed daily by people where I work, and the constant stream of simple problems that are accepted (not missed, just accepted) that permeate society today is amazing. We've built a society that lowers standards and expectations rather than trying to work harder. These are the byproducts. We have people distracted with more information than they can humanly handle and these are the byproducts. I fear the trend will get much much worse over the next 5-10 years. There's no way any game as bad as Arkham Knight on the PC gets released without someone saying.. ship it.. I know it sucks, but ship it. It's like the NHL15 development staff and the people in charge of making that game. They absolutely blew it. So much so that I would have fired every person who was responsible for the leadership of decision making on that game. As a product manager I look at these things so much more closely than I ever did in the past. I see it from people all the time in my line of work. There are requirements and people try and do a shoddy job and figure it will get accepted due to timelines. It's not easy to say no because there are always people from above asking why you can't meet deadlines and reminding you how much money is on the line. Sometimes you feel pressured to just say yes and let something substandard get released and hope you can patch over it later before anyone notices.

Here's what I know.. GMTM gets paid to evaluate talent and build a team. He decided that Lehner was the guy that would solve a problem for a value he was willing to pay. For that, I can't hate on the guy. He's decisive. The price being too steep also should take into account the other options available and whether any of them presented the same upside for solving the problem. In short, were there other goaltenders, now, or in the next year or two that were going to solve the Sabres goaltending problems at a price that was less than what was just paid? We don't necessarily know the answer to that right now. The concussion thing is, for me, the biggest concern. I'll hope like crazy that he comes out of this okay. When September gets here I'll be more inclined to judge Murray on his job performance.

Keystone Beer, Natural, Genny, Budweiser, etc. are all 4.5% - 5% beers. Sam Adams Boston Lager is 4.9%. If I was hanging about for a few (or more) hours I would get equally out of hand with Sam Adams Boston Lager. Granted, 30 Keystones are going to cost far less than 30 Sam Adams. If it's a pure money thing and you enjoy the taste of that beer then go for it. Most of the people usually don't talk about buying it for the taste. They talk about the quantity they can purchase for the price. Usually this is done as a reference to being able to consume more total beers because there are now more total beers to consume. Consuming more would equate, generally, to being more inebriated. Thus my original argument that there are cheaper ways to get drunk that occur faster, with less total liquid consumption, for the same price or less than the 30 pack of beer. Not sure if you were chafed at how I stated it but I did try and place the question within the realm of achieving drunkenness and not simply why would people buy the beer. Furthermore, I didn't say "Why on Earth..." I simply said "I never understood"

Now that I can download games I try to do that. I hate having to put the disc in the drive. If a game is on sale somewhere I would pay for the disc. Arguments against downloading? Licensing. People still love the hands on feel. Of course given the online nature of so many games these days it doesn't matter if you can put the disc in the drive if the servers that you need to connect to are no longer there. So, perhaps I'd buy something that was a single player game with some level of long-term replay value. But for the most part, I'd rather not have the clutter.

I think the fact that I will download this game and the only time I will see the cover is when I launch the game... I'm not too concerned about it. How many people are buying the game for the cover? Given that the answer is probably close to 0 it makes little sense to spend a lot of money on it. It's clear they got the message from NHL 15 however. They are taking the missing online pieces to the front this year. Play Together. Win Together. and then put two people on the cover who do just that. That's pretty smart.

I never understood why anyone consumed beer if they were simply looking for a cheap solution to consume alcohol. I mean, especially if you are discounting taste in the equation. There are plenty of cheap liquor or wine alternatives that pack a greater punch at a lower price point. Not to mention how much less volume needs to be consumed to reach the same level of drunkenness.

We'll do it like they do in youth hockey tournaments. 1 pt for winning a period, .5 points for tying. 2 pts for winning the game, 1 pt. for tying. So if you win all 3 periods you get 5 points. Now each period has value. :)

$30 for a 750ml bottle. I've paid more for a case of beer as 3putt says below, but I don't count that. I mean, I've purchased a keg before too, so you know.. the pricing thing without volume can be misleading. $46 for a case of 3Floyd's DL? If you ever get that deal again let me know how many I can buy... :)

You definitely want to keep the forward wide, but in order to do so you have to skate wider yourself. This leaves open space for a player to flow into. If you don't keep close the player will have space to make a cut and then we are back into a 1 on 1 battle which for the most part negates rink size except that its possible for a player to have more attack speed due to slightly more space. (Assuming the defender has played the forward too loose). The longer pass piece I think plays out statistically, to a certain point. But I also watch players hit long passes from their goal line onto the tape of a player at the opposing blue line. It will favor speed players over slower players to be certain. The space is still going to be there. As for the Bruins and Sabres I think you can make an argument about their ability to play small area games but that doesn't mean it was the reason they scored more. Finally, for hte Olympics argument (from Thanes) - you are talking about a single tournament in which the best players in the world have been conditioned to play in a smaller space. The coaches are conditioned to coach in smaller spaces. In short, the game basically played like a regular NHL game. The extra space was there but players aren't necessarily using it. A winder rink wouldn't immediately translate into increased scoring. The play styles have to adapt to the rink as well.

Just curious if you realized in your first rant on this that you applauded hockey for not chasing the dollar but failed to not acknowledge that ESPN won coverage by outbidding NBC? So, they kind of are chasing the dollar.

That's a nice twist on the normal red or green choices you get with most Berliner Weisse beers. I love the style and they are generally only in the 3.5-4% abv range as well. A happy accident indeed!

0 words. He'll say the name. That's all.

So why would it matter if they were working for the team or not? They undoubtedly all have clauses that restrict them from talking. So, either way they are going to be in breach of a contract whether they are employed or not. If they are willing to leak information after being let go they're likely to leak it while they are employed. They'd have to be fools to do anything that could cause them serious harm. So, any information they are likely to give out will have to be so diluted so as to protect themselves. Even, unofficially speaking, they have to be careful one way or the other. The concept that they are more likely to say something because they are fired seems weak. At least to me.. I've been under an NDA and a non-compete agreement. I was sufficiently interested in maintaining my financial well being and future employability to not say anything.

This is really only true once a team is set up in a zone. However, wider ice should also lead to the forwards being able to create more space when entering the zone and that could lead to scoring chances on the rush. It also increases the chance of scoring when a player gets pulled out of position. It's not the holy grail, but I don't think it's nothing either.

Unless those scouts were already completely useless and didn't matter anyway.

I'm on the fence about returning the Sunday D-league I play in at the BurgerPlex. Most of it is now competition with my son's hockey schedule but some of it is being sick of the losers we play against. There are a handful of really good teams and by really good I mean the kind of teams you love to play against. They aren't jerks, they are there to have fun. But so many are overwhelmed by players who are angry at life. I think if enough reports end up being sent to media sources, etc. about the allowance of racist and sexist commentary in games things might change. But who knows.. As I said above, I am thinking about moving out of the Sunday league. I've been asked to play in Scottsville but I'm not sold on that either. Gotta find somewhere to play. I'm not certain I could play a zamboni league. Not sure if I'd be considered too skilled or not. Now we're talking... renting ice.. I'm in. :)

Every commissioner, every league, every time. Not just the NHL and not just Bettman. People love to boo Commissioners. Perhaps because it reminds them of the business aspects of the game? I have no idea.

I think the cover should be:

BS. I demand a 4 hour long schedule reveal show!

I'm kinda surprised (perhaps not really) that people care so much about it. he goes out there.. presents the trophy and then the fun begins. it should be fairly unscripted.. I've no problem with any of it. I don't need any more pageantry injected into things.