TrueBlueGED

Well, I suppose the "experience is far and away the most important thing" crew might be happy? Can't imagine being excited about this.

It's always funny to me how risk is framed. Martin is safe because he was a head coach who made the playoffs in the past. But that past was a decade ago. The guy hasn't been a head coach in 8 years. Eight! There's a huge risk to hiring him.

Yes. He's a good coach and would pretty much guarantee improvement and competitiveness. Despite another first round exit, it's important to remember he had the tanking Leafs team playing respectable hockey. Even if he is a bit overrated, he's not a roll of the dice. Ultimately, there's no shame in losing to this Boston team in 7 games.

He's not getting fired, but he's justifiably going to feel some heat. How in the world does Auston Matthews only play 18 minutes in a game 7?* *Somewhere, Pi is thinking "Because he got his contract and got lazy and out of shape and can't play any more than that."

I cheered (loudly) when Boston put it in the empty net. I need about 30 showers.

Jaime can't die! He's my bet to kill Cersei.

No way. Theon is the Darcy Regier of GoT. He'd survive a nuclear apocalypse. I agree that Brienne is cooked, though.

Agreed. I think this episode was the series at its best, with memorable and touching character moments. Don't get me wrong, I look forward to all hell breaking loose as much as anyone, but this episode was fantastic. One of my favorites in the entire series, I think. Sign me up!

Risto is Dion Phaneuf.

So you think O'Reilly undergoing a fundamental personal transformation over just a couple months that changes how he affects his teammates is more likely than he just is the same guy with better teammates? I guess it's possible, but I don't see how that would be the default. After all, people on this very forum were crowing about how poorly the Blues started as some kind of evidence the O'Reilly cloud was a real phenomenon. Whoops.

I doubt it. For example, Jack Johnson has been on some really good teams, yet his individual numbers were still really bad

I love how "playing against top players" is simultaneously being used as an excuse for Risto's bad numbers and a reason he's a top-pair Dman we simply have to keep. If Risto really was a #2, playing against top competition wouldn't cause his numbers to be trash--he'd be able to handle those minutes. And his ice time was down 2 minutes per game this season. And? Numbers still trash. Look, I defended Risto for a long time with some of these same arguments. But at some point it's just time to accept he is who he is: he'll get you some points, especially on the PP, but he's allergic to the puck at even strength and blows more defensive assignments than Eichel.

Ryan O'Reilly's cloud of negativity is so strong that it now causes teams playing the Blues to not show up. Nobody is safe.

You're a beautiful person, SDS.

Yup. Don't forget in the Cup that year, Roloson got hurt. So the good fortune didn't end with the conference final. Yes, that's luck.