TrueBlueGED

Well, that's something, I suppose. Last I heard there were no known casualties; certainly hope it stays that way.

That's brutal. Ugh. This whole thing sucks.

Yes! Victory! If Justin Williams didn't like him, he must not be a winner! The great feeling of vindication!

It's a moot point now with him going to Philly, but one thing I had thought about is his year away from the game. How many of the top end coaches actually take a year off after being fired? Boudreau, Trotz, Laviolette, Julien...all those guys were unemployed for like 3 microseconds. The Dan Bylsma's of the world are the ones who take time off because they're not actually that highly in demand.

Was there something in Carolina about them not getting along or something? I honestly don't remember anything, but if I can use this to say Skinner sucks, I'm prepared to do it!

Whole lot of stuff got deleted before I had a chance to elaborate in response to some (very fair) criticisms of my initial post. I have no clue how Tiger was as a father, but I do know he never talked about it until his career went otherwise off the rails following his self-inflicted marital problems. Suddenly his marriage is over and his career in shambles, and he's all about "oh sure it sucks but I have my kids so it's okay." Which may have been sincere, and personal challenges can have a way of making one re-evaluate priorities, but it always struck me as something constructed in a PR lab for image rehabilitation. Though I won't go as far as Inky, Tiger has always struck me as disingenuous in his public comments. I went too far in my comment, but the fawning over the redemption arc on the radio this morning made me want to vomit. I wanted playoff hockey talk, and got a whole bunch of Tiger fluff instead. Blah. I swear I wasn't trolling, I was just bitching because I was annoyed. I am sorry to contributing to the thread going off the rails.

Same thing was said of the Islanders by fans, and then they lost their best player on top of that. And now look at them.

Notre Dame cathedral currently burning, with no end in sight. This sucks.

He was pretty much an absentee father during those years, too. Anyway, my biggest problem with him is he makes people care about golf. I hate golf, and I honestly don't understand enjoying watching it on TV. And when Tiger is playing well, I hear about it way more over the course of a week than I ever want to the rest of my life combined.

What? They won 2 Cups in the last 3 years. The overreaction right now really is something.

Well, he's a pretty horrible human being. So there's that.

*Kramer voice* Starting NOW! ? I don't know, but if Stamkos had a different nationality he'd be getting skewered for his playoff performances.

On the other hand, arguing with incomplete information is so American it may as well have been in the Declaration of Independence! Maybe specific candidates are hard to evaluate, but I do think it's interesting to see what different people value in general.

I think Hoss' point is he has no idea who is going to be good until they're good, so he won't get too bent out of shape over it.

You think Kadri’s hit is going to deter the Bruins from running Toronto players? BTW, I don't deny that teams still like to have guys who push back when liberties are taken. I just don't think there's any evidence that having those players actually prevents liberties from being taken.

Which is a completely different argument than having tough guys protects your players.

And Chara's presence did nothing to deter the hit. Chara didn't deter. It's almost like deterrence in the NHL is a myth.

I'd assume he'll be gone for at least the rest of the series.

He wasn't the 3 by ice time, but do you think Botterill had designed it that way? I think Botterill had him penciled in at 2 and it just worked out differently because he obviously wasn't ready for it.

That's not true, of course. 7th overall is very much a maybe. It's more likely to produce a good player than a late first, naturally. But it's still as likely to give you Darnell Nurse or Risto as it is someone like Monahan.

If Mittelstadt is still our 2C next year, Botterill has completely and utterly failed.

He's on my list! If we could add him, trade Risto for Miller or similar, and get another middle-6 like Dobskoi, our top-9 would be drastically improved overall.

Yea, it's what Stamkos did.

He's fine if we upgrade the wing on the other side. He can't be our 3rd best winger, but as a 4th/5th tweener he's perfectly fine. He's basically the living embodiment of middle-6 winger.

We return to relevance by adding more good players. That can be done in a variety of ways, one of which is trading maybes for sure things.