Hoss

Pierre-Luc Dubois becomes the first draftee to sign his ELC. I wonder if Columbus plans to play him day one.

Jones signs for six years at $5.4M annually. Another deal that should help us with Risto.

James Mirtle, a reporter known for putting emotion into his reporting, gives his odds in the Stamkos race: Toronto 30%, Detroit 25%, Montreal 20%, Detroit 15% and Buffalo 5%. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/who-has-the-best-chance-at-winning-the-steven-stamkos-sweepstakes/article30666402/

Gionta. O'Reilly (or MAYBE Eichel). Stamkos gets a courtesy A.

Basically, Lenny Dykstra is a prostitute, doesn't discriminate against the elderly and thinks oral sex is an art.

Do athletes get significant tax returns on the taxes they lay in their salaries? I would think this is an obvious yes. How much, though? Is it enough to put a dent in the "Tampa Bay can pay way more because of taxes" argument?

Jack Eichel and Steven Stamkos already have a Bauer commercial together. Make it easier and throw on the same sweater. Also, the marketing argument is valid but not nearly as important as it used to be. Location isn't such a dominant factor anymore when it comes to endorsements. It matters more in hockey than it does in other leagues, but it's still not on the level it used to be.

Lenny Dykatra doesn't mind getting baby powder on his tongue.

So if we don't land Stamkos it has essentially been my dream to offer sheet Hampus Lindholm (I doubt he can be had in a trade for value we can give). This is a situation where I could see an issue coming up with Risto because an offer sheet for Lindholm would definitely make him more wealthy than Risto (as he should be), but it'd probably take $7.5M to have any chance at luring Lindholm away.

I was watching ESPN on the treadmill this morning and saw Bruce Pearl's statement about Pat Summit come across the screen. It read "Pat Summitt created a brand and that brand was the Lady Vols. She made women's basketball watchable." I waited and watched the statement come back on the screen to be sure that was what they most because that's the most disingenuous/insulting thing I could imagine somebody saying after her passing. I googled his statement and it wasn't nearly that bad. I have no idea why ESPN would paraphrase or focus on that part of his comments.

The feeling I'm getting based on the talk about RFA dmen is that Risto isn't viewed that highly around the league. Probably good news for us on his contract, though.

I've been feeling childish on here lately. The offseason has got me on edge haha

Huh?

Good stuff. Glad he committed to it. Good move. Seems to be more common now.

Not a guarantee by any means. He did tweet that he was excited to be drafted, though. Probably a good chance but nothing set in stone.

The most recent comments from Bob was two days ago when he said he thinks Buffalo, Detroit and Toronto are the "triangle" most likely to land him.I'm going to guess you either saw a fake tweet or just a rehash of the hypothetical where Bob was forced to answer the Stamkos questions differently than his other panelists already had been (this was a few months ago). If Bob had just said he thinks Buffalo is the lead it would be all over social media by now.

I have been impressed with where Radcliffe has gone, too. He went onto the Lady in Black role shortly after HP which is a huge step and a serious horror flick (it didn't blow anybody away but it has its fans). He's got this role now which will be intriguing.

Meant that as a way of saying it's not a known source. Haven't seen him report much else, but he probably does have some sources after working sports radio in Toronto for so long. Whether those sources are reliable, he actually got this from a source or if he's just pulling it out of his ass is another question. Another tough thing with trade rumors is what the motivation of the source it. Toronto and Buffalo would seem to be the two teams most likely to be used to drive the price up.

Here are my free agent predictions since I have fun doing them every year. Order taken from TSN's Top 40 list: http://www.tsn.ca/tsn-hockey-top-40-fa-list-stamkos-watch-is-on-1.516462 1. Steven Stamkos - Buffalo. Runner up: Detroit 2. Milan Lucic - Edmonton. Runner up: Vancouver 3. Kyle Okposo - Minnesota. Runner up: Winnipeg 4. Loui Eriksson - Vancouver. Runner up: Boston 5. Andrew Ladd - Nashville. Runner up: Tampa Bay 6. Mikkel Boedker - Winnipeg. Runner up: Colorado 7. David Backes - St. Louis. Runner up: Arizona 8. Frans Nielsen - Detroit. Runner up: New York Islanders 9. Jason Demers - Edmonton. Runner up: Arizona 10. Troy Brouwer - Florida. Runner up: Vancouver 11. Brian Campbell - Dallas. Runner up: Chicago 12. David Perron - Toronto. Runner up: Tampa Bay 13. Kris Russell - Arizona. Runner up: Dallas 14. Jamie McGinn - Los Angeles. Runner up: Anaheim 15. Dan Hamhuis - Chicago. Runner up: Buffalo I would say probably half of these are total guesses and the other half are just based on everything I'm reading and fit.

He's a radio host in Toronto. Probably as reliable as our WGR friends, so it's worth considering as a source but certainly nothing ironclad.

That's not even close to a legitimate source. Sorry ladies and gents.

I certainly cannot wait to see Swiss Army Man. https://youtu.be/yrK1f4TsQfM Seems like a creative fun run. The song featured in the trailer is by Manchester Orchestra but has vocals from the main characters in the film telling the story. Really looking forward to Paul Dano as the lead in this. He has been awesome in several supporting roles (Prisoners, Looper, 12 Yeads a Slave) so I'm excited for this one. Has been said to be the new Phillip Seymour Hoffman, most likely due to the unique look and the odd/quirky roles he takes.

Rape as a plot device has been the worst trend of modern movies. It's not that rape doesn't happen, especially in such a world as there is in GoT, it's just that we don't need the visuals to understand that. I'm glad they moved away from it this year and even made it a point to say "no more raping and pillaging."

So this sprung up in conversation in another thread after it was said the Eric Lindros trade tree has officially died after 25 years in the Quebec/Colorado franchise. The Sabres have an even longer one that goes all the way back for 1981 and the deal of Rick Martin to Los Angeles. These things are always intriguing. This graphic comes from Twitter user/Sabres blogger Chris Ostrander. A good follow: https://twitter.com/2ITB_Buffalo/status/747804432339984384 Not shown in the graphic is the McGinn to Anaheim trade the turned into a 3rd that was dealt for Jimmy Vesey. Have any other awesome trade trees you know of?

They didn't release the roster of players attending until the first day last year (I was there). I'll be in Vegas this year, so I'll have to miss it unfortunately. Edit: although I may be able to hit day one since I don't fly out until 5 pm.