mjd1001

I have long been an advocate for keeping him and Tage together on a line. If it doesn't work after a while, make the change, but at least start with it. Why? Their production last year: -Tage was one of the best even strength goal scorers in the league last year, with him on the ice, the team scored a goal every 20.3 minutes (pretty good). -However, when Tage and Kulich were on the ice together, the team scored a goal every 12.6 minutes. (and only allowed a goal every 18.5 minutes) -For comparison: Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner paired together had the Leafs scoring once every 17.4 minutes. -Draisaitl and McDavid together had the Oilers score once every 13.1 minutes. This also was done with a pretty decent sample size. Over 350 minutes together on the ice even strength. (over 20 games played as primary linemates) Having Tage and Kulich start out together also doesn't have to come with added pressure. They don't have to be the "#1" line. You can position them as just "one of 3 lines" that get rolled out there. Again, I have mentioned it in other posts, the numbers were SO good last year and the eye test had them playing so well together, I at least want to give that pair a shot this year and see how it goes.

A few times. The new one has kinda the same 'vibe', just not as good. Not awful, just a step down imo from the original, a few too many cameos.

-Happy Gilmore. It was entertaining, but thats it to me. Not bad, but not good. Just a decnent way to kill an evening with a few laughs. -Fantastic Four. To me, good, but not great. I was really waiting to be surprised on some way, to have something that, I don't know...meant a lot to me in a way I didn't think (if that makes sense). It was executed pretty well, but one of the most predictable and least surprising movies I've seen in a while. And the actress who played the lead roll, scale back on the fake eyelashes....they were so bad that everytime they showed a closeup of her, I couldn't stop seeing them instead of anything else in the movie. -Superman. I though the plot of the movie was just OK, but there was one reason I really enjoyed it alot. They got the Superman character right. He's a nice guy, he wants to help everyone. No brooding superman, no doubting himself. no rolling his eyes. Just he's a superhero who cares for others and is a really nice guy and that is what I loved about it.

I would THINK about, and maybe try in preseason, a line of Doan-Kulich-Tage. I think Tage can carry the line offensively and him and Kulich were one of the most dangerous combos in the league when they were together last year. That leaves Benson-Norris-Tuch....and McLeod-Quinn Zucker. I think doing that gives you 3 lines to just roll out there in any order, and the 4th line is used situationally. Which line is the official '1st' line? I don't care. Whichever line is playing the best, or the one that gives you the best matchups on a given night, they get the most minutes, that can change night-to-night though.

I agree. Look at some of the key players on this team (the guys who are most important/get the most minutes) -Tage: 8 NHL seasons (all but 1 of them playing more than half the games), going into his 9th. 450 career games played. -Tuch: 9 NHL seasons (8 realistically not counting his brief appearance his first year), 536 games played. 66 additional playoff games, 4 playoff runs including deep to the cup finals. -Dahlin: 7 Full NHL seasons so far. 509 games played. In his 7 seasons, only 7 players in the entire NHL have more total ice time than him. International tournaments. -Zucker...14, maybe 15 year vet? 770 games played. 9 different (years) playoff appearances. -McLeod. 5 years (4 full seasons) going into his 6th. Most importantly with him is 4 years in the playoffs including a full run to the cup finals. -Byram has a cup run (and one he got a lot of top minutes in) Power is still young, but even he has already over 240 games played in his career, should pass 300 this season, and is 39th out of about 250 Dmen over the last 3 years in total minutes played. This isn't even considering other older 'veterans' who will play a lesser roll but have a lot of experience like Greenway, Danforth, Timmons, Malenstyn, even Lyons. That is less than most teams sure, but its not 'nothing'. There is more than enough there, in terms of age and experience, to generate a competent leadership core.

I really think he did well in those tournaments because they are less structured. You are playing against, and with, teams that have a total of a few weeks to get to know each other and implement systems. Not only that but in the NHL, the D-partners (and lines for that matter) you are playing against sometimes have years together, know what they are supposed to do and know what each other will do. If there is any advanced scouting of opposition in those tournaments, its a fraction of what the NHL does. In short, compared to the NHL game, those 'slap the team together' tournaments are more a form of pond hockey, throw the puck out there and play some hockey! (not quite, but compared to the structure of the NHL. Cozens is going to do better in an environment where you don't get punished for mistakes as much, where positioning isn't as important. Where when he has some major holes in his game advanced scouting isn't there to drill it into the opponents head how to exploit it. I think in an NHL where your teamates were different every year (like re-draft the teams every year), there was minimal scouting, and little to no training camp/practice....in a league like that Cozens very well might be one of the top 50 or at least 100 players in the entire league. But that is not the NHL....but it is a lot more like the World championship tournament.

Maybe, maybe not, but it doesn't change the fact that Austin had a shorter, but actually higher 'peak'. I'm not trying to diminish Hogan, the WWE would likely not have gained popularity without him. However, they were already gaining popularity by the time he came around (making the production more family friendly/moving to Saturday morning and saturday niight broadcasts, etc.) and they had plenty of other stars to market that were very popular (Savage, Andre the Giant, Jesse Ventura, Roddy Piper, Brett Hart, Ultimate Warrior, and others.) Hogan was the biggest star of the 80s, but the world of wrestling was going to grow with our without him, the question is simply 'how fast'?

I don't think their drafting, especially in the first round, has been awful. Yeah, they could have made some better picks, but that is true with anyone. Its not like year after year they have been picking a player who turns out to be a bust AND in the next guy or two there is someone THAT much better. And even if there was/is someone that turns out to be better, a lot of that might be just as much development once you draft them than the wrong pick. They Nylander pick was really the only first round pick that ended up being really bad compared to what else was out there.

Apologies to anyone who is a police officer if you are offended by this (My father, uncle, and cousin were/are all officers) but there is an HOA issue at my in-laws house in Florida. They have a pretty strict HOA. The board members walk around the neighborhood once per month, write a list of 'violations' and send them out (weeds visible on your front lawn, moss/mold on the roof, not cleaning spiderwebs off of lights on the house, etc.) Once you get a notice, you have a short period of time (until they do the next walk) and if you don't fix the issues, you are fined. Well, there is ONE person in the neighborbood who is a police officer, and apparently that person never has to correct anything. More weeds on the lawn than any other house in the neighborhood, and even broken roof tiles/shingles (they have those ceramic-looking rounded ones.) They give out a newsletter and at the end of the year that they stuff in your mailbox, they somehow note who in the neighborhood has received notices (yes, they do that as a way of shaming neighbors I guess...I have seen a copy of it), and the person who is the police officer, and of course the board members of the HOA never receive any warnings or fines.

I go back and forth on this. As a kid in the 1980s, I loved it. Early to mid 90's, totally stopped watching it and thought it was one of the worst things to watch. Late 90's and early 2000's, I was watching it every single Monday night and Thursday, almost without fail and probably my favorite thing to watch. Since then? I have turned in on 5-10 times in the past 5 years or so and Just can't get into it at all. I have gone from superfan to not caring, back to superfan and now find no appeal in it. BTW, I understand the appeal of Hulk Hogan and his longevity probably puts him over the top as the most popular, but I think SC Steve Austin, during his peak, was possibly as popular or more so than Hogan at his peak....at least in the arena. Hogan probably had more action figures and saturday morning cartoons that broadened his appeal, but being in the arena to see both of them wrestle, it was deafening when Austin came out, more so than Hogan...and people acted even more crazy when the 'glass shattering' happened compared to the first few notes of 'I am a real American'.

I was driving south on Rt 93 Between Lockport and Akron this morning (most country roads), pretty much doing the speed limit. I noticed a Truck in my rear view mirror about 1/2 mile back gaining on me quickly...in short order right behind me and tailgating badly (White Ford F150, not sure of the year but pretty new with a guy older than me driving it). After tailgating for a good mile, he finally decided to pass, gunned it, I could hear the engine redlining. After he got in front of me by maybe 20 carlengths, he then proceeded to do the speed limit or one or 2 mph less (I actually caught up with him) for the next few miles until he turned off right before Akron. Guy was going at least 10-15mph over the speed limit to catch me, tailgated, then once he pass me slowed down for the rest of his trip. Not sure what to make of that one.

I wish it wasn't the last game of the season they are wearing them. I think it should be the Miami game. Traditionally biggest rival, and the team they probably had the most big games against that they won while wearing them in that era.

To me I think it works something like this.. Ruff and Adams talk to each other frequently when Terry isn't around. But whenever Terry wants to show up... Then everyone has to talk to him and go through him. Ruff May report to Adams, but if Terry gives Lindy a call, then Lindy has to tell Terry everything he wants before Adams hears it.

I post I usually make every year....updated from this January (last time I posted it) A simplified version: The odds of winning a stanley cup are pretty simple. 32 teams in the league, 14 times the cup is awarded. VERY Simple odds are 43.7% a team will win a cup in a 14 year period. 1 in 2.28. Odds of missing the playoffs 14 years in a row? Simple odds are .0045%. Or 1 in about 22,000. Odds of missing 15 years in a row? About 1 in 44,000. Slightly more detail: A lot of things can determine your odds for making/missing the playoffs. For example, the Bills drought...much of it was contributed to by Brady being in the division, but in Hockey its different. Statistically, you can say you have a 50% chance of making or missing the playoffs in a given year. For any time, after 2 years, the 'odds' are 25% you miss both years, 25% you make it both years, and 50% chance you miss one year and make it the next...and so on and so on. Now, with expansion, the odds change slightly. It hasn't always been EXACTLY 50%, sometime you had a BETTER chance (beginning of the drought, 8 of 15 teams in the conference made the playoffs, so your odds to make it were even better than they are now. So, what are the pure statistical odds that any hockey team would take a 12 year period and not make the playoffs even once? 0.018% chance. Or, in other words, a 1 in 5,531 chance that, over the last 12 years, any team in the Sabres division/conference would not make the playoffs one time. If you 'simulated' an average team through 12 seasons, 5,531 times, only ONE of those times, on average, would a team miss 12 years in a row. Chances of missing 14 years in a row? 1 in about 22,100. Or 0.0045% If you could find a sportsbook to give you odds that ANY team, starting today, would miss the playoffs for the next 14 years.....you would likely win about $2 million dollars on a $100 bet. Chances of missing 15 years in a row? About 1 in 44,250, Or 0.00225%. Odds on a $100 bet that would happen for any given team, probably pay out about $4 million on a $100 bet. So yes, they made the decision to tank, but again, those are the numbers for ANY team with a few years of 8 out of 15 teams making the playoffs and most other years 8 or 16 making it. If anything, you could say 'tanking' would make it hard to miss that many years in a row, as while tanking would assure you would miss the first couple of years, the 'elite talent' you get from tanking makes it even harder to miss in the 'middle' years. Hockey Heaven? The sole reason for them existing is to win the Stanley cup? You would think that even if you TRIED to be that bad it would be hard to do so. That can't be all bad luck..or it can't be a new owner 'learning curve', there has to be a whole lot of ineptitude in there.

We live about 1/4 mile from the River here in Niagara county, take a walk down the street and we can see Canada. We really don't even think of crossing the border anymore. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad? I don't know, just I don't feel like dealing with any potential aggrevation....so until things clear up quite a bit, we probably won't be going to toronto/the falls/NOTL anytime soon.