Curt

Just listened to the last installment of Dan Carlin’s podcast series on WW2 era Japan. Wild stuff.

Oh I dare say that Osaka has become the “target” de jure herself recently. Also, I’m not entirely sure who the international tennis community is.

Wow, Naomi Osaka really crumbled under pressure of the crowd and the moment last night. For her part, the 18 year old from Montreal, Leylah Fernandez played great and earned the win. Auger-Aliassime beat Bautista Agut in a 4+ hour match that went the full 5 sets. It was very competitive throughout. It was a good night for the pair of young Montreal natives. Tiafoe with the big upset over Rublev. Both these guys were going for big shots, lots of baseline winners. Another 5 setter. Tiafoe came out on top by getting to the net more, feeding off the crowd, and winning the points when they really mattered. Tiafoe and Auger-Aliassime will face off on Sunday in the next round.

No one player is changing the franchise in a snap. I think recent history makes that clear. I don’t know it’s not that I really don’t like Lambert, it’s just that it seems (from what I’ve read) like he is weak on the defensive end and tries to do too much himself as opposed to playing a team game.

All I can say is that if you totally dismiss anything that disagrees with what you already think, then, yeah, your mind probably won’t change.

Yeah, but I excluded him purposely. Not because he isn’t good, but because I just feel like I’ll like someone else more.

US Open tennis. Im try to catch what I can of it. Interested to see a couple of the matches tonight and tomorrow. Canada has several nice young players. Tonight’s Interesting Matches: (Starting now) L. Fernandez (CAN) vs. N. Osaka (JPN) [3] -Young Canadian vs Japanese-American Osaka who is elite. A. Rublev (RUS) [5] vs. F. Tiafoe (USA) -Rublev is usually fun to watch and Tiafoe is a young guy I really like who has a really nice backstory for how he got to where he is. R. Bautista Agut (ESP) [18] vs. F. Auger-Aliassime (CAN) [12] -Auger-Aliassime is young Canadian who I think has potential to be best in the world some day.

Yeah, I know he went to BU. I actually didn’t know that Keith was from Massachusetts, so I’m sure they do still have family there. Anyway, the Tkachuk boys grew up in St. Louis and their parents still live in St. Louis. That was my point.

Wright, Savoie, Cooley, McGroaty, and Geekie are centers that I am looking at for the Sabres 2022 1st round pick.

Did Pi write that article? Also, does it really bother you that Dobber’s rankings has Wright a tier higher than Savoie and Lambert?

The guy is just a victim of circumstance. Caught in the machine he is. Honestly, Adams was thrown into a garbage situation, but that’s why the opening existed. It’s his job to fix it.

These kids of former players seem willing to play hardball when it comes to long term contracts. Part of that is probably excellent advising and part definitely an increased tolerance for risk and a reduced need for financial security, since they are coming from families that are already multi-multi-millionaires.

Oh, I replied that I thought they were beyond to point in their careers where they would be doing work for publicity only. I feel pretty sure that they get paid.

Spelled Sidney, after the Crosby, but, yes.

Not from Massachusetts Wrong Tkachuk

Girl. Sydney?

Do you really think Mittelstadt has roughly equivalent value to a 3rd round pick? Do you really think that Zegras or Krebs could be acquired for a mid-late 1st and a 3rd?

On August 13-14 my wife and I closed on and moved into a new house that we love. On August 17 we welcomed our first baby to the family. Everyone is happy and healthy. Its awesome. Also, I no longer sleep.

I think it was supposed to be a joke.

It’s either 1 year $750k, or 3 years $2.5M. There is nothing else.

Good stuff guys. I liked both. Part of this is just differences of perception. Is there an objective way to evaluate someone’s personality? Two of us can both know the same person well and have different opinions about what type of person they are. I feel like I probably fall somewhere between you two. I don’t have a particularly high opinion of Eichel, but I don’t think he is any real problem. I think he is an extremely hard worker very competitive. I don’t think he is used to things coming easily, but I do think he is used to being able to make things go his way. When they don’t, he seems to openly show a level of frustration that I would go so far as to call unhealthy or unproductive. I don’t think he handles failure particularly well. I have heard people in hockey say really nice things about him in the locker room, and I’ve heard people say negative things about him in the locker room. To me, these don’t carry equal weight though. In hockey, say something nice, is the default baseline. When someone says something negative, it’s just more notable. I have generally perceived Eichel as quick to show frustration, a little immature, a little temperamental, very hard working, very competitive, confident, wants the spotlight, wants the responsibility, but probably wasn’t/isn’t ready to really be a good leader of men. Overall, not a bad guy, but not my favorite guy either, probably still needs to mature some.

I honestly have no idea. I haven’t paid enough attention to him to have an opinion.

Totally agree. Worth a shot, and you definitely can’t argue with the acquisition price. From that perspective he was cheap. I was just thinking about the salary aspect. He is actually the highest paid player that Buffalo acquired this offseason. For Sabres his cap hit will be just under $3M, and actual salary will be just over $3M.

He has proven a little bit. He has proven that he can produce 13 ES points in 24 games as a 19/20 year old, with a positive +/- and very good possession #’s, albeit in an offensively slanted role. No PP time though. There is still plenty of of uncertainty, and none of this nullifies your point, I just really like the way that Zegras is trending and wanted to write about it.

I agree. The team is not close to the playoffs, and the current group of youth/prospects is not so impressive as to suggest that there will be a real critical mass of talent in the near future. They do need the Eichel return and the drafts over the next couple of years to assemble that “critical mass” of talent. Don't confuse this with me saying that they need to tank in pursuit of a top 1/2 pick though. They’ll be bad enough to draft relatively high. If they just draft well, especially with the extra picks they’ll have, I believe they can get there.