PerreaultForever

So the best prospect pool in hockey isn't getting it done? Huh. At least there's Levi.

There's a part of me that keeps thinking that after Florida beat out Tampa some of the Bruins decided oh hell no, I don't want to play in round 2. I think the Bruins lose now and lose big. It'll be like the cup final against St. Louis. Blown out at home and maybe this will signal the final end of an era that has so far refused to die but has to eventually, and then the opportunity for the Sabres to seize the opening will be there and it's their's for the taking. I don't remember exactly but wasn't Keith even smaller than Wayne and so although he put up points in junior he just couldn't get it done in the NHL. I wonder if he'd have been able to play in this league now?

Bruins doing their frequent post season choke. I don't mind them losing but to the Leafs? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I hate the Leafs more than anybody.

There was a small but thriving community in Hamilton when I was a kid. They had their own community center and everything. My mom used to volunteer down there. They'd organize "aid" and packages of used goods and whatnot to ship over to friends and relatives who for them didn't make it out after the war. Midsummer (St. John's Day) festivals in Northern Ontario were massive annual parties.

Is he here? I could be wrong, but I think if you go back to Russia you still have to do it. This was part of what was involved with the Flyers and Fedotov. He didn't want to go to the Ukraine but there were some weird negotiations there as well.

Okay I get that actually. They definitely overdo it and I get sick of the Leafs love and McDavid/Edmonton most of all. I see what you mean now. I tend to avoid most of that coverage though (aside from the whining when they lose). I've always resented the idea that you HAVE to cheer for a Canadian based team if you are a Canadian. Last time I actually cheered for a Canadian team was with the Nordiques, because I wanted them to beat the habs.

over saturation? Not sure what you mean by that.

I guess I should have said this up front but my father was Latvian. My mother Estonian but grew up in Riga. I was around those communities all through my youth. Now it is possible that the younger generations over there have buried their dislike for each other in their common hatred of Russia and Russians but the older generations certainly haven't. Lithuanians look down on Latvians and Latvians look down on Estonians. Way way back it's kind of like the British-Irish-Scots. Each tribe pushed the next one further north and took the land. The Soviet Union though brought in Russian "settlers" similar to the way the Jewish settlers take and claim Palestinian lands. Russification was a real thing to attempt assimilation so people lost a lot of property to those Russians in that time. Some of it was slowly given back after the Soviet Union collapsed. It's a long complicated history. I still remember when my wife (as a nurse) started work in a hospital and a prominent surgeon who was Lithuanian saw her Latvian name (which are similar to Lithuanian in form) and warmly greeted her in Lithuanian, then English, asked if her parents were from Lithuania and then when my wife explained she'd married a Latvian the doctor said "oh, why would you marry one of them?" and then never spoke to her again. I could give you other examples. It definitely was a real thing. It may not be one now in the current political climate. Joint hatred of another can unite.

They have mandatory military service over there. Did he skip that by coming over?

Crushed ego. Could be fatal. Just curious, but why?

I wonder if the Seattle firing got the Canes upper management worrying.

wtf does going to college have to do with anything? I'm saying that if Adams fails, I could see Lindy being moved into a senior advisory role for hockey matters to oversee picking new management. Part of the reason for that would in fact be because of Pegula having other concerns. He'd still get the final say but someone else would run a real search and help set a new reset and the likely guy would be Lindy. It's either a reboot or a sale imo at that point. If you are right and Adams is locked in regardless of success or failure, well, then the franchise and all of us are well and truly F%cked.

I think that's only because Lithuania isn't good at hockey so in translation there's no rivalry because there's no real competition. Lithuania is more into basketball as was said earlier. The countries hate each other though. The only thing that unites them is both hate Russia.

Oilers won't get past whoever wins the other division. Hard to say who that will be but Dallas looked pretty solid tonight.

They look similar to us but they have a long historical rivalry and hatred for each other. Serious warring tribes way back in the day. The only thing they agree on is their dislike of Estonians 🙂

Maybe but isn't he still president of the Slovak hockey federation or something like that? 🙂

I personally don't believe this. I think the expectation is playoffs (or at the very least competing down to the wire like Detroit did this year) and if they fail Adams will be fired and Ruff will be retained in a senior advisory capacity to help pick a new GM. After which he will either move on to that role fully or transition coach until the new GM hires a new coach. Just a guess but that's what I think would happen. Hopefully they make the playoffs instead.

Belicheck became a hockey coach we better start measuring sticks, checking goalie pad sizes, puck dimensions and consistency, arena lighting, board composition at each end, ice conditions........................and on and on.............you get the idea. He ain't called Belicheat for nothing.

I know. If you are thinking 2 as a couple it's way off. If you mean 4-5 then it is possible. Myself I'm not sure what happens with Byram though. I'm not sure he's what some people think he is and I don't see a Byram-Dahlin pairing working long term but we shall see, Biggest question for me on D this year is do we keep Muel and can he play and stay healthy?

Latvians really like beating Lithuanians. It's a thing.

I think you're getting yourself caught up in some Russian pairing fantasy here. I'm glad we are starting to see defensive prospects in the system that show promise in one way or another but it would be pure folly to move veteran D men out to make room for more rookie D men in. A D like you are proposing here would be a sure sign that we are nothing but a farm team for the league.

That's good captain speak. Their best player was actually MacKinnon. But Mitts has certainly filled the hole they had at center and Walker has Byram's spot so they are better than they were with the deals they made.

One can hope that Komarov keeps developing and maybe he is ready to step in around the time Clifton's contract ends. He has the size potential you want but still has to add strength and muscle to that frame (like most kids). Time will tell. I suspect he will need a good couple years in Rochester at least though.

Oh I know. Their bar is very high compared to the Sabres. If they lose this series there will be a ton of critiques with "fire Sweeney" "fire Monty" "Jacobs sucks" They have very high expectations and one could say they are very spoiled. Passionate group though. They don't accept failure as easily as some around here. Sabres are a joke to them. Very rare for them to even consider Sabres as existing, but when they do they generally use them as an example(s) of what you don't want to do.

You're trying to be a smartass I get that but yes, yes I am. The Canucks were ahead 3-1 but Preds actually outplayed them in Nashville so the possibility of this being tied up and getting a game 7 where anything can happen is very real. This is a closer series than most people expected.