That Aud Smell

The greatest singer and front man of my lifetime. Hands down. Full stop. As it should be. At the time this came out, I was like: HELL YEAH THEY ARE!

He's quite good at what it is that he is paid to do. And I don't think he's paid to be accurate or knowledgeable.

The issue, such as it is and as I understand it, is that MacKinnon is signed (fairly) long-term on a deal that is quite favourable to the club and renders the player underpaid for the balance of the term. If Nikko (Mikko?) comes along and gets nearly twice what MacKinnon is getting, then ... well, that could be a problem internally. Not from a salary cap standpoint. From a team cohesion standpoint. Not quite how it was related to me. They can pay them both. But how will MacKinnon deal with earning about 1/2 of what the other top dog is making?

I often found myself waiting for him to call the name of that little known 13th forward, Doug Whogivesaf**.

I've heard of the show, and know it's a thing. But, no.

Well, bear in mind: Certain members of the FO are petitioning for that. My inference: They're money people, not hockey people.

I seem to recall a bit of a ... dust-up around here when your coordinates were mysteriously referenced by a certain poster. It was a really nice card.

Nah, man - that Euro leading the league in scoring. I can't even recall his name now. Mikko? Nikko? Dude's gonna get PAID. And the FO is apparently hand-wringing over the imbalance that'd create with what they pay MacKinnon (sp?), who, it seems, made a poor deal. Appreciate that - I just know there's a lot I don't know. And it's always Campbell and Wales, Adams and Norris, etc. in my mind.

Also, when I heard the name from him in a room crowded with revelers, I was like, “who?!” He knows what sort of hockey fan i am now — limited.

A 3-guess approach. But we have a winner. Also, I really am quite ignorant of what’s going on out west. I knew this team was doing well, but, until just now (JUST NOW!), had no idea they have the top 2 scorers in the league.

River, stay away from my door! Hand up on that one. You’ll find many past posts of mine saying he’s just too low-hockey-IQ to be very good. I do wonder what’s happened. Coaching? Usage? Whatever. We’ll take it! That’s a helluva fact.

Saints be praised!

Haha. But no. Wait - is that a Toronto reference? If so, no.

Robyism?

What was Dahlin doing there?

I have one single legitimate source in the NHL. At a recent holiday function, I had a chance to catch up with him for a bit, and chew the fat. The one tidbit that I found absolutely fascinating: There are two high-level members of his team's FO who are actively campaigning with the GM to have him tell the coaches to play one of the team's young stars on a different line and/or in a modified role -- in an effort to tamp down production and control the next contract. I was flabbergasted. He said something to the effect of "don't fool yourself - this sort of **** goes on all the time. ... well, it goes on all the time in organizations that don't have their *** completely together, anyway."

This makes sense. As does this.

In the name of all that is good and holy: 2-goal win tonight. PLEASE. It's a cheeky blog entry. Are the 'Yotes really that banged up?

Didn't recognize the name of the song - but looked it up, and I KNOW THAT SONG.

Not junk. Cassettes were state of the art, in their time.

I mean ...

Interesting. I try to be judicious in citing to basic advanced stats like Corsi and Fenwick because, I am advised, the people who trade in #fancystats have moved so, so far past those metrics. It seems like dropping knowledge about cassette tapes in connection with songs being beamed to a Bluetooth speaker.

The Irish writer Brendan Behan was once quoted as saying that he felt Los Angeles was "a city with no navel." I have not spent much time in L.A. But it's Houston that fits that bill for me. It's just so dispersed and diffuse. There's so little there there.

Interesting. Hockey players are still as advertised, I suppose. I reckon they mostly know when they're playing well, or poorly. Still surprises me. I guess it shouldn't. The upshot: The kid from Eden likely has a sense that he played a solid game last night - came out a little ahead on chances for than against when he was on the ice. The basic metrics corroborate as much. (That's the whole idea, after all.)

Given that a player's on-ice SAT metrics are a significant factor/predictor in their ability to stay in the league and get paid, I'd bet dollars to donuts that players know how they're doing in that regard. If nothing else, their agents would keep them up to speed.