IKnowPhysics

Must win.

That would be crazy and fun. It'd still have to be convertible for concerts and the like, as well as rainy days. The NFL-NHL stadium idea is fascinating. Maybe a couple times a year, you could use the entire NFL seating area for hockey, like select Leafs-Sabres games or particular playoff games and turn the whole thing into an NHL madhouse. No more ticket shortages, plenty of affordable tickets for all, and the place would turn up to 11 like 19 for big games. By the way, based on the size of the Browns' stadium, there is room to jam a separate NFL stadium in the area around Key Bank Center, or nearby, to the southwest of South Park and Louisiana.

Guhle's a lefty (like Beaulieu); Housley tries to keep lefty-righty, with a couple exceptions. Borgen, Dougherty, and Tennyson are right shots. Tennyson's the only one of the three who played in Buffalo at all last year, and when he did, Beaulieu proved to be his best partner in terms of CF%. Make no mistake, I don't like Tennyson (his ice time is a tank symptom), but Housley likely sees him as more of a known quantity than Borgen or Dougherty, and whose development isn't going to be hurt by lots of call ups.

I want all of you to concentrate on a mental image of Gary Bettman's naked wrinkled junk as penance for bringing up a person's attractiveness in the same conversation as their professional qualifications for NHL Commissioner.

Pegula bought from Golisano at $165M (according to Forbes) in November 2010-February 2011, despite another purchaser reportedly offering ~$259M that would have moved the team, so Pegula's up about $210M in 8 years. Golisano bought it for $92M (which included ~$30M in debt to local agencies, which was believed to be forgiven) in March of 2003, so he cleared about $100M in 8 years.

Kim's great. I don't know if the Commissioner's job is a good fit though. Why does Bettman get booed? In Buffalo, it's likely No Goal. Elsewhere, it's likely the frequent labor stoppages, the wonky player discipline, and, in Canada, the moving of teams from traditional Canadian markets to large American TV markets. But who makes the decisions? The owners at the NHL Board of Governors meetings. The Commissioner's job is to be the face of evil of the league in the fan perspective. They're the punching bag. They take the hits so that the fans don't associate the NHL's unpopular or terrible ideas with their own team's owners. The Commissioner is the PR shield, complete with a PR department. And it works. Team owners only get booed when they make bad team moves (like relocate their team, get stingy on payroll, or hire/refuse to fire the wrong personnel). Owners get a pass on all league-wide dealings, because the perception is that it's the Commissioner's fault. For that reason, it has paid off for the owners to have basically the cartoon version of a slimy lawyer take that roll. Bettman will always be remembered among fans more for the lockouts than the growth and stabilization of the league's economy. If Kim took that role, I could see a number of weird things occurring, none of which would be her fault. * She might have to accept that cartoon evildoer role. I don't see it. Even if she doesn't, fans may pigeon hole her that way anyway as it's all they've known for the past 25 years with Bettman. * She might try to bring an era of progressivism to a draconian labor system. Maybe she'd push to negotiate the CBA, you know, before a lockout occurs. But there could be pushback from all sides that drag her down. * She might be criticized for not being a hockey-professional (like Shanahan), even though Bettman and Daly aren't. Like early criticisms of Bettman that called him a "New York Lawyer," which was code for "Jew," Kim could experience a wrongful bias both from those within the game and from fans. She wouldn't deserve it (no one does), and she can rise above, as she has, but would she want to take on that spotlight position? I think she still would, but it's her own personal call; she's done great so far. But there would be great things too: * She would be the first woman commissioner and I think the first Asian American commissioner in the history of the big four. * With Seattle being settled and a new TV contract about to be set, the next era of the NHL could be an era of peace and prosperity, not rapid expansion and cash grab. This could allow for next-level refinement of the sport on topics like labor, fan experience, player safety, player discipline (on and off the ice), charity outreach. * It could also finally bring more involvement with other leagues to unify grow the sport worldwide. Kim now has experience working with the AHL, NCAA, ECHL, NWHL, and IIHF. She's been extremely proactive in building and fostering successful opportunities in those leagues. * I think the Olympics are back on the table. Scrap the World Cup of Cash Grab, or at least stop using it as a lever to prevent Olympic involvement. Embrace the Olympics, support it, synergize with it to grow the sport and the league brand. This is a dropped ball that can really bring great things when carried.

Send a thank you letter to the hiring manager (google it for content ideas/format). If it's a big company, the offer generation process could be very slow, particularly around the holidays when people are absent. A small company could move faster, but is also susceptible to missing people. Accept the fact that they may have scheduled several interviews over a couple weeks. This can happen for jobs with very exacting requirements, as candidates may need to travel to interview OR the company may be having a difficult time finding qualified applicants. Larger companies may require a minimum number of candidates be interviewed. Also understand the fact that good interviews are subjective. I'm not saying you didn't kill it, but the interviewers may have been looking for something. Bias, nepotism, and bad chemistry are all real things that exist in hiring managers. They may be dumb enough to not hire you. Nevertheless, remain open and optimistic about your chances. Don't be resentful if an offer doesn't arrive within your expected window. But that said, you have your own extremely valid career goals to meet in your schedule, so definitely don't wait for these guys if there are other opportunities you want to explore.

I know the desert dogs on a whole were awful, but nonetheless, Dahlin looks better than Oliver Ekman-Larsson did at this age. Franchise defenseman projection confirmed.

It's in the league's interest to have Seattle start in 2020-21, in order to establish the massive TV ratings for the next TV contract negotiations (that new contract would start in 2021-22). The Seattle mayor and the ownership said the other day that they think the arena can be done before 2020-21. https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle-center-arena-will-be-ready-for-nhl-team-in-2020-seattle-mayor-says/617889847

Troof. The ballot on mobile is laid out wonky, and I got crossed up.

Remember that voting only cements a captain for each division. The captain picks nothing, and the league picks the rest. So any fan picks will only be one per division. John Scott was voted in as a captain. Each team consists of about six forwards, three defensemen, and two goalies. They gave the host market four roster spots last year (Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, and Vasilevsky), which was similar to previous years. This year, it's in SJ, so expect Pavelski, Burns, and Karlsson, at least, and maybe Martin Jones; all of them have been before. In the Northeast Division, no players have made it each of the three years of this format and are still in the Northeast Division (Karlsson's been in every year). Three players have made it each of the past two years and are still around: Marchand, Matthews, Price. The only Sabres involved in the newer format have been O'Reilly, Okposo, and Eichel. It's super unlikely that a Sabre is fan-voted as captain in the same voting group as Ovechkin and Crosby and Stamkos. Eichel could likely be NHL-selected again, but Skinner also makes a compelling case. As of this post, Eichel is 12th in points (6th in NE) and Skinner is 2nd in goals (1st in NE). With 9 skating spots and 8 teams in the division, I highly doubt we get both, but it'd be fun to watch. Dahlin won't likely be selected over other D. Ristolainen has a slim chance over some other D, but isn't as solid of selection as Eichel or Skinner in the big picture.

Must win.

Wonder if Pommers got concussed on that boarding.

Depth is a weakness. One of the ways this team falls apart is to incur simultaneous injuries to two of Ristolainen/Bogosian/Scandella/McCabe, as this forces playing two of Hunwick/Tennyson/Pilut and pushes Beaulieu and/or Nelson into 2nd pair minutes in pairings that aren't likely to be good. Another way this team falls apart is to incur injuries to either Eichel or Skinner, or two of Sheary/Mittelstadt/Reinhart/Pominville. Then, Remi Elie and maybe another call up are in full time and/or you ask, say, Sheary (0.98 G/60) to replace Skinner (2.47 G/60) or Reinhart? (2.44P/60) to replace Eichel (3.47P/60). Organizationally, this is something we need to be able to overcome to be a perennial contender, but I don't think we have that yet.

And they wouldn't have as good cellys.