IKnowPhysics

Peter Griffin: "A 2C is just a 2C, but a #8 pick could be anything. It could even be a 2C! And you know how long we've wanted one of those!"

100%.

I respectfully disagree. I like the clean OG look of the matching collar and it avoids the toilet seat collar problem on NHL and NFL jerseys. Would it be out of place if we had gold collars? No. I love the oversized crest. We have a great logo and it should be showcased. It's big and and beautiful and in your face. Plus Hairy Buffalo. Going bigger on the crest is enabled by the clean look granted by not going with the gold collar. A big logo and a gold collar could end up a little cluttered or misproportioned. I initially looked at it funny for a second, but it's a neat detail that adds pop and depth of field to the stripes that prevents them from looking flat. They're perfectly thin. And it sure as ***** doesn't look like any thing St Louis ever had or was ever close to having.

Sweet. Preordered.

A fine choice. I went with 26 the draft year and 9 the 50th Anniversary. Debating my next move... 23... 53... 19... or do a wait-and-see... Cozens... 10... free agent 2C... or the ever classic 74.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

Why are the draft lottery threads locked? No matter. I typed this up before it was announced and I'm gonna post it anyway. *****in' called it. *****'s rigged to maximize paper NBA style.

Thinking back carefully about allof the crest iterations and detail changes, this could ultimately be correct. I really do like the modernization update from the 1994 logo to 2010, minus the choice of navy over royal and the continuance of gray. But this is a logo feature addition that really adds to the crest some visual depth, flash, and a feeling of regality without taking anything away at all; there's no downside or regret. And I don't think you can say that about any logo except the original. And you don't have to change signage or images or trademark patents. You limit the change to only jerseys -on the players and on the fans- for a cool sense of exclusivity.

Hairy Buffalo is dope AF. I would love to see that carried forward.

Bob McKenzie announced his retirement on twitter: He is one the ***** best. Probably the best on-air analyst at the national level, perhaps of all time. He also holds the gold standard for trustworthiness in hockey news in the digital era- it wasn't official until he said it. He as some work to do yet per contract, but he'll be missed.

Depends on your goals. If you want to max number of Cups, then you want the greatest probability of getting to the SC Finals through the easiest competition, which means having worse players in your conference. If you want max pure sportsmanship, then you want to strive to win against the best competition possible playing their best, which means having better players in your conference. But pure sportsmanship on ice is necessarily modified by player-personnel elements of the game, that are definitely and necessarily still part of the game: injuries, salary caps, trades, coaching effectiveness, drafts, free agency, callups, holdouts, etc. Practical sportsmanship in modern pro sports now encompasses these elements as part of the competition. There's no moral judgement attached to any of this. Fans can fan how they want to fan. I personally fan the practical model of sportsmanship, keeping in mind that the winning the Stanley Cup is likely the tangible aspect of outperforming all other hockey organizations, but isn't an all encompassing definition of peak performance. Example: Do I feel that CAR was the pinnacle of hockey when they won the SC? No.

No new trademarks filed yet.

Because playoffs have 24 teams this year, the 8 lowest team in each conference are playing a qualifier round (best of five series). The losers from the qualifying round (eight teams, four from each conference) fill in the seven draft spots 9-15 in reverse order of their regular season points percentage (like they didn't make the playoffs). And because one of those "play-in slots" won the draft lottery a few weeks back, one of the teams that loses will pick 1st overall. The eight teams will have even odds (12.5%) to get the #1 overall pick when the lottery phase 2 is done on Monday; teams that don't win lottery phase 2 will fill the #9-#15 picks. https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/08/06/2020-nhl-playoffs-schedule-stanley-cup-qualifiers/ Team that have already lost the best-of-five qualifier round: New York Rangers Meanwhile, the top four teams of conference are playing a round robin tournament to seed those spots. This has no bearing on the draft lottery. https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/08/06/nhl-return-to-play-round-robin-standings-scenarios/ We're already locked in at #8, because the 1st overall pick has already been awarded to Mystery Team. Phase 2 lottery on Monday determines the mystery team.

One of the playoff teams, of the eight play-in losers that didn't win their playoff qualifiers, gets 1st overall via lottery. The rest are ordered 9-15 based on the inverse order of their regular season points percentages. My previous post was meta absurdism.

Must win.

BUFFALO BASEBALL BLUEJAYS STAMPEDE

A fine example of the rumor mill chewing fat.

Your lamentation game is weak, son. You gotta go all in. If you're that convinced about Risto, then you know he would be selected after Seattle favorably deals with Buffalo to take both the contract and an analytics-strong prospect. And then because self-loathing Buffalo, Risto would inevitably be better on the other team after the trade, making the deal look like a fleece. Fans will need to kneejerk denounce the GM and, and by falsely perceived causation, ownership decisions, ownership style, the owners themselves, the franchise, the PR twitter account, ticket prices, the arena, the donut shop next to the arena, the city, the county, NYS taxes, Bethlehem Steel, and Gary Bettman, with shoutouts to Leon Czolgosz and the Kensington Expressway. Get on our level.

I'm actually down with the concept of matching or substantially similar team colors from a single town. Pittsburgh did that right, Charlotte Hornets/Carolina Panthers aren't far off. Seattle Mariners/Seahawks/Kraken are all navy blue with different highlight colors. Indistinguishable logos are weak though.

Based on the VGK expansion deal? Even odds, although replicating VGK's meme-worthy historic run might be a stretch. They don't have George McPhee, but they do have some interesting hires in GM Ron Francis, Francis' longtime righthand man Ricky Olcyzk and an interesting cast of Pro Scouts in Cammi Granato (the first female full-time Pro Scout in the league), Ulf Samuellsson, Stu Barnes, Dave Hunter, and John Goodwin. The owners have also mandated analytics as the way of life, hiring former War-On-Ice analytics guru Alex Mandrycky initially as the Director of Hockey Administration (now as Director of Hockey Research and Strategy), giving her and analytics a say in the vetting of the GM hiring and all player personnel decisions. They also picked up award-winning analytics pro Dani Chu. This was all before November of last year, and they still haven't hired a coaching staff- that's how deep they're embedding analytics. It's a fascinating approach to have perhaps the most data-driven intelligence in the league.

Also the Sabres, with the upcoming unveiling of the royal blues, get an immediate redo on the social media whathaevyou. So there's opportunity there. I admittedly care more about what the jersey looks like than the twattersphere, though.

Sure, mistakes were made. BUT BEAUTIFUL HAIRY BUFFALO WITH GOLDEN FLOWING LOCKS AND IS THE MODERN DAY GOLDEN FLEECE