IKnowPhysics

I take it that you like Single Barrel better than Gentleman. How's it compare? I haven't had the SB yet, but Gentleman was my "fancy" whisky when I was poor in grad school.

Seattle and Oak View Group (Jerry Bruckheimer, et al) commit $660M to renovating Key Arena to land NBA and NHL franchises. This was always going happen and everybody wants it, it was just a question of how long it would take. Article mentions NHL team playing as early as 2020-21, which likely means an expansion draft in June 2020.

I think Zemgus can be a really good player under the right coach. I'm happy with this wait-and-see deal.

The game will always be here and will welcome you back with stick taps and pucks to put in nets. Never forget you love it.

Think of it as a game: can our expectations of him be any higher than right now? How likely is it that he exceeds our current lofty expectations? If the answer is "not very likely," then there's no penalty to him to extend now - and there could be risk (injury/poor performance/disaster) in not signing now. If someone wants to pay you $Texas to do something you love where you want to do it, you don't tell them to come back in a year, especially if it's unlikely that you'd get paid more then.

Nah, but it lends further evidence to an 8 year deal and getting a contract extension this offseason. While not unexpected, these are both good things.

Wait, is there no password recovery via email for user accounts? Why not just tell users to remember their registered email addresses?

Congratulations. Glad you had a good time at Chelsea. I'm good friends with someone in that photo, but I'll let you guess who that might be. edit: And as proof I'm not with you, not that it was really necessary, here's the same photo from a different photographer.

This is what makes the deal for me. I didn't want our management to be short sighted and give a middling short term contract that exposes Lehner to UFA in case he performs to our expectations nor did I want them to be foolhardy and go big money and term with some other large signings coming up in the next two years. The fact that this contract retains Lehner's RFA status is as much a wait and see on other players on the roster as it is Lehner, and the decision on whether to go big and long term on him is based on more data about both him and the other players vying for the cap pie. Extremely smart asset management with salary fairness to the player and a sharp eye for the big picture long term.

Respectable Kings fans do exist, but they get diluted by: Lots of other stuff to do competing for their time and dollar (this is a common LA problem) When the Kings are winning, fair-weather or non-fans there to see the hot show in town because its fashionable to be seen there (this is also an LA problem; finals make it ridiculous). Opposing fans that have transplanted to LA. Those issues are created by: Year-round decent weather in a city with many other recreational activities. The "This town loves a winner" attitude of an enormous city with many sports teams combined with Hollywood narcissism. Huge fraction of transplanted residents. Do note that ticket prices skyrocketed after the '12 Cup win. I know many, many longtime season ticket holders that now only go to 5-10 games a year. I think Vegas shares the bolded traits with LA, but doesn't have the other sports teams competing yet. If Vegas can huddle around the team like its theirs, they can organically develop a strong fanbase. But if they treat it like a redheaded stepchild of the Casinos, that's what it'll be, and it'll get walked all over by Chad from NYC that's a Rangers fan who happened to be in town for a bachelor party and Bob from Topeka who doesn't like hockey that much but was in town for a trade show and got comp tickets from a sponsor.

This article is to analytics as George Clooney is to Batman. A poorly directed, laughably weak attempt at best.

I'ma be honest, any list that puts Bergeron, Marchand, and Pastrnack in "Tier 1" and Nicklas Backstrom, Ryan Getzlaf, and Leon Draisaitl in "Tier 3" doesn't really convince me of its legitimacy. Then to group players using arbitrarily placed dotted lines and then count the (small) numbers of players in each group for each team isn't a good statistical analysis. Then try wedge that weak-ass correlation into causation and say wishywashy ###### like "What’s missing from most of those teams at the bottom are Tier 1 players. It’s hard to get far without one ...But having one MVP-calibre player isn’t enough. ...They’re an important piece, but they’re not the only piece and that’s why this kind of analysis is important. It shows how crucial it is to build a core of great players..." He even contradicts himself: "The bottom line is that this league runs on star power...But ... Star power is the start of a good team, and it’s what makes a great team, but they need support around them to become a championship team." So you need great players. But you also need lots of good players. But how those are defined is aribtrary (and highly debatable).

Nah, risk of poor late term asset management. Eichel could still be productive after age 92. 112 years x $952M That way, even if Jack's life span exceeds the oldest human to ever live by 10 years, we'll have him locked up. And if things don't work out, that $8.5M AAV is gonna make him pretty sweet trade bait in 2129.

72 years x $600M It'll be a steal when the cap goes up.

Maybe Alexandre Grenier for Rochester.

Tatar and Pearson have similarish-stats for LW; they make less than Kane does now, but mostly because they're still on their post-ELC contracts. JVR is coming off a $4M x 6yr contract is due for a big raise. Saad might be the closest comparable player stats-wise and he signed a $6M x 6 deal in 2015. Drouin just signed for $5.5M x 6; Gaudreau last year for $6.75M x 6; Steen (age 33) just signed for $5.75M x 4. But this is all anecdotal. It's not what we want to pay him, but what he's worth on an open market, and probably more accurately- what his agent believes being a UFA could net him. Let's look at real data. Money: Here's the short list of LW contracts in the last 4 years that make $6M+. Here's the list of LWs contracts in the last 4 years that make $5M-$6M (including Kane now). Term: Not many LWs get 7+ year contracts. Lots of mid-range guys, some not as good as Kane, get 4-5 year contracts. Kane's potential peers seem to get 6 years. An aggressive signing to keep Kane would be $6.5M x 6 years.

I don't overstate his off ice whathaveyous like many in the media, but if you told me there was a CBA-kosher method of dropping a contract in case of legal disaster, I would be more adamant about max term and fair pay. He's a special player that can contribute at a championship level, but I don't want to risk hamstringing the team cap for years because a bar room brawl went south. Make no mistake, he should be a Sabre, but some assurance somewhere for the good of the team would be nice.

Well, he did grow up in New Rochelle. It's likely that the Rangers were his favorite team and he's giving them a hometown discount. Many players actually shy away from big market media. Edit: Also, more cap space for Draisaitl.

At least from judging their performance the past three-ish years, this is true: Buffalo got the two best players in the trade.

Frank Seravalli @frank_seravalli 38m Talked to Shattenkirk camp. He hasn't decided where he will sign yet, reports otherwise are premature.