conundrumed

Yeah, I'm a little torn between the 2 of you. Loose cannon, but a cannon nonetheless. I'm happy to give him an offseason by our watch. Maybe we can find more from him than a protected O-weapon. It's worth a shot. We're biding time regardless.

A year at $3.1. Calm down. You can't manage a team to bottom out for McKenna. You'll be fired. Be patient, take a breath. Drafts help, but they aren't the sole driver. A manager needs to manage. Scouts are there to help one part, not run the show.

I am in inexhaustible favour of the selection, should the implication prevail, that Nikita Artamonov should become available upon our 29th selection in the 2024 NHL hockey draft for young men 18 years of age from September 16 of 2023, yet not exceeding September 15, 2024 birthdates, my good sir. Further, past agreements regarding our international friends and exceeding age limitations shall not be impeded. Which era do you prefer? lol

Dude. Sharangovich has some hesitancy to his game. Understandable. NJ was unforgiving. I liked the trade a lot from the outset. One of the few it felt like. He's a really good player. He showed flashes in NJ without question. I peg him to match Buchnevich's numbers. They're not the same, but no 2 players are. Do you like Buchnevich? Because you have a younger one. It's a pretty fair comp to where Sharagovich is heading. I definitely wish we signed Buchnevich away from the Rangers. St. Louis' best player. Sharangovic will grow further. He just needed a fair opportunity, not unlike Buchnevich.

Hello! At 29th? Aw shucks, I guess if I have to. *dramatic exasperated sigh for effect* lol All day.

I might as well say it now. TML are going to scream O'Reilly right up the rankings into a 1st rder. Whereas I want him with our Dallas pick. He's been really good, all situations, these playoffs. Urgency near every shift. He'll explode next year, given a top role. They had Mark Hunter, why didn't they just keep him? lol Now they just pick the kids that he scouts and develops. Kyle Dubas, genius. I have no idea why the SSM GM became some hockey guru. lol Oh right. Stat-trending means that you're way smarter. Nice to see that working out as anticipated.

There have been a couple of games I've watched that have made me feel like things are moving in slow-motion when he has the puck. That kind of time with the puck is going to be eradicated at the pro level. He is literally sauntering with it, while hardly even being challenged. His puck-handling is not great. He's given a surprising amount of space to do it, though. Maybe because his team is so bad that the opponents are lulled to sleep. I wasn't expecting him to be that lumbering, but it's what I saw. I watch the O a lot, so it left me feeling that there is no way he's putting up those numbers in better coverage. Watch Dickinson. He's 6'2". So size is an afterthought. Heck, watch Fischer, he's 6'3" and growing. The difference in skating abilities are almost night and day. That's what I mainly have against him, and why I use the, "1st year midget vs 2nd year Bantams" analogy. I don't understand why he's given so much time and space. It's not like he's a fantastic passing threat, he's fairly tunnel vision carrying the puck. Weber was mentioned, that was 20 years ago. The game has changed. Forechecking has become vastly faster. 20 years ago forechecking looked like a line change vs today. Over-stated, but it is way faster now, and getting faster. Almost dangerously fast to quote Mickey Redmond. "Flying around out there like a bat out of hell. There are landmines everywhere, and you're moving too fast to see them". Speaking, in particular, about Jack Hughes, but also generally. I wish him and Ken Daniels could do all the playoff games for balance and insights. lol

I think the idea of moving him now is counter-intuitive. The idea of acquiring a player that perhaps just needs opportunity has pretty fleeting success. When you have success with that, I don't think it's very savvy to go ahead with, "okay, let's trade him now". There's more at play imo. It took him awhile to settle in, but he kind of found a way to do it. Now he hits this offseason knowing what to work on, where they see his fit. So I think it's still an adjustment period. Add, now you've probably got a player that's grateful for opportunity and being given a purpose. It's not very compelling to turn around and say, "well, we'll get better value trading him now because we won't be able to afford him, won't fit our window etc etc". These are made up excuses disguised as foresight. Same goes for Kuzmenko. Give the players an offseason guided by your instructions, for pete's sake. You can't just throw everyone you've just acquired to the wind because of the possibility that you'll have to pay more for what amounts to your successes. It's cutting off your nose to spite your face. Plus, you haven't completed the opportunity that you're giving them. I'm happy knowing that there is no way that Conroy is going to manage like that. Nor do I think anyone would be allowed to turn a franchise into a chaotic misadventure. "But, but...draft picks". The potential of giving away NHL players for zero should easily outweigh that.

That's fantastic!! Outside of me being digitally underwhelming. Not sure what 5 categories will look like. Most creative prolly ties into most creative. I feel there's kind of a "normal" as far as data, where I'd just as soon have more Dallas mouthy redneck kids getting popped. lol Maybe funniest? Though humour can be subjective. Best use of Flames main page and analysts maybe? Best homage maybe..."this day in Flames history" type-thing? I'll try to think of excrement to throw at the wall to see what might stick. It can't be tough to have 5 solid categories....can it? lol

I'm luckier, our lows barely creep below 10C. I've got everything out of the house windows full time now, so I'm back in the good books. lol I've got the radish in already and prolly a busy wkend getting everything out of my hair and seeding. Danger of frost is virtually zero. I do the tire trick with my potatoes and love it. Do you do that one? Usually 6-7 tires high by harvest time. We get snails and slugs like you wouldn't believe, so it alleviates that. I have a separate kale area where the rabbits can go ham. It works pretty well. It's pickerel season in the lake, so I really need to scream the garden into place. lol @The_People1 I'm a huge fan of both Jirecek's. I want one. lol I think the Czechs are on a roll for developing very well-rounded dmen. Yakemchuk's skating is going to be a problem. I'd coach to expose him wide at speed personally. His lateral isn't great, his edges are meh. He's an average skater. That's great in jr as a dman. You can get by with it.

Could be a player like Denver Barkey. Fell to 95th last year solely due to size. Good player. Slapped down 35/67 102pts in 64 games for the Knights this year. 3/10 13pts in 12 playoff games so far. Ah, before I forget, you have a new subscriber!:) Haven't gotten far...composting!! Awesome.👍

O'Reilly (#23) is going to have to dial it back if we're getting both him and Dickinson...

It won't be my list. lol Just a vast guess at who might take whom. There's normally someone no one saw coming in the top 10. So this is entirely guesswork. If I were to explain, this post would never end... SJ-Celebrini CHI-Levshunov ANA-Buium CBJ-Lindstrom/Catton MTL-Demidov ARI-Catton/Helenius OTT-Parekh/Dickinson SEA-Silayev/Dickinson CGY- ARI could well go with Eiserman. Lindstrom's IR history could be a factor. The fitness tests and meetings will all play into results, undoubtedly...if Parekh is the fall guy, we should let him fall. It'll depend on whether teams think Quinn Hughes or Tyson Barrie. So at D, I'd take Jiricek if all but Parekh are gone. But Helenius/Catton/Lindstrom change the conversation. We'll get a solid prospect. Then complain about who we should have taken instead. lol

Assume. I'm not running a list atm.

Space is always an issue making the jump. Easy enough when you should be in 1st yr midget playing 2nd year bantam, is kind of how I view him. His age group was last year. Pulkkinen is similar, but made a pro men's league.

For fun in the now, this list will evolve somewhat, I'd do something like this: 09: 1. Dickinson 2. Jiricek (outlier: Helenius) 28: 1. Artamonov 2. Misa 3.Beaudoin 4. Freij 41: 1. Pulkinnen 2. Gridin 3. Mews 62: 1. O'Reilly 2. Fischer 3. Humphreys 4. Josephson D & C all the way, baby. C's end up wing, don't care. I know wings can't play C.

I totally agree with the "flyers" comment. Don't take flyers with our first 5-6 picks. Take established talent, and see growth, even in the last 4 months. Growth is what intrigues me about Jesse Pulkkinen. Wish I knew the details. Here's a guy that was undrafted last year, and decided, F%$^ this, I'm done with hockey". I have zero idea who his support is that said, "look man...". Whatever the cause of the attitude adjustment, just wow. That's a helluva'n offseason. Tries again. "Well, he's going to the low rung". Shreds. "He's too good for that, move him up to our version of the A". Shreds. "Yeah, call him up permanently" (Liiga). That is massive growth in the course of a year. Whatever triggered him, he's there now. I'd take some of that action.

Well, you named one. lol Parekh is the last guy that I want us to take. Unless you're moving him to wing. Because there is no way on this green earth that he's going up against the opposition's top 3, more likely, top 6. He is getting overrated. He literally sucks at playing D. There. I said it. He plays D to start rushes, he doesn't play D to, you know, play D. If you'd replaced those 2 with Buium, Dickinson or Silayev I'd have left it alone. You're way off track. Yakemchuk. How many times do we need to hear, "great skater for his size"? If you have to add the, "for his size", you've got yourself a not-great skater. That catchphrase is debilitating. lol You're a great skater or you're not.

There are quite a few options. I don't envy NHL scouts. I wouldn't hate taking Fischer for the purely selfish reasons of seeing him all the time. The Sting are, "rebuilding", shall we call it? Blew their load in the 22-23 season. Traded Martone for Del Mastro for starters. Gonna be a young team next year. Picked 2oa in the draft, so that might be fun. Fischer's likely as good a pick as anyone from 60-75. But there are C's there that I like, if we've already taken 2-3 dmen. Or maybe we should have a pretty full-on Dman draft? I'm not sure. I'd really like Misa with the Van pick. He's close to Catton, imho. US-Finland becoming a game after the US went up 4-0. 4-2 now and Helenius just drilled the post. Oops, Stiga with his 4th goal. 5-2. Damn.

His linemate is the leading scorer. lol A kid by the name of Calum Ritchie...

@The_People1 Am I going to regret telling you to check the OHL playoff scoring leaders? That guy sure isn't hurting Sennecke's draft-stock, either. I'm OHL-centric due to live viewing, so I was championing Musty, then this guy... I still like the Honzek pick. There just really isn't much that separates 15-50 in most drafts, let alone 15-30. I highly recommend watching the OHL semis and Finals, alongside the same from the dub. Stoopid dub start times. But what, am I supposed to watch the Oilers/Van? I don't gaf about those teams. lol

Lousy team, he's still the shortest in his fam by a few inches. Freij and Mews are both borderline 1st rders, Fischer will be in the late 2nd - early 3rd, so not the same range. Dallas pick to our 3rd. Someone will be getting great potential with Fischer. Too funny if it's Detroit. "Sorry son, you were next on our list, honestly".

A nice camera pan to Conny and Iggy at the Swiss vs Sweden u18 game. They pointed out how fitting it is that Iggy's sitting on Conroy's right. lol I wonder if Tanguay is sitting on Yzerman's left?

Way more interested in Wings kids. lol Especially when they're the youngest in the draft, not the oldest: https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/692910/lukas-fischer

It's what we do. lol Hard to not be over-excitable when we have picks for a change! And we're trending towards actually utilizing draft picks as more than trade fodder. What a concept!!