conundrumed

I finally figured out how to insert a sig (kind of). I had made a request to some anonymous friend who I knew would have the right words. If anyone wants to use it, feel free! I'm prolly well bad at sizing.... But it's a tribute to one of the truly excellent people here.

Condolences. Thank you Carty and Pyro for caring so much that you took it as far as finding out. That is a special kinship. I could see years ago the friendship and respect between you guys had for each other was special. As for FF52, I don't know that I could possibly say enough. We shared PMs, not frequently enough, but I have a world of respect for him. Your description of him Carty is to a tee based on his posting. He never put on airs that he was the smartest guy in the room when most of the time he was. He never let a debate fall to anger no matter how heated. He is charming is the best way I can describe it. Because I travel a lot for work I'd been hoping I'd get to Winnipeg to look him up. Alas, I never had that good fortune. Way back in the day on this board when I was crash, we had a section called "Trash Talk". Other team's posters would come and try to light into us and it was a free-for-all of slamming posters. I quite enjoyed it, but it also set in on me that it's a fun thing to do. Reading FF's posts taught me that I'm going about it wrong, post-trash talk. He stayed level and balanced all the time and didn't suffer fools, because there is no way around him just detailing why he's right. He had incredible knowledge and insight and used it with a refrain and humility we should all learn from. I know we mainly agreed, but sometimes I'd throw up things that weren't well thought out. FF would quote me, kindly give me points of contention, and I'd just accept I was wrong. lol I literally cheered for Winnipeg and Philly in the playoffs solely out of my respect for him and being excited for him. Last year I PMed him about the Jets run and if he's seeing games. I have a season's tix holder friend I wanted to ask about getting FF 2 tix. But he wanted no part of pandemonium when he has a perfect view on his TV. lol Sometimes I work with guys nearing retirement that are the most miserable people you've ever been around. Occasionally, it's the opposite. We refer to those few guys as, ol' codgers or charmers. They have a twinkle in their eye and a smile on their face. And whether you're at work, in a restaurant, having a beer, whatever, they have an appeal that just lifts the atmosphere for everyone around them. A kind of magic about them. Unfortunately I haven't been in Winnipeg for a lot of years. Because I know I'd have met a relatively rare "ol' codger" or "charmer". Thanks for the early warning yesterday Carty and Pyro, I well up just thinking about it. He's one of the 1st Ballot Hall of Famers here in my books, and I've been here for 26 years. Rest well Larry, you were a model and an influence on all of us.

Am I confused here? I thought it was "waiver-eligible" call ups that we have 2 left of?

I'm with you on MacDonald. Not a care that they took him over Demko. For the reasons you cite also. My opinion on MacDonald is that he has simply been too nice and accommodating. He's very mellow when I've met him a few times in the past. In Pro, as a goalie, stop saying please and thank you. It is all battle and attitude or you'll be taken advantage of. I'd point to Rittich's game now, he's not taking anything from anyone. MacDonald is young and has been extremely humble in the past. When you get to pro as a goalie, humble will kill your career. Hungry and angry will get you further. Hopefully MacDonald is playing that way now. Putting Parsons ahead of him, with no stats to back it up, hopefully lit his fire. I'm not writing him off, to be certain. Goalie is psychological, just find the right nerve to make him want to prove you wrong. imho

I remember reading at tdl that they were expecting to call Vali back up in mid to late March. I hope they do. Stockton isn't making the playoffs so seeing what the playoffs are like isn't a terrible thing to be around even if he isn't in consistently. But if Hanifin doesn't get better, he might be regardless. Ice the best team is all I ask. If that's 2 rooks on D, so be it. Can't be afraid due to preconceived notions. And he's not really "just off an injury", I believe he's played 16 in Stockton now.

And haven't added Valimaki yet.

3. No one has to go down due to the roster expansion rules that kick in after TDL.

I agree. Every goalie gives up shaky goals. Both have been pretty solid recently. When I tell people that I used to play goal, I add, "and never gave up a goal, not even in practice. I got bored with it". lol

Valimaki also doing well early stat-wise at least, with 10 pts and +8 in 15 games. Hopefully our other (non-AHL) prospects can move up to pro levels next year and have an impact.

Affects the players? Score more than 2. That's what they should be worried about. We've been playing room-for-error hockey imo. Time to tighten it up. Capitalize on chances, show urgency. Doesn't matter who's in net. This year is scorers paradise, so score.

It was a good example for those that always thought, "Hathaway can be improved upon". He is an important cog imo. Not your pts guy, but removing him last night had an impact. imho. No hearing...

I don't get it. We aren't going to close out the season 35-0. Excited about 1 loss after a hard fought February. My takeaway from last night was mainly, we would kill these guys in a series. Let's not kid ourselves.

Either way, the league doesn't have a protocol for what is and isn't allowed. I'd assume this was against Bennett, so Suter's push from behind should have been taken into account. Bennett still did a good job of trying to avoid, so I thought the contact was incidental. But I'm a homer, so there's that. lol

You can see Suter's push on Bennett too, so Suter made contact unavoidable.

Goalie interference was the challenge and result. Czarnik really just got his stick on the loose puck between Dubnyk's legs. https://www.nhl.com/video/situation-room-min-vs-cgy/t-277781830/c-66521603

That's for sure. One thing that annoys me is our propensity for making every goalie in the league an all-star. The disallowed goal was a bit much for me to handle with this league. Now you can't even drive the net? For Smith, yeah he should have had the 5 hole 4th goal and the timing was horrendous, it happens. But when he comes out of his net there seems to be zero sense of urgency. Behind the net is his standard fare. He stops the puck and lollygags. How about stop it and get out of the way? I had this complaint last year as well. He stops the puck and looks at his options for too long, then he's either in the way or trapped.

There are a lot of nice towns that like nice people.

House broke? I feel for you. Beautiful place, but wow, that's prohibitive on the finances. I had a lot of friends there, now just a couple. The others were totally house-broke. Hadn't taken a holiday in half a decade-type thing. That's not living.

I disagree. Nurse provides a template for up-and-coming dmen in the future as a talented dman that they stuck with. With him and Klefbom, gotta start somewhere. Plus, with both of these guys, what are you getting in a trade that doesn't create a bigger hole?

Is it just me, or are subdivision builders like Shane Homes a key player in destroying Calgary's housing market? For $10/save. In '94 I bought a beautiful 4 level split in Cambrian Heights for $160,000. Mainly retired, older community, gorgeous view of the city out our dining room window. 25 years later, it's likely worth a million. Call it supply and demand all you like, a lot of people got rich exposing the demand side. By '99-01, real estate spiraled out of control.

lol. C'mon peeps, you're better than that. I'd love to manage the Oilers. Me: I need buyouts. Katz: how many? Me: let's just start with yes. What a mess. I don't even see how this gets corrected in the next few years. Keepers: McD, Draisaitl, RNH, Klefbom, Nurse. Everyone else, drain the swamp. lol

Edmonton, where coaches go to die.

What a surprise from the preseason when we were all worried Smith would start too many. Rittich has been superb, as has Smith, at not letting this turn into a controversy and a distraction. All the talk now has turned to us and TBay being the 2 teams that can beat you 2-1 or 7-6.