conundrumed

Well Satoshi Nakamoto. Out-goalied and Kyrou needs to remember that he's a dman and not a winger.. Game 1 goes to London, 4-1. Sarnia took the 1-0 lead by finishing a rebound, then they started trying to be pretty with rebounds. London's fast, Sarnia's D(Kyrou particularly) giving up inexcusable 2-on-1s. OHL reffing is horrendous, though not blaming it. Pastujov took a hard crosscheck behind the net and got a penalty for it. I think because London already took 2 penalties and the refs needed to start evening up. London plays Hunter hockey, penalties everywhere if the game is called correctly. Sarnia took 2 more penalties for dmen knocking down London players being overly-aggressive on smothered pucks. Not crosschecks or infractions at all. So, and believe it or not I don't believe this is bias...London plays a pretty dirty game while the refs try to keep the calls even. We may not have a chance if we can't just have a game reffed by the rulebook. But OHL reffing is generally horrendous on a good day. Quick reviews are 5 mins. Half of them leave even the commentators baffled, even if it favours their team. Watch any OHL game and you'll agree. It's bizarro-world when it comes to officiating. Reviews are littered with contradictions to the point that you'll have zero idea what you're certain about. You stop guessing. Just give it the, "here we go" and wait 10 minutes for some bizarre result without explanation half the time. It definitely takes my edge off of NHL reffing. OHL reffing is easily the worst you'll see anywhere.

Maybe it was a line thing and Kadri's so miserable because he misses the drunk Russian escorts? Okay, that's out of line...

But it's not just Zary. The trade down results in what would you rather: Schneider Zary, Poirier, Boltmann It's not 1 for 1. BT was roundly applauded for his work, and it's waaay too early to play the @jjgallow game of hindsight. I'm sure he can find his old quote of wanting Schneider pre-draft while he's rummaging through old posts.lol

Yeah but the trade down allowed us to select Patrick Sielloff in the 2nd round. So according to Feaster and Wiesbrod we got both of the guys that they were targeting. ⌚💣

"A trade or I'm not coming to camp, although we have a contract" doesn't sound like a trade request. Kadri playing for Bednar means Kadri knows something is weak. I would put all of my money on MacKinnon, Rantanen, Landeskog, Makar and their great dmen being the difference between us and them, not Sutter vs Bednar. Not saying this emanated from Kadri(although I'm alluding to it), but it sure didn't take a lot of viewings for me to feel pain for that signing. If only Monahan had have stayed healthy, we'd have had no use for the league's most overrated 2C telling us what's up.

It was reported. By Dreger I believe. Per Dreger: “We can tell by the exit interviews, and from the public outpouring the Calgary Flames players in their exit interviews with the media, that they were fully expecting change,” Dreger said. “And there are lower-level rumblings, and I’m not going to mention the players here, that there are some players who are willing to not come back, even under contract, if Darryl is still on the bench of the Calgary Flames. That feels a bit extreme, but that seems to be the direction in Calgary.” PS - Kadri is the last guy I'd listen too. If that isn't a selfish player, I don't know what is.

You don't even know the details.lol

Without question. Unfortunately, they're talking out of their Hash Rate with empty threats. I'd call them on it every single time if I were GM. "Good. Maybe talk to the PA first, I'm sure they'll love the idea and not lose their Satoshi Nakamoto on you. Breach your contract, see where that takes your career".

I'm leaning this way too. 16 to 25 isn't much of a drop in potential, if any. If it can sneak you into a 3rd top 50 pick, it's not a crazy idea. If you can get a 3rd for dropping a little bit back, I'm not against it. Just a matter of how the draft is shaking down, as always.

Where do you come up with this stuff?lol

I'm all for keeping him. The roster needs to adjust though. We need speed and skill. That means I would trade anyone outside of Huberdeau, Lindholm and Weegar. Everyone else can be replaced, including Andersson. The only actual dmen we have are Tanev and Weegar. They are good defenders. Everyone else, notsomuch, unless O-stats are important. For me, they're not. Get actual defencemen. More speed and skill up front. We have to stop idolizing our players. They are all replaceable. Particularly, this team has mirrored Backlund's career, so let's move on to someone else.

As I said, I don't admonish them, I just bare it in mind that they are a year behind their career draft class in real terms. The solution is get rid of Sept. 15th and make it Dec 31. If that means push the draft to 19yo, so be it. It's not as though I wouldn't have taken Matthews 1st oa. There are even 2nd draft players that I like.

Yes, but that is infrastructure that requires maintenance regardless. Building new infrastructure creates a whole new package. So now you're fixing mistakes, maintaining whole other packages, while still needing to address aging infrastructure. It's not like you can abandon a core area due to aging infrastructure. How long will it be before maintaining infrastructure south of Canyon Meadows, Coventry Hills to Simons Valley etc becomes another financial burden? This is why most places now prefer to build upwards. It's fiscally responsible before it becomes fiscally impossible. Our aging counsel here has a real problem understanding this. Ignoring all recommendations from 3rd parties that they hire. Because, well, everyone wants to live near the lake and taxes are higher. While all of the core infrastructure needs to be addressed regardless. I'm not against expansion, but expanding while what you already have is crumbling infrastructure is living beyond your means. If my house needs a new roof and drainage tiles, I'm not spending that money on a new garage.

Okay. So I'm getting effing jacked. I just can't see how the Sting can lose to London. Stay away from Hunter's dirty crap, don't react (Captain Gillingham, I mean you). The firepower is over the top. Voit, Burke, Pastujov, Del Bel Belluz, Del Mastro, Kyrou, Mast. Secondary with Vilmanis, Sikic, Filak, Limpar-Lantz, Wainwright... I just can't see London matching. Gaudreau's been solid and needs to continue. I don't know kids, this is the best Sting roster that I've ever seen. Just crushed the TDL. The other conference final is Peterborough-North Bay. The only way I can see the Sting not winning the O is arrogance. They get too confident too often for my liking. If they aren't pressing offence they look kinda disinterested. When they're up by 2 with 5 minutes left they'll still have 4 too low in the O-zone. It kinda drives me nuts. They really don't play protect-the-lead, like, at all. London's likely to drag it into the alley if the Sting jump all over them. That's always been London's m.o. Sarnia HAS to ignore it.

Yup. Turn the page. It's great to have them there. Great support for Mitch Love as well as the prospects. That's what it's all about. There's always room to grow.

I think those decisions have been made. Any word on Phillips being suspended further? Good for prospects to have Sutter there. They'll need offseason advice and a coach that understands what should be a deep run come camp.

meh, I get the rivalry, but the sour grapes shouldn't blind the reality. Don't get me wrong, I'm cheering ABE, but I'm not blind. Credit to Holland with the deadline adds, they were on point. And I despise Holland, even though maybe it was ownership at fault in the D. Terrible desperate contracts. The fan played goodbye job, christ people are dumb. As soon as the, "and works at" begins, you're out of a job. If their ID doesn't get dragged into it, they don't care. Once any company's name gets dragged in, you are gone. I've seen this in contracts, with zero surprise. Then how do you put, "Reason for Leaving" on your resume?

Nice to see Seattle making some noise. I thought the flak they took in the expansion draft was unjustified. I could understand why you just pick up bottom 9 guys and worry about talent on larger contracts later. Just build an asset base while still icing a somewhat competitive team. The plan seems to be working. Not surprising, they're trying to mould after the Canes.

It's also important to remember that building housing within existing infrastructure is waaaaay more efficient than expanding new areas. By waaaaay, I mean waaaaaaaay. New infrastructure creates a lot of headaches down the road as it becomes a larger maintenance issue. Save all of that money from your new tax base, you're going to need it. I doubt that there are a lot of civil engineers that promote expansion these days. I'm not a fan of how little CSEC is kicking in unless they plan on kicking in a new wing in a hospital or something. Ilitch kicked in about $50mil in donations to Wayne State U outside of LCA for example. CNRL should be kicking out a lot of "thank you" cards...if this isn't just disguised as a partnership. But Calgary definitely needs to fix that area, 2 weeks of rodeo for 50 weeks of blight seems like a really bad tradeoff. I've been to quite a few arenas...I thought the Joe was musty.lol I know when I first moved and saw the stampede area my reaction went way beyond disappointment. Tourists are likely impacted similarly.

Was that only $350mil the Flames kick in? Did I hear wrong?

For Honzek, does that give him the Pavel Zacha comparison based on size and circumstance? Zacha didn't even want to go to the OHL, felt he was ready for the NHL.lol Honzek's late birthday makes me categorize him as his D+1 year as I choose to ignore NHL rules. So in that regard, he should be ripping the CHL if he's regarded as a 1st rder. Like you, I have him in the 20's. Likely a stretch for me to take him at 16 or it's a trade down situation. I'm not against trading down if it meets their target. Positionally, I'm neither here nor there, I think we need every position. As too many years of too few picks dictates. Realistically, 16th is a mid-roster neck-of-the-woods pick. A 2nd liner is ideal, top 4 dman. I'm going to try to make a D-only ranking I'll post, there are so many of them in the middle. It'll give everyone something to fight about.

Why do I envision @jjgallow failing the interview process?lol

Could also be what the player wanted, secures a 1 way. Kinda works for both parties currently. He can up his value and the cap will rise.

It's excellent form. Reward him. Don't leave it hanging over his head. Stop throwing shade on everything.lol It's like that poem of the child who sees a man eating his own heart. "how does it taste?" "Bitter".lol Duehr earned it. It's excellent form to not let it hang over his head and all of his buddies bugging him about "what's up". That's a huge step he took. You gotta let your guys know that you love it. I like that was the 1st order of business with a player. Get that worry off of his plate. He definitely earned it.

Awesome. Per CF: $825,000 per. One less Ritchie.lol