shrader

It never says anything about the last point of contact. I see where you're going, but the rule is not written well for this instance. It seems to be written solely from the prospective of deflected pucks. I'd argue that the scoring motion is all one continuous motion, so the second you're directing the puck from above the crossbar towards the net, you've violated the rule. I'm willing to go out on a limb and guarantee they would interpret it the same way. Short of a modification to the language, we'll never get the real answer to this one. I'm a bit surprised by the way most of the high sticking rules are written. I had thought it was standardized at the crossbar to make things much easier. It's a bit crazy that Chara can play a puck above Gerbe's head while Gerbe can only play a puck below Chara's knees. It makes for an officiating nightmare.

How often have you seen this kind of move made around the league, particularly with a 6+ year vet? There's a reason for that. The only ones I can think of come either very early in the career or with the most marginal of players. Doohicke earlier mentioned Federov, but that was both temporary and also a hall of famer who was one of the best defensive forward who ever lived. Ristolainen does not fall into any of those categories. I'm very confused by the logic (not yours) that Dahlin is needed on the blue line yet your top minute guy is not. The coaches seem to think otherwise as well.

The crossbar is the point of reference when it comes to playing the puck with a high stick. If someone tried this move by going over the crossbar, there is no possible way it could be considered legal. The second he carries the puck above the bar it becomes a high stick regardless of where it is when it leaves the stick.

One defensemen goes out with an injury and another returns. Now all of a sudden you think they’d seriously consider changing the position of the team’s leader in ice time? He’s not just the leader, he averages nearly 3.5 minutes more than anyone else. That’s not a player usage that suggests any degree of disappointment from the coaching staff.

Just once I want to see a player screw up and go over the crossbar with this move.

Is this the Cumberbatch GIF thread? And yes, I realize what I've just opened the door to certain responses.

That's an interesting question. Even if they are, does it outweigh the potential future earnings from ending your ELC as soon as possible? It might keep the late round picks around longer, but those guys already weren't leaving anyway.

"Some". It's going to be very dependent on the scenario. First obviously would be what the NCAA ultimately allows. But after that, I could imagine cases where you might have a second or third generation player who will draw interest just due to his father. A quick example would be that Tony Amonte's kid is currently at BU. He's very unlikely to have a significant professional future, but I could some opportunity where they bring in both the father and the son for some ads. That's one that could go across markets at some point too. Say Dominik Hasek's kid is in net for UNH. That could draw a couple ad dollars out of Buffalo. But yeah, give me the ELC any day.

Is being able to remember when the Bills were good now the official line for whether or not you're old? Thanks, I'm now depressed.

Those are the only two towns where I can envision any market for hockey players. You'd be surprised just how much attention the big two schools in Boston draw. I'd suspect that Northeastern has started to get a little more recently as they've been winning more (that's the Boston way, isn't it, pay attention to the winners), but I left before that happened, so I haven't seen it first hand. They don't have to compete with the NHL guys, they'd essentially be the cheaper alternative for the businesses that don't want to spend as much. But that goes right back to the point that there won't be crazy amounts of money to be had, but still more than most other markets. 3rd rate ad dollars in Boston are still going to be way more that 1st rate dollars in Orono Maine.

I missed that game so I didn't see it. PK time for the defensemen is a bit of a strange animal since there are so few of them on the team and options are limited. Do you know who he was paired with for the game (another thing I miss easily if not paying attention)? Looking at the box score, I see that Miller had a penalty, so I wonder if Gilmour may have been in there because it came down to a choice of either him or Dahlin for a shift. I wish I could find a break down of when that PK ice time actually happened because that Miller penalty was with 2:10 left in the game. If that's when he got his PK shift, it tells an interesting story about how the coaches view their defensemen. It's a Dahlin story we're all well aware of already, but it would be a clear illustration of that story.

How long do you think it would take for them to give Montour that PP slot? It feels like one of those things they would ease him back into.

It will never matter for that level of player. Staying in school, all they've done is delayed the start of that ELC. As Taro suggests, it may bring a few extra players there, but it won't keep the elite there any longer. The elite from any feeder system, college/junior/europe all make that jump immediately. And even then, I'm not so sure any market other than Boston or Minnesota is going to be much of a draw for this. The focus is too heavily in favor of football/bouncyball anywhere else.

Ahhh ok. I was wondering which revolution they were mentioning in that trailer, either the birth of the Empire or its death. That answers that.

Is it in that same timeline somewhere between III and IV? Ok, not as close to IV as Rogue One was, but somewhere in that window?

Thanksgiving

Can they bring a guy on the trip with them without actually calling him up? I forget the CBA specifics on that one, but you'd think they might make exceptions for big trips like this one.

Somebody just got a massive cap exemption if they can hold off his return until playoff time.

It happened in DC.?

It's also nice to know that we probably have to lose 10 defensemen to get down to 2006 levels.

It's a shame he'll never hit UFA status. Things like this would put us on his list.

That's really my point with the comment. Bales is probably a big help, but it's one of many things that has sparked the fast start. I hope he is in fact the real deal because I'm still not convinced we have a starting goalie on this team. A 60/40 split can take them places in the regular season, but it can also catch up to you during crunch time.

What about the year before, when he was also with Carolina?

Next you’ll tell me you microwave bacon. Heathens.