shrader

It's funny. I had the same exact thought when I saw that story yesterday. I'm sure he has a very specific list of teams and mind and it won't happen, but I'd at least make the phone call. You mention Mittelstadt, but he could have just as much influence on Eichel. But yeah, not happening, but that's one of the pieces they really need to add, that veteran leader type. There may have been a couple in the form of Pominville and Okposo, but for whatever reason, those guys aren't the right ones.

Nylander counted as being drafted out of europe because his swedish team had loaned him to Mississauga. So the swedish team was the primary holder of his rights because he had a contract there. That's a slightly different case than Pekar, who was drafted out of the US junior system. The rules wind up being the same though and he can go to the AHL whenever he and the Sabres want.

We're at the point where we are trying to handle this on a case by case basis and you can't possibly do that with an all encompassing transfer agreement. We're going to get to the point of allowing players to be sent to the AHL, but only if they were born during a full moon on a Tuesday.

Last year we planted 3 azaleas right around this time. During the winter 2 out of the 3 got attacked pretty badly by I'm assuming rabbits (even though they're supposed to be toxic for rabbits). The bounced back decently in the early spring once I put up some fencing. 10 days or so ago, right before we left for our week in Jamaica, they were all starting to flower a bit. When we got back home on sunday, that one that went untouched was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was essentially 100% flowers, a giant pink ball. I hope the other two will catch up with a year of solid growth with no more rabbit massacres. That little corner of the backyard will look amazing if they can.

On the first day of every month, the radio station I listen to in the morning has it's signal scrambled with another one from somewhere out in Tennessee. I'd love to know why this happens. Every other day it's perfectly clear, but today it's super staticy and instead I get bursts of pop music from that other station.

Law day? Does that mean that it's the only day of the year where laws actually apply?

I have never been able to put much stock in the idea that they can no longer learn/gain anything at the junior level. If a kid isn't ready for the NHL yet, I really don't see all that much of a distinction between growing in the AHL vs. in juniors. If they can gain from one, they can gain from the other. Short of the McDavids of the world who completely dominate the league, up until a kid is clearly the elite guy there, they still have plenty to gain. My main concern with all of this though is that watering down the NHL's main feeder system is not good for the NHL or for the CHL. Lesser players and lesser competition is going to hurt the development of those who do remain and it will snowball from there. This whole thing is a case of if it's not broken, don't fix it. These rules have been in place for ages and it's only a very recent rage among the fans that it should be changed. And I think it's just that, completely a fan issue as opposed to an NHL issue. I've seen nothing to suggest that they have any interest in changing it.

Why would the CHL agree to this? Let's not forget that they have a key role all of this. The whole thing just opens a major can of worms. After a few years, fans would be complaining about their second round pick being stuck in juniors. It becomes a never ending cycle of wanting to change the rules based off of a very small minority.

People need to stop taking me literally.

Rabbit season!

Is he any good with a guitar?

The CHL transfer deal is not changing, so you can forget about that first part. As for the NCAA portion, what you're suggesting essentially forces them to sign with their drafting team or have to sit out of the league completely for one year. That's a crazy restriction to place upon the player. The NHLPA does not care about the CHL or NCAA, but they do care about the player and they are not going to sign onto a new rule that hands the leverage 100% to the teams. It's not going to happen. As of now, every single player can become a free agent 4 years after becoming draft eligible. Forcing a 5th year upon only a very small portion of players is not something either side is going to suggest. Yeah, this one I don't get at all. Maybe Fox is leaving after all. That's the only way the Rags get him on their depth chart next year.

The only complaint I see is about the, let's face it, pretty stupid capitalization of it on those draft trackers. It's a new position designation, fine. There's no need to yell at us.

They won't change a thing about this in the CBA. College and american junior players already have further restrictions than major junior players. They're not going to add even more restrictions on those players rights. And this isn't quite the same as Vesey because Fox is still returning to college for one more year. The Vesey situation played out after he had finished his senior season. Unless Fox suddenly changes his mind and does leave school, I'm not really sure why the Rags would bother to do this now.

I'll add one thing to the Captain America therapy session you mentioned earlier. That one to me also felt like he was in a way paying tribute to Sam. Now that he has handed off the shield to Sam, I picture a full role reversal for the two and old man Cap running therapy sessions all the time.

Duck season!

I hope they somehow work some references into Spiderman next month about how Peter is now 5 or 6 years (whatever it was) younger than any classmates who didn't get dusted. That's a fun little quirk to all of this that should be explored a bit, like Lang missing his daughter growing up.

It's not like I was trying to. The whole thing just sticks out like sore thumb for me. You've got all these two or less letter position abbreviations and then all of a sudden, they mix in that full word. It would be like the post office having all of their state codes and then randomly throwing either Ohio or Iowa instead.

It does make me wonder a bit about the timing of Lamoriello packing his bags. It was a bit odd even before any of this.

By "flies out" are you saying that someone jumped/fell out of that crane while it was going down? I'm trying to interpret that one and it's the only thing I can think of. The thing with those cranes that always amazes me is when any hurricane is rolling through, they basically just set those things free, let them swing, and hope for the best. I know next to nothing about them, but any time I see them, I don't want to be anywhere near them.

I love my ability to derail a thread with a simple question.

Give me time. I’ll get to the watermelon.

But if the terminology evolves, why does the fullback name still exist? And why do they still have two o-line positions named after something those guys never do, while the other three positions are named very accurately?

When did they start listing a player's position as edge? I feel like I haven't seen that listed as the official position on draft trackers before this year.

I don't know. The name says zamboni, but it may in fact be an Olympia.