shrader

I don't think we're at the days anymore where a team is going to build around a 27 year old center, especially one that isn't a first liner. That's a complementary piece, not a building block.

Has there been anything out there suggesting that he was helping with the young swedes? He's not a guy I've paid much attention to and I don't read anywhere near as many of the stories as others around here do, so I have no idea how much truth there might be to that. The whole thing right now is at a place where so much gets thrown out there now that the last 6 months or so of his life become a blurred mess.

I hope you still display that trophy proudly.

I still need to see it backed up by something other than his words. The source for every link I've read is his quote above. One story did have a picture of the notice posted on his locker. I don't know if he's shown those before, but that was a good one to get out there. Look, I don't doubt that the league could target someone like this, I also wouldn't be surprised by a player stretching the truth to help his cause. I need to see more than just a quote from one person before I lean one way or the other. I wonder if either side is allowed to disclose publicly who is tested and when. If there's a grievance process, it may be completely private.

But is Tampa's 113 points really any worse than the Jets' 114, or even Nashville's 117? It goes right back to the imbalanced schedules thing. Allowing for crossover across conferences like that opens up a huge can of worms. Do you really want to do that to account for what is going to be a fairly rare scenario.

So what does that make you?

They may have done it before, but look how long that lasted. There was far too much imbalance to make 1-16 work and that system was quickly abandoned. And yes, of course there wasn't full balance with the 1-8 format, but it's much closer to balanced within the conferences. That's the whole purpose of conferences/division. They determine the playoffs within clusters that are as similar as possible. More clusters means more ability to balance the schedule within them. So yeah, two groups of 1-8 obviously allowed for more balance than one group of 1-16. I'm with you on being happy with the division system as well. What you just called for is essentially what they have now, but with the wild card added in. The only thing I wish they'd change would be the record based cross over they allow now. If the two wild cards are from different divisions, they should say in division no matter what their records are. Only allow cross over if both wild cards come from the same division. Sadly the wild card is necessary because it's fairly likely that the 5th team in one division will be better than the 4th in the other. I like keeping everything within the division for the first two rounds because it will spark a lot of rivalries over the long term as you get similar playoff matchups frequency. That's right back to the 80s-90s thing you mentioned. We can throw out alignment options constantly around here but they'll all come back to the same problem. There is no perfect situation. Any system that people will suggest, there will be that crazy set of outcomes that breaks it down.

You can only do 1-16 if you create a completely balanced schedule leaguewide. That is never going to happen due to the travel constraints.

I don't know the recapture rules, but the money nose dives quite a bit after next season: https://www.capfriendly.com/players/patrik-berglund

His rapid ascent up the points leaderboard has been fun to watch. Hopefully he can sustain something remotely close to his current pace. And the scary part? He's probably the second best player on the team in a couple years. As for the "if it's not broken..." thoughts in here, yeah, they pretty much have to keep that line rolling. But at the same time, two of the lines are doing absolutely nothing for this team. They're going to need to find a way to get at least some level of production from those lines. That's the kind of thing that will make them a threat to actually win a round or two in the playoffs.

It’s good to see you posting again

So who’s the bad uncle? I was going to say PA, but he’s more like the board’s great grand father.

Speaking of Sobotka, I thought there had been some chatter at the time of the trade that he might be the type to do something like this if he wasn’t happy with his playing time.

It’s really not very difficult to account for. If he decides to return, you paper transaction a few of the non-waiver eligible guys to Rochester until you figure out the real moves you want to make.

He’ll retire Kovalchuk style.

I thought I had seen waivers mentioned specifically. These things never seem to stop changing.

The condition in the trade would kick in though and we'd be sending a higher draft pick to Pittsburgh, so it's definitely not free. As for Pilut, we shouldn't ignore the possibility that he falls back down to earth a bit with a little more time. He wouldn't be the first or last young call up to do that. Either way, we're dealing with a nice little luxury here if we do ever get to the point of everyone being healthy. Gone are the days of the Falks and Feduns of the world getting a significant number of games played.

Ahhh, thought it went to a son.

Well there is the Duncan Keith contract.

I thought Kroenke owner those teams. Anyway, it’s a fact of life for NHL players that a deal signed today is always going to be bigger than one signed a few years back. You sign a long term one and there’s a very good chance a teammate will top you later in that deal. It’s going to happen with Jack too.

I assumed you were linking to LGR’s profile. Too bad, missed a chance there.

We’ve seen that kind of play way too many times. I’m not so sure the league cares about the actions of the hittee.

I picked up a sampler pack of their cans on the way home, perfect for a hockey night. The place had Simpsons stuff all over the place, a functioning Super Nintendo, and also a N64. I could very well become their Norm Peterson.

They said Fischer hasn’t come back yet, right? At this point, I expect a short suspension. Boarding pretty much comes down to “violently” sending the so called defenseless player into the boards. I think that one will qualify and you k ow how the NHL is with requiring injury for suspension.

Our new office is a block away from a brewery. I have no idea how I'm going to hold onto this job.