MattPie

Interesting, I'm just going on Google Translate for my info. "Two Circles" translates to, not surprisingly, "Deux Cercles". I suppose it could be some odd family or name thing, maybe archaic French, or maybe slang.

Do you really think NBCSN isn't going to play-up American-born Eichel nearly as much as McDavid? If nothing else, it drums up viewers for the Olympics. A wise man once said: go to a few wiki pages for something you know a lot about. You'll start to see mistakes here and there. Coupled with the stories of experts in their field correcting wrong information only to have someone change it back to the wrong information you need to take it with a bit of salt.

The next playoff game the Panthers should give out T-shirts that look like the seats in their barn; you don't want to confuse the Florida players.

I thought there were "special" rules about infractions after a goal is scored, am I thinking of something else?

How did we all miss this? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/04/21/manhole_cover_octopus_inferno/

It says 99 is retired on Wikipedia and Yahoo Answers, but I don't trust those.

I hear you. RosePie turned 8 months over the weekend and she's finally at a point where we can reasonably expect her to entertain herself for periods of time so we can get things done. Unfortunately, I spend too much time here and not anything useful.

I'd be very careful about offer sheets, as the Sabres 2016 picks may still be pretty early.

Indeed. Anyone remember which thread had all the pictures of Russian athletes?

You probably missed the whole Russian Sabrespace thing over the last couple months, kicked off by the poster formerly known as Yuri changing name to Anna Akhmatova. You'll see Russian dalliances in several posters' name history (myself included).

Two points: after this season (and losing to the Pens that last game), you can't just expect fans to flip the switch and be in playoff form. You have to cheer hard all season to keep the momentum up. Winnipeg is also in the playoffs for the first time since the team has been back (2011). The old team was in the playoffs their last year in 1996. Playoff hockey after a 19 year drought (and no team for 15 of those years) is different than (as someone posted) a game-82 shutout of the last place team.

, you made me look. It's not, but apparently it translates to "any" in Uzbek.

Well, that should consign EDM to the lottery for a few more years.

More likely scenario: same premise as you lay out, except Buffalo wins the draw for second pick. Buffalo fans complain that Buffalo is picking #2 again and should have won #1. There it is (I may have missed earlier ones). I've been waiting for someone to bring up "we had the best chance" when the field has by far the best chance.

Marty.

Lost one for Auston? Frostin' for Auston?

Aw, man. There's a place in Portsmouth VA that makes them, but sadly the work that took me down there a few times a year has dried up.

Playing this one straight: The league limited the numbers down to 1-99 by 1998, and retired 99 in 1999. Otherwise, I'd go with pi, both for the obvious reason and being an irrational number it suits the fan-base well. :) I don't think it's actually reserved, but I can't recall a non-goalie wearing it.

I was coming to this thread to say something about that thread. Clearly, we stupid-thread prognosticators have nothing on reality.

I think it set in during the partial lockout year. I think that's when the pattern was all too clear and needed to be changed in any fashion. I always though that I'd rather see an OK to good team every year and that the losing season would be terrible but these last two haven't bothered me nearly as much as I thought it would.

More to the point for me isn't roster size, but specialization. There's at least 20 specific positions in football for the "usual" plays. Even picking in the teens you might be getting the best Guard or 3rd-best WR in the draft.

Oh, to be young and unencumbered again. :) There was that Christina Applegate show...

LGR, beating me to the punch once again.

Sawatdi Khrap.

I can't tell whether the folks talking trades for McDavid are in Stage 1 (Denial) or Stage 3 (Bargaining).