nfreeman

Does anyone have any specifics on what Keefe’s involvement/regrettable conduct was? I clicked on 2 of the links up thread and didn’t see anything. (I’m not a big fan of Gare Joyce’s work, by the way, and his piece did nothing to improve my opinion of it.) if you’ve got something informative, pls post a link.

Do you think the next episode opens with the archers immediately firing on Dany, Tyrion, etc in a continuation of the last scene from E4? That would be interesting but I doubt it.

I don't see any reason to come into a optimism thread and foul the punch bowl.

My prediction: Dany does not become the mad queen. Nevertheless, Sansa's machinations get Dany killed (with that result perhaps not being specifically intended by Sansa) and we are left with the possibility, as the show concludes, that Sansa has gone over to the dark side.

Another shot at Harrington from Vogl? If so, (i) Harrington really must've been a peach to be around and (ii) this doesn't reflect well on Vogl either.

Well, it seems pretty likely that MacL turned them down in favor of LA.

Yes! I'm in. My personal causes for optimism: - I think whomever JB hires as coach will probably do a better job than Howie. - If they get better coaching and better goaltending, those 2 factors by themselves will have a huge impact. - Eichel isn't yet what we all wanted, and certainly was not worth the stupid tank, but on many nights is a thrilling and borderline-elite player. It would not be at all surprising if he blossomed into a top-5 forward this year. - Dahlin had a great rookie year and could become one of the best players in the NHL at any moment. - Skinner was a great pickup and it's still fairly likely that they re-sign him. - Reino had a great 1st half before fading in the 2nd half and showed that his great 2nd half from the prior season wasn't a fluke. It's reasonable to think that he'll show greater consistency as he matures. - One of the other young Swedes (Pilut, Olofsson, Ullmark and Nylander) is likely to develop into a good contributor this year. - There's a good possibility that Montour establishes himself as a very good top-3 defenseman, and perhaps Dahlin's partner. - There will be a decent amount of roster turnover -- JB could bring in someone who proves to be a difference-maker. Go Sabres.

@Huckleberry — why would the iron bank not want Cersei in power? They’ve already had a profitable transaction with her.

The coaching conversation got me thinking about what needs to happen for this team to climb out of the basement. Here's what I came up with: Mission Critical Items -- i.e. the Sabres need substantial improvement in ALL of these just to get to playoff bubble status. If one of them fails, they are dead again. Goaltending Coaching D-zone play Secondary Needs -- i.e. in addition to the mission critical items, they need most of these. Leadership/consistent focus and determination from Jack, Reino, Dahlin and their other top guys Secondary scoring -- i.e. a few of Sheary, KO, TT, Olofsson, Mittsie, Nylander, CJ Smith and ERod to become consistent producers Dahlin continues meteoric development and is pretty close to a star #1 defenseman Re-sign Skinner Montour proves out as a strong top-3 defenseman Risto either steps up his play or is traded for an unquestionably good player who delivers on the ice The above moves plus some others clear the gloom around the franchise and restore the players' confidence in the organization, so that they are less likely to go to pieces the first time adversity hits. ******* It's a lot to ask for, but at the same time each of the items by itself seems reasonably possible. The problem is that the likelihood of most of them hitting is low. And that's the hole that JB has dug for himself via spotty decision-making in his 1st 2 years of running the show.

I listened to the interview that @WildCard mentioned above -- it was with Dobber Hockey's (which is a fantasy site) Finnish correspondent. FWIW, he raved about the FNG -- said he was a very gifted offensive player who plays a complete game -- e.g. he led his team in PK minutes in addition to the scoring categories. I agree with @dudacek that it makes sense to keep taking shots like these -- sooner or later one will hit.

Ryan Lambert, who covers the NHL for Yahoo, was on with Schopp and Bulldog yesterday. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/05-08-ryan-lambert-yahoo-sports-schopp-and-bulldog FWIW, Lambert said, among other things, that most NHL observers think MacL used the Sabres to get a better deal out of LA, and that he thinks the Sabres' job isn't super-attractive due to years of suckitude. My impression is that Lambert isn't as plugged-in as Friedman or some others, but he's not a bozo either.

I feel a bloodbath coming on next episode.

Well, there is some truth to your point about KO, but 2016 was a pretty skinny year for UFAs, and the Sabres seemed poised for an upswing at that point. Since then, they've backslid in year 2 of DDB, gotten GMTM and DDB fired, finished DFL under Howie, then run for the bus at New Year's and gotten Howie canned. The best UFAs may not go to the best organizations, but I think they tend to avoid the teams that stink every year.

I agree that location and $$ are very important, but I think winning organization is just as important. When was the last time an elite UFA went to a lousy organization?

I think in most cases, a high-end UFA is not going to be interested in a team that is in the bottom tier every GD year. Skinner, to the extent they get him, is an outlier - a bit of an odd bird personality who wants to be near home and has an opportunity here to play with a very-good-to-elite elite center for a team with the cap space for an expensive winger. However, I think goalies are a bit different from skaters in this context. Since most teams have a clear-cut distinction between the starter and the backup, and since there is a substantial percentage of GMs who don't believe in giving big contacts to goalies, there are fewer openings for high-end UFA goalies than there are for skaters, so the goalies have fewer options. This makes them more open than elite UFA skaters are to joining a crappy team if that team will deliver a fat contract. In addition, UFA goalies, along with everyone else, know that a big upgrade in net can have a huge impact on a crappy team -- so they might be less put off by the prospect of joining a chronically lousy team. Coincidentally, the Sabres are dying for better goaltending. I think JB needs to be right about the coaching and the goaltending for next season, or else the team will stink again and he'll deservedly get canned.

I think @LGR4GM is right on this one. Dragonstone is pretty close to King's Landing, and I think they were planning on setting up their staging area there. When the survivors washed up on shore, it was at Dragonstone.

Pretty solid episode IMHO. The funeral and subsequent feast were great opening scenes. I liked most of Sansa’s reunion with the Hound but not the end. Arya roadtripping with the Hound again was very nice. Also thought they did a good job showing the tensions between Dany, Jon and the Starks, including the reasonableness of each side’s perspective. I’ll pour one out for Rhaegal (good shocker there) and of course Missandei. I thought his number was up.

I'm not much of a fan of most superhero movies, although a few have been better than most, while a few have been worse than most. This one was in the mediocre middle IMHO. There were some funny lines, some clever plot points (among many dumb and/or cliched ones) and the scene with Tony Stark and his dad was really good. I liked the Captain America resolution. The low point was probably the women's rush near the end -- ridiculous PC pandering. Having said that, I'll probably see the new Spider-man movie this summer -- the preview looked good and I'll enjoy taking my kids to it.

Hang in there sir. It will hurt like hell for a while but then it will get better. In the meantime if you can force yourself to exercise it will help your spirits. It will be alright.

Well, I don't think the percentages necessarily should match. I could certainly believe that that the minimum costs to operate an arena for games, run a sports organization, etc. could well exceed 50% of projected revenues. (This shouldn't be difficult to calculate, since both the costs and the revenues are more or less known quantities.) Someone running this league could certainly look at the numbers and decide that based on costs and revenues, the owners will need 80% or more of revenues in order to break even. For that matter, it's quite possible that even 100% of revenues wouldn't cover expenses.

@WildCard -- I think you are right. I have a hard time believing that the owners are raking in cash -- or making any money at all for that matter -- from this league.

My understanding is that each of the OP and the mods has lock/unlock privileges. I think in this case the OP unlocked it in order to re-name the thread but wasn't able to figure out how to do so, leaving us all with an unbearable situation until a mod came flying in like Arya Stark to rescue the situation from certain death.

I think I want Tippet the most out of anyone that’s been mentioned.

I just completed the re-watch. It was a freaking masterpiece. Riveting, tense, moving and beautifully filmed and scored. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that there will probably never be another episode of TV like it.

Here’s a pretty entertaining professional breakdown of the living’s battle plan: https://www.wired.com/story/game-of-thrones-winterfell-battle-tactical-analysis/