TheAud

I feel like after 9 full seasons in the NHL we've seen Peak Bogogo already... and he looked sort of slow to me by end of last season. But he's fine on the 3rd pairing if I don't think about his cap hit and what else they could potentially do with it. Actually I am not really losing sleep over losing Carrier either.

You would be sad to see Bogo go? ("Bogogo" needs to be said out loud btw)

I like 5 of 9 of those outcomes

I thought the analysis in the article was interesting and relevant to the discussion. Even if you're correct about the "long term goal" it doesn't mean a 2nd team in the greater Toronto area won't happen some day. It might anyway, whether through expansion or relocation.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-cant-canada-win-the-stanley-cup/ Start about mid-way down the article. According to this analysis back in 2013, there are almost 10X more avid hockey fans in Toronto than in Buffalo. Heck, it says there are 2x as many as New York City, which has three teams already. Even if the conclusions of their analysis are off by a factor of 2 or 3, it still appears a second Toronto team would be highly viable.

PDO's vary over time and there is an element of randomness to them for any given player. When I see a bizarre looking +/- that is being used to make the point that a player is either good or bad (supported by the +/-) if I look at PDO I often see that they had a particularly lucky or unlucky year which at least partially explains why the +/- is misleading.

Not that I expect the BN to be in the know...but they posted within the past hour that Scott Arniel is still in the running: http://buffalonews.com/2017/06/15/scott-arniel-remains-contention-sabres-job-source-says/

Who's his Lucy? I nominate Ennis.

I know that in Cinderella softball and YMCA basketball, they always let me coach my own kid. So I see your logic.

This is an intriguing but difficult question - one song to be the theme song of my life... I am going to go with Blue Sky by the Allman Brother's Band. Maybe it's because I am in ABB mode these days with the recent passing of Gregg Allman, but then again I have been into the band since I was in junior high school so maybe this was the pick all along. On so many levels this song makes me happy, both the music and lyrics. The feeling it gives me is like that for my wife and three daughters. In this case, for some reason I'd say it's really how my daughter's make me feel (a song about the wife might be a bit more risque...) They are my blue sky, they're my sunny day. The version attached here is mind-numbingly awesome. Live in 1971 with Dickie and Duane...

Dang! Not unlike the Kennedy-Lincoln assasination "coincidences": http://www.clickhole.com/article/coincidence-similarities-between-kennedy-and-linco-1750

I'm going take the lift down to my lorry, throw my gear in the boot, and go get some bangers and mash. Or something...

That's a bush league company you were slaving for...better things are ahead! Best of luck.

This isn't Paul Hamilton math...it's something else. I mean, it may be algebraically correct. But not likely to be meaningful...that's something else. Maybe Brad May math? (But I also like Flagg's question above...Muzzin was a stud a couple years ago...what happened?) Edit: Just looked it up: Muzzin's PDO was 95.9% this past season. Methinks I'd take his -21 in a heartbeat. That's just bad luck.

Exactly! :w00t:

The Ovechkin thing isn't going to happen (I mean, he isn't going to get traded at all, let alone to Buffalo). I just posted it as it's fun to talk about in the off-season prior to actual transactions occurring, hopefully soon. My reason for supporting such a theoretical trade was captured in several of the posts above in that: a) It's not a 'trade away current assets for future assets' deal that we've had enough of ... b) Aren't giving away any really high end young assets (Risto or even McCabe, Sam, Nylander, #1 pick this year, etc) c) I think getting Ovechkin in his early-mid 30's is an significant upgrade. vs. Kane with an extension (assuming he would re-sign) in any set of consecutive year's in Kane's career. The whole 'getting into his 30's, waiting for the performance drop-off' thing is very true for 95%+ of players in the NHL. Ovechkin is not one of those players however. He's really like Jagr, Hossa, Thornton, or Iginla (to give recent examples) except that he is actually better than any of them. The only thing I'd take out of this in the real world is if the Sabres could make a 'hockey trade' for Kane (as opposed to selling him off) that they get more value back in terms of on ice contribution in the next few years than they think they'll get with Kane even with an extension, then why not do so?

This was in The Hockey News this past week...discussing trade destinations for Alexander Ovechkin: "Another to put in the would-he-go camp is Buffalo. Now, traditionally, that’s no-trade clause central. But the Sabres have two amazing centers in Ryan O’Reilly and Jack Eichel, so Ovechkin would have a great running mate, while being assured that the offense was not his burden alone. In return, Washington would get Evander Kane (still young, always controversial, hopefully the Caps are OK with the latter part), prospect Rasmus Asplund and a second-round pick in 2019, conditional on Kane re-signing with the Caps once his deal is done in 2018." I think there is basically zero percent chance of this happening of course, but in the alternate reality where it occurs I'd be ecstatic. Ovie for 4 years while he is still a goal scoring machine...

Josie I am going to share this with my daughter who is an artist as well. What medium (media? not sure what the right word is) did you use to create this? I know you're busy today so maybe shoot me a note later if you have a chance. It's tremendously awesome!

Flynn is the definition of "replacement level player". I'm not losing sleep over his 11:30 if ice time and 0.2 pts per game contribution to the Habs at age 28-29. Other than one being a center and one a winger, I'd argue there is no discernible difference between Flynn and Cal O'Reilly, for example.

Agree with this. Recently as I've gotten more into various Chicago Blues acts of the 50's I'm struck with the similarity to Live at Fillmore East in many respects. The Dickey Betts tunes were more pure 'Southern Rock' whereas the songs penned by Gregg leaned heavily into Bluesland.

This is very cool:

The thing is, when you finally replace Duane with the ultra talented Warren Haynes (who wrote it) and then eventually replace the legendary Dickey Betts with the phenomenal Derek Trucks...well that's a legendary band. Gregg, Butch, and Jaimoe just kept the spirit constant throughout. Thank you for posting this...I love this song too. Great stuff between Derek and Warren on this performance - wow! BTW other versions of this on a couple of Gov't Mule albums are also very good and you might enjoy them (if not already familiar). I have it on The Deep End, Volume 1 and really like it. Actually I just went to Youtube to save this to my list of liked videos and saw the date and location...Beacon Theater in 2008...it's possible I was at that show! Or at least I was at a show in the same Beacon run that year.

Passed away with friends and family at his side today, aged 69 years. I have a very personal emotional connection to the music of the Allman Brothers Band and Gregg Allman. Live at Fillmore East of course gets a lot of love but Brothers and Sisters, Eat a Peach, and even some of the comeback albums like Seven Turns and Shades of Two Worlds are fantastic. I love Gregg's solo effort Laid Back and enjoyed his fairly recent album Low Country Blues. My understanding is that a new album is set to be released, now posthumously, in September. I lived in Macon, GA for two years, literally a block away from the building that once house Capricorn Records where the first Allman Bro's albums were recorded. We used to eat at the H&H Restaurant where the band ate in their early days. During the heyday they used to fly Mama H with them to cook. Gold records and pictures adorned the walls as a result. One night, I was reading the excellent bio of the band "Midnight Riders" by Scott Freeman and saw that Gregg's second marriage had been presided over by Judge Taylor Phillips, in Macon. I leapt off the couch and called my fiance (now ex-wife) as she and I had just met with Judge Phillips and he agreed to marry us that June. When we met with him again I asked about the Allman marriage. He told us about it and mentioned that Gregg left his chewing gum in the ash tray. After he left, the Judge's secretary asked him if she could have it! They were 'as big as the Beatles' (at least in some places) at the time. Got to see the band four times, twice with Dickey, twice with Trucks & Haynes. I'd argue they were the greatest Southern Rock band, and one of, if not the greatest, rock bands the United States has ever produced. RIP Gregg and enjoy hanging with Duane again after all these years.

Except for statistics. And Reinhart.

I don't know...seems like a joke made by a Robot