TrueBlueGED

Anyone who reads Bill Simmons is already familiar with the Ewing theory, but for those who aren't: it's when a team loses its star player and inexplicably pulls together and is better without him. Let's do it.

Yes. However, the team also tried to sabotage his prime by trying to play like the Devils for about three years.

Yea you did. But a lot of it was by posters who weren't even watching the World Cup games. Regardless, I'm ready for battle.

Man. Two of our top-6 players out and I still can't see Kane with Larsson :(

If Moulson doesn't score tonight on that PP setup, against a backup goalie...

If you want to pretend Bylsma didn't just have an entire season of poor lineup decisions, that's your choice. But the assessment he struggles with properly evaluating which players fit best with one another is based upon said season of observation, not any chemical imbalances. Calling a group of posters hormonal qualifies as an incisive observation? Interesting.

If by "most" you mean "some" then yes. I will say, he does appear to have more natural hockey sense and better hands. But if those two things were all a player was judged on, we'd all consider Reinhart our best player.

Ah gotcha. I thought you were saying "if you only have the 3rd best you're not winning".

Wait, you think Malkin is better than Ovechkin?

Rust? They both played in the World Cup, pretty sure they'll be fine. The only logical reason Gorges should ever be on the top pair is if the alternative is Cody Franson playing his offhand side.

The hockey gods can suck it. No Goal, the bankruptcy, LaFontaine's concussions (seriously...imagine the difference he could have made in 99?), Black Sunday, the lottery lack of luck, the Babcock tease, Leino, the Connolly injuries...and that's without even thinking hard. We either already have their wrath, or they just don't care. Either way, I'm done caring about appeasing them. Now come with me as I build a golden goat statue.

You honestly don't see a problem with Gorges on the top pair?

My biggest fear is he's going to rush back and re-injure it.

You're right, I don't have what it takes. On another front, since today is the day to overreact: my "the Blackhawks are going to struggle mightily to ice a Cup-competitive team with those Toews/Kane contracts" shtick is looking pretty good.

I remember one year the entire Bandits team got mowhawks. Well, I want the entire Sabres team to copy Risto's hair.

I was honestly going to start one for exactly this reason, but I just figured it'd get locked, so didn't bother.

"But the team was better without Risto on the ice." - Said every stats guy, ignoring that getting Risto off the ice also meant getting Gorges off the ice.

I'm going to assume he said this in a delusional state of shock after the Eichel injury, and he doesn't actually mean it.

I'd imagine a libel suit over today's story about two women making sexual assault allegations.

Robert Costa ‏@costareports 19m19 minutes ago A lawsuit is being drafted now by Trump against the NYT. Very possible it could be announced tonight, though discussions ongoing. Saying this election is off the rails doesn't even begin to do it justice. We have a major party presidential candidate, who is probably going to get 40%+ of the popular vote, preparing to sue one of the largest (The largest? Don't feel like looking up subscription numbers) newspapers in the country. But ya know, he's totally going to appoint judges who respect the Constitution.

Not only did Toronto lose, but it was Matthews' fault. I feel better now.

I'm going to have to stream the Oilers-Flames game tonight because NBCSN is airing Kings-Sharks. That's annoying.

By "play defense" I assume he meant play defense, not be a defenseman :p If there was ever a star who was justified in forcing a trade...

I'll expand at some point in the Buffalo vs. Toronto rebuild thread, but I think Toronto ultimately has a better collection of skilled offensive talent. However, we have far-and-away a superior collection of two-way and balanced players, and in today's NHL, that's what wins more often than not.

Turris is a quality two-way center. That's all I got. Their entire blue line outside of Karlsson is awful, and the rest of their forwards are offense-only.