Trettioåtta

This is a weird simile. Are you saying when Emrick is good at his job his annoyances don't matter? (it has also sent me down the path of wondering how a girl with braces gives different head to a girl without...)

Plus Miller's game is about aggressively reading the play. No flexibility/acrobatics. So his game should have some longevity

Thanks. In part because no other jobs really interested me - so I sat down to work out why and I came to the conclusion that it was because they lacked responsibility and danger. I like danger in a bizarre way (the adreneline rush). I spent 6 months in a biochem lab for my masters and hated it. It felt so pointless (i'm a big fan of blue skys research...just not when i'm the one doing it :P ). I'm not too sure how the American system works but here you apply to be an officer and register interest in areas, and then once at Sandhurst (our West Point) you interview for cap-badges. I have registered interest with intelligence and armoured reconnaissance. I have passed the interview stage of the process to that's good (everything else is on hold until I finish uni)

I was disappointed the trial by combat wasn't in the recent episode. Still, hard not to love prince Oberyn (sic). I'm glad Bran's boring story doesn't feature too much.

Yeah but how often does one get a chance to throw an egg at Bettman in person?

I would be shocked with the East coast winning this year. I think the Rags are on a cinderella tour. I wouldn't worry about the bet. But I agree about Torts. 6 guys playing goalie can only be productive for so long. I rooting for Chicago. Toews with a third cup at like 25 would be something special

So i am currently applying to the British Army to be an officer. Does anyone here have any military experience? I appreciate it is different countries/cultures etc. and I am asking people I know off the internet :P but it would be helpful to chat if you are. So please PM me/comment etc.

It's tricky. There is no doubting he wasn't good in St Louis. However, thy asked him to play such a different style it's tough to just blame him. Armstrong made a poor choice in my mind. Plus getting Chicago in the first round sucks as well - that should have been the conference match up imo. You have to let Miller play his game and be aggressive and challenge the shooter. If I had to guess, I would think Pens, Caps or Wild. He is used to being left out to dry and did well this season. Caps would make an interesting location.

I honestly don't think they need both. I would trade Malkin and stabilize the whole team. You could get a fantastic second line centre, an established top line winger, a decent third line player a few top notch prospects and a few picks. They need to retrench around Crosby and make it a better whole team. Look at Chicago - they have Toews/Kane as their core and then around them they have a fantastic supporting cast

Black Sunday

Ottawa 2006 - The first game we won like 7-6 and Pommers OT winner (still my favourite goal of all time). I honestly didn't think they would do it, as Ottawa had been their achilles heal all season, and they just handed it to them. Rangers 2007 - Drury tying it late and Afinoganov winning it in OT 10 minutes later

Yeah his time with Sabres is probably over

The previous 4 seasons it has been Fluery who has been the cause for them to be knocked out. Crosby finished with 12 points, so I wouldn't say he was invisible. But yeah he wasn't great in the final. In terms of being clutch well, look at the olympics. Kane was piss poor whilst Crosby and Toews carried the team to gold. My point, is not Crosby is good and Kane isn't; jst that even good players have bad games in big games

Fun Fact Time: Chicago has won 8 games. Therefore, they have 8 GWG. Toews or Kane have scored the GWG 7/8 times. Also I think Tampa now get a first (instead of a second) from the Rangers as they have made the conference final

GM by committee. All screwed up on their own, but together, wisdom of the crowd will conquer the NHL

He is also signed to a professional contract next year. So I don't think we even could (without lots of permission)

We drafted him in 2012, so should have his rights till 2016

He posts a .923 with the worst team in a decade and posts a .903 with a president's cup contender. That just seems odd to me. Watching the games, there is no question his playing style was different - far less aggressive.

There is a difference between being clutch and being reliable. Both are needed, and they aren't often the same player. A person who goes the whole series without a point but nets the game 7 overtime winner is clutch. But the player who scores in the first period of every game is reliable (in this example like a metronome). A clutch player vs clutch performance is a case of history. I don't think there is a real defining threshold between the two; but a history of performing clutchly (in the clutch?) turns the performance into a characteristic. I think the line between being clutch and having a clutch performance is further blurred because there is an element of an eyeball test. There are some players who make things happen, down late in a game when they step on the ice it feels electric, something feels different. They might not score, or they might make a non-scoring play (e.g. a big hit), but they can still have that attributed to their clutch behaviour (although usually only in a conformational bias manner). It is interesting how clutch players generally fall into two categories - superstar or surprise star. Crosby's golden goal is an example of the former; Bickell/Ward/Leino's playoffs an example of the latter. This is striking, because if it is a surprise star, it is probably a case of getting hot at the right time and having a clutch performance (which then leads to greater confidence and so slightly better short-term performance). Alternatively, if it is just a superstar scoring a timely goal is that really clutch? If they hadn't scored in a while then it was only a matter of time (especially with the amount of time they are on the ice). And if they have been lighting it up all series, well they are just doing what a superstar should do - dominate. (Although I do accept that this argument is slightly having your cake and eating it too) Two more points then i'm done :P. There is also a bias towards superstars being clutch because late in the game down 1-0 in game 7, who do you send out? Scott or Kassian? Obviously you send out the superstar, so they spend far more time in clutch-territory. Finally, playoffs and regular season are very different in style of play. Some players perform better in the playoffs, not because they are clutch, but because the style of game suits their style better. An example of this is Franzen. EDIT: The conformational bias is also a big one for me. How many times has Kane been on the ice and failed to tie the score? For a player to be clutch I would want to see his stats change. I would want to see how his shooting %, points per minute etc. vary between his team leading, his team trailing at any point and his team trailing in the last 10 minutes.

To an extent TG did Buffalo a favor. He never really wanted to be an owner (this was my perception, but I became a fan after he bought it). He just wanted to keep the team in Buffalo. So he bought it, ran it so it broke even most years and sold it for what he paid for it (plus inflation and any loss it had accrued)

They are playing him very poorly. He is an aggressive goalie who they want to play passive. They should have traded for Lundqvist (not a possibility but he plays a style that would work). Maybe Miller has PTSD. He doesn't know how to adjust and play a game when you don't face 40 shots a night :P

Yeah i loved that call

Yeah but you think there are two Toews in the NHL, so what do you know? :P (no. 6 and 8)

1. Crosby 2. Toews 3. Stamkos 4. Malkin 5. Datsyuk 6. Tavares 7. Kane 8. Getzlaf 9. Weber 10. Giroux

I'd take Toews first overall. He puts up 80 points a season, whilst being defensively fantastic (better than 100 points with mediocre defence imo). Plus he provides the right culture of professionalism and giving it your all. He was in contention for the C for Canada, despite the fact Crosby is a generational offensive player - that is impressive. (Crosby would be my second choice.