Thorny

I also turned 13 on Friday the 13th. Weird. Also left handed and born on national left handers day which imo is a doozy

Always get a dead Weight in the pit of my stomach when I think of that 3rd period in general. Oddly enough when someone says “puck over glass” my mind first goes to Lydman’s: I *believe* this was game 1 vs Philly, same year. And I believe they tied it. But it’s a good memory, cause we all know how that one ended

Keep in mind it’s largely a 2 goalie league. It’s not a qb/backup qb dynamic. Forecasted plans from the GM should assume reliance on both position slots

I understand the wwe wanting to get Roman Reigns to 1000 days as champ because it’s a scripted narrative but rostering KO in an effort to get him to 1000 games should be *so* far from the top of Adams’ mindset

I’d argue a good backup is a need

Even the Bruins, rostering Vezina nominee Ullmark, with his ridiculous stats, playing behind a sick team that put up a historical regular season *heavily* relied upon their G backup, Swayman, (who played in *45 percent* of the games this season) and ran into trouble trying to start simply Ullmark in the playoffs. The Buffalo Sabres also need a very good backup, workhorse Levi or not

In a year where we need to make the playoffs I sure don’t see an issue with aiming for something a little better than someone we “can live with”, particularly when his numbers are only trending down, and his production rate was actually a good deal lower than Cirelli, Van Reimsdyk, Dvorak (who all missed a substantial amount of games), and when he’s 35 and no where close to committing the two-way game of a J. Fast (who I still really like btw, remember advocating for him). Even the husk of Eric Staal out produced him by rate. But to each their own. - By points per game Okposo was 310th in the league, for Forwards. Solidly 4th line and dipping. - KO ranked 22nd on the Sabres with a -7 rating - in KO’s second half of 2022-23 season, over his final 41 games he registered 11 points and was a -12.

In my estimation, more likely: somewhat hurt. Sometimes you actually see better results over a short time frame in the playoffs relative to regular season, while replacing a player because all the minutes get lumped onto their best players, more so than evenly dividing them (while playing the regular season long game). That would be my distinction between “significantly” and “somewhat”. I don’t think the Oilers are significantly better than the Golden Knichels but I do think they are somewhat better. Therefore in the pick ‘em that results from isolating the Nurse variable you suggested I’ll take the team with a guy somehow playing better than their already rostered McDavid, particularly with Peetranjello (sp?) likely out

Casey is fine as a winger because we (see: most teams) play “positionless hAckey” in the o-zone. While positions matter while defending and in transition (making Cozens the better natural C) while on O Casey can still free flow to play to his strengths. But imo he seems fine on board battles and getting his shot off, anyways

And neither does KO, unfortunately

I think that’s the point though: Orr was dominant all-around. Changed the game to a greater degree than Wayne. Honestly should name the Norris after him. The Pointz award being named after someone lesser actually makes sense, I think that’s why you see Coffey mentioned for it a lot. Obviously he’s still great but, certainly not Orr, to your point Should be the Logan Stanley memorial award

Oilers have entered into a trend. First 4 games have played out in the exact same manner as vs Kings: L, W, L, W. In addition, their record since adding Ekholm has been exceptional. My money is on Oilers wins in 5 and 6, again following the kings series. Any Canadian team is absolutely an oversaturated media mess on the senses up here so I truly hope it doesn’t happen, but that’s my guess. Then again the dearth of interesting stories remaining and lack of intriguing games in round 2 has sapped most of the excitement anyways. Who’s left to root for? Jersey and Lindy is the best of the bunch and they likely aren’t long for it. I’m kinda anti-first round upsets for this reason tbh

BPA Or, better yet ^

BPA

Second round has been ultra boring. Too bad Most of the games haven’t been close Hopefully there’s some improvement in round 3 or it’s just about summer time

Yup. 5-5-10 in 8 games for JE. but it really hasn’t been about the points. It’s his 2 way game that’s been the most noteworthy aspect

RIP Bouchard’s ankles, courtesy of JE He’s honestly had a very good playoffs so far

Holy crap what a goal

Yup. I give up. Their overall experience making the playoffs most years has been more less identical in enjoyment to finishing near the bottom of the league, almost every year. None of it matters

F*ck the Chicago blackhawks

Exactly. All I wanna do is have some fun. Ive got a feeling I’m not the only one

Probably just further faith in their already held belief that it’s about crafting a TEAM and not lumping their faith and goals onto a saviour. A lesson they already learned if they paid attention to why previous GMs failed

The disappointment their fans feel is simply *reflective* of all the good they experienced all season: that’s exactly WHY it hurts so much. Better to have loved and lost than never loved at all. We’ve been apathetic to results come January for a decade. That’s bad.

It’s better to not sit at the bottom of the standings for a decade. They’ve “found embarrassing ways to lose” after a bunch of good. We just embarrassingly lost, all year, nearly every year - - - This is the same ridiculous logic that holds losing in the Super Bowl against Tom Brady or losing in the final against LeBron. Montana’s 4-0 somehow held by some in higher esteem. Why? Because he lost *earlier in the playoffs*? Rather than making it to the final? It’s so hilariously absurd. - - - Yes, having really good regular seasons is more fun and more enjoyable than totalling sucking. That this is absolutely a *hot take* on this board is something I’ll gladly wear. If the only thing that made it all worth it, was winning the cup one day, I’d absolutely not be watching. Logically foolish considering the likelihood it never happens