JoeSchmoe

Earlier in this thread I optimistically said 25% and as of March 22, I stand by that. I'm curious to see the shell games and red herrings that will play out to inevitably get me to my usual 75% by September. Everytime I buy into the false hope. Remember Taylor Hall?! That guy was going to get us to cup contention. Boy was I wrong about that... Me and Terry.

If you use Peterka and Quinn as benchmarks to how prospects from the AHL graduate into the NHL, it can tell us something. JJP was basically a ppg in his Draft+1 AHL season. Quinn was 1.35ppg. Both struggled with their 200ft game in their rookie NHL seasons. Kulich is 0.78ppg at the same age, Rosen is 0.64 and he's a year older. Neither one are close to JJP or JQ trajectory. How do we expect they are going to be much help next year. Is there something else in their games that doesn't show up on the scoresheet? As of right now (not going into the 23-24 season) do either one of the project out to be 1st or 2nd line players? If not, we need to move them. Noah Ostland is 0.6ppg in the SHL. It's a low scoring league, but that still sounds too low to be able to make the jump to the NHL, especially with him being small. Is that right? The only hope I have is Savoie. He's pretty much at the top of the WHL for ppg. My concern though is he's too small to be very impactful next year. I'm thinking he's probably a Benson 2.0 level player. Thoughts? I think it might take a while, but he could still have top 1 or 2 line potential. Long story short though is we need to start trading some of these guys for NHL ready players in the offseason. Otherwise, I don't have much hope in breaking the non-playoff streak next year.

25% chance

Sadly, that's the end of the season. It'll be interesting to see what kind of false hope the organization can give me going into next year. Right now, I have no hope. Only dejection.

If we can accurately assess what the underlying issues are we can do better as a society to prevent future players from taking their own lives.

I'm saying both NHL and NFL players have well documented CTE post career. If CTE was the cause of the struggles with hockey players, then we'd see the same in football. Maybe you're thinking the level of CTE is different between the two sports... It's possible but still a stretch I think compared to the lifestyle. Anecdotal I know, but guys like John Scott (Mechanical Engineering Major) and George Parros (Princeton Economics Major) are doing very well post career. Closer to home our very own Rob Ray has practically rewritten the English dictionary on his own throughout his illustrious broadcasting career.

It opened for me. Try incognito maybe? Essentially it said his problem with alcohol started when he was 16 playing in the OHL and partying with the 20yo players in the big city (Ottawa). It did say he cleaned up under Ted Nolan's supervision and was 9 years sober when the article was written. Arguably CTE could have caused him to fall off the wagon, though many career players struggle outside the structure of playing on a hockey team. In any case the long story short is he was prone to party lifestyle without the head injuries.

Evidence? This article from 2000, before the media madness on CTE said that at age 19, Chris Simon was drinking his way out of hockey. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/2000/02/03/a-spiritual-awakening/794f2c2f-6232-4cf2-9f6b-03c9ce4e28b0/

I call BS on that. Hockey culture led to those problems. If we saw the same phenomenon in football, I'd say it was the CTE. On a side note, I know a couple of hockey players that both had a cup of coffee in the NHL. They're some of the biggest drinkers I know. None of them have concussion issues though.

I would argue the drug and alcohol culture precedes the CTE. The Bob Probert story documented this pretty well for him. Hockey players like their ❄️ On a personal note, I sometimes get some pretty good bouts of anxiety after tying one on 🍺. It can last for several days after the other hangover effects have cleared up.

If I'm an NHL coach, first thing I'm doing is making it crystal clear that you're getting paid millions of dollars per year to play a game. It's a great privilege to be here, and if you aren't cutting it you'll be sitting whether you're 18 or 36. No guaranteed spots no matter how good you are in the dressing room.

You're making my point for me. NHL enforcers and NFL players are both prone to CTE. It's just the NHL enforcers that seem to be dying young... Likely not because of CTE, but due to the drug and alcohol culture. Probert Belak Rypien Kordic Boogaard Ewen now Simon I'm sure there are others I'm missing. Montador wasn't an enforcer so I purposely left him off the list, but he also has CTE issues.

I said in the NHL thread... Until I see football players going at the same rate as NHL enforcers, I'll be convinced it's primarily the drugs and alcohol and not the CTE. NHL enforcers have historically been party boys and it sounds like Simon was no different. No question the CTE doesn't help and would be responsible for a lot of other long term health impacts, but we're seriously kidding ourselves if we think it's not the drugs and alcohol ultimately knocking these guys off.

Us ticket buying fans paid Comrie $3.6mill over the last 2 years. He and his 1-7 record can rot on the bench and in the press box for all I care.

Here's a prime example of a media hack blaming Simon's death on fighting.

I just tuned into the 2nd. I'm not sensing a lack of effort so much as I'm sensing getting beat by a better team. Van looks really good.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. The high death rate amongst NHL enforcers is commonly connected by the media to their CTE issues. The reality is the vast majority of these guys have long histories of drug and alcohol abuse going back to their playing days. I'm certain CTE doesn't help, but the drugs and alcohol would be the prime drivers of the suicides and other physical health related issues. If it were otherwise, football players and boxers would also be dying at similar rates.

Given the high number of football players and boxers to also experience CTE, I strongly believe the comparably high death rate among NHL enforcers is more attributable to lifestyle than the brain trauma.

With the Wash win last night, it looks like we might actually be chasing the Flyers and not the Caps. Chasing down Torts and the Flyers makes this more interesting to me.

We're for sure #1, but I'd put the Oilers at #2. Having the stars they have, with their lack of success would be pretty stressful. Knowing McDavid's likely bolting when he's a UFA would hang over your head pretty badly. Edit: I just read the criteria closer and I guess they're only looking at variances in goal differential across periods. Looks like that's just another stressor to throw on the pile. In the grand scheme of things, this rates pretty low in terms of what stresses a Sabres fan.

I'm more focused on Eric Johnson. He was the guy they brought in to show how to win since he was a bit player when the Avalanche won. It was a terrible idea. He was a net negative player on the Avalanche, when he had a Stanley Cup Champion forward group in front of him, and he was a net negative player here.

Explanation: No team will ever go 82-0. Yesterday they 💩 the bed like even the best teams do once in a while. Unfortunately, we're so far back thanks to our 💩 vets that we can't afford to 💩 the bed this late in the season.

Moving Krebs for a better 3C would be key. If we're dreaming, we can get a guy who'll battle for 1 or 2C, to keep TT and Cozens honest in the offseason.

He's trying to get the rookie more game reps, while at the same time trying to make the playoffs.

Were they out drinking last night? This is not a team that knows they have to win in regulation.