IKnowPhysics

I think he should stay. Many of the reasons have already been stated. -He's been playing like he's our 3rd best C out there. -He's looking better than his possible replacements. -He sees the play really well and his hockey IQ has gotten him to learn our systems quickly. -He's been battling hard in tough areas and skating very well. He's working hard. -He looks like he's trying to make the most out of every shift. He plays like he's trying to stay. He is susceptible to forcing plays or passes once in a while that look like an opponent in the Q wouldn't be able to stop, but an NHL opponent can stop easily. I think that's a speed-of-the-game type of adjustment- likely something you don't improve by continuing play in the Q. He's demonstrated to me an impressive raw talent and work ethic for an 18 year old that has only played three NHL games. I think he has the ability to be successful in a full season and I think his path of development is ready to take on the challenges of improvement by playing and practicing at the NHL level.

Also, that was some zany ###### last night in Edmonton. No goal on a (possibly) pushed-in goalie interference call that they announced in the arena for "being in the crease" to cancel out the tying last minute PP goal. Edmonton fans go bonkers, throw ###### all over the ice. Then with 10.6 seconds left, Edmonton wins the faceoff and manages a shot on net, which Nail Yakupov baseball bats a rebound in to tie with 4.7 seconds left. Then Gagner puts home the winner in OT.

That's some weird level of paranoia, and the vexing part is that the believer will never find enough evidence to disprove it to themselves.

Eight pages of this Assistant Coach slop back in July. http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/20892-do-you-know-ruffs-system/

Hartnell's out for 4-8 weeks http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=414392

Facts: 1) You accuse them of having no balls. 2) You bail out after one loss. Got it.

Hodgson now on pace for 48 goals this season. Kassian merely on pace for 32.

Don't look at me, I'm not in that time zone.

He touched the puck twice tonight. Career high. Just kidding, I like him, but he really is slow as balls. Pretty sure I skate faster.

This thread needs to be benched. Leopold and Sulzer were both far, far worse than Myers tonight. Leo needs to go, now, before any potential trade partners figure out how bad he's gotten.

I expect three parking lot fires and about two dozen missing infants. Do it. Or don't do it. Either way, it won't stop their fans from whining about how threatened they feel when we out-party them in their "home" arena.

I've noticed this apprehension to get emotionally invested in the team for fear of being let down. In my travels, it's a pretty unique condition. I think it's an evolution from the underdog complex we used to have- except that, other than a few cases, we haven't won much and have kicked down by losing often. Now it's "you're the underdog and you as a team have to prove to me as a fan that you're not going to break my heart." Down 1-0 early in the game? That won't get me out of my seat. Up 5-2 with 2 minutes left? Now you have my attention. When do you really cheer for the Bills when they are down by only seven points and honestly believe that they are going to win the game? It's not the best way to be a spectator, and it's not the mindset I subscribe to, but I see this a lot.

The Kohl Center (15,300 for hockey) has no problem getting rowdy on a nightly basis. Throw in a rival or a Halloween game, and it goes over the top. To me, it has do with three factors: percentage of stadium filled multiplied by percentage of rowdy fans multiplied by the on-ice motivation to get rowdy. Consider: -College hockey usually has a student section that likes to get rowdy, and the motivating factors can vary, but usually the kids are SO willing to get loud, it's easy to do so throughout the arena. Larger WCHA schools (Wisc, ND, Minn, Mich, etc) and the more popular HE schools (BC, BU, NH, Maine, etc) fill their stadiums well and have a high percentage of rowdy students, so all you need is at least a smidgen of good hockey for those venues to get loud. -A regular season Monday night for the Blue Jackets won't be loud at all for any reason. Not enough fans would get crazy and there isn't any motivation to do so, if any fans showed up that is. -Tonight's Carolina game may get rowdy because the percentage of Buffalo fans is high and just having the Sabres in town is enough of a reason for them to get rowdy. -A playoff NHL game is usually loudest, because tickets are harder to come by, so more die-hard fans attend AND the on-ice motivation is very strong. Playoff games are almost always sold out, which amplifies the rowdy. -On an average night at the Staples Center, the arena's fills pretty well and the Kings are generally a good team to watch, but the percentage of rowdy fans is very very low. There's no spirit of alcoholism and I'm of the opinion that in Los Angeles, there's about a small market team's quantity of true fans diluted in a sea of 16 million fairweather fans or folks that think of the Kings as a side show. Makes it tough for Staples to get loud unless there's some really good hockey.

I think what a few folks are worried about here is Pegula turning into some sort of Charles Wang- an owner that wants to play GM and have a strong hand in drafting and on-ice personnel decisions- to the point where the GM is handcuffed. That's not a good situation. But I think to say that Terry is currently walking down that road is reading too much into the situation. If we take PA's paraphrasing at face value: He could entirely be talking about off ice decisions here that happen to fall into Darcy's realm. ###### like how Terry's pocketbook can make the gym better, or the players seemed antsy about management after the lockout so let's have more team dinners at our house, or we don't have any scouts in Botswana- should we beef that effort up a little. Little extras to big ideas that maybe Darcy hasn't thought of or didn't think were feasible with previous ownership. I would hope that any player personnel conversations go like this: "Darcy, we're 15th in powerplay scoring, what's up?" "Well Terry, I've been thinking about that. We've had some injuries to key guys. Here's a few ideas I think would work to fix that and this one is the best option. Lindy agrees. It'll take $10M over the next two years." "I trust you to make the right decision. Do it." I haven't seen any evidence that those conversations don't go exactly like that. Outside of that realm, I encourage Terry to get actively involved just about as much as possible and help the hockey folks as much as possible to imrpove the organization from bottom to top.

Welp, it's $67,500 of salary to play for Bridgeport, or it's $900,000 of salary and up to $1,925,000 in additional performance bonuses to play on the island. The ridiculous amount of bonus money was tacked on because it adds to the cap and NYI had to do it to reach the cap floor. So it's no surprise that, when they signed Neiderreiter to that contract and then basically said that he'll never see a cent of it, he asks for a trade.

Carolina Hurricanes Post Game from last season:

He wasn't great, but he was better last night than many, many of his previous broadcasts. I'll give him the reluctant thumbs up base on the fact it was game 1 and the impression I got that he's trying to improve. He didn't unleash Encyclopedia Sylvestera during any of his calls and he kept the calls concise and accurate. He rid himself of some of his monotonous speech. He didn't once say "and it is!" Seems like the Sabres-connected may have been reading the forum again. (from the old thread...)

Love it. The guy lives to compete hard and make it hard to compete.

Petey and Marty as analysts, hosted by Duffer for future broadcasts?

Good. ###### 'em.

Yah, right-o. So I'm tendin' bar down there at Ecklund and Swedlin's last Tuesday and this little guy's drinkin' and he says, 'So where can a guy find some action? I'm goin' crazy out there at the lake.' And I says, 'What kinda action?' And he says, 'Woman action, what do I look like?' And I says, 'Well, what do I look like, I don't arrange that kinda thing,' and he says, 'But I'm goin' crazy out there at the lake,' and I says, 'Yah, but this ain't that kinda place.' He says, 'Oh, so I get it, so you think I'm some kinda jerk for askin',' only he don't use the word jerk. Then he calls me a jerk and says the last guy who thought he was a jerk is dead now. So I don't say nothin'. He says, 'What do ya think about that?' And I says, 'Well, that don't sound like too good a deal for him, then.' Yah. He says, 'Yah, that guy's dead and I don't mean of old age.' And then he says, 'Geez, I'm goin' crazy out there at the lake.' Yah, well, at Ecklund and Swedlin, that's closer to Moose Lake, so I made that assumption. Anyway, he was drinkin' at the bar, so I don't think a whole great deal of it, but then Mrs. Mohra, she heard about the homicides down here and thought I should call it in, so I called it in. End of story. ----- Edit: He's been smoother fo sho, but in his defense, it was game 1 and they gave him A LOT of time to fill. He wasn't short on the insight, just big with the run on sentences.

The LA show right now is Drew Doughty and a bunch of youngsters. And I thought Leo rebounded tonight from yesterday. He made a lot of strong plays and his skating and positioning were phenomenal. That doesn't un-trade-bait him though, being a UFA at season's end.

This may not increase the chances that we see Stoll, but with Greene now out for the season, I think the Kings are very likely to make a move to bolster their back end. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=414161

Note that there is no Gragnani tracker. He's buried in Charlotte, after being released by Vacouver and waived/sent down by Carolina before the lockout.

I watched the Montreal-Toronto game and both teams looked slow as molasses compared to the NYR-BOS game. Our game pace was higher Sunday. We can take 'em. Ride high.