JR Ewing

23 minutes ago, radoran said:

 

Hard to say that a guy who has scored 80 goals in the league when he had just turned 20 is "overhyped."

 

Are there better "all around" young players? Sure there are. But Matthews had half that number.

 

I don't think the hype machine in Winnipeg even comes close to the one in Tronno. If you don't think Matthews is "getting headlines" lmgtfy.

In Canada, both the Toronto Sports Network and Sportsnet pretty much compete non-stop over who can hype the Centre of the Universe (the GTA) the most. I get the pandering: it's by far the biggest market in Canada. That doesn't make it any less of a pain in the ass to deal with, but it's our reality.

31 minutes ago, Hockey-78 said:

My point is that the hype around Laine has gone over the top. He's far behind Matthews and IMO there are more talented all-around players who haven't scored 40+ goals a season yet do they get the headlines. But I have no problem complementing his shot.

Actually, I was agreeing with you. Players who do one thing at an elite level can sometimes be overrated, and players who do a lot of things well, but none quite at that top level, can be under-appreciated.

6 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

For the record, overall I value Bossy and his game much more than Laine's. Laine seems to rely on his shot heavily, to this day very one dimensional player.

Well, yeah. His all-around game needs work, like almost every young player. His elite shot (and it really is great) is what got him to the NHL so early.

Laine does not brag around with his money although he earns millions in the NHL

A reporter from the Winnipeg Sun asked Laine more than a year ago, what was his most expensive purchase he had made by far with his NHL dollars. After a while of pondering, Laine replied: "Not much really, maybe a jacket, winter jacket."

According to a finnish magazine (Seiska) Laine hasn't changed his ways so far.

"Yeah, I'm a bit stingy. Relatives might be little annoyed sometimes cause I'm so careful with my money." Laine told Seiska.

Last year Laines base salary was 925 000 dollars, but with bonuses his salary grew up around 3,6 million dollars. Laine states, that he thinks he is worth the pay.

"I've worked so hard for everything that i think all these amounts are well earned" Laine tells Seiska.

After next season, a huge raise is waiting for Laine, after his ELC will end. According to some experts, his salary might tenfold, earning him 9 million in a year.

According to Laine, big money does not motivate him as an athlete. He's driven by the urge to develop and the love for the game.

"I would play this game, even if I wouldn't earn an euro." Laine states.

https://www.iltalehti.fi/nhl/201807232201091214_nh.shtml

Just now, hf101 said:

 

LOL,  I've been awaiting that reaction, but then, for the most part, most everyone on this site has dealt with a forum gone bad.  I have to say it brought back some memories when 200 Flyer fans joined this site in a couple of days.  Silly.com never recovered but it still exists after 7 years.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I had been at the other forum joe mentioned, and then ANOTHER one which closed down its messaging to dedicate itself to a fantasy hockey league before finally going under. It was right around that time that joe got in touch with me and I ended up here.

Nice to see all of the new members here. Hope you guys all enjoy yourselves.

On 5/20/2018 at 8:50 PM, McMahon 6 said:

 

 

Works for me. Name Redacted had its share of trash talking, but for the most part it was pretty civilized. Even when the gloves came off, the punches typically stayed above the belt and inside the ring.

 

Once in a while we'd get a prize cementhead; if the admins here are able to nip that in the bud, you'll have lots of happy hockey fans on your hands.

I would be fine if a cement-headed Oilers fan showed up here to give me company. There was one guy who joined up last season, but he gets all of his hockey info from a burning bush, so he didn't last.

5 minutes ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

I've seen all the memorial shows about this incident but I've never heard anything about HOW the accident happened, or any details about the cause of the accident. How do 15+ people die on a bus?  Did it roll off the side of a cliff? Was this a head-on collision with a transport truck? Some details are usually helpful in cases like these. 

 

 

A cliff?

The only cliff you'll find in Saskatchewan is located in a phonebook.

2 minutes ago, Podein25 said:

 

Nuts.

 

I've driven across the gap more than most (was finishing grad school in Calgary but my young daughter (the inestimable Podein25 Jr) was in Wpg, not to mention all the bust trips, playing in places like Humboldt, Nipawin, Yorkton, Prince Albert, North Battleford, Melfort, Esterhazy, Moose Jaw, Swift Current: you name it, I've played there). 

 

One of the dangerous things about driving in SK is that it is so flat, so straight, so boring that people fall asleep. And the black ice. I've never seen black ice like I've seen in SK.

When you add in Saskatchewan having a small population (thus equaling a small tax base) yet more km of highway than any other province, the condition of the roads can be very spotty. There are times when the Red Coat Trail, running east-west across the southern part of the province, is better driven in a lunar rover than a car or truck. Any day you go out for a highway drive, you'll encounter large farm equipment, overlapping the single lanes, being driven. I've been following equipment, in this scenario, where we encountered an equally large vehicle coming from the opposite direction, forcing all to slow down where they each drove on the shoulder. They barely slowed down.

You've seen the drifting snow in the winter: sometimes it dances across the highway so much it can almost trick your eyes, and make it feel as if you're floating on a cloud. It can be very easy to lose your place in the road in those conditions.

It would probably shock most people to think that a province which looks like this

would be a very dangerous place to drive, but they would be wrong. Saskatchewan is the most dangerous place to drive in Canada.

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan-is-the-most-dangerous-place-to-drive-in-canada/

The number of people killed on highways there is twice the national average. My wife has lost 4 family members and friends to separate highway crashes, several classmates in high school, and she can't hope to offer a number for the number of victims she saw as an OR Nurse in Regina.

And farm accidents? Don't even get me started. She's lost more to those than on the highway.

1 minute ago, pilldoc said:

 

Ah ...did not know that.  Thanks for the info.  Totally understand your disdain for him. 

Horrifying stuff. For years of abuse directed at Kennedy, he received a two-year sentence, after which he received a full pardon. Later, Theoren Fleury and Todd Holt brought evidence to the RCMP. He was charged with numerous counts of sexual assault of a minor and again received only a two-year sentence, which outraged the public.

He is a notorious man in Canada, particularly in hockey circles.

1 minute ago, pilldoc said:

 

why do you say that?  I'm not sure who Graham James is .......

Graham James is the former Swift Current coach who spent years sexually assaulting his players, including Sheldon Kennedy and Theoren Fleury.

-Terrible news. Really awful, gut wrenching stuff. Fourteen lives barely lived...

-My nephews put on the miles all across that area of the province, and have for years, to go to games and tournaments. The roads can be extremely treacherous and this is everybody's nightmare scenario.

-People still talk about the Swift Current crash, and I know they will for many years now with this tragedy.

39 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

 

Swift Current went on the win the Memorial Cup after a bus crash killed several players 2 years prior. Joe Sakic was on that bus. Lindy Ruffs brother was one of the kids killed.

If only those boys had been spared and Graham James had been killed instead.

Maybe the Nature Boy belongs on this list...

On 8/14/2017 at 6:52 AM, thenewestlights said:

 

That's what's nuts about Orr. Despite the way injury shortened his career 

and hampered some seasons, he's still arguably the greatest.    

 

Nowadays, if I'm picking any one player to begin a franchise, it's Bobby.   

Yes and no. You spend the first 10 years establishing your value, and then the next 10 padding the bill.

That photo still isn't as bad as this was:

Connor McDavid was snatched up at the Edmonton International Airport for one of the most awkward photos ever.

1 hour ago, AlaskaFlyerFan said:

 

Thats pretty.  Did you paint that yourself?

If John Gacy could do it, so can I.

2 hours ago, yave1964 said:

If you look at the two bone head deals from yesterday and do a bit of simple changing out of assets, instead of Hall going to New Jersey he coulda and shoulda been dealt for either Subban or Weber. The Habs need points, Hall would have fit the bill, the Preds putting him on the top line and letting Josi take over as the beast on the back end would have made sense.

1 hour ago, flyercanuck said:

I think the Habs win this deal over the next 2-3 years...then it becomes a win for Nashville. Webers contract is going to suck in it's last 5 years...capwise.

 

Would it have made more sense to trade Subban for Hall? Maybe...but man would the Habs D suck.

The timing of these deals scream to me that the Oilers and Habs (who we know went back and forth last weekend re: Subban) were close to a deal, and that ultimately one side just wouldn't go through with it. So, Hall goes to New Jersey, and 15 or 20 minutes later, Subban is gone. It just seems like a reasonable guess to me.

For my part, I'd have felt much better about the return being Subban and his cap hit than what they ended up with. Larsson IS a good player, and likely to get better yet, but he isn't in the class of players like Taylor Hall.

43 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

 

This.  I just think this is dumb for Montreal.   And like I said above, if they were hell bent on trading Subban they should have been able to really address a need and get a top line center or wing.  I don't know that Hall/Subban works straight up (although it IS, apparently, stupid day), but Hall and a pick should have worked.

 

I just don't like this at all for Montreal.  I like Webber.  I'm not a huge fan of Subban but gotta respect him.   This will end up biting the Habs.   Come to think of it, I do like this trade.

Who knows if this is accurate, but connected people at TSN and Sportsnet were saying that the Habs wanted Draisaitl and 4th overall in exchange for Subban, in hopes of drafting Pierre Luc DuBois. Of course, as soon as the Blue Jackets chose him, that deal was off, and the Habs are nearly single-minded in their idiotic pursuit of French Canadian players, as if their fans will quit on them for not having enough on the roster.

The Habs could have had Leon Draisaitl AND Jesse Puljujarvi as well as rid themselves of a player they clearly didn't want to keep.

8 minutes ago, BluPuk said:

LOL. Subban is no Webber. I suspect the Preds fans will soon be quite teed off... I hate to say it, but the Habs win this one.

Weber's games has been slipping for a bit now, and will soon be sliding like a greased-up Krazy Karpet. He's been riding on rep for a few years.

Shea Weber is like an old power puncher: the last thing that goes is the big shot. But, his game has slowly but surely been slipping for a few years. While the elite defensemen are pushing scoring chances north, Weber's possession numbers are steadily declining for the last 4 years. In 3 of the last 4 years, the Preds have given up fewer GA/60 with Weber on the bench than on the ice, and in that time, the team is now getting less than 50% of the goals scored while he's on the ice when it was 56% before. When Subban is on the ice, the puck is moving in the right direction, and the Habs are scoring almost 57% of the goals. A massive difference.

The Predators got out from under a contract which will only become worse with each year for the next decade, and if Montreal bought in on leadership, and other sorts of hero worship, they deserve what they get from it. Unless Subban is drop kicking babies or spiking the Gatorade in the dressing room, this is a clear win for the Preds.

3 minutes ago, radoran said:

It would take A LOT to get players to give up guaranteed contracts. Imagjne an NFL style system with many contracts being like Weber's without the length - huge signing bonuses.

 

The NHL can't afford that rightnow and the price is guaranteed contracts. The term limit is an attempt to address it but 7/8 years is still too long.

 

I see hockey as the most "team" game on the planet and there is NO superstar who can win by themselves.

And the holdouts we would see if the guaranteed contract were to go away. When a player in a contact sport is one injury away from being dropped, he'll try to grab whatever money he can along the way... Be crazy not to.