rudyZ

What's in the boooox?!

And don't forget that the real hero of Karate Kid wasn't Ralph Macchio, it was Billy Zabka.

You don't have a choice with these NCAA players now. It's either burning a year off or they'll hold out. If you're a former first rounder in the NCAA, you'll get your way. Montréal burned the first year of Ryan Poehling's ELC and played him one game while missing the playoffs (he did get a hat trick and score the shootout winner... worth it?). You just have to. It always depends on the salary structure of the team. But the way I see it with pro salaries these days, you want your superstars to sign their long term deal sooner rather than later, this way, you can shave off 1-1.5m per year on a 8 year deal. Just look at Jimmy G vs every QB signing a contract going forward. We'll be glad (if Jimmy G pans out) to have signed him earlier than those guys. Look at Crosby, who signed a 10 year deal when those were still allowed. He's a bargain, under 9m per. If he signed today, he'd be making 12m+. That's a whole player you can sign with that extra 3m. Or instead of settling for Chris Kunitz, you can go ahead and pay a Phil Kessel. It might hurt financially early on, but if Makar is going to be a superstar, better get there as fast as you can.

Even with that, most of the TV revenues of the NHL come from Canada. The US TV contract that was last signed was 10 year/2 billion, while the canadian tv contract was 12 year/5.2 billion. Even with the exchange, we're bringing in a lot more than the US. So adding american teams makes sense, if they want the US number to increase. Start pulling your weight, guys. You're embarassing. Canada is carrying that league!

Ludicrous* I understand why Seattle got a team. There's more new money coming from a team in Seattle than there could be in Québec City. QC is not a great financial move. It's mostly just fan service. Canada is not a market that needs to be expanded. It's already all there. So it would just be a splitting of market shares. The money is in the US. Moving the Thrashers to Winnipeg, the NHL didn't gain new fans. But they gained sold-out crowds and enthusiasm. If QC gets a team, it will be a relocation from a struggling market. And that's only if they make the relocation fee affordable, because there's no way we can pay what it cost Vegas (500m?) and Seattle (650m?) to get a team. We had hopes for the Hurricanes, but it looks like they're going to stay for some time (I would have loved to get the franchise formerly known as the Whalers in QC. Brass Bonanza for the win). Maybe the Panthers. Maybe the Senators. But I bet that before that happens, we'll see another relocation. The Coyotes will perhaps move from Phoenix to Houston before Québec gets a team.

When I was in high school, the Avs were the Québec Nordiques. Okay, not really. I was 12 when they moved. I don't hate them. I just feel you guys were extremely lucky to inherit the championship we built for you. Joe Sakic was already a legend here before you even ever heard of him. My Québec Nordiques not only had Sakic, but also had Owen Nolan and Mats Sundin. Peter Forsberg made his first steps in the NHL in Québec City. That's four hall of famers, right there. And in the 80s, we had Guy Lafleur (for one year), Michel Goulet and Peter Stastny (still one of the most underrated and greatest hockey talent in the history of the NHL). It's just so sad that Québec lost its team. And sadder still that that team happened to be MY team!! A 12 year old kid losing his hockey team. I never hated the Avalanche. That was still the team I grew up loving, with the exception of Patrick Roy (a guy from Québec City who would never have been traded to the team, had it remained in Québec City... geographical rivalry). Here in Québec City, nobody ever hated on the Avalanche. It wasn't the new owners or the population of Denver that betrayed us. It was our owner. He is the one people still resent most, up to this day (it doesn't help that nowadays he only makes the news for sexual harassment suits). I'm just saying that for all we gave you (a roster that gave you two stanley cups), if we were to get a new team, you could return us the favour and send us a decent pick or prospect. You could send us a gift basket, but a prospect would be even better!

And he wasn't playing at an all-world level anyway. It's a bit of a gamble. What's more likely, that he reaches all-world status, or that he gets suspended in 2019? I guess neither happens. I feel he has fell a little behind the learning curve. Will he be fully committed to football from now on? If so, good for the Redskins.

I attended a peewee hockey tournament for three days, 8-10 a day. Hockey is great to watch. I think the reason why watching football is so special is the schedule. With only 16 games, each game can be a turning point. Each game matters. With hockey, basketball or baseball, they play so many games that no single game has as much impact as one NFL game does, outside of the playoffs. And then, if we compare playoffs, the NFL still wins on a per game basis, because every game is win or go home. But a hockey playoffs' game 7... insane. The crowd yelling, closer together than they are in football, because the rink is smaller than a football field. Every turnover, ever check, every rebound... all more exciting than a 3 and out in the 3rd quarter. Football games are uneven in their intensity. Hockey games can be too, but they can also be 100mph for 60 minutes, and that's really hard to match. Love the playoffs. Now play nice, guys, and can you let Canada have the Stanley Cup back, please? Wait... I hate the Leafs... Go Flames?! I hate how the Oilers keep screwing the pooch, even with arguably the best player in the world. Next year, maybe Vancouver will make a push. Give Québec City the Nordiques back! And Colorado should give us a prospect or two. We gave you a great team and 2 cups. Give us something in return.

The draft is a ladder!

Stupid gonna stupid.

I think having an ego and being a diva are two different things. Having an ego is being cocky, it's having confidence and wanting the ball because you think (know) you can get it done. You think you're the best. Being a diva is feeling entitled and dissing people around you because you feel you're not getting what you deserve. You can't be a diva without having a huge ego, but you can have an ego without being a diva.

In retirement, members of Project Mayhem have a name. His name is Gerald Hodges.

He's the kind of player that you forget whether or not he was on your team at some point. You just feel like he should have. Or shouldn't have. You just never know which. I think he was on the niners. Right?

Yeah, they got a prospect that helps soothe the pain of losing Karlsson, but now they have the pain of losing Stone... they have a few good prospects in the pipeline, but not a lot of high impact guys. You can't count on Colin White and Alex Formenton to become superstars. And Brady Tkachuk will only go as far as his linemates. Good news, they have their first rounder next year, and then some, right? Maybe an Alexis Lafrenière could be great for them.

I'm saying the team is happy enough with Ward. I don't think it precludes improving on him. It's fair not to count on anyone in the draft. Maybe they don't expect the guy they want to be there at or around 36, but if he is, then the contract they gave to Ward doesn't preclude the drafting of a FS. If they really were set on Ward, why not give him a 2 year deal, with more guarantees? The contract he signed isn't prohibitive to us drafting a FS at all. We just wanted to make sure we had at least a Ward-level player on the roster before the draft, because we don't know how the draft will turn out. You don't go into the draft with only Colbert on the team and then be forced to look at safety early. Signing Ward gives us options. It gives us flexibility. Trading for Dee Ford gives us options. If we hadn't added him, the first pick would have had to be an edge rusher. Now we can contemplate Q.Williams, or a trade down. Again, as I said, you're very likely to be right, in that we aren't going to address FS early on. And you're right that the staff would be happy enough with a starting duo of Ward and Tartt. All I'm saying is that signing Ward didn't make it impossible or at all improbable that we draft a FS. And maybe #36 is a target for a WR, but if they see a FS slipping a bit, maybe they try to move back up into the second round to grab him. But if there's no such opportunity, at least we have Ward, who they are happy enough with. If we didn't re-sign him, then we'd have to sacrifice WR for a FS, or even move up for a FS with 36, costing us more draft capital (that we don't have too much of to begin with). Now, they very well might not go for a FS, but I don't think it is because we have Ward. We have Ward in order not to have to force a FS pick early. I wasn't necessarily thinking about lucking out in the sixth round. Even drafting a FS in the second round is not a guarantee he'll start over Ward right away, or ever. My whole point is you don't want to need luck, therefore you sign someone like Ward. If Earl Thomas is too expensive, and the others aren't the right fit, what do you do? You re-sign Ward and try finding someone in the draft. Are they happy with Ward? Sure. Would they be happier with a rookie who could turn out to be even better? Absolutely. But unless you draft him in the top of the first, you need a guy like Ward (or preferably someone less injury-prone, but that's another issue) to mitigate the risk. And who knows, maybe we don't draft a FS because Colbert actually kills it in the OTAs... not really believing it, I'm just saying it's possible.