BlairBettsBlocksEverything

wants guaranteed minutes right away so can't fault it I guess

3 hours ago, Pete said:

Pretty remarkable turnaround. 

 

The biggest thing for me is that he's finally establishing an identity and showing what he's actually good at. His first 3 years in the league there was no "there" there, there had only been a handful of instances that you could point to and say "this is what this kid's capable of". That's no longer the case, and his play without the puck has been much better and much more consistent. 

 

If I was to be hyper critical, I would be wondering why it took them 3 years to take apart his stride and put it back together, as it was evident from day one in the league that he was a step behind everyone, but he's here now and that's all that matters. 

something I have said in the past about Laf/Kakko is that in that last season, Kakko at least looked engaged and like he could contribute, even when he wasn't scoring. Laf was the opposite, in games he didn't score, you barely ever noticed him

Of those two players, Laf has been the one to turn around what he was lacking before (though I would say recent Kakko has been looking better in that regard, with production starting to come)

Because the nhl is stupid 

Jeff SKinner's 1000th game (no playoff games in that span lol) and his shot total prop is +105 for O2.5  

Going with Marty Straka for Trivia

Wanna crush these fuckers tonight. If those PItt players feel like they have even an outside chance of pulling off something crazy and making the playoffs, I want them leaving the rink tonight feeling hopeless and beat down.

Carolina not in action tonight, big opportunity to put some space here. I want that 1 seed in the East. 

Just now, Pete said:

Rangers are 2-1 vs Tampa with one meltdown unlikely to be replicated. I'm not worried about them over a seven game series. 

that was also, i believe a 4th game in 6 nights and they just ran out of gas. Tampa's Dzone coverage has been mostly suspect this year and I think we win that series still. With that said, they're on a bit of a heater right now and if they keep this up heading into the playoffs they wont be an easy out

Panarin has 46 points in 57 playoff games in his career, not exactly disappearing. Last years playoffs he didn't do much, I'll give you that. but he's playing the best hockey of his career right now and I don't see any reason to think it will go away come playoff time. He's not been producing this much while playing 'soft' either 

if we end up with Toronto in the first round I'll be happy I no longer use the app formerly known as twitter anymore 

I'd rather not play Tampa but I'm not exactly afraid of them either. It might be some sweet justice to take some revenge on the way to a cup run.

Philly - We win that one in 5, maybe 6

Washington - I'll say in 5 just as a courtesy but that's a sweep

Detroit - that's a 5 game win

Devils - Want them to miss the playoffs out of spite. Want to face them so we can finish what we should have done last year

Islanders - 8 power play goals scored in a 4 game sweep

I plan on continuing to use this gif as much as possible over the next few months 

1 hour ago, Pete said:

Completely agree.

 

Analytics don't take into account playoff intensity. That's why they play the games and they don't just run a report to see who should win. 

 

Analytics don't take into account playing the same team night after night for 2 weeks, what you learn about that team, and what you learn to hate about that other team. 

 

Analytics don't take into account how many players are playing through more serious injuries than they would during the season.

 

I think a lot of people use analytics for the wrong reasons. If you see a team or player is bad, then analytics can tell you why. Too often we see people say "they're analytics suck, therefore they suck" yet that player or team is successful on the stats that really matter (box cars).

 

Nobody goes into a contract negotiation and says they led the league in high danger chances created. They go in and say they had this many assists and this many goals. 

It's like your kid's coloring book. Analytics can provide the lines but you gotta fill it in with the eye test sometimes.

51 minutes ago, Keirik said:

I have an Acura MDX Type S and it's pretty okay for the one kid. We shall see how it goes when the second comes though. Wife has a VW Atlas since 2019. It's a boat but 80k miles later it'd given us zero problems (we got the v6 not the turbo 4). Not sure I'd buy it again since they increased 10k in price now though.

 

   Toyotas are always good because they just don't lose value. If you are going Highlander, look for a used 22 or 23. I believe that is when the redesign was and toyota doesn't change much year to year specifically. There is a Grand Highlander that is all new and a tad bigger.

 

Believe it or not, you might want to look at a Lexus Gx460 used. A 2022 is fairly affordable with the fact that 2024 was a full redesign and it's basically a bulletproof v8 4runner. Will last forever. My only gripe is the tsilegste is a barn door style but it's not really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. 

ill definitely look into that lexus. Wife and I work across the street from each other so we realistically are only really driving to work, kids daycare, errand and the occasional outing with the kids, so definitely wouldn't anticipate putting a lot of miles on anything we get. 

40 minutes ago, RichieNextel305 said:

Mission is clear:

 

First ones in. Last ones out.

 

To win a Cup, often times you need to learn how to walk before you can run. We went on a deep run 2 years ago. Expectations went sky high the following year and we got humbled in the worst way possible against a bitter rival. We know the highs and lows. And we’re ready to run.

 

History lessons are over.

 

Because it’s time to make history.

friend of ours has that one and I took a ride and liked it but they also just had a big recall as well which is offputting 

3 minutes ago, Pete said:

I've got a Pathfinder and I love it.

definitely one I wanna look at too. When we got our HR-V it was in the middle of a big car shortage/my wife was gonna give birth in like 2 months and we only had a sedan which wasn't gonna cut it so out of desperation we just took what we could get on a lease. Definitely wanna get something with a third row

2 hours ago, jsm7302 said:

Hotel with a pool is well worth the $200 for the night.

probably would have been, but by the time it went out it was coming up on bed time for the kids anyway. plus we're in big-time savings mode for a new car (don't settle for an HR-V when you have twins!) so we're pinching pennies right now

speaking of that topic, what car does everyone have that's good for kids? I still think I'm too young to get a minivan lol. Looking at the Toyota Highlander but we'll see what prices look like.

had a huge storm upstate this weekend and we ended up losing power, which isn't ideal when kids need heat to survive lol.

ended up having to go to my S/BIL's apartment to spend the night. 4 adults, 2 kids, a dog and a cat all crammed into a 1 bedroom was not an ideal situation lol

Cashed on Hulkenberg in the points at +550 so that was a good win

scary scene for George Russell though, could have been really dangerous if his car got hit in the middle of the track

I've liked his game. He's upping his stock for sure. If we do end up having to move him he'll definitely get us back more value than he would have just a few weeks ago

20 minutes ago, Pete said:

Re-watching last night's game, this guy stinks. His play without the puck is atrocious. Shocked his metrics are as good as they are.

My reaction to the trade initially was the Canes were grabbing anyone they could for the sake of doing it in a year they want to go for it.

Rangers beat them in 6 in the 2nd round

I was told Carolina were cup favorites now? 
 

suck it rednecks. 
 

3 games coming in hot, should be 5

He’s gonna sit some games for that one 

terrible time with a 2-0 lead to do that too

When McDermid challenged Rempe, I hope Rempe laughs and asks why they had to bring him in for a rookie whose played less than 10 games, tells him he's the reason he had to move to NJ, and then drops him with a hard righty

lol fair 

22 minutes ago, RodrigueGabriel said:

Seems like JD not only was willing to deal with Drury, but even threw him a bone here. 

Even after you leave a team, what they do later with the pieces you put together is part of your resume. Seems like he wants to help that if he can