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The old eyeball test. Keeping the Earth flat and at the center of the solar system since the dawn of man. Gotta love it.

Montreal probably wants a new coach and are hoping Semin will make him quit.

I think he makes it. He may be a healthy scratch most nights at first, but Blash seems to really like him. Can't see guys like Andersson staying over Mitch. Gross. Plus there will no doubt be an injury or two by the time the season starts

Probably lower.

Yup. It's particularly popular with people who use "girl" as an insult. It's pretty funny when you realize that the anti-analytics crowd is really just anti-information.

Slim to none.

I agree completely. Screw the Rangers. As far as Stepan goes, it's really not too much of a gamble though. Even if he never improves, you're still getting a 50 point, top six center, who plays great defense, for the prime of his career. And you'd only be paying him about a million more than his actual value if he never improved at all. A 50 pt. guy, at Stepan's age, is generally worth 5.5 on today's market, so it's a mild overpayment if does doesn't improve, and a quality contract if he does. It's not like they're paying for potential here, he's already a very good player, they're just overpaying slightly under the assumption that he'll take the next step. I'm always happy to slightly overpay for a good player, rather than slightly overpay for an unproven guy. The risk seems less.

Math freaks ruined hockey

Silly debate. Stats are information. A tool. Scouts would use them as much or more than anyone. They've been around for decades. Over the years, more have been added/tracked. Even analytics aren't entirely new. Just a natural progression. More information is always better, provided you can understand the information. The advanced metrics still need a lot of work before we really understand them enough to make good use of them, but once teams start understanding them they will be a valuable resource, and that's why teams are hiring "stat guys". Stats aren't a replacement for scouting, they are a part of it.

Yes we could watch him skate around punching himself and hooking himself in the cup.

People always hate what they don't understand.

Statistics overrule what you think you saw. Sorry bud analytics aren't going anywhere. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Next is Helene St. James to move on and start writing about Babcock and the Leafs.

I see this working a well as an unsinkable ship and the best dirigible ever.

The only thing I'd change is having some kind of break towards the cap for home grown talent. Parity is nice and all, but it is kind of a bummer when teams who draft and developed well are punished because of the cap. The cap should prevent teams from buying championships. Not force them to lose homegrown talent.

You make some good points. I remember back in 2006 I was talking to a casual friend, and I brought up the Wings. He told me he was a HUGE fan back in the 90's, but when it seemed they started having their pick of whoever they wanted in the early-mid 2000's it really turned him off. He said that he couldn't respect a team that won just because its owner spent more money. At the time I really didn't listen to what he said and I completely disagreed, but looking back on it I can see how someone would have more respect for a team doing it the way its done now. Did anyone out side of Yankees fans really respect the Yankees back in 2009 when they won the world series and their payroll was around 200,000,000 while the second highest payroll was closer to 100,000,000? Now the Yankees were an extreme, but my point is I'm starting to get his train of thought.

I think you may have misinterpreted my comments. They have won 3 Cups, which is exactly my point. Chicago sacrificed their future a bit (not completely) to win in the moment and it 100% worked. BUT when you make the moves they made (ie. Hossa contract, Toews contract, Kane contract etc.) at some point when your young guys are due for a new contract (ie Saad) you wont be able to sign them. This is exactly why I have been against Holland signing vets to dumb contracts, because a bad contract in lets say 2012 could lead to losing Tatar, Nyquist etc. in 2014, 2015, or Jurco in 2017 etc. .

Actually 4 is composite. 2 is prime though, trade Smith.