PavelValerievichDatsyuk

It is too bad they couldn't use Black Knights. We could've had years worth of Monty Python jokes (T'is but a scratch!). Golden Knights doesn't ring right to me. but I guess it's not so bad. And yes, Hockeymom, I'm sure there'll be a hockey themed porn tribute being made sometime soon.

I like the name the Knights, but as someone from London, On I'm glad they weren't allowed to use it because the London OHL team owns the naming rights in Canada. Adding a descriptor makes it less cool, but c'est la vie. And, yes, that's a cool logo. Took me a minute to notice the V in there, haha.

That's a good pick-up, nerve. Maybe that was the idea - it is the Leafs centennial that's being celebrated, after all - maybe it was meant as a bit of a tip of the hat.

This fits if you sing it to that tubthumping song: and then we dump da puck and then we chase da puck we sing the songs that remind me of the good times... You all can judge whether the "I get knocked down, but I get up again" chorus is appropriate. I guess we'll see as season goes on.

I think the worst part is that it's see-through. You can see in the photo with Abby and Larkin that it looks better on Larkin, who's wearing a black shirt underneath, rather than Abby with the red shirt. Will look bad if you can see equipment. Without another colour underneath, it doesn't look that bad. For instance, I noticed it looks a little better here: P.S. I actually think the Leafs centennial jerseys are pretty ugly.

It will go well with Miller's hair.

No one. Think Ouellet will play

Yeah, I don't think that article was noticed by a lot of people. Tatar clearly doesn't seem to be himself. It makes you wonder why he doesn't take some time off and deal with it rather than playing through it - which isn't really helping him or the team. The only positive I see is that it will help us re-sign him at a lower number than expected in the offseason if he keeps playing this way. I think he's on pace for 27pts and 9 goals.

Completely disagree. Scoring being down is all about the advancement of the goaltending position. I think the general caliber of players is also better so that individual players seldom dominate as in the past. Defensive players are more skilled now and the defensive part of the game has also developed. There's a much larger talent pool to draw from now with some European nations developing their hockey communities and the growth of the game in the states. It's not the same talent pool being spread thinner.

Holtby fell again so I thought we'd get another penalty.

Don't think this one been boring. Lots of things to watch. Bertuzzi showing some good desperation plays (jumping interscepts). Z looks good. There is some trapping going on so they've taken away our speed and blocking us from the slot. Haven't even noticed OV, so they're doing a good job at negating him. Should definitely be beating a team missing a whole forward line, but for a struggling team, this has been good.

Lets Go Wings!!!! I'm cheering for goals from Mantha and Sproul!

That's all good, except I wasn't just arguing that hot streaks exist. If you recognize a guys strung together a few really good games I think it's a good guide for how you could expect him to play. Or any level of consisent games strung together would be a good guide. You can see on that Wiim there's a pretty consistent GAA in Howie's first 30 games (or at least a general trend) except for 2 really bad games and a few shutouts. After a few of the consistently good games, as a coach you would say "hey he's been playing well and been consisently good, I can trust to put him." You might get one of the 2 bad games, but that gamble is always there even if you were using a policy to just play the best goalie. Alternately, if you look at the last 20 games on that chart, you can see that Howie was up and down and it looks like he strung 2 similarly good games only once or twice, A coach - whether looking at a graph or just the score sheets from his past few games - shouldn't consider him on a hot streak and he wouldn't get the special consideration that a hot (consistently good) goalie should get.

Buppy, that seems like a lot of work so I definitely respect that. That's a lot of data to look at and make sense of. Edit: responded before I really thought it through. ...Okay, my head hurts, but I think I got a handle on those results. I think that's a really convoluted way analyzing it. I'm not even sure it says that much on the hot hand topic, since I think it requires more than 1 good game to be considered as such. I guess you were responding to my comment on a player being comparable in a game following after a good game. Maybe that my fault for mispeaking, since that isn't a player on a hot streak - that's just a good game. I think you would have to consider the timeline beyond pairs of games. I think a good method would be to chart GAA game-by-game. If you just look at the chart on Howard last year from Wiim. You can clearly see when he was on positive streaks. Between game 20 and 30, for instance you'd feel pretty confident about the type of game you'd get from him. A good coach would judge considering those general trend and peaks of good play. Anyway, the only reason you got push back was the "gambler fallacy" comment and then comparing playing the hot hand to superstition. That rhetoric seems much more severe than what I think your actually belief is, though. I don't think anyone was saying you should only consider streaks. If you said that they should measure that thinking with the general caliber of player, that's something I think everyone would get behind. And as you acknowledge that Howard and Mrazek are somewhat close, then that really seems like a time when you should consider hot and cool streaks. Anyway, Mrazek's back in tomorrow and it looks like he has 52.63% chance of having a good game so Let's Go Wings!!!!

We'll have to agree to disagree here, I think. It seems outrageous to me to compare playing a hot player to superstitions or compare it to gambling. If someone played well in one game they will usually be at a comparable level the next game. It's not rolling the dice and expecting to get 7s twice in a row. It's not making a choice based on the cycles of the moon. Even the best players go through high points and lulls. A good choice coach recognizes these and plays who's on. If someone's scoring, you put them on the top line or increased minutes. If a pitcher has a good game they'll get another game soon. etc

First of all, I don't think anyone argued that we shouldn't take more than the past few games into account. If Howard was McCollum and came up and one a game, I don't think he'd get more starts over Mrazek. Howard was recently our workhorse and a very good goalie. Mrazek's great but hasn't proven to be consistent yet in his short time in the NHL. Those are some of the many other factors you would take into consideration. But playing the hot hand is pretty much coaching 101. Players who are playing well should be played. I can't really believe that needs to be argued. As for your account of the Osgood/Hasek situation that's not the way the record tells it all: (last 10 games of that season) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007–08_Detroit_Red_Wings_season#Schedule_and_results March 16: Detroit 3 – 4 Columbus Hasek March 19: Columbus 1 – 3 Detroit Osgood March 20: Detroit 6 – 3 Nashville Hasek March 22: Detroit 4 – 1 Columbus Hasek March 25: Detroit 2 – 1 St. Louis Osgood March 28: St. Louis 4 – 3 Detroit Osgood March 30: Nashville 0 – 1 Detroit Hasek April 2: Detroit 2 – 6 Chicago Hasek April 3: Columbus 2 – 3 Detroit Hasek April 6: Chicago 1 - 4 Detroit Hasek If you're arguing that we chose Hasek because he was the hot hand, you'd have to ignore us getting blown out 6-2 in the 3rd last game. If we were just going with the hot hand, Osgood would have gotten the next game then. In those years - when we were clearly in the playoffs - I think we used to decide who was starting the playoffs early and give them the last 4-5 games to get ready. Both goalies were playing well. Hasek was injured in February and had worse numbers over the season. I think he got the nod because he was the established star. Or maybe because he was 3 and 1 in games against the Preds while Osgood went 2 and 2 vs the Preds that season. Either way, that is not "playing the hot hand." Then he struggled in the playoffs and we went with the other really good option. This past stretch, Mrazek struggled a bit, we road the other really good option. Now Howard struggled a bit (even if the goals weren't all his fault), let's give Mrazek a shot again. As it should be.

A conversation that did not happen in 2008: "Sorry Ozzy, I know Hasek been playing badly and you've been playing very well, but we're still going to go with him for the rest of these playoffs anyway because thinking that you could currently be the better option is the gambler's fallacy."

Wasn't able to watch this one so was just checking in. Yeesh....

I'd definitely take Jurco over Miller. Even if he doesn't reach his higher potential, he's been ahead of Drew in his 3 NHL years in goals, assists, points, +/-, corsi, fenwick and probably more if you wish to look at it some more on hockey-reference.com. And before you say they play different roles, Jurco's spent a whole lot of time on the 4th and in penalty killing roles. Ott's on his way out as a 34 year old 4th liner. Only played 21 games last year only got 2 assists. LIke him more than I thought I would, but we're building for the future - let's keep this 23 year old player playing. I still think he has an outside chance to be a player of Tatar's caliber. I think he's currently better than both Ott or Miller, and when thinking of the future, why would you play low priority guys that are gone in a year or two; when you could have a late developer that adds to our future group?

I do.

Mantha's gone 10 pts (8 goals) in 10 games in GR and leads the Griffins for the first time. Damn good! He did exactly what he need to do. I know some have just really been wanting to see him, but we're only 15 games in and this is earlier than I thought we'd see him. Glad to see that AA's injury didn't just bring Miller back in the lineup. Really hope he earns a full time spot. We'll have AA, Vanek and Jurco coming back which I think equates to missing a whole 3rd (maybe 2nd) line. Could be a good forward group with all those guys plus Mantha.

Bird on the Wire - Leonard Cohen, Rest in Peace

It wasn't a backhand shot, so he couldn't handle it. Edit haha Nerve beat me to that comment

You can say that again!

Haha, that's classic!!!!