kipwinger

The judge was also a woman.

I didn't really follow it too closely, but the fact that they had their day in court and a female judge said the accuser's claims were "not credible and not reliable" seems pretty shut and dry to me. But I don't really care about the case. I'm curious when these guys will be able to play again. Carter Hart and Alex Formenton are both dudes that could really help this team given that they're not rapists.

Looks like the Canadian World Junior defendants are being exonerated today. Wonder how long it will take NHL teams to start scooping these dudes up?

You'd have to imagine not very much considering the cause of the impasse is that Minny management don't believe Rossi is a top of the lineup player despite his point totals (according to reports). If that's true then I'd imagine you'd have to give them a comparable bottom six roster player and a B-level prospect (given that Rossi is cost controlled). I think something centered around Compher/Berggren and a prospect would do it.

I was listening to a podcast with Max Bultman from the Athletic and he claims that Max Plante was an already over 6 feet tall on draft day. Bultman claims that his own height is a “true” 5’11 and that he looked up to Plante upon meeting him for the first time. Perhaps he’s a grower and not a show-er?

I agree and think Plante, in particular, is going to be a very good center in the NHL. Like, I think he’s going to be one of those “how did he fall to the 2nd round” sort of guys.

I put some feelers out to CBJ fans on Reddit to learn more about his defensive game and physical game. I know he's not some kind of Tkachuk style "power forward" but if he can use his size to protect pucks, win board battles, and crash the net then he may just be an option with the guys you mentioned. I just don't know enough about his game to know if he's got top line potential, but it's an interesting thought.

I'm not a Dougie Hamilton fanboy or anything, but he's a MUCH BETTER player than Karlsson. Hamilton gives you the same offense and powerplay expertise but he can actually defend against top players at even strength. That's the problem with Karlsson in a nut shell. He can score a zillion points, but only if you play him 20 mins a night. And if you play him 20 mins a night he'll get scored on even more than he scores...which is a lot. Hamilton doesn't have that problem. I agree. He's also a pretty stout guy too, so even through he brings "soft skill" it's more of the Daniel Sprong variety than the Jonatan Berggren variety.

I agree with all that, but I also think it's selling his skill a little short. Every hockey fan (I know this isn't what you're saying) thinks skill = flash and he's certainly not that. But that's a bogus premise. He's got "pro style" skills. Who cares if you can dipsy doodle with the puck (a la Tomas Jurco) if you can't do it consistently in a game ya know? Who cares if you're fast as greased lightening (a la Andreas Athanasiou) if it only factors in when you're on a breakaway? Over the years I've learned to really value pro-style skill and I'm pretty skeptical of the Youtube highlight players. If you can't fight win board battles to maintain possession or fight through checks to jump on rebounds then your value is pretty limited in the NHL, regardless of how cute your stick handling is. It reminds me of all these college football quarterbacks (e.g. Vick, Tebow, RGIII, Newton, Young, etc.) that have success in the NCAA playing a way that will never EVER work in the NFL. Who cares if you can rush for a billion yards if you can't throw? The NFL is a passing league. If you can't pass it doesn't matter how great your rushing is because your team will lose more than it wins.

Does anyone else think we got a really good one in Carter Bear? I didn’t follow the draft closely this year and didn’t know too much about him going into things but the more I read the more I really like this kid. He’s still go so much filling out to do too. He’ll play at 6’1 and 195 lbs with legit skill and grit. I love this pick.

Yeah, you’re in the right ballpark. Can’t imagine it would cost much. But I wouldn’t expect too much either. He’s basically Dominik Kubalik 2.0

Intriguing name out of Columbus: Yegor Chinakhov. Former 1st round pick that just requested a trade out of CBJ. His career has been sidelined by a series of injuries, but produced about .5 ppg when in the lineup. Has size and a wicked shot. Might be a good "buy low" candidate with some potential uptapped upside.

Apparently it's time for my yearly reminder that Erik Karlsson isn't any good. I'm not really sure why I have to keep telling everyone this. We can prove this, statistically. He scored 53 total points. He had 38 even strength points and got SCORED ON 62 times, accounting for his whopping -24 +/-. So that means he only scored 15 powerplay points, 9 fewer than Mo Seider. Now let's put it all together. He's a net negative at even strength, he'll get scored on much more often than he'll score. He's also worse than our own internal PP quarterback, and that's the BEST part of his game. And he does ALL THAT for one of the worst contracts in the league. He's horrible and SY would be retarded to trade for him.

Lemme guess, the top of Wheeler's list is full of 5'11 finesse players that were drafted in the last year? That guy is such a pud and his biases are pretty obvious at this point.

I stopped drinking a number of years ago. I have pretty strong feelings on how stupid and mean alcohol makes people. That said, it also often leads to hilarious moments of instant karma that are almost impossible to replicate without booze. For instance, in college a buddy of mine was "riding" a skateboard with a bottle of beer in his hand despite knowing nothing about how to ride a skateboard. Another friend yelled "do a trick" to which he responded (in a very cocky way), "I don't DO tricks". Almost instantly he shifted his weight, the board rolled out from underneath him, he fell, and tried to catch himself with the hand holding the bottle. It broke and sliced his palm pretty good. He had to go to the hospital and get stitched up. Pretty awesome trick.