"PLUS/MINUS is the NHL's best stat, and the only one I use"
- Craig Button*
PLUS: Let us kick things off with one of the greatest tweets anyone ever sent me:
I present to you...the dumbest article ever written about anything #Coyotes related. Consider the source though. He knows nothing about AZ https://t.co/7tTaladjvO
This guy really took exception with my take on the brother Ekman-Larson (that'd be Olivier, Big Kev and Doug). It just really amuses me when people get so upset about something obviously a joke.
MINUS: I really wanted to see my boy Dion in the Finals.
PLUS: Two straight years in the Final for Pittsburgh, and the Leafs end up with Kasperi Kapanen, Freddie Andersen, Auston Matthews and Kirby Rychel.
Hard to find a trade that has ever worked out so well for both teams involved.
MINUS: The people who need to will never take all the crap they said about Kessel's character and learn an important lesson about being idiots.
PLUS: The new Hero Chart comparison's at Ownthepuck.blogspot.ca are amazing.
MINUS: They are showing up blank when I embed them, so you'll have to have fun with them yourself. Watch out, it's a rabbit hole you shouldn't go down if you have things to do.
PLUS: So Jake Gardiner is good....(there was a chart that proved this, but....see above).
PLUS: The Blue Jays started 1-9 and then their entire team got injured, and now, with an AAA team, they've made it back within 3 games of .500 and are only 3.5 out of a Wild Card.
PLUS: Every team in the East has to be looking at the Penguins and Senators and saying "OK, if we can just make the Playoffs........."
The NHL regular season is actually pretty cool if you think about it. 82 games, just over half the teams make it, and once there, anyone can win.
But given the randomness of this adventure.......maybe we could cut Ovechkin and the boys some slack?
PLUS: We need more Mullins:
PLUS: I have to give the Conservative Party of Canada credit, you did not force a Trump on us, but I will remember that you tried to.
I also want to give credit to the laughable farce that is the American President for being such a disaster that his Canadian clone had to drop out of the leadership race.
MINUS: I really hate when people give me stats of home vs road. The difference is probably random.
MINUS: I remember when the NHL expanded and added the Tampa Bay Lightning. Since that time I've seen the Predators, Lighting and Ducks - twice each -, the Senators, Sharks and Panthers make it to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Leafs have made the Final Four Four times though.
MINUS: Kevin Shattenkirk should get more respect:
And the chart I put into prove this didn't show up. But suffice it to say, he's gonna be worth the money.
PLUS: My list of most overrated defensemen:
Aaron Ekblad, Brett Seabrook, Ryan Suter, Roman Josi, Rasmus Ristolainen and Cam Fowler.
Go and look em up!!
PLUS: Can't go wrong with a Nashville / Penguins final. Pretty awesome if you ask me.
PLUS: The Penguins are showing that the main things teams should be doing is getting first-line players on all three lines.
The Penguins made two Finals when they were lining up Jordan Staal behind Malkin and Crosby, which was insane.
Now they have Phil Kessel, on the third line, which is double insane. In the intervening six years between their back-to-back appearances, they either had one of their big three injured or Brandon Suter. When they move Kessel up with Malkin, they can still deploy Hagelin, Rust, Sheary, Bonino - himself not far off being a #1 centre (though obviously not of the Crosby kind). ......so many players who do not fit the "top six / bottom six" role that was standard in the NHL for so long.
I don't think it's a coincidence that they have had success with first-line players on all three lines because in the NHL, advantageous matchups are very difficult to get, and the Penguins basically get one every shift.
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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