PLUS/MINUS Plus Minus is the NHL's most ridiculous stat. To put that in terms Peter Chiarelli can understand, it's the stat equivalent of trading a superstar for a pack of magic beans.
PLUS: No truth to the rumour that if you plant Adam Larsson, a beanstalk that you can climb directly to the Stanley Cup Final will grow.
So, the upshot is that Chiarelli's motivation/thought process is currently as mysterious as a body found in a room locked from the inside. So curious are people for an answer to what he was thinking that Robert Stack has apparently been unthawed to host a special NHL themed episode of Unsolved Mysteries.
MINUS: The player with the widest range of ratings by those who do and do not care about advanced statistics: Rasmus Ristolainen. I've heard people celebrate him in Buffalo as a future Norris Trophy winner. I've also read solid arguments from others that while he may be good on the PP, he's a #5/6 dman at 5v5 (where over 80% of the game is played).
Will be interesting to see how he turns out.
PLUS: I honestly can't wait until hockey starts this year.
After a decade + of garbage, the Leafs are finally going to be good. Now, I don't expect instant success in the standings, but the team is finally on the upswing and after so long a wait, it is going to be so, so sweet.
Serious questions: has a team ever dressed three rookies as good as Nylander, Matthews and Marner at once before?
I'm also going to disagree with my friend Mike A and his recent blog: Leafs are way, way ahead of where the Sabres are at this point.
PLUS: A month from now it will only be a week and half until the World Cup starts.
PLUS: World Cup > Olympics. Just for not shutting down the season in the middle. Also for not being party to destroying poor people in the host country.
Even: The Flyers have been strangely quiet this summer, no?
PLUS: I paid $7.99 last night to watch the movie Keanu and it was worth every penny. What a delightful and hilarious movie. Then again, as a George Michael and Cat Fan, it was sort of right up my alley.
Still, way more laughs than most movies.
PLUS: Not to stick up for A-Rod, but doesn't anyone find it weird how, as a society, we seem to hate A-Rod, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemons more than say Patrick Kane, Ben Rothlesberger and Kobe Bryant?
None of these players are convicted of anything in a court of law, but why do we assume cheaters are guilty but give the benefit of the doubt to guys who are accused of much worse crimes?
If you actually think about that, it says something pretty sick about our society.
MINUS: The Ducks still haven't signed Lindholm. If I am the Leafs or Coyotes, I am relentless in my pursuit of this player. What if the Leafs offered Connor Brown, Brandon Leipsic, their 2017 first round pick and JVR? Do the Ducks do that??
MINUS: Artists exclusively releasing albums to anyone. Remember when being a corporate shill was the worst sin a musician could commit? I love Kanye, but his decision to sell his soul to whatever crappy streaming service bought it makes me extremely disappointed and the fact that I can't buy a physical copy is a sick joke.
Now Frank Ocean is doing the same thing? I hate the music industry.
PLUS: The other day someone insultingly suggested that Dylan Strome was "a Jason Allison clone." They did not respond when I pointed out that Jason Allison once scored 95 points and averaged almost a point-per-game for his career.
It's like calling me the worst writer since Don Delillo.
PLUS: Your first place Toronto Blue Jays - baseball's best team since May and your future World Series Champions.
PLUS: My fantasy team the ____ _____ (completely unprintable) is not only in first place, but we haven't lost a week since week 8 and only three overall. Despite having Harper and Abreau, the _____ _______ keep on going.
MINUS: The Buzz doesn't get enough credit in the NHL-osphere - Todd Cordell does amazing work and has great hockey insight, Ryan Wilson is the best Penguins writer in the world, bar none. Same thing for Jason Lewis and the Kings. Peter Tessier is always an interesting read, Carol Schram is the best female hockey writer in the biz, and even Jaeckel's insanely biased Blackhawk's love-fest is a consistently good read. (For the record, Teows isn't even a top 10 Centre my good man!). For sure I'm forgetting people, but my point is, hockeybuzz probably has the best collection of writers on the internet.
Obviously I'm biased, but the world of social media is sometimes a viscous mean place and these people all do great work - go read them, not me. They at least know hockey.
PLUS: In honour of Miss Cleo, here's a ridiculously early prediction:
Bottom three teams in the NHL next year: Vancouver, Detroit and Columbus.
MINUS: To retire from the NHL as one of the league's best players is not cool. Come back Datsyuk!
PLUS: Datsyuk reads the Russian translation of this and decides to play for the Coyotes next season, realizing how foolish it is to walk away as arguably the league's best all-round player.
MINUS: Losing Demers and Goligoski is going to destroy the Stars. They have no goalie, they have no defense. People keep calling them a contender. I think they might be lucky to contend for a playoff spot.
MINUS: How can a team trade Seth Jones and Shea Weber in a six month period and a) make their team better and b) still have the best defense in the NHL (by a mile).
MINUS: They still don't have a goalie.
PLUS: If they refuse to acknowledge their need for a goalie, at least we Canadians won't be subjected to the geographically offensive Stanley Cup Final of Nashville vs Tampa.
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