"PLUS/MINUS is the NHL's best stat, and the only one I use"
- John Shannon*
MINUS The Canucks re-signing awful GM Jim Benning, who then immidiately turns around and gives three years to Eric Gudbranson, one of the worst and least effective players in the NHL.
PLUS: The show Broad City. This is a sitcom on par with the Office and Parks and Rec as one of the best sitcoms of all time.
MINUS: The old Ice Rink has come to an end. I don't think we're going to get enough cold days in a row to revive it. Still, I'm not gonna give up on the dream. I'll be leaving the water there in case it cold late March or early April.
Never thought I'd say this, but we need more winter. Spring is lame.
MINUS: The Florida Panthers and Dale Tallon. Somewhere, Tom Rowe sits laughing.
MINUS: The Ottawa Senators. Their owner is a joke, and is becoming Harold Ballard levels of bad. If even 5% of the rumours are true.....
It's also unbelievable that they re-signed Pierre Dorian, who is terrible. I guess you can give him credit for getting rid of Phaneuf, but the Erik Karlsson divorce is horrible, the trade for Duchene makes no sense in light of the subsequent tear down going on only a month later......and wouldn't you rather have Zibanejad than the Penguin's first rounder?
It's sad to see a team attempt to rebuild without moving out the main problems, which are the owner and the GM.
PLUS: From a personal perspective, I am happy to say I told you so. The Senators should have been one of the worst teams in the NHL last year, but they defied the stats with buckets of luck. I wrote that they were a paper tiger. I said they were secretly garbage.
They didn't listen. If they had, they wouldn't have torn their team apart to pursue a goal they weren't even close to. They should have looked at the stats, acknowledged that their place in the standings, and their playoff success, was luck-based and not screwed themselves by adding players they didn't need.
MINUS: The idea that they'd sandbag the return on Karlsson in order to ditch a bad contract (Ryan) is exactly what you'd expect from what is fast proving to be the league's most dysfunctional and poorly run team.
If you don't hit a home-run on Karlsson you don't trade him. Letting him walk on principle is better than getting a poor return.
MINUS: The Capitals are in free fall. I want them to make it, but it's not looking that good at the moment. Those back-to-back wins against Columbus are looming large right now.
PLUS:The Justice League. I swear, the D.C movies are amazing and no one knows it. What is better than Batman, the Flash and Superman in the same movie? I don't know if any series of movies has ever been more unjustly hated. That's the internet for you, it's just one big exercise in group think.
While the Black Panther was certainly a sweet movie, Justice League was better. In fact, I think Justice League was maybe the best superhero movie ever.
PLUS: I love the Coyotes trade for Kuemper. Chayka is great.
PLUS: The Penguins adding Brassard. Off the top of my head, these are the NHL teams who are poorly run by awful GMs: Edmonton, Florida, Montreal, Anaheim, Vancouver, Washington, Ottawa, Vancouver, Buffalo and Minnesota. So when you think about it, the Penguins, just by having a competent GM, have a massive advantage over most of the NHL.
But Brassard gives them the best centre depth in the NHL and makes them the best team by a mile (as if they already weren't).
PLUS: In an effort to show respect to his teams fans, Melnyk should remove himself from the day to day operations, fire everyone in the organization and let someone else rebuild it. Apologize to Karlsson and let the new guy build around him.
MINUS: That work arounf of the Salary Cap the Knights and Pens just pulled is total B.S. Give me a break.
PLUS: The Leafs beating Boston. Sorry Montreal, but you're no longer the Leafs biggest rival. That said, great trade for Nash. The Rangers should of got more.
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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