First things first. The latest Hockey Hurts Podcast was fortunate enough to have Travis Yost come on and discuss hockey, the Buffalo Bills, and ice cream. You can have a listen by clicking
here
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Here are some hockey related questions I answered
I think it depends on if you are talking about the short term or the long term. The big three in the Eastern Conference (PIT, TB, WSH) have all remained right about where they were which is a good thing for them. I also feel like a handful of teams in that next tier are about where they were last year with some of their different personnel moves. For example, I believe Montreal will be close to the same team they've been with Carey Price healthy. Their terrible trade of PK Subban won't really start to bite them until a few years go by. The Islanders lost Frans Nielsen but picked up Andrew Ladd who is still good for now, but won't be in a few years. Boston basically exchanged Louis Eriksson for David Backes which won't have a huge him impact on 2016-17, but like Ladd Backes will suffer from aging sooner than later. A team like Detroit can't help themselves but to give term and money to bottom six forwards. Losing Pavel Datsyuk also does nothing to help their cause. Their playoff streak is in serious jeopardy. The New York Rangers went all in on their window but that window is almost completely shut. The way they have managed their defense corp. the past few years will have consequences for years to come.
On the good side I thought the Florida Panthers did a great job navigating the loss of Brian Campbell. What could have been a real setback turned into the team replacing him with both Keith Yandle and Jason Demers. They also did swapped Kulikov for the more analytical savvy Mark Pysyk from Buffalo. They have some defensemen who are very able with the puck which should translate into great transition with the forwards. Toronto and Buffalo are two teams that should be better as well. Each passing year their younger core should improve and so will their ability to win.
In the West the Ducks are a lot worse today than they were last year. A huge reason for that is the firing of Bruce Boudreau and the hiring of Randy Carlyle. Minnesota on the other hand should get a bump by hiring Bruce Boudreau who has won a divisional title every full year he has coached in the NHL.
The Calgary Flames should be better by default. They were 30th in goaltending last year and with Brian Elliott it would be shocking if they were again. Chicago was very fortunate to have Brian Campbell come back on such a cheap deal. Acquiring a player like that for basically nothing is just what the doctor ordered for the Blackhawks. The Nashville Predators getting PK Subban was a match made in heaven. His style of play with mesh well with Peter Laviolette and his personality will be celebrated by both management and fans in Nashville.
It pains me to say it but I don't believe the Dallas Stars helped themselves. They lost two pretty solid puck moving defensemen (Goligoski, Demers) and only replaced that with Dan Hamhuis. They also did nothing to address their goaltending situation which was ultimately their downfall last year. Edmonton traded one of the league's best players for a maybe Paul Martin. Connor MacDavid will be the best player in the league perhaps as early as next season but that isn't enough to pull the Oilers out of their playoff drought.
Teams like the Sharks, Blues, and Kings are still right about where they were which is not a bad thing because they were all good teams last year.
Absolutely 0% chance of becoming a Penguins however there is an opportunity for other teams to take advantage of this situation. I normally don't think high end RFA offers make sense for the team offering but this is definitely one that could. Tampa Bay is running out of money now that Steven Stamkos has signed his big extension and players like Killorn, Johnson, Palat, and Drouin all have a need for a raise in the next year (Killorn just got his). If you were to send an 8M per year offer sheet to TB it would totally blow up their structure and they would eventually lose somebody decent. Tampa Bay could easily trade Ben Bishop (and probably will) but I'm not sure that even clears enough money to do all the things they want if somebody were to offer Kucherov big money. Tampa Bay is still in a great spot both short and long term but another team could make things more difficult on them with an offer sheet. It just won't be the Penguins.
It has to be up there. Sometimes when there are only two golfers left with a chance it can be a real boring and plodding affair. That was anything but the case yesterday. Phil Mickelson trailing one shot before the round fired off one of the best Sunday rounds in major history and he still lost by three. Henrik Stenson is only the second player in the history of golf to shoot a 63 on Sunday and win a major. He now has the record for the lowest four round total at a major at 264. Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson previously held the title of best Sunday battle at The Open but Jack thinks yesterday was better
Some in the media have already tried to compare today’s final round to 1977 at Turnberry, with Tom Watson and me in what they called the “duel in the sun.” I thought we played great and had a wonderful match. On that day, Tom got me, 65-66. Our final round was really good, but theirs was even better. What a great match today.
It is not. Nail Yakupov makes 2.5M while Derrick Pouliot makes 800k. Pittsburgh can't fit that in right now. I would also argue that Pouliot would be an overpayment considering the rumors of Yakupov being had for as low as a third round pick. The Oilers have tanked Yakupov's value while Pittsburgh hasn't totally done so with Pouliot yet even though they are on their way.
Conor Sheary did a nice job of not drowning with the Crosby line throughout the playoffs. While he isn't the most ideal player to be flanking Sidney Crosby full time he does have a skill set that can contribute positively. Sheary is the type of AHL player that had been ignored for years (undersized and skilled) and made the most of his opportunity last year. He had a 5v5 points per 60 of 1.54 during the regular season last year but his top two forward linemates were Kevin Porter and Scott Wilson. Not bad production all things considered. What took 44 games in the regular season to register 10 points only took Sheary 23 in the playoffs playing with Sid. It isn't tremendous production but If the Penguins are going to keep the HBK line rolling the team is going to have to sacrifice a little bit on the top two lines. One has to think that it will be Sheary and Wilson battling it out to see who takes the last top six left winger spot opposite of Kunitz.
Taylor Hall is going to find success wherever he is. He is too skilled and too fast not to. Disappointingly he was traded to a team that probably has one of the most underwhelming top six center situations in the league. Adam Henrique is the best center on that roster right now and that is a downgrade from Edmonton's trio of McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, and Draisaitl. Taylor Hall is still going to have to lean on himself to get things done.
I do not. The Penguins roster heading into the 2016-17 season is set. The only possible change is if Matt Cullen re-signs with the team and they send Oskar Sundqvist back to the Baby Penguins. Jim Rutherford has said as much. With Derrick Pouliot looking like he will start the season as the seventh defenseman there really isn't a need to pick up another player at that position right now even if Pittsburgh did have the cap space.
This is a great question and one that is going to be driven by his usage next year. If he stays with HBK and they continue to produce we are talking about a player who is going to fetch around 5M per year on the open market. That isn't going to work for Pittsburgh. I think the Penguins could go as high as 4M to retain Bonino's services and still have enough cap space to make everything else work. It will be a case where Bonino will have to leave money on the table to return. Some players leave the money and stay in a great situation while others move on. If Bonino does move on the Penguins will definitely need to find a suitable replacement which isn't always an easy thing to do.
As far as Brian Dumoulin's goal total goes I am going to guess five goals for 2016-17. Last year certain expected goal models said that he could have had as many as ten goals last year but ended up with zero. I am going to split the difference and call it five. I would take the over though. He will probably see more time with Kris Letang on the top pairing and will definitely have more puck luck.
Last year the Bills got the best quarterback play since Western Pennsylvania native Jim Kelly retired. That ain't saying much considering he retired after the 1996 season. Rex Ryan was brought in to take one of the league's best defense units and make them better. He didn't, they were worse. Rex Ryan makes for a fun quote but he is like most NFL coaches when it comes to game management which is stuck in the past. You would think a team that hasn't made the playoffs since 1999 would be willing to take more risks but alas that isn't the case. Tom Brady being suspended four games could potentially get the Bills a win they previously weren't going to have but in my mind the Bills are forever 7-9 until they prove otherwise.
Lesean McCoy should be available all 16 games barring injury. There shouldn't be any fallout from his bar brawl during the offseason.
As of right now the easy answer is Cole. Jim Rutherford has basically called out Pouliot to steal one of the six defense spots and while Cole is the lowest hanging fruit of the bunch for him to beat out it is on Pouliot to show the perceived improvements the team is looking for. We should have a clearer picture in October but until further notice it is Cole
For some reason my wife decided to let my kids know about this app. I have no problem with the game and I think it can be a pretty cool thing to get people out of the house and active. The problem for me is that the kids love to spend more time arguing over who is going to catch the next pokemon which leads to nobody getting one. On a positive note the game has led to more family walks which is never a bad thing.
I have gotten this question quite a bit. Murray's current contract does not expire until July 1. If the expansion draft happens before July 1 like it is scheduled to nothing about Murray's next contract will impact his status. The situation remains the same on this front. Only Murray's current contract is applicable to the expansion draft. Pittsburgh needs to either strike an under the table deal with Las Vegas to not take Murray or they will have to trade Fleury to avoid exposing Murray.
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