How old is he? I will have to look into him later.
- James_Tanner

31. 2 more years left.

I would say that when I began this gig, I sort of took a huge homer attitude but have tried to develop into a more thoughtful, realistic kind of writer. That isn't to say that I don't still overhype my own guys or that I am not extremely prone to hyperbole (my best friend won't take movie reviews from me anymore because he says that I say everything is 'the best ever," for example).

I see myself as perhaps able to fill a niche as kind of an entertaining commentator/hockey enthusiast as opposed to some kind of serious journalist. I am a fiction writer and not a hockey expert, but I'm here to entertain and most days I have a lot of fun.

Hockey and its fans - even some other writers who will not associate with me for whatever reason (likely many legit one) - take itself way too seriously.
- James_Tanner

Glad to hear...I think this is why you get some push back in here as well

then why do you get people banned?
- rinaldo

There have only been a few times when I've actually had to complain to someone in authority to get someone off of here for a while. Most of those times involved either racism or language that can get us in trouble with out sponsors, so they had nothing to do with getting people in trouble, but just keeping the site clean and doing what is asked of us w/r/t to being good 'corporate citizens' for lack of a better term.

In the few times a guy has actually pushed me to ask for an outright ban, I'd say it was like getting one of those English guard guys to talk. I mean, I take a lot of crap on here from people - and some have even stalked me across the virtual world - so if I have to complain about you, (the royal 'you' I mean) then you likely deserved a ban long before you actually got one.

then why do you get people banned?
- rinaldo

I think the Mod's do that themselves...they can read too

Question...what about Morgan Rielly's new contract and Mr. Dubas being an analytics guy....Morgan's the worst D on the Leafs roster....was this a good signing?

Or is this just another anomaly? It seems CF is full of anomaly's...does that still make it an anomaly?
- Garnie

bump...sorry I must be on your ignore list...but really...what do you think of the signing and his CF%?

Glad to hear...I think this is why you get some push back in here as well
- Garnie

Of course, and that's fine. I don't want a place where a bunch of sycophants agree with everything I say. I am going to say some stupid stuff - it's the nature of writing things off the top of your head and publishing them instantly.

I always enjoy a good argument.

For the average reader, it is highly doubtful that they realize how easy it would be to write something populist. That is to say, that everyone would generally agree with. They also seem to tend to, in my experience, fail to realize how difficult it is to challenge accepted opinion in a way that doesn't come off as 'trollish' or being contrary just for the sake of it.

There is definitely a hard balance to strike there, made especially difficult by the fact that I somewhat respect and feel that there is an actual function that 'trolling' serves and that I make a lot of jokes and don't always make it clear when I am joking.

At the end of the day, you just want to feel like you wrote honestly without pandering and without saying something you generally don't believe.

bump...sorry I must be on your ignore list...but really...what do you think of the signing and his CF%?
- Garnie

Sorry, I am not trying to ignore you, I really just can't get to every single comment.



I really like the Morgan Reilly signing. Yes, he does seem to be a bad defensive player at this point in his career. However, 1) he is very young. 2) His partner, Matt Hunwick, basically sucks. He had very good CF numbers with Gardiner. 3) He's farther along that Gardiner was at the same age and Gardiner is a very good first pairing defenseman. 4) As a puck mover with massive talent, it's best to focus on the positives at this point and hope he can learn to be a dominant possession player. 5) For what they paid and what they might get, his power-play skills alone almost make it a good contract anyways, so I'm not too worried.

TJ Brennan is an intriguing talent, but seeing him in playing in preseason for the Isles in 2014, it is apparent that he simply isn't big enough to be an NHL defenseman. He's sort of like a Robbie Schrempf (or Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner for 90s basketball fans) in that he's a great talent but there's just not quite a place for him in the big leagues.

The column next to yours is looking for takers for Dennis Wideman. Is there a match, here?

Sorry, I am not trying to ignore you, I really just can't get to every single comment.



I really like the Morgan Reilly signing. Yes, he does seem to be a bad defensive player at this point in his career. However, 1) he is very young. 2) His partner, Matt Hunwick, basically sucks. He had very good CF numbers with Gardiner. 3) He's farther along that Gardiner was at the same age and Gardiner is a very good first pairing defenseman. 4) As a puck mover with massive talent, it's best to focus on the positives at this point and hope he can learn to be a dominant possession player. 5) For what they paid and what they might get, his power-play skills alone almost make it a good contract anyways, so I'm not too worried.
- James_Tanner

Thank you, I don't agree with everything as usual but I also like the signing.

Let's not get into it today..but Gardiner has never played 1st pair....so not sure how you come to that conclusion (actually I do know how - lol )...but hey....GO LEAFS GO ( maybe next year he will be....then we will see if Jake the Snake is for real or not )

The column next to yours is looking for takers for Dennis Wideman. Is there a match, here?
- Snowblind

I'll pass. I've already said the Calgary dman that I would like.

The column next to yours is looking for takers for Dennis Wideman. Is there a match, here?
- Snowblind

Wideman is an intriguing option. 2nd and a mid level prospect do it?

Wideman is an intriguing option. 2nd and a mid level prospect do it?
- Seanook

from the yotes, salary needs to go back.

michalek for wideman ($1M retain). put in a pick wherever you want.

Well if the puck always goes in our net when he's on the ice...then cf = zero.

If he can be on the ice and keep the puck out of our net....then cf= who cares.

It's not true that you can't watch and see how good a player is....unless your drunk or not paying attention
- Garnie

The eye can fool you though. Drunk or sober.

from the yotes, salary needs to go back.

michalek for wideman ($1M retain). put in a pick wherever you want.
- Tumbleweed

You have no idea how bad Michalek is if you think you could get Wideman for him. put it this way, I don't want either of those guys but I'd be prepared to call someone a genius if that trade happened.

And to the guy who said a second for Wideman, no way.

from the yotes, salary needs to go back.

michalek for wideman ($1M retain). put in a pick wherever you want.
- Tumbleweed

Assuming Michalek gets the Robidas (Hoffa) treatment. Burke channels his inner Tanya Harding..... 2nd could stand alone. Agreed?

The eye can fool you though. Drunk or sober.
- shack67

So can Corsi

You have no idea how bad Michalek is if you think you could get Wideman for him. put it this way, I don't want either of those guys but I'd be prepared to call someone a genius if that trade happened.

And to the guy who said a second for Wideman, no way.
- James_Tanner

This from the guy who doesn't think Reilly is a good defender but looooves Martin Marincin and his mountain of analytic evidence that will carry him to southern greatness.

Being a bit nit picky wishy washy there James?

I would say that when I began this gig, I sort of took a huge homer attitude but have tried to develop into a more thoughtful, realistic kind of writer. That isn't to say that I don't still overhype my own guys or that I am not extremely prone to hyperbole (my best friend won't take movie reviews from me anymore because he says that I say everything is 'the best ever," for example).

I see myself as perhaps able to fill a niche as kind of an entertaining commentator/hockey enthusiast as opposed to some kind of serious journalist. I am a fiction writer and not a hockey expert, but I'm here to entertain and most days I have a lot of fun.

Hockey and its fans - even some other writers who will not associate with me for whatever reason (likely many legit one) - take itself way too seriously.
- James_Tanner

Well I'm glad to see that progression. My main concern with the huge homer attitude is it can come across disingenuous to your readers to try to sell them on potential outcomes that don't have a realistic chance. This is why Garth gets so much grief when he puts out piss poor trade proposals for Erik Karlsson to Buffalo. At some point it isn't even homerism, it's just trolling which can even come across offensive and arrogant to the readers by assuming they are stupid enough to be entertained by such delusional nonsense.

Hyperbole can be fine but the reader needs to know that is what it is. When you mix regular hyperbole with a seriously homer attitude it becomes impossible for the reader to tell the difference because you've lost credibility.

This site is filled with a lot of well informed readers/posters who (for the most part) want to come in and actually be informed on hockey news or be supplied with fresh realistic ideas on possible outcomes or projections. If it isn't grounded in reality and/or knowledgeable then it usually isn't very entertaining.

Communication between the goalie and the defense is absolutely crucial. A defenseman maybe needs to say to his goalie:

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Is that a song?

You have no idea how bad Michalek is if you think you could get Wideman for him. put it this way, I don't want either of those guys but I'd be prepared to call someone a genius if that trade happened.

And to the guy who said a second for Wideman, no way.
- James_Tanner

i didn't poop on your crappy trade underpayments.

wideman went for a crap prospect and a 3rd last time he was traded 5 years ago under contract.

i suspect adding something similar to go along with michalek would be more than enough to get him now.

Confirmation bias must play a role - the sophmore jinx etc - but I can see some psychological reasons for second year players struggling, on top of which the league adjusts, and a lot of players experiencing a large drop off would simply be that you notice guys who exceed expectations and since luck is such a factor, a rookie who exceeds performance and then has bad luck to drop below their floor looks like a massive drop-off when it's possible, even likely, that player didn't play much differently.

So, I would say there are some good reasons to believe in the sophmore jinx beyond just superstition. But I'd still take it with a grain of salt when people use that phrase and I'd be interested to see if anyone has studied it. I will try to remember to look later as I can't afford an hour trip down the Google Rabbit Hole right now.
- James_Tanner

Fair, seems like a good topic that could be easily proven/debunked by some simple statistics.

This from the guy who doesn't think Reilly is a good defender but looooves Martin Marincin and his mountain of analytic evidence that will carry him to southern greatness.

Being a bit nit picky wishy washy there James?
- Seanook

Marincin is a low-impact guy who limits shots, possesses the p uck and is perfect for a five six or seven role on a team.

Rielly is needed to be a top pairing defenseman, so he needs to be way better than he was. The difference is you pretty much know what you're getting with Marincin at this point, but Rielly has several levels to go.

Assuming Michalek gets the Robidas (Hoffa) treatment. Burke channels his inner Tanya Harding..... 2nd could stand alone. Agreed?
- Seanook

3rd and a junk prospect at most.

not more than washington paid for him a few years back.

A year ago, I thought Dahlbeck was a good acquisition, I still believed that Gormely would turn into an impact player and that Murphy and Stone would be better than they are. I also never though Michalek's game would fall right off a cliff.


- James_Tanner

2nd season in the NHL, 23 years old. I think you are writing off Murphy to a career of mediocrity a bit early. Pronger was pretty awful in his first few seasons, he didnt start to look like a star until his 4th or 5th season. I'm not saying Murphy will be Pronger, but I think a young defenseman needs more than 2 NHL seasons to see what he will ultimately be. Especially when he is surrounded by garbage to mentor him.