Mid summer thoughts
I'm lucky I'm sitting on my deck looking out of the expanse of lake Winnipeg with nothing in sight other than small waves. I can here them lap against the shore and it's a peaceful as could be. It's the perfect time to just put some random thoughts out because right now in terms of hockey that's all we've got.
For the Jets
I think they will be a better team this year but there are some big 'ifs'. Something has to change with the defence, at least in usage and tactics. With players like Ehlers and now Laine the defence has to become a quick transition type and move the puck out and up the ice fast. To do so on all pairing means tough decisions have to be made.
Mentioned before but the the bottom 6 forwards will also have a lot to do with the success of the above. Again tough decisions to be made there as well.
Stats
There's such a strange vibe in our online stats community as it relates to hockey. As it evolves and accepts different approaches to how data is used and created it sure would be nice is an openness of opinion came too. While the math is beyond me the adherence to 'numbers don't lie' seems to have taken a new form- 'my numbers don't lie so I would agree with you if you were right'. This is simply a by-product of the emergence of dialogue and acceptance of stats and I hope those in the thick of it get past it. In any dialogue there is always a place for contrarian views, it makes us work harder and smarter but too often now the contrarian is treated like some virus to infect the purity. I think a little more resilience needs to be built up in both sides.
Politics
I've been fascinated by the US political race like never before. I think for your fine country there's a real interesting tipping point coming and it's closer than you think. Real change threatens what people know and understand from the traditional sense, most importantly what we have and hold sacred. Like stats work in hockey the politics of change today can affect traditional values and that's scary for some but a necessary part of change.
Whether you agreed with him these past 7.5 years or not I think Barak Obama tried with as much sincerity and effort to bring change and I hope there are more people like him looking to lead. Even left or right on the scale he thought of the betterment for his country and people which is something I don't see in many places including my own country.
Life
Take a step out of your zone once in awhile. Put a spin of something different in front of you to shake things up so you have perspective from other angles. It's the greatest gift you can give yourself and costs nothing. I'm not old but I'm not young either anymore and that's the one thing I've learned so far. Be open to diversity of opinion, listen and consider before reacting and don't be close minded. Hockey, life and politics all seem to reward those who can accept differences without having to change them.
Enjoy your long weekend in Canada and may you have great weather, warm friendships and great beverages!