Follow @james_tanner123 Since +/- is the NHL's worst stat, I thought it would make sense to appropriate it and make it useful as we review the best and worst of the past week in the NHL.
PLUS: After a brief hiatus, PLUS/MINUS is back, due to the demands of ones of people.
MINUS: Jonathan Druin. Its a salary cap league you idiots, you don't alienate cheap young players.
PLUS: I don't usually make New Years resolutions, but this year I vow to live my life as much like Lil' Wayne as possible. Young Money!
MINUS: It really didn't take long for people to act like Lou Lamoriello is the real GM in Toronto. If you read the papers/ listen to the radio, it's all 'what will Lou do' etc., but it's all kind of B.S. At least I assume it is.
A rebuilding team with a very progressive outlook has a very active face-of-the-franchise President and two highly regarded GM "prospects" and a what appears to be a great combination of youth, talents and philosophies for a changing NHL.
And then the go and bring in the oldest, most out-of-date, old-school guy for a GM. A move which everyone agrees is either the stupidest thing of all time (if he's the "real" GM) or a genius move (if he's a figurehead/ adviser).
Now, no one really knows the truth (and if they do, they aren't saying) but I just can't see a situation where it makes sense for Lamoriello to be the GM in the conventional sense. But its weird that everyone acts like he is.
If he is, God help the Leafs.
MINUS: The parity in the NHL - caused by the salary cap + the ridiculous way the league awards points in the standings + the inability of teams to make trades - is to the point of lunacy. At one point in December, half the teams in the league were within 6 points (three losses) of last place overall.
The Least the NHL could do is make some adjustments to the rules so that trades can occur. What they don't seem to get is that fans enjoy trades/ trade talk just as much they enjoy watching hockey.
PLUS: I watched a really stupid amount of movies over the last two weeks as I transitioned from the flu to a cold, but the best one was one I'd never even heard of until yesterday: Welcome to Me a movie where Kristen Wiig is mentally ill, wins the lottery and then uses the money to fund her own cable access show.
Its just about the funniest movie I've ever seen, though some tightwads would probably find it offensive, I think it's important to remember that as long as it isn't done in a mean way, no topic is beyond comedy.
PLUS: You ever see the South Park episode about Yelp! ? It makes the point that people that review things on the internet are just negative a-holes. This is a point more people should make.
Like, if you - God forbid - have a bad customer service experience and your first instinct is to tell on the business that gave it to you in the form of an anonymous message board, so that they will lose business or maybe fire someone, then you're a loser.
PLUS: Connor Murphy and Oliver Ekman-Larsson being paired together. It is my favorite thing about the Coyotes so far this year. While playing together, OEL and Murphy have a 50% CF rating (amazing, considering the team) while both players are worse without each other.
MINUS: When people talk about the playoffs in terms of a long-shot team making them, and they refer to the as "the P-word" I am telling you, I the irrational amount of rage this makes me feel makes me want to seriously consider psychiatric help.
Like, I don't know whats wrong with me, but I judge people almost as much based on the words they use and the things they like as as the actions they take. So, when someone calls the Playoffs the "P-word" I just think that guy is even more of a loser than someone who Yelps.
They are an older team in decline with a half-way decent roster, and as such they are roughly a .500 team. This means they will win half their games and lose half of them. The way in which that record is split up in regards to home and away is completely random.
If about half of the NHL's teams are .500 teams, then it figures that every year at least one of those teams will have a bizarre home/road split. It's not mystical. There is very little home ice advantage in hockey.
It's random and meaningless. And bound to happen.
MINUS: Steve Simmons and Kelly Hrudey both said John Scott should resign from his position as allstar Captain if "he has any integrity."
I got nothing against Hrudey, but maybe people who invent stories about hotdogs ought not to throw out that word. Either way, it's ridiculous for someone else to sit there and tell someone to give up what is probably one of the coolest things that ever happened to him.
John Scott isn't an All Star, but if you take the allstar game that seriously, you're a moron. The whole reason people hijacked the voting processes is because people hate corporate BS and that is all the ASG is.
Get a life.
I realize you have to play guys in order to trade them, but I do wonder if the lack of development during a lost year won't hurt more than the slightly higher draft picks for duds program will help.
Either way, it's an interesting rebuilding strategy, but I think they need to move out a JVR, a Bernier and a Reimer before they get too high in the standings. Only the luck of a Jamie Benn in the sixth-round type of thing is going to make up for not getting a top three pick this year, and the odds on that are pretty long.
So after this ends TOR improves to 14-8-5 since the start of November. 33 of a possible 54 points (.611 pt%)
— Stephen Burtch (@SteveBurtch) January 3, 2016Start trading guys now. You can't wait for the deadline. The problem with adding a ton of undervalued players? You actually get good. This is a playoff team and needs to be dismantled in a hurry. Whether or not it is, I think, will give us the answer we desire about Lamoriello.
MINUS: Unquestioned Narratives. Dion Phaneuf is not better under Mike Babcock. He's about the same, he just plays less. Jake Gardiner is not better under Mike Babcock. He was pretty much always good. He just doesn't get benched by a vindictive moron anymore for things that aren't his fault.
Its so funny, you get a rep and you can't shake it. I still hear people - like every single day - say that Gardiner isn't good in his own end.
MINUS: Erik Karlsson being wasted on a team that can't be good despite having a player who essentially makes them the best team in hockey for at least 23 minutes per game.
East: Florida, Tampa, Boston, Wash, NYI, Pittsburgh. Wildcards: Montreal, Carolina.
West: Dallas, St.Louis, Minnesota, LA, San Jose, Edmonton. Wildcards: Chicago, Nashville.
MINUS: While writing this, I saw a tweet that suggested that we don't say "stats guys" anymore, but instead go gender neutral. Jesus Christ. I am 100% for gender equality, but at the same time, I have absolute no use for pronoun police. Why don't you idiots go and write some online restaurant reviews?
PLUS: Say what you will about their respective franchises, but the Oilers and Coyotes played a hell of a game yesterday afternoon.
MINUS: You must use the word "of" after the word "because." If you don't, you sound .....-(and I bet you guessed it)........ like an idiot.
Thanks for reading.