biittner77

what, that their 1 in 5 chance of winning the lottery didn't pan out? do you know how probabilities work? if there was a result that the nhl didn't want, it was probably to have a supposed one-in-10-year superstar to end up in edmonton. the two guys from this draft who everyone thinks will end up as superstars will end up in edmonton and buffalo, haha. I like seeing teams who purposely tank for the worst record not get the #1 pick You don't think Edmonton was tanking too? Edmonton winning the lottery is great because it means that McDavid will be a non factor in the Western conference.

As he should. He can do so and still be telling the truth. If it hadn't been for the injuries, they would have waited until Monday and had him make his debut on the road.

because dumb people believe in pitching prospects Back then, power hitters were a dime a dozen so that put a premium on getting the few dominant pitchers available.

Well with the existence of a salary cap in the NHL I think any analogy to the MLB is useless. Baseball doesn't have a hard cap but every team has a budget. If you want a "#1 starter", that costs the type of money that the Cubs are paying Lester. Teams that can afford to pay that kind of money exist so starting pitchers are going to command that salary. What teams would like to pay a player is different from what they have to pay a player. Would another team pay Crawford $6 million per? It's impossible to say for sure but I'd guess the answer is very likely yes. Just as an example, Crawford makes Dallas a legitimate Cup contender. The problem is allocation of resources. If the Hawks deem it necessary to keep Crawford, they have to pay him what others would pay him. Once they decide to do that, they can't pay Bryan Bickell $4 million per since that gives them little to no flexibility.

Crawford is overpaid in the same way and for the same reason as Jon Lester. We've already had this conversation. Perhaps we can agree to disagree and wait until the season is over and see if anything has changed by then.

That's just silly. Unless you're suggesting that Q will want to leave for a new challenge after winning another cup. You're talking about, by the time he retires, the second winningest coach in the history of the sport. Neither of those guys can skate, especially Hayes. Neither could never succeed in the system that Hawks run. Good for them if they have 20 goal seasons for someone else. There's more to playing hockey than scoring goals. Or are you talking about Kevin "Captain Stairwell" Hayes? That does hurt but that's not really Bowman's fault. Quoted for truth. I love Leddy and am happy for his success. It was either him or Sharp and it was easier to trade Leddy because of his contract status. Corey Crawford is not overpaid. People tend to say that he's not elite. Fine but if you look at what elite goalies are making, he makes less than them. If you want to say he is a middle tier goalies that's fine too. He's paid at the top of that middle tier which corresponds with his level of play which has been for the most part very good. That being said, They will probably listen to offers for Crawford because the Detroit model, which the Hawks seem to be following, pays the skaters not the goalie. They may be able to get by with Darling and Raanta but it could easily be a recipe for disaster as they break in 2 rookie defensemen.

$129 I believe. This is the 2nd year I've had it and it's a really good deal, especially since I travel as much as I do. Correct. On both points. Plus some new TVs have the app so it's about as close as you can get to just getting all the games on cable. I'm checking my TV for this ap when I get home.

I genuinely believe Jaxon could be an extremely effective (and wildly, wildly overpaid) reliever. My basis for this belief is stuff. okay theo the two smartest posters on the fourth (?) most prominent cubs message board have spoken. make it happen. What are the top three? Cubs.com Bleacher report da Bum's secret Cubs/ Purdue/ 49ers blog

None of them had any comments yet when I went there. I don't read articles, it just slows me down on the way to go argue in the comments sections. From a "tell me something I don't already know" standpoint, that would be the only article worth reading since the rest of those topics have already been beaten to death, dug up, beheaded, thrown back into the box and reburied somewhere else: otherwise known as cromwelled after Oliver Cromwell who was posthumously executed during the reign of Charles II.

Will April 16th or 17th be forever known as Kris Bryant Day?

"We wanted to keep him down until he was ready but the injuries forced our hand" is all he'd have to say.

Isn't service time about days not games?

Maybe when Baez returns they'll give him a couple games out there just to see what that looks like in case they decide they can't live without Mike Olt at 3rd.

Are season tickets non transferable?

Not to get off topic but is the consensus that he'll make him debut at the start of the road trip or will they delay for sake of appearances? Has Bryant played any games in LF?

Is this guy a Cubs fan or a Cubs hater? Either way, it's great at being terrible and stupid.

Err isn't Seabrook signed through next season? Or are you talking about long term since you are talking about an expansion draft, which I am not sure will happen this offseason. Seabrook is signed thru 2015-16. And if some team like the Oilers offered a 32 year old defenseman 10 million a year? Well god bless them. http://www.spotrac.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/brent-seabrook/ That would be more reassuring if the Hawks had anybody even remotely as good coming through the pipeline. Hopefully Johns grows to be that guy but it will take time if it happens at all. Teams like the Oilers have to overpay- just like the Hawks had to overpay Campbell- because why else would anyone want to play there? Duncan Keith is almost a 32 year old defenseman. Do you think a team would be willing to pay him a lot of money to lure him away? I know that Keith and Seabrook are not the same player, Keith has won the Norris, etc. but Seabrook would be a great captain for a young, upcoming team. Lots of GMs put a lot of value on that experience.

I hesitate to talk about what might happen this off season. My fear though, since there's no hockey today, is that a team like the Oilers offer Seabrook $10 mil/ per. The Hawks couldn't come anywhere near that and it would be hard to pass up that much money. Another potential nightmare scenario is an expansion draft where the Hawks have to choose which good players to protect and which ones to hope don't get claimed.

Is he still on leave? I don't see his name in any of the AAA box scores

cursing should be for dramatic effect or emphasis. Too many people drop expletives as their only means of self expression. If they're not here because they can't swear than that's reason enough to keep the censor. I would be ok with the prime time TV rules.

I think the Ducks are vulnerable. They're going to struggle to keep up with the Jets. I know people are picking the Rangers in 3 but the Pens are in a unique position of talented team with zero expectations. That might work in their advantage. If they somehow got by the Rangers they could do some damage. It's a shame that either the Wild or Blues will be eliminated in round one while the Canucks or the Flames will advance. The over under of Americans watching that series is 3.5 people.

Fans shouldn't cheer the anthem on the road. That's a home game thing. There are plenty of chances to let them know you're there once the game starts. As for the tickets, if you had any fans that actually go to games, you wouldn't have to worry about road fans taking over your stadium.

Who would be salty that Kane returned ahead of schedule?

No more excuses or rationalizations. We'll see what this team is made of on Wednesday. The Preds haven't been very good lately, including Rinne but neither have the Hawks. They won't be an easy out but were easily the least painful 1st round match up. Hawks in 6. Here's how the rest of the west plays out: Blues are better than the Wild but the Wild are stubborn and won't go down easy. Blues in 6 Ducks are a mirage. Teams with speed give the Ducks problems. Jets in 7 Vancouver aren't what they used to be but they have more experience. The Flames are just happy to be there. Van in 7 because they stink. Blues Hawks is hard to tell. If Kane is back the Hawks win. Jets and Van are playing for the right to lose to the Hawks/ Blues winner so Jets I guess. The Rangers should roll through the East. With the exception of the Lightning, it's hard to see how anyone can beat them in a 7 game series. Now you know what won't happen.

They seem to place a lot of value on home ice, so that's a motive to try to win. All of their talented players are already hurt so they have no reason to mail this one in. If they win, they would have a chance to face the Jets. Depending on who they'd rather face that could be a reason to try to win. Finally, the Blues under Hitchcock rarely mail it in even if they probably should. Finally, a win would give them a road to the cup that doesn't go through Chicago. On the other hand, laying down would hurt their biggest rival (in their minds). In order for them to get the #1 seed in the West, they need Arizona to win or take the Ducks into OT.