shrader

I tried a couple stouts tonight: C.R.E.A.M donut infused cappuccino milk stout and fat Charley's raspberry chocolate stout. The first really wasn't my style, but others were raving so I figured why not. The second was decent, nothing special. I had just eaten dinner and for whatever reason, I lean towards these type of beers after eating.

Rochester signed him to a tryout deal. Buffalo did not. This will be Johansson's audition to see whether or not Buffalo brings him aboard.

You haven't heard of the new "getting skated into" penalty? Expect it to also be called on anyone playing against Edmonton.

I'm really looking forward to the warmer weather. Late in the fall, my town completed a trail and bridge that leads from my neighborhood directly to a growler filling place. It's maybe a ten minute walk. Before, thanks to some one way roads and annoying traffic lights, the drive took almost as much time. There are going to be plenty of walks with the neighborhood directly to that place now that the sun is out later. I recently downloaded that untapped app but haven't really used it much yet. As for selection, this place rotates their taps frequently. I've got a pretty broad taste when it comes to beer. I find myself gravitating towards the stouts when I'm there, but on the right day I'll try almost anything. I'll have to start tracking what I'm buying while I'm there.

Why?

At this point, I think anything Kane or Reinhart related is completely off the table. Someone will throw the old "if the price is right" cliche out there, but I just don't see it happening. They've got some fire power brewing and they need to run with that. If you go back pre-lockout (the 2005 one), they had been a horrible team, but their offense started to show signs of life at the tail end of the season. Then, coming out of the lockout, we all know what that team wound up doing. I think this current offense is on the verge of a similar breakthrough. I'm not trying to say the team will have the same run as they did back then, but we're trending towards a much stronger offense.

We could make another thread on this subject. My wife will just throw all the mail on the counter each day, never in the same space twice. Every now and then I will find a month old bill buried somewhere. Most recently, she got a new AAA card in the mail and never opened it. I found it, opened it, and told her to put the card in her wallet. She ignored that. Each of the last three days, I have put that card directly on top of her wallet in her purse at night,and each day, it winds up back on top of the counter. I was really tempted to stop by her school this morning to slash her tires.

Empty boxes put back in the cupboard? Hell, my wife does that.

I'm intrigued by the combination of Bailey and Kane when I've see it. That combo brings a lot of speed and their physical play can have the opposing defensemen hearing the footsteps. He's the one guy I'm most interested to see if you can take that next step. As for Gorges, I'm ready to walk away from him if the chance presents itself. He's going to be 33 year next season and that type of physical defensemen falls off a cliff so fast once they're beyond 30. All I can ever picture with the older stay at home guys is Jay McKee in St. Louis. If he's going to stick around, and most likely he will, I hope he falls down to a 6/7 guy. McCabe on the second pair is ideal. I'm not so sure you find someone to bump him down though. That really is the perfect example of why this team is where they are right now. They've got too many guys back there who are being asked to be more than they actually are. If they could find someone to pair up with Risto, what type of player do you have in mind?

That bolded sentence paints a scary picture for me. There's not enough in the way of young defensemen to improve the blue line. The bulk of the improvement there is going to have to come from the outside. I know you're probably talking about the young forwards improving, so at least that much is a happy thought. If they can get at least two guys out of the list of Bailey/Baptiste/Carrier/Fasching/Rodrigues to become significant contributors within the top 9, this offense could start to become dangerous. I'm not ready to throw Nylander in that group yes as I feel like he is one more year away, but for whatever reason, I feel like I forgot one name.

We're talking about the Spaceball, right?

Their best powerplay in nearly 40 years. That's crazy.

And the much better option than the cliff hanger is still so incredibly obvious. Abe dies in the season finale, Glenn in the season premiere. You get two separate boosts from the "holy crap" reactions and no one feels like you're jerking them around with horrible writing.

Somebody needs to tell Pierre that Brian Leetch never won the Hobey.

This is where it pays off that the only people I know around here are my friends who live in the same new construction neighborhood as I do. The biggest complaint you'll ever hear is "I really wish I had gone with that color cabinets in my house instead". We're all pretty much in the same exact place.

It sounds like the team could easily use playing time to persuade a college free agent to sign with the team. I'm not familiar with who is available just yet.

Gregory has to be killed by one of his own people. That's the only way it can end with him.

Gregory was the best part of last night's episode as far as I'm concerned. Xander Berkley plays the weasel really well.

I just need UNC to lose at this point. That loss would cripple the one guy in my bracket who absolutely must not win.

I assumed it was Dwight too. As for Simon, he actually felt much more normal yesterday, like he shaved the mustache or something.

I forget who our Ottawa fan is, but BC is done. So if they're going to add White, they can at any point now (if they haven't already).

I was just about to ask if anyone has started it. I'm hoping it is better than Luke Cage was. For me, that one kind of dragged on a bit after they mixed things up a bit at the midpoint.

For whatever reason, I've had the impression that they have a series of those satellite bases and that's where they base the runs from. I'm sure it's just a cost saving method since they film at multiple locations, but I don't remember ever seeing any of those Kingdom-run guys at the Sanctuary. Also, I feel like it's been the same with Simon (leads the runs to the Hilltop). They may have even mentioned it on the show at some point.

With 8 more points, Eichel will equal his total from last year. He has 12 games left to make that happen. Not too bad considering he missed 2 months this year (missed one game last year). There's another sign of the huge progress towards being a star that he's made this season. I forget who asked about that earlier.

Have you looked at this year's draft much? I haven't, but I always see people saying it is weak. I just wonder if that is due to the lack of a true top guy or if it is across the draft as a whole. We've had an incredible run of top end guys in the draft in recent years, so it had to end sooner or later. This is the first time since 2011 (Nugent-Hopkins) and 2012 (Yakupov) where the top guy isn't hyped through the roof leading up to the draft. Hopefully there is something good there for us. I know we had the best player available talk a week or so back and they should be going that route again. I just hope that BPA just so happens to be a defenseman.