#AND a Saturday ! wow all righty

[tiberius-kirks]

oh jesus it's july

[mysynthfetish]

ONDEKOZA again.

So lemme just start by saying this is the second attempt at thumbfucking this post out on my phone in the Stumblr app. First time I was almost all the way through the post when I dipped out to grab a link to a video and when I flipped back to this app guess what, fucking post had fucked off into fuck knows where. Pissed. Me. Off. Anyway.

Exactly one month ago I was visited by opportunity in the form of a Saturday work day which I was told at the last minute (on Friday) that I didn’t actually need to attend. Mental wheels started frantically spinning. What was it that I had thought about doing or going to but in the end gave up on the idea because of travel time and difficulty finding a place to stay... oh shit yeah, Ondekoza is playing kinda sorta nearby. Righty-O then. I immediately got busy contacting the boss (this woman I live with who is the mother of our children) and asked her if she minded if I took the car and fugged off for the weekend. She was like “how soon can you be gone?” Hahaha no not really. She just said sure go ahead just be careful. Then I got in touch with Naoto, the one member of Ondekoza who I talk with regularly, and asked if it’d be ok for me to drive out and stay with them and help set up and tear down for their show and whatever. A positive reply came rather quickly so a last minute plan came together and Saturday morning off I went.

They were doing workshops and fun things, as well as playing a full concert (outdoors, on a stage set up in the middle of a terraced rice field area) to bring a week-long artsyfartsy event to a close. What was the event called again? Something like Umi-no-Stage 2019 (Umi means ocean, sea or beach), featuring workshops and performances by mostly off the wall/weirdo/wacky artists (right up my alley) held in a wee rustic hamlet (so small it’s almost not on maps) called Tagarasu (literally means Rice Field Crow, I dig it) near Obama City (yes, they made a big deal outta that when Drumpf’s predecessor was in office), in Fukui Prefecture (not “fuckyouey” hahaha no, “fooh-kooh-wee”) on the Sea of Japan side. Enough parentheses in that last sentence for you? Hehe. So as you can see on the map, google maps said it would be a two hour drive if I took the non-toll roads. Lemme tell you, freeways are anything but free here. The routes on the left and right on that map had tolls of $40 and $50 each, one way, so I was like the hell with that. It was an easy drive anyway once I got out of the urban sprawl and traffic jam factory of Kyoto City itself. Then it was twisty mountain roads, fresh, cool air, and scenic routes through mountain forests and alongside rivers in valleys. I thought it quite ironic and a helluva coincidence that I ended up driving the westernmost length of a road which I had ran the easternmost part of a few weeks prior on an overnighter with the third graders for work. Here’s a shot of the road sign:

ACCIIIIIIIIIIEEED!!!!!! So before I knew it I arrived in one piece, parked at a beach access parking lot that said “$10 a day, pay at the front” but I was like “I’m with Ondekoza, can I park here? Oh by the way do you know which house they’re in right now?” And the confused looking lady in charge grabbed a guy who was event staff and had him take me to where I needed to go, and in the end I found out that the fee is for people who want to go fishing out on the breakwaters there so whatever.

No sooner had I walked in the door and exchanged greetings than they tell me “we’ve got a job for you today.” Cool. I thought they’d ask me to write up something in English, or maybe do some lettering like make a sign or something, chalk art, whatever. Nope. “We want you to play shime-daiko for a five minute or so attention-getter we’re gonna play to fire people up for tomorrow’s show. It’s a mashup of Utsu Hachijo and Yatai Bayashi. Cool?” Jeeeeezus are you kidding me? Yeah ok I’m familiar with those pieces but it’s been ages, literally 27 years since I practiced them with the then-members of Ondekoza when they came to my hometown and stayed a few weeks during the latter part of their America Marathon Tour (I think maybe it was called the Odyssey tour?). Anyway. Moro-kun (the newest/youngest member?) and I sit down and start brainstorming. We talk out the arrangement of the piece and how it will progress, then do a “rehearsal” drumming out our parts on the table there. All was good. He was sweating bullets, really nervous about the whole thing. I was like “when are we supposed to do this?” And he said “in about half an hour.” HOLY SHIT FOR REAL?! Yikes. Ok ok ok, let’s run through this one more time, cool? We did. No problem. Moro-kun was still a bundle of nerves. I was like “Right. We got this. Let’s go! It’ll all work out in the end.”

Before we were on though, a small, quite out-there modern dance outfit called Monochrome Circus put on a performance at the hamlet’s shrine, so we hit that on our way. Here’s a photo of the entrance as seen from the street:

Fantastic atmosphere. The director of the group gave a short introduction, then explained what the first performance would be. In Japan, there’s a super popular style of comic called the yon-koma-manga (four-frame comic strip). Quite like the funnies in the daily newspapers back home actually. They would set a scene somewhere within the shrine grounds, then one person at a time would enter the scene, strike a pose and freeze, until four people had entered and then the audience would be prompted to say “FINISHED!” For the first one, the group members showed what the deal was so everyone would get it. From the second one on, they asked members of the audience to join in. I ran over to the stairs you can see in the photo, whipped out my iPhone and sat down, pretending to be messing with it—an homage to the modern mindless moron that today’s society overflows with so profusely. The second person came and stood behind me looking over my shoulder. I couldn’t see where the third or fourth people ended up. FINISHED!!! This kept on for a few more rounds, then the group did a few dances, which were really nice actually, and not SO out there. Then it was time to go. Righty-O. Let’s go!

Yeah so when we got to the seawall there, I didn’t get stage fright until it was time to take off my shoes and socks and sit down in front of the drum. Biggest goof? Forgetting to take off my damn sunglasses. Duhhhhhh. At least I managed to keep in time and didn’t fuck up disastrously, though the sticks were a helluva lot thicker and longer than the sticks I’m used to (Ondekoza makes all their drumsticks by hand). But it ain’t everyday you get to play with Ondekoza, so I’m glad I had the chance.

After that we just hung out, did dinner, then walked around checking out the sunset.

Not too shabby. In the evening, a wacko but fun group called something like the Tōhoku Six Prefecture Rock-n-rollers gave a show at the same stage Ondekoza would be using the next day so we went and saw that. Fun, crazy shit. Then off to bed.

The next morning we were up by 5:45, and then it was off on the daily 6am run. Everyone split up and went off on their own though and I was like WHAAAT?! So instead of going solo and getting completely the fuck lost, I tagged along with Naoto. What a scenic run! Through tunnels and down twisty roads that hugged the coastal sides of the smallish mountains there. The view was fantastic. We reached a turnaround point and Naoto said “I’ve got breakfast duty so I need to head back.” No problem. I followed him back, then ran an extra 1km and a bit. Still it totalled about 7km, three short of their daily 10km run (they don’t strictly adhere to this distance though, they’ve become a bit more flexible and I don’t think it’s a bad thing—when they were founded and when they ran in the US when I spent time with them they all ran together as a group but not anymore). Shower, breakfast, then a full-on day of setting up. After the setting up part was done, they had a soundcheck and mini rehearsal. I snapped this photo while that was going on.

What a place. Beautiful. Absolute nightmare for music though, as far as acoustics are concerned. But it all worked out. Two o’clock arrived and concertgoers started mozying in. We retreated to a large tent that was set up as a dressing room. They changed into their performing outfits, and I just zoned out for a bit. Before they go on, they always do this ritual of making a circle and doing warmup exercises, then adjacent members hold hands, and they do a little pre-game cheer of sorts. I was invited to join in all this so I was pleasantly surprised. Then it was GAME ON!!! I shot video of the whole show, and here’s a photo from Instagram of them playing Ōdaiko with me at the right shooting video.

Hahaa a cameo. Gimme a break. Anyway I’ll put a link to the video here in a sec but I just want to say they told the audience that video and photos were prohibited, so I set the video to “unlisted” and the only way to see it is if you have the link. They don’t really mind people seeing the video, it’s more a concern about people taking photos or video and then trying to sell it. Right then, here you go:

It’s about an hour twenty minutes or so. Hope you have nice speakers too. Yeah. So it was a fantastic show in an idyllic, beautiful environment. Then it was time to tear down and pack up. We had quite a bit of help this time so it was over within about an hour. Then they were gonna drive north along the Sea of Japan, heading to catch a ferry way up in Aomori, on their way to their annual Hokkaidō camp and concert, before heading off to a two week stint in China. I said a sincere thanks for being allowed to tag along, let them know that I really appreciated it, and then the director (Mr Matsuda) said “C’mon, you’re family! And besides that, you get shit done! Having you here was a huge help and it’s you who should be thanked.” I was floored. Did not expect to be told that. Wow. So it was in very high spirits thst I made the drive back home, arriving safely, but still full of adrenaline. What a weekend.

The next time I’ll get to fool around with them will be in September when they’ll be in Nagoya for a concert. I’m cooking up a plan to design and have vinyl stickers made for them to sell at shows and events while I’m back in the US this summer. 123stickers.com man, vinyl fucking stickers for reasonable prices and the damn things last forever. I’ve slapped a shitload of small ones here and there around Osaka and Kyoto over the years and they’re still there, in great shape. Graffiti background bared for all to see huh? Hahaha. Anyway. That’s all I have to say about that!

[placetobenation]

Welcome to the May 2019 edition of the MLB Power Rankings, Nation! With baseball season in full swing, and more to come, let’s take a peek at how the season is moving forward thus far.

While many of the expected teams have been right on, a few surprises and disappointments have emerged. But, one the best things about this sport is that momentum is a team’s best friend, and fortunes can turn around quickly.

With that said, let’s dive in!

All stats and records as of Saturday, May 4, 2019.

At 6-0 with a 1.47 ERA, Tyler Glasnow is a huge reason the Rays claim our top spot, the best record in the American League, and a team ERA under 3.00.

Tampa Bay Rays (21-12). With Glasnow pitching like an ace, and Charlie Morton (2.52, 11.0 K/9) not far behind, the Rays are great traditional pitching to back up the “opener” strategy, along with strong defense, and great early offense from rookies Austin Meadows, Brandon Lowe, as well as Tommy Pham and Yandy Diaz.

Los Angeles Dodgers (22-13). Despite AJ Pollock hitting the injured list, this team is so loaded, it won’t miss him. Cody Bellinger is an early MVP favorite (.415/.489/.847) while Joc Pederson (10 homers) and Alex Verdugo (.346/.376/.605) are transforming into beasts as well. Oh, and that Kershaw guy is back (2.77 ERA, 27 Ks in 26 innings).

Houston Astros (19-14). The 2017 champs still look really strong; leading the bigs in OPS+ (121) while sitting fifth in team ERA (3.57). Alex Bregman is a star (154 OPS+), while Carlos Correa also looks healthy (.892 OPS, 10 doubles). On the mound, Justin Verlander (10.8 K/9) and Gerrit Cole (13.5 K/9) keep dominating.

St. Louis Cardinals (20-13). A strong bullpen fronted by Jordan Hicks (2.13 ERA), John Gant (0.86), and John Brebbia (0.93), along with good offense up-and-down the lineup—Marcell Ozuna has 10 home runs, Paul Goldschmidt has nine, and Paul DeJong is carrying a 152 OPS+—has the Redbirds on top of baseball’s most intriguing division.

Minnesota Twins (20-11). The pitching is not that grand (4.14 team mark), but the offense—56 homers, 66 doubles, a team 115 OPS+—has the Twinkies driving the AL Central. With Cleveland’s injury woes and penny-pinching, it may not matter if the Twins come down to Earth a bit.

On an offense-first Twins team, righty Jose Berrios (2.91 ERA, 46 Ks in 46 innings) has emerged as the strikeout ace this team needs.

6. Philadelphia Phillies (18-14). While the $330-million man, Bryce Harper gets on base (.380 OBP) and plays a progressively worse right field, his signing did help the Phils realign their overall defense for the better. But he’s nowhere to be found on the team’s Baseball Reference WAR leaderboard top ten. Hmm…maybe huge contracts aren’t the be-all, end-all of constructing a winner. Enjoy your record contract, overachiever. You “earned” it.

7. New York Yankees (18-14). Despite running a veritable M*A*S*H unit, this team is still second in the AL East. It’s a damn scary thought when/if everyone gets healthy…

8. Arizona Diamondbacks (20-13). Christian Walker (13 doubles, 7 homers, 152 OPS+) looks like a nice successor to Goldschmidt, while Ketel Marte (126 OPS+) has become a nice utilityman, and the pitching—Zack Greinke, Luke Weaver, and Robbie Ray in particular—has been exceptional.

The things you can’t un-see…

9. Chicago Cubs (18-12). This could be the streakiest team in the top ten. Overcoming a 1-6 start to sit in second place is pretty good. Of course, a few guys are playing over their heads right now (174 OPS+ from Willson Contreras, 138 from Jason Heyward), but the hope is that Javier Baez (157) and Anthony Rizzo (135) keep it up, while Kris Bryan (108, but just 45 total bases) and Yu Darvish (5.79 ERA) figure themselves out soon.

10. San Diego Padres (18-16). Shortstop Fernando Tatis, Jr. looks legit (145 OPS+, .360 OBP) and Manny Machado has been good-not-great (8 homers, .790 OPS). The rest of the offense has ranged from useful to putrid. Young pitchers Chris Paddack (1.91 ERA), Matt Strahm (3.03) have been good, as so has the bullpen overall. But, what happens when those young arms hit innings limits? While the Padres are improving, don’t count on them being this high next month.

11. Atlanta Braves (17-16). A lot of scuttlebutt and rabble was made about Ozzie Albies’ crazy team-friendly contract, but let’s be honest, the kid saw a chance to set his family up for generations to come and he took it. Good for him. A lot of people talk about “fair market value” and “leaving money on the table” and “earnings for future players”. Fuck that noise. Players earning the MINIMUM still earn six figures—yes, I have issues with that in a different sense, too—and most are able to live a much better retirement than anyone reading this can even dream about. The kid took the money and he’s happy. Good. Oh, also, Ronald Acuna, Jr. is fantastic.

12. Milwaukee Brewers (19-16). Christian Yelich is currently with a 222 OPS+ and just screaming for an MVP repeat. Meanwhile, the Brew Crew’s pitching is really, really bad (4.87, 24th in MLB). I don’t think they would solve everything, but Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel are still out there…

13. Cleveland Indians (18-13) A Mickey-Mouse, Little-League level offense (team OPS+ of 71 — wow!) and pitching injuries to Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber, plus a bad bullpen and a worrisome start for Jose Ramirez (.188/.278/.282). It makes me wonder what’s worse: Rooting for a team that you KNOW will be bad or watching a team that COULD/SHOULD be good be bad.

Full disclosure: Chris Sale is one of my least-favorite players. I can’t stand his red-ass way of going about things. That being said, he seems to be turning a corner after a brutal start to the season. I still think the Sox will ultimately regret his 5-year contract, though.

14. Boston Red Sox (16-18). An ugly, ugly start to the year for the defending champs put a lot of players under the microscope. The team still has concerns—black hole offense from Eduardo Nunez, Jackie Bradley, Jr, and most of the bench; bad pitching from Rick Porcello and Eduardo Nunez; and a bullpen that was, of course, “built” by Dave Dombrowski. Chris Sale seems to be righting his ship, but it’s lucky the Sox didn’t get totally buried by this start.

15. New York Mets (16-17). After Jacob deGrom’s transcendent 2018 campaign, some regression was expected (3.82 ERA, 13.4 K/9). He and Steven Matz (3.86 ERA) have been fine, but the rest of the rotation has been a dumpster fire. As for the offense, there are some nice pieces there, but it seems inconsistent and without a real threat behind rookie Pete Alonso (.289/.374/.620 with 10 homers).

Editor’s Note: I can continue writing comments for 15 teams and push the boundaries of insanity (see above) or I can rank them and then enjoy my Sunday evening.

16. Cincinnati Reds (14-19).

17. Pittsburgh Pirates (15-15).

18. Toronto Blue Jays (15-18).

19. Seattle Mariners (18-17).

20. Oakland A’s (15-20).

21. Colorado Rockies (15-19).

22. Texas Rangers (15-16).

23. Washington Nationals (14-18).

24. Chicago White Sox (14-17).

25. San Francisco Giants (14-19).

26. Los Angeles Angels (15-18).

27. Detroit Tigers (14-16).

28. Baltimore Orioles (12-22).

29. Kansas City Royals (12-22).

30. Miami Marlins (9-23).

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Band-Aid Boys, Cy Young winners, Hart winners, a sleeper defenseman and more … (Mar 12)

  My take on the Hart Trophy going to a player on a team that didn’t make the playoffs? I’m fine with it as long as the team is close. If the team is nowhere near the playoffs (ahem, Edmonton) then I don’t think that player can be the player judged to be most valuable to his team. Because a team near last place in the league, without that “valuable” player, would…what, be even worse? Thank goodness Edmonton had Conner McDavid because instead of being 26th in the league they would have been…all the way down to 29th? Wow. Valuable.

Meanwhile, New Jersey isn’t a great team. Better than I thought and far exceeding everyone’s expectations, but not a great team at all. And while they may just barely miss the playoffs (that’s what I predict, anyway), without Taylor Hall this team would have been out of it in January. Nathan MacKinnon would get my first-place vote though, with Hall next and then my next three picks are tough. Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy are both equally valuable to Tampa Bay, and most of the other top teams have similar MVP vote splits (Subban/Rinne, Malkin/Kessel, Winnipeg/Everybody, Barkov/Huberdeau/Trocheck). If Brad Marchand didn’t get so many fines and suspensions this year he would have gotten my third-place vote, but that’s obviously out the window now. I’d probably look very closely at Alex Ovechkin, Jonathan Marchessault and Eric Staal as my other three votes. Where do you stand on this whole “only vote for players on playoff teams” thing?

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The next generation of Band-Aid Boy superstars – Jack Eichel and Brock Boeser? Not official, of course, but I’ve got a strong hunch that is only getting stronger. I had that feeling about Boeser after this play on December 17…

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This was his second injury of the season, after missing one game in October with a foot injury. But then he came back the next game after the above blocked shot so I put it out of my mind. Then last month he had a hand injury and again just one game. And now this latest one that has him out for the season. Flukes? Yes. But that’s what happens to Band-Aid Boys. They get hit by fluke after fluke, and some of those flukes lead to re-injury or favoring one part of the body at the expense of another. For now, I have both he and Eichel penciled in as “trainees”. But I’ll be cautious with them moving forward in keeper trade talks or one-year summer drafts. All things being equal, I’ll take a similar player without that risk instead.

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This year’s Cy Young Award winner (so far)? Michael Grabner, who has 25 goals and six assists. He beats out Artem Anisimov, who scored his 20th goal Sunday to go with his eight assists. Anders Lee (33-20) and James Neal (24-16) would also get consideration…

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Speaking of Grabner, he’s pointless in eight games with the Devils.

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By most accounts, Brian Gionta was horrible at the Olympics. I can’t say for myself as I only saw all of two periods of Team USA action. Just going by what I read from several sources, respected hockey minds. But he has six points in his first six games for Boston and even though he was pointless Sunday he had seven shots on goal. I wholeheartedly buy into the “new team adrenalin” production spike, but I’m still finding this one hard to believe.

Danton Heinen is pointless in his last six games – the six that he’s played with Rick Nash and Gionta in the lineup. His ice time has also averaged around 12 minutes during that span, when it was 15:30 per game prior to that. No surprise there, but I guess just disappointing. But you can’t fault the coach when Nash and Gionta are both doing outstanding. Heinen is a dropsy in all one-year leagues because I don’t see this changing barring two key forward injuries.

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The question on everyone’s mind – is Anthony Duclair going to get a hearing for that dirty hit on Brad Marchand Saturday that left Marchand day-to-day with an upper-body injury?

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I was just trolling you. But still…makes you think. If Marchand was hurt on the play, why would he do it intentionally? Marchand has missed one game already and it sounds as though he’ll miss at least one more, from what I’ve read.

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Erik Gustafsson is a must-own short-term pickup. The Blackhawks defenseman may just be doing what Jordan Oesterle did two months ago, but the fact remains that he’s hot right now. White hot. Two points Sunday, three Saturday and one last Tuesday. The 25-year-old had 14 points in half a season with the Hawks two years ago but spent last year in Rockford posting middling numbers. This year, however, he’s been going nuts down there with 17 points in 25 games. Now in the NHL he has 11 points in 23 games. Both his points Sunday were on the power play and now it’s his turn to get the opportunity that Oesterle had. If you recall, Oesterle was given a ton of ice and PP time for about 25 games. He was hot for the first 10 and then did nothing for 15 before Joel Quenneville started rolling back the experiment. Looks like he’s doing the same thing with Gustafsson now. Oesterle didn’t seize his chance – possibly his only chance ever. Will Gustafsson?

Oesterle was off the PP Sunday while Gustafsson saw over five minutes. Lefty shots on the team are Duncan Keith, Gustafsson and Oesterle. Righty shots are Brent Seabrook, Jan Rutta and Connor Murphy.

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Jonathan Toews has nine points in his last six games. Patrick Kane was on the ice for all nine of those points. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that Toews is a 55-point player without Kane, and a 70-point player with Kane. He spent the first half of the season with Brandon Saad and Richard Panik, the third quarter of the season with Saad and Vinnie Hinostroza…and now it’s Saad and Kane. How Toews will do in 2018-19 depends mightily and absolutely on whether or not Kane is on his line. For a prognosticator such as myself – the question is not in predicting his points by looking at historical stats and advanced stats in this case. It’s trying to guess the mindset of the coach and looking at the depth chart this summer. Will he play with Kane again next year and will it stick throughout? Such pressure! It ain’t easy, man…

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Johnny Boychuk, with no PP time, picked up three points and was plus-5 Sunday. The Isles were 8-11-3 with Boychuk out of the lineup and are 22-18-7 with him in. That’s about six points (give or take) lost because of his injuries, which is enough to put them right around Columbus in the standings.

Mat Barzal has been shut out of four of his last five games. Josh Bailey has just three points in his last 10 games and is now in danger of losing his point-per-game status (has 65 in 65 right now).

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Calgary defensemen combined for 22 shots against the Islanders. All Calgary forwards other than Sean Monahan combined for 23 shots. I found that interesting. Definitely a back-heavy team. Monahan, by the way, had seven shots. His 190 on the season are just nine shy of his career high.

Of interest to you, however, is the man who stopped most of those shots. Chris Gibson stopped 50 of 52 shots and remains undefeated in regulation (1-0-2) this year. He’s faced 138 shots – or 46 per game! I still don’t like him long-term (yet), but he’d been solid for Bridgeport. Short term I think he’s a good option if you’re desperate because Thomas Greiss is hurt and Jaroslav Halak is 0-4-2 in his last six games.

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Riley Sheahan has 26 points in his last 51 games. This is the Sheahan we all expected when he had 36 in 72 back in 2014-15 and it took a trade to Pittsburgh to get there. His confidence is back and it doesn’t hurt that he’s seeing regular duty with Phil Kessel and Derick Brassard. I think he still has another gear yet, though his ceiling is still limited to fewer than 50 points. I think he’ll flirt with that number next year if he continues to be implemented this way.

Jim Rutherford has really dug up the gems this year. Aside from Sheahan, Jamie Oleksiak has been a revelation. He’s eating up more than 17 minutes per game for the Penguins and has 10 points in 35 games since joining them. He also has 52 PIM in those 35 games not to mention he’s been a hit machine. With Dallas he had 36 hits in 21 games (1.71/game). With Pittsburgh – 116 in 35 (3.31)!

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Why the Dallas Stars will go nowhere in the playoffs – Jason Dickenson, Antoine Roussel, Remi Elie and Jason Spezza each saw below 10 minutes of ice time Sunday. Four forwards! Plus Brett Ritchie was at 11:03. That meant that each player on the top line (Alexander Radulov, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin) saw more than 22:30. You can’t win in the playoffs like that. Granted, Sunday was an extreme example due to Pittsburgh spending half the game in the box. But still…

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Brendan Leipsic has been shut out of two straight games, but regardless his six points in six games with Vancouver have my attention. He’ll only get this kind of opportunity next season if a) Vancouver doesn’t sign another Thomas Vanek and b) if Adam Gaudette doesn’t make the team. If those things happen, then I like Leipsic’s outlook next year. That’s in relative terms, of course, since nobody other than Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser will reach 50 points on this squad next campaign.

Since returning to the lineup, Richard Panik has four points in six games for the Coyotes and is seeing top PP duty.

Last week I plugged Kevin Connauton as a player to grab. Since then – pointless and minus-3 in four games. You’re welcome.

Hey, I grabbed him myself so he failed me just as much!

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“Darcy Kuemper has a 0.932 SV% in 15 games with LAK, he must be an awesome goalie!”

“Darcy Kuemper has a 0.906 SV% in five games with ARI, he must be a terrible goalie!”

You have five or six truly elite talented goalies and then you have about 50 average goalies…and from there it comes down to opportunity, coaching and contract. That’s what I let guide me with my fantasy hockey goaltending. Is there a c-word for opportunity? I’d like to have a “three c’s” thing for my goalie theory for when I preach.

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Florida signed undrafted prospect Patrick Bajkov. Presumably to confuse Florida’s play-by-play guy (Barkov, to Bajkov, to Barkov, I mean Bajkov – scores!). As an overager, Bajkov has 93 points in 68 games for Everett of the WHL.

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I was going to post the Top Prospects list Saturday but then I got sucked into going through them thoroughly. Usually I make adjustments throughout the month and then put three hours or so into them on the 10th of the month and then post. But every three or four months I kind of get sucked into the rabbit hole and delve deep. Long story short, I’ll try to have them up by tonight or tomorrow. I’m about halfway through right now.

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Here are the latest 20 Fantasy Hockey Thoughts. See you next week!

        from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-band-aid-boys-cy-young-winners-hart-winners-a-sleeper-defenseman-and-more-mar-12/