#that might inform him and his approach and what being a goalie Means to him

[altschmerzes]

I do follow hockey, but definitely not enough for this thing with Thierry because all I’m coming up with is Fleury and I don’t think he’s from Montreal and I don’t think he played there either so can you explain? Google informed me that Carey Price exists which like yes thank you google I am aware

LOREAUX. YES. WHEEZE. THANK YOU.

just- okay. bear with me for a moment here where i wax on a bit about the huge potential for A Big Interesting Internal Landscape in thierry zoreaux, a canadian goalie from montréal. (if i get anything wrong in the process forgive me, this is all off the dome based on My Personal Experience And Perspective as a longtime sports fan. also it got.... long lmaooo sorry for that. i simply think goalies are fascinating and thierry specifically has such an interesting context for Being A Goalie. also no season 3 spoilers in here!.)

you're correct that fleury isn't from mtl, no! he's from another city in the province, and he never played for the habs. and you're also right, carey price does exist sldkfjs and he's CONSTANTLY on my mind when i think about thierry and about the role of goalies in sports that have them - whenever there's a team sport that has One person who is uniquely different and has a radically different role (goalie, pitcher) compared to the rest of the team (whose roles are pretty similar even if they're first baseman, outfielder, midfielder, fullback) there's gonna be a Lot going on there. goalies have a reputation for being Really Fucking Weird. like. those guys are Odd and everyone knows it. (pitchers are the same way. known for superstitions, habits, Generally Being An Absolute Oddball.) they have a different kind of attention, a different kind of pressure. at the end of the day it always is going to come down to them on their own, in one way or another. goalie characters in sports fiction obsess me because of all the Baggage and all of the Stuff that goes into Being A Goalie and man. that was enough to make thierry really compelling to me, as the goalie we see the most of. and then specifically being a goalie From Montréal? ohohohohoho.

i watch football/soccer a lot these days and have for a couple years but i've been a hockey fan for much longer and i can't help see things through that pov sometimes, and as soon as they intro'd a character from mtl, my background as a habs fan perked right up. a goalie from mtl. that was the first hockey team i ever followed and boy does it have mountains of history that make it a fascinating team to follow/learn about/think about especially as a narrative background/parallel/foil/whatever.

obviously thierry's a soccer player, he's a soccer goalie, but in the words of someone i spoke to yesterday, "hockey suffocates every other sport in this country." it's always around, always present. your average torontonian can probably name the last year the leafs won the cup even if they hate sports. the canadian viewership numbers during playoffs is nuts. i've seen a few percentages come up - in the 70s-80s. i also have had some fun daydream thoughts about thierry being a multi-sport player growing up. there's a hockey player i can think of who pretty much got all the way to the point of draft eligibility before deciding whether he was gonna play hockey or baseball. that's a headcanon i have about thierry too, that he spent a while playing hockey when he was younger and was pretty damn good at it, probably could've gone pro, but decided to stick with soccer in the long term because he liked it more.

anyways, so. the sport is huge, it's unavoidable, and one of the biggest teams is the canadiens. especially if you live in mtl. it's hard to overstate the extent to which they are an institution, practically a religion. and one of the things that's important to understand about the context of thierry specifically rather than if like- if any other player had grown up in québéc, is that the habs have an...... intense history with goalies. like a VERY specifically intense history with goalies. they've had some of the biggest names in hockey goaltending history in their nets and the combination of the team's history, the goalies who've been there, and the media market of montréal means that being the habs goalie is one of the most heavily scrutinized, highly public roles in the sport.

the whole...... sports fabric of montréal is steeped in goalies. jaques plante, patrick roy, carey price. so many more enormous names, names everyone who's into hockey knows immediately, names that left permanent marks on not only the habs and mtl but on the sport as a whole. every year the league awards the best goalie of the regular season the vezina trophy, named for georges vézina, who played his entire career for the canadiens. (these days, the likes of sam montembeault. québéc born and raised goalie who now plays in the habs organization, heir apparent to carey price's net. monty, with goalie masks depicting jaques plante and the torch that is literally passed every year at the beginning of the habs season at their first home game, that is mentioned in the motto in their dressing room, inside the collars of their jerseys. it's a quote from a poem about the first world war - to you from falling hands we throw the torch be yours to hold it high.)

for thierry this would've been just.... all around him. when i think of him i think of him growing up in a habs watching household, because most families are in one way or another in that region, and having this idea of like. the role of a goalie. the pressure of being a goalie, watching particularly the way that carey price, one of the best goalies who's ever played, was completely wasted by the catastrophic mismanagement of the habs during his prime. i think all the time of this screencap from either the behind the scenes videos the habs produced for PR stuff or some feature on tv or documentary thing, a shot of carey price with his iconic thousand yard stare, the subtitles from the voiceover saying if he could score, he would play alone. i have to think that'd do something to a person, you know. seeing how important the goalie is, how revered and respected they can be, and that it can still not make a difference in the end. not enough of one. there will still be people who hate you because you're not the guy who came before you, because you can't just do it all yourself. and then choosing to be one anyway.

so you know. you're thierry zoreaux. you grow up in montréal. you can't avoid the habs if you tried, it's baked into the city. it's in the air. and you're a goalie. it doesn't matter whether you play hockey or soccer, the role of a goalie is a different thing, a unique experience. you are involved in everything, and you are alone. you are so, so visible, and so, so overlooked. you never appear on the goal sheets, but some media outlet will blame you for every loss. you're a little weird, a little wired. a little in your head, a little in another world. your teammates adore you but everyone knows there's something about you that's different, that sets you apart. every one of them sees it as their job to protect you, but at the end of the day, none of them can help you do what you do.

also, as an aside, i checked his wiki page real quick, and have learned the actor is jewish and sees his character that way too to which i say: ONE OF US. ONE OF US. ONE OF US. also i am about to write fic about this IMMEDIATELY. thierry zoreaux, quebecois goalie and jewish king. i've always been a little extra attached to him - minor character enjoyer that i am and enthralled by the potential in him, and also just finding him. very funny, and his actor a delight in his scenes. i love him and i need to write way more about him Right Now. it just occurred to me earlier, when i made that first post about him, and realized the line i'd jotted down wasn't half as good if you didn't have the story that exists around him in my mind, around his role and his experiences and cultural context about his role. and well! here we are now.

[pixie-mage]

I don't know if i was supposed to send two characters for the same writing prompt but i'll try this since Rexy needs some love. 9 -L !

From this NatM Writing Prompt: [ x ]

(Either way works! We all love our Puppy-saurus Rex! ^^)

Characters: Rexy Adjectives: Lonely

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

From near his usual perch in the lobby, the skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex watched from empty sockets as the museum’s night guard came tearing out of an archway on the right, being quickly pursued by a younger teen.

“You got the keys, right Nick?” the guard asked.

“Of course I did,” the teenager replied, rolling his eyes. “The only person Dexter plays ‘keep away’ with is you, Dad.”

“A simple ‘yes’ would have been fine, Nicky.”

The guard - Larry Daley - came skidding to a stop in front of the circular desk at the lobby’s center, slipping behind it and digging through a bag he had stowed there. He pulled out a single hockey glove and a goalie blocker, shaking his head in irritation as he did so.

“I thought the Mayans were past this,” he muttered. “They were behaving so well this week. And then this–”

Rexy approached Larry and Nick with his tail wagging, his bone already held tight in his teeth. He made a little whining noise in the back of his throat and bent down, looking to all the world like he wanted to play. He dropped the bone at Nick’s feet.

“Not now, Rexy,” Larry said, sounding distracted. He barely spared Rexy half a glance as he tugged on the glove, then tossed the bag to his son Nick.

There was a whirring as a small remote-controlled car sped into view from an archway on the left, through which sat the Hall of Miniatures.

“Get gaited, Laredo!” a small southern voice piped up from inside the car. “We’ve got a hell of a hootenanny goin’ on between the two halves of the hall. Them Mayans ‘re fightin’ like kilkenny cats. We had about twenty men downed by poisoned dart last I checked.”

“Tweny-four, to be exact,” a second voice spoke up, a miniature Roman General. “My men are diligent and our shields may be strong but the Mayans are an unpredictable adversary. Much like the Americans when we first were at war.”

There was a fondness in the last phrase. Not that Rexy noticed or cared, but it was there all the same.

“Now don’t you get sappy on me, ‘Tavius,” the cowboy scolded. “Keep yer head on straight. We’ve gotta get them Mayan boys under control ‘fore all hell breaks loose.”

“It already has, Jedediah,” Octavius said. There was a muffled thump from inside the car, followed by an “Ow!” from the centurion.

“Guys!”

The two miniatures stopped bickering, staring up through the tiny windshield of the car to meet Larry’s disbelieving eyes.

“Seriously?! Mayans. Bigger problem.”

“Of course, my liege.”

“You got it Gigantor.”

“Alright.” Larry nodded. “Nick and I will try and get as many of them back into Guatemala as we can. You two just - get your people to try and push them back.”

“Am I locking them up or are you?” Nick asked, already wearing a hockey glove and a blocker like his father.

“Uh–” Larry thought for a moment. “You. Better you than me, in case Dexter decides to show up for a round two.”

Nick giggled.

The remote-controlled car whirred back into motion, and the familiar noise made Rexy’s head perk up. Oh! He knew this game! He picked up his bone again and brought it over to the tiny car, tail wagging all the while. Play? Chase?

“No can do, Rexasaurus,” Jed shook his head. “We’ve got a group o’ crazy tribesmen to wrangle.”

Rexy whimpered, head tilting to the side.

“Not now, Rexy,” Larry reaffirmed, this time looking Rexy right in the eye sockets. “Later. Okay? We’re kind of busy right now.”

Rexy whined, but the group was clearly focussed on a much more important task. Larry and Nick took off into the Hall of Miniatures with the miniature car speeding after them as quickly as it could go.

The lobby fell silent.

Rexy’s tail drooped against the ground.

The dinosaur whimpered into the empty room, nobody around to hear his lonely plea. He just wanted to play. Lately, things in the museum had been so busy that Larry was always being pulled to every corner of the building...and Nick often spent more time with the huns or Ahkmenrah than he did anywhere else. Plus Jedediah and Octavius were most often seen together rather than apart, and though this used to mean they’d be happy to spend some time driving around the museum dragging a bone while their local Tyrannosaurus chased after them, it had become rather difficult to find them as of late. It had become rather difficult to find anyone to play with as of late.

And as for the rest of the museum...well. Rexy whimpered again and put his rib back where it belonged, circling the spot he stood a few times and settling onto the ground. He tucked in his tail and let out a deep sigh.

Many of the other museum occupants were still too afraid to get close to him.

With that sad little thought, Rexy  found himself dozing off into a light sleep in the center of the museum lobby, completely oblivious to the smiling faces that were watching him from a distance.

“He is asleep, I think.”

“So he is. This may be easier than we first thought, my dear.”

Creeping down the stairs on soft feet, Sacagawea motioned for Teddy to stay quiet and stay where he was. She approached the snoozing dinosaur and smiled adoringly once she was close enough to see that he was, indeed, fully asleep. She nodded up toward the balcony above where Teddy stood waiting. The former president was quick to join her in the lobby.

“I will go find the others,” Sacagawea informed him. “Could you seek out Larry and Nick? The Mayans were not part of the plan tonight, but I imagine they will be finished soon.”

“Of course my dear.”

Teddy took her hand, pressed a kiss to her fingers, and swiftly followed the path their night guard had taken a few minutes prior. Sacagawea smiled softly to herself. If given the choice, she would gladly indulge herself in spending more time with her love rather than send him off on a mission...but today was significant. She had a more important task to handle. With one last glance toward the sleeping tyrannosaurus, she vanished back up the stairs and down the hall.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Rexy awoke slowly an hour or so later. His tail quivered as he stretched, huffing a breath out his nose and yawning widely, his massive teeth bared for all to see. He thought, for a moment, he might still be sleeping...because the lobby was terribly dark. It was difficult to see, and as the dino got back to his feet, he was careful not to move too much lest he trip in the dark...or worse, accidentally step on a friend. What was going on? Where was everyone? Why were the lights off? Rexy made a rumbling, questioning noise in the back of his throat, confused and curious.

“Ready?” a quiet, familiar voice whispered from somewhere to Rexy’s left. He turned his head, trying to find its owner. “Okay...3...2...1…”

“SURPRISE!”

Lights flared to life throughout the museum, the sound of switches being flipped completely drowned out by the sea of joyous voices that had filled the air. Rexy took a step back, surprised and startled, trying to understand what he was seeing.

Everyone was here. Everyone. Larry and Nick stood by the front desk, Larry with one hand still lingering near the light switches. A sea of miniatures covered the desk’s surface. The huns were grouped off to one side near the eskimos, the cavemen were all making excited noises somewhere near the back of the crowd, and vikings, statues, civil war soldiers, and more were mixed among the rest of the museum’s inhabitants. A select few animals had been let loose to join them, Dexter among them, and Sacagawea and Teddy were standing side by side near the front of the crowd. Ahkmenrah was leaning back against the desk, and when things began to settle, he murmured something in an undertone to Larry behind him.

Larry nodded. He abandoned the desk and made his way through the crowd, a paper bag in his hand, a beaming grin splitting his face.

“Happy Birthday, Rexy!” he announced, drawing another round of excited cheering from the gathered crowd. Larry’s expression was bright and warm and excited, and when he finally reached Rexy he held up a hand to pet the dinosaur’s nose. Rexy leaned into it, more than a little happy to be on the receiving end of the night guard’s affections after so long of going without it.

Not that a few weeks was that long in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly felt like ages to the puppy-like tyrannosaurus. A rumbling noise started up in the back of his nonexistent throat and he leaned down to nuzzle his skull against Larry’s chest, his tail wagging happily behind him.

“I know we don’t know your real birthday,” Larry went on, scratching along Rexy’s jaw, “but I figured the day you arrived at the museum was as close as we were gonna get. One hundred years ago today. Can you believe that?”

Rexy leaned into the scratches, making happy little noises all the while, and Larry chuckled to himself.

“Ya like that big guy?” he smiled. “Heh. Hang on, I’ve got a present for you.”

Present? Present! Rexy sniffed at the bag in Larry’s hand when the guard held it up, eager to see what was inside. Present. For him? Really?

“Yeah buddy! That’s for you!” Larry said. Rexy nipped at the bag and Larry pulled it out of his reach, chuckling. “Hang on! Hang on, Rexy. Let me get it out first!”

Larry reached into the bag and pulled out what looked like the biggest dog bone in the world. It would be huge for most dogs, but for Rexy? It was perfect. The dinosaur crouched where he stood, in full play mode, his tag wagging wildly behind him. The onlookers grinned and giggled and laughed at his antics. Larry glanced back over his shoulder at them, his eyes sparkling. He returned his focus to the overeager puppy-saur in front of him.

“I know, you’re excited,” he nodded, holding up the bone with some effort. “But here’s the thing. I can give this to you now–”

Rexy made little rumbling noises at the prospect, dancing a little on the spot.

“–or! Hang on, buddy.” Larry stifled another laugh. “Or we can see what everybody else got you. Okay? There’s more presents from everyone, not just this one.”

Rexy looked torn. Play with bone, or get more toys. Bone. More toys. Bone now. Bone later? Toys now...toys later…

It was a very difficult decision.

Until the remote-controlled car came speeding into view.

“Hey! Rexy!”

Jed was practically hanging out the window of the car, waving his hat to get the dinosaur’s attention.

“Hey there big fella!” he called, grinning ear to ear. “Guess what we’ve got!”

The car raced past, driving straight between the dino and the night guard, and it was only then that Rexy’s attention was caught by the colorful toy being dragged by the car. It wasn’t as big as the bone Larry had gotten him, nor was it even a bone at all, but it was eye-catching and made jingling noises as it was dragged along, the colorful ball rolling and bouncing slightly in the wake of the car it was attached to.

Rexy was off and on the chase before Larry knew it, and he - along with the others at the very front of the crowd - had to duck to avoid the swing of the dinosaur’s tail.

Larry grinned.

“Rexy looks exceedingly happy, Larry,” a warm voice appeared at Larry’s side. “I think this party is already a raging success and it has barely begun.”

“He does look happy,” Larry agreed. He turned to smile at Ahkmenrah, who had come to stand beside him and watch the oversized puppy play chase through the lobby and front halls of the museum. “Thanks for the idea.”

“You would have thought of it yourself eventually,” Ahk inclined his head toward the ‘guardian’, smiling all the while. “You are rather creative yourself, and you care greatly for everyone here. It would have crossed your mind at some point I’m sure.”

“Still,” Larry shrugged, pocketing his hands and turning back toward Rexy. “He’s been so down lately. Thanks for the help.”

“You are more than welcome.”

“Dad! Dad! Dad!” Nick came up behind Larry, tugging on his arm. “Can I get Rexy’s new ball out? I think the car needs to recharge soon and–”

“You don’t need to give me a reason.” Larry shook his head with a smile and pointed toward the desk. “It should be back there with the other gifts. Just - try not to let Rexy pop it on the first night. If we can get it to last a week at least I’ll be happy.”

“Sure!”

Then Nick was gone, digging through the gifts with abandon. Somewhere in the distance, a whoop and a holler rang through the air alongside a shout of “ONWARD!” as a tiny car drove whiplashing circles around the giant dinosaur looming overhead.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

The night had gone about as well as Larry and Nick had hoped. The ball Nick had sought out earlier was, surprisingly, still in one piece. The exhibits had had a fun time playing some form of “keep away” with Rexy, the ball bouncing and soaring back and forth over the crowd while Rexy tried to snatch it out of the air. Attila and his men had played tug-of-war with the dino at some point, the sturdy rope they had been using now shredded and sitting in a pile on the desk. Nick and Ahk had taken a few turns riding on the dinosaur’s back, much to the enjoyment of all involved. An oversized plush toy sat in Larry’s lap (courtesy of Sacagawea and the civil war soldiers) looking a little chewed on, but mostly still in one piece. He was leaning back against the wall at the back of the lobby, past the stairs, and Rexy was curled up nearby. He was gnawing happily on the bone from the beginning of the evening.

There was about an hour left until dawn, and some of the exhibits had already begun making their way back toward their displays. Teddy and Sacagawea were organizing a small group to help clean up the remnants of the party...and Larry would join them soon too. But first…

Larry reached over, rubbing his knuckles against Rexy’s nose. The dino leaned into the affection, a happy rumble bubbling up from somewhere near his chest.

“Did you have a fun birthday, buddy?” Larry asked. Rexy’s tail thumped loudly against the floor a few times, and Larry smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes.” 

The guard sighed softly. His smile faded.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been paying attention to you,” he said quietly. “I could just say that it’s because the museum has been more...lively than usual lately, but that’s no excuse to make you sad.” Rexy lifted his head, tilting it in question. “I know you’ve been kind of lonely lately, and I’m sorry. Some of the other exhibits noticed and told me about it. I’m sorry that I didn’t see it myself. Nobody should ever feel forgotten, alright? That’s - ya know. That’s Friendship 101, and I’ve been kind of a bad friend. Haven’t I?”

Rexy whined softly and nuzzled Larry’s head as gently as he could. The night guard smiled weakly and held up a hand to pat the end of the puppy-saur’s nose.

“It’s nice of you to forgive me, but...still.” Larry was quiet for a moment. Then– “I know I can’t always have time to play with you, same with Nick. I have a job to do and he’s my backup when things get hairy. But I’m gonna try to be better. And…”

He looked thoughtful, as if trying to decide if he should say anything or not.

“...and I know we keep other dinosaurs locked away in the B-wing. I’ll talk to McPhee and see if we can’t get you a friend on display out here, so you have someone to play with. Okay?”

Rexy panted happily and his tail whipped back and forth along the floor, thwacking the walls on either side in his exuberance.

“Okay, okay!” Larry laughed. “Calm down, buddy. I said I’d talk to McPhee, but it’s up to him. No promises! But I’ll try. Alright?”

Rexy bumped his nose against Larry’s shoulder, then flopped his head down right up against the night guard’s crossed legs.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

When the sun rose later that early morning, and when the first few guests began to filter in through the museum’s front doors, McPhee swore the sharp-toothed smile the tyrannosaurus wore was wider than it had ever been before. But surely it was a trick of the morning light...right?

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

[A/N: This was a lot of fun to write! I haven’t written much in the NatM fandom yet, so this was a really fun practice...and we all know Rexy deserves all the love. Hope you enjoyed it!]

[markstrom]

so this is about today.

As some of you might already know I am working as a journalist at a local newspaper in Munich right now. I am absolutely in love with this job generally and it’s just my dream job and I can’t tell how relieving it is to be able to say that you found your dream job, your passion and everything. So I get to work on so much stuff on my own and everything is also getting published which is really awesome. But the most awesome thing was when my boss told me that I get to go to the Open Locker Room media event of the EHC Red Bull Munich, the local hockey team. They reached the playoff finals again (they won the past two seasons) and are on their way to the third title. They got a lot of players who also play for the German national team on their roster, like Dominik Kahun and Yannic Seidenberg, which is the main reason I like them. The Open Locker Room event is a media only thing and it’s legit the most awesome thing ever. You get to watch practice from the away bench so you are so damn close to the ice the whole time, you can take as many pictures as you want and it’s just the ultimate experience. You can always go to the VIP lounge and leave your stuff there and also eat as much of the free food and drink as much of the free drinks as you want. They don’t only have Red Bull. After practice everyone is allowed to go to the locker room and the gym and interview any player you want. So that’s the theory now here’s my experience which was just...wow:

So I was just super super nervous when I got there, like nervously excited? Idk if that’s something you say. At first I didn’t quite get where I had to go because it was a bit tricky, the rink is very old and small and doesn’t really look like a hockey rink of a successful team like the EHC. Only ~6000 people fit in there after all. I found my way to the ice very soon though, I was a bit early which is super German of me but oh well. This nice guy welcomed me and asked for whom I’m writing and then he led me to the VIP lounge where I could leave my stuff. I didn’t stay there for too long because I wanted to go down to the ice again. There were a lot of people from TV, legit 5-6 of these enormous TV cameras and I felt a bit lost at first with my small camera. I felt a bit lost generally, since I was by far the youngest and also one of the only women there. So I really had to jump over my own shadow and get myself out there. After a while I got very comfortable taking photos and I didn’t stop at all because the guys always got so close to me I still can’t believe it. I got some great pics even though my camera isn’t too great so I’m very proud and I’ll upload some for you guys. I need to edit them in photoshop though and I need my new laptop for that so please have a little patience! The boys had sooo much fun and they legit acted like kindergarten children most of the time but I wasn’t surprised at all, they’re hockey players after all. Frank Mauer always looked and smiled at me in the cutest way and wow, I really fell in love, I became even more of a fan! After practice I went back upstairs where we all had to meet. I grabbed some of the food (it was free eh) and not so long after we were able to go down to the locker room. I was so damn excited and also a bit intimidated because there were so many cameras around me and old men and well...it was just overwhelming. When I entered the locker room it was already crowded and I felt a bit lost for a second because a) I’m small compared to all of them b) cameras everywhere c) I was the only person under the age of 30, except the players and d) there were only two other women. So in the beginning I was just overwhelmed and standing there watching and listening and waiting to maybe get the opportunity to talk to someone...which was tough. And all of the guys where staring at me as if I was an alien I swear to god I felt so weird. But again I had to remind me that the most important thing for a journalist is to be open and to be able to approach strangers. You need to be good at it because that’s often the only way to get relevant information directly from the source. So I tried not to freak out and just stood next to another journalist who was asking Frank Mauer, who smiled at me so nicely before, some questions. I stayed in the background but then I decided to record the other journalists questions as well and I held my phone in a bit shyly. Even though I wasn’t talking or anything Frank always looked over to me and gave me comforting looks and I’m so very thankful for that because it calmed me down and I was able to ask my own questions after the other guy was finished. I found the confidence to ask and he was just super sweet and answered everything so nicely and with a smile on his face. I think he felt how nervous I was and he was very calming which was exactly what I needed at this moment and especially in the first interview. Just very nice of him, that was a great start. So after I felt like it was a good tactic to just stand next to an ongoing interview and jump in as soon as they finish – so that’s what I did. I talked to Yannic Seidenberg who didn’t seem so nice to me, he wasn’t rude or anything though, I just didn’t like him as much as the others. I also went to Dominik Kahun who is just very cute and sweet and a clown. His Bavarian accent is so damn cute and his playoff beard attempt is well...at least he tried. Domi was very funny and nice and he said he’s excited to play with Leon at this year’s worlds since they are very good friends. After our interview Domi tried to crush other TV interviews and he pulled his hockey pants above his head for a sec...such a child. Finally I talked to Danny aus den Birken, who is the goalie and well I love all goalies a little extra. He was so simple and calm but still unbelievably friendly and nice, I enjoyed the interview with him a lot, it kind of made me forget about all the other things that were happening everywhere else. It was very great. I took some pictures in the locker room as well and most of them are very funny, there are some cute shots of Domi being a clown and he’s just very cute. I didn’t get a pic of him with the hockey pants on his head, unfortunately. However, this was definitely one day to remember. Such a special experience, I am unbelievably thankful that I got this chance and what can I say? I took it and I definitely made most of it. I learned a lot today and I most importantly found out what my big passion is and what I want to be: a sports journalist. I mean, I wanted to be one before but today showed me how it really is to work as one, I got to see the reality and even though it was intimidating at first I loved every second of it. I truly learned a lot and I am indeed very proud of myself. I did it, I proved to myself that this is exactly what I want to do. This is my dream and I’ve been living it today. All the excitement was worth it, this experience is something no one can take from me and for the first time in so long I can say that I am excited for the future.

If anyone has any questions or just a simple comment or anything feel free to send me an anon or comment on this post! I just wanted to share my excitement and my experiences with you!

[laurasfox-originals]

The Big Match (FSALA Bonus Story, Patreon Exclusive) - excerpt

This is a bonus story I wrote for my patrons on Friends, Sexcapades, And Love Affairs. Adrian, Jared, and Mike now live happily with their husbands and children in the suburbs. Everything is fine and dandy until a challenge appears. They must play soccer against another team of dads, just like their boys. This is the story of how they respond to that challenge!

The Big Match - excerpt

Adrian sauntered toward Mike and Jared who were standing at a fair distance from the soccer field. “So, none of your rascals came home, either?” he asked.

Jared grunted and pushed his hands into his jacket. He sported a much shorter hairstyle now, but it looked good on him. “Auggie is bent on trying my patience today.”

Adrian grinned. “At least, we get to share the pain.”

Their firstborns were the same age since they had wanted to have them the same year, and it had made them all happy when their kids became close friends even without their parents’ encouragements. Mike had been blessed with twins, Patrick and Liam, and by the shouts on the soccer field, they were at the heart of all the ruckus.

“Armstrong!” The coach blew his whistle. “Not you, the other Armstrong!”

Mike puffed his cheeks and exhaled. “I really wonder if Coach Patterson knows who’s who.”

“Do you know?” Adrian punched his friend’s shoulder playfully.

They followed with their eyes the two redheads running toward the coach. If Coach Patterson hoped he could yell at only one of them, he had to think again. Pat and Lee, as they went by, were like peas in a pod and never one without the other.

“Do I have to explain to you what a foul is, again?” The coach continued to yell at the two miscreants.

“Do you know what a foul is, Mike?” Adrian asked.

They all snickered.

“I have a feeling Lee is going to explain it to me in detail,” Mike said, feigning resignation.

“Does that mean that he will kick you in the shin again?”

“Could be,” Mike said with a philosophical shrug. “Seeing how Ryan is keeping them in line all the time, they take it out on me. All their energy, I mean.”

“Then I should be happy Auggie is just a goalie,” Jared said.

“Just a goalie?” Mike asked and wiggled his eyebrows.

Jared’s face fell. “Don’t let him know I said that. I mean it.”

Auggie was the quietest of the group, and he had a way of doing things in a measured manner that surprised all the grownups. Shane often took him to his folks’ ranch to teach him how to ride a horse, and he had taken to it like a natural. Jared was very proud of his son, but he tried not to boast too much.

After all those years, Jared still cared about everyone’s feelings just the same. But he was entitled to be proud of his son.

“The coach should know to let them go home by now,” Jared said. “I wonder why they’re still training.”

As if the man had heard them, he turned his head and waved. Then he dismissed Pat and Lee who returned to the field looking no more chastised than before, and approached the fence.

“Gentlemen,” he said.

“Coach.” Adrian nodded. “What’s with the long hours?”

Mr. Patterson wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “Didn’t your kids tell you? We have a big match coming up. The boys from Barring Grove have a bone to pick with us.”

Adrian quirked an eyebrow. Mikey had somehow forgotten to mention it. “So, it’s like the battle of the suburbs or something?”

The coach didn’t seem to get the joke. “Dads will be on it, too,” he said and pointed a finger at them. “You’ll go against Barring Grove.”

“What?” Jared intervened. “Why?”

Mr. Patterson was a man with a heart of gold but a short fuse. He was getting red in the face, and Adrian wondered if his heart was capable of taking it for long. “It’s kids versus kids, and dads versus dads. South Crest versus Barring Grove. Is this the first time you hear about it? Someone should have told you.”

Adrian had an idea now who that someone was supposed to be, and there was a possibility that the coach had relegated that information to the wrong messengers. “Are we supposed to play soccer?” He checked with his friends for confirmation of how ludicrous the idea sounded.

“We only know about it from what kids tells us and a bit from TV,” Jared added. “I mean, Auggie talks about it all the time, but it’s not like I have any idea about being there, on the field.”

The coach bounced on the back of his heels and threw them a cursory look. “You’ll learn,” he said matter-of-factly. “And we’re lucky that we have so many dads in good shape.”

He turned to yell at the kids again, and finally, the group gathered around him. “Why didn’t you tell your parents about the match?”

The group shifted and looked down.

“Caleb doesn’t have a dad,” Mikey blurted out. “And his mom is disabled.”

“Michael!” Adrian said sternly. “That’s not nice.”

Caleb, a scrawny boy with a lisp, intervened. “She is,” he confirmed while wiping his nose with his forearm. “She cannot play soccer with one leg.”

Jared ran one hand over his eyes, and Mike let out a sigh.

“And Johnny’s dad is old,” Mikey added.

“That’s it. You stop talking right now, young man,” Adrian said. It was usually Edward’s role to be the stern one, but his son was just saying whatever crossed his mind without realizing that he could be hurting the other kids.

“Did you guys think that it wouldn’t be fair toward your mates to let us know about the match?” Jared asked.

Multiple pairs of eyes stared at them.

“Yes,” Auggie said. “It’s all of us, and all of our dads, or no one.”

“We could play,” Pat or Lee – Adrian was, after all, the one who couldn’t tell the twins apart – said while hooking one arm around his brother’s shoulders. “We’ll wreck Barring Grove. Just us.”

“You can’t. You need a goalie,” Auggie explained.

Adrian thought of Auggie as a mini-Shane, but a sterner one.

“Then you’ll come with us,” Pat or Lee said. “And we’ll wreck them.”

“Boys,” Mike intervened, “you’re not wrecking anyone.”

“Do we have to ask permission?” Pat or Lee cocked his head. “Can we wreck Barring Grove, dad, please?”

Adrian wasn’t entirely sure whether Mike’s twins were sly like foxes, or they just found it completely normal to address everything standing in their way head on.

“I basically just said ‘no’,” Mike said with a voice full of resignation.

“Do I have to explain what ‘fair play’ is, again?” Mr. Patterson asked the two troublemakers.

Pat or Lee puffed out his chest. “It would be more than fair. Three against eleven.”

“What is the problem, coach?” Adrian asked. “Kids, go play a little.”

The boys didn’t wait to be told twice and hurried back to the field.

“We might not have enough dads,” the coach admitted. “Your boy’s not wrong, Mr. Rossi.”

Although they had agreed to have their names turned to Rossi-Hastings on their IDs, to keep things simple, Adrian and Edward had agreed on using only Adrian’s last name in their day by day dealings. The same went for Mikey who liked having Rossi written on the back of his soccer t-shirt despite his legal name, but the Hastings had been adamant about Sophia. She was the one they showered mostly in gifts, anyway. Any effort to impress Mikey had proven fruitless. The boy loved his grandparents, but he found hanging out with them pretty boring.

“Some of them are not in that good shape or are too busy,” the coach continued. “And, of course, there’s the boy without a dad.”

“And a mom with only one leg,” Mike added.

“Mike, seriously,” Adrian said. “You too?”

“Sorry. These guys are rubbing on me,” Mike replied.

“Yeah,” the coach said. “Talk to your husbands. We need all men on deck for this.”

Jared let out a small weird sound. “Is it really that important?”

“It’s for charity,” Mr. Patterson explained. “All the tickets proceeds will go to funding a school for underprivileged kids.”

“Oh,” Jared replied. “But who’s going to come see a soccer match between two suburbs? We’re eons away from pros. I mean, we’ll all come to watch our children, but --”

“Barring Grove made soccer into a religion down there.” The coach nodded vaguely, and they all looked in that direction only to reconsider one second later. “So far, they’ve beaten everyone.”

Mike grimaced. “Ugh, is it wise of us to go against them, then? If they’re that good? We could just forfeit.”

“That won’t sell tickets,” Mr. Patterson said matter-of-factly.

Adrian frowned for a second. A bit of a competitive ambition began to rise inside him. “I think we could play. As long as you talk us through.”

“Adrian, are you sure?” Jared asked.

“Hey, it’s a sport. How hard can it be? And we already know the general rules since our boys cared to explain them.”

“Yeah, my shins remember,” Mike said with a sigh.

“You’ll have to go through a medical,” the coach continued, now invigorated with the prospect of having to train a grownups’ team.

“When is this match scheduled?” Jared asked.

“In a month’s time,” the coach replied.

“Is that enough to turn us into soccer players?” Mike expressed his doubts.

The coach gave them a cursory look. “You look like fit lads to me.”

Mike threw Jared a silent plea. The only answer back was a shrug.

“All right. So together with our better halves, we’ll be six. That means that there are five positions waiting to be filled, right?” Adrian asked.

“Not only. We should have some people on the bench. But, at this point, I’d be happy if you brought a couple of fit fellows like you. The dads in this town are pretty busy. I mean, those with kids on the team. Now, I’ll have to check on those boys and call it a day. I bet you want to take them home to dinner,” the coach hurried to say.

~~~

Read the entire thing on my Patreon.

[thrashermaxey]

21 Fantasy Hockey Rambles

Every Sunday, we'll share 21 Fantasy Rambles – formerly 20 Fantasy Thoughts – from our writers at DobberHockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week's ‘Daily Ramblings’.

Writers: Michael Clifford, Ian Gooding, Cam Robinson, and Dobber

  1. Blue Jackets’ Matt Duchene had a fantastic Round 1 series with seven points in four games. Aside from the points, he led the team in adjusted shot share at five-on-five and Columbus outscored Tampa Bay 4-1 when he was on the ice at five-on-five.

Duchene didn’t do a whole lot in the regular season post-deadline but his play in the first round made his acquisition completely worth it. What a marvelous series. (apr18)

  2. On the topic of Duchene pulling through, how about Max Pacioretty and Jordan Eberle? Remember when those two were players a franchise couldn’t rely upon for big performances? Pacioretty has 10 points in five games with the Sharks on the verge of elimination Sunday, while Eberle had four goals and six points in the four-game sweep of the Penguins. Their respective performances are just a reminder to casual hockey fans that they’re very good players. (apr18)

  3. Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper: which goalie is the sleeper next year?

How far does Raanta’s injury and uncertainty surrounding his grip on the starting role push down his ADP? Does Kuemper’s great season and potential push for the top job drive up his ADP? Will these two be drafted in relatively the same tier as, say, Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury were a few years ago?

I am fascinated to see where these guys are valued by the market, especially if the Coyotes make some moves this offseason either in the trade or free agency markets. Or both. (apr16)

  4. Kyle Connor is the least talked about upcoming RFA this summer. People are whispering about offer sheets all over the place but the Winnipeg cap, coupled with his strong production, may lead to some interesting negotiations. (apr17)

  5. This won’t be an easy offseason for the Jets, who will have as many as 15 pending free agents to sort out. For example, Connor and Patrik Laine will need contracts, which means that the Jets might not be able to afford UFAs Kevin Hayes and Brandon Tanev.

Then there’s the defense. Have Jacob Trouba and Tyler Myers both played their last games as Jets? Beyond pillars Dustin Byfuglien and Josh Morrissey, this group could look very different. At least fantasy owners should finally be able to see Sami Niku on the Jets for a full season.

Then you also have to wonder whether coach Paul Maurice’s job is safe after what appeared to be a missed opportunity. Needless to say, they’ll be lots of fantasy implications to break down with this team this offseason. (apr21)

  6. The Blue Jackets’ four-game sweep of the Lightning has easily been the surprise story of the NHL playoffs so far. The Islanders’ four-game sweep of the Penguins will come in as a not-too-distant second in that department. And there’s the Flames, out in five against the Avs, as well. That isn’t good news if you’d built your fantasy playoff roster around the likes of Nikita Kucherov and Sidney Crosby.

There’s the old expression “when you lose, don’t lose the lesson.” So, can fantasy owners learn anything from these surprise quick exits of the Lightning and Penguins, two teams that have been on the short list of Stanley Cup contenders over the last few years? Follow this link for at least three takeaways about the topic. (apr20)

  7. Rookie Alexandre Texier’s developmental arc has been something to marvel. As the youngest player in the crop, he was drafted halfway through the second round in 2017 out the top league in France. All he’s done since is make the Columbus scouting staff look like geniuses.

He had a very strong year in the Finnish Liiga as an 18-year-old in 2017-18. This past season, his 41 points in 55 contests were the second most by a U20 player. He came over to the American League to close out the campaign and scored five goals and seven points in as many games. That earned him the call to the big club and I’m guessing he won’t be heading down any time soon.

Texier will be an extremely interesting player to rank heading into fantasy hockey drafts next season. Keeper leagues need to be all over this guy, but his original draft slot coupled with a bit of no-name vibe could push him into sleeper territory. That is, of course, if he doesn’t go off this postseason.

The 19-year-old has been skating on a line with Nick Foligno and Josh Anderson at even-strength and seeing some second unit power play deployment. With Artemi Panarin almost assuredly out the door this summer, a left-wing spot in the top-six will be wide open. If the Blue Jackets don’t fill that hole with a big fish (a big if), then I like Texier to put his name on it. (apr17)

  8. Current Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill was signed to a two-year extension earlier this month, so his job for at least next season is secure. However, I’d think that new GM Steve Yzerman would immediately raise the bar for a former contender that has now missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons.

The Wings have some nice pieces centering around Dylan Larkin, but Stevie Y will need to add more in the way of draft picks. With some cap space, Yzerman could even dip into the free agent pool as early as this summer. Optimism abound in the Motor City.

For a more detailed analysis of the Yzerman hire, see Mike Clifford’s Fantasy Take. (apr20)

  9. Your Vezina Trophy finalists were announced on Saturday and they are Ben Bishop, Robin Lehner and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Bishop led the NHL with a .934 SV% and trailed only half-season starter Jordan Binnington with a 1.98 GAA.

In spite of those impressive ratios, you know that Vasilevskiy will receive a lot of first-place votes because he led the league with 39 wins, which had a lot to do with the team in front of him.

Hockey media hasn’t paid enough attention to Bishop’s season, perhaps because he plays in a non-traditional hockey market for a team that squeaked into the playoffs. Because of their goaltender, the Stars might be better than we think as they are on the verge of upsetting Nashville. (apr21)

  10. James Neal was a healthy scratch for Game 5. As you might expect, he had no points in the previous four games. Neal has quite simply been a bust for the Flames since signing a five-year contract worth $5.75 million per season last summer. His 19 points in 63 games is his lowest point total in his 11-year NHL career and he doesn’t seem to fit into the Flames’ younger core going forward. Hopefully, you didn’t draft him hoping he’d play on the Flames’ top line. We could now be seeing why Nashville left him unprotected in the expansion draft.

  11. The Flames have a major decision coming up with respect to their goaltending. The team’s ousting is by no means entirely on Mike Smith (his 188 saves were lead all playoff goalies at the time), but he was easily considered the biggest question mark for the Flames entering the series.

You’d have to think that the 37-year-old Smith won’t be returning and that the Flames would instead turn to a tandem with RFA David Rittich and a goalie that they find as a UFA (maybe they circle back to Smith?) There doesn’t appear to be anything waiting in the system, as the numbers for both Jon Gillies and Tyler Parsons don’t suggest that they’re NHL-ready. Maybe a trade? (apr20)

  12. The metrics from Puck IQ don’t paint a very flattering picture of Drew Doughty’s 2018-19 season.

Was it his defense partner? That’s very possible, considering how much better Doughty has fared over the last two years when not playing with Derek Forbort. Was it the coaching staff and their systems? It may be, and we’ll have a better idea of this now that Todd McLellan is behind the bench. Was it just an off year? I don’t want to dismiss that, either.

I’m pretty comfortable saying that Doughty going from playing with Jake Muzzin to playing with Forbort had a massive impact on his performance. But does he have a better partner next year? We’ll see. (apr19)

  13. As when all teams get eliminated from playoffs, we find out about all the injuries players were going through. Pittsburgh’s locker clean-out brought us that as Jared McCann informed us he was playing through a separated shoulder. Also, Brian Dumoulin was playing through a torn posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his knee.

We also got more rumours that Evgeni Malkin will be traded, which seems to be almost a rite of passage whenever the Penguins don’t win the Cup. That always overlooks the fact that even if the Penguins wanted to trade Malkin, he has a no-move clause. Honestly, these types of rumors exhaust me because there is never is a kernel of truth and people are just looking for clicks. I guess that’s just the online world we live in now. (apr19)

  14. Tampa Bay also told us that Victor Hedman was not medically cleared for Games 3 and 4 after being so earlier in the series. It’s pretty obvious Hedman was nowhere near himself in Round 1. General manager Julien Brisebois also said there will be changes, but as I stated in my Ramblings yesterday, it’s just a reality of their cap situation rather than blowing up the roster.

Again, this roster is loaded top to bottom. It seems Brisebois understands that making significant changes would not be in the team’s best interest. It’s nice to see him take a measured approach.

BTW: Alex Killorn had a slight tear in his left knee’s MCL but will not require surgery. (apr19)

  15. It was a rebound, or career year, in many ways for Patrick Kane. Not something easily predicted for a 30-year old on what was thought to be a declining team.

An early lesson I learned in fantasy sports is to always bet on talent. Originally, for me, this applied to relief pitchers in fantasy baseball, but it’s very much true in almost any sport; elite talent usually finds a way to be productive almost regardless of circumstance. This certainly isn’t always the case (see: Kopitar, Anze) and I would bet on a modest step back for Kane in 2019-20. All the same, doubting elite talent is a bet I do not often make. (apr16)

  16. Something that caught my eye in Cam Metz’s Eastern Edge column a couple of days ago. He wrote about production against expected production from right wingers in the Atlantic division. One guy whose name stood out: Jason Pominville.

In 837 minutes of five-on-five ice time, Pominville posted 2.01 points per 60 minutes. Among the 252 forwards with at least 800 minutes, only 86 forwards managed at least two points per 60 minutes at 5v5. Pominville’s rate was the same as Brayden Schenn and Joe Pavelski. Pominville accomplished this despite playing only about a third of his ice time with Jack Eichel.

Going back three seasons, Pominville’s aggregate points/60 minutes at 5v5 (1.93) is the same as Gustav Nyquist, and higher than other wingers like Pavelski, Alex Radulov, Evander Kane, and Justin Williams.

Now, there is a lot more to hockey than just simply a points rate at five-on-five, but it’s clear that Pominville can still be productive in the NHL in a lesser role, and can do so even in a low-scoring environment. However, he turns 37 in November and it’s a wonder how much he does have left. I’ll be interested to see where he lands this summer. (apr18)

  17. I’ve written about this before, but the 40-goal scoring Jake Guentzel is one of the few players who I believe can consistently live in the mid-to-high teens for conversion rate. It doesn’t hurt that he’s locked to Sidney Crosby at even-strength. I imagine he’ll finally take a full-time spot on the top power-play unit next fall as well. (apr17)

  18. At the outset of the season, I envisioned a transition year for the Ducks. Guys like Ryan Kesler and Corey Perry would still be productive, but likely on the third or fourth lines, while guys like Sam Steel, Troy Terry, and Max Comtois would step up and lead the next wave of the Ducks core.

That wasn’t entirely the case.

Steel’s first foray in the NHL saw three points and 17 shots on goal through 13 games, averaging under 15 minutes a game. We have to think back to the state of the Ducks in October, though: Ryan Getzlaf missed two weeks due to injury, Ondrej Kase was not in the lineup due to his own injury, and Perry was injured as well. With guys like Rickard Rakell, Jakob Silfverberg, and Andrew Cogliano in the top-6, Steel was playing on the third and fourth line most nights with guys who were either unproven or without a lot of offensive skill. He wasn’t exactly put into a position to succeed, and he, Isac Lundestrom, and Terry were eventually sent down either for the rest of the season, or until after the trade deadline.

In all, the underlying numbers weren’t great for Steel but I wonder how much of that is Anaheim being a disaster most of the season. Those numbers were really bad in October, but after his recall at the end of February, he had very strong shot share numbers for the remaining games he dressed. It really was a tale of two seasons for Steel.

I’m still a believer in his talent and think he can be a good second-line center in the NHL. I thought that might start in 2018-19 but clearly he needed another year of to get up to speed. I think my mistake was my own beliefs in a player’s potential clouded what I should have seen as a clear development year.  It’s a mistake I’m certain I’ll make again. (apr16)

  19. Well it’s done. A week ago I didn’t expect this to happen. Not even when I had my ‘interview’ with Nikita Gusev’s agent a couple of weeks ago. I thought this would come in the form of a signing in late June, or an announcement in August. But things have moved quickly over the last week and Vegas has actually signed Gusev to a one-year entry-level contract.

The 26-year-old has dominated the KHL – and the international stage – for a couple of years now, and he’s ready to step into the lineup right away. Not only that, but he is actually eligible to play, since he wasn’t signed as an unrestricted free agent. Whenever he does, he could have an Artemi Panarin-type of impact. Vegas already has their first two lines in stone (or ‘Stone’, if you will): (apr15)

  20. Gusev wasn’t the only Russian star to sign with an NHL playoff team. Columbus signed Vladislav Gavrikov, a defenseman who played with Gusev on SKA St. Petersburg. There were also questions as to whether or not Gavrikov would sign, too. Funny enough, the Jackets have two defensemen hurt and had to actually dress Adam Clendening in Games 3 and 4 of Round 1. Gavrikov is 23 and his offensive upside is minimal (mid-30s) but he’s close to a sure thing when it comes to making it into the NHL. At least, as much as one can be a sure thing. (apr15)

  21. In early December, I traded Vince Dunn for Nazem Kadri in my keeper league. At the time, I wanted the depth forward as it would keep me in the hunt. I also wanted a playoff guy and Kadri was a lock for the playoffs, whereas clearly Dunn and his St. Louis Blues were, uh…done. They were bottom dwellers at the time. And as a bonus, Kadri had a great second half last year and although that was due to playing with Mitch Marner (which wasn’t going to happen again this year), I figured there would still be an uptick.

Well, that entire transaction has derailed and I feel like I gave up a good quality young defenseman for nothing. With Kadri’s track record of dirty hits, he’s going to miss time and likely lots of it. So, as a playoff asset, he’s done. And he never had that second-half uptick so he really didn’t help the bottom of my roster very much, either. (apr15)

  Have a good week, folks!!

  from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/21-fantasy-hockey-rambles/21-fantasy-hockey-rambles-14/

[flauntpage]

Why the Flyers Might be Ready to Give up the Ghost

There are a few story lines many fans will be watching for when the Flyers and Red Wings reconvene tonight at 6 p.m. in Detroit:

Can this white hot Flyers team (12-2-1 in their last 15 games) continue an unexpected, unlikely, and unprecedented run toward a playoff berth?

Will Carter Hart bounce back from a mediocre performance against the first team to play against him for a third time and playing in back-to-back games for the first time, no less? (I am going out on a limb and assuming coach Scott Gordon won’t be putting an important game in the playoff race on the shoulders of Mike McKenna, who will likely be waived Monday. McKenna will still back up Hart as newly acquired goalie Cam Talbot isn’t available today).

Will there be retribution on Detroit’s Anthony Mantha for his cross-check to Claude Giroux’s head while Giroux was on his knees against the boards in the third period of yesterday’s game? (There was no penalty called, although there should have been).

These are all interesting plots to follow as tonight’s game progresses. But it’s not the one I’m going to be watching the most closely.

Yes, they all have varying degrees of interest for me, and yes, they are all good water cooler topics for Monday – for those of you who don’t get the President’s Day holiday.

But there is one more that I want to follow even closer. And actually, it’s a plot line that, until post game yesterday, has simply gone unnoticed by many observers of the team.

It involves Shayne Gostisbehere.

It’s a story that has been brewing for a while now. One that goes back to before Dave Hakstol was fired. To before Ron Hextall was fired. To before there was any talk of considering moving on from the uber-talented but sometimes disconnected defenseman.

Let’s put together a quick timeline after the jump:

1. Gostisbehere’s relationship with the former coaches

This story has to start here. Ghost had two really good offensive seasons in his first three with the Flyers. His rookie campaign was one that energized an entire city. He burst onto the scene with a style of play from a defenseman that has never before been seen in Philadelphia. He was always on the go. Great speed, a wicked slap shot, a willingness to gamble to generate offense, a flair for the dramatic – it was a combination of skills and chutzpah that no other Flyers defenseman has ever had.

No, we weren’t elevating him to the level of a Mark Howe or even an Eric Desjardins, but at the same time, what Ghost was doing was bewitching. Sure, there were some rookie mistakes. Yes, he needed to improve the defensive side of his game, but those flaws would eventually be ironed out because there was no rivaling the impact he had offensively.

Not to mention, he had a bit of a fiery attitude. It was infectious. His energy and drive wore off on not just his teammates, but the fans too. He was the epitome of instant success story before Gritty broke the instant success story mold.

Then came his sophomore campaign and things weren’t quite as rosy. Sophomore slumps suck, but most athletes go through them. Gostisbehere’s was compounded with injuries, including a core muscle injury that required offseason surgery after his inconsistent sequel to his hit movie the season before.

And although a lot of his setbacks were injury-related, Gostitsbehere also didn’t take kindly to being a healthy scratch at one point as Hakstol tried to send a message to his young defenseman.

The message initially worked, as Gostisbehere came off that scratch and played well for a stint, but that’s when the injuries started to nag. Gostisbehere, being the gamer that he is, didn’t want to let the injuries get in the way of him playing, so he gutted his way through them, all the while being coached up by Hakstol and former assistant coach Gord Murphy, who was in charge of the defense before he too was fired last November.

Ghost limped through the rest of the season and after surgery insisted he was going to be back better than ever.

And he was. He came into training camp last season feeling fit and ready to have a resurgence. He was the first interview I conducted last year after starting writing for Crossing Broad and he told me during the 2017-18 training camp that the season was going to be different.

“I’m just going to go out there and play my game,” he told me. “I’m a guy who needs to create and be aggressive and try and be productive for my team. I won’t worry about all the other things that make you think to much out there. I’m just going to do what I do best and take it from there.”

And he did what he did best – finishing with 65 points, fourth-most among defensemen in the NHL, and second-best in the Eastern Conference.

And while it was a wildly successful season for Gostisbehere on the score sheet, there was a little more brewing beneath the surface.

The coaches were frustrated with Gostisbehere’s unwillingness to conform to what they wanted for more than just snippets of time. In turn, Gostisbehere was growing more and more frustrated with the coaches for really harping on him. After all, here was a guy who was producing at an elite level for the team and playing better than every other defenseman on the team not named Ivan Provorov and yet he was taking more internal criticism than most.

It’s understandable that Ghost would feel that way.

But, communication wasn’t always the greatest strong suit for the former coaching staff. And by communication, I mean the way in which a message was delivered. Sure, the coaches could bark out orders, but often, context was lacking.

Murphy was especially difficult to deal with for the Flyers defensemen. And once the 2018-19 season started off so poorly and Murphy was fired for along with Hextall for being a mole for the former G.M., there was a sigh of relief among the defensive corps, especially those on the younger side of things.

2. A second chance with new coaches and a new G.M.

In came Rick Wilson as an assistant coach to replace Murphy, a defensive whisperer of sorts, Wilson had been retired and came out of retirement to fix the Flyers defensive woes. The Flyers really wanted to get their top, young defensemen right. Provorov had been terrible for the first two months of the season. Travis Sanheim couldn’t take that next step and his inconsistencies were starting to show. And Gostisbehere needed to get back to being the force he was the season prior.

Since Wilson’s arrival and subsequently Gordon replacing Hakstol, Provorov and Sanheim have had that renaissance. Take yesterday’s game against Detroit out of the equation (Provorov had two bad turnovers that directly led to two Detroit goals and Sanheim found himself out of position on another of Detroit’s tallies) and those two former first round picks have been excellent for the better part of two months.

Since being paired together, they are logging huge minutes, playing against the opposition’s top players and doing a fine job of limiting chances.

However Gostisbehere was still in a funk. He wasn’t generating enough shots on goal. He wasn’t scoring. He wasn’t setting up enough teammates. And without that aspect of his game – where he can be incredibly productive – he was becoming less valuable.

That’s because his defensive game, now in his fourth season in the league, is still lacking as it was when he burst on the scene in 2015-16.

And it’s not just how he plays defensive hockey. The Flyers are actually OK with him just being an average player without the puck if he’s producing at his elite level with it.

However, it’s been his decision-making with the puck or around the puck that has left the Flyers scratching their heads.

Knowing Ghost is one of those players who doesn’t like to be barked at but rather talked to about perceived problems, Gordon has taken a different approach with him.

It’s actually something Gordon has learned about speaking to today’s generation in general. He talks about this at great length on the next edition of our Snow the Goalie podcast, which you can find at the bottom of this post.

In brief, Gordon has learned that today’s generation of player doesn’t just want to know what to do and how to do it, but also wants to know why he’s being asked to do something a certain way.

Gordon finds that without the why, getting the message across or having a strategy applied is a lot harder.

So, Gordon has taken to sitting down with players for lengthy conversations about their game and explaining to them what the expectation is, how it’s going to be reached and why it is what it is.

Gordon had the conversation recently with Gostisbehere, but before we get to that, for the sake of chronology, let’s go here next:

3. Rumblings

The first time I heard about Gostisbehere and not being on the same page as his coaches was on Black Friday. This was a few days before Hextall and Murphy were fired.

I was told by multiple team sources that there was internal concern about where Gostisbehere’s game was at this point in his career and that Gostisbehere (and others) were tuning out the coaches who were trying to get him to improve.

It was in that next week or so where I was reporting a lot of the inside stuff about the Flyers regime as it was being guided by Hextall and was being fed more information about the next GM and the players.

Once Chuck Fletcher took over as GM, I was told there was going to be an evaluation period and everyone was going to be under the microscope. Players. Coaches. Everyone.

During that evaluation period, I was told further that Gostisbehere wasn’t checking off all the boxes that Fletcher needed to see.

His play was too inconsistent. Some of the unexpected offensive struggles were still there and the play in his own end was getting more and more shoddy.

That’s when I was told by someone in the organization, “Don’t be surprised if he’s not part of Chuck’s long-term plan here.”

What do you do with that information? It isn’t specific enough to say he’s definitely being shopped for the trade deadline, but it’s also worth speculating that since the Flyers have depth at defense and goaltending that as they try to move forward to find players to improve their scoring, they could look to trade from those areas of surplus.

So, it became worth speculating on social media and on the Press Row Show and Snow the Goalie. Is Gostisbehere a candidate to be moved? Yeah. Maybe so. It might not be at the deadline. It might be in the offseason. But how does a reliable source of information – one of the same people who told me about Hextall and Hakstol’s firing – tell me that Ghost may not be part of the long-term plan here and then you see he’s signed for four more years at a very palatable $4.5 million cap hit and take that information and NOT assume he’s a trade candidate?

It’s certainly fair speculation.

Follow that up with a Fletcher press availability last week in which he found a way to praise the play of Provorov, Sanheim, Radko Gudas, Andrew MacDonald and Robert Hagg and conveniently forgot the one other defenseman on the team who is playing.

So, I put it out there publicly.

Since then, there has been a lot of talk about Ghost’s future. Many published stories writings or conversations have indicated that it would be silly to move on from him or that it wasn’t even worth discussing. Then Saturday happened.

4. Is there a disconnect?

Here’s a partial transcript of what Ghost had to say following the Flyers crazy 6-5 win against Detroit Saturday, a game in which he scored a goal, snapping an 18-game drought, and then was part of his team’s third period collapse in which they blew a four-goal lead only to survive and win in overtime on a goal by Travis Konecny.

Q: Snapping the goal drought, how much more confidence did you have with the puck on your stick?

“It was good. It was huge. Especially getting it early. I felt good out there… I think the best defense is a good offense. For us to be able to control the puck all the time, it really helps.”

Q: Has confidence been affecting you?

“Not really. I think it’s opportunity. I think being put in the right situations really helps for me.Obviously I can pick up my game a bunch, take care of pucks and be the player I’m supposed to be. I felt like I did that.”

Q: You were the No. 1 topic on Flyers twitter this week. There were think pieces that were pro/con. It’s only human to know when things are being said or things are being written. Do you use that as some kind of extrinsic motivation to continue to try to fuel the fire?

“I really don’t care what anyone says. I know what kind of player I am. I’m going to go out there and play my game. It’s not an easy game to play – the way I play. I’m an offensive guy and I need to be put in the right offensive situations. I got that tonight and I think it really showed.“

The emphasis in his answers is mine and is being used to identify what could be a philosophical difference between Gostisbehere and his coaches.

Ghost thinks he needs to be put in better offensive situations to flourish. This from a guy who plays defense. And also he’s hinting that prior to Saturday he wasn’t being put in those situations.

He played a season low 11:24 against Minnesota Tuesday. Some of that was because the Flyers were shorthanded five times and Ghost doesn’t kill penalties, but even with that, he should be more than 11:24. His season low before that was 13:47 in Montreal and that was a game he got hurt and missed time. Aside from that, he’s had five games this season with between 15 and 18 minutes and 48 games with 18 minutes or more.

So don’t be fooled by that penalty kill excuse – the coaches were sending a message to Gostisbehere.

That’s further evidenced by Gordon saying he had talked to Ghost Friday about what he needs to do better. He explained on our podcast about what he does with players in one-on-one sessions to talk about their game. He dove into specifics about his conversation with Ghost after Saturday’s game, and it sure doesn’t sound like Gordon and Gostisbehere are of the same mindset:

Here’s Gordon:

Q. What have you been saying or doing with Shayne to get him playing more like he did today or to get his confidence back up?

“I think he’s been good once the puck has left our zone. He got into the attack and made plays. But what we talked about [Friday] is getting better on the breakout – making better plays, better reads and not passing off his troubles to someone else when he can possibly do more. It’s one of those things where it just doesn’t happen for you offensively from the offensive blue line in. It doesn’t just start from the neutral zone on an attack. It starts from our goal line and from our net. He’s got to do more to help himself. He actually did that today. There were a few breakouts where I was pleased to see how he went about it and where it took us.”

Q. He said he considers himself an offensive player and needs to be put in advantageous offensive situations. Is that something going forward that schematically or systematically you are going to look to do to maximize his talent in that end, or was it just the way the game broke today?

“To get into more offensive situations you have to play less defense. A lot of that defense he was having to play – not all of it, but some of it – had to do with his decisions and how he was going back for pucks and breaking out. So, when you make that less complicated and you do more to help yourself, you’re going to give yourself more opportunities to go on the attack. I thought he did that today.”

Q. What did he do to make it better for himself and not pass of his problems to others?

“If you go back to the puck and you don’t want it or you don’t want to be the guy making the play,  you’re not going to do the work to hustle back and get it. You’re not going to do the work to shield the puck. Do things that are deceptive – make the forechecker think you are doing one thing when you do another – if you are not going to do that work that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, you’re going to make it easy for the forecheckers. So, you have a team that’s coming with two guys on the forecheck and you’ve got time to go back and get the puck and you just throw the puck to your partner that has somebody breathing right sown his back and he can’t make a play but you had an opportunity to make a play – it’s those situations that he can be better at.”

Again, the emphasis is mine. And that last answer is the winner – which is why the whole thing is emphasized. Gordon is basically saying Ghost doesn’t try hard enough to make plays in his own end and often puts his defensive partner in a bad position by passing him the puck when he shouldn’t.

Really, all three of Gordon’s answers are pretty damning to Gostisbehere. You wanted to know why the Flyers are frustrated with him? Here’s a good chunk of it publicly, from the coach and not being whispered through me.

So, that’s why I’m going to be watching Ghost specifically in today’s game more than anything else. I want to see if this public message hits home. I want to see if Ghost gets it, or if he still falls into the same old habits that have frustrated the organization.

And if he does the latter, then that’s a real world indication of why the Flyers would consider moving on from him, as I was told a while ago, and no complex statistical analysis can say otherwise.

For more Flyers coverage, be sure to check out The Press Row Show pregame and intermission shows before and during home games via Facebook Live on the Crossing Broad Facebook page and Periscope via Anthony and Russ’ Twitter accounts. Also, listen to our Flyers podcast Snow the Goalie ([iTunes] [Google Play] [Stitcher] [RSS]), leave a 5 star review, and follow us on Twitter:@AntSanPhilly @JoyOnBroad

The post Why the Flyers Might be Ready to Give up the Ghost appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Why the Flyers Might be Ready to Give up the Ghost published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[webpostingpro-blog]

New Post has been published on Webpostingpro

New Post has been published on https://webpostingpro.com/nba-playoffs-truest-test-of-champions-in-major-north-american-sports/

NBA playoffs truest test of champions in major North American sports

BRreaking information: The Bulls may not win the NBA championship.

In the event that they do, they will smash the history book. No eighth seed ever has captured the Lawrence O’Brien trophy. In reality, for the reason that NBA accelerated the playoffs to sixteen groups in 1984, No. 1 seeds are sixty one-five towards No. 8 seeds inside the first-round collection.

Since 2003, while the NBA extended the primary spherical from high-quality-of-5 to pleasant-of-seven, best 3 No. 8 seeds have advanced. That blanketed, of a route, the 2012 76ers while Derrick Rose’s left ACL betrayed him and Joakim Noah additionally went down with a severe ankle sprain.

And this lack of upsets is a superb thing.

The only-and-completed drama of the NCAA match is notable for reminiscences. Move again and watch Jim Valvano going for walks around looking for anyone to hug after North Carolina State stunned Houston’s Phi Slamma Jamma or David slaying, Goliath, while Villanova disillusioned Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown group. They have been higher groups for a night.

Think Villanova may want to shoot seventy eight.6 percent three more instances? Over the path of a seven-game collection, “ball don’t lie.” And the fine crew wins.

The NBA playoffs are the purest form of competition from the 4 primary North American sports activities. No warm goalie standing on his head can steal more than one 1-zero victories en path to Lord Stanley’s Cup. No hot pitching team of workers can deal more than one 1-zero pitching duels en direction to a Global series identify.

Even the Outstanding Bowl and its one-recreation nature can deliver Tom Brady a platform for an outstanding comeback. should he do that three more times? (Good enough. Perhaps he may want to.)

The NBA playoffs, and in the long run, the NBA Finals are a sixteen-victory take a look at of the first-rate crew. And it by no means fails.

So the warriors’ report-setting, seventy three-victory normal seasons didn’t produce an identity and they were the higher crew than the Cavaliers? Maybe with Draymond Green. But he was given suspended for kicking LeBron James, who, because of the first-rate player on the planet, led the exceptional group over the Green-less Warriors.

Tom Thibodeau served as Jeff Van Gundy’s assistant when the 1998-99 Knicks advanced to the NBA Finals from the No. eight seed. They lost to the Spurs to cap the shortened lockout season.

    Can Curiosity Make Your Child A Better Learner

In relation to venturing into the uncharted waters, children fare ways better than adults. As a discern, teacher, father or mother, or any other caregiver, the question that we ought to all try to settle isn’t always whether or not or no longer our kids could be adventurous, however as a substitute whether their curiosity gets the higher of them. As we may all be aware, there is no better manner to assist your infant in examining other than make her or him explore her very own little country to the fullest.

Truest shoes

The truest educator of every toddler isn’t always the information we attempt to pressure into their heads, even if they’re least disposed to take it. The truest educator is enjoying, and there is no better manner to assist our youngster’s leverage to enjoy, than letting them wander to something places their wild dreams take them.truest in a sentence

It is all people’s delight to look, kids, discover their complete capacity

And begin achieving their desires at a soft age. How encouraging is it to realize that our kids ought to discover their personal paths for fulfillment, and live the whole course, handiest with the aid of supporting them in managing their curiosity! What amount of pleasure could this deliver to the society at large? That our personal kids, the cream of the subsequent technology, can already face seemingly insurmountable obstacles in life! What’s even more exciting is the fact that we can assist them to take a fee of their destiny, merely via assisting them to harness their wild curiosity as a studying device. You are probably surprised of what your youngsters can pick up at any such tender age. For all its well worth, it is best logical that we help our youngsters to study by means of making them pursue whatever catches their fancy. curiosity will for all time be part of them, the only question is how we use it for his or her betterment.

It’s miles essential to remind younger people that peace is the best victory.

Peace is a small phrase, it has, however, a deeper which means attached to it. Some humans think of peace as in reality the shortage of disputes, wars, or disagreements. Nicely, that is one of the viewpoints on its that means, and understandably, extraordinary people would have special interpretations of the phrase. however, the knowledge of peace brings a that means to the word that every individual knows, and applies that precise mindset to their lifestyles.

  Champions Online Travel Power Guide

Champions Online does not consist of mounts like many other MMOs, it does but encompasses a big variety of travel powers, allowing you to get around in a way becoming in your hero. Nearly any concept may have the perfect journey energy, and Cryptic has been adding new skins for tour powers each once in a while, permitting for greater precise concepts to have a better matching way to get round.champion sports clothing

This article will most effective be discussing the travel powers themselves and now not the Advantages that may be accessed for some of them through spending Gain Factors.champion sweatpants for men

At level five you may pick your first tour strength, with a second being to be had at level 35. With regards to getting around the numerous zones in CO, having a way to tour thru the air is a great deal greater convenient than being caught on the floor. Because you can get 2 tour powers I’d recommend as a minimum one that helps you to tour through the air, even though it does not healthy your person’s concept. It’s now not necessary to accomplish that, but it’ll make it less difficult to tour through certain areas, especially in case you’re surprising with the various zones.

Except for Teleportation and Tunneling,

All four powers have multiple levels resulting in various speeds. In combat or without charging is the slowest and steadily constructing as much as the third and fastest stage, which can be accessed via completely charging the journey electricity. Jet Boots are the exception to this because it uses three stages but can’t be charged.

All journey powers which have a graphical effect to them can be colored to a point by gold members. Silver individuals are stuck with the default appearance.

Flight/Fire Flight/Rainbow Flight – Probable the most iconic splendid hero manner to travel as many classic comedian characters can fly and is a smooth manner of seeing someone who has top notch human talents. In CO flight gives superb maneuverability and slight velocity. Flight has no actual great photo, however many varieties of wings will flap or go with the flow at the same time as flying.

Heart Flight is the exact equal as flight, besides your man or woman is on Fire.

Rainbow Flight is an exact copy of flight, besides your man or woman leaves a rainbow trail even as flying and has a multicolor glow at their feet.

Six Principles and Standards of Conduct Chosen by the American Journal of Occupational Therapy

There are six core principles and standards of conduct hooked up with the aid of the Yankee Journal of Occupational Remedy. Those points are enforceable for professionals running within the field. These ideas are useful in comparing times whilst a certified professional has been accused of beside the point moves and are intended to manual therapists closer to ethical picks. when unusual circumstances and decisions stand up, it’s miles useful to have a set of idealized ideas as a manual.

Beneficence

Folks who offer occupational Remedy want to have subject for the nicely-being in their sufferers. “Beneficence” is a fancy phrase used specifically when discussing ethics, and it calls into query whether participants advantage from a specific examine or manner. Custom treatments may be designed for sufferers every time possible, however it is also crucial for a therapist to periodically compare whether or not a particular course of remedy is reaping benefits the recipient.

Nonmaleficence

Maleficence is an evil or harmful act, the other of beneficence. Nonmaleficence, logically, is refraining from inflicting harm. One of the maximum parts of the Hippocratic oath sworn by way of physicians, nonmaleficence is a reminder to be cautious while harm is feasible. In particular when assisting people recover from beyond accidents, a negative choice of exercising activities can exacerbate the hassle. While there are surely a number of sadistic people within the international, this precept is mostly focused at professionals who may additionally accidentally purpose damage.

Autonomy

Managing an individual’s right to independence, the precept of autonomy ensures that every patient has a proper to privateness, self-determination, consent, and confidentiality. At the same time as extraordinarily personal troubles might not regularly be mentioned during occupational Remedy, it’s miles still critical to admire a affected person’s privateness.aadvantage

Justice

Objectivity and fairness are hallmarks of justice because it pertains to this professional field. humans deserve to be dealt with similarly, regardless of their race, ideals, orientation, or financial approach. Those without the important price range can be directed to charitable businesses and different options for suitable treatment.

Veracity

It’s essential that professionals hold a level of respectability and candor that displays positively on others within the subject. Incorrect information and deception can be dangerous to sufferers and the standing of other therapists. Veracity is especially precious while discussing certifications, qualifications, and experience. Plagiarism and failing to provide right credit score is also a violation of this moral widespread.american airlines confirmation information

[flauntpage]

Why the Flyers Might be Ready to Give up the Ghost

There are a few story lines many fans will be watching for when the Flyers and Red Wings reconvene tonight at 6 p.m. in Detroit:

Can this white hot Flyers team (12-2-1 in their last 15 games) continue an unexpected, unlikely, and unprecedented run toward a playoff berth?

Will Carter Hart bounce back from a mediocre performance against the first team to play against him for a third time and playing in back-to-back games for the first time, no less? (I am going out on a limb and assuming coach Scott Gordon won’t be putting an important game in the playoff race on the shoulders of Mike McKenna, who will likely be waived Monday. McKenna will still back up Hart as newly acquired goalie Cam Talbot isn’t available today).

Will there be retribution on Detroit’s Anthony Mantha for his cross-check to Claude Giroux’s head while Giroux was on his knees against the boards in the third period of yesterday’s game? (There was no penalty called, although there should have been).

These are all interesting plots to follow as tonight’s game progresses. But it’s not the one I’m going to be watching the most closely.

Yes, they all have varying degrees of interest for me, and yes, they are all good water cooler topics for Monday – for those of you who don’t get the President’s Day holiday.

But there is one more that I want to follow even closer. And actually, it’s a plot line that, until post game yesterday, has simply gone unnoticed by many observers of the team.

It involves Shayne Gostisbehere.

It’s a story that has been brewing for a while now. One that goes back to before Dave Hakstol was fired. To before Ron Hextall was fired. To before there was any talk of considering moving on from the uber-talented but sometimes disconnected defenseman.

Let’s put together a quick timeline after the jump:

1. Gostisbehere’s relationship with the former coaches

This story has to start here. Ghost had two really good offensive seasons in his first three with the Flyers. His rookie campaign was one that energized an entire city. He burst onto the scene with a style of play from a defenseman that has never before been seen in Philadelphia. He was always on the go. Great speed, a wicked slap shot, a willingness to gamble to generate offense, a flair for the dramatic – it was a combination of skills and chutzpah that no other Flyers defenseman has ever had.

No, we weren’t elevating him to the level of a Mark Howe or even an Eric Desjardins, but at the same time, what Ghost was doing was bewitching. Sure, there were some rookie mistakes. Yes, he needed to improve the defensive side of his game, but those flaws would eventually be ironed out because there was no rivaling the impact he had offensively.

Not to mention, he had a bit of a fiery attitude. It was infectious. His energy and drive wore off on not just his teammates, but the fans too. He was the epitome of instant success story before Gritty broke the instant success story mold.

Then came his sophomore campaign and things weren’t quite as rosy. Sophomore slumps suck, but most athletes go through them. Gostisbehere’s was compounded with injuries, including a core muscle injury that required offseason surgery after his inconsistent sequel to his hit movie the season before.

And although a lot of his setbacks were injury-related, Gostitsbehere also didn’t take kindly to being a healthy scratch at one point as Hakstol tried to send a message to his young defenseman.

The message initially worked, as Gostisbehere came off that scratch and played well for a stint, but that’s when the injuries started to nag. Gostisbehere, being the gamer that he is, didn’t want to let the injuries get in the way of him playing, so he gutted his way through them, all the while being coached up by Hakstol and former assistant coach Gord Murphy, who was in charge of the defense before he too was fired last November.

Ghost limped through the rest of the season and after surgery insisted he was going to be back better than ever.

And he was. He came into training camp last season feeling fit and ready to have a resurgence. He was the first interview I conducted last year after starting writing for Crossing Broad and he told me during the 2017-18 training camp that the season was going to be different.

“I’m just going to go out there and play my game,” he told me. “I’m a guy who needs to create and be aggressive and try and be productive for my team. I won’t worry about all the other things that make you think to much out there. I’m just going to do what I do best and take it from there.”

And he did what he did best – finishing with 65 points, fourth-most among defensemen in the NHL, and second-best in the Eastern Conference.

And while it was a wildly successful season for Gostisbehere on the score sheet, there was a little more brewing beneath the surface.

The coaches were frustrated with Gostisbehere’s unwillingness to conform to what they wanted for more than just snippets of time. In turn, Gostisbehere was growing more and more frustrated with the coaches for really harping on him. After all, here was a guy who was producing at an elite level for the team and playing better than every other defenseman on the team not named Ivan Provorov and yet he was taking more internal criticism than most.

It’s understandable that Ghost would feel that way.

But, communication wasn’t always the greatest strong suit for the former coaching staff. And by communication, I mean the way in which a message was delivered. Sure, the coaches could bark out orders, but often, context was lacking.

Murphy was especially difficult to deal with for the Flyers defensemen. And once the 2018-19 season started off so poorly and Murphy was fired for along with Hextall for being a mole for the former G.M., there was a sigh of relief among the defensive corps, especially those on the younger side of things.

2. A second chance with new coaches and a new G.M.

In came Rick Wilson as an assistant coach to replace Murphy, a defensive whisperer of sorts, Wilson had been retired and came out of retirement to fix the Flyers defensive woes. The Flyers really wanted to get their top, young defensemen right. Provorov had been terrible for the first two months of the season. Travis Sanheim couldn’t take that next step and his inconsistencies were starting to show. And Gostisbehere needed to get back to being the force he was the season prior.

Since Wilson’s arrival and subsequently Gordon replacing Hakstol, Provorov and Sanheim have had that renaissance. Take yesterday’s game against Detroit out of the equation (Provorov had two bad turnovers that directly led to two Detroit goals and Sanheim found himself out of position on another of Detroit’s tallies) and those two former first round picks have been excellent for the better part of two months.

Since being paired together, they are logging huge minutes, playing against the opposition’s top players and doing a fine job of limiting chances.

However Gostisbehere was still in a funk. He wasn’t generating enough shots on goal. He wasn’t scoring. He wasn’t setting up enough teammates. And without that aspect of his game – where he can be incredibly productive – he was becoming less valuable.

That’s because his defensive game, now in his fourth season in the league, is still lacking as it was when he burst on the scene in 2015-16.

And it’s not just how he plays defensive hockey. The Flyers are actually OK with him just being an average player without the puck if he’s producing at his elite level with it.

However, it’s been his decision-making with the puck or around the puck that has left the Flyers scratching their heads.

Knowing Ghost is one of those players who doesn’t like to be barked at but rather talked to about perceived problems, Gordon has taken a different approach with him.

It’s actually something Gordon has learned about speaking to today’s generation in general. He talks about this at great length on the next edition of our Snow the Goalie podcast, which you can find at the bottom of this post.

In brief, Gordon has learned that today’s generation of player doesn’t just want to know what to do and how to do it, but also wants to know why he’s being asked to do something a certain way.

Gordon finds that without the why, getting the message across or having a strategy applied is a lot harder.

So, Gordon has taken to sitting down with players for lengthy conversations about their game and explaining to them what the expectation is, how it’s going to be reached and why it is what it is.

Gordon had the conversation recently with Gostisbehere, but before we get to that, for the sake of chronology, let’s go here next:

3. Rumblings

The first time I heard about Gostisbehere and not being on the same page as his coaches was on Black Friday. This was a few days before Hextall and Murphy were fired.

I was told by multiple team sources that there was internal concern about where Gostisbehere’s game was at this point in his career and that Gostisbehere (and others) were tuning out the coaches who were trying to get him to improve.

It was in that next week or so where I was reporting a lot of the inside stuff about the Flyers regime as it was being guided by Hextall and was being fed more information about the next GM and the players.

Once Chuck Fletcher took over as GM, I was told there was going to be an evaluation period and everyone was going to be under the microscope. Players. Coaches. Everyone.

During that evaluation period, I was told further that Gostisbehere wasn’t checking off all the boxes that Fletcher needed to see.

His play was too inconsistent. Some of the unexpected offensive struggles were still there and the play in his own end was getting more and more shoddy.

That’s when I was told by someone in the organization, “Don’t be surprised if he’s not part of Chuck’s long-term plan here.”

What do you do with that information? It isn’t specific enough to say he’s definitely being shopped for the trade deadline, but it’s also worth speculating that since the Flyers have depth at defense and goaltending that as they try to move forward to find players to improve their scoring, they could look to trade from those areas of surplus.

So, it became worth speculating on social media and on the Press Row Show and Snow the Goalie. Is Gostisbehere a candidate to be moved? Yeah. Maybe so. It might not be at the deadline. It might be in the offseason. But how does a reliable source of information – one of the same people who told me about Hextall and Hakstol’s firing – tell me that Ghost may not be part of the long-term plan here and then you see he’s signed for four more years at a very palatable $4.5 million cap hit and take that information and NOT assume he’s a trade candidate?

It’s certainly fair speculation.

Follow that up with a Fletcher press availability last week in which he found a way to praise the play of Provorov, Sanheim, Radko Gudas, Andrew MacDonald and Robert Hagg and conveniently forgot the one other defenseman on the team who is playing.

So, I put it out there publicly.

Since then, there has been a lot of talk about Ghost’s future. Many published stories writings or conversations have indicated that it would be silly to move on from him or that it wasn’t even worth discussing. Then Saturday happened.

4. Is there a disconnect?

Here’s a partial transcript of what Ghost had to say following the Flyers crazy 6-5 win against Detroit Saturday, a game in which he scored a goal, snapping an 18-game drought, and then was part of his team’s third period collapse in which they blew a four-goal lead only to survive and win in overtime on a goal by Travis Konecny.

Q: Snapping the goal drought, how much more confidence did you have with the puck on your stick?

“It was good. It was huge. Especially getting it early. I felt good out there… I think the best defense is a good offense. For us to be able to control the puck all the time, it really helps.”

Q: Has confidence been affecting you?

“Not really. I think it’s opportunity. I think being put in the right situations really helps for me.Obviously I can pick up my game a bunch, take care of pucks and be the player I’m supposed to be. I felt like I did that.”

Q: You were the No. 1 topic on Flyers twitter this week. There were think pieces that were pro/con. It’s only human to know when things are being said or things are being written. Do you use that as some kind of extrinsic motivation to continue to try to fuel the fire?

“I really don’t care what anyone says. I know what kind of player I am. I’m going to go out there and play my game. It’s not an easy game to play – the way I play. I’m an offensive guy and I need to be put in the right offensive situations. I got that tonight and I think it really showed.“

The emphasis in his answers is mine and is being used to identify what could be a philosophical difference between Gostisbehere and his coaches.

Ghost thinks he needs to be put in better offensive situations to flourish. This from a guy who plays defense. And also he’s hinting that prior to Saturday he wasn’t being put in those situations.

He played a season low 11:24 against Minnesota Tuesday. Some of that was because the Flyers were shorthanded five times and Ghost doesn’t kill penalties, but even with that, he should be more than 11:24. His season low before that was 13:47 in Montreal and that was a game he got hurt and missed time. Aside from that, he’s had five games this season with between 15 and 18 minutes and 48 games with 18 minutes or more.

So don’t be fooled by that penalty kill excuse – the coaches were sending a message to Gostisbehere.

That’s further evidenced by Gordon saying he had talked to Ghost Friday about what he needs to do better. He explained on our podcast about what he does with players in one-on-one sessions to talk about their game. He dove into specifics about his conversation with Ghost after Saturday’s game, and it sure doesn’t sound like Gordon and Gostisbehere are of the same mindset:

Here’s Gordon:

Q. What have you been saying or doing with Shayne to get him playing more like he did today or to get his confidence back up?

“I think he’s been good once the puck has left our zone. He got into the attack and made plays. But what we talked about [Friday] is getting better on the breakout – making better plays, better reads and not passing off his troubles to someone else when he can possibly do more. It’s one of those things where it just doesn’t happen for you offensively from the offensive blue line in. It doesn’t just start from the neutral zone on an attack. It starts from our goal line and from our net. He’s got to do more to help himself. He actually did that today. There were a few breakouts where I was pleased to see how he went about it and where it took us.”

Q. He said he considers himself an offensive player and needs to be put in advantageous offensive situations. Is that something going forward that schematically or systematically you are going to look to do to maximize his talent in that end, or was it just the way the game broke today?

“To get into more offensive situations you have to play less defense. A lot of that defense he was having to play – not all of it, but some of it – had to do with his decisions and how he was going back for pucks and breaking out. So, when you make that less complicated and you do more to help yourself, you’re going to give yourself more opportunities to go on the attack. I thought he did that today.”

Q. What did he do to make it better for himself and not pass of his problems to others?

“If you go back to the puck and you don’t want it or you don’t want to be the guy making the play,  you’re not going to do the work to hustle back and get it. You’re not going to do the work to shield the puck. Do things that are deceptive – make the forechecker think you are doing one thing when you do another – if you are not going to do that work that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, you’re going to make it easy for the forecheckers. So, you have a team that’s coming with two guys on the forecheck and you’ve got time to go back and get the puck and you just throw the puck to your partner that has somebody breathing right sown his back and he can’t make a play but you had an opportunity to make a play – it’s those situations that he can be better at.”

Again, the emphasis is mine. And that last answer is the winner – which is why the whole thing is emphasized. Gordon is basically saying Ghost doesn’t try hard enough to make plays in his own end and often puts his defensive partner in a bad position by passing him the puck when he shouldn’t.

Really, all three of Gordon’s answers are pretty damning to Gostisbehere. You wanted to know why the Flyers are frustrated with him? Here’s a good chunk of it publicly, from the coach and not being whispered through me.

So, that’s why I’m going to be watching Ghost specifically in today’s game more than anything else. I want to see if this public message hits home. I want to see if Ghost gets it, or if he still falls into the same old habits that have frustrated the organization.

And if he does the latter, then that’s a real world indication of why the Flyers would consider moving on from him, as I was told a while ago, and no complex statistical analysis can say otherwise.

For more Flyers coverage, be sure to check out The Press Row Show pregame and intermission shows before and during home games via Facebook Live on the Crossing Broad Facebook page and Periscope via Anthony and Russ’ Twitter accounts. Also, listen to our Flyers podcast Snow the Goalie ([iTunes] [Google Play] [Stitcher] [RSS]), leave a 5 star review, and follow us on Twitter:@AntSanPhilly @JoyOnBroad

The post Why the Flyers Might be Ready to Give up the Ghost appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Why the Flyers Might be Ready to Give up the Ghost published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[flauntpage]

Why the Flyers Might be Ready to Give up the Ghost

There are a few story lines many fans will be watching for when the Flyers and Red Wings reconvene tonight at 6 p.m. in Detroit:

Can this white hot Flyers team (12-2-1 in their last 15 games) continue an unexpected, unlikely, and unprecedented run toward a playoff berth?

Will Carter Hart bounce back from a mediocre performance against the first team to play against him for a third time and playing in back-to-back games for the first time, no less? (I am going out on a limb and assuming coach Scott Gordon won’t be putting an important game in the playoff race on the shoulders of Mike McKenna, who will likely be waived Monday. McKenna will still back up Hart as newly acquired goalie Cam Talbot isn’t available today).

Will there be retribution on Detroit’s Anthony Mantha for his cross-check to Claude Giroux’s head while Giroux was on his knees against the boards in the third period of yesterday’s game? (There was no penalty called, although there should have been).

These are all interesting plots to follow as tonight’s game progresses. But it’s not the one I’m going to be watching the most closely.

Yes, they all have varying degrees of interest for me, and yes, they are all good water cooler topics for Monday – for those of you who don’t get the President’s Day holiday.

But there is one more that I want to follow even closer. And actually, it’s a plot line that, until post game yesterday, has simply gone unnoticed by many observers of the team.

It involves Shayne Gostisbehere.

It’s a story that has been brewing for a while now. One that goes back to before Dave Hakstol was fired. To before Ron Hextall was fired. To before there was any talk of considering moving on from the uber-talented but sometimes disconnected defenseman.

Let’s put together a quick timeline after the jump:

1. Gostisbehere’s relationship with the former coaches

This story has to start here. Ghost had two really good offensive seasons in his first three with the Flyers. His rookie campaign was one that energized an entire city. He burst onto the scene with a style of play from a defenseman that has never before been seen in Philadelphia. He was always on the go. Great speed, a wicked slap shot, a willingness to gamble to generate offense, a flair for the dramatic – it was a combination of skills and chutzpah that no other Flyers defenseman has ever had.

No, we weren’t elevating him to the level of a Mark Howe or even an Eric Desjardins, but at the same time, what Ghost was doing was bewitching. Sure, there were some rookie mistakes. Yes, he needed to improve the defensive side of his game, but those flaws would eventually be ironed out because there was no rivaling the impact he had offensively.

Not to mention, he had a bit of a fiery attitude. It was infectious. His energy and drive wore off on not just his teammates, but the fans too. He was the epitome of instant success story before Gritty broke the instant success story mold.

Then came his sophomore campaign and things weren’t quite as rosy. Sophomore slumps suck, but most athletes go through them. Gostisbehere’s was compounded with injuries, including a core muscle injury that required offseason surgery after his inconsistent sequel to his hit movie the season before.

And although a lot of his setbacks were injury-related, Gostitsbehere also didn’t take kindly to being a healthy scratch at one point as Hakstol tried to send a message to his young defenseman.

The message initially worked, as Gostisbehere came off that scratch and played well for a stint, but that’s when the injuries started to nag. Gostisbehere, being the gamer that he is, didn’t want to let the injuries get in the way of him playing, so he gutted his way through them, all the while being coached up by Hakstol and former assistant coach Gord Murphy, who was in charge of the defense before he too was fired last November.

Ghost limped through the rest of the season and after surgery insisted he was going to be back better than ever.

And he was. He came into training camp last season feeling fit and ready to have a resurgence. He was the first interview I conducted last year after starting writing for Crossing Broad and he told me during the 2017-18 training camp that the season was going to be different.

“I’m just going to go out there and play my game,” he told me. “I’m a guy who needs to create and be aggressive and try and be productive for my team. I won’t worry about all the other things that make you think to much out there. I’m just going to do what I do best and take it from there.”

And he did what he did best – finishing with 65 points, fourth-most among defensemen in the NHL, and second-best in the Eastern Conference.

And while it was a wildly successful season for Gostisbehere on the score sheet, there was a little more brewing beneath the surface.

The coaches were frustrated with Gostisbehere’s unwillingness to conform to what they wanted for more than just snippets of time. In turn, Gostisbehere was growing more and more frustrated with the coaches for really harping on him. After all, here was a guy who was producing at an elite level for the team and playing better than every other defenseman on the team not named Ivan Provorov and yet he was taking more internal criticism than most.

It’s understandable that Ghost would feel that way.

But, communication wasn’t always the greatest strong suit for the former coaching staff. And by communication, I mean the way in which a message was delivered. Sure, the coaches could bark out orders, but often, context was lacking.

Murphy was especially difficult to deal with for the Flyers defensemen. And once the 2018-19 season started off so poorly and Murphy was fired for along with Hextall for being a mole for the former G.M., there was a sigh of relief among the defensive corps, especially those on the younger side of things.

2. A second chance with new coaches and a new G.M.

In came Rick Wilson as an assistant coach to replace Murphy, a defensive whisperer of sorts, Wilson had been retired and came out of retirement to fix the Flyers defensive woes. The Flyers really wanted to get their top, young defensemen right. Provorov had been terrible for the first two months of the season. Travis Sanheim couldn’t take that next step and his inconsistencies were starting to show. And Gostisbehere needed to get back to being the force he was the season prior.

Since Wilson’s arrival and subsequently Gordon replacing Hakstol, Provorov and Sanheim have had that renaissance. Take yesterday’s game against Detroit out of the equation (Provorov had two bad turnovers that directly led to two Detroit goals and Sanheim found himself out of position on another of Detroit’s tallies) and those two former first round picks have been excellent for the better part of two months.

Since being paired together, they are logging huge minutes, playing against the opposition’s top players and doing a fine job of limiting chances.

However Gostisbehere was still in a funk. He wasn’t generating enough shots on goal. He wasn’t scoring. He wasn’t setting up enough teammates. And without that aspect of his game – where he can be incredibly productive – he was becoming less valuable.

That’s because his defensive game, now in his fourth season in the league, is still lacking as it was when he burst on the scene in 2015-16.

And it’s not just how he plays defensive hockey. The Flyers are actually OK with him just being an average player without the puck if he’s producing at his elite level with it.

However, it’s been his decision-making with the puck or around the puck that has left the Flyers scratching their heads.

Knowing Ghost is one of those players who doesn’t like to be barked at but rather talked to about perceived problems, Gordon has taken a different approach with him.

It’s actually something Gordon has learned about speaking to today’s generation in general. He talks about this at great length on the next edition of our Snow the Goalie podcast, which you can find at the bottom of this post.

In brief, Gordon has learned that today’s generation of player doesn’t just want to know what to do and how to do it, but also wants to know why he’s being asked to do something a certain way.

Gordon finds that without the why, getting the message across or having a strategy applied is a lot harder.

So, Gordon has taken to sitting down with players for lengthy conversations about their game and explaining to them what the expectation is, how it’s going to be reached and why it is what it is.

Gordon had the conversation recently with Gostisbehere, but before we get to that, for the sake of chronology, let’s go here next:

3. Rumblings

The first time I heard about Gostisbehere and not being on the same page as his coaches was on Black Friday. This was a few days before Hextall and Murphy were fired.

I was told by multiple team sources that there was internal concern about where Gostisbehere’s game was at this point in his career and that Gostisbehere (and others) were tuning out the coaches who were trying to get him to improve.

It was in that next week or so where I was reporting a lot of the inside stuff about the Flyers regime as it was being guided by Hextall and was being fed more information about the next GM and the players.

Once Chuck Fletcher took over as GM, I was told there was going to be an evaluation period and everyone was going to be under the microscope. Players. Coaches. Everyone.

During that evaluation period, I was told further that Gostisbehere wasn’t checking off all the boxes that Fletcher needed to see.

His play was too inconsistent. Some of the unexpected offensive struggles were still there and the play in his own end was getting more and more shoddy.

That’s when I was told by someone in the organization, “Don’t be surprised if he’s not part of Chuck’s long-term plan here.”

What do you do with that information? It isn’t specific enough to say he’s definitely being shopped for the trade deadline, but it’s also worth speculating that since the Flyers have depth at defense and goaltending that as they try to move forward to find players to improve their scoring, they could look to trade from those areas of surplus.

So, it became worth speculating on social media and on the Press Row Show and Snow the Goalie. Is Gostisbehere a candidate to be moved? Yeah. Maybe so. It might not be at the deadline. It might be in the offseason. But how does a reliable source of information – one of the same people who told me about Hextall and Hakstol’s firing – tell me that Ghost may not be part of the long-term plan here and then you see he’s signed for four more years at a very palatable $4.5 million cap hit and take that information and NOT assume he’s a trade candidate?

It’s certainly fair speculation.

Follow that up with a Fletcher press availability last week in which he found a way to praise the play of Provorov, Sanheim, Radko Gudas, Andrew MacDonald and Robert Hagg and conveniently forgot the one other defenseman on the team who is playing.

So, I put it out there publicly.

Since then, there has been a lot of talk about Ghost’s future. Many published stories writings or conversations have indicated that it would be silly to move on from him or that it wasn’t even worth discussing. Then Saturday happened.

4. Is there a disconnect?

Here’s a partial transcript of what Ghost had to say following the Flyers crazy 6-5 win against Detroit Saturday, a game in which he scored a goal, snapping an 18-game drought, and then was part of his team’s third period collapse in which they blew a four-goal lead only to survive and win in overtime on a goal by Travis Konecny.

Q: Snapping the goal drought, how much more confidence did you have with the puck on your stick?

“It was good. It was huge. Especially getting it early. I felt good out there… I think the best defense is a good offense. For us to be able to control the puck all the time, it really helps.”

Q: Has confidence been affecting you?

“Not really. I think it’s opportunity. I think being put in the right situations really helps for me.Obviously I can pick up my game a bunch, take care of pucks and be the player I’m supposed to be. I felt like I did that.”

Q: You were the No. 1 topic on Flyers twitter this week. There were think pieces that were pro/con. It’s only human to know when things are being said or things are being written. Do you use that as some kind of extrinsic motivation to continue to try to fuel the fire?

“I really don’t care what anyone says. I know what kind of player I am. I’m going to go out there and play my game. It’s not an easy game to play – the way I play. I’m an offensive guy and I need to be put in the right offensive situations. I got that tonight and I think it really showed.“

The emphasis in his answers is mine and is being used to identify what could be a philosophical difference between Gostisbehere and his coaches.

Ghost thinks he needs to be put in better offensive situations to flourish. This from a guy who plays defense. And also he’s hinting that prior to Saturday he wasn’t being put in those situations.

He played a season low 11:24 against Minnesota Tuesday. Some of that was because the Flyers were shorthanded five times and Ghost doesn’t kill penalties, but even with that, he should be more than 11:24. His season low before that was 13:47 in Montreal and that was a game he got hurt and missed time. Aside from that, he’s had five games this season with between 15 and 18 minutes and 48 games with 18 minutes or more.

So don’t be fooled by that penalty kill excuse – the coaches were sending a message to Gostisbehere.

That’s further evidenced by Gordon saying he had talked to Ghost Friday about what he needs to do better. He explained on our podcast about what he does with players in one-on-one sessions to talk about their game. He dove into specifics about his conversation with Ghost after Saturday’s game, and it sure doesn’t sound like Gordon and Gostisbehere are of the same mindset:

Here’s Gordon:

Q. What have you been saying or doing with Shayne to get him playing more like he did today or to get his confidence back up?

“I think he’s been good once the puck has left our zone. He got into the attack and made plays. But what we talked about [Friday] is getting better on the breakout – making better plays, better reads and not passing off his troubles to someone else when he can possibly do more. It’s one of those things where it just doesn’t happen for you offensively from the offensive blue line in. It doesn’t just start from the neutral zone on an attack. It starts from our goal line and from our net. He’s got to do more to help himself. He actually did that today. There were a few breakouts where I was pleased to see how he went about it and where it took us.”

Q. He said he considers himself an offensive player and needs to be put in advantageous offensive situations. Is that something going forward that schematically or systematically you are going to look to do to maximize his talent in that end, or was it just the way the game broke today?

“To get into more offensive situations you have to play less defense. A lot of that defense he was having to play – not all of it, but some of it – had to do with his decisions and how he was going back for pucks and breaking out. So, when you make that less complicated and you do more to help yourself, you’re going to give yourself more opportunities to go on the attack. I thought he did that today.”

Q. What did he do to make it better for himself and not pass of his problems to others?

“If you go back to the puck and you don’t want it or you don’t want to be the guy making the play,  you’re not going to do the work to hustle back and get it. You’re not going to do the work to shield the puck. Do things that are deceptive – make the forechecker think you are doing one thing when you do another – if you are not going to do that work that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, you’re going to make it easy for the forecheckers. So, you have a team that’s coming with two guys on the forecheck and you’ve got time to go back and get the puck and you just throw the puck to your partner that has somebody breathing right sown his back and he can’t make a play but you had an opportunity to make a play – it’s those situations that he can be better at.”

Again, the emphasis is mine. And that last answer is the winner – which is why the whole thing is emphasized. Gordon is basically saying Ghost doesn’t try hard enough to make plays in his own end and often puts his defensive partner in a bad position by passing him the puck when he shouldn’t.

Really, all three of Gordon’s answers are pretty damning to Gostisbehere. You wanted to know why the Flyers are frustrated with him? Here’s a good chunk of it publicly, from the coach and not being whispered through me.

So, that’s why I’m going to be watching Ghost specifically in today’s game more than anything else. I want to see if this public message hits home. I want to see if Ghost gets it, or if he still falls into the same old habits that have frustrated the organization.

And if he does the latter, then that’s a real world indication of why the Flyers would consider moving on from him, as I was told a while ago, and no complex statistical analysis can say otherwise.

For more Flyers coverage, be sure to check out The Press Row Show pregame and intermission shows before and during home games via Facebook Live on the Crossing Broad Facebook page and Periscope via Anthony and Russ’ Twitter accounts. Also, listen to our Flyers podcast Snow the Goalie ([iTunes] [Google Play] [Stitcher] [RSS]), leave a 5 star review, and follow us on Twitter:@AntSanPhilly @JoyOnBroad

The post Why the Flyers Might be Ready to Give up the Ghost appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Why the Flyers Might be Ready to Give up the Ghost published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Henrik Zetterberg, Robert Thomas, John Gibson, and More – August 28

  September is right around the corner and that means training camps will be here in no time. Get a leg up on your fantasy league mates by grabbing your copy of the 2018-19 Dobber Hockey Fantasy Guide today! It has everything you need to get ahead of the curve for the 2018-19 fantasy season.

*

The big news from the weekend came out of Detroit with the news that Henrik Zetterberg hasn’t really been able to train this off season and this puts his season in doubt. He turns 38 years old early in October and his long-standing back issues are no secret.

Craig Custance of The Athletic tweeted this Monday morning:

Yes. At this point, I'd be surprised if he plays again.

— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) August 27, 2018

Dobber covered this a little bit in his Ramblings yesterday.

Aside from the understanding that Andreas Athanasiou will move to centre, one thing I would like to add is that this undoubtedly solidified Dylan Larkin’s role. Larkin played just under 20 minutes a game last year but with the lack of depth at centre now, it’s easy to see Larkin’s role expanding even more. We could see Larkin end up playing close to Aleksander Barkov minutes, which would be around 22 a night. It’s probably not what Jeff Blashill, or any coach, really wants to do but they don’t have a lot of options.

I am interested to see how Athanasiou fares. He has very solid underlying numbers like controlled zone entries and exits but he’s more of a shooter than a true playmaker. Does he continue his shot-heavy ways or does he expand his game to be a true all-around centre? It’ll be fascinating to watch. He could have relevance in 12-teamers now, but as a late-round flier and not someone necessarily to target.

*

We’re starting to get more updates on players and their injury recoveries going into training camp. One such note was on Robert Thomas:

Yeo said there are a couple guys they "aren't 100 percent sure on" regarding some of the injuries sustained last season/end of last season. Wants to wait until they get in/meet with doctors first, but Robert Thomas (ankle) sounds like is ready to go when camp opens. #stlblues

— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) August 27, 2018

Thomas is a curious player this year. There were some quotes back in July that Thomas could legitimately be the number-2 centre for the Blues this year, or at least on a line with Ryan O’Reilly. I’m not bullish enough on him to believe he’ll do that but it sure did sound like he’ll have every opportunity to make the team out of camp.

*

Most people are thinking about the 2018-19 fantasy hockey season but our very own Cam Robinson is looking ahead to the 2019 Entry Draft. A few days ago he released his top-62 rankings for the draft, and you’ll never guess who was at the top of the list. (Jack Hughes. It’s Jack Hughes.) Anyway, for those in dynasty leagues it’s a good opportunity to get a head start. Even if you don’t agree with them, it’s a chance to see whose stock rises and falls over the next 10 months. Sometimes a player’s stock falls for performance, or off-ice issues, or a host of other reasons. If they’re ranked highly now, and not ranked highly in June, it could be a good buying opportunity. Someone like Jakob Chychrun comes to mind. If they’re a good player now, they’ll probably still be a good player for 2019 fantasy rookie drafts. It’s just a good idea to keep track of these things when trying to maximize value.

*

One thing I like to do when draft season approaches is look at different rankings and ADPs from different sites. This really depends on the competition of a given league but despite the proliferation of information available, there’s a good portion of the fantasy community that are underprepared when their actual draft comes around. Some people do rely on the rankings from a site when making their picks and that can lend itself for different players to be over- or under-drafted.

For today, I want to look at goalies on ESPN and Yahoo only. Here’s a few things to note:

Yahoo has five goalies in their top-25 and this is where they’re ranked: Andrei Vasilevskiy (14), Pekka Rinne (19), Connor Hellebuyck (22), Braden Holtby (24), and Sergei Bobrovsky (25). ESPN has just three goalies in their top-25: Vasilevskiy (15), Bobrovsky (19), Holtby (23). Now, leagues draft differently; sometimes players are really aggressive on goaltenders. All the same, for those drafting on ESPN (I know Dobber won’t be one of them), you could probably draft three skaters and still be able to snag a top-10 goalie from your draft board. On Yahoo, that would be a little more precarious.

Carey Price is ranked a fair bit lower on ESPN (goalie number 14) than on Yahoo (goalie 10). Last week, I wrote that I’m probably not interested in Price being my team’s number-1 goalie but would consider him in the number-2 range. It looks like I may be able to do that in the one league I have on ESPN.

One goalie ranked a bit higher on ESPN is Jonathan Quick, coming in as goalie 4. Over on Yahoo, he’s the seventh-ranked goaltender, between Tuukka Rask and Frederik Andersen. I understand that Quick can be a divisive goalie both in the real world and in the fantasy game but other than his injury-plagued 2016-17, he has at least 25 wins and a .915 save percentage in every season since the lockout year. I guess it’s a matter of how good (or bad) a person thinks the Kings might be this year. It might be fair to say they over-achieved a bit last year, but a healthy Jeff Carter and the signing of Ilya Kovalchuk should make a difference.   

John Gibson, meanwhile, is ranked way higher on ESPN (goalie number 6, 41st overall) than he is on Yahoo (goalie 17, 95th overall). I think there are valid concerns about the Anaheim Ducks, chief among them being their aging stars. All the same, goalie 17 seems awfully low for a 25-year old goalie with such a stellar track record. If he starts sliding in your Yahoo drafts and you can legitimately grab him anytime outside the top-10 goalies, it’s too good an opportunity to pass on.

Antti Raanta is ranked kind of low on both sites, coming in as goalie 20 on ESPN and goalie 24 on Yahoo. It’s sort of understandable because repeating a .930 season is nearly impossible for any goalie and despite some changes and additions in the off season, they could still be in tough to be a team which scores enough to provide Raanta with wins. All the same, consider this: Martin Jones was just inside the top-20 goalies last year with 30 wins, a 2.55 GAA, and a save percentage of .915. If you think Raanta can exceed those marks, then he’s going at a value across the industry right now.

There are some others to dig into but I just wanted to cover some of the bigger names for today. It’ll be another couple weeks yet until we get reliable ADP data to see if the rankings will truly reflect where some of these goalie are drafted, but it does look like we could see some value options depending on which site is being used.

Any thoughts on the goalies named above, Dobber fans?

*

This is more of a general comment but as draft season is really starting to wind up (we’ll be full-bore once training camps start), an important comment on the randomness of hockey:

I love this from Lopez's new piece.https://t.co/gu7XhNNlDI pic.twitter.com/zLV9sC48pX

— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) August 27, 2018

The 2014-15 Buffalo Sabres were one of the worst teams to skate in the NHL this century and they still won 23 of their 82 games, about 28 percent. You won’t see a winless season in the NHL like has happened in the NFL. With the salary cap, the randomness of the game, no more ties, and scouting progression across the world which has created a deeper talent pool, you won’t see single-digit wins like in the NBA. Even horrific NHL teams like that Sabres team a few years ago can still be expected to win one out of every four games.

We like to look for meaning in everything. Quite often, we can find a reason why a player excelled (or didn’t) or a goalie stood on his head (or didn’t). Sometimes though, things are just random. It could be for a single game or it could be for an entire season. Sometimes there just isn’t a meaning. Sometimes, stuff happens.

*

To kind of continue the theme of “stuff happens,” a good read from Dom Luszczyszyn over at the Athletic on predicting point totals for teams. Or, as the title of his piece says, measuring uncertainty.

He shows in his article the results of different simulations of the season. Because of the inherent randomness of the game itself, there’s one simulation where both the Islanders and Sabres make the playoffs and the Avalanche are in the Cup Final. There’s another where the Islanders win the Metro Division and the Lightning miss the playoffs by 10 points. There are simulations where the Coyotes make the playoffs, others where they’re last in the West.

You get the point.

Just remember that if Dobber, or Laidlaw, or myself, or whomever else’s projections you, the reader, look towards, we’re going to be wrong and we’re going to be wrong a lot. When you’re projecting how many goals, assists, shots, penalty minutes etc. that every skater in the NHL will have, there are going to be some players we are wildly wrong on. It’s just important to learn why something went wrong (maybe there’s a blind spot in a model or ensuing analysis) and try to improve in the future. There are guys I’ve missed on very recently like Victor Hedman, Kyle Connor, and Josh Anderson. There will be players I miss on this year. Such is the nature of the game we play.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-henrik-zetterberg-robert-thomas-john-gibson-and-more-august-28/

[webpostingpro-blog]

New Post has been published on Webpostingpro

New Post has been published on https://webpostingpro.com/nba-playoffs-truest-test-of-champions-in-major-north-american-sports/

NBA playoffs truest test of champions in major North American sports

BRreaking information: The Bulls may not win the NBA championship.

In the event that they do, they will smash the history book. No eighth seed ever has captured the Lawrence O’Brien trophy. In reality, for the reason that NBA accelerated the playoffs to sixteen groups in 1984, No. 1 seeds are sixty one-five towards No. 8 seeds inside the first-round collection.

Since 2003, while the NBA extended the primary spherical from high-quality-of-5 to pleasant-of-seven, best 3 No. 8 seeds have advanced. That blanketed, of a route, the 2012 76ers while Derrick Rose’s left ACL betrayed him and Joakim Noah additionally went down with a severe ankle sprain.

And this lack of upsets is a superb thing.

The only-and-completed drama of the NCAA match is notable for reminiscences. Move again and watch Jim Valvano going for walks around looking for anyone to hug after North Carolina State stunned Houston’s Phi Slamma Jamma or David slaying, Goliath, while Villanova disillusioned Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown group. They have been higher groups for a night.

Think Villanova may want to shoot seventy eight.6 percent three more instances? Over the path of a seven-game collection, “ball don’t lie.” And the fine crew wins.

The NBA playoffs are the purest form of competition from the 4 primary North American sports activities. No warm goalie standing on his head can steal more than one 1-zero victories en path to Lord Stanley’s Cup. No hot pitching team of workers can deal more than one 1-zero pitching duels en direction to a Global series identify.

Even the Outstanding Bowl and its one-recreation nature can deliver Tom Brady a platform for an outstanding comeback. should he do that three more times? (Good enough. Perhaps he may want to.)

The NBA playoffs, and in the long run, the NBA Finals are a sixteen-victory take a look at of the first-rate crew. And it by no means fails.

So the warriors’ report-setting, seventy three-victory normal seasons didn’t produce an identity and they were the higher crew than the Cavaliers? Maybe with Draymond Green. But he was given suspended for kicking LeBron James, who, because of the first-rate player on the planet, led the exceptional group over the Green-less Warriors.

Tom Thibodeau served as Jeff Van Gundy’s assistant when the 1998-99 Knicks advanced to the NBA Finals from the No. eight seed. They lost to the Spurs to cap the shortened lockout season.

    Can Curiosity Make Your Child A Better Learner

In relation to venturing into the uncharted waters, children fare ways better than adults. As a discern, teacher, father or mother, or any other caregiver, the question that we ought to all try to settle isn’t always whether or not or no longer our kids could be adventurous, however as a substitute whether their curiosity gets the higher of them. As we may all be aware, there is no better manner to assist your infant in examining other than make her or him explore her very own little country to the fullest.

Truest shoes

The truest educator of every toddler isn’t always the information we attempt to pressure into their heads, even if they’re least disposed to take it. The truest educator is enjoying, and there is no better manner to assist our youngster’s leverage to enjoy, than letting them wander to something places their wild dreams take them.truest in a sentence

It is all people’s delight to look, kids, discover their complete capacity

And begin achieving their desires at a soft age. How encouraging is it to realize that our kids ought to discover their personal paths for fulfillment, and live the whole course, handiest with the aid of supporting them in managing their curiosity! What amount of pleasure could this deliver to the society at large? That our personal kids, the cream of the subsequent technology, can already face seemingly insurmountable obstacles in life! What’s even more exciting is the fact that we can assist them to take a fee of their destiny, merely via assisting them to harness their wild curiosity as a studying device. You are probably surprised of what your youngsters can pick up at any such tender age. For all its well worth, it is best logical that we help our youngsters to study by means of making them pursue whatever catches their fancy. curiosity will for all time be part of them, the only question is how we use it for his or her betterment.

It’s miles essential to remind younger people that peace is the best victory.

Peace is a small phrase, it has, however, a deeper which means attached to it. Some humans think of peace as in reality the shortage of disputes, wars, or disagreements. Nicely, that is one of the viewpoints on its that means, and understandably, extraordinary people would have special interpretations of the phrase. however, the knowledge of peace brings a that means to the word that every individual knows, and applies that precise mindset to their lifestyles.

  Champions Online Travel Power Guide

Champions Online does not consist of mounts like many other MMOs, it does but encompasses a big variety of travel powers, allowing you to get around in a way becoming in your hero. Nearly any concept may have the perfect journey energy, and Cryptic has been adding new skins for tour powers each once in a while, permitting for greater precise concepts to have a better matching way to get round.champion sports clothing

This article will most effective be discussing the travel powers themselves and now not the Advantages that may be accessed for some of them through spending Gain Factors.champion sweatpants for men

At level five you may pick your first tour strength, with a second being to be had at level 35. With regards to getting around the numerous zones in CO, having a way to tour thru the air is a great deal greater convenient than being caught on the floor. Because you can get 2 tour powers I’d recommend as a minimum one that helps you to tour through the air, even though it does not healthy your person’s concept. It’s now not necessary to accomplish that, but it’ll make it less difficult to tour through certain areas, especially in case you’re surprising with the various zones.

Except for Teleportation and Tunneling,

All four powers have multiple levels resulting in various speeds. In combat or without charging is the slowest and steadily constructing as much as the third and fastest stage, which can be accessed via completely charging the journey electricity. Jet Boots are the exception to this because it uses three stages but can’t be charged.

All journey powers which have a graphical effect to them can be colored to a point by gold members. Silver individuals are stuck with the default appearance.

Flight/Fire Flight/Rainbow Flight – Probable the most iconic splendid hero manner to travel as many classic comedian characters can fly and is a smooth manner of seeing someone who has top notch human talents. In CO flight gives superb maneuverability and slight velocity. Flight has no actual great photo, however many varieties of wings will flap or go with the flow at the same time as flying.

Heart Flight is the exact equal as flight, besides your man or woman is on Fire.

Rainbow Flight is an exact copy of flight, besides your man or woman leaves a rainbow trail even as flying and has a multicolor glow at their feet.

Six Principles and Standards of Conduct Chosen by the American Journal of Occupational Therapy

There are six core principles and standards of conduct hooked up with the aid of the Yankee Journal of Occupational Remedy. Those points are enforceable for professionals running within the field. These ideas are useful in comparing times whilst a certified professional has been accused of beside the point moves and are intended to manual therapists closer to ethical picks. when unusual circumstances and decisions stand up, it’s miles useful to have a set of idealized ideas as a manual.

Beneficence

Folks who offer occupational Remedy want to have subject for the nicely-being in their sufferers. “Beneficence” is a fancy phrase used specifically when discussing ethics, and it calls into query whether participants advantage from a specific examine or manner. Custom treatments may be designed for sufferers every time possible, however it is also crucial for a therapist to periodically compare whether or not a particular course of remedy is reaping benefits the recipient.

Nonmaleficence

Maleficence is an evil or harmful act, the other of beneficence. Nonmaleficence, logically, is refraining from inflicting harm. One of the maximum parts of the Hippocratic oath sworn by way of physicians, nonmaleficence is a reminder to be cautious while harm is feasible. In particular when assisting people recover from beyond accidents, a negative choice of exercising activities can exacerbate the hassle. While there are surely a number of sadistic people within the international, this precept is mostly focused at professionals who may additionally accidentally purpose damage.

Autonomy

Managing an individual’s right to independence, the precept of autonomy ensures that every patient has a proper to privateness, self-determination, consent, and confidentiality. At the same time as extraordinarily personal troubles might not regularly be mentioned during occupational Remedy, it’s miles still critical to admire a affected person’s privateness.aadvantage

Justice

Objectivity and fairness are hallmarks of justice because it pertains to this professional field. humans deserve to be dealt with similarly, regardless of their race, ideals, orientation, or financial approach. Those without the important price range can be directed to charitable businesses and different options for suitable treatment.

Veracity

It’s essential that professionals hold a level of respectability and candor that displays positively on others within the subject. Incorrect information and deception can be dangerous to sufferers and the standing of other therapists. Veracity is especially precious while discussing certifications, qualifications, and experience. Plagiarism and failing to provide right credit score is also a violation of this moral widespread.american airlines confirmation information