James

That just tells me the NHL is better than all other leagues...

This is, sadly, the end of the conversation. 100% right... it's never going to happen. Just like a 65-game schedule. Costs the owners too much money.

I think the skill level of NHL players would keep the game exciting on the olympic rink. We think of olympic-rink hockey as passive and wimpy because we only really see it with european leagues or exhibition games. But I thought it was plenty exciting in the Sochi games. Plus you'd have so many fewer injuries and concussions...

I say 2 points for a win, and change OT to 10 minutes 3-on-3. Tie after that (one point each). No loser point. 3-on-3 is super exciting... fans love it, and players don't seem to hate it. I also like that it's a little bit closer to real game action, as compared to the shootout. Plus you'll almost always have a winner after 10 minutes of it. Ties will be extremely rare. Of course, I'm also a fan of shortening the season to 65 games. Playing 10 minutes of 3-on-3 in a brutal 82-game season is probably asking a lot. I never realized how much of a hockey progressive I am... 65 game season, ban fighting, switch to the olympic size rink...

Also, get ready for JUUSO RIKOLA to be the next big thing!

Can we just talk real quick about how Justin Schultz's foot was pointed the wrong direction?!

Friday is also not a good night for TV ratings, for whatever that's worth. And it's the first night of the NLCS. Does seem really strange though. Gotta wonder if these European games are actually doing any good, or just screwing up the schedule.

Yeah that's the real trick... what rainman is alluding to. If you're going to eliminate fighting, there needs to be a corresponding improvement in officiating (both on-ice and post-game). I think that improvement is happening with respect to cheap shot hits and stuff like that. When it comes to what started this whole conversation... a player taunting the opposition or whatever... that's an unusual case. Football does penalize taunting pretty strictly, especially at the lower levels (high school/college). I imagine hockey could/should follow suit. But it's always a fine line, as the NFL found out with TD celebrations. They banned those and no one liked it. Now they're back. Scoring a goal (like a TD) is a big deal, and worthy of a fun celebration. I guess to sum it up... fighting is required for combating violations of the unwritten rules. The rules that the refs can't actually enforce, but players should still follow.

Honestly, I think there's a lot more respect for the opponent in football because of the brutal physicality of it. Just like boxing or MMA. A sport like that can't exist without an extreme degree of respect for your opponent. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule... plenty of nasty personal rivalries in football where the players really want to hurt each other. But generally speaking, it seems better than hockey in that regard. Hockey seems far less controlled, and it's not a real problem because it's not as violent. But the real answer to your question? When you get in a fight in the NFL, you get thrown out of the game. That's why you don't see much fighting in football.

Yes, 100%. But how many fights have Crosby and Malkin been in? 15 total in their careers (7 for crosby, 8 for malkin). Changing the penalty from 5 minutes to a game misconduct will reduce fighting to only the absolute bare minimum required for keeping the star players safe.

For the record, I am anti fighting in hockey, and I HATE Marchand, but Marchand was in the right here. Washington's goal celebrations have gotten so obnoxious... someone needed to do something. This is the game policing itself to maintain certain aspects of its character and integrity. Fighting should result in an automatic game misconduct, in my opinion. Players would still do it when necessary, just like charging the mound in baseball. But it would be done sparingly... once every 15 or 20 games.

Ugh. Officially banning the word snowflake from this site. Hate that expression.

5 IR slots this year, dont forget!

Theres no JV roster in the one year leagues, so theres no overager option. But there is the option of sending him to the minors. Hes not waiver exempt, though, so he'd have to clear waivers to be sent down.

All drafts are now complete!

PCFL and SFHL finished up overnight. Leaves just IFHL and WCFL to go. I'd love to get these done today before I leave on vacation tomorrow!

NAFL done.

CFHL is done now. 4 leagues down, 5 to go!

Cough... TIM... cough cough.

I haven't necessarily heard that, because Buckley (the new guy) was always Murray's guy in the first place (he was the Pens "goalie development coach" when Murray was in the system. But I think from an outsider's point of view, it's definitely gotta be considered as part of the problem. Honestly I mostly just think that a) Murray's not actually that great of a goalie (relatively speaking), and b) he was stuck behind a very subpar Pens defense last season. Couple that with the time he missed from his dad dying and the concussion, and I think it just killed his confidence. Only saving grace last year, really, was that there wasn't much of a challenge on his job while he was out. It'll be interesting, for sure, to see how he handles it if DeSmith really does challenge for starts here and there this year.

ECFL just finished.

Penguins look pretty sharp in the 2.5 games I've watched so far. Haven't really seen anyone playing though... Brass, Sheahan, Malkin, etc. Some takeaways: - Jack Johnson is super strong. Looking forward to seeing what he's capable of... I think he might fit real nicely. The real question is just how the pairings shakeout. Letang/Dumoulin seems the obvious top pair. I don't love the idea of Maatta with Johnson, though. We'll see. - Juuso Riikola could actually be an NHL defenseman someday. Honestly I like him as the #7 defenseman better than Ruhwedel or Trotman or Corrado. Something to keep an eye on. He's still quite young. - Dominik Simon sucks. Derek Grant is better, and should replace him. - Teddy Bluegers would easily be a bottom 6 center on just about any other team in the league. He's buried soooo deep on the depth chart (Crosby, Malkin, Brassard, Sheahan, Cullen, Grant, Bluegers... J-S Dea might even be in there ahead of Bluegers. Management loves him.). Kind of disappointing, really. But he's looking really, really solid. Another year or two and we'll probably see him in the NHL somewhere. - Bryan Rust looks phenomenal. He's almost making Carl Hagelin expendable, really. The thought of a 4th line of Sheahan/Cullen/Rust is pretty nuts. Gotta be among the best 4th lines in the league. But what Rust's play really does is put the heat even more on Daniel Sprong. - Speaking of Daniel Sprong... he does look really good, but he's just SO inconsistent. From shift to shift... even within the same shift sometimes... he's sometimes exactly where he should be and sometimes exactly where he shouldn't be. I suspect GMJR is going to force Sully to try to make this line combo work (Guentzel/Crosby/Sprong). But if Sprong can't find some consistency, I really think that top 6 will see a shakeup pretty quickly. You might see Sprong down on L3 before long with Rust or Hornqvist getting time in the top 6. - I've seen each of the Pens' three goalies play once now (although I'm still only halfway through watching Murray's game). Murray does NOT look confident. He's obviously got talent, and he's got the most experience, but there's just something about him that looks shaky to me. Casey DeSmith looked really good in his start... and that was with a terrible Pens lineup against a stacked Buffalo lineup. He's super confident, extremely athletic, and sees the puck really well. Jarry gave up a hideous rebound for the game-tying goal, and wayyyy over-committed on the OT winner. He's AHL-bound anyway since he's waivers-exempt and DeSmith isn't. Given Murray's health history, and the lack of confidence he seems to be playing with (not to mention his .907 last year), DeSmith is a real interesting player to keep an eye on in fantasy.

2 seconds per pick, baby!

Maybe tim could find a way to integrate the discord server into the forum as a widget. Tim? Tim?