Father Ryan

I would have this M*****F*****'s job and pension for this. He is in violation of so many statutes that he could be jailed for a long time. The city would be reimbursing me for decades. I'm a military vet; this just sickens me.

Guess you could call me stuck in the past. Most of my listening is background to when I'm working (reading medical records and making disability decisions) or writing (first book now with a publisher, going to print later this year, and working on the second book of the trilogy). Usually Pink Floyd, Tubular Bells, early Chicago, a lot of acoustic stuff, ie nothing I'm gonna get distracted and start rocking out!

I see where you're coming from on this, but I respectfully disagree. The "collective" intelligence is more a reflection of another observation from that same book by Heinlein. Something like "1% of the population can think, knows how to think and knows how to implement those thoughts that are useful". Look at the US government. Do you think a population with some degree of significant intelligence would have elected Donald Trump? Or Hillary Clinton? Or pretty much any president over the last several decades? I'm not 100% familiar with all of the Canadian Prime Ministers, but I surely think dear ol' Joe Clark was a case of the "dumbs". And Boris ...whatever his name is over in the UK. He doesn't strike me as being all that. This doesn't include just the Western nations. Vladimir Putin? And don't get me started on any of the idiots in North Korea. Those organizations that require significant intelligence, they know how to find like members. I'm thinking of NASA and the other space agencies around the world, along with any that collaborate with them. Yes, they do some very impressive work.

I don't think there has been a significant change. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean the species as a whole doesn't have problems. There is a Sci-Fi author, Robert A. Heinlein, who observed, through one of his main characters, to "never underestimate the power of human stupidity". This was meant as a generalized observation of humanity in general, not any one particular person. The quote is from his book "Time Enough For Love", published in 1973. So, no, this is nothing new. It is centuries old, honestly. Just think about all the large scale wars mankind has fought. How many of the victors actually started the conflict? Answer is, precious few. Witness both WWI and WWII. The countries starting them...ended up losing and losing badly. Do you think is was an intelligent idea to start the war? Knowing what history had witnessed to that point? There ya go!

Very nice! By the end of the contract, we should know if DiPietro is an NHL caliber goalie or not. I don't think we could have done much better than this, either for $$$ or for term. If Demko keeps up his current caliber of play, he will be one of the best bargains in the NHL by year 4.

You don't remember Smyl then. He's...what, 5'8", 5'9". His slap shot was downright scary. Just ask Mike Vernon!

The first off-season change I'd make is to lose the assistant coaches Baumgartner and Brown. Repeatedly it has been shown that what they are coaching just isn't working. Our PP is streaky at best and normally not effective. The D has its moments, and yes there are definitely some personnel issues...but even with that there just isn't a good plan here. Second change is (and this is presuming that Benning is his normal ineffective self at the TD) is to try and rid ourselves of Sven, Beagle and Rousel. I'd say LE, but that contract is all but untradeable...so why bother proposing something wild. The other two have less impacts, so maybe they would be easier to work around. Stipulating that Seattle doesn't grab either one (I could see Rousel over Beagle), then I'd look at sending both away, with some retention offered in. Since we can only have 3 contracts in retention, and Luongo's cap hit remains for one more year after this, two of these three contracts to go would be a combination of foreseeably being able to get rid of and getting rid of a player that has little value. Myers has some value and has his days where he is not too bad, plus as a R hand D he hasn't looked bad at all when playing with Juolevi. Last bridge to cross would be trying to convince one or two of EP40, Demko and Hughes to bridge contracts. Say 3 years, 5-6M each, with the last year at 8.5M. Without going into huge amounts of research for who is available, who might be nice to have, etc...these are the main steps. Untouchables for me: EP40, Boeser, Bo, Podkolzin, Hoglander; Hughes, Juolevi, Rathbone; Demko. The rest of the team could be had for the right price. That's my core. Main target is: R hand D to fit with Hughes; Good 3rd line centre that can handle the two-way game necessary for success; 3rd/4th line winger capable of both approx 10 goals AND able to calm down players such as Reaves, Tkachuk and Kassian

This makes a lot of sense. We lose 6M off the cap, and get a little more flexibility in who we protect. I seriously doubt that Seattle would take him anyway. If I was the Seattle GM, looking at our roster and trying to figure out who to grab, I'd probably go after Lind or Gaudette. Both young, some room still to improve and not much of a cap hit. I think Holtby was signed to be able to have a goalie exposed, and maybe an asset we could afford to lose.

Well dang, I didn't expect to be the first votes! But ok, yeah, there's a lot of changes needed. We do have a decent to good future, but it could be better. Benning has done fairly well on draft picks (not going to open the UFA "can of worms"), but I still think he should have taken Nicolas Hague over Kole Lind. Forwards, we have (and had then). A decent D we haven't had since 2011-12

Ok, armchair GM time. We have a 6 day break starting March 25. This is prior to this year's trade deadline (good!). So, if I'm the owner... Both Baumgartner and Brown are gone at that time. We may not have the world's best D corp, but it's not as bad as it has played. The structure is just not working. Yes, Green is ultimately responsible but Baumer has the reins, in game. This HAS to be fixed! Also, the PP ranges from half decent to awful. With the talent we have (on paper) it should be ranging from freakin' great to average (on bad days). We need a President of Hockey Operations, mostly to keep Benning from any further bad free agent signings. Right now, even more that the LE contract, the contracts of Beagle and Roussel are screwing up a lot of cap space. LE (and this may be the only defense possible) was signed at a time when money was flowing, and the contracts that year were high dollar or no player acquired. But Beagle and Roussel? $3M each? Horrid contracts, especially when term is 4 years. In that 6 day break, with new PP and new D asst coaches, we get that long to work on practices, before our longest road trip of the year. If, by some miracle we are still in the playoff hunt (realistically) then we have to get at least 3 wins in that 7. Yeah, right, who am I kidding? Meanwhile, Benning is told he has the freedom to get rid of what he can, for whatever he can get. I keep seeing we can absorb some of contracts traded. Isn't there a limit on this? Like 3 contracts? I know the Luongo contract doesn't come off until after next season. But isn't the Spooner contract still being paid out, or does it not count since it ends after this season? If we can keep two, then I'd be satisfied (not necessarily happy, but...) with getting 4th-6th round picks back for Roussel and Eriksson, obviously keeping some money here. If we are out of the playoff hunt, and I figure we will be, then Sutter can go on the trade blocks also. Virtanen should already be there, and Gaudette might be already there also. We aren't going to get a 1st or 2nd round pick for anyone except maybe Pearson, and he is one of the few players that are playing at least fair overall. Benning is given this freedom because, if he doesn't free up some $$ with trades, then the amount of gate next year (or whenever us fans are allowed back in) will be decreased, maybe to the point of being equivalent to the money kept in the trades. I'd rather have the fans than the lousy players. Of course, we continue this trend of rapidly approaching the basement of the North division, then that 6 day break is a perfect opportunity to fire everyone!

His drive to excel, in every game, is damn near off the charts. In this season of doubtful playoffs for Vancouver, Nils is a delight to watch. If Virt had this drive...he'd be freakin' scary!

They've been "busted" for having passed judgment too soon!

If this case actually gets to court, I hope someone with some sense will de-bar the judge for gross incompetence...to actually allow the case to have moved that far forward. This is such a waste of tax money. The plaintiff should have to bear full financial responsibility if she looses. There should be no reward for stupidity at this level

What I think is indicative of the team's biggest problem is the shear amount of shots we give up, almost every game. This is not a one year trend. Last 3 years are getting worse. This year, we are the worst in the league at 34.7 shots against per game. Last year, 33.3 (4th worst), year before that 31.7 (middle of the pack) (Stats from TSN). The defense is getting looser, and we no longer have Markie back there to bail us out. I thought (and its in this forum) that Holtby would be a good replacement and Clark's coaching would get him back to where he was. So far, this is far from happening. Second biggest is coaching. Something is definitely wrong with the team. I know the schedule has been BRUTAL (!), but even when the guys have had a day between games, they've come out flat. Really flat. They are giving all the appearance of an ill-prepared team, not coached up on the other team's tendencies and no changes to their own, leaving them to be very predictable. Something has to give. We have some really good players, especially top two lines and Hughes. Too good to be beaten this bad, repeatedly. I hope this time off will give them a chance to recharge a little and reflect on the errors.

I've got 9 more years until both my wife and I retire. I'm one of the lucky few whose employer actually still has a fully funded pension...so between my retirement funds and my wife's, we will actually be better off than we are now. Plus...and this is definitely bragging...I have found a publisher for my first novel! I'm not saying it is a Hugo award winner (best sci-fi book of the year), but if it can sell 4K yearly, and the next two in the trilogy do the same, things will be great. Other goal, at retirement, is moving to Scotland. Screw the US, it's going to hell in a hand-basket, no matter who the President is.

Not everyone can teach what they do. If that was the case, the Coyotes would have been fantastic back when Gretsky was their coach. Malhotra proved he could teach, also. Who do you think helped Horvat to refine his technique so well? if anyone on the team right now was to teach Gaudette, it would have to be Sutter. Beagle, Miller and Horvat not only have speed but also power. Sutter's technique is based on speed. Gaudette doesn't have the upper body strength to benefit from learning from those three guys. But if he could be taught to harness his speed into his faceoffs, well...you can have all the power in the world, but if the puck is no longer there, it's useless. Green, I don't know. He played at a time when I was not able to watch hockey (Southern US thinks ice is for tea, not hockey).

It's nice and all that Gaudette has so much talk about him, what his deficiencies are and where can he play in the lineup. Sometimes, though, I think we forget that he was a 5th round draft pick. Just getting him a season in the NHL is way above expectations for that round. Yes, I know plenty of players, including some Hall of Famers, have been taken that low or lower. But...right now, he's like playing with house money. Anything he does positive, or any return we generate from him in a trade, is a bonus. That being said...I wish Malhotra was still around to teach this kid how to take a friggin' draw!

There is a three day break coming up after next game, with a small homestand. I could easily see Green and/or Benning firing some assistants, if for no other reason that to try and cover their own a**. Unless this team shows that they at least care, I can't see ownership sticking with them going into next season, especially if fans are going to be allowed. Too much money to be lost in sticking with a coach and a GM that the fans are starting to want to burn in effigy. And a new GM will have no ties to certain players, such as Virt. I'd further say this is Virtanen's last season in Vancouver...unless the lights suddenly come on and he ends up scoring 20 goals this year.

I don't think his future is as a top pairing D, but 2nd pairing. Nice to see at least one Dman had better than an awful game last night. We'll see where we are after the 3 games against Ottawa. If .500, then maybe we have a chance at 4th. If lower, don't stop trying but maybe start to reconcile that this year is a step back, and see what pieces are worth picking up.

When Cole was up for UFA, I was really hoping we'd sign him. Just made Minny a little harder to play against!

I could see the following teams fold if the revenue dried up due to COVID: Florida, Carolina, Columbus, one of either Anaheim or San Jose, Arizona and maybe Winnipeg. Seattle folds before it starts. That leaves 24 teams. The players on the defunct teams all enter an "implosion" draft. Between RFA and UFA status, the remaining players could probably be taken care of in a 10-12 round draft. Looking at those teams, there are some pretty good Dmen coming available. Of course, this is speculation. If it happened like this, I could also see a couple of players really losing out, like Erik Karlsson in San Jose. I just can't see anyone picking up that contract, especially in this scenario.

I work in the medical field, somewhat. I do work directly with a group of 50+ MDs, from virtually all the specializations areas except oncology (cancer). In the course of performing my job, I get to see medical records from individuals in many states. Yes, I wear a mask, almost full time. I say almost, because if I am in a place where social distancing is easy to practice, I usually don't wear the mask. This would be when I am hiking on trails where it is easy to get 10-15 feet away from people. If I'm out shopping or something similar, I wear it full time. This COVID crap needs to be taken seriously. If and when a vaccine becomes available, please make yourself available. I just don't get the anti-vax crowd. The main articles that "proved" vaccinations were harmful have ALL been debunked...ALL of them. Having stated all of this, I will add one thing. Not all of the deaths attributed to COVID are real. This I get from the 50+ MDs I work with. One has told me that he lost his elderly mother to Alzheimer's. She tested positive when the autopsy was done. Her death was listed as COVID. There are many others like this. So...take this COVID crap seriously. Wear the damn mask! Don't take the attitude of "impinging on my freedoms"; that is base BS and shows a complete disregard for other people's health. But...be aware that some of the statistics out there are manipulated.

Actually, I did serve, USN (E5, SK2SS). And really, the agencies that serve under the President are usually a reflection of the person himself. Kennedy was WAY overblown; he had plenty of information to avoid the Bay of Pigs (but didn't), was such a woman chaser as to make Bill Clinton look like a virgin and a saint, and with his brother Robert, damn near got us really deep in the "s**t" by trying to assassinate Castro. Damn near a sociopath. Eisenhower, I will heartily agree with you. The only reason people thought he was ineffective was because he didn't have to be histrionic to get things done; by the time people noticed something needed to happen, his administration had already addressed it and moved on. Yes, Al Queda formed out of our helping them with Afghanistan when the USSR was screwing around with them. I'm not going to defend Reagan for everything...but he was a hell of a lot better than anything we've had since then. I'll take your opinion on the F35 and look into to it. The defense contractor/construction industry is one complete "Charlie Foxtrot", has been for years. I more used that as an example to illustrate the need to stay completely and utterly away from the nuclear option. Substitute a wing or two of Hornets and/or F-22s, then.

Agree with your lines, though if it was just best at the position regardless of the actual line I would sub out Morrison for Linden (now) or Petersson (in a couple of years). I was around for both McLean and Brodeur. King Richard, though a folk hero, falls not only behind these guys but also Gary Smith and (maybe) Cloutier. McLean I put at #2 behind Luongo and ahead of Markie

No. Just no. Canada needs to use it's resources and budget intelligently. While I don't see anything wrong with having an elite group in the military (i.e. SEALS, Green Berets, Rangers, et al) that trains in anti-terrorism tactics, there's no need for the building and possession of a nuclear weapon. If the $$$ is actually there, then maybe add a wing of F-35 fighters to deploy as deterrence. The US can easily defend North America. Its the leadership that can't get out of its own way when it comes time to actually take action, not the military itself. The last time we (the US) had leadership with enough "cajones" to use the military properly was when Ronald Reagan was president. Bush Sr should have taken Hussein out, but chickened out. Clinton, Bush Jr, Obama, Trump? There's not a one of them that would've known what to do.