The Fluff Thread (Ask Mound Anything)

[mounD]

Anything else, folks? I'm an open book ... we can even talk politics if you guys feel like gettin' crazy.

[PenguinHunter]

Anything else, folks? I'm an open book ... we can even talk politics if you guys feel like gettin' crazy.

Whats our view on Canadian politics? Who will win the election in the fall? hahah

[Dennis]

Who do the Rangers move to get cap-compliant? Kreider will move on sooner or later but do they keep him awhile longer and maybe move Namestnikov?

Also, how do you see Lias Andersson developing? I'm hoping he turns into a Trochek-ish player at his peak.

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Whats our view on Canadian politics? Who will win the election in the fall? hahah

How much chocolate milk should I give my infant son to ensure his survival?

[mounD]

I'm not a Canadian, but I do notice the same trends happening with Canadian politics as I've seen with American politics, and in a general sense the politics of "the West." As we inch closer to a climate catastrophe, we are essentially faced with two possibilities: (1) either we can tackle the problem of capitalism and its rampant greed / growth model in order to actually address the problems that face society, or (2) we can lean into the creep toward global fascism and completely double down on our destructive impulses of consumption, while blaming the innate problems of our social model on "the other," leading to a rise in violence against women, minorities, immigrants, etc.

It appears that much like the United States, Canada is opting for option (2). It's really freaking sad, but at the very least we all get to live in the most historic and interesting time perhaps since WW2. The last time global fascism was a major existential threat, it was dealt with. I'm not sure people are even able to recognize the problem, let alone mobilize against it and defend their communities from violent, far-right mass murder percolating on the surface of general class exploitation.

[mounD]

Who do the Rangers move to get cap-compliant? Kreider will move on sooner or later but do they keep him awhile longer and maybe move Namestnikov?

Also, how do you see Lias Andersson developing? I'm hoping he turns into a Trochek-ish player at his peak.

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How much chocolate milk should I give my infant son to ensure his survival?

Hmm ... I'll tackle the New York Rangers questions first. I think the most logical options to move are trading Namestnikov for a mid-round pick, burying Beleskey in the minors to save a few bucks, and maaaaybe a Shattenkirk buyout. I think management is going to do everything in its power to make the cap work without having to resort to the potential for a buyout. Other buyout options are Staal and Brendan Smith, but neither would free up the kind of cap space a Shattenkirk buyout would in year 1, although each would be easier to handle down the road.

I get the feeling that Gorton wants to keep Kreider, at least for the first half of the season, so I would guess that Namestnikov will be traded and Brendan Smith is going to be bought out. I think they'll just end out waiting until the Shattenkirk / Staal contracts expire.

As for Lias Andersson, I still really like him as a prospect. It can be somewhat difficult to evaluate these guys who go directly from the draft into North American professional hockey directly from European leagues. As an 18-year old draft eligible he put up 19 points in 42 SHL games, and improved that number in his D+1 season to 14 points in 22 SHL games as a 19-year old. This is very good production for an 18-19 year old in a professional men's league. Additionally in Lias' age-19 season he put up 14 points in 25 AHL games (as well as a 7-game stint in the NHL). He also served as the Captain on Sweden's WJC20, scoring a point-per-game (6 goals) while helping guide his team to the silver medal. We all remember the medal throwing incident, but I like that in a player. They've gotta hate losing, and Lias hates to lose. He capped off the D+1 season with an appearance in the World Championships for Sweden, picking up a couple points in 10 games. Great international experience, he played in the SHL, AHL, and NHL and had a very productive season overall.

Last season as a 20-year old is when the shine started to come off a bit with Andersson. I think people expected a lot more from him, but that's not to say he isn't progressing nicely for a player his age. As a top-10 pick there are certain expectations, but patience is going to be key with Lias. 20 points in 36 AHL games is solid production for a 20-year old in the AHL, and while his NHL numbers to this point have been unimpressive, this is still a player who hasn't reached his 21st birthday yet ... I think this upcoming season is going to be a big one for Lias, and I think he's up to the task of jumpstarting his development and really improving his game in the NHL. I think in the long-term he can still be a very effective middle-six center who offers complementary scoring with a complete two-way game. I'll go back to the age-19 SHL and AHL production coupled with his performances in international competition and reaffirm the fact that, yes, this player does still have considerable scoring upside. He's not going to be a top scorer in the league, but there's still an effective fantasy option in there somewhere.

As for the chocolate milk ... drink as much as you want. We're all going to die in the climate apocalypse anyway. That is, if we aren't killed off in the potable water wars beforehand. Or the global fascism street wars. Or just getting hit by a bus, but that's not really a social problem.

[lucafen4]

Anything else, folks? I'm an open book ... we can even talk politics if you guys feel like gettin' crazy.

As for the chocolate milk ... drink as much as you want. We're all going to die in the climate apocalypse anyway. That is, if we aren't killed off in the potable water wars beforehand. Or the global fascism street wars. Or just getting hit by a bus, but that's not really a social problem.

Begs the question... what's your favourite book (I'm now expecting Chomsky, Dyer, Klein or Orwell's 1984... something along those lines)

[YzermansLegacy]

Apologies if this was touched on earlier in the thread... didn't read it all. Just want to help mounD get to that magical k.

For the 2019-2020, season, your top 3 OVERRATED and top 3 UNDERRATED fantasy skaters (assume standard Yahoo cats).

From the 2019 draft, your top 2 OVERHYPED picks and your top 2 UNDERHYPED picks.

Finally - your best guess on Seattle's nickname.

[mounD]

Begs the question... what's your favourite book (I'm now expecting Chomsky, Dyer, Klein or Orwell's 1984... something along those lines)

Chomsky is alright, although I find despite his good works he still manages to end up an apologist for US imperialism and the status quo. He's a very smart man and a brilliant theorist, but I'm not really sure he's as revolutionary as some people think. I really enjoyed George Jackson's prison letters, "Soledad Brother," if you're looking for something truly radical politically. Angela Davis is a major hero of mine.

Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" is one of my favorites in capturing the American experience, and our national shame. My favorite novel of all time, though, is actually "Deliverance" by James Dickey. Interestingly enough, he hated the movie adaptation of his only novel (he was primarly a poet, striking stuff), and he spent the rest of his life attempting to make a true-to-the-novel production of Deliverance. I'm pretty sure he died alone and bankrupt, never having created this masterpiece rendition, but it's a beautiful story. It's sort of a quintessentially American coming of age / nature adventure story, complete with the most beautiful, poetic language and imagery you could conceive.

I just finished reading a ton of H.P. Lovecraft stories (all the Call of Cthulhu mythos stories, etc.), and if you can manage to get past the horrifying era-appropriate racism and absolute hatred of immigrants, he is very adept at describing the things that we fear. I'm not really a big sci-fi or fantasy type of guy, but I've enjoyed stories by Neil Gaiman a whole lot when I've read them.

Also, yes, I'm one of those guys who has a giant copy of "Infinite Jest" sitting on my bookshelf, but I'm much more partial to David Foster Wallace's short stories. His collection "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men" is my favorite. My favorite short stories ever, though, are by Raymond Carver. A good collection (and story) is called "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." The whole milieu is just an overtly depressed, matter-of-fact alcoholism in the truest American sense. Blunt, yet passionate language. I love me some Carver, but the stories always make me cry.

[mounD]

Apologies if this was touched on earlier in the thread... didn't read it all. Just want to help mounD get to that magical k.

For the 2019-2020, season, your top 3 OVERRATED and top 3 UNDERRATED fantasy skaters (assume standard Yahoo cats).

From the 2019 draft, your top 2 OVERHYPED picks and your top 2 UNDERHYPED picks.

Finally - your best guess on Seattle's nickname.

I don't know about "top three," but I can throw out a few names of guys I think are overrated / underrated in fantasy land.

Overrated: Chabot, Markstrom, and Scheifele.

I like all of these players just fine, but I think each is probably a bit overvalued. Chabot is going to have a tough time in Ottawa following up his incredible rookie season in which he scored 55 points. Development often isn't linear for defensemen, so I'm expecting some growing pains. I would avoid Chabot if guys like Yandle or Letang are still on the board, and I'm not sure many other folks would agree with that. Markstrom, well, he's just had an average career up to this point, and he's going to be battling Demko for starts. They should be a much improved team, but I wouldn't be comfortable unless Markstrom was my third goalie. Scheifele, he's always a great player, but he is overrated in multi-cat leagues. Winnipeg is also going to be sending out a pretty mediocre defense corps, and I just don't have a lot of faith in Scheifele returning value as a high draft pick relative to some other scorers in that same range.

Underrated: Barrie, Raanta, and Bergeron.

Long story short, I think Barrie is going to get a lot of looks with the PP1 unit and he should be part of the Leafs top pair at 5v5 with Muzzin. I've talked about this in other threads, but I think there's a good chance both Barrie and Rielly challenge for 60 points. Raanta seems like one of those guys everyone has forgotten because of injuries, but if he can remain healthy on an improved Coyotes team, he should be able to return value as a high end #2 goalie with potential to post #1 goalie numbers. Kuemper is obviously a capable backup, but Raanta has another level and could be one of the biggest draft steals if he can put together a full season. As for Bergeron, he's a point-per-game+ player on an upward points trajectory over the last three seasons, he's on the best line in hockey, occupies a great PP1 unit littered with stars, and yet some people still treat him like a 65-70 point player. I just don't get it. He's aging like a fine wine.

Seattle -- I think it would be cool if they went with Seattle Totems, like the defunct WHL franchise.

[5hole]

Team in Sig , Im rebuilding

I have an offer of Mangipane +3rd (In a 14 team league it will be mid 2nd rnd) for My Dzingel... I dont see a future for Mang as he's pretty 1 dimensional so if he aint scoring then he aint fillin any other cats

I feel i should bet on Dzingel to have another solid season and wit till someone competing gets overwhelmed at the injury ward then pitch an offer to him for atleast a 2nd (late 1st in real draft)

Realistically the lines could unfold as such:

Dzingel - Aho -TT
Svech - Necas - Nino
Haula - Staal - Williams
Foegel - Wallmark - Mc.Ginn

With PP1 as : Dzingel - Aho - TT - Svech - Faulk

How off am i on this assesment?

[Eskimo Brother]

Team in Sig , Im rebuilding

I have an offer of Mangipane +3rd (In a 14 team league it will be mid 2nd rnd) for My Dzingel... I dont see a future for Mang as he's pretty 1 dimensional so if he aint scoring then he aint fillin any other cats

I feel i should bet on Dzingel to have another solid season and wit till someone competing gets overwhelmed at the injury ward then pitch an offer to him for atleast a 2nd (late 1st in real draft)

Realistically the lines could unfold as such:

Dzingel - Aho -TT
Svech - Necas - Nino
Haula - Staal - Williams
Foegel - Wallmark - Mc.Ginn

With PP1 as : Dzingel - Aho - TT - Svech - Faulk

How off am i on this assesment?

Trying not to step on mounD's toes here, but Dzingel likely won't be on the top line. That'll be Nino, Aho, and TT. Second two lines will be some combination of Dzingel, Haula, Staal, Necas, Svech, and Foegele. I don't think Williams is coming back right away.
Something along the lines of Dz, Haula, Svech // Necas, Staal, Foegele.

[mounD]

Team in Sig , Im rebuilding

I have an offer of Mangipane +3rd (In a 14 team league it will be mid 2nd rnd) for My Dzingel... I dont see a future for Mang as he's pretty 1 dimensional so if he aint scoring then he aint fillin any other cats

I feel i should bet on Dzingel to have another solid season and wit till someone competing gets overwhelmed at the injury ward then pitch an offer to him for atleast a 2nd (late 1st in real draft)

Realistically the lines could unfold as such:

Dzingel - Aho -TT
Svech - Necas - Nino
Haula - Staal - Williams
Foegel - Wallmark - Mc.Ginn

With PP1 as : Dzingel - Aho - TT - Svech - Faulk

How off am i on this assesment?

I still think Nino is the best option to play with Aho. I could see Teravainen playing RW1, or RW2 with Svech-Necas -- or something with Staal if the Canes want to shelter Necas as he's brought into the NHL lineup. Nino's usage with Carolina last year was pretty heavy offensive zone starts (over 62%) and he was used so often with Aho at 5v5 that in total he spent over 43% of his even-strength shifts with Aho, and this includes the 46 games he played with Minnesota. Needless to say, he was attached at the hip with Sebastian Aho and the results were very good. Nino's CF% with Carolina was 58.9, which is a full +6.5% relative. Individual and on-ice Shooting % are normal, IPP and PDO normal, the latter of which was a little low if anything. Aho and Niederreiter crushed in terms of expected and actual results in very heavy offensive deployment, and I don't really see any reason why that wouldn't continue.

Dzingel should be a pretty safe bet to get consistent top-six minutes, but I'm not so sure he's going to crack L1 or PP1. I would expect the latter to be something like: Nino, Svech, Aho, Teravainen, Hamilton (Faulk blah). Nino is also a stud with the man-advantage. There is a chance Dzingel plays LW with Aho-Nino, and in that scenario the lines would probably be something like:

Dzingel-Aho-Nino
Svech-Staal-Teravainen
Haula-Necas-McGinn
Foegele-Wallmark-Martinook

I could see Necas sliding between 2-3C spots, Haula/Svech/Dzingel swapping around lines, etc. but this lineup looks pretty decent. I'd rather see Nino-Aho-Svechnikov and Dzingel-Staal-Teravainen with Necas getting some looks there, too. They definitely have a lot of options, but I think Dzingel is still stuck behind Nino, Svech, Teravainen for the prime winger assignments and PP1 deployment.

[lucafen4]

Chomsky is alright, although I find despite his good works he still manages to end up an apologist for US imperialism and the status quo. He's a very smart man and a brilliant theorist, but I'm not really sure he's as revolutionary as some people think. I really enjoyed George Jackson's prison letters, "Soledad Brother," if you're looking for something truly radical politically. Angela Davis is a major hero of mine.

Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" is one of my favorites in capturing the American experience, and our national shame. My favorite novel of all time, though, is actually "Deliverance" by James Dickey. Interestingly enough, he hated the movie adaptation of his only novel (he was primarly a poet, striking stuff), and he spent the rest of his life attempting to make a true-to-the-novel production of Deliverance. I'm pretty sure he died alone and bankrupt, never having created this masterpiece rendition, but it's a beautiful story. It's sort of a quintessentially American coming of age / nature adventure story, complete with the most beautiful, poetic language and imagery you could conceive.

I just finished reading a ton of H.P. Lovecraft stories (all the Call of Cthulhu mythos stories, etc.), and if you can manage to get past the horrifying era-appropriate racism and absolute hatred of immigrants, he is very adept at describing the things that we fear. I'm not really a big sci-fi or fantasy type of guy, but I've enjoyed stories by Neil Gaiman a whole lot when I've read them.

Also, yes, I'm one of those guys who has a giant copy of "Infinite Jest" sitting on my bookshelf, but I'm much more partial to David Foster Wallace's short stories. His collection "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men" is my favorite. My favorite short stories ever, though, are by Raymond Carver. A good collection (and story) is called "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." The whole milieu is just an overtly depressed, matter-of-fact alcoholism in the truest American sense. Blunt, yet passionate language. I love me some Carver, but the stories always make me cry.

His complete collected works was an Xmas present this year. It contains both versions of a lot of his stories.

The dynamic between him and his editor Lish is movie worthy. Tracking down a good biography of that relationship should be on my to do list.

I don't know if there's ever been a situation of a writer ever allowing his editor to have so much creative control without approval or knowledge before - and then for years not to give a shit about it.
As he goes from super-low level functioning alcoholic to University Professor he begins to take control back of his work and finally divorse (basically) Lish. The most mind-boggling thing is that Lish never tried to take writing credit while he was doing this. Diving into that relationship is fascinating.

I'm about half-way through Kurt Vonnegut's Collected short stories as well... His early stuff is magnificent.

[mounD]

His complete collected works was an Xmas present this year. It contains both versions of a lot of his stories.

The dynamic between him and his editor Lish is movie worthy. Tracking down a good biography of that relationship should be on my to do list.

I don't know if there's ever been a situation of a writer ever allowing his editor to have so much creative control without approval or knowledge before - and then for years not to give a shit about it.
As he goes from super-low level functioning alcoholic to University Professor he begins to take control back of his work and finally divorse (basically) Lish. The most mind-boggling thing is that Lish never tried to take writing credit while he was doing this. Diving into that relationship is fascinating.

I'm about half-way through Kurt Vonnegut's Collected short stories as well... His early stuff is magnificent.

Vonnegut was pretty great.

[5hole]

I could see Necas sliding between 2-3C spots, Haula/Svech/Dzingel swapping around lines, etc. but this lineup looks pretty decent. I'd rather see Nino-Aho-Svechnikov and Dzingel-Staal-Teravainen with Necas getting some looks there, too. They definitely have a lot of options, but I think Dzingel is still stuck behind Nino, Svech, Teravainen for the prime winger assignments and PP1 deployment.

I have just noticed that Nino starts hot on a team then slowly slips back into mediocrity ... Would you recommend me holding Dzingel and hoping he takes another step... or taking the 3rd and Mangipane (we have a 100gms played farm team so hes at 54 before i have to bring him up )