Spike

One thing that has driven me insane is the inconsistency of what players are on the blue line. They have cycled through young players like mad, and these rookies aren't going to improve by bouncing up and down between AHL and NHL. Either give them faith, or let them play in the AHL. STOP TRADING THEM AWAY. Nicholas Beaudin, Henri Jorkiharju, Adam Boqvist,, Ian Mitchell, Wyatt Kalnyuk, Lucas Carlsson, Alec Regula, Dennis Gilbert, Gustav Forsling, these are all defender that have been u-24 that have played for the Hawks in the last few years. None of them are with the Hawks right now, whether it be affiliated or traded away. Riley Stillman is the only u-24 dman they have on the ice right now.

I don't listen to anyone on reddit. They think Philadelphia and Seattle are now rivals. Here is my opinion, I'm not going to have the most in depth analysis because how many strategies and tactics are there in hockey? Dump and chase, transition rush, left-wing lock forechecking, 1-2-2 forechecking, et al. You know them but I struggle to see how a system change would improve much with a different coach. Ultimately, Patrick Kane isn't backchecking or forechecking, Toews isn't a 100 point centre, and telling them that they now play a strong-side overload isn't going to change the amount of individual mistakes that have been occurring, it isn't going to make Kirby Dach score the three one on ones he has had this season, it's isn't going to stop Fleury from having puck handling meltdowns. Ultimately I think there could be a more cohesive strategy for the Hawks but the tactical management isn't going to change much, right? How much can a head coach do to a game? He can control the lines, when they come out, who is on the the lines for the kill and the play but since hockey is such a fast sport how much of the on ice decision making can he affect? Patrick Kane is always going to play slow and methodical, he will always sit on the puck for as long as he can to make a play, no coach will change that, and if they did, he'd probably ignore them because he is one of the greatest hockey players ever. I just don't understand what other fans want? Maybe I'm too new to hockey to fully appreciate the tactics but it seems to me to be a sport of strategy over tactics, and the overall strategy for the Hawks seems to be puck retention, speed, and puck cycling, which they should be doing very well but are struggling hugely. The Hawks have the best PP in years but everything else is so bad, so something in the offensive system is clicking (Hawks had a very bad PP under Quenville, it was endless puck cycling, pass to the office, pass to blue line, pass to blue line, pass to the office, for two minutes). What do other fans want? Tortorella? The man that would throw a tantrum when Kane and DeBrincat don't backcheck like Patrice Bergeron on every shift? Babcock, whom that manipulates young players and hazes them in front of the locker room? Maybe it's just a morale problem, maybe they just need a unifying presence to get behind, to buy into an ideal. You'd think they'd have that with Toews back but maybe there is too much discrepancy between the ages of the old guard and young players, without enough players in their 'prime'.

I'm not particularly interested in seeing it. While I like Dune, it does have a very 'young adult fiction' feeling to it, and no matter what it always seem the adaptions of those sorts of novels seem to fall flat. As if the script writers struggle to adapt the tone and themes from novel to film. I hope you like it but I'll probably give it a pass for the time being. I also think it looks really ugly and Timothee Chalamet doesn't do anything for me as Paul. Would rather have a 60 year old McLachlan reprise.

Tell that to the young ladies of Manchester.

From the people I've heard from (readers, seen the Lynch movie), it seems to be a near consensus it does the book no justice and that despite it's flaws the Lynch adaption is far superior in every aspect. The biggest critique that seems to repeat is that Villeneuve seems 'overwhelmed' in direction.

Don't get me wrong, I sorta knew what you meant by it, because 1. I know of the players were talking about. 2. I know you well enough to get what angle you're coming from. But my major issue with 'technical ability' is that it doesn't really explain much as a statement. Let's say for instance there is a player I've never seen before and you say he is 'technical' I really wouldn't know what that meant especially without context. He could be a sweeper keeper or a dribbling winger, or even a precise passing CB. I was more curious to know exactly technique you were talking about, and now you've clarified dribbling, I'd be inclined to agree 100% with you. But saying that, it is more crucial to a player out wide to be a strong dribbler than a centre.

I'd rather see 50+ slags destroyed by Phil Foden.

So is passing, first touch, shooting, crossing, tackling, free kicks, yadda yadda. It's nebulous at best. Jorginho isn't the greatest dribbler but you'd still say he has incredible technique when it comes to certain skills, no?

Because it's Lewa and Vardy, Stan.

Foden will overdose in Shagaluf before he touches Salah's boots. I don't know how this kid captures every negative youth stereotype of the British in the last twenty years but he does. Looks like a fucking character from the Inbetweeners.

then why didn't you say dribbling technique is literally everything lmao

He probably put a towel on his head in his Saudi excitement with all the Geordie fans.

I've heard nothing but extremely negative things about this movie, from everything including cast, direction, soundtrack, and script.

I don't know how someone can qualify Salah as 'more technically' proficient than Lewandowski? He has a what better technique than Lewa? Lewa can shoot from any angle or position, outside the box, left foot, right foot, head, chipped, curled, with power, and he has an amazing first touch as well, one in the best in the world. Lewa can put a pass or a cross on a dime as well.

Benzema fucks underage whores so he is discounted from this discussion.

Come on guys, she is advertising her tv show.

As far as they go Chiefs and Braves are the least offensive of the bunch. If they change it so be it, I just want to see consistency, ban the Notre Dame 'Fighting Irish'. For fucks sake, look at this.

Seattle fans saying that Philadelphia are their rivals now. The big two game a season rivalry, how embarrassing. Even the Blackhawks and Red Wings rivalry couldn't survive two games a seson, and that was one of the most played rivalries of all time.

I like Training Day but the more I think about the premise the less I like it. Mainly the coincidence of Ethan Hawks saving the gangster's neicefrom rape saves his life, I get the whole point about it being 'no good deed goes unrewarded' and it's meant to juxtapose his good cop vs. the corrupt cops but it comes off very schlockey.

Makar stands out on one of the best teams in the league, you could slot him into any team's top two defensive pairing. At 19 he debuted in the Cup Finals and played at a standard higher than nearly every other defender in the finals, this player is a freak, beyond a freak. Nothing I've said has been at Hughes's derision, I just don't think that Hughes is at or will ever be at Makar's level, and that's okay because Hughes is still one of the best young defenders in the league and I'd definitely take him on my team in a hearbeat. Just because McDavid is a freak and above Leon Draistl doesn't mean that Draistl is bad. The two things I will give Hughes is that he is more durable than Makar (hopefully both can have a long career), and he is better with the puck (I think Hughes will end up with more points but less goals at career's end, I think Makar shoots a bit more), but I will always maintain that Makar's all-round abilities and style push him higher than Hughes. He looks more composed, takes less penalties, hits a lot more, gives away the puck less (which I'd tie into their point production, I think Hughes takes riskier plays that have high risk/reward), and has that steely presence of a veteran at 22. I also understand that you are a Canucks fan and will always rate Hughes higher than me, and I'd do the same thing if Hughes was a Blackhawk. I think the comparison is unfair and both are quite different. A neat little fact when I was researching their stats was that Hughes' has nearly a perfect production split between PP and even strength. Ultimately I just think their skillset is comparable but Makar has a bizarre level of maturity to his game, plus a bit more physical edge. I also do not buy the 'he is one a better team argument' one bit. That doesn't diminish his ability or talent.

Not at all. People get their heads turned by point production and Hughes has that in aces but he was never close to Makar defensively.

Hughes is a budget Makar that can't defend.

Jakub Chrychrun is better than every single defender on Vancouver.

It's a hard thing to do, @Eco makes sense to when you take in the sentimentality of the Russian players, especially those from his mother's hometown. There is one Australian in the NHL and he did win a Stanley Cup with the Capitals but his very much a bottom 3 guy and fringe AHL player. It's cool what he has done but he isn't in my top five. As far as sentimentality goes I do really like Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook but that is very biased because I'm a Chicago fan. If we go outside of Chicago, I like Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, Patrice Bergeron, Conor McDavid, Viktor Hedman, and a bunch of others. Those were just some names that popped in to my head, others would be Anze Kopitar, Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Artemi Panarin, Joe Pavelski, Phil Danault, Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, it'd probably be more fun making a list of players I hate.

Nah there is only one place for Price and it is Montreal. Unless you are talking about current players only, the Canadiens of all teams are spoilt for choices and they could probably list 100 before Petry (and I really like Petry). Just off my head, the Richard brothers, Guy Carbonneau, Guy Lafleur, Chris Chelios, Guy Lapointe, Patrick Roy, Jacques Plante, Jean Bealiveau, Carey Price, Bob Gainey, Tomas Plekanec, point being they have a ludicrous history of players. But hey nothing wrong with liking who you like. Speaking of less popular players, I was shocked that the Canadiens let my guy Phil Danault leave to LA.