Rich

http://www.tsn.ca/reports-kaepernick-filing-grievance-against-owners-for-collusion-1.885371

Picks must be in by Friday @ 8 PM

Not so easy to find an owner to buy a team whose average attendance looks like this: 2016/2017 - 11,776 (63% capacity) and dead last in the NHL 2015/2016 - 10,102 (65.6% capacity - no idea why this number is higher) and dead last in the NHL 2014/2015 - 12,594 (67.4% capacity) and dead last in the NHL Prior to this year their attendance ranged anywhere around 15k - 17. So why the sudden drop? In 2014 / 2015 they raised ticket prices by 28%. And consequently saw a ~30% decline in attendance. So even when they were getting decent attendance numbers, it was because they were dumping their product at cheap prices. Carolina is one of those cities where attendance will suck if the team is bad. And they've been bad for a long time. Haven't been a playoff team since 2008/2009. Who wants to buy that?

Trade deadline passes with no trades.

http://www.bardown.com/the-hurricanes-attendance-numbers-on-tuesday-night-were-the-lowest-since-2001-1.881736 Worst attendance for a game that wasn't snowed out since 2001. And only the 2nd game of the season.

Interesting article from Scheifele as he rates his top 5 toughest players he has faced in the NHL. https://www.theplayerstribune.com/mark-scheifele-top-5-nhl/ Interesting read from someone who plays against these guys and his comments on their game. His top 5 toughest players to play against: Karlsson Price Crosby Josi McDavid

Gonna be a real interesting off season for the Jets after this season. Both Trouba and Morrissey are RFAs. Won't be able to sign them both to long term deals and stay under the cap even with signing all the RFA forwards to reasonable short term deals. I'm not convinced we can keep both (even with Enstrom coming off the books). The year after, Laine comes due. Wheeler, Myers and Mason are up. Take away $10M of their collective salary to sign Laine. Assuming Mason is gone. Poolman takes over for Myers. Still going be tough to fit Wheeler in.

Buff also missed practice in the days leading up to the game. So if he is being benched because of poor play and not an injury, and also missing practice, that would be a bigger story.

Hearing on 1290 that he was off fishing yesterday. Still unknown if he is really injured. Not sure this is a big issue with yesterday being a day off for the team.

I liked her insight, didn't like her delivery. And no, it wasn't because it was a female voice. There are plenty of male colour guys who I don't like their delivery either. Possible she gets better with more practice, but as it stands right now, would not want to watch another game with her doing it.

Picks this week need to be in by Friday @ 6PM

Now that he has cleared, they can keep him in the AHL.

Good news is that after the Pittsburgh / Chicago game tonight, Mason may not have the worst GAA in the league.

https://globalnews.ca/news/3784603/australia-gun-control-ban/ Interesting read to see the effect it had on mass shootings.

New normal for now. Time will tell if teams who give out these huge contracts to unproven players (ie. not a Crosby / McDavid type) can win the cup. Blackhawks have not been the same since Kane and Toews have gone onto their huge contracts. Here is a graph of the cap over time. The only reason it has gone up since 2014 is because the PA has forced it to because of a built in escalator clause, otherwise, based on revenues, it would have been flat or gone down. What new revenues are going to come into the NHL to make the cap suddenly start to go up?

Checked out the reaction from Boston fans on HFBoards. General consensus seems to be he wasn't ready to be an NHL goalie, had some injuries that held him back and needed more time as a #1 in the AHL. Though they aren't happy about losing him. Interesting that Boston didn't think he was ready to be a backup to Rask, but Vegas is ready to give him a chance as the backup to the face of their franchise Fleury. How much longer till we have this issue with Comrie?

http://www.tsn.ca/lupul-fails-independent-medical-evaluation-1.874271 Lupul has failed an independent medical evaluation and will go onto LTIR.

Are you finally getting into these movies? You are becoming a nerd, aren't you.

How is the defender supposed to know he is going to cut right there? The receivers cuts right and runs into the DB.

Interesting article on the officiating in the Hamilton / Toronto game. http://3downnation.com/2017/10/01/questionable-officiating-costs-ticats-dearly-loss-argos/ Some video clips and screen shots in there that show some clearly wrong calls, including the phantom PI call on SJ Green that the league has since said shouldn't have been PI (even though the command centre ruled it as PI on a review) The fumble knocked out of bounds by Lawrence should have been called Hamilton's ball as well IMO. Also a couple of screenshots of blatant offsides by Toronto that were never called. Some theories out there that the officials are being biased to Toronto. After watching bad Bomber teams for years, I think the refs tend to not give the benefit of the doubt to "bad' teams. Either way, another game with horrible officiating in the CFL.