Slow. Almost all Canadians will get one shot by mid June. But the variant is ripping thru the country now so it looks like a third lockdown is coming. Pretty much all LTC and retirement homes are fully vaccinated and most over 70 have had at least their first shot. So the most vulnerable are protected. But the next month or so will be long and hard.
Haven't seen that yet tbh. A buddy got Astra Zeneca yesterday and he’s been sick as a mofo. But the wife and my parents have had the Pfizer shot and been fine. Most here do a good job of distancing and wearing their masks. It’s the 20-30 years olds who don’t give fucks anymore who are spreading it.
one 40 years old just died today here. He was going to this gym that is runned by an idiot who was very openly saying he did not believe in the virus. That single gym is responsible for like 300 positive and one death since the éclosion a week or so ago. The owner had to hospitalized. fucking idiots
Binington is about to finish his third season with regression from the previous season. And oh hey his reward for that is his new 6 mil AAV deal kicks in.
More than anything, I would’ve expected to see a similar return from a better trade partner. Their cross-town rivals went to the conference final last year, look great again this year, but their chances seemingly plummeted with the Lee injury. This feels like giving a rival a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. Beyond that, you have a first time GM trading with the team’s legendary ex-GM who went to a rival. That alone will make folks wonder - right or wrong - if the new guy is getting schooled. Finally, this trade happened a few days before the Deadline. Why were the Devils so quick to make a move? They easily could have waited to hear more offers, especially considering Palmieri is a hot name on the market right now. In terms of value, I frankly think the Isles won there but I get the arguments on both sides. Qualitatively, I don’t understand the trade at all. Unless the Devils maximize their return on that late 1st rounder, their GM is unnecessarily opening himself up for massive critique as he just massively helped out a major rival. It only gets worse if both players sign for longer terms with the Isles, which from all reports is part of the plan.
There’s never been a rivalry with the Islanders, they can go win the cup for all anyone cares. They weren’t getting a first round pick for just Palmieri according to all the insiders. Islanders were gonna be the only team Zajac would waive his NTC for. Palmieri also had all of Canada on his limited no trade list. That easily sums it up, the rest you said about trading with Lou is like irrelevant columnist type stuff.
Wonder how many players are nervous about being traded north of the border with the way the virus is spreading.
Voluntarily listening to Greg Wyshynski and Ryan Lambert talk sounds more daring than trying to fight Chara
I’ll never see a purpose in paying goalies big money for long term but I get why teams have to make that investment. I think you have a few unicorns out there, like Vas and Hellebuyck, but even those guys will probably be anchors by the last few years of their deals. And what’s nuts is a guy like Hellebuyck is getting paid a ton of dough to drag his team to the playoffs but the likelihood of him even playing in a conference final are probably minimal.
He pretty much hates all goalies and if he ran a team wouldn't pay more than league minimum for one. He's a firm believer that you just keep trying random goalies until you find one that is having a hot streak.
It’s like drafting a RB in the 1st round and paying him massive money. Just poor asset management that puts the rest of the roster behind the 8 ball.
Hell, the Wings won a cup with 35 year old Chris Osgood in 08, and then came a game away from repeating in 09 with Osgood. That same season Osgood had a sub .900 save%. Just invest in the best team you can put in front of a goalie and see what happens.
Longer than you’d like but also I’m ok w it because not having a reliable goalie since Curtis Joseph has fucking sucked.
Yeah I get it. It seems like Binnington got his extension based on what he did, not what he will do. That is typical in all sports, but it’s more pronounced with a goalie, because if it blows up in your face, you are fucked.
My last post is to say that having a good goalie also is as much about timing as anything else. If Detroit had Vas the last few seasons, he would keep us out of the basement, but he wouldn’t get us into the playoffs. Its the same thing with having an elite goalie at the end of a teams window. It keeps teams from rebuilding more often than not. If you’re going to sign a goalie to an extension, doing what Tampa did makes the most sense. They have an elite goalie entering his prime, with a team that can contend for another five years. But it takes so much extra shit to get to that point.
The game has changed a ton since then. Its a goaltender league now. Crawford, Holtby, Vas, Quick, Fleury. In recent years Binnington is the outlier of a nobody coming in and carrying a team to a Cup. And honestly a lot of what that Blues team did felt like a fluke (I'm not trying to disparage them just because they are a Blackhawks rival)
Crawford had a few good years before his deal become truly terrible. Ditto for Quick. Fleury was a 6 mil backup when the Pens won in 17. And then PIT had to give up assets to move MAF. Plus, Matt Murray, who won that cup, is now arguably the worst starting goalie in the NHL. Holtby wasn’t even a lock to be the goalie for the Caps in 2018, he then got hot, won a cup and followed it up with a sub .900 save % in 2019. He’s now a backup for the Canucks. Binnington has seen his save % drop each of the last two seasons.