The Sicatoka

I spent some time in the car this week (SiriusXM 91 on) and learned a lot about the mindset (or presumed mindset) of VGK. They were entertaining 'can you get for me' offers, meaning, "Hey, uh, VGK, take so-and-so from XYZ and we'll make a deal later." Some of the speculation was everything from true wants to team A looking to have VGK taking a guy away from team A's rival team B. I suspect VGK taking Methot from OTT is a case of someone else asking VGK to take a guy away from OTT and VGK will get something for it later. I say that because it was very clear that Methot did not want to be taken. Not taking Raanta (the hot commodity, flashy down the stretch) tells me someone wanted Lindberg and he may be going somewhere with VGK coming out even further ahead.

There really weren't any top end forwards left unprotected for VGK. And definitely no first or second line centers. Saying that, loading up (13 picks) on a range of defensemen (by age or skillset) makes sense. Now VGK can shop a couple of them, and they have a variety depending on what the other team needs, looking for that obvious gap in their lineup. For example, OTT now needs someone to play beside Karlsson and you'd want that to be a veteran defender while Karlsson is playing fourth forward. But I still think VGK should've taken a fourth goalie if nothing else as trading material.

VGK was required to take 14-9-3. They took the minimums of F and Gs and maxed out on defensemen. I guess I'm surprised they didn't take a fourth goalie (for trade bait). I suspect Methot (who has said he doesn't want to go to VGK) will be traded shortly. Irony would have him going to the OTT arch rival TOR.

Here's the list (just picks, no trade acquires): Forwards (14): Teemu Pulkkinen (Arizona Coyotes) William Carrier (Buffalo Sabres) Tomas Nosek (Detroit Red Wings) Cody Eakin (Dallas Stars) Jonathan Marchessault (Florida Panthers) Connor Brickley (Carolina Hurricanes) Chris Thorburn (Winnipeg Jets) Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (Philadelphia Flyers) James Neal (Nashville Predators) Brendan Leipsic (Toronto Maple Leafs) David Perron (St. Louis Blues) Oscar Lindberg (New York Rangers) Erik Haula (Minnesota Wild) William Karlsson (Columbus Blue Jackets) Defensemen (13): Luca Sbisa (Vancouver Canucks) Jon Merrill (New Jersey Devils) Brayden McNabb (Los Angeles Kings) Jason Garrison (Tampa Bay Lightning) Deryk Engelland (Calgary Flames) Colin Miller (Boston Bruins) Marc Methot (Ottawa Senators) David Schlemko (San Jose Sharks) Griffin Reinhart (Edmonton Oilers) Alexei Emelin (Montreal Canadiens) Clayton Stoner (Anaheim Ducks) Trevor van Riemsdyk (Chicago Blackhawks) Nate Schmidt (Washington Capitals) Goalies (3): Calvin Pickard (Colorado Avalanche) J-F Berube (New York Islanders) Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh Penguins) I prediction of the 30 names selected by Vegas last night that some of them will never wear a VGK jersey in the NHL. I put that over and under at 2.5. Any takers? I expect some to be traded by end of day today.

Houston on line one.

It's a template form from a service UND uses (pays for) to host their website. Complain to the hosting company for not having a better "coach" template.

Saturdays in the fall are when I prep the yard for winter. Later in the day especially if you have to drive (so you can something else done) is better. I'd have no problem with 4 pm or later starts.

Want an expansion draft game? You pick your team by the same rules of VGK (one per team, 30 players, 3 goalies, yadda, yadda). That's your fantasy hockey team for the 2017-18 season in the "Expansion Draft Fantasy League" hosted by this forum. Standard fantasy hockey rules (whatever those are) apply after that.

Malkin was hurt at the start of the playoffs with an unknown return so I shied away.

It's the ol' rope-a-dope: Set the expectations overly high and call it a "failure" when they aren't met.

Earth-nocentric bigot!

World? WORLD? Name a better goalie in this galaxy.

You're not kidding, are you? No Trix?

We're gonna run the option run and shoot smashmouth vertical spread west coast pistol pro-style run-first. Understand?

I'm with you on this one.

Pretty safe call there, eh. I'm guessing the team Fleury ends up with can only go up in wins from this year's ... zero.

We'll, we're down to these scenarios: - PIT in 6: Sica's call; Ray would be off 2 slots and wrong team; net: Ray +4 --> Sica wins tournament - PIT in 7: Sica would go +1; Ray would go +2; net: Ray +1 --> Sica wins tournament - NAS in 7: Ray's call; Sica would be off 2 slots and wrong team; net: Sica +4 --> Ray wins tournament

After Game 5: 104 - Engineer 92 - KoolGuy2K86 - Shawn-O81 - George M. Bluth 80 - The Sicatoka 80 - stoneySIOUX 76 - sioux rube74 - Ray7747 - 90siouxfan23 - siouxforcefans

Gopher/cake-eater bias.

It was 8.

Ginny Christian and Ben Cherski. That's a rough run. Nice touch by the Cherski family in asking that memorials be sent to the UND Foundation for a fund in Ben's name.

Is the woman with the "Chicks Dig a Big Pekka" sign behind Rinne again tonight?