The Sicatoka

Yup, this off season WMU is pronounced "whammu!" and that's the sound of them being roster-slammed.

Crap. You're right. That's the "four goalies" season. Given Bast's and Kierstad's recent histories regarding injuries, I'm now thinking they just might go with 9 D on the roster this year.

By my count, those 8 put the roster at 27. I can't recall UND carrying 27 on the roster this century. Chartrand Wolanin Shaw Peski Johnson Poolman Bast Rieger Kierstad Simonson Olson Poganski Gornall Gersich Gardner Janatuinen Jones Yon Bowen Smith Hoff Adams Mismash Kawaguchi Johnson Anderson Thome

Relooking at VGK's cap number (https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/goldenknights) $10M of that is LTIR for two guys (Clarkson, Grabovski). You might as well admit that money is freed up already. They'll be put onto LTIR ASAP and the money comes off the cap number.

I'll believe it given CapFriendly.com already has the details of his contract with PIT listed online. https://www.capfriendly.com/players/frederik-tiffels

I put my Hossa thoughts in the 2017 NHL thread.

Doing some reading, I believe there is a real problem with Hossa. What he has was common in the 1970s NHL and as someone said, it ended Tom Reid's career. All that said, the Blackhawks lost a dependable (missed 46 games in last six seasons) top end two-way forward. This site says they are $1.6M over the cap; however, put Hossa on LTIR and they flop to being about $3.5M under the cap, but needing a dependable veteran two-way player who can be top six and kill penalties. https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/blackhawks What's this I hear that ARI cut loose Shane Doan. And I heard Doan yesterday saying he'd like one more kick at the Cup. And he and Jon Toews are good friends ... hmmm ...

Technically, right now only CHI has a higher cap number than VGK! https://www.capfriendly.com/ And hokeysmokes!!! ... Look at the collection of draft picks they've acquired so far. I really believe they're going to be shopping those for a #1/#2 center come Friday and Saturday. https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/goldenknights

A Title IX review by US OCR takes six months at least. And as far as the twins, I'm still waiting for their proposed functional budget for UND. I'll start to listen again when they roll that out.

Mentioning all this ... Anyone seen Rosy83 lately? Is that him on the right?

You wonder if the EDM/NYI deal (Eberle/Strome) was done before the draft and the NYI worked out all their dealings with the VGK so as to keep their other pieces in place so as to publicly protect Strome long enough to just ship him off to EDM.

Given VGK took 13 D I believe at 2.5 taking the over is the smart play. (I should've set the over/under at 4.5. )

Alas, we do not live in the world we wish it to be; we must live in the world as it is.

So you're taking the over 2.5.

Are we sure "BisonDan" isn't really a ... Danielle ... and The Offspring wrote a tune about her? If you think I'm controlling then why do you follow me around? If you're not co-dependent then why do you let others drag you down? I don't know why you're messed up; I don't know why your whole life is a chore; Just do me a favor And check your baggage at the door!

Do you put handles on your grudges to make them easier to carry longer? And shouldn't you be more concerned about your 2017 opener with Mississippi Valley State University of the SWAC? You know, the SWAC, that finished beside the no scholarships Pioneer League (see: Valpo, Drake) in 2016. Specifically, the SWAC East, where MVSU finished at the bottom in 2016.

I remember the whump-whump-whump-whump of the pile driving for the Columbia Road overpass. Witmer Hall shook. Some of the profs were against it. Of course they all lived north of campus.

Grand Forks' roadway expansion priorities (in this person's opinion) should be: 1. An underpass under I-29 at 17th Ave S. That would make access to the industrial park easier as well as make clearing out the Alerus Center after events far smoother. The west side frontage roads are built. So use them. 2. A way to make the combo of Demers at I-29, the tracks at 42nd Street, and the University overpass better. It's never made sense to me to have and underpass and an overpass within a half mile of each other. Toss in that there's no way to cross the tracks at 42nd between the two and it's a general mess. Then again, without a way to cross the tracks at 42nd you need both current ways to cross I-29 (think: fire/rescue). If that all could be rethought into something better it'd be a good thing. 2a. Just do something at 42nd and the tracks. With Ray Richards going away, the space that is now 7 green and 8 tee is available for part of a solution. 3. Put the ramps onto the Merrifield overpass. I know some are saying build a new interchange two miles south of 32nd Ave; I'm saying put ramps onto the existing overpass out by AgDepot.

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.