Colorado Rockies 1976

Yeah that would do it. And he definitely did not look right for a while.

Oh no doubt, the Yankees had some really sh!tty people playing for them back then, or guys who simply weren't worth what they were being paid. Remember Danny Tartabull, who went for Ruben Sierra in what was more or less an a$$hole-for-a$$hole trade? I remember Suzyn basically saying the Yankee clubhouse pretty much ignored him his first time around, but he did come back many years later, apparently a changed man.

The Mets BP so far in this series: Game 1: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K Game 2: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K Game 3: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K 9.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 17 K That's a hell of a run. Pirates with only 5 runs for the series with one inning left. And another scoreless inning. 10.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 17 K - damn. Outscored the Pirates 18-5 for the series. Who knows if this will last, but at least they've made April interesting.

Kinda nice when Lindor (good lord when is he REALLY gonna start to hit?!) and Alonso aren't lighting it up today, and the Mets find a way to score six runs. Nice to see the Mets have this surge, after such a painful Devils season. Hope they can take this sweep home, especially with the first WC swing coming this Friday.

For that last WC2 spot, let's face it, ALL of the teams that didn't get in have several games that can be pointed to, in terms of why they didn't make it (and why they didn't deserve to). What's bad for a team like Philly is that they went 13-19-5 over their last 37 GP (much closer to original predictions). Yes, it's expected that they'll make changes this offseason, but do they have another massive-overachieve 25-14-6 start in them? Or a stretch like that in them at any point next season? Given their plan, they might not come as close to a playoff berth as they just did for another couple of seasons.

Oh I'm with ya, I didn't mention that specifically because I already consider that an absolute no-brainer given. Still hoping for an announcement that the Devils are moving on from Green sooner than later.

As far as player transactions go, I'm not expecting much of anything until the season ends. Maybe some signings (think Fitz just signed some undrafted college player to a two-year deal). Curious to see if Luke gets an extension ahead of his final ELC season, but I can see his camp waiting until he's a RFA before signing; if he takes a big step forward, hard to imagine he won't be among the top-paid Devils, on a max-term deal, come 2025-26. The situation that's going to be interesting to see play out is Mercer's...assuming that he's not moved. I wouldn't go more than two years for him at this point...Fitz doesn't have to lock up EVERYONE long-term. I think 2 years $3 - 3.5 million is pretty fair...that's still a big raise, and he really finished out this season in meh fashion. If he puts up numbers closer to 2022-23 (and can become more consistent), then maybe he gets bigger money. BUT, gotta admit, I have a feeling this is all going to become another GM's deal to figure out. If the Devils have to pay a top-end veteran goalie and are expecting to have to pay Luke and Nemec and eventually plan re-up Nico (he's already four years into his current deal), hard to think that Mercer won't become the odd man out...just a "Can't pay everybody" kind of scenario.

Hope we start to see Fitz in action by then too.

Ah the Stump Merrill and Bucky Dent years. And who could forget Mel Hall? Don’t know if you remember Star Ledger Yankee beat reporter Moss Klein, but back then he was constantly ripping what the Yankees had become. Steinbrenner being suspended was the best thing to happen to that franchise. Allowed Stick to build and retain a nice nucleus. And George could still be George when he came back, but no longer to such an insanely destructive degree.

I always see these tournaments the same way: PLEEEEEASE DON’T GET HURT!

Heh heh one thing a lot of Yankee fans really suck at is handling any kind of adversity. Did the “on the ledge” gang really think the Yankees weren’t ever going to lose a few in a row? They want everything to be easy, and at the first sign of “trouble”, they want to trade a bunch of meh-ish guys for whatever star they think they’re entitled to. Because snagging Soto somehow wasn’t enough. Not saying YOU’RE like that, just a lot of Yankee fans that I’ve seen and heard.

And as much as I hate to admit it, had the Devils found some way to win just enough games to squeak in the WC2 slot, hard to imagine that the Rangers wouldn’t have absolutely destroyed them. It would’ve been ugly.

They weren’t going to keep winning at an .800 clip. They’re still on pace for 108 wins, and they probably won’t win that many either. As long as the Yankees stay healthy they’ll get their 95 wins or so. Judge hasn’t even really started to hit yet.

He squeezed a lot out of his team, but can’t imagine his antics over the last quarter of the season were any help.

Caps’ coach has to be heavily considered for the Jack Adams…they were NOT expected to so much as sniff a playoff spot this year.

Nice job tonight by the pen…they really shut the Pirates down. Only two runs in two games for Pitt. Garrett…what a start he’s off to. 9-8…would’ve happily taken that after 0-5.

Exactly this. There’s more depth here than some realize. They will also have a Top 10 pick in this year’s draft.

Kahkonen was quite good in his small sample here, but that's all it was...a small sample. Jake's save% as a Devil fell all the way down to .900 after last night (all his Devils numbers took a beating after that hot start), but let's face it, not many goalies would've flourished over a full season with the 2023-24 Devils. This team was absolutely atrocious in its own end, almost all season. Yeah, like MD2020 said, MacDermid will be back, and will probably dress in games where goonish goofuses like Rempe are playing. Better than that Rempe running amok taking out god knows who. I don't really want the others back, but I swear if Smith somehow returns...that just can't fvcking happen. I'd have to wonder what the hell Fitz watched all year long to think that's a good decision. Yeah re: the AHLers, I suspect all will be back. Maybe one of Daws or Schmid is gone, if Malek or Brennan is worked into the AHL. Poulter's also in the mix.

Even more irritating at the time was being nowhere to be found. Fans AND media alike were wondering where the hell he even was.

I'm sure the Canadiens are taking this exact same stance if this guy didn't just put up 14 G and 33 A in 70 GP as a 20-year-old (just turned 21 yesterday) in his first AHL season. These teams should just admit it...when a guy who did some really sh!tty things can potentially help your team win and has talent, you'll bend over backwards to try to find some positive spin with regards to how much "better" of a person he really is now. That's all this is. The Canadiens think he can potentially make them a better team on the ice. If that wasn't the case, there's no "Well he knows he made a big mistake but..." from the Canadiens.

The core is on the clock, really (here's their ages for next season...posted it elsewhere previously): Jack Hughes: 23 (last 3 seasons: 189 GP, 229 Pts) Nico Hischier: 25/26 (last 3 seasons: 222 GP, 207 Pts) Jesper Bratt: 26 (last 3 seasons: 240 GP, 229 Pts) Timo Meier: 28 (last 3 seasons: 224 GP, 194 Pts) Dougie Hamilton: 31 (last 3 seasons: 164 GP, 120 Pts) Luke Hughes: 21 Simon Nemec: 20/21 Luke and Simon obviously haven't reached their primes yet, but the rest are there. FWIW, Dawson will be 23, and Marino and Siegs will be 27. Speaking of Dawson, he wound up with just 7 points over his last 30 GP...Devils gotta figure out what the hell happened with him. It's great that he played in every game for the third straight year but goddamn I barely noticed him way too much of the time. Still a lot of youth, but from now, each season needs to be approached with real urgency. The one thing that I take some solace in...as much as it sucks to miss the playoffs yet again (obvious been a LOT of that since 2012), I can't really make a remotely compelling case that this year's team was going deep, let alone winning in the first round...especially with Jack not being 100% and nonexistent coaching, and a lot of guys not playing up to last year's levels. So I guess take the Top 10 pick and go into next season thinking, in Fitz's own words: "The window starts NOW. Playoffs or bust!"

Yeah, none of them instill fear, can't argue that.

In the NHL it kinda does. Upsets aren't that uncommon...hell, Boston was taken down by the Panthers...yeah, that team turned out to be plenty damned good, but Boston put up a beastly record in 2022-23.

The bolded is where I think you can REALLY get on him. Even before personnel moves, I would've at least liked to have seen him try a different coach. Dougie being on LTIR freed up enough money that I think Fitz could've brought someone decent in that was on an expiring deal (as to not see his cap buggered up the following season). Of course it would have been nice to see Miller and others not get scratched on occasion so fvcking SMITH could play. If there was a move to help the Devils this year and beyond, I would've been up for such a move. But I agree in that I wasn't looking for any "All In" moves, based on everything else (the injuries, etc). Was looking more for this season not to be so easily allowed to fall apart.

What kinda sucks is that it looks like whatever they needed to learn from having lost to the Devils in the first round last season, they seem to have learned it. Hopefully the playoffs turn out to be a different beast yet again, and another year ticks off their window without a championship. And what REALLY sucks is that Lafreniere appears to have turned the damned corner. He finished this season with 18 points over his final 17 games, and 26 points over his final 28. And unfortunately this time it's not mostly due to great puck luck, which is what led to most of his prior "surges" (none as pronounced as this most recent one of course). His shooting% is up there (18.2%) but not outrageous, and he's been putting up more SOG. Hopefully he doesn't get too much better than he is right now.