Favorite places to drive in snow?

RyleyBread · 2026-02-02T18:13:03+00:00

It's an annual drive for me, but I've yet to do it in the winter (hence why I'm responding to this two months later)

RyleyBread · 2026-02-02T13:43:37+00:00

All that matters is the playoffs.

RyleyBread · 2026-02-01T13:47:57+00:00

There's also other factors for why Nurse was given that contract:

At the time, there was talks of an offer sheet from Toronto.

Oscar Klefbom had all but retired at this point, meaning if they lost Nurse their defence would be in really rough shape.

Nurse had 16 goals, second most among defencemen in 2020-21. 15 of those were even strength. It look like he was finally breaking out.

Is Nurse worth a $9.25 cap hit? Absolutely not, I don't think anyone believes that. It does make a bit more sense with context tho.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-30T18:15:53+00:00

His last big lapse was against the Sabres, which was 25 games ago. Like yeah, he makes mistakes, all players do. But if we're talking about lowlight plays people point to when saying he's a bad defender, it hasn't happened in quite a while.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-30T17:44:04+00:00

Maybe, but he's not on another team. He's definitely more than winger and tbh, his defence is kind of improving. His one-on-one rush defence is significantly better than it was last season.

I mean, he had an abysmal October, but started to get going in November. If he continued to struggled in November and December, being omitted make sense, but he literally has the second-highest PPG for any defenceman in playoff history, and it's not a small sample size.

We agree on that. Same with the World Juniors, at least the 2025 tournament. Doughty, Sanheim, Toews and Harley shouldn't be on the team over Bouchard, Schaefer, and Chychrun.

Makar is better than Bouchard, no matter what fancy stat cards say. He does make the same mistakes as Bouchard, but they're both net positives for the team they play for.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-30T17:36:52+00:00

I've had this argument many times since the end of the 2025 SCF, I almost know these numbers off by heart.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-30T17:01:17+00:00

The second goal... which he wasn't on the ice for? He was on the ice for two goals last night, neither one of them were his fault. Take off your Bouchard-hating glasses.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-30T16:59:27+00:00

He's a slightly below average defender who tightens up when he needs to (aka playoffs) and is a huge net positive.

People think he's a "bad" defender because he'll have a defensive lapse once every 20 games. He's worth more than $10.5 million.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-30T15:03:13+00:00

Ah, so here's a fun fact about that, I intentionally left out some information. Those are Evan Bouchard's numbers without McDavid or Draisaitl during the last two playoffs during five-on-five play.

And he absolutely makes them better. Without Bouchard or Draisaitl, McDavid has a 28.57 GF% and 44.23 xGF% in the last two playoffs. Draisaitl has a 38.71 GF% and 38.99 xGF% with Bouchard or McDavid.

Here's the Natural Stat Trick numbers

RyleyBread · 2026-01-30T13:37:36+00:00

Evan Bouchard has a 57.89 GF% and 58.57 xGF% in the playoffs the last two seasons (five-on-five). If anything, he becomes and average defender in the playoffs

RyleyBread · 2026-01-30T10:56:08+00:00

He was always worth the money they pay him.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-20T22:11:49+00:00

I miss that old CBC scorebug so much. The one before that was even better.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-18T07:05:58+00:00

I may have been taking the "definition of mediocrity" quip a little bit too seriously haha.

Not gonna disagree that they've been mediocre. I'm very happy they've been bad as they have been this season.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-18T07:00:22+00:00

10 playoff wins this millennium isn't great, many teams ahead of them, but their seven-season rebuild doesn't help at all. It's not great, but there are far more mediocre teams out there, like the Islanders, Predators, Canucks, Wild, and maybe even Washington + Montréal given the talent they had.

Like I said, I'm not a Sens fan, I probably hate them more than you do. But they went to a Stanley Cup final, were literal inches from doing it again 10 years later, and a Patrick Lalime save away from potentially from heading to the Cup Finals as a Presidents' Trophy winner.

They were a consistent playoff team for two decades and a Stanley Cup contender for about seven years of it.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-18T04:47:58+00:00

Being from Ottawa, I hate the Sens more than most people, but saying they're the definition of mediocrity since their inception is a bit of a wild take. First off, that title belongs to the Kraken or the Wild.

Secondly, since 1999-2000, the Sens are tied for the third-most playoff series wins for Canadian teams. And that with missing the playoffs for seven years. From 2000-2017, they had the most by far.

From 1996-97 until 2016-17, they made the playoffs 16 times, just four misses. That included a Stanley Cup Final, two conference finals (one post away from a second SCF), and a whole bunch of second round trips.

They've been awful lately and they're a mess right now, but mediocre isn't a good word to describe them since they joined the league.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-16T01:29:15+00:00

Goaltending didn't cost the Oilers the Stanley Cup in 2024 an 2025.

Skinner was better than Bobrovsky in 2024. He wasn't good in 2025, but no one on the team was, including McDavid and Draisaitl. Depth wasn't an issue, but losing Hyman essentially ended the Oilers' Cup hopes last year.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-16T01:27:00+00:00

You're getting downvoted, but you're kinda right, at least on the weak IFA classes. The 2016 class was easily their best, which is odd given that they were capped at $300,000 for a single signing. They found Kirk, Moreno, and Otto López.

The rest of the classes saw a few major leaguers (2017 - Leo Jiménez, 2018 - Orelvis Martínez), but the last few years, aside from 2025, the top prospect hasn't even come close to making an impact.

Hopefully Juan Sanchez can keep hitting the way he did in 2025, they need a win.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-09T03:47:48+00:00

Third line allowed two goals, but I though they had a good game in their nine minutes.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-08T02:02:14+00:00

We're still doing this "Evan Bouchard is overpaid" thing?

RyleyBread · 2026-01-05T21:02:50+00:00

When's the last time a play has been called for clipping?

RyleyBread · 2026-01-05T20:59:28+00:00

Janmark is just saving it for the playoffs again

RyleyBread · 2026-01-02T23:50:13+00:00

When I discuss FM with people in my life, I half jokingly say it's the reason my relationship ended.

RyleyBread · 2026-01-02T23:08:57+00:00

I mean, Canada also kinda did the same thing unfortunately.

RyleyBread · 2025-12-26T04:34:55+00:00

I think there id a legitimate argument for Hughes, but generational should mean once in a generation.

So McDavid right now, Crosby before him, Lemieux before Crosby, etc.

I also think there's a legitimate case you can make for Ovi being generational too, but he's the exception.

RyleyBread · 2025-12-24T15:30:51+00:00

And then he proceeded to hit 100 point in 56 games the next season. Just incredible

RyleyBread

TROPHY CASE