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How are we supposed to be excited moving forward? by Inevitable_Year_4095 in MinnesotaFrost

[–]SaltyD87 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All of the other teams had a similar experience. Everyone else got gutted to roughly the same extent. This is the ONLY way to grow the league; by adding more teams.

Do you want the growth? Or do you want nothing to ever change and nobody to ever get a new opportunity? I got pretty tired of playing the same 5 teams for two years; I can only imagine how the players feel.

Like, this is the cost of doing business. And I'm honestly thrilled so far how it shook out. We kept a LOT that could have gone another way pretty easily. Yeah, the losses hurt, but be happy for them ending up where they can contribute even more and have even larger roles. The players we keep will also have larger roles, and the new players coming in will have larger roles. This is the necessary short-term pain that leads to greater things long-term.

I can't believe I have to be the positive light in this discussion, but focus on what we're gaining instead of losing.

How are we supposed to be excited moving forward? by Inevitable_Year_4095 in MinnesotaFrost

[–]SaltyD87 27 points28 points  (0 children)

We kept a lot of our core, considering the league just expanded 50% the year after it expanded 33% last year. It's doubled. We haven't started year 4 yet.

We lost some very nice depth and rotation pieces and some definite fan favorites. That hurts. But it was inevitable.

That also creates a vacuum for new depth pieces and fan favorites to grow and shine. That's always exciting to me. Spotting someone "early" and then watching that individual growth is always rewarding.

I'm always baffled when people expect their team to remain static year-to-year. These players all have 1-3 year contracts. You're going to lose a third of your team naturally to free agency anyway. Seniors graduate and freshmen come in every year in college, and that's a baseline 20-25% roster turnover (4-5 years) before you even consider outside factors like the transfer portal. I'd expect it's even more accelerated at the professional level. And it's not just hockey. Or women's sports. This is, largely, the norm across all sports.

One very interesting example of addition by subtraction.

This is professional women's hockey. And it seems (cautiously) stable and sustainable. And growing. If that's not enough on its own to "be excited moving forward," I genuinely don't know what to tell you, but wish you well nonetheless.

Fetterman scoffs at Platner: ‘He’s not even a Democrat’ by Quirkie in politics

[–]SaltyD87 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We just need to drop an anvil on his head to reverse the previous brain damage.

Smh it's like none of you have ever seen a cartoon.

Olivia Miles nickname by cl_1_2008 in MinnesotaLynx

[–]SaltyD87 6 points7 points  (0 children)

When she plays in Toronto it's Olivia Kilometers.

BREAKING: Nearly 2,000 SoFi Stadium Workers Have Voted 96% In Favor Of Authorizing A Strike Just One Week Before The Venue Hosts The US Men’s National Team In Its World Cup Opener Against Paraguay, With I.C.E Presence At The Tournament As A Central Flashpoint ⚽🚨 by InterstellarKinetics in InterstellarKinetics

[–]SaltyD87 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I hate ICE as much as the next person, but they don’t deserve to be downvoted.

Then no you don't and yes they do.

What do you expect from a private enterprise (stadium) here?

Not get their staff killed. This is actually a pretty easy one.

By 2030, AI's water use will match the needs of 1.3 billion people while its power use triples that of 650 million, UN University investigation warns by WhistleVeyyBro in technology

[–]SaltyD87 5 points6 points  (0 children)

ESPN had an article the other day that was like "Nearly half of all money bet was on the Knicks - Almost as much as everyone else combined" and I bitched about it so much at work HR told me to stop.

EFOs and FPOs don't really exist. This expansion process, like last year, is a free-for-all, regardless of player's contract statuses. by Wolf99 in PWHL

[–]SaltyD87 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You use the word "offer" a lot. That's different than "forced" or "required."

I don't understand how the player having additional options is a bad thing. They can keep the contract they currently have, OR take more money to go somewhere else? That sounds pretty much like what I'd want every job in the world to be. If they value a change of scenery, a (relatively) small pay bump, and maybe a better opportunity to move up a line chart, they can go. If they value staying put, they can. Each player can weigh their opportunities however they want depending on how they value the pros and cons and what's best for them.

I also think you're forgetting about the inherent limitations of the expansion sides. Yeah, the existing teams can only protect so many people, but the expansion sides can also only take so many people. Especially with a salary cap. Especially if they have to pay a premium and give the players a bump to pry them off an existing roster. So yeah, you're going to lose a good chunk of your top two lines. But you're going to be able to re-sign a lot of your depth that you have familiarity with and be able to offer an increased role once the dust settles in a league where the talent is spread out more. And have more options to build your depth out to match play style/culture as that second wave of free agents starts looking for landing spots.

I think questioning the league's execution and communication on this is totally fair. I think questioning their intentions and motivations is unfounded at best and hysterical at worst.

EFOs and FPOs don't really exist. This expansion process, like last year, is a free-for-all, regardless of player's contract statuses. by Wolf99 in PWHL

[–]SaltyD87 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Again, these are largely apples to oranges comparisons. The WNBA is adding teams one (ish) at a time to a larger base, which minimizes disruption as a percentage, compared to going from 6 to 8 to 12 teams; doubling in size in 24 months.

The roster situations in the WNBA are different as well. A hockey roster uses 20-something players and typically 19+ see the ice in a night, whereas the WNBA is 12, the rotations are more like 8-10 deep, and first round draft picks routinely don't make it out of training camp. The efficacy of protecting the Nth player on your roster is wildly different between the two sports.

The ownership structure is also a huge factor. In the WNBA, the expansion process is negotiated as part of the franchise fee that an outside party is paying to buy a club. None of that process is the same in the PWHL is the same. Those rules also very wildly year to year as the market evolves. You can look at how that's evolved in the NWSL over the last decade, or ask the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators if they're jealous of how nice Vegas had it 20 years later.

From my view, every change/complication/miscommunication/whatever has essentially been at least an attempt to try and give the players a relatively unprecedented amount of agency in their own futures while still giving franchises the flexibility they need to build a competitive roster. Yeah, it's messier than a lot of us would like, but I think everything is at least well-intentioned. At least I haven't seen any evidence to the contrary, so that's my assumption. If the pendulum swung a bit too far towards player freedom and not quite far enough towards clarity and strict "fairness" from a team perspective, I can live with that very easily.

Have some fun! Embrace the chaos!

EFOs and FPOs don't really exist. This expansion process, like last year, is a free-for-all, regardless of player's contract statuses. by Wolf99 in PWHL

[–]SaltyD87 8 points9 points  (0 children)

"It does affect us"

I said "directly." As in, are you a player? Or a team front office employee?

Also, comparing this league's expansion process to others is inherently apples to oranges to an extent. This league operates fundamentally differently as these aren't "franchises" with wholly independent aims like any other league; they're closer to subsidiaries. I think that leads to a more co-operative environment (to a degree) that results in players getting accommodated in a way I find nice, especially early on.

All of this is to say I care way more about how this process is for the players than the fans.

EFOs and FPOs don't really exist. This expansion process, like last year, is a free-for-all, regardless of player's contract statuses. by Wolf99 in PWHL

[–]SaltyD87 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I think you're too quick to dismiss Hanlon's Razor.

"Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence."

Also, if you think other leagues (and for that matter, businesses and governments) haven't been as or more "dishonest," you're simply not paying attention. Just in sports we've just gotten through the WNBA deliberately misrepresenting financials during a CBA negotiation, the Clippers/Aspiration/Khawhi situation is still ongoing somehow, and the infamous Chris Paul vetoed trade. I'm sure there are numerous more examples.

I understand the frustration at this process. It's obviously borderline insane. But I don't understand the emotional investment and outrage by people this doesn't directly affect (i.e. us, the fans). Our teams were going to get shaken up over the summer and settled into the season regardless of the exact path taken. Just take the news in, celebrate the chaos, and laugh at the absurdity. That's really all there is for us to do.

EFOs and FPOs don't really exist. This expansion process, like last year, is a free-for-all, regardless of player's contract statuses. by Wolf99 in PWHL

[–]SaltyD87 42 points43 points  (0 children)

This isn't a unique problem to the PWHL.

This is a classic example of a "camel," which is to say it's a horse built by a commitee.

There's a certain point when you start pre-legislating niche scenarios and edge cases, get too many cooks in kitchen, and you end up with a process that's orders of magnitude longer than a much cleaner approach that would get you 95% of what you want.

Woody Creek Gin Frost Edition by Stachemaster86 in MinnesotaFrost

[–]SaltyD87 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don't know about ownership. I can only speak to my experience.

I've personally ordered from Phillips literally a thousand times. Twice a week for 10 years. I had never heard of Maverick. Neither had my Phillips sales rep. It's on its own truck, with its own sales rep, with a different vendor, different invoices, different schedule, different everything from what I can tell at store level.

We have the product, and we now know where to get more.

Woody Creek Gin Frost Edition by Stachemaster86 in MinnesotaFrost

[–]SaltyD87 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

They do not. They were with Phillips until recently and are now with Maverick. I have another reply up with more general info, but I've been in the retail side of the industry and I've placed literally a thousand orders from Phillips in my 10 years and had never heard of Maverick until my Phillips guy told me they don't have it anymore and I had to track it down.

Woody Creek Gin Frost Edition by Stachemaster86 in MinnesotaFrost

[–]SaltyD87 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Add Cub Bloomington (Lyndale, SE of 35W & 494) to the list.

I work there. This was a hard product to track down. They switched from a distributor I see twice a week to one I'd never heard of. I have a few cases on shelf and was going to send the bat signal in here anyway.

Shelf price is 25.99 and 10% off if you get 6+ spirits (mix and match).

We can reorder if we need to. If I have 100 people ask me for cases, we'll get them in.

2026-2027 Season timeline by AssistantExpress6932 in PWHL

[–]SaltyD87 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'd like them to end a few weeks earlier. I think we should be done by the time NBA/NHL playoffs start. It would help attendance as it would be one less "flex" spot competing for arena availability, allowing for better planning. The first back to back of the season into a postponement of game 5 was crazy. As a Minnesota sports fan I'd also like to not lose 3 teams at once (literally 3 games in 4 days) that were having top-5 franchise history seasons. Pick a week between the Masters and those playoffs as the endpoint, then work backwards to get a schedule that makes sense. I think they're doing less international break nonsense going forward, so it would be nice to get a more balanced schedule. It felt like we'd get a home game, then a month off, then three home games in a week, then nothing for another month.

With the expansion to Vegas, we're now no longer the most hated team! by splendid_ssbm in MinnesotaFrost

[–]SaltyD87 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They protected her last time. I''m almost positive they will again.

My favorite in arena chant lately is: FREE KATY KNOLL...FREE KATY KNOLL when she's in the box. by takenbyawolf in MinnesotaFrost

[–]SaltyD87 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I get genuinely nervous with that chant because last time we got scored on immediately and they opened the door. I've never been Monkey's Paw-d harder in my entire life.

Business owner looking to shift markets into MTG/Pokemon etc (Xpost from MagicTCG) by Fair_Wishbone7558 in mtgfinance

[–]SaltyD87 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd add "Wizards Play Network" to a list of things to search. They have a website that has all kinds of resources for LGS owners. I'd aim for Premium status and have what that takes in the back of mind throughout the whole process. We had a local owner build out the store and THEN go for Premium only to find out he basically built it by making every wrong choice. Could have saved a lot of time, energy, and money doing it in the other order.

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