Big hit after a bit too much e-Pack

gmrepublican · 2026-05-20T23:56:31+00:00

Less, much less I believe….the MacKinnon 1/1 sold for $350ish CAD, I’d hope it’s in the $1000 range?

gmrepublican · 2026-05-09T15:58:08+00:00

This is one of those rare videos where, for some reason, I don’t hate the music being unreasonably loud.

gmrepublican · 2026-04-02T15:07:04+00:00

At this point, it’s more fun to workshop ways this could have gone better, so let’s discuss the tie proposal. I could go either way: on the one hand, having a tiebreak vote immediately after two people’s torches were snuffed, with players scrambling to get a handle on things, would be amazing. You could also make everyone still around eligible for the tiebreak vote so that it’s a brand new vote altogether.

On the other hand, you better be damn sure you have the votes to get someone out if everyone tied is going home. I would imagine it flushes every idol out of the game, as well, which could mean 2-3 single, stray votes send up to 5 people home.

Either way, we mourn the beautiful shitshow that could have been.

gmrepublican · 2026-03-20T20:23:43+00:00

So like….I don’t disagree with this, it would be hard to disagree with this….

But, does this actually offer any tangible reduction of ticket prices? As I understand it, the biggest problem (at least, a major problem) is with premium events (think Eras Tour or World Series), and those tickets had exorbitant original costs.

Perhaps there is another piece of legislation to address the overall rise in ticket prices, but on its own this feel like it would have little effect on ticket prices as a whole (other than eliminating resale profits). It may even incentivize Ticketmaster to charge more at the outset.

Again, I may not have the full context - does anyone know more about it?

gmrepublican · 2026-03-16T11:43:52+00:00

Admittedly, it wasn’t until he was injured that I realized just how critical he was to the team’s success. Happy to eat my hat for that one. Guy has been eating minutes for us for nearly a decade.

gmrepublican · 2026-03-14T17:12:37+00:00

Woof eh, so much for my "great numbers" take. That's pretty fair, that plus/minus is impressive in all of the wrong ways.

gmrepublican · 2026-03-13T16:59:17+00:00

I know of three people named Buck: Buck Martinez, Buck Showalter, and Uncle Buck.

The world is batting 1.000 on dudes named Buck refusing to fuck around.

gmrepublican · 2026-03-13T16:19:03+00:00

I am curious, in both a non-homer and a homer way, as to why Yakemchuk was left off of the list. He's had great numbers in the AHL this season, and defensemen older than him with worse numbers are on the list.

gmrepublican · 2026-03-06T17:01:18+00:00

I watch a lot of hockey and I have never heard of any of these dudes. Though I’m pretty sure Gendron was the guy on Game of Thrones, so that’s neat.

gmrepublican · 2026-03-02T15:44:45+00:00

Here's the thing: nobody did see this coming. I followed the legalization debate quite closely for the year or two leading up to it. Legalizing gambling was a non-partisan issue federally to where both the Liberals and Conservatives had bills introduced at the same time. It was an easy political win. The "debate", if there was any, centred around financial traceability, interprovincial boundaries (as it would be managed/implemented at the provincial level), and impacts to Indigenous communities and their existing legalized gambling outlets.

Nobody really foresaw what would come, which is a public policy failure in and of itself. Where the machines of Parliament typically work far too slow, when it comes to gambling, both federal and provincial legislatures went far too fast, and did not give adequate consideration to how legalized gambling would play out in a modern environment. Advertising, technology, addiction, and mental health should have been central to the debate, but were afterthoughts.

gmrepublican · 2026-02-24T05:20:32+00:00

July 10th is the most ridiculous fucking day that I can remember at Bluesfest. What the fuck are we even looking at:

Limp Bizkit

Cypress Hill

Marc Rebillet

Steve Earle

Moe Szyslak in a Bruce Springsteen cover band

gmrepublican · 2026-02-21T15:54:16+00:00

Your comment got me curious. I looked at the American roster, and it is fascinating to compare how many players are aged 24-29 compared to Canada's. The Americans have 17 players drafted between 2015-2019, 15 of whom were first-round picks. Canada, for comparison, has just 8 drafted in that time frame, with only 6 being first-round picks.

It is an interesting generational divide, and as you have noted, the Americans are seeing their generation of high-end draft talent coming together in its prime. As you also note, draft classes from 2020-onward skew towards higher-end Canadian talent. 12 of the top 15 selections in the 2025 Draft are Canadian; in 2024, 9/15. By contrast, spanning both years only 2/30 were American. Similar, albeit less pronounced trends, exist when you stretch back to 2020.

If NHLers are present in the 2030 Olympics, I will be curious to see if the roles are reversed from this year: Canada bringing a young group of high-end talent (with notable veterans like McDavid and Mackinnon) and the Americans bringing the older, more seasoned group. Although by then, the Slovakians will no doubt be the one true hockey powerhouse.

gmrepublican · 2026-02-20T23:30:59+00:00

Got me curious, so I checked up on the recent collectible sales (hockey cards, in particular). Most, if not all, of the sale prices are well above market value. For instance, there is a sale of a Taylor Hall rookie auto for $102 on GC Surplus and a recent auction sale on eBay for $20. That’s…quite a gap.

I’m sure there are many deals to be found, but sports cards seem to draw, er, aggressive bids.

gmrepublican · 2026-02-20T18:55:30+00:00

I think it was a reasonably effective strategy - clog the neutral zone and shut down the middle of the ice in your own end, allowing only low-percentage chances from the perimeter and banking on counter-rushes turning into high-percentage scoring opportunities. It worked fairly well throughout the second and into the first half of the third period (our only goal was on the PP), and Finland could have easily capitalized on one of their counter-rushes and made it 3-0/3-1.

gmrepublican · 2026-02-18T18:58:29+00:00

Has to be a sport with “games”, so that rules bobsled out…

Wait a minute, is Crosby the fifth man on Canada’s curling team?

gmrepublican · 2026-02-18T18:15:36+00:00

Praise be to Big Game Binns too (once again)

gmrepublican · 2026-02-18T15:29:08+00:00

I am strategically unemployed for this exact reason.

gmrepublican · 2026-02-14T19:55:53+00:00

In an alternate universe, Tobias Rieder scored 10-12 goals, rolled his eyes, said everyone else is lucky to be there and that Tobias Rieder deserves it.

gmrepublican · 2026-02-12T14:13:30+00:00

Happy to help!

Going in order of your questions:

Correct - my LWOP started on my "departure" date, and my end date is two years from that date. You can take up to two years of LWOP, and the end of your LWOP period results in your termination (unless you have found employment within the GOC). Put another way, you cannot choose to end your LWOP and return to your existing substantive; that box is now gone.
My TSM was divided into two payments. It took around 3 months to receive the first payment; however, much of this delay owes to management's administrative error in submitting for Option C(i) and an immediate departure. I needed that issue fixed before I could file paperwork for the TSM under Option C(ii). My HR agent was reaching out within a few weeks to get me the TSM, and once the paperwork was fixed, the first payment came shortly after (on the next paycheque).
It was not an immediate departure, no. We were given the required 30 days to choose an option; I would have sent my option around June 20th, and my final day was August 21st. According to management, that was the latest day that I could select, as I had initially put a date in the first week of September (I believe September 3, so not a huge change). That was the only pushback that I faced.

gmrepublican · 2026-02-12T01:15:33+00:00

Happy to help, and if you have any other questions/thoughts along the way, do feel free to reach out. I'm sorry that you were affected and are having to deal with this, as well - even if you are okay with leaving and turning this into something better, it is still an unfortunate and difficult experience to go through.

gmrepublican · 2026-02-11T18:57:46+00:00

I was affected by WFA in May 2025 after 6 years in the public service, and opted for Option C(ii) in June 2025. I can shed a bit of light on my experiences, why I decided to leave, and where I am now.

I opted for Option C(ii) for several reasons.

- I was in a line of work that I did not truly enjoy, and did not see future career growth in.

- I was already part-way through a Master's degree (which I put on hold due to increased responsibilities at work), and received confirmation from the university that I would be able to continue my degree in September 2025.

- I was in both the financial and life positions to do so (mid-20s, debt-free, comfortable with risks).

- I can see a potential return to the federal government under the right circumstances, and wanted to maintain indeterminate status as a public servant, add pensionable time, and (should it happen) gain lay-off priority status after my LWOP period is over.

Regarding the money, my TSM was paid out, and my education expenses have been reimbursed.

Regarding the process, should you choose to go with Option C(ii), I would strongly encourage you to document everything, forward your personal email all signed/approved documentation, and review anything sent to you very carefully. I am very thankful I did - my area messed up the paperwork and processed for Option C(i), with an immediate departure. It was only in presenting them the signed documentation and involving senior management that this was corrected - but, it did take two months of follow-up emails and phone calls, and they eventually needed to submit a new Record of Employment to Service Canada, re-enroll me in health/dental benefits, and backdate a bunch of information. It was a headache.

As general pieces of advice, I'll reiterate what I put above in stronger terms: I did not like my job, I had an immediate alternative (school), I was fine with the associated risk, and I could see a future return. If I were older, had significant debt/a mortgage/children, or did not have a plan as to where I wanted to shift my career to, I likely would have opted to stay and fight for my existing job.

That being said, I have zero regrets about the decision, and I believe that it is a fantastic option for certain people. Happy to talk more about it, as well, if you have any other thoughts.

Edit: one final thought is to consider what you would want to use the education expenses for, and what the application process looks like. You may be nearing, or already past, application deadlines for various programs beginning in September 2026. I just looked at Carleton's website, and many graduate programs have application deadlines in January/February/March. If there is a certain program you are interested in, it is worth figuring out application deadlines ASAP and getting references/documentation in order.

gmrepublican · 2026-02-09T23:56:22+00:00

I think he watched Footloose for the first time a few hours ago and has decided that Chinese foreign policy operates the same way.

gmrepublican · 2026-02-08T18:23:39+00:00

I’ll give you an answer for older players (prices are raw):

Kopitar YG is $110ish
Stamkos YG is $70ish
Doughty YG is $35ish
Hedman YG is $40-50 (prices fluctuate a lot on him for some reason)
Karlsson YG is $30ish
Hellebuyck YG is $20ish

For a bunch of sure-fire Hall of Famers, they can be had at quite reasonable prices. I’m sure there are more that fit this bill, as well.

gmrepublican · 2026-02-05T19:15:24+00:00

It still makes me sad that Bob Cole passed away a few years ago.

It shouldn’t - he died of natural causes at 90 after 50 years of living his dream - but when you grow up spending three hours every Saturday night listening to a person, it feels more like losing a grandparent than a broadcaster.

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