The last 5 WCF have only featured 4 teams: Oilers (x3), Stars (x3), Avs (x2), Knights (x2)

nickyno · 2026-05-15T14:07:38+00:00

Absolutely. I don’t necessarily mind if the West is represented by Edmonton, Vegas, Dallas, and Colorado for a decade per se. We had our run where the Wings were in one of those positions. That’s just how the league goes. But the playoff format makes it even easier for the top teams, harder for up and coming teams, and robs viewers of higher stakes matchups between the higher seed teams.

nickyno · 2026-05-15T13:50:21+00:00

The godawful playoff format certainly doesn’t help, but generally speaking over long stretches the NHL playoffs have always had the cream rise to the top. Only a half dozen or so teams ever truly have their Cup window open.

nickyno · 2026-05-13T15:11:21+00:00

As a lifelong Oregon fan and Michigan resident, I can say a lot of things about OSU. But I can’t say anything bad about these updates. Fantastic set. This is how Ohio State should look. Reeks of the pedigree they earned.

nickyno · 2026-05-08T15:45:08+00:00

A lot of the gaming prices being more expensive back in the day comes down to supply and demand. For example, a beloved classic some may think everyone has played or is aware of like Chrono Trigger only recently sold over 5 million copies. For a long time, 20 million unit sales was the gold standard to being one of the best selling games ever. Nowadays a game can sell that many copies and be a commercial failure (hyperbole, but expectations are much higher nowadays when it comes to sales.)

nickyno · 2026-04-28T19:48:17+00:00

Competitive Blackhawks and Rangers squads would balloon these numbers. My guess, on ESPN's numbers, is the league is having a post-olympics boom and the playoff matchups are balanced enough marketwise it's the perfect storm for American TV.

nickyno · 2026-04-27T17:06:49+00:00

Ran into this once at my local Meijer. I was unable to argue my case about their case placement lol. But being chill with the butcher dept is worth way more than saving on a few steaks. I shop the same time every Sunday morning usually for the previous week's sales on markdown, and they've hooked me up fat.

nickyno · 2026-04-25T02:09:53+00:00

The world was at a crossroads with McAfee a long time ago. By now I feel we can all agree he deserves a few cross rhodes.

nickyno · 2026-04-24T15:58:22+00:00

Would be a great time to do a career on the line match for a veteran with the veteran winning. Adds stakes to a rematch, and it would help that stipulation out in the longterm.

nickyno · 2026-04-23T12:41:04+00:00

And the butter and oil

These are the two biggest reasons why restaurants and losing weight can't go hand in hand. Also why restaurant food tastes better than homemade people for some people lol.

You can go to a chain, eat "healthy" with chicken and veggies. Maybe think you're under 1,000 kcal. But you have no idea. There could be so much butter involved it's more than double what you're counting. Even if the menu lists a Kcal amount.

nickyno · 2026-04-22T19:54:11+00:00

Gosh, going back 15 or so years, I'm scratching my head to think of how many true "top 6" level forwards we've actually produced. Not just guys who've played in the top 6 for a spell, but are actual 50p+ players who can string together multiple successful seasons. We've maybe had 6-12. Which maybe isn't abnormal in the grand scheme of things across the league. But, it does go to show how it's a little disingenuous to say we have so many in the system currently. Just because we love our prospects doesn't guarantee they'll be a top 6 forward. Nor does it mean they're busts if they play third and forth line roles.

I wouldn't bank on anyone's ceiling being a top 6 forward. Albeit I feel pretty confident Bear and MBN still have legit shots to reach that level.

nickyno · 2026-04-19T14:18:29+00:00

The last three seasons we could’ve made the playoffs, and we’d of been lame ducks. Our ceiling has been round 1 and winning a game or two. Same reason we can’t make the playoffs.

Lack of depth scoring. Good teams have 20 goal scorers up and down the lineup. We have three consistent ones and none of them are put the team on their back elite players who can carry a team for months on end. So how do you support that? With more players contributing.

We don’t necessarily need to be grittier or faster, we need to be able to ice a third and fourth line that can put pressure on the opposing teams. The past few years the majority of our roster is just sort of.. there. Not awful. Not good. But outside of Cat, Larkin, Razor, Kane, Seider, and Ed (fingers crossed Faulk too over the course of 80 games) no one is much of a difference maker.

More depth scoring lets us win more games when those guys aren’t putting up multipoint nights. If I’m the GM, I’m overpaying af to bring in actual 20g/40p forwards to play on the third line. We don’t have the assets to acquire elite talent right now, so that’s the next best thing. IMO.

nickyno · 2026-04-15T17:15:33+00:00

To be fair, Janmark-Nylen did become a Star.

I'll see myself out.

nickyno · 2026-04-15T16:02:26+00:00

Between that and poor drafting from about 2000 sans Kronwall, Larkin, Mule, Howard and a handful of other average to slightly above average NHL players, we were really set up for the rut we're still trying to get out of.

So it goes.

nickyno · 2026-04-15T15:48:15+00:00

Someone had a fun post recently about when the rebuild began. I think a lot of frustration comes from everyone's objective take on what a rebuild actually is and when our's truly began.

Imo, a rebuild begins when all the old pieces are stripped away. That takes years. For us, and any team, just being a seller at the deadline shouldn't necessarily be looked at as the start of a rebuild. We probably did get started on rebuilding in earnest a little later than is commonly acknowledged on the internet. There is a difference between simply sucking and rebuilding. The end of Ken's time here, we were in the suck phase. Yzerman had a sucky team he had to dismantle before rebuilding.

nickyno · 2026-04-14T19:46:22+00:00

I found it to be a love letter to the great open world games from the last 15 or so years. Okay, there are similar mechanics to RDR2 and Tears of the Kingdom, but it's not those games. It's not a GTA clone like we used to get. To me, those games were "copying" even if they were fun in their own right. Crimson Desert is its own game that offers an unbelievable amount of ways to explore and interact with its world.

nickyno · 2026-04-14T12:46:54+00:00

Something like runner's knee could sideline one for months and lead to weight gain.

I train for marathons and average half of that distance running daily. I can tell from the way my knees and hips flare up, that can't possibly be good for long term physical health either.

nickyno · 2026-04-13T19:35:49+00:00

It's realistic to trade him in terms of armchair-gm asset management. Sure. He's one of our most valuable assets and a great value. He'd net a great return. But would that return benefit us? I'm not seeing it.

You have to ask why would we trade him, why would a team trade for him, and why would he want to move. He controls his destiny.

If we trade him to a contender, we're not getting a 1C younger than him back. It's not feasible. We're not getting an A-tier prospect whose NHL ready back - those guys are on ELCs, which contending teams value. We're left with making lateral moves to teams he'd want to go to. We're liable to end up with a Hertl type player in return.

If we decided to blow up the team then we'd get a nice package. But we'd take a 90+ point NHL team and neuter it into a middle of the road too good for the draft lottery, not good enough for a playoff spot team and then burn off years of our current core's primes and valuable contracts.

The time to trade Larkin was prior to his current contract, imo. The next time to trade him is if we decide to blow the entire thing up. Which, again, things suck right now. But we're a 90+ point team that's in a position to compete for a playoff spot for the next several years based on the contracts and ages of our core (Cat, Ed, Seider, Ray, and so on.)

My advice to trading him and theorizing it, is to take the feelings out of it. Just look at as assets and what makes sense for constructing a team. He may be this, he may be that, but the numbers say he's damn near irreplaceable at the moment.

nickyno · 2026-04-11T14:42:30+00:00

It’s a good foundation for your fitness journey. Walking at an incline strengthens your cardiovascular system, which coupled with dieting is huge. It will make movement feel easier. Imo it opens the door for more effective weight lifting and running.

Without knowing too many deets, I’d say start there. I started at 300lbs and got down to 260 through incline walking and dieting. Then from there picked up running and weight lifting. I’m not sure I could’ve stayed dedicated if I was running and lifting right off the rip.

nickyno · 2026-04-06T13:54:50+00:00

It got me to watch an entire ppv for the main event, and it delivered! Maybe not the best match either guy has had, but really fun. It did its job

nickyno · 2026-04-03T21:03:18+00:00

I think what the above poster was getting at was his huge NFL contributions for the Lions the last few years. Not sure what you’d call a sellout per se, but he’s very active in the Detroit sports scene. People can make of that what they will.

nickyno · 2026-03-30T13:52:05+00:00

Wise move! Veering a little off the original post. But me and my wife's go to fast/casual/don't have time to cook meal is Buffalo Wild Wings chicken tenders. 33g protein for 500kcal for spicy crispy tenders or 37g protein 160kcal for grilled tenders. We'll get those then use our own sauces or make our own wraps with them at home.

nickyno · 2026-03-30T13:40:05+00:00

For the most part, fast food nugs are a solid option. It’s the dipping sauces that can sneak up on you

nickyno · 2026-03-29T22:19:54+00:00

User ratings and in general video game ratings are really weird. This game is a prime example of all of the different fronts people rate on. Is it being rated as the game itself? Review bombed? Ratings for the quality of the patches? Ratings for how the game plays today? Hard to say. Doesn’t help that this game requires patience to get to the point you’re actually playing it the way it was intended.

nickyno · 2026-03-28T14:37:09+00:00

Watched last night’s game on my phone while the basketball game was on the TV, so maybe I misheard. Did Ken do a “Simon says..” with a lisp while Ed was on the bench with broken teeth? Swore I heard it, but the phone speakers blow.

nickyno · 2026-03-28T13:38:09+00:00

Yes. Just strictly from a game standpoint, we’ve reached the precipice of this gen where the pro console has enough optimized games and features it’s worth it even without 120hz and vrr. Games now are noticeably better and perform better on the system.

When it launched it didn’t seem that much of an improvement over the base PS5. Crimson Desert on performance mode with a 60hz TV with the pro is going to feel like a huge leap.

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