eaterfan

People should try to do some research before making assumptions based on a media bubble. Here's a link to the FBI crime stats: https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/more-fbi-services-and-information/ucr/publications I beg you to please review these before posting about how crime ridden Portland is compared to safe places like Nashville. Nashville Metro has 570.5 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Nashville has 2,449.5 property crimes per 100,000 residents. Portland has 302.6 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Portland has a 2,746.9 property crimes per 100,000 residents. So you have an 88.5% higher chance of being a victim of a violent crime in Nashville and a 12.1% chance of being the victim of a property crime in Portland. Granted, the most recent data is from 2019. If you prefer something more recent here's US News - 2020 https://realestate.usnews.com/places/oregon/portland/crime https://realestate.usnews.com/places/tennessee/nashville/crime Don't worry Conservatives. You can still rip on Dems! The mayor of Nashville is a Democrat. But safety isn't why a team should go to Nashville (really over any place on this list.)

Yeah, and the team in Denver has problems because of it. Baseball there is so different there than everywhere else and it hurts the players who play there. Teams going have trouble adjusting and the Rockies have trouble leaving. It's hard to attract free agent talent without overpaying immensely. The Angels try to skip AAA for their top prospects, especially pitchers. That should tell you all you need to know about Salt Lake City. Will MLB expand there if it makes them the most money (highest stadium/development subsidies, and highest expansion fee)? Absolutely. Will it be the worst possible place to expand from a baseball standpoint? Outside of Mexico City, it definitely is.

I mean, his last two coaching stops have been in Europe, but I don't know if that makes him a Euro. He's from Illinois originally and started coaching in the US. I presume he grew up with the North American game.

I'm not a draft expert, so I may be missing something, but if Colorado and Boston meet in the Cup finals, IMO the 2nd most likely matchup, then the Ducks would have three picks in a row at the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd, right? Stanley Cup runner up, Stanley Cup champ, then the Ducks? I know even the most likely scenario is still very unlikely, but that would be a funny worst case scenario for the Ducks trades from last year.

If both develop then you have to trade one. You don't turn the rarest asset in baseball - a good hitting catcher - into a decent 1B. If he can't stick at catcher, that's one thing. Or if his bat is sooo good that you want him in the lineup every day and don't want the ware and tear on his body so he stays healthy longer, that's another. But to just move him to 1B because catcher is taken is a huge waste.

Eakins officially out per Eric Stephens. He had an expiring contract that won't be renewed.

Don't get me wrong, it's not impossible for this team to make a playoff run next year. I just don't think it's likely. This team was dead last with Drysdale in the lineup, if I remember correctly. Bedard would go a long way towards competing, but in the scenario where we are debating Fantilli, Michkov, and Carlson, Bedard is already off the board. I just haven't seen enough from Zegras, McTavish, and Drysdale to think they will be able to carry this team to the playoffs next year. I mean, look at the talent on Detroit. I think we may be a year behind them and I think they are more talented. They didn't make the playoffs this year. Seider, Larkin, Bertuzzi, Hronek, were all guys who are better or comparable to the young guys on our roster. Maybe a coaching change will help, but I think we have another year or two at the bottom of the standings before this team is a real playoff contender. Even adding a Fantilli or Carlson. That's why waiting on a guy like Michkov isn't the worst thing. I'm not a scout, but if the Ducks are really high on Michkov and think he's on a tier above Fantilli, I don't know the timeline for him is too long to wait. Unless they think he may never come over.

Anything is possible, but this team finished with the worst goal differential in the last 20 years. I think this team will be pretty bad next year, too. Maybe they finish 10th from the bottom, but I can't see them making the playoffs. I might go with Fantilli over Michkov, but I won't be upset either way.

Pens owe us for winning Crosby over us. 2 big losses to CBJ and Chicago.

Penguins have been eliminated with the Islanders win today. They have nothing to play for against Columbus tomorrow. We'll see who even plays. Not saying CBJ is the favorite, but I like their chances of getting a point a little better than if the Pens were playing for their lives.

I'm saying it would be meaningless for the Penguins if they get eliminated before either of those games. Had they lost last night, it would have been possible. Having Pittsburgh coming off the emotional let down of not making the playoffs and possibly resting some of their starters would give Chicago or Columbus a much better chance of winning. That would help the Ducks. Now it seems like the Pens will be playing tough until the end and that means they will probably beat Chicago and Columbus, unfortunately.

No help from everyone last night. Was hoping Pittsburgh would lose so there is a chance they could be eliminated before the end of the season. They have games against Chicago and Columbus remaining so it would have been nice if at least one of those was meaningless for them.

Thanks, for some reason I thought it was in Denver. But the B2B still gives them the excuse to play Ek if Gibson is even remotely injured.

Having him start against AZ would be a way to try to lose. The back to back (especially with night 2 at altitude) gives them an excuse to play him and have a whiff of plausible deniability.

Hopefully, we lose in regulation on Saturday. That's going to be the biggest game of the season and do a lot to determine the draft order. I don't think any of the teams we are competing against take any more points. Luckily, with the tie breakers the Ducks can win against Arizona and Vancouver and still be ahead of the Sharks in the lottery odds. That point they picked up against Colorado looms large. I'd love to finish dead last because a top 3 choice is guaranteed. The Ducks will at least have the choice between Mitchkov and Carlson and get to decide for themselves if they want to take the risk on Mitchkov coming over (and the time it will take to get him in the system). 4th wouldn't be terrible since you get at least one of those guys. 5th is a tier down, from what I've heard. I don't profess to be an expert on amateur hockey scout or have original talent evaluation.

I assume you mean 3rd from the bottom. I'm not sure how you are getting there. It seems unlikely we finish with more points than SJ, but it's possible. They have 60 points and the Ducks have 56. If Anaheim wins out, they finish with 64. So they could finish 4th from the bottom and get the 6th pick. Am I missing something?

I would love for a couple of them to get wins. I think the Ducks have the easiest remaining schedule. Their game against Arizona will be huge. I diagree with most here and think it will be tough for the Ducks to finish with more points than the Sharks. Ducks have a game in hand and are 3 points behind with 5 left to play. And Anaheim has the tie breaker. I'm hoping the Ducks don't get 3 more points all season. Columbus and Chicago are definitely the more realistic threats to finish behind the Ducks in the standings. Hopefully I didn't jinx anything.

Just looked at the standings and I could be wrong, but it looks like 4th worst is the "highest" the Ducks can finish, unless I'm mistaken. They are 10 points behind Montreal with 5 left to play. So they can catch them in points, but isn't the first time breaker regulation wins? Ducks have 13 and Montreal has 20. Ducks can only get to 18. This would mean Anaheim finishes below them in the standings. Ducks 13 regulation wins is the lowest by a couple games.

And everyone else loses out.

If you just want to hear what the owner/team have to say you can just follow their Twitter and read their press releases and the pre-post game show. Reporters should ask tough questions, give analysis, and point out contradictions. Yeah, if you want to claim to be a pillar of the community and what binds OC together like sports teams do, then you do have to have communication with the stakeholders. Doing one interview with a national reporter every 3 years isn't that.

I would normally agree with the reliever stuff, but with the slot pool allocations, if you can save money on a 3rd rounder and put those funds elsewhere then have at it. The pool money (and remaining college eligibility) makes evaluating a draft impossible without looking at the thing holistically. Great drafts can tank early picks to load up in later rounds.

Maybe, or maybe not. The issue for Diamond might not be the revenue stream but the interest payments because they were leveraged to the hilt when they bought it. If someone buys the rights for the same price but can reduce costs by not having interest payments due, it's possible to make a profit even paying those prices. I don't know what the margins were and the amount of interest, but it's very possible that deals could be similar. Not saying it's likely, but it's possible the costs just got out of hand and the revenue just didn't grow as they needed it to with that much interest due.

Also, teams threaten to leave and get hundreds of millions to build new stadiums from the tax payers. It's a great way to make some money. Or buy the land around the stadium for below market and develop it and make money that way. And national TV contracts even for baseball are exploding. The owners are not hurting.

I think an equity share of Bally's would probably be better for them. The Pac 12 Network tried to start without a traditional partner like Fox Sports/ESPN/CBS and wasn't able to get wide enough distribution because they didn't have leverage. Also, it's really hard to start a network and it was just discovered they were overpaid by Comcast by $50 million and didn't notify them. This could lead to a few headaches.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-25/sports-broadcaster-diamond-faces-8-6-billion-debt-reckoning This is potentially very big news for the Angels and could affect payroll for awhile going forward. They may have to negotiate a lower contract and/or may have to find a different broadcast partner. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm not an expert on this, but it seems like it may be a big story going forward.