#but honestly it’s the agents like if I signed a player to a team like that

[desertsportshipping]

Welcome to an AU that came to me in a vision during my annual Leverage rewatch called "The Leverage AU."

I don't know if I'll ever touch it again (although I am hosting a Leverage watch party so maybe) but just in case I'm putting my brain dump under the cut.

After Rui leaves Orre, she goes to the law enforcement to try and get protection for Wes, especially as they just left the region with a giant power vacuum.

Meanwhile Chief Anabel at Interpol is at her wits end. She has a case file of suspected criminals, who she knows is are the masterminds and/or leaders of various evil Teams, but with no evidence to arrest them.

Looker presents her with the case files of various criminals in custody (plus Wes) and presents an idea: a task force of criminals under the control and direction of Rui, and by extension Interpol.

Given that she has no other options, Chief Anabel signs off on the newly created Alternative Evidence and Legal Dispute Unit, or AELDU for short.

As far as technical expertise (ie. crime knowledge) goes, Wes is the linchpin holding the whole operation together. You need a wallet lifted? Wes can do it. You need someone to silently break into a building through the air ducts? Wes can do it. You need someone to beat the shit out of four grunts? Wes can do it.

On the other side of the coin, N is the grifter of the group. He can play any role you need him to. He can be a long lost Galarian Duke, a savvy up and coming business owner, a flirty one night stand, etc. He grew up learning all the manipulation tactics and cons in the books, and he's glad to be able to use his knowledge for good instead.

Penny is obviously the hacker.

Gladion is honestly really bad at crime. He got caught graffitting a cop car. However, he's really passionate and eager to learn, and while N doesn't think the kids (Penny and Gladion) should be getting involved in crime, even if it's for a good cause. Wes is working on getting Gladion's lockpicking time under 5 seconds and his punches into form.

Rui was initially just there to keep everyone in line, be the moral compass of the team. However, Rui is the granddaughter of Ace Trainer Eagun, who had the reputation of being a master of strategy. Rui is the one who puts together the full plans for the team to follow, and she picks up some manipulation skills from N and ass kicking skills from Wes.

Wes can do a little bit of grifting, but his skills only extend to "however long it takes for him to get out of whatever shit he got himself in." If you've seen the show, think Parker level grifting: he can be a fake waiter for the two minutes it takes him to get to the back.

Wes becomes the older brother figure to Rui, Penny and Gladion against his will. To be clear, he is a terrible role model. He is trying his best anyways.

Meanwhile, N takes it upon himself to be an older brother figure for Wes. Wes also hates this.

Rui hides Plusle in her jacket and uses the Pokemon as a taser.

N is an excellent actor when it comes to swindling and every day situations. You put him on a stage or in front of a camera? He's the worst actor you've ever seen. Rui is very gently trying dissuade N's dreams of an acting career.

Wes's jacket even has a role in the team! Wes has so much random shit in his pockets that he's snagged that he never thought would come in handy until now.

When they put Wes into a role (ie. fake caterer, fake baseball player, fake country star, etc), he gets WAY to into his role. Sorry gang, Wes can't search the house for the safe, he's too busy chopping onions for the appetizers.

Leon sometimes orbited in the vicinity of the gang's marks, as the only full time Champion and pretty much a celebrity. One time, Wes (undercover as a waiter) got caught kicking the ass of some Macro Cosmos agents. He was completely unprepared for the response from Leon being like "that was so cool!"

Later, Rui and N have to coach Wes on how to go on a date.

[paulodybaeeela]

The S in Spurs stands for So Shitty. Cuti please leave that club asap.

[the-physicality]

this expansion draft and roster planning for next season.. how are these gms doing it?

firstly the cap is ridiculously low [1.5 million? for 11-12 players?] next, expansion draft rules aren't even out yet. there are thoughts going around that they could be able to select one uncored unrestricted free agent? which seems so contrary to what unrestricted free agency is? how many people can each team core?

then there's the question of who will declare [which is a little more set but a handful of players have potential redshirts from injury] and i'm not super informed on player evaluations. which will determine the likelihood of us signing a rookie from the jump

and then there's the mercury question: are they going to try for the same strategy [4 guard]? are they going to try to get a real 4 for the whole season/in the consistent starting line up? who will they core? what is the free agent situation? will they pull a seattle reign and not core someone bc they'd rather walk than play for another team and everybody knows it?

so many questions and cathy could help me answer like a third of them but here we are instead....

[aledethanlast]

Seriously, how are those FBI agents doing in that Baltimore hotel for the David Wesninski AU? They signed up for none of this, yet here they are, dealing with the craziest family drama any of them have ever witnessed. Honestly, their faces when it gets confirmed that Wymack is the identical twin of this serial killer must be priceless

The first thing you need to understand about fbi ops is, you don't just write those up on a whim. Theres investigations and plans and preparations. They were prepared for the Hatfords to push the agreed boundaries and kill against orders. That's why they were contacted in the first place. They were prepared for the cleanup, and the inquiries, and to throw the Hatfords under the bus as an excuse to begin what was sure to be a years-long investigation into Nathan Wesninski's network.

The second thing you need to understand about law enforcement operations is that you're either going shit shit shit shit shit when things are going according to plan and fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck when they aren't.

So, on the whole? It was a shitty night. The whole thing got pushed back by like two hours because of an alleged break in, and then by three more hours after a fight with op command on how much can they look over the police's shoulder without tipping their hand. And then it all goes down, and there's corpses everywhere, and it's all gone to shit...

And then Junior is on the front lawn.

Which, first of all, how are you not dead? Rhetorical question, clearly Nathan tried. Second, no seriously, how are you not dead. The fuck you mean it's a secret bitch I will [redacted]-

But it's fine. It's fine. Actually, hold on, this is great. They get to skip years of investigation all it costs is some witness protection. The kid seems like a real shithead but once they get him talking...

And then Towns says "We gotta talk about his team."

Oh right, them. "Once they calm down we'll give them a basic rundown of what's happening and send them home. Considering what they said so far it doesn't sound like they know much."

But Towns shakes his head. "You don't know who they are, do you?" Browning raises a brow. "Palmetto State Foxes?" Nope. "Edgar Allen. The ravens." Nope. "Kevin Day?"

That does sound familiar, but Browning knows he doesn't get the points for that. "Sure, one of the other players, no?" He never cared for exy, personally, and while he gets that people get excited about college sports he's always believed in some healthy iconoclasm. He shakes his head.

Towns grumbles. Then out of nowhere, he says, "Call Suzie."

"What?"

"Call her. Right now. Put her on speaker."

She should be at lunch, so Browning obliges, but he really doesn't see what his teenage daughter has to do with...

Click. Suzie's high, confident voice. "Daddy?"

"Hey Suzie, it's Freddie, your dad's pal from work," Towns says.

"Oh. Um. Hey?" Suzie sounds nervous suddenly. "Is my dad okay?"

They both suddenly realize what this call must look like, especially after Browning hadn't come home last night, and they both rush to reassure her that he's fine. "We've just had a long night," he reassures her. "No, I'm just calling because...hey Freddie, why am I calling?"

It's Towns' turn to raise an eyebrow, as if to say watch this. "Nah, I was just wanted a reminder, what's your husband's name again?"

Silence. A quick, sharp inhale, and in his mind's eye Browning can see his daughter's eyes focus like an eagles. "Well, first of all, it's future husband, because daddy says that the law says I have to be 18 to get married..."

Ohhhhh.

Fuck.

"But his name is Kevin Day. He's the world's best exy player, even after he had an accident last year. A lot of people abandoned him but I'm never gonna because when a mom and a dad love each other very much..."

A thousand dinner conversations run through Browning's head line an electric current as he opens his phone browser and searches the name. The results look nothing like the bruised shell of a man his colleagues have stuck in a hotel room, but they look like every poster on Suzie's wall. A terrible, terrible thought strikes him. "What about his friend. The, um, the short one."

The response is automatic. "Neil is cute too I guess. There aren't as many good posters of him, but Jessica from biology did her binder from shots she printed from youtube. Her dad yelled at her for wasting the ink."

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

[writting-stuff-sometimes]

Fake it till you make it - Charles x fem reader

AN: After all the posts about Charles and A from this weekend, I got this idea. Honestly, I just care about that situation because I'm nosey but don't have any real interest in it, just wanted to write this idea that popped into my head. I have no idea how tennis and sponsorships work, clearly. I lost the first draft which I liked better so I might edit this one if I remember details I missed.

Warnings: Mean social media, a bad word here and there.

Synopsis: Y/n is a talented tennis player, but has a reputation of being a party animal and that scares sponsors away, so if she wants to attend Wimbledon she's going to have to fake a relationship with a recently single golden boy.

____________________________________

"You guys need to stop the bullshit and make this shit work" You always thought of this situation as a stupid game, but seeing Loraine's forehead vein about to burst reminded you that there was a lot on the line.

"But..." Charles was about to say something, from the redness on his face you knew he was as mad as the PR agent scolding you.

"No buts Charles, this is something to help you both, you knew what you were signing in to and you agreed to do this, we have 8 more months and we need this to work, so after today all I'm asking is for you to do what you're requested and stop being childish, agreed?"

You wanted to say no, maybe Charles had agreed to do this damn PR game but you were forced into it and found it stupid and insulting from your team to think that you needed to fake a relationship with some posh "athlete" to improve your image.

"I'm sorry Lor, but this is useless, we have nothing in common, ok? He drives in circles, how am I supposed to show interest in something I don't give two shits about?"

"Well, you're going to have to find a way if you want Puma to sponsor you, they're very concerned about the number of pictures of you partying and fooling around with guys all over the internet"

"They're my friends and I'm 25, they should care about what I do inside the court and not in my free time"

"And I wish I could spend the rest of my days enjoying the sun on a Spanish beach drinking margaritas but we can't all have what we want, can we?"

You were about to speak again when your "boyfriend" stood up swearing under his breath.

"Fine, whatever" he said before slamming the conference room door behind him.

Loraine let herself fall on the chair in front of you holding the bridge of her nose, it had been a long day and she was sick of it.

"Please, y/n, I wish I didn't have to do this either, but if you want to attend Wimbledon next year you're going to have to do this" She had been your pr agent for a little over a year now, and you had become friends, but this situation was idiotic.

"I just don't get it, why we couldn't do it with one of my friends? It would've been easier, at least they care about me, this guy couldn't care less, yesterday when we rode together to the track he said two words to me, "the seatbelt" and then complete silence the whole fucking ride"

"Yeah, well, the day he tried to invite you to train together you rejected him saying you were a real athlete and you didn't need him to get in the way of actual training"

You bit your cheek at the memory, in your defense, you were pretty hungover that morning and couldn't be bothered with this pr shit.

"Please?" Loraine looked at you with pleading eyes.

"Ugh, I'll try but I'm still not ok with this"

"I know, it's just until Wimbledon, you win that and this is all done"

"I don't like you right now" You stood up and walked to Charle's driver's room.

"Why should I be suffering when I'm not the one behaving like a toddler in a sugar rush?" Charles's voice made you stop as you were about to knock on his door.

"They want you to focus on your performance after the breakup"

"And me dating some brat is going to help? We need better strategies and upgrades"

"I know, and that's the team's job, but right now we just need you to focus on driving and try to convince the media that you're happily in love"

"It's going to be easier to win a fucking race in a tractor than look in love with her"

You weren't attracted to him and had no interest in having an actual relationship with the driver but his words felt like a cold punch to your chest, you couldn't be that bad, could you? You didn't want to hear any more of his rant and knocked on his door taking a deep breath trying to pretend you hadn't heard a thing.

"Come in" his dry voice made your skin crawl.

"Hi, can we talk?" His features softened, he feared you had heard him.

"I'll meet you in the garage" Andrea stood up and gave you a smile when he walked past you.

"Please" Charles stood up signaling for you to take a seat on the small sofa he had been sitting on.

"I think there's no way out of this"

"Seems like it" He leaned against the door in front of you.

"Look, I can't promise I won't say mean things, that's kind of my thing, but I will try to be nicer so we can make this work, ok?"

"I know I haven't been the best either and I'm so sorry about my behavior yesterday, I will try to do my best too"

"Sounds like a plan" You tried to give him an honest smile that probably looked more creepy than friendly but you were trying.

From that day on you two kept your word, you started easy and training seemed to be the one thing you had in common. But your gym selfies with Charles "accidentally" in the back didn't seem to convince the media your relationship was real, so you took it up a notch and started having date nights, he took you to his favorite restaurants in Monaco and the different cities during the GP's, and you tried to teach him how to cook, always uploading "candid" pics where your stuff and his were visible in the back this new plan seemed to be working little by little.

It was "date night" at your place and you were sitting on your couch scrolling through TikTok waiting on Charles when another "Charles and Y/n" edit popped up, you would usually scroll past them since you had no interest in what people had to say, if Loraine was happy it meant everything was good, but for some reason you let it play, photos of you and him musicalized with some taylor swift song playing in the back, they were mostly pictures of the beginning of the "relationship", you walking a couple steps away from him, sitting all alone inside the garage or the Ferrari hospitality and some others of you and Charles with a sour face on the way in and out the track, this pictures where surrounded by mean texts, and as if it wasn't enough, you clicked on the comments, they were even worse than the one lines, half of them claiming this was fake, the other half saying how ugly, boring, tacky and unworthy of him you seemed to be and juts a couple of them supporting the relationship.

A knock on the door startled you, you turned to look at the door as a pretty loaded Charles entered the apartment, you had given him a spare key to your place since him having to wait downstairs for you didn't seem very couple-like.

"Hi! Are you ready for the best fake date...what's wrong?" he asked worried when he saw the pained look on your face.

"Um, nothing, hi, you're early" He left the grocery bags on the kitchen counter and walked towards the sofa.

"What happened?" he asked steadily.

"Nothing, I'm fine"

"Let me see" he placed his hand in front of you and you immediately understood what he meant.

"Charles..."

"Please" If you had learned something from him this last couple of months was that he was stubborn as fuck and fighting him was pointless, so you ended up unlocking your phone and passing it to him. He looked at the screen and immediately a disgusted look covered his face.

"Why are you watching this?"

"I don't know, I usually don't but... I don't know"

"You know they're just talking out of anger and jealousy, right?"

"Well, you were on their side a couple of months ago, remember?"

"I've apologized about that, I was a dick"

"I know, and I know it's dumb that stupid comments affect me that much, I might be hormonal or something"

"Y/n, look" He threw the phone to the side and squatted in front of you taking your hands in his "This might be a fake relationship but I do care about you, and I don't want you to ever feel bad about what people say online, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make this work, but you need to promise me that you won't let this kind of people get to you, I won't keep with this if what my fans say hurts you, it's not worth it."

You felt your eyes start watering and you swallowed the knot that had formed in your throat before answering him.

"Ok, I promise" you said in a low whisper.

"Good" He let go of your hands, he stood up pulling you up with him to hug you hard against his chest. "Don't let them hurt you" he said against your hair and then kissed your forehead. "Let's go, we have pasta to make"

He pulled you to the kitchen and started arranging all the ingredients.

"Instagram time" he said as he set his phone against a vase and took a picture of you for his social media.

CharlesLeclerc and Y/Naccount You are the best thing that's ever been mine. #datenight #imagreatchef #pastacrocante

LeclercLover I still don't buy his, worst PR stunt ever

16LoverCha I knew he was a Swifty!!!

CharlesandY/nluv Stop being jealous bitches and let them be happy.

ForzafFerrari I'm sorry but she seems dull and boring, what are you doing with her Baby?

You knew this post would let all hell loose for several hours so you turned off your phones and enjoyed the night together,

"It's getting late and we have an early flight tomorrow" he said taking the last sip of wine from his glass and picking up your empty plates.

"You know you can stay, right?"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, plus, I got new sheets for the guest room"

"Ooohh, fancy"

You helped him with the dishes and then went to show him his room, he had never stayed the night, normally he would sneak out of your apartment and you would do the same when you went to his, but after the amazing night you have had, him staying seemed like a good way to finish it off.

"Here, need anything else?" You said leaving a towel on the bed.

"All good"

"Thanks" you hugged him and he hugged you back.

"No problem, don't ever let them make you feel bad"

"I won't" He kissed your head and you went to your room.

The next day you landed in Suzuka and it felt as if you had shifted realities, the fans were being nicer and more respectful, and some of them even brought gifts for you, maybe the plan was finally working.

The remaining months went by easily, and you and Charles developed a nice friendship.

"How do you feel?" Charles asked from the little bench inside your locker room.

"I'm shitting myself" Your statement made him laugh, he had become a big fan of your bluntness.

"You're going to be amazing, I know" he stood up and hugged you.

"Hello, am I interrupting?" Pierre peeked through the door, a white rose in his hand.

"Baby! you made it" You rushed to the door and hugged the French driver.

"Of course love, how could I miss it" He handed you the rose and took your face to kiss your lips softly.

"Hey! She's still my girlfriend!"

"Sorry mate, couldn't help it"

A month or two after the scolding session with Loraine you started hanging out with Charle's friends and he started hanging out with yours, one of those days you met his best friend Pierre, and you hit it off right away, it was crazy how perfect you were for each other. You knew it was going to be madness the moment you broke it off with Charles and announced your relationship with Pierre, but you couldn't care less, by then you would have had win Wimbledon and shown how talented you were, so who cares what the media and the fans thought.

"Y/n, you have one minute" your trainer said from outside the locker room.

"You can do it" Pierre kissed you softly

"Thanks, baby" You kissed his nose and turned to look at Charles

"Go kick some ass" he hugged you and kissed your hair.

"Thanks, boyfriend,. See you on the other side" You took your bag and rushed to the court, ready to be done with all this nonsense.

As always, feedback it's appreciated, and let me know if you want to be added to the tag list :)

Tag List: @wtrmlnsgr94, @ricsaigaslec

[sergeifyodorov]

☕️John Tavares, either first joining the Leafs or his NMC now

this one is the true tea but . two things can be true (i want him to retire a leaf and love him very much AND i. in hindsight. probably wouldn't have signed him)...

liek. okay. of the big five he's both the worst one and the second most expensive (will become third after willy's extension kicks in but shtill). of course a long ufa contract for a player in his prime was always going to be rough financially in the tail end of it (as i predict william's himself will be) but signing that contract in the first place put the team in a crunch and really limits the team re: dcore and b6 spending. honestly money that might have been better spent elsewhere.

that being said if covid hadn't happened and the cap had gone up like it was expected to this would be way less of a problem -- the leafs, frankly, got screwed over The Most by covid flattening the cap and im not entirely sure why that isn't like a much larger note in the discourse. but it happened and it is a problem.

anyway, though, now that we have jt we can't really get rid of him (without screwing over our reputation as a good organization -- in fact, one of the many many reasons jt's signing was such a big deal is b/c for the longest time free agents DIDN'T want to become leafs at all, partly because of The Organization's Reputation !! let's not go back to the dark ages !! please !!) and also he gave us the best leafs moment of the last 20 years (game six overtime goal) and is a good captain and a sexy dilf and frankly a pretty solid player even in his mid-thirties! and i would keep him post-contract, albeit for a Pretty Significant pay cut (whatever Stamkos gets, give him about half a mil less than that), because it's always useful to have a 55% faceoff vet around to grow an exceptional beard and raise leaflings in his basement. gotta work w what we have

[stereax]

How is Toronto doing over there?

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Okay let me explain what Toronto is doing... actually no I can't, what they're doing defies all reason. Or it makes perfect sense, but only if you're on the same cocktail of black tar heroin and crystal meth as Brad Treliving. Here we go!

This is the Leafs' page on CapFriendly. They are currently almost 9 million dollars over the cap. This is the offseason, so nobody really cares right now - teeeechnically you can't go over 10% above the cap during the offseason but nobody's really watching. So why are they over 8.8 million dollars over?

Let's review why.

This is the Leafs' forward core. (There's a league minimum deal for Dylan Gambrell too.)

This is the Leafs' forward core with a $5.5m deal to Bertuzzi, $3m deal to Domi, and $1.35m deal to Reaves. And you'd think "oh, they're trying to get tougher, okay" and they really don't, because Bertuzzi and Domi aren't punchers and Reavo is getting old. Bertuzzi is a more expensive Bunting sidegrade on a one-year deal seeking term in next year's free agent market. Domi is a center whose defensive numbers are in the shitter, also hoping for a better deal next year when the cap jumps up. Reaves is honestly just happy someone signed his ass for three whole years. He's 36. This is his second 35+ contract. Massive red flag.

What you're also going to notice is that Matthews, Marner, and Tavares take the lion's share of the cash - over $33m between the three of them. Nylander adds another $7m to the pot, making each of the Core Four average around $10m. Oh, and Nylander is angling for a pay raise when he hits UFA next year. :) And Matthews hits UFA next year too, good luck icing a 12-forward roster that doesn't have two lines' worth of rookies if you keep both! :)

Compare this to, say, the Devils, who have their cap situation under control. How the Devils work is they rely on everyone taking a discount for the benefit of the team (or just signing them to "overpays" before they get good and make the contracts worth it, like Jack Hughes). In the same $40m as the Core Four, the Devils have Timo Meier, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, Tyler Toffoli, and Erik Haula. An entire top six. And I'm not even counting Dawson Mercer because he's still on his ELC and that would just be unfair.

There's a saying that "you can't win a Cup with a $10m player". Jack Eichel proved us wrong. However, the idea of that saying applies - if you have too many top guys who are all demanding too much money, your boat is going to capsize because you're not going to be able to get the rest of the team signed. (Unless you're the fucking Rangers and get everyone on league minimum contracts because you're the fucking Rangers and you run a retirement home in New York, but I DIGRESS.)

The main issue with the Core Four, and the idea of the Core Four, is that they're eating up basically half the cap by themselves. And if you look back on it, you can go "Kyle Dubas was a moron", but you've got to remember: Dubas inked those deals thinking the cap wouldn't go flat due to covid. With the cap due to jump next offseason, you're looking at a LOT of 1-year deals because most free agents think they can get more money when there's more money to throw around. Bertuzzi and Domi are no exceptions.

Oh, also, Brad Treliving signed a 4C (David Kämpf) to a $2.5m contract with 4 years of term. You don't sign fourth liners for that money or term, as a general rule, unless they do something for your team that is literally irreplacable. Kämpf is good but he's nowhere near the great that justifies that.

Bertuzzi: Fair value for him, but you had Bunting who just signed for $1m less with short term to the Canes. Possible upgrade but too early to tell, probably a sidegrade.

Domi: Really should learn how to play wing. Inconsistent. A bit of an overpay for a third line center who can't play D at all.

Reaves: Punchy McFourthLine. That's it.

The Leafs' defense doesn't have anything too glaringly awful, on the other hand - except that newly inked $4.15m contract to a John Klingberg who can barely play defense on a good day. When you already had three at least passable RDs on the roster (don't know how good Liljegren or Timmins are). I get the idea of an RD upgrade, but man, that was not it.

Klingberg: We're really in the "outscore your opponents" phase of the meltdown now, aren't we? He is worse than Erik Karlsson at defense. Erik Karlsson, Fourth Forward, is a better defenseman. Good God what I would give to see Klingberg and Rielly on a D-pair together. Threat to score... at both ends of the ice.

So the Leafs are over the cap, but a few shenaniga- Wait, what is that? An unsigned RFA goalie?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA YEEEEEP. THEY QUALIFIED SAMSONOV AND HAVE $-8.8 MILLION IN CAP SPACE WITH WHICH TO GIVE HIM A CONTRACT. Better pray he doesn't get offersheeted because you won't be able to sign a big deal for him. Good Lord.

And now here's your injured reserve.

Note that Muzzin's $5.625m is already coming off the books and there's noooo way they can take him off IR (see the top). They still need to shed $3.2m just to fit under cap. With Sammy needing a contract and being arbitration eligible? Oh boy.

So what's going to happen here?

Firstly, Muzzin has to stay on Robidas Island. He comes back, you're fucked capwise.

Murray needs to go. You can't buy him out because that would put $2m on the cap next season as penalty - $2m that you need to resign Nylander and Matthews. Either you Robidas Island him (break his kneecaps permanently) or you trade him as a cap dump. You can't get value on him because he's already retained salary and with an M-NTC that limits where he can go. So you need to ship Murray out with a sweetener for our good friend Future Considerations or a seventh-rounder. The sweetener in question? Probably a first-round pick. Maybe a third if the team in question needs a netminder. Toronto is fresh out of second-round picks. Sweet.

Even with Murray out, you have $1.4m in cap space, and with Robertson probably drawing into the lineup because he's cheap and hopefully fixed by now, so only $700k to spare for Sammy's contract. You better believe Ilya Fucking Samsonov is not going to take a league minimum contract... especially when he's valued at around $5m.

You can ship out Jarnkrok and/or Timmins (as per the internet, the most likely to be dealt). Even with both gone, you only have $3.9m in cap space, which means Sammy would either need to take a team friendly or get dealt, leaving Woll and Literally Nobody to take the net for Toronto. And even if Sammy takes a $3.5m deal, you have next to no cap space and no 13F/7D.

Did I mention Samsonov can arbitrate? Because Samsonov can choose to arbitrate for a higher salary. For another Devils comparable, the reason we didn't qualify Bastian or McLeod was because they could choose to arbitrate if we did, with the arbitrator awarding a higher salary than Fitz would be comfortable paying. Arbitrator says $5m, Treliving can't pay it, Sammy walks. Great work, Brad.

The other speculation is that these moves are setting up for a Nylander trade, breaking up the Core Four. Don't know who the hell wants Nylander at almost $7m of cap hit - maybe the Senators if they manage to ditch DeBrincat? The Leafs would probably have to retain significant salary. Also don't know who the hell the Leafs would replace Nylander with. I doubt this happens, honestly, especially because Nylander's 10-team no-trade clause can kick the Leafs further in the ass. But who the fuck knows anymore?

So to recap: The Leafs just shopped for a bunch of guys with no defense at all that's going to make them have to get rid of Murray and has made resigning Samsonov tough. They need to let go of some of their depth (Jarnkrok and Timmins most likely) to make it work at all, and that's assuming Sammy does them a favor and signs for cheap. That's not even including the possibility of an offersheet to Samsonov - which, if you're a GM with goaltending issues and cap to spare (Chicago comes to mind), you should seriously consider dropping a $6m offersheet to Samsonov and watching the chaos erupt. If Kyle Davidson is reading this right now, do this and I promise I will stop bringing up the Kyle Beach scandal every time I hear about the Hawks and let your franchise turn over a new leaf. (Or Leaf, as it were.)

@excuseme-jimin @storybook-strange you guys also expressed interest in this :)

[snugglyporos]

D&D Thoughts Update

// Since a bunch of people liked to engage with my thoughts on 5e the other day, and having seen the leaks where Hasbro has decided to become Games Workshop, I figure this is a good time to talk about my views on 5e before a bunch of Hasbro IRS agents come to silence me and demand royalties. 

So, at first I was very confused by 5e for two reasons. One, it was very bare bones. Two, it was oddly confusing in places. Why 6 different saving throws? Why do you have electrum coins at all? Seriously I could go on a rant about how dumb that is, given how they’re described and their place in history. It’s a weird bit of hyperfocus in a game about simplification. 

But then I delved deeper and I realized... this is just 3.5 with a whole lot of content stripped out. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love 3.5. It’s the best edition, imo, because it’s entirely modular, and every d20 based game can be added into it. It’s broken and a bit too confusing, but I like that it’s broken. It’s why I never really jelled with Pathfinder; making D&D3.5 but not broken is like making cookies that taste like salt. Missing the point! 

But when I realized that 5e was just essentially the house rules version of 3.5, to the point that most of the things that were removed weren’t needed, or could be added, I understood it a bit more, and disliked it less. 

Granted, I still don’t like it. 

Two reasons for this. One, the game feels like it’s designed to be played specifically in public settings, where the entire game is boiled down to ‘here are the adventures we prepared for you.’ I didn’t understand why so many people talked about the Curse of Strahd until I realized that it’s basically one of four sets of adventures. 

The other reason is that, well, it’s clearly a game with no ideas of its own. Let me explain. 

1e is extremely hard to play today. 2e can be fun, but it’s weirdly anal about things that most modern players don’t really want to do. 3 and 3.5 are great fun, but they’re rather complex to grapple with. And all of these are unique games made by the original creators, 3.5 being the 3.0 system under new publishers. 

It was clear that WoTC wanted to make a brand new, all unique system with their next edition, which is why 4e is an entirely new and separate thing, for good and for ill. It’s basically MMO the RPG, to the point that you can visualize an ability bar like it’s tabletop World of Warcraft. Nevermind there is a 3.5 series of World of Warcraft books that’s actually pretty good, tbh. 

But 4e is not particularly fun to play? It can be in the same way that other wargaming can be fun to play, where if you’re running with a clear setup it works. But it’s not conducive to freeform playing. 

And with that failure, they made 5e, which feels to me a bit like someone copied someone else’s homework. Like the person who made 5e looked over at the guy who made 3.5e, copied what he could, and claimed it was something new and different. It’s close, but not the same. 

It also doesn’t feel like a game that the development team have much faith in? 5e was released in 2014. So it’s been around a decade, and there is only one monster manual? For contrast, 3.5 has five monster manuals, not including all the new monsters in the various sourcebooks. Or, looking to another series of games, White Wolf put out dozens of sourcebooks for each of their properties, to the point that The Old World of Darkness has like, three hundred individual sourcebooks across eight different games. 

5e does not feel like a game that the developers actually support. It feels like they just wanted to get away from 4e, and make something that would allow them to run games themselves, sorta like how White Wolf has their World of Darkness where individuals who sign up with them can be a part of the wider world, and games can flow into each other. 

Honestly, if they did want to steal White Wolf’s idea, it would make sense that they’re now stealing Games Workshop’s idea and trying to do with D&D what GW did with Warhammer. 

Personally, not sure that’s a great idea. Mostly because D&D didn’t explode until 3rd edition with the introduction of the open d20 license. I’m old enough to remember the time of 2e, and D&D being so restrictive is what led to the creation of things like White Wolf publishing, as well as a dozen other games like Mutants and Masterminds. 

For the record, don’t recommend playing Mutants and Masterminds, as it’s a clusterfuck of a game. Unique, daring, but not one I would play again. 

I think also that D&D has lost a lot of connection with its roots? For good and for ill, tabletop gaming in the 80s and 90s, even in the real early 2000s was very much underground. And that created a lot of unique games and communities. Part of this is how nerd culture is now pop culture, with things like comic book properties being hotter than ever. Like, trying to imagine big name actors wanting to be associated with comic books in the 90s is impossible. Now, there’s hardly an actor who hasn’t been in a comic book property. 

But D&D going corporate means that while it lost the edge lord part of itself (good) it also lost the part that made people like it (bad). D&D the game is giving way to D&D the brand, which is probably a death knell for it as a property, much like how continued bad ideas from the White Wolf guys got it bought out by Paradox, who amazingly have dragged the property back to where it mostly should be. 

But again, you’re talking to someone who remembers the days of Loremaster, Sword and Sorcery, Ars Magica and more. granted I was a child, but as I got older I got an appreciation for them. And I know they wouldn’t have existed if D&D had moved over to the d20 in 2000. 

Remember, before 3rd edition, the d20 system wasn’t used in D&D. and it’s adoption basically wiped out all the competition, who transferred over to it. Removing that means we’re probably in for a new generation of games, assuming they aren’t just made as video games. 

Anyway, those are my thoughts on 5e. And D&D in general.

[nicky35]

Honestly I would feel sad for Paige if she ends up at the spark which is the most likely expected scenario( I accepted it now ), not only almost all current players are going to unrestricted free agents, no good free agents want to sign with the sparks and I don’t blame them, the organization is cheap and players don’t have facilities.

The expansion teams will get the best UFA in the market and competition is going to be tough, I feel the likelihood for success for this current team is very low, and I just can’t get behind the cheap organization and bad conditions for players

the sparks literally practice at a community college. why do yall want her in a dump? i fear people have glamorized la too much.

[shutth3puckup]

https://www.tumblr.com/shutth3puckup/722861059947544576/alex-galchenyuk-of-coyotes-repeatedly-used-racial

What happened? What happens from here?

I’m honestly not too sure, I’m not too familiar with unconditional waivers.

Unconditional waivers is what teams can use to end a players contracts. A couple players went on it prior to the deadline, because they didn’t want them on the team anymore. The team still pays them (I think their entire salary) and takes a cap hit, but the hit is a reduced rate.

Based on this, I think he has a $500,000 cap hit against the coyotes this season and the following season even though he willl no longer play for them:

I believe he has cleared the waivers now, but my understanding is he technically is a UFA (unrestricted free agent) and is eligible to sign with any team. I haven’t read anything about the league investigating, but I’d like to think they will look into it and potentially suspend him. I wouldn’t expect a team to sign him until that time because depending the length of suspension it could impact what they would sign him for, or if they even will sign him this season or wait until the next one. It is possible he signs somewhere else, e. Kane did with Edmonton and he had a 21 game suspension.

The articles have said the NHLPA (basically the players union) is looking into this. I don’t know if it’s to ensure the coyotes followed the proper protocols for putting him on waivers, or if it’s because they have an assistance program that (imo) is very clear he needs to enter. And like I said I haven’t read if the NHL is doing an investigation into the matter, if so it will be separate from the police. That means the league could find him in violation of their rules but he doesn’t get convicted, or he could get convicted but they don’t find him in violation of their rules.

It’s definitely a wait and see sort of thing, I’d expect a statement from him in the next week or so, and hopefully he says he’s getting substance abuse or some sort of help. We likely won’t know much more in regards to his status in the nhl for a few weeks, if not longer.

[6silentwulf3]

Big things happening

The Bears made a major move to get Justin Fields some help on offense. On paper this trade should change everything for them, so why do I feel so skeptical about it? Well lets look at what the bears and Panthers exchanged in this trade. So the panthers would receive their first round pick ( bears had #1 overall pick ), the bears would then receive 2023 1st round pick, ( 9th overall ) 2023 2nd round pick,( 61st overall ) 2024 1st rounder, 2025 2nd rounder and DJ Moore. That's a lot, it's not as if other teams haven't given up a lot for players or picks but the picks are unproven. They come into the league fresh faced and they might not be able to process at NFL speed where literally everyone is good even on the worst teams.

The Bears in my opinion came away from this trade really well better obviously than the panthers, of course they still have to hit on the rest of their trades and free agency signings have to go well, but on paper this gives them 1 major upgrade in player personal and a lot of potential going forward. The panthers on the other hand just gave away their best wide receiver to likely draft a QB at #1 and my question is, Who's he gonna throw to? Then I thought about it, They are likely also going after D Hop. Which of course would be a brilliant idea to bring in this incredible veteran that catches just about everything thrown his way.

The Panthers also focus heavy on their run which was really good after the CMC trade to the 49ers. In theory if they can snag a dangerous veteran receiver like DHop and rely on the running like last year their new QB could start first day and develop behind center. Then there is the question of the other QB's on the roster, Sam Darnold, Pj Walker, Matt Corral, and Jacob Eason are all listed as QB's on this roster per ESPN, Matt Corral being the rookie previously drafted who sat out due to injury last season. What do they do with these players? Are they all getting shipped off to the XFL? ( Sam Darnold might be MVP there just saying ) 4 QB's listed by espn on this roster and surely all of them aren't staying so who becomes a casualty of circumstance?

Honestly I think a couple get the chopping block. No one knows what they have in Matt Corral so his situation is a toss up. He could be great, or he could be a huge bust but with a new true first round/first overall pick coming in at QB I'm leaning toward him getting the door because they simply don't have much invested in this guy. Sam Darnold and PJ Walkers contracts are no longer listed along the rest of the team. Sam Darnold is an unrestricted free agent and I couldn't even find Pj Walker's contract on Spotrac.com he is however a restricted free agent. Meaning they can match any offer he might get. So they would be wise to bring at least one them back as they produced the most for them last season as a just in case if their pick is a bust or just needs a lot more time to develop. Jacob Eason can go, he's a 3rd year QB that is completely unproven and has no TD's but 2 INT's on his record, he's also the only other active QB contract on the Panthers roster. So, the Panthers need to trim the fat at QB, go after D Hop, and hit on the rest of their picks. If all of this can come together for them the fight for the NFC South becomes very obvious.

[honeypiehotchner]

intelligence & issues (Hotch x Reader) -- chapter eleven

I’m backkkk <33 Enjoy!

Today’s chapter title comes from “Wildest Dreams” by Taylor Swift and honestly? That song is Hotch and Reader’s song tbh

Chapter Warnings: fluff! Crime scene stuffs, case stuffs, and Hotch is an asshole at the end (what’s new?)

Previous chapter || Fic Masterlist

Chapter Eleven: I thought, “Heaven can’t help me now.”

When you wake, you have a strange sense of Deja Vu. Hotch is shaking your shoulder again, only this time, you’re not in your bed.

“We’re landing soon,” he says softly, hand lingering on your shoulder, but you welcome its weight and warmth, forgetting for a moment that the rest of the team is on this jet.

“Mm, okay…” You bring the blanket underneath your chin, only this is when you realize it’s not a blanket.

You tilt your head down to look at the fabric, then lift your eyes back up to see Hotch isn’t wearing his jacket.

His jacket.

Oh my God.

He sees the realization on your face and smiles, but instead of commenting on it, he turns to start waking the others. As expected, Rossi didn’t sleep, but Reid is still quite frankly passed out. Emily, JJ, and Morgan are coming around, though, and upon seeing that, you scramble to get Hotch’s jacket off of you, catching Rossi’s eyes in the process.

“You were cold,” Rossi says with a shrug, and a smirk.

You shouldn’t be mortified, but you are.

After folding Hotch’s jacket over your arm, you wait until your boss is sitting back down to hand it to him with a raised eyebrow. “Thank you,” you whisper.

“You’re welcome,” he says, thinking nothing of it as he shrugs it back over his shoulders. When he sees you’re still looking at him like that, he adds, “You were getting goosebumps. Would you have rather I let you freeze to death?”

Is he making a joke? You wonder, with the corners of his lips tugging upward. You shake your head, saying nothing else.

No wonder you slept so soundly.

+++

Upon arriving at the local police station, you’re all met with the usual: desperate officers who want you to snap your fingers and find the unsub ASAP.

And, they always look pretty displeased when you admit that you need time.

You swear sometimes people think the BAU is made up of sorcerers who can see the future and not regular humans who are just trained to recognize and predict behaviors.

Regardless, they’re happy you’re here.

“I was shocked myself when I made the connection,” Sheriff Ansley says, nodding to the pictures of the other seven victims, with Nathan and Jonathan at the end. “Those others were so spaced out, we just… Oh, it sounds bad, but when you’ve got other problems coming across your desk, they can all blur together.”

“We understand,” you say, trying to be the comforting one here, even though you’re feeling more and more like time doesn’t exist and that you’ve entered a third dimension.

A few hours of sleep and jet lag can really do a person in. Especially with the added stressor of Hotch standing next to you.

“Morgan, L/N, I need you to come to the crime scene with me,” Hotch says, and your eyes widen the moment your name slips from his mouth. Is he trying to mess with you? You figured after covering you up on the jet, he’d make a conscious effort to be as far away from you today as possible. Just because Morgan is also coming along doesn’t mean much. Profilers aren’t dense.

“Prentiss and I will go talk to the victim’s family,” Rossi says, nodding to Emily.

Reid says nothing, too engrossed by the pictures and details tacked up on the board. Though, after a moment, he says, “I need a map of the town. Maybe the region. Yeah...the region.”

A little confused, Sheriff Ansely replies, “We’ll get that for you.”

JJ notices the confusion and says, “I’ve got it, don’t worry.”

With everyone focused, you pile into a vehicle with Hotch and Morgan up front (you purposefully sit in the back) to head to the crime scene. Sheriff Ansley leads in her car, and about two seconds in, you wish you would’ve thought to ride with her.

“You know I have to ask,” Morgan begins, a shit-eating grin on his face as he looks over at Hotch. “What did you get up to last night? Get lucky?”

Hotch looks ready to backhand his fellow agent. “No.”

Morgan keeps going. “Come on, Hotch, it’s about time you get some.”

“For now, I’ll stick to the case.”

Morgan huffs, giving in, which you think is for the better. But when Morgan turns his head to look out the window, Hotch catches your eyes in the rearview mirror.

You sink as far down as you can in your seat, biting the inside of your cheek to hide your smile.

+++

You have no clue what you were expecting when you pictured the outside of Jonathan King’s house, but it wasn’t this.

A few police cars are already here, their men having already gone in to look around, but not touch anything. A few cars look tiny next to the monster that is the mansion you’re looking at.

“I thought this was a small town,” you mutter, closing the car door.

“Jonathan’s daddy was the owner of the only car dealership in town,” Sheriff Ansley explains. “They were big money.”

“I can tell,” you shake your head. “Definitely don’t have houses like this where I’m from.”

The sheriff chuckles. “Yeah. Before they built it, this was a wide open field. Tiny house. Space for all kinds of animals. Had a red barn out there,” she points off to where a gigantic pool complete with a rock waterfall is.

You hum. “A lot changes for the worse sometimes when money comes in.”

She looks at you then, almost like she respects you a little more now. Which isn’t unusual. The sheriffs in small towns don’t exactly like having to call the FBI in for help. Some do it rather begrudgingly. It’s more often than not that you find yourself being the bridge between big city and small town.

“Any signs of forced entry?” Hotch asks the first officer he sees and they shake their head.

“Nothing. But this damn mansion is so big…” He trails away, looking around at it all.

“I understand,” Hotch sighs. “If you find anything, let us know.”

“Hotch,” you speak up, nearly tapping his shoulder, but you quickly pull your hand back. “If this unsub is a woman, then it’s likely there won’t be any forced entry.”

The sheriff nods. “She has a point.”

“How?” Morgan asks, eyebrows furrowed over his sunglasses.

“Seriously?” You deadpan. “Do you want me to demonstrate?”

He catches on, and drawls, “Go right ahead,” prompting you to shove his shoulder.

“Focus,” Hotch scolds. “I hear you. He probably let her in.”

“Did Jonathan have a reputation of being a player?” Morgan asks. “Take a lot of girls out on dates? Get serious with a lot of them but never marriage-serious?”

Sheriff Ansley nearly snorts. “Oh, yeah. He was the town’s bachelor. New woman every week. Swore every single one was The One.”

You nod slowly. “He must’ve picked up the wrong one, then.”

“Evidently so,” she replies quietly, leading the three of you into the house.

Hotch opts for looking around the house with the sheriff while you and Morgan go to Jonathan’s bedroom.

And he’s still lying there. Wonderful.

You nearly gag, but stop yourself. You’re never going to get used to this shit. At least there isn’t blood literally drenching the walls like that other case.

Moving on.

“Looks like it’s the exact same MO,” Morgan comments, idly checking the body for anything the officers might’ve missed.

You dig around on Jonathan’s dresser, drawers, nightstand, everywhere.

“This guy was seriously rich,” you mutter, picking up a few really expensive watches. Upon opening one drawer, you literally find a wad of cash. At least two thousand dollars, stuffed in between pairs of socks. “The unsub didn’t take this?” You hold up the cash to Morgan.

“She must not’ve spent time here,” he concludes. “Doesn’t look like she took any trophies either.”

“I can’t imagine why,” you say, then crack a smile. “So you’re on my side then, huh?”

He turns his head, eyebrows furrowed. “What?”

“It’s a woman.”

Morgan chuckles. “Yeah, kiddo. I’m on your side. This has woman all over it.”

“Kiddo,” you groan, tossing the cash back in the drawer. “Any clothes from the unsub lying around? I’m guessing she’s smarter than that.”

“Yeah, there’s nothing,” Morgan says, going into the bathroom. “The window in here is locked tight.”

“I really doubt she forced her way in,” you say. “He probably took her out on a date, brought her inside willingly, and didn’t realize until it was too late that he should not have messed with her.” You pause. “Does this place have security cameras? It looks expensive enough to have them. We should get Garcia to get the footage.”

You’re too busy rambling to see that Morgan has walked back into the room, only this time he’s eyeing you carefully.

You turn your head, raising an eyebrow at him. “What?”

“Listen, I know these guys were…” He gestures rather than saying it.

“Rapists?” You say tiredly, placing your hands on your hips. No need to be afraid of saying the word around you. You’ve heard it plenty and said it yourself more times than you want to. “What about it?”

“I just wanted to say I know how good it can feel to see someone like that taken down,” Morgan says slowly. “And then you feel guilty for feeling good.”

You set your jaw, hating he’s right. You’ve yet to admit it to yourself, though. Isn’t it wrong? On multiple levels? You’re supposed to catch the bad guys, not relate to them so much that you understand why they’re doing this.

“And I know it can also bring up some bad memories, but, I’m here for you,” he says, keeping his eyes on yours. “I mean that.”

“Thanks, Derek,” you whisper. “It does...kinda feel good, but...I know it’s the wrong way to do it.”

“Do what?”

“Make a difference,” you shrug. “If I killed Trevor, I’d be taking the short route. That’s why I’m here. To make a bigger difference.”

He smiles then, gently. “And you’re doin’ it. Trust me.”

You let yourself smile, too. “Thanks. Now let’s get back to work before boss man comes in here telling us to focus,” you mimic Hotch’s voice and tone at the end, making yourself laugh as you turn back around.

And that’s when you have the absolute shit scared out of you because Hotch is standing there, frowning at you. Oh, he totally heard that.

“Sorry, sir,” you murmur, knowing you should apologize while you’re ahead.

Thankfully, to save yourself from embarrassment, Morgan’s phone starts ringing. He pulls it out and puts it on speaker.

“Talk to me, babygirl.”

“All of our other victims? Yeah, they were accused of rape, too. Four of them were acquitted or blatantly dismissed, three of them with such short sentences it probably felt like a vacation.”

You roll your eyes. “Sounds about right.”

Hotch eyes you, but talks to Garcia. “Get us a list of anyone in this region that fits those same criteria.”

“Already done, and it is heading to JJ as we speak.”

Morgan shakes his head at how good she is. “Oh, and check and see if you can get the footage from Jonathan’s security cameras at his house. Y/N thinks he should have some.”

“She’s correct, I just found them,” Garcia says, no doubt through a smile. “I’ll send the footage over and start looking.”

“We should get back to the station and go over those names, see if we can narrow it down at all,” Hotch says. “Hopefully Garcia can get us something from that video.”

+++

Garcia gathers one thing from the video, but it’s not anything to do with facial recognition.

For now, it’s obvious this woman is a strong suspect because she’s the only one seen entering and leaving the house (she walked out right through the front door with her head down) in the window of time that Jonathan was killed. But...

“There’s not a clear shot at all,” Garcia says. “Because they’re… How do I put this? His lips are basically attacking her face and it’s a miracle they made it inside instead of just going at it against the door.”

Morgan snorts out a laugh, Reid (who is working on connecting the nine victims further) goes impossibly red, and Hotch shakes his head.

“Well, we’ve got a physical description now,” Rossi says, trying to see the bright side before Hotch loses it, you’re sure.

“Yeah, but it’s just a young brunette in a dress and heels,” Emily argues. “That’s nowhere near narrow enough.”

“Brown hair is actually the second most common hair color,” Reid supplies. “The most common is black, but they’re usually lumped together in studies. A recent one found that 84% of the world’s population has dark hair. But, of course, women are more likely to color their hair than men—”

“We got it, kid,” Morgan says gently, tapping Reid’s shoulder to get him to slow down.

“So,” you chuckle, “she has dark hair, which are the two most common hair colors.” Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a thought occurs to you. “Wait, can I see the video again?”

Garcia plays it again.

“Pause there,” you point to the woman’s hands. “See how she reaches for his wrist?”

“Where are you going with this?” Morgan asks.

It’s then that it occurs to you just where you’re going with this, and you try to hide your embarrassment.

“You can play it again.” After a few seconds, you get Garcia to pause again. “See? She tries to pin his wrists. She’s dominating. She’s the one in control there. See how his back is against the door, too? He didn’t start that way, she turned them around to get the upper hand.”

“So she’s confident,” Emily ponders.

“In sexual situations, at least,” you add. “Some women who are outwardly shy, but like to dominate in bed. It can be different for everyone.”

“So you’re saying we’re looking for a super quiet, shy woman?”

“Not necessarily. Given that she has had enough confidence to kill these nine men without anyone noticing, I’d be willing to bet she’s pretty confident now. It could be a newfound confidence, or she honestly could have always been this way. A lot of Dominatrixes are pretty confident outside of the bedroom, too. Maybe not in the same way, but they are. Just comes with the territory.”

“A territory you seem to know a lot about,” Morgan teases, poking your shoulder.

You scoff. “You wish.”

But your eyes find Hotch’s and you feel another rush go through you, all the way to your toes. You burn every single time you’re underneath his gaze. Averting your eyes quickly back to the screen, you try to shift in your seat in the least noticeable way.

It’s not like he doesn’t already know. If he seriously doesn’t know or at least have some suspicion, then you might suggest he get a new profession.

Redirecting the attention back to the case, Hotch turns to Sheriff Ansley and says, “We’re ready to give a preliminary profile.”

The team stands to head out to the main area. You and Hotch are the last two left, which you’re sure he did deliberately.

“You should take the lead,” he says, and you swear, your heart falls out of your ass.

“What?” You’ve never taken the lead on a profile in your life. Why would he just spring this on you right now? On this case, of all cases? Seriously?

He doesn’t change his mind. “I trust you to get all of the details right. And we’ll jump in when needed, but I want you to take the lead.”

You’re shaking your head. “Hotch, I haven’t—”

“It’s an order,” he says, voice firm. ��Understood?”

“Yes.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Yes what?”

Bastard. He did it again. “Yes sir.”

And your jaw nearly ends up on the floor when he smirks, a quiet, “Good girl,” falling from his lips.

Damn him. Now you’re supposed to give the profile? How bad would it be to let Emily take over so you can jump Hotch in the nearest supply closet?

You never find out how bad it would be because Hotch walks out and thanks the officers for being there, and introduces you, giving you zero time to recover.

“Thank you so much for your patience,” you say first. “The unsub we’re looking for is, in fact, a woman, confirmed by some security footage that was recovered from Jonathan King’s home. She’s a brunette, average height, attractive, and she’s confident. She’s killed nine times and hasn’t been caught yet, so she’s likely to be gaining confidence.”

An officer raises his hand, so you nod to him. “No offense...but your description fits practically every girl in this town -- I guess, besides the killing part.”

“That’s what we figured,” you admit. “Unfortunately, this kind of unsub is the hardest to catch. They don’t stand out at all, they blend right in. It’s partly why they go so long without being caught.”

“But they’re not impossible to catch,” Rossi adds, helping you out with the annoyed officers. “This unsub has already killed twice in a week, which could be a sign that she’s beginning to devolve. When they’re in this state, they are easier to catch because they tend to get reckless and forget things, change patterns, which is what we need.”

“So we need to keep a tight lid on this for now,” JJ says. “The media isn’t going to cover this at all tonight because we need our unsub to believe she’s still getting away with it.”

Another officer pipes up. “If the news isn’t gonna report this, how can we keep people safe?”

It’s a valid question. It’s one that you always get when you decide to not have media coverage.

“Keep an eye out. And don’t take any women home,” Morgan offers.

But that doesn’t seem good enough, because the same officer says, “All due respect, sir, but asking a man not to do that is like asking him not to breathe.”

The amount of laughter and you got that right’s that you hear from the other male officers makes your stomach twist. Morgan’s small laugh makes you want to smack him.

“Well, try to refrain for a while,” you state plainly, bringing the focus back around. “If you can help it.”

Another officer says, “I don’t know if I can…” and clicks his tongue mockingly.

“Well, this unsub targets rapists,” you say loudly, placing emphasis on the word. “So if you aren’t a rapist, consider yourself safe and sound.”

That causes an uncomfortable silence to settle over the room, but you could care less. It should make them uncomfortable. It’s unfair that it’s something women have to just live with. It’s bullshit.

Emily and JJ share a look with you, the only kind women can understand. Makes you want a drink. And it’s not even late afternoon yet.

Rossi helps draw things to a close while Hotch practically stares you down. Not subtle at all. You feel it, and for that reason, you don’t look at him. But he’s hard to ignore.

Especially when he walks over and says, “I need to have a word with you,” and walks past you, giving you no choice but to follow.

Well, you could choose not to follow, but you’re not so sure you want to take your chances there. Not that the thrill of the idea doesn’t get you all excited, but now is not the time or place.

So, with your heart racing and your annoyance showing clearly on your face, you follow your boss to an office at the end of the hall. He’s waiting for you, already inside, and he doesn’t look happy.

What’s new?

He shuts the door behind you, his arms crossing over his chest again.

After a few moments of silence, you raise your eyebrows. “What?”

“Don’t be a brat,” he says sternly, causing your stomach to twist for different reason. “And don’t say what. You know what.”

You shake your head slowly. “I don’t, actually. That’s why I asked.”

He looks ready to absolutely devour you in the worst way possible, yet he doesn’t move. “I understand that after the case in your hometown—”

“God, why does everyone keep bringing that up?” You’re two seconds away from throwing your hands in the air like a child, but you stop yourself after the look he gives you.

“Because it just happened three weeks ago,” he replies, voice even. “And because it took a toll on you. That’s not something to be ashamed of, it’s just a fact.”

“You’ve never been up my ass about cases like this, not until you found out.”

“My knowing has not changed anything,” he says, and you think he might mean it. “And last I checked, this is your first case with a female unsub attacking rapists.”

You could punch him. You really want to punch him. “What’s your point?”

“I need to know that you can be objective,” he says. “I know you relate to our unsub. I know how easy it was for you to put yourself in her shoes. You did it almost immediately. I bet you knew it was a female unsub within the first few seconds of the debriefing.”

He’s right. Dammit. “And?”

“I need you to be on our side of this case.”

“I am!”

“Are you?” He counters. “If you knew who this unsub was, would you turn her in?”

“Are you suggesting—”

“Hypothetically.”

“Yes! For God’s sake, yes, I would turn her in.”

“Are you being honest with me?”

“What is wrong with you today?” You ask, crossing your arms over your chest. “If you have something else to say you might as well say it while we’re alone.”

He doesn’t move. Or say a single word.

So much for that.

“Look,” you uncross your arms, tired of fighting already. It’s exhausting on any normal day, but pair it with jet lag and it being between you and the man you obviously care for, and it’s a million times more exhausting. “Yes, I get where this unsub is coming from. Honestly, if it was legal and if there was a market for a job like what she’s doing, I probably would’ve gone into it instead of the FBI. But there isn’t. Because killing people is illegal. So I decided to go to the FBI to make a bigger difference— a real difference. Yes, I relate to the unsub. I get why she’s doing what she’s doing. But just because I get it doesn’t make it right.”

“Good,” he nods. “That’s all I needed to hear.”

You furrow your eyebrows. “I shouldn’t have even had to say it.”

The room falls silent.

Hotch sees it then, that look in your eyes. During the profile, it was all determination and confidence. When you entered the office, it was bratty and defiant. 

Now, it’s hurt.

That’s all he sees. And frankly, that’s all you’re feeling.

Since he doesn’t say anything else, you take it upon yourself to say, “Excuse me,” and join the team in the conference room with only one question on your mind.

Does he not trust me at all?

Next chapter

[burkymakar]

hey, i’m fairly new to ice hockey and i have no idea what free agency means or anything like that. are you able to explain it maybe and help a struggling fan out? <3

same newcomer anon as just before, what’s a no movement contract and an expansion draft as well.... i see people talking about seattle’s expansion draft and honestly have no idea what it means :’)

hi! welcome, excited to have you! And yes, I'll do my best to explain but let me know if you have further questions.

Free Agency is basically when a player's contract is up and they're free to make a new deal. Typically, contracts go from Entry-Level Contracts (ELCs) that last 1-3 years and are less than 900k. There are also 2-way contracts so players bounce between NHL/AHL. There’s a lot going on.

When that expires they become Restricted Free Agents (RFAs). RFAs are typically younger players and when their ELCs are up, the team that owns their rights (usually the team that drafted them) signs them to their next deal.

That deal typically falls into two categories: bridge and term. Bridge deals are usually less than 4 years, and pay a decent amount of money. Term deals go from 6-8 years and pay a larger total over that longer amount of time. But it definitely varies.

One potential factor of those longer term deals is called a No Movement Clause (NMCs) where the player with that contract gets to decide if they get to be traded and where. The team doesn't have that control.

When the RFA contract is up, players become Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs). This means that no team has control on that player, and they can sign with any team for whatever deal they want.

Now, there are some issues between that. Sometimes, those rights get traded. Sometimes, those rights expire and an RFA will become a UFA. Sometimes, players get bought out and go into the free agency market. It's very complicated and it's totally normal to feel confused!

As for the expansion draft, when a new team comes into the league they need players. Typically, you get them by drafting but they need players immediately.

So the Seattle Kraken (the newest team in the league), gets to take one player from every team (except Vegas since they're also new) to help get them players.

Now, not all the players that get selected by the Kraken will be on their roster. They might get traded for other players, draft picks, it will definitely be interested to see.

NMCs come into play because teams have the right to protect players on their team to stop the Kraken from taken them. There are two ways of protection: 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, 1 goalie OR 8 skaters and 1 goalie.

If a player has an NMC, then they must be protected. For example, Erik Johnson of the Colorado Avalanche waived his NMC, and now he's eligible to be taken by the Kraken (but he probably won't be).

Now, UFAs are interesting in an expansion draft because the expansion draft is before free agency. So the team could leave a UFA exposed and the Kraken could technically have the right to pick that UFA.

But the Kraken probably won't want a UFA because they can immediately go sign with whatever team they want. They're more likely to take players already on contracts so they can physically have a team.

I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Sources:

https://www.reddit.com/r/winnipegjets/comments/8aj7e7/what_is_the_difference_between_rfa_and_ufa/

https://www.liveabout.com/nhl-free-agents-explained-2778995

https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/contract-clauses

[himbeaux-on-ice]

not to be a bummer at 10am on a Saturday, but I feel like I oughta make a disclaimer now to the numerous ppl who have said they’re getting really invested in the whole 6167 “enemies to lineys” narrative thing bc of me: Max Pacioretty only has one more season (2022-23) on his contract in Vegas and doesn’t have any trade protections, and you should honestly know this up front. more under the cut.

Mark Stone is signed probably til he retires (2027) with a full no-move clause, so he’s here forever. however, there are currently no guarantees that Max Pacioretty’s story ends in Vegas. I think he wants it to — he seems to genuinely love the city (a lot), and genuinely believe in the team (a lot), but neither of those things were enough to keep him from being traded last time either, and there are no trade protections built into his current contract.

Vegas is in a constant cap crunch, and he is getting to be an “older” player who, while I think he still wants to play in the NHL for a long while yet and is kinda fanatic about keeping himself in good shape, just had a very injured season this year (which increases the feeling of risk associated with signing him), and would also probably be expected to take a slight discount to stay a few more years (which may make it harder to reach a new valuation that both team and agent like). if Vegas misses the playoffs this season, or is bad next year, that adds to the uncertainty, as big changes to the core and lineup become more likely if that is the case.

look, nobody else has scored more goals for the franchise since Max got here than he has, but we’ve seen this management be decently ruthless before, and his agent is Allan Walsh — which means he’ll probably be taken care of no matter where he ends up (bc Allan tries to look out for his guys), but avoiding burning bridges with management while arguing over value isn’t exactly that agent’s top priority (bc Allan is more like an attorney than an agent sometimes).

Max also hasn’t in the past liked to have contract negotiations ongoing during the season, so if they don’t sign an extension in the summer of 2022, there might not be one until right before free agency 2023, if at all. if the Knights are bad next year, he could be a trade deadline sale as a pending UFA (feels unlikely this year with a year left and his injuries). they might even ruthlessly dump him to shed salary over the summer bc they have Jack now to do scoring things. he may not be willing to take a discount of a few million on his next deal bc he’s been such a valuable scorer and Montreal massively underpaid him for years.

we don’t really know what’s gonna happen. maybe they’ll extend him four more years in this summer with a reasonable cap hit (and a nice NMC) and it’s fine! but I can’t predict the future, and with how this season is going there’s just too much uncertainty for me to guess where it goes next. when I started writing about and selling other people on the 6167 story over the summer, there were supposed to be two whole seasons left, this one and the next one — I never expected that such a plethora of injuries to him and to Mark would basically just send this season up in smoke entirely and write it off as a loss (save for like, the month of December).

basically, you just really oughta know that while I might write it like there is sometimes, there is currently no guaranteed or assumed happily-ever-after for the 6167 story. right now I act on the assumption Max Pacioretty will be a Golden Knight the rest of his career bc the idea of anything else breaks my heart (he just seems so happy there��� found family… wah…). but we don’t actually know what‘s gonna happen, and given my history of jinxing the hell outta things by getting invested in them (see also: this VGK season), I just feel like if you’re coming along with me on this ride you should know all of this upfront.

now you can’t say I didn’t warn you if this story turns into a sad one. let’s just cross our fingers it doesn’t I guess.

[stereax]

if jesper and the devils don’t agree to a contract would you be disappointed or is it more good riddance? his playoff performance has been so average he just looks like he’s open skating and unless he’s injured there’s no excusing his total lack of effort. he kind of disappeared after nov in the regular season too. i would rather they prioritize re-signing timo and another winger or hopefully holtz makes the team and gritsyuk. it’s a shame because he’s talented but his houdini act is giving shades of zacha. and I don’t think he’s earned the contract he’s expecting, not this season.

Oh boy. Jesper Bratt, Invisible Man for REAL. Either he shows up or he disappears. Love the "shades of Zacha" joke LOL.

I mean, given his current play, I can't justify giving him more than 7.5 longterm. Probably closer to 7, like Nico. And of course he seems like he wants to stay, so it would suck to have to trade away his RFA rights to a team willing to pay him what he wants and probably getting less of a return than one would hope for. Especially because, with Wood most likely leaving in free agency and Sevo closer to the door as well, Nico's gonna literally be the oldest player on the team timeline-wise.

Now, I don't see them resigning Timo before Bratter. I think Fitz and Timo more or less know what Timo's getting already, and Timo looks like he'll take a bit of a discount (8ish instead of 9ish which was what he mentioned wanting) to be with his Swiss buddies. Especially because Timo hasn't really found the box score yet either in the playoffs... So if they sign Timo before Bratt it's going to be writing on the wall for Bratt, I think, because Bratt's agent will try to use it as leverage to negotiate a better deal for his client, which. Yes, that's what you should do as an agent. But also please stop giving us heart attacks.

Now, if we DO trade Bratt (or he gets offersheeted and we get compensation picks or whatever). Here's a little secret: our prospect pool is fucking NUTS. We can get someone to fill that spot. Anyone. Holtz. Gritsyuk. Foote. Filmon. Stillman or Thompson even. Whoever. Next to Hughes just about anyone that can skate looks good. Hell, we have too many defense prospects, trade one or two for a top 6 winger. Walsh, Casey, Vilen, probably keeping Nemec but sliding him another year.

You could run:

Meier-Hischier-Mercer

Haula (Lindy you BETTER resign him)-Hughes-[Prospect? Sharangovich?]

Tatar (hopefully)-[Sharangovich? Boqvist?]-Palat

Lazar-McLeod-Bastian

Siegenthaler-Hamilton

[Graves? Hughes?]-Marino

Bahl-[Sevo? Hughes?]

Schmid

Vanecek

[Daws for injury]

Which means you should not have a problem replacing Bratt, if it comes to that. Obviously would be nice to keep him, but if he gets too expensive I'm honestly okay with trading his rights to a team that will pay him what he wants. But god if he signs ANOTHER bridge deal I might lose my shit.

[st-louis]

okay i think it was you that said you didnt like erin manning and. anyways mini rant/question OKAY so she said that suzuki is thriving under a team that trusts him (true enough) and kk is gonna have that one day but the team wont be the habs. im a big kk girl so going into his rfa year im very scared and was just wondering if you thought that he might not want to play here because of ducharme/other reasons. sorry if this is stupid lol

yes i don’t like her at all haha.

okay there are two things that m*nning is banging on about here:

kk not wanting to stay with the habs

whether the team would trade him

with regard to the first, kk’s rfa year doesn’t really mean anything. the whole point of a restricted free agent is that the team retains their rights until unrestricted free agency (which is age 27 or seven seasons played, whichever comes first so in kk’s case it’s probably gonna be seven seasons). but for the meantime, he is still the habs’ to sign unless someone gives him a qualifying offer. and tbh considering his point production recently (not that i think he’s been playing badly or that this is mostly his fault) AND the flat cap, i don’t think another team would do that. when it comes to his options as a ufa i guess that’s an entirely different story, but given the way he talks about the team and his teammates and the fact that he’s like learning french and seems to genuinely enjoy montreal who knows. the point is he doesn’t have a lot of options as an rfa and a LOT can happen in four seasons.

whether the team would get rid of him. this is where my dislike of m*nning comes into play because like. my dudes. she has been watching hockey for maybe a year? and as a person who loves to write and also loves hockey, i can understand the fondness for Narrative. however, the narratives she picks are honestly kind of bizarre and not entirely founded in reality. she has constructed this whole victim story for kk where the team hates him and the front office doesn’t value him and the coaching staff is purposely sabotaging his development. 

like does dom’s deployment puzzle me? yes. does it make me scratch my head when he plays an injured eric staal over kk? yes. does it make sense to me that nick is getting double shifted and playing 22 min while kk plays 9? i guess you could say that they wanted to win that game and clinch, but do you need to exhaust one of your top players when the player you’re benching isn’t playing badly badly? idk. but like... this is where the coaching staff does sometimes know stuff we don’t. dom’s said stuff about both kk and romanov to the effect that sometimes giving a kid who’s struggling more will make him regress more. so like whether you agree with that or not, the point is that the coaching staff is clearly working with him and doing what they think is gonna be best for him at this point in time.

whether the front office values him? i think they clearly do. everyone was shocked when kk was picked third. he played his way into the lineup in his first camp. there’s definitely an argument to be made that he should have spent another couple of years either in finland or in the ahl to get stronger and more confident, but they didn’t do that. what’s done is done. still, he is a third overall pick, he is a center, and he is only twenty. i think if he’s still struggling this much next year, in a normal season, there might be some cause for concern, but right now i think a lot of his rotating carousel of linemates is solely due to this weird season, injury, and the fact that the team doesn’t have time to practice and dom is desperately trying to find anything that works. i think that’s the same reason eric staal was bought in. as insurance, because we saw what happened in that one game where phil hurt his wrist. the other centers struggled. and as i will point out to you, our organizational center depth......... is not fantastic, which is another reason why i don’t think kk is going to be traded anywhere.

so at the nhl level right now, you have, other than kk:

phil danault - our shutdown center, arguably the 1c when healthy, defensive metrics darling but not lighting up the scoreboard anytime soon. i really hope we re-sign him because i think what he provides to the team right now is incredibly valuable both on the ice and off, but who knows. we won’t until the offseason i think.

nick suzuki - arguably the 1c for stretches even when danault is healthy, although he’s played up and down the lineup this year. i think he is our future 1c without a doubt, although depending on whether kk gets his confidence back i’d be very happy considering them both a 1a/1b situation. he’s not going anywhere.

eric staal - hoping that his numbers this year have been due to injury because yikes. (sorry isbah.) i don’t think he will be back next year.

jake evans - he’s fantastic and i love him. i think depending on how the roster shakes out he could either be a 3c or a 4c. he’s a hard tryer and hard worker and he’s fast! he’s so fast. who knew! i think he has a long future with the habs and i’m very happy about it.

at the ahl level right now, you have, in alphabetical order:

joseph blandisi - he’s 26 years old. he’s one of the rocket’s best centers, but if he hasn’t cracked an nhl lineup at this point, you can’t really expect him to. he could fill in for a callup in case of injury but he’s not gonna be one of your regular lineup guys.

laurent dauphin - same as above, even down to being 26 years old.

liam hawel - never signed by the team that drafted him in 2017. he’s only 22, but he’s on an ahl-only contract for a reason. he’s not going to be knocking down any doors, but look what happened to jake evans. (i still don’t think he’s really a threat).

cam hillis - only 20; eotp considered him their 19/25 player/prospect under 25 in the organization so...... like, he’s okay. not great, especially with small spaces, positioning, and awareness. probably career ahl.

jan myšák - also a pretty young guy. eotp had him 18/25. he’s intelligent, but not as much of a playmaker, and his skating is an issue. i think he was a pleasant surprise in the ahl this year, with a few years of development, i think he could crack an nhl roster. but i don’t think it’s necessarily going to be in the top six.

ryan poehling - i definitely think that before his wrist injury, he was gonna make the roster next season. he’s been amazing in laval this year after many wrote him off as a bust. i think his ceiling is probably a 3c. we’ll see how his shot is after surgery (this legit worries me considering what happened to jo). but he’s probably the “best” center on this list right now except jordan weal.

lukas vejdemo - he’s 25. eotp had him 17/25, but considering his age, what you see is basically what you get with him. he’s a defensive-minded center who’s not gonna throw up huge numbers. he’s been a 3rd/4th liner a lot in laval this year. probably not gonna be super impactful in the nhl if he makes it back on the roster again.

jordan weal - ah, jordan. :( he’s 29, he’s a 4th liner when he’s in the nhl and he’s too good for the ahl. i love him as a personality and an incredibly hard worker and good mentor for the younger guys, and i’m really sad he’s probably gonna be in the khl next year.

so in this list, it’s...... not that great. you have one guy who’s definitely nhl-ready depending on his health. you have one guy who IS a proven nhl’er, but can’t crack the lineup anymore and is probably signing elsewhere next year. you have a few guys who could crack the roster but probably are middle/bottom six at best. 

and then you have kk, who has already played three seasons in the nhl, has a high ceiling and the pedigree of being a 3OA. so no i don’t think the habs are looking to trade him, especially given that almost all of the other centers on this list are older than he is. center i think is a lot harder than wing, and there are gonna be bumps and setbacks, i think the organization understands that. kk is only 20 and far from a bust. 

also regarding his play, i do think that getting shuffled around a lot probably has had an affect, but given the nature of the season i don’t think there were a whole lot of other options. for example when he was moved to wing with danault and tatar, it was because they trusted him to take that position on the top line. i think he’s probably suffering from low confidence right now, but i think that’s more because he can’t score. nick even said it at a press conference. he’s just gotta get one, and then it will start to put itself back together. kk is a hard worker and a competitive person, and he rose to the occasion in the playoffs last year after a rough year and i have confidence he can do it again.

but please keep in mind that m*nning is cuckoo for cocoa puffs. she doesn’t understand how injuries impact the lineup, she cherry picks the stats she uses to make her points, and she completely ignores dissenting opinions even when they show their work because HER favorite is being ~treated badly~. which like, i understand the urge to be defensive. but if you actually look at the rosters, the history, and the facts, it’s very unlikely that kk is going anywhere anytime soon.