#i love the idea of hockey nick and charlie

[doodleddaisies]

Heartstopper x omgcp

Okay, so I just saw that there is an omgcp au for heartstopper, and as someone who firmly believes in the hockey idiots to British idiots pipeline, this made me very happy. 

Anyway, I started thinking about what the Heartstopper crew’s hockey nicknames would be so enjoy:

Nick: His legend nickname that the scouts and media use would be “The King” but his personal team nickname would be “Nellie” based on his dog, and because it’s the first syllable in Nelson. But yes, he probably never shuts up about his dog, so his teammates would chirp him about it. 

Charlie: “Springs” - A bit basic because it’s so close to his last name, but I feel like only the older guys on the team would call him this, everyone else just calls him Charlie. It also works because Charlie is the fastest guy on the team. 

Tao: Tao is usually just called by his first or last name on and off the ice, but his official nickname is the “Xu Keeper” because he constantly feels like he is looking after (babysitting) wild animals (the rest of the team” 

Elle: As a manager, the boys keep trying to find her a nickname, but none of them stick so she just goes by “Elle” or “Elle Smells” if you’re Tao

Tara: “Jonesy” is pretty self explanatory and practically canon

Darcy: “Munch” (a goblin name for a goblin girl) and because she always has a snack and will eat anything and everything that Nick cooks/bakes 

Aled: Purely bc his last name is Last, his name is “Snail” (an argument could also be made for Sloth). And because on and off the ice he is really calm and chill. Also fits his soothing voice too. 

Isaac: Isaac has the intimidating “Gutter” which the other team hears and is wary of him on the ice because they think he’s the team’s goon. Gutter actually refers to how he always has a book in his hand and takes his annotations in the gutters of the pages. 

And yes, I know that most of these people would rather die than play a sport (especially hockey), but this is just for fun. 

[cc-tinslebee]

[steps up to the mic] Listen, this might just be me, but if you’re going to have a large cast of “main” characters, you should probably give those characters opportunities to display their skills and foils instead of handing it off to the “real” main character.

Obviously, this could probably speak to a lot of fandoms, but I’m just gonna talk about The Mighty Ducks for a second because that’s what inspired this train of thought.

A bit of a rant (analysis?) below the cut:

When we look at the movies, I think the original, as well as D2, handled their large cast pretty well. Sure, it was kind of strange not seeing Karp, Peter, Terry, and Tammy/Tommy in the D2 cast, but they seemed to fill their absence decently with the new additions. (Of course, that’s just my own opinion.)

D3’s where my real gripe is, and while I have yet to rewatch it, there are still a few issues about the large cast that come to mind. Going from giving Adam good arcs in 1-2 to side-lining him when there was a perfect opportunity right in front of them, setting up a conflict between Guy and Connie with seemingly little payoff, and completely cutting Jesse (an original and arguably very important Duck) out with, as far as I know, little explanation.

I’d like to clarify before I get into this next part that I actually like Linda as a character; she seemed to have a lot of heart and I really admire that. I don’t, however, appreciate the writers creating a female character for the sole purpose of being the love interest to the lead. I really do believe that they could have made a much more compelling coming-of-age story for Charlie had they not implemented that romance, which didn’t seem to add anything to the plot. It really wasn’t Linda who got Charlie to turn around and realise his kinda self-destructive behaviour, but Fulton and Bombay.

They really would have used their time better focusing on solely telling the story of the Ducks’; Charlie’s refusal to change, actually giving us a vague understanding of Connie and Guy’s lovers quarrel, Adam’s feelings of separation from the Ducks. They really did the Ducks dirty with this one, and, hell, they did Linda dirty too. (And, yes, I do understand that D3 was mainly there to wrap up the story, so naturally things were a little messy.)

Which brings me to Game Changers.

Look, I’m not going to subject you all to me nitpicking this show. I will, however, say this: I hope they give the Don’t Bothers/reclaimed Ducks other than Evan a chance to shine. Even Sofi and Nick, despite them arguably being the “second/third” main (younger) characters. Sam, Logan, Maya, Lauren, Koob — even the Capek brothers! — are listed as main characters, but they’re often not as focused on as Evan. I’ve seen someone argue that Sam was set up to be a really interesting character this first season and they didn’t really do much with him other than in Pond Hockey, which was kind of disappointing, and I think that’s an extremely valid point.

I can only really speak for myself when I talk about things I’d like to see if we get a season 2. Like, if they manage to get Joshua Jackson, I’d be pretty happy with a new-captain-meets-the-old-captain moment, but I would much rather see Charlie bond with Logan over absentee parents over Evan. Logan clearly has some unaddressed issues with his mom, clearly more self-aware that what his mom did was unfair to him, and it just furthers his already established arc (but I’ve spoken about that already). I’d like to see Sam’s character get explored more, and maybe see Bombay help him harness his X-factor! I’d like to see Lauren and Maya’s relationship grow, and the Capeks’ gradual journey learning English! Hey, maybe even see the Reddicks join the new Ducks and bond a bit with Evan like Stephanie and Alex did.

That’s what I, personally, would like to see, not Evan getting handed all the potential arcs. Because he pretty much got everything; absent dad, team captain, love interest, choosing between what's good for him versus the team, getting Bombay back onto his feet, etc, etc. Other than maybe Sofi and Nick, everyone else on the team has 1-2 arcs at most, and I think there’s a pretty good argument out there that some get one to none.

And look, I’m not so naïve that I don’t understand that large casts are hard to juggle. It’s difficult to focus on everyone especially when a particular character speaks more to you and especially with a time limit. But take my Logan and Evan point for example; it’s not hard to assume that a bonding-with-Charlie-over-an-absent-parent moment would go to Evan. That’s probably what the GC writers might assume. But if you take a step back, look at the rest of your cast for a moment, you can see that he’s not the only option. It’s all about sharing the wealth of arcs evenly amongst your characters.

(Also, I wanted to quickly include — I believe — @k-romantic’s idea/joke that Julie should’ve been the one to romance Linda purely because I think it adds to my argument of arcs being forced onto the main character when they could’ve easily been better suited for another character. Obviously, since it was the late 1990s and Disney’s a bunch of cowards, maybe they wouldn’t have used Julie, but I think another Duck dating Linda would have done what the writers were going for just as well, maybe even better.)

[apparentlynotreallyfinnish]

M/M Book Recs

In addition to fic I’ve read a lot of m/m novels recently. Most of theses are books I’ve been screaming about to anyone who’s willing to listen but I thought some of y’all might enjoy them too!

The synopses are in italics. (Some are bastardized from Goodreads. Those are marked GR.) I’ve also added my thoughts on the book and some content warnings. 

Red, White and Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston

What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales? (GR)

Appa’s rec: 5/5 If you haven’t read this yet, this is the first one you have to pick up. The chemistry of the main characters is delicious. It’s basically a enemies-to-lovers story with awesome supporting characters and a little bit of international politics thrown in. There are some steamy sex scenes just a step below pure smut. Alex and Henry stole my heart and I will definitely be reading this book again and again.

Him - Sarina Bowen, Elle Kennedy 

(also, book two: Us and a novella: Epic)

Ryan Wesley’s biggest regret is coaxing his very straight friend, James Canning, into a bet that pushed the boundaries of their relationship. Now, with their college teams set to face off at the national championship, he’ll finally get a chance to apologize. But all it takes is one look at his longtime crush, and the ache is stronger than ever.  Jamie has waited a long time for answers, but walks away with only more questions—can one night of sex ruin a friendship? If not, how about six more weeks of it?  (GR)

Appa’s rec: 5/5 Ryan and Jamie broke me a little. This might be my favorite m/m book ever. The first book is a smutty masterpiece and the second book is an angsty heartbreaker with a happy ending. Highly recommend even if you don’t like hockey. The audio books are amazing as well. (I’d probably listen Teddy Hamilton to read my grocery list and swoon...)

Top Secret - Sarina Bowen, Elle Kennedy

Keaton and Luke are housemates. They are in a frat together. Luke thinks Keaton is a privileged idiot. Keaton thinks Luke is a grumpy asshole. They are both running for frat president. Keaton’s longtime girlfriend wants a threesome for her birthday. Keaton goes on an app to find them a guy and accidentally matches with Luke. They start texting anonymously. 

Appa’s rec: 4,5/5 There was some frat bro shenanigans that made me roll my eyes a bunch and dock 0,5 stars from my rating but other than that this book is amazing! I mean, lots of sexting, Keaton discovering his sexuality, and oh, did I mention that Luke is a stripper?! The smut is smutty and the angst is delicious. Content warning: parental abuse (mostly mental)

The Spiral Down - Aly Martinez

Henry Alexander is a famous pop star with a dark past and a very bad case of flying phobia. He’s also openly gay. After Evan Roth, a pilot, helps him through a flight and a panic attack Henry is obsessed, but Evan has his own demons that complicate their relationship to the point of breaking.

Appa’s rec: 4/5 Some solid smut, angst and a fluffy, happy ending. I highly recommend the audio book. Both readers were wonderful and I almost listened the whole thing in one sitting. I was obsessed!

Trading Teams - Romeo Alexander

Jake thought he had life all figured out. He had the perfect girlfriend, a starting position on the Varsity baseball team, and a raging social life. He was living the dream. That is, until he discovers that he’s in danger of losing his scholarship.  For Kyle, college was only a formality. He didn’t need the degree, and he barely attended his classes and still passed with flying colors. Instead of sitting in class, he’d rather be chasing his true passion—designing and programming an original MMORPG game. Kyle doesn’t need a social life, and he definitely doesn’t need a boyfriend, especially because that would require stepping out of the closet, something he has no intention of doing any time soon. (GR)

Appa’s rec: 3/5 Cute jock/nerd romance with some steamy smut. Not the greatest story but a good time!

Lock & West - Alexander C. Eberhart

Lock is awkward. He can’t make eye contact, counts when he’s nervous and has to remind himself several times a day how ‘normal’ teens behave. Homeschooled most of his life, he’s resigned himself to a friendless existence at his new Atlanta high school. Until he meets West. West has everything. Looks. Talent. Money. And secrets… so many secrets. Beneath the surface of West’s perfect existence is a pain he’s buried so deep a million therapists couldn’t unearth it and he’s determined to keep it that way. He’s an actor. He can act normal. (GR)

Appa’s rec: 4/5 This is a YA romance with some heavy, heavy stuff. Only read if you can deal with a lot of angst. (CW: eating disorders, sexual abuse, rape, parental abuse and post traumatic stress disorder). There is some light smut but it isn’t as explicit as in the previous recs. I really enjoyed this book despite the dark themes.

There Goes Sunday School -  Alexander C. Eberhart 

In sixteen-year-old Mike Hernandez’s life, only one thing is clear: Gay is NOT okay. His family’s life revolves around the church, so Mike has resolved to spend his life in the closet. His only escape—besides the occasional, anonymous gay make-out session—are his risqué drawings.

When his sketchbook goes missing in the middle of Sunday school, Mike is sure his life is over. What’s worse, the pastor’s son, Chris, suddenly seems hell-bent on adopting Mike and his friends and he has no idea why. When an awkward confrontation with Chris leads to an unexpected kiss instead of a much-expected punch, Mike’s world is turned upside down. (GR) 

Appa’s rec: 4/5 Obvious content warning for homophobia and religious guilt. This wasn’t as angsty and dark as Eberhart’s other book but there are some heavy stuff with homophobic parents and community. Some light smut. Heavy on the religion stuff. The main character is very sweet and conflicted. A good YA read if you don’t mind the religious aspects. 

Heartstopper vol 1 - Alice Oseman

Charlie Spring is in Year 10 at Truham Grammar School for Boys. The past year hasn't been too great, but at least he's not being bullied anymore, and he's sort of got a boyfriend, even if he's kind of mean and only wants to meet up in secret. Nick Nelson is in Year 11 and on the school rugby team. Nick and Charlie are placed in the same form group and made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance. (GR)

Appa’s rec: 5/5 This is a web comic made into books. There are three volumes out so far. I’ve read the first two. (You can find all of these on the web still and there will be more volumes.) Oh my god, this is the sweetest story ever and the drawings are adorable. A quick read that will stay with you for a long time. Light angst and a lot of fluff. 

[leafsbabe]

so i’m getting a new hamster soon and i need some hockey related names, i think puck is cute but idk. i wouldn’t necessarily name it after a player like hi this is my hamster sidney crosby but maybe a players nickname, any ideas?

Puck is such a cute name I love it but if you’re looking for hockey nicknames for inspo there’s a Wikipedia article with most nhl nicknames :)

some of my favorites for a hamster are:

Chubbs (Jamie Benn)

Sunshine (Beau Bennett)

Eddy (Joel Edmundson)

Flower (Marc-Andre Fleury)

Chucky (Alex Galchenyuk, Matthew Tkachuk)

Goldy (Nikolay Goldobin)

Bear (from Huggy Bear aka Quinn Hughes)

Nicke/Nicky (Nicklas Backstrom)

Cheeks (Charlie McAvoy)

Pasta (David Pastrnak)

Petey (Elias Pettersson)

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Coyle Traded; Smith-Pelly Waived; Gudas Suspended; Athanasiou – February 21

  There was a concern that Dmitrij Jaskin has been waived by the Washington Capitals. With everyone healthy, it was a numbers game and it seemed Jaskin was the odd-man out. However, the earlier report was refuted by Elliotte Friedman and Devante Smith-Pelly was waived instead.

Jaskin was a guy I fell in love with after he scored 13 goals in 54 games in the 2014-15 season. He had strong underlying numbers and looked like he’d be a very good two-way winger moving forward. My anticipation was that he’d be something like Nino Niederreiter, if a bit ‘worse’. While he has maintained very strong defensive numbers, his offence never caught up. It’s nice to see him still be valued by an NHL team, though.

I don’t imagine Smith-Pelly clears waivers. He’s a Cup winner on a cheap contract. Teams love that sort of player.

Just to add a bit of intrigue, this particular player being waived might be part of a trade down the road. Was it a team that wanted Jaskin? Washington clearing cap space? Stay tuned.

*

Radko Gudas was suspended two games for his “high-sticking” incident with Nikita Kucherov.

Gudas is a guy that I’ll never understand. He plays a tough game but is reliable as a defenceman by many metrics. He helps drive the play better than most realize. He does, however, do dumb stuff like this with far too much regularity. It’s not even the first time he’s been suspended for swinging his stick at a player’s head, for the love of god.

*

While he wasn’t skating with a line and wasn’t in the lineup Wednesday night, Nikolaj Ehlers was on the ice for Jets practice Wednesday morning, skating on a defence pairing of scratches in a non-contact jersey. Though he’s not ready to come back quite yet, it does feel like he’s on the verge.

This is huge news for the Jets. Since his injury, their team play has plummeted from top-10 team to a bottom-10 team. Their shot share since the calendar turned to 2019 is lower than the New York Rangers, which is not where any team wants to find themselves. Adding him back to the lineup will give them a much-needed boost.

*

One rumour that has caught my eye of late was the Mark Stone-to-Boston rumour. After David Pastrnak, this team is woefully thin at right wing (depending on your opinion of Danton Heinen), to the point where Pastrnak had to be moved to the second line before his freak injury. Having a second line of DeBrusk-Krejci-Stone would give Boston a top-6 that could compete with anyone, and allow Heinen to bring some scoring to the bottom-6. This team desperately needs an impact right winger and Stone is one of the best in the league, let alone the best available.

Note: I wrote the above before the Charlie Coyle trade. I guess that’s something?

Click here to read Cam Robinson's take on the Coyle/Donato swap. 

One thing I'd like to add is that this is a smart gamble from Minnesota. Coyle was probably gone in a year anyway and this year is shot. They're essentially giving up one year of Coyle to find out whether or not Ryan Donato can make good on the potential he's shown in lower leagues. Remember that Donato was very highly thought of in the fantasy community coming into the year, and also by the Bruins as they had him on the top PP unit way back when. For a team that seemingly wants to re-tool on the fly than full-out rebuild, this is a solid move. 

*

Colin Miller was a healthy scratch Wednesday night for Vegas. Nick Holden took his spot in the lineup.

This is curious for a couple reasons. First, Miller is pretty good. Second, the trade deadline is around the corner. Could they be holding him out in anticipation of a trade? I personally think that’d be a bad idea but bad ideas have never stopped NHL GMs before.

*

In a piece for The Athletic, Pierre LeBrun intimated that Jakob Silfverberg already has a five-year extension in place with Anaheim but there are some small issues that need clarity first. Either way, that’s probably one name that can be knocked off the trade bait board.

I’d like to add: why? The Ducks are already loaded with expensive contracts for guys over the age of 30. Silfverberg, believe it or not, turns 29 in October. This is a team that should be looking toward Comtois, Steel, Terry, and others, not keeping around more older players. I get that they probably want one more kick at the can next year with a (hopefully) healthy Getzlaf, Perry, Rakell, and Kesler, but Perry and Kesler in particular are already a sunk cost. This is just chasing bad money with more bad money, even if Silfverberg is a good middle-six winger.

Regardless, dynasty owners hoping Silfverberg would get a fresh start somewhere else are likely out of luck.

*

Can we talk about Andreas Athanasiou for a second?

A couple nights ago, I was looking up Jake Guentzel’s career scoring rates, and came across something interesting:

  Goals/60 at 5v5 since the start of the 2016-17 season https://t.co/TImfloH9MN this is quite the grouping pic.twitter.com/LZF8CUvvWG

— Michael Clifford (@SlimCliffy) February 20, 2019

  There’s Andreas Athanasiou, one of the top goal scorers in the league at five-on-five over the last 2.5+ seasons. His 1.67 primary points/60 minutes at five-on-five (goals and first assists only, data from Natural Stat Trick) is tied with Taylor Hall and Anders Lee for 35th in the league over that span, slightly ahead of names like Jack Eichel, Aleksander Barkov, and Sean Monahan. Keep in mind, he’s done this on terrible Detroit teams while spending less than one-third of his ice time on a line with Dylan Larkin. Maybe that gives him easier matchups, but it’s also given him considerably worse line mates – he’s spent nearly half his ice time with at least one of Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader, or Luke Glendening.

Detroit could look quite different next year with Gustav Nyquist likely to be traded, Thomas Vanek on a one-year deal, and both Niklas Kronwall and Nick Jensen pending UFAs, the latter also likely to be traded. That doesn’t include Filip Zadina likely being on the main roster. Where Athanasiou will fit in here is uncertain. It shouldn’t be a concern, though, given Athanasiou has shown he can be plenty productive without top-tier line mates. He just needs more ice time. This guy should be over 18 minutes a game, not playing just 13 seconds more per game at 5v5 than Abdelkader.  

*

Just as a small aside: when looking up the primary points rates over the last three seasons, one name jumped out: Brett Connolly. His primary points/60 at 5v5 over that span ties him for 28th among forwards with Leon Draisaitl and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

*

I really enjoyed Cam Metz’s head-to-head playoff previews that he’s been doing over at Eastern Edge the last couple of weeks. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. It’s crazy to think how fast the season has gone, but many of us are just 10 days away from embarking on H2H playoffs, which means we should probably be getting ready for that right now. Reading Metz’s H2H previews has been a help for me so I assume they’ll be a help for the rest of the Dobber community as well.

*

The San Jose Sharks claimed Michael Haley off waivers. I guess this in response to Nashville trading for Cody McLeod. What exactly is going on here? Why are playoff teams acquiring pure fighters?

*

One team that is very interesting for me heading into the deadline is St. Louis. Craig Berube has completely turned this team around, and has done so with strong underlying metrics and not smoke and mirrors. Three months ago, there were rumours of trading Brayden Schenn and/or Vladimir Tarasenko. Now it looks like they’ll be buyers. This is another team that could use Mark Stone, though I imagine that conversation starts with guys like Thomas, Fabbri, or Kyrou, and I’m not sure that the Blues would want to part with pieces like that. Maybe they just add some depth pieces, considering how well this team is playing right now.

*

I will say that one guy I’m starting to get worried about is Tyson Jost. I was pretty high on him coming out of the draft, thinking he’d turn into a reliable two-way second-line centre. A watered-down version of Mikael Backlund or something like that. Things haven’t gone well, obviously. I was always concerned that he could take longer to develop because he’d have to learn how to play a well-rounded game to make an impact, and defence usually takes longer to develop than offence. All the same, he’s been below-average offensively and defensively this year, resulting in a brief AHL stint not too long ago.

There is still time, obviously. He’s only 20 years old and the lack of production means the Avalanche can probably extend him for cheap once his ELC runs out next year. They probably have at least three years of cheap control for him to find the next gear. It would be nice to see some turnaround over the final six weeks or whatever, though. My fear is that he turns into a guy we named above in Dmitrij Jaskin, someone who is solid defensively but whose offence is poor enough to keep them out of the lineup.

*

Calgary started Wednesday night’s game with Matthew Tkachuk on the top line with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. I’m interested to see how long it lasts. Obviously, Tkachuk should fit in very well on the top line but it also depletes their depth a bit, which was a strength of this team. I wouldn’t read too much into this until we pass the trade deadline.

*

Speaking of top line changes, the Sabres had Evan Rodrigues on the top line with Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart in practice. We know about the history between Rodrigues and Eichel dating back to college, so maybe this is something that will last with chemistry. The team is 7-13-2 since Christmas so this feels like a desperate attempt to spark something. I doubt it’ll last very long.

*

Updates on the games in the morning. 

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-coyle-traded-smith-pelly-waived-gudas-suspended-athanasiou-february-21/

[g1nger-snappd]

Waterstones 20th Century Lit

Because i saw someone else had done this and thought it looked like a fun game (also with a really incomplete commentary on some of the books)

1. J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings - fab, wonderful fantasy, everyone knows the story 2. George Orwell - 1984 - wasn’t a fan, but maybe because i read it when i was about 13 and just didn’t get it 3. George Orwell - Animal Farm - far preferred to 1984 (but maybe because i was a nmore appropriate age) 4. James Joyce - Ulysses - i read an excerpt once, does that count?! i’ll get there, someday, maybe 5. Joseph Heller - Catch-22 - can confirm not worth it. honestly what was the point heller? why??? 6 J.D. Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye - loved it 7. Harper Lee - To Kill a Mocking Bird - i know, i know im at uni and i haven’t read to kill a mocking bird shame on my family shame on my cow and all that but i keep finding other things to read first.  8. Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude 9. John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath - i liked of mice and men so it’s on the list 10. Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting - rate this book so much, its great, but be prepared for scots dialect 11. Jung Chan - Wild Swans 12. F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby - on the list 13. William Golding - The Lord of the Flies 14. Jack Kerouac - On the Road - DID NOT LIKE, they hitchhike across america spreading their misogynistic anger and depression and then they do it again. WHY??? 15. Aldous Huxley - Brave New World 16. Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows 17. A.A. Milne - Winnie the Pooh 18. Alice Walker - The Colour Purple 19. J.R.R. Tolkien - The Hobbit - LOTR is here, why is this here too? 20. Albert Camus - The Outsider - had a hot minute with french existentialism, it was great, can recommend  21. C.S. Lewis - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - not trying to be edgy or anything but the horse and his boy was my fave narnia book 22. Franz Kafka - The Trial - saw a play of the trial and its on the list 23. Margaret Mitchell - Gone With the Wind 24. Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - film can get fucked but the radio show was great, next task see if dirk gently makes for a good book 25. Salman Rushdie - Midnight’s Children - also on the list 26. Anne Frank - The Diary of Anne Frank 27. Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange - would recommend esp if you like a bit of gore with your moral ambiguity (not sure how much any of it is morally ambiguous as opposed to just morally bad) 28. D.H. Lawrence - Sons and Lovers 29. Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse 30. Primo Levi - This Is a Man - on the list 31. Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita - i started reading it and then had exams and didn’t pick it up again but i keep meaning to 32. Iain Banks - The Wasp Factory 33. Marcel Proust - Remembrance of Things Past - it’s the Madeleine book, not sure if i’ll bother though 34. Roald Dahl - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 35. John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men - did enjoy that one 36. Toni Morrison - Beloved 37. A.S. Byatt - Possession 38. Joseph Conrad - The Heart of Darkness - it’s on my bookshelf at uni, i’ve almost started it 39. E.M. Forster - A Passage to India 40. Richard Adams - Watership Down - reading about dying rabbits just doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time ngl 41. Jostein Gaarder - Sophie’s World 42. Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose 43. Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Love in a Time of Cholera - on the list 44. Daphne du Maurier - Rebecca - i read it at school with the craxiest english teacher i ever had, and not in a robin williams dead poets kind of way, in a waved hockey sticks and threw things at students kind of way 45. Kazuo Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day 46. Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being - i downloaded it on my phone 47. Sebastian Faulks - Birdsong - eddie redmayne was good in the bbc production, should probably read the book sometime  48. E.M. Forster - Howard’s End 49. Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited - given my preoccupation with all things gay i should read it 50. Vikram Seth - A Suitable Boy - but it’s sooooo loooong 51. Frank Herbert - Dune 52. John Irvine - A Prayer for Owen Meaney 53. Patrick Süskind - Perfume - has been recommended a few times, guess i’ll get there some point 54. Boris Pasternak - Doctor Zhivago 55. Mervyn Peake - Gormenghast - not actually the biggest fantasy fan and it kind of sounds too far out for me 56. Laurie Lee - Cider with Rosie 57. Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar - i love plath’s poetry, so really a no brainer that i will read it somepoint 58. Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid’s Tale 59. Vera Brittain - Testament of Youth 60. John Fowls - The Magus 61. Graham Greene - Brighton Rock 62. Robert Tressell - The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists 63. Mikhail Bugakov - The Master and Margarita - i legit think this is my mum’s fave book. can’t count the number of times shes told me to read it 64. Armistead Maupin - Tales from the City 65. John Fowles - The French Lieutenant’s Woman 66. Louis de Bernières - Captain Corelli’s Mandolin 67. Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five 68, Robert Persig - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - sounds intriguing  69. E.M. Forster - A Room with a View 70. Kingsley Amis - Lucky Jim - on the list 71. Stephen King - It 72. Graham Greene - The Power and the Glory 73. Stephen King - The Stand 74. Erich Maria Remarque - All Quiet on the Western Front 75. Roddy Doyle - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha 76. Roald Dahl - Matilda 77. Bret Easton Ellis - American Psycho 78. Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 79. Stephen Hawking - A Brief History of Time - the thing about physics is that it needs maths for it to make sense, why take the maths out? 80. Roald Dahl - James and the Giant Peach 81. D.H. Lawrence - Lady Chatterley’s Lover 82. Tom Wolfe - The Bonfire of the Vanities 83. Delia Smith - Complete Cookery Course - i’m counting it as i cook from it frequently 84. Brian Keenan - An Evil Cradling 85. D.H. Lawrence - The Rainbow 86. George Orwell - Down and Out in Paris and London - whoever wrote this list had a thing for orwell 87. Arthur C. Clarke - 2001: A Space Odyssey 88. Gunter Grass - The Tin Drum 89. Alexander Solzhenitsyn - A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - i really enjoyed writing my sixth form coursework on ivan denisovich, good book and food is a key theme (can confirm) 90. Nelson Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom - on the list 91. Richard Dawkins - The Selfish Gene 92. Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park - legit didn’t know this was a book 93. Lawrence Durrell - The Alexandria Quartet - i’m in the middle of reading it right now (also if you haven’t seen the durrells josh o’connor as larry is a mood) 94. Alan Paton - Cry the Beloved Country - on the list 95. Nick Hornby - High Fidelity 96. Roddy Doyle - The Van 97. Roald Dahl - The BFG 98. Anthony Burgess - Earthly Powers 99. Robert Graves - I, Claudius - anything to do with the tv show anyone know? 100. Nicholas Evans - The Horse Whisperer

23/100 - lets get on that then

[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

What We Learned: Veteran NHL players must stop betraying rookies

(Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.)

Brandon Dubinsky had a little bit to say on Friday about the free agency process for four-year college players.

Specifically, he is against it.

It’s tough to figure out exactly what his beef is here; he wasn’t more forthcoming than these two tweets. However, there are a few points worth addressing here.

First and foremost: This is a union member saying that the exercising of collectively bargained rights by other union members is “a joke.” Which is troubling in and of itself, but it really highlights a long-standing tendency on the part of NHLPA members to close the door behind them and not express much interest in boosting the rights of players younger than them, such as rookies who are forced to comply to entry-level contract (ELC) rules and have their free-agent rights controlled by the teams that drafted and/or signed them for pretty much the entirety of their prime performing years.

Second, Dubinsky is one of those aforementioned “guys that play[ed] major junior.” Perhaps the beef here is that major junior players who don’t sign after their eligibility runs out are forced to re-enter the draft rather than go through free agency, which doesn’t strike one as being totally fair on its surface. Except to say that most guys who become college free agents after forcing their way to UFA status by refusing to sign with the teams that drafted them (Will Butcher, Jimmy Vesey, Kevin Hayes, recent Columbus signee Doyle Somerby, etc.) are something like 22 or 23, versus being forced to re-enter the draft when junior eligibility runs out at age 20.

No one, of course, forces players to choose major junior over college, but you can see where these decisions are made; and when players make them, they presumably do so with a full understanding of what that means for their future career prospects. Especially in the case of a Dubinsky, who was a relatively high pick and fairly regular WHL player at age 16, the prospects of an NHL career had to be very real, and if he wasn’t prepared for what that would have meant for his future free agency status, that’s on his agent.

(Not that it mattered, since he signed with the Rangers after his draft-year-plus-1 season.)

Third, Dubinsky has been a member of the NHLPA for about a decade at this point, and while he wasn’t in the league when players lost an entire season to a lockout driven by owner greed (and, to some extent, union incompetence) he certainly saw what happened in 2012 first-hand; he was the Rangers’ player representative in the NHLPA the year before the most recent lockout. So he should know full well how difficult it is for the players, who basically got their asses kicked in two straight lockouts — and oh yeah, seem destined for a third one — to wring any kind of rights out of the league in the first place.

And just in case you were unclear whose side Dubinsky was on in this argument, he clarified pretty much immediately:

  To be clear: No player should give a rat’s ass what teams/owners want from the collective bargaining process. It is, in fact, counter to their interests to line up on the side of management. While it’s hard to think of millionaires as being union members whose rights are trampled upon all the time, one has to remember that in most cases, their bosses are billionaires, for whom every cent taken out of the players’ share of hockey-related revenue is going into a Scrooge McDuck pile of money.

If anything, Dubinsky shouldn’t be railing against NCAA players’ collectively bargained free agent rights through the lens of how unfair it is to the teams that drafted them. He should be railing against NCAA players’ collectively bargained free agent rights not being extended to major junior players like him.

It seems the NHL’s sole reason for being in recent years has been to slowly subsume all player rights so that they remain relatively (and artificially) low-paid for as long as possible. Makes sense from the teams’ and owners’ point of view, of course. First there was the lockout to get the league on a salary cap system, then another to make sure that players and owners split HRR 50/50, as well as institute limits on the number of years for which contracts could be signed.

Everyone understands there’s probably another lockout on the horizon for 2020 (and we’d know for sure in 2019). Most observers seem to agree that teams would probably try to further rein in the term of allowable contracts. This helps protect teams from long-term investments that go sour, and opens players up to more risk because that’s less money guaranteed to them. Deals maxing out at five years for $8-8.5 million certainly benefit teams more than eight years at $7 million per.

(Obviously participation in the Olympics will be an issue too, but that now seems an awful lot like a talking point where the owners will say to the PA, “We’ll give you that if you give us five-year limits.” Or something like that. Escrow, too, will be a major point of leverage the owners use against the players.)

Dubinsky, as a former union rep who suffered through a lockout, should recognize that other players aren’t his enemy, and the relatively few rights they have are precious commodities. Whatever rights a player has, he should exercise them to their fullest extent. Because just three years from now, they could be taken away from rank-and-file NHLers.

In situations like this, where the league fights tooth and nail to strip rights from players, solidarity is key and union infighting is counterproductive. Dubinsky needs to save that stuff for the ice.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: This seems like the correct take, frankly. I can’t imagine why anyone would be signing Francois Beauchemin here in 2017, unless their blue line is a mess. Ahh, hmm, I see why the Ducks were interested; Sami Vatanen and Hampus Lindholm are both likely to miss time to start the year. Still! Bad signing!

Arizona Coyotes: The Coyotes’ arena thing is never going to be sorted out, is it?

Boston Bruins: The flawed premise here is that Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug are “similar players.” Insofar as they are Bruins defensemen I guess that’s true, but y’know, watch the games.

Buffalo Sabres: Yeah, re-signing Jack Eichel long-term for big money is something you want to keep under your hat.

Calgary Flames: I love this Jagr-to-Calgary rumor. Him and Johnny Gaudreau together, folks? I want that.

Carolina Hurricanes: Seems like an awful lot of tire-spinning all of a sudden.

Chicago: This is my whole thing with Chicago this year: They traded away the guy whose arrival coincided with Patrick Kane going from roughly a point a game to like 1.2 points per game, and that might not sound like a big difference, but it really is. It’s the difference between 85 and 100-plus points, or “He had a very good year” and “He’s the league MVP.” Not insignificant. So I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see Kane’s production take a step back.

Colorado Avalanche: Jeez I hope so.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Yeah, bringing back Rick Nash. That would be cool. I like Rick Nash. He’s going to clear 1,000 games this season and has an outside shot at 500 career goals for his career. Pretty good player!

Dallas Stars: Every once in a while I remember Alex Radulov is going to be on Tyler Seguin’s line and I get all excited.

Detroit Red Wings: On what premise is this kind of thinking based? Ken Holland hasn’t found a way to make the Red Wings better since Nick Lidstrom retired, and even then I think you’d have to go back a few years to find some kind of substantive way in which he personally improved the team.

Edmonton Oilers: Yeah it doesn’t get brought up a lot, but the Oilers’ wing depth (frankly, on both sides of the ice) really isn’t that great.

Florida Panthers: This is a fun little story, but I still don’t see where Blaine Byron thinks he has a serious shot at an NHL contract this year.

Los Angeles Kings: Legit question – If Drew Doughty is interested in playing for a competitive team on his next contract, why would he stay in LA?

Minnesota Wild: Does this strike anyone else as being very weird?

Montreal Canadiens: “Questions” is a funny way of spelling “major major major problems.”

Nashville Predators: Who on earth thinks otherwise?

New Jersey Devils: I can see this working out well but I’m also not holding my breath on Drew Stafford becoming a 20-goal guy again.

New York Islanders: Yeah, everyone is getting themselves all psyched up to trade for Matt Duchene, apparently. The Isles, the Blue Jackets, the Preds. Sure. It’s gonna happen.

New York Rangers: As always, throwing a bunch of money at a guy who shot 30 percent in the KHL playoffs probably isn’t the best idea. Especially when that guy is also 36 years old. Who just test positive for stimulants, diuretics, and masking agents. Just my theory.

Ottawa Senators: Derrick Brassard didn’t even hit 40 points last season when the Sens PDOed their way to success. I’d be a little worried here.

Philadelphia Flyers: Everyone is hoping that having a bunch of really young players on the team will make all the old guys better. Not sure that’s how it works.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Wow, Jay McClement could be a useful fourth-line center. Maybe. I don’t know. He’s got a lot of miles on him for, ahem, only being 34.

San Jose Sharks: I dunno, they were trying to get Marleau to leave for like three or four years, right?

St. Louis Blues: This is the correct answer in the “Who is the better Blues defenseman” debate.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Wait, is there somehow doubt that Andrei Vasilevskiy is not going to start over Peter freakin’ Budaj?

Toronto Maple Leafs: This could end up being a very good contract for the Leafs. Man, I was expecting them to go one year at this money, not three.

Vancouver Canucks: This is classic stuff:

  https://twitter.com/mattsekeres/status/900870627233583105

Vegas Golden Knights: Floyd Mayweather’s casual TKO win over Connor McGregor on Saturday night might not even end up being a top-10 beatdown at T-Mobile Arena this season. What I’m saying is Vegas has a bad team that will lose a lot.

Washington Capitals: Evgeny Kuznetsov, new contract and all, is probably going to need to be extremely good this season to keep the Caps going strong in that division.

Winnipeg Jets: Ehh, Matt Hendricks isn’t great.

Gold Star Award

Sign Jagr.

Minus of the Weekend

I have watched that Joel Quenneville first pitch at the White Sox game like 50 times. It’s always amazing to me how, like, throwing a ball doesn’t come easily for a guy who played NHL hockey for 15 years.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Year

User “Toby Flenderson” is on the right path:

Flames: Kessel Pens: Galchenyuk Canadiens: Sam Bennett + ?

Signoff

Mostly Madrigals. Hey, that might be good.

—

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

(All stats via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)