#plus saros sounds really good

[wanderinginksplot]

Warriors in Red Armor

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Chapter Five

Kai II

"Does everyone understand the mission?" Ransom stared hard in Kai's direction.

Kai scoffed. Just because her attention had drifted off a time or four didn't mean that she was going to be totally lost. "Who needs a debriefing? We're going to do the same thing we always do. I'm going to flirt with everyone until they give me information or get distracted. Ark will slice into their systems and get hard copies of the information we need. You'll be here, masterminding the whole thing."

Ransom stared at her hard for a moment, but Kai met her gaze with ease. Eventually, Ransom gave a little sigh and said, "Yeah, that's pretty much it. But be careful. We've got to get this job right. The merchant's guild has paid us a lot of credits for the information we need. Plus we stand to double our profit if we complete the mission on time. Maybe we should go over the plan again."

"Nah, I've got it," Kai assured her.

Ransom's eyes were like a med-scanner as she used her gift. Kai had always said that Ransom could spot a lie from five klicks with strangers and twice that with friends. Eventually, Ransom must have decided that Kai was telling the truth and nodded. "Fine, but be careful. Are you sure these layout schematics are up-to-date?"

"I'm insulted," Kai jokingly scowled. "Are my schematics ever outdated?"

"No," Ransom begrudgingly admitted. "Even I don't know how you find some of that information."

Kai beamed at the rare praise from her boss.

"You know," Ark started. Kai tensed - there was only one subject that could put that tone in Ark's voice. "We could really use you out in the field on this one, Ransom."

In half a heartbeat, Ransom was as on-edge as both of the other women. "You know that's not an option, Ark." She gave a forced-looking smile and shook her head. "Besides, you don't need me. You're both the best in your respective fields. This mission will be a total success."

The drastic change in mission outlook warned Kai that Ransom was ready to snap. All antics should be cut off immediately.

"Ark and I better go get ready, huh?" Kai said. "Sounds like we need to look the part."

"Comm me when you're ready and I'll activate your earpieces," Ransom said. She always could snap back into professionalism as naturally as taking a breath.

"We will," Kai promised, pulling Ark toward the door. "Ark, bring your outfit to my apartment, would you? You're better at doing hair than I am and I could use your help getting mine to look right."

As soon as they were in the turbolift, Kai puffed out a breath, trying to sound as non-judgmental as possible. "I don't know why you bothered asking her. She never reacts well to it."

Ark looked a little embarrassed. "I was going back over some of her old case files and I just- I got carried away. She was a legend. An actual one. There were stories about how good she was, and she didn't need to divide jobs like we do. She could flirt, slice, get everything she needed, and get out before anyone even realized there was a breach."

"I know, I've read the files, too," Kai reminded her friend. Ransom had been incredible back in the day. Granted, she was impressive now, but before she had stopped going out on jobs? She could have easily run Red Squad alone and made ten times what they were earning now... And then she would have no one to split profits with. "But you're starting to be a bit of a legend yourself… Ghost."

Ark's pale cheeks reddened with the compliment. "I don't even know how that one got started. And it's not good that people know about me at all."

Kai huffed out a breath at her friend. Ark was slender, pale in every sense of the word, and silent. She was also one of the fastest slicers Kai had ever seen… the fastest if they weren't counting Ransom. 'Ghost' was a natural nickname for her. Kai was only jealous that the nature of her designated task meant that she could never get notorious enough for a nickname. Being recognized would be the end of Kai's usefulness to Red Squad.

"Enjoy it, Ark!" Kai encouraged, squashing her own jealousy. "It's a compliment. Speaking of compliments, how is your trooper?"

"You mean Thire?" Ark asked, blushing a bit darker.

Kai chuckled. "Do you have another?"

"No!" Ark shook her head, smiling despite her apparent exasperation. "We talk a lot. Thire is a great guy."

"Are you going to see him again?"

"I'd like to," Ark admitted. "What about you and Thorn?"

"Thorn?" Kai asked, a bit taken aback. "No, nothing going on there. I had fun with him - you know, drinking, watching people on the dance floor, so on - but I don't think there's much of a future in it."

"That's disappointing," Ark said with a frown.

"No, 'disappointing' will be when we aren't ready on time and Ransom kills us both."

A little less than two hours later, both women were ready to go. There was a strange sort of line they had to toe in order to do their job well. Ark had to be dressed to blend in while Kai worked to stand out. All the attention had to be on Kai so that Ark could get in and do her job before anyone noticed what was happening. They had to arrive separately as well. Kai called two different speeders to her apartment, scheduling the second to arrive later than the first.

"So, who hired us again?" Kai asked when she was ensconced in a droid-piloted speeder.

Ransom sighed heavily through the earpiece. "Seriously, Kai? This is why you need to pay attention during briefings."

"The Bespin merchant's guild hired us to find out if the Felucian merchant's guild is spying on them," Ark informed her. Judging by the muted background noise from Ark's earpiece, she was just leaving Kai's apartment.

"They hired spies to see if the other guild hired spies?" Kai asked, chuckling.

"Merchants," Ransom said simply, sounding as if the word had been accompanied by a shrug.

"Arriving at location now," Kai reported. "Estimated entrance: two minutes."

"Two minutes, mark," Ransom replied.

Kai straightened her clothes and took a deep breath before she stepped into the guild hall. It was ornate and overdone, but that was fine: it matched everything she had done with her appearance.

There was a noticeable lull in conversation when Kai stepped inside. She wrestled her smirk into a pleasant smile as she accepted a glass of expensive wine from a serving droid. The form-fitting, low-cut dress floated around her, revealing shapely legs and the most delicate high heels she owned. Her versatile hair was done in a flattering updo. While her makeup was bold, it was tasteful enough that it didn't look overdone.

If Kai was honest, the hardest part of every mission was the pretending. She had to avoid all of the things she actually enjoyed in favor of appealing to onlookers as a sexual fantasy. She had to sip delicately at wine rather than guzzle hard spirits, she could only eat small bits of food that would be sure not to stick in her teeth or ruin her lipstick, and the tightness of her dress meant that she couldn't take a full step… or a full breath.

Being the bait was a nice ego boost, but everything else about it was kind of awful.

Even as Kai mentally tallied the negative aspects of her task, an older, orange-skinned Felucian gentleman sidled up to her. Kai vaguely recognized him as Ollo Set, the head of the Felucian merchant's guild. She continued giving her pasted-on smile.

"Good evening." Considering the height of Kai's towering heels, Set only just reached her chest. Undaunted, the Felucian put on a smile he clearly meant to be charming. "How can such a lovely woman be here alone?"

"Oh, I'm here with someone," she said, doing her best to sound both flirtatious and confused. "He was supposed to meet me here, but I haven't seen him yet."

"Well, whoever the lucky man is, he's a fool to miss even a moment of your radiant company," Set oozed. He took her hand so he could bow - very shallowly - and kiss the back of it.

Kai felt a rush of revulsion. She hated when they touched her. Still, she was a rather incredible actress, if she did say so herself, so she pasted a delicate smile on her lips. "Thank you, sir. It is comforting to find such kindness here, even if my date is later than I would have hoped."

Set patted her hand in a way that managed to be both fatherly and lecherous. "If he does not arrive shortly, I shall show you around myself. Your careless date should not cause you to miss meeting these incredible people."

"I may take you up on that offer! I'm Saro," Kai lied.

"Ollo Set," he returned, adjusting the jeweled cuffs of his jacket. "Leader of the Felucian Merchant's Guild. Pleasure to meet you, Saro. I must leave for a moment, but ask anyone to point you in my direction and you'll have no trouble finding me."

"Oh," she murmured, trying to sound impressed as she fluttered her eyelashes at him. Set watched her for a moment, looking stunned, then turned to meet with a group of well-dressed Felucians. The whole gathering shut themselves in a side room, leaving the party raging on without them.

Under the pretence of adjusting an earring, Kai activated her earpiece. "Meeting of the big guys - metaphorically big, anyway. Ark, what's your ETA?"

"Speeder trouble," Ark said, sounding irritated. "ETA: four minutes."

"Four minutes, mark," Ransom confirmed.

Kai circled through the room, chatting and picking at morsels of food while she kept an eye on the entrance. At least she didn't have to be subtle about it - her cover story allowed her to openly watch the new arrivals without looking suspicious.

"I'm right outside," Ark's voice crackled through the earpiece. "Are they still in the meeting?"

"Yes," Kai breathed, managing to work her answer into the conversation she was having with a drunk Felucian female.

Ark made her entrance seconds later. She wore a mousy brown wig and a tan dress tailored to disguise her slender figure. Carefully applied makeup had lent her colorless skin the appearance of more life. As a result, she didn't stand out overly much from the other humans in the room. Ark glanced at Kai, who subtly tilted her head toward the still-closed door.

With that, Ark made her way toward a hallway. According to the detailed schematics Kai had provided, the hall held both the refreshers and several data access points. At the last moment, a serving droid moved into Ark's way, intending to offer her a glass of wine. Ark, busy double-checking the door, tripped on the droid and flailed to recover her balance. Her small bag fell to the floor, spilling her slicing materials onto the carpet as the service droid beeped around frantically, trying to offer help. Kai watched with more than a little horror as the door to the guild meeting swung open. Ollo Set stepped out first, then paused and frowned over at the commotion caused by the serving droid.

Kai rushed over toward him. "Mr. Set!"

His pale orange gaze swung toward her instead, for which Kai was forever thankful. She had seen Ark starting to gather her tools, any one of which was recognizable as being part of a slicing project. Now, Kai simply had to hold the attention of Set and the other guild members, and she knew exactly how to do it.

Tugging at her dress in apparent distress, Kai revealed a bit more of her chest than she had previously been showing and forced tears to well in her eyes. When she reached Set and the accompanying guild members, she leaned down to speak with him. Her posture allowed the best vantage point for Set to see both the tears and the cleavage.

"What's wrong, my dear?" Set asked, looking first at her chest, then the tears, then her chest again.

"I just received word that my date isn't coming after all. He's stood me up!" she told him, letting one of the tears slip down her cheek. "Is there any chance you're still willing to accompany me this evening?"

"Why, Saro," he oozed, "I would be absolutely delighted. May I introduce the other leaders of the Felucian Merchant's Guild?"

Kai chanced a glance backward as she straightened up once more - leaning down in such a tight dress was killing her spine - and was pleased to watch Ark disappear safely down the hallway. Kai relaxed slightly and put a tearful smile on as she turned to be introduced to the other Felucians.

"Wait, I- I recognize you," one of the Felucians, this one a yellow-skinned female, said haltingly.

The smile slipped from Kai's face, but she had rekindled it a moment later. "Are you sure? I don't think we've ever met."

"I've seen your face somewhere before," the female insisted.

"What are you prattling on about, Ethoda?" Set asked, striving for a tone of boredom and achieving one of irritation.

"She's someone I know, and not in a good way," Ethoda insisted. Kai's stomach gave an odd little twist at the thought that someone had finally recognized her. The Felucian female at last said, "I'm fairly certain she's a prostitute!"

Well, that was unexpected. Kai gaped. "What? I'm not a- I am not a prostitute!"

"That's just what a prostitute would say," one of the other males muttered.

"Which is more likely: a beautiful human woman being interested in Ollo or that she's a prostitute?"

"That makes more sense than anything else I've heard tonight."

"I'll notify the Coruscant Guard," Ethoda offered, rushing away.

And that was that. Admittedly, the mission had been to keep attention away from Ark in whatever way was necessary, but Kai had never expected this to be the outcome. It wasn't the proudest moment of her life, but Kai sat quietly and waited for the Coruscant Guard. The only move she made was to 'fix her hair' and activate the earpiece.

"I can't believe I'm getting arrested for prostitution," she muttered. Ark and Ransom's frantic questions and sounds of outrage provided entertainment until the Coruscant Guard arrived.

A clone trooper in red and white armor marched into the room. "Commander Thorn. What's going on here?"

---

Thorn I

"This woman is a prostitute!"

Thorn was always the first to admit that he wasn't a lighthearted trooper. The laughter and jokes that came easy to his brothers weren't part of his repertoire. Still, even Thorn had gotten a kick out of the accusations that were being thrown Kai's way. It had taken him a minute or so to recognize her - especially with a group of Felucians insisting that her name was Saro - but her look of dread at his entrance had been a solid clue.

He had taken down the eyewitness details of the incident with care. Keeping his voice level was tricky, but no one could hear the mocking he knew was clear in his expression. When the long-winded Felucians finished talking, Thorn closed the document so he could place binders on Kai's wrists and lead her to his cruiser.

"I'll take her to the precinct," he told the Felucians.

He had to shut down the external speakers on his helmet when the leader of the group - an orange-skinned male who had introduced himself as 'Ollo Set', followed them outside. As he fixed Kai with a stern gaze and he said, "Let this be a lesson to you, young lady: there is no substitute for an honest day's work", Thorn laughed aloud.

Rather than risk reactivating his speaking and giving away the game, Thorn had nodded to acknowledge Set's thanks. He steered Kai into the back of the cruiser as soon as he could and settled into the front seat himself. They were in the air waiting to enter traffic when he finally thought it was safe to remove his bucket.

As he reached for the familiar plastoid curves, Kai snapped, "This is ridiculous. You know I'm not a prostitute."

Thorn broke the seal that had formed between his blacks and his helmet before answering. "Of course I know that. Do you think I leave the code to my binders in the backseat with every perp?"

"Oh," she said, ire deflating as she grabbed the scrap of flimsi and awkwardly typed the written code into the binders. "Then why-?"

"If I hadn't brought you in for a false claim like prostitution, they may have come up with something more difficult to fight." He met Kai's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Like industrial espionage."

There was no answer from the backseat and Thorn abruptly found the whole situation less amusing than he had previously. Industrial espionage was a nasty business, and he wasn't thrilled to find that Kai was wrapped up in it.

"Care to explain what you were doing at the headquarters for the Felucian merchant's guild?" he asked.

She sighed, looking conflicted. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything. As long as it's the truth. I don't like listening to lies."

"Hey," she said, leaning forward with an offended look on her face. "I don't lie."

Thorn snorted. "You want to try feeding that line to the crowd of civvies back there who told me all about 'Saro'?"

"I lie at work because it's literally my job," Kai snapped. "I don't have a choice there, but I do everywhere else. I am not a liar."

"So your job is to lie and you wear revealing clothing while you do so," Thorn mused. "Are you sure you're not a prostitute?"

"I'm on an information securities team called Red Squad," she told him irritably. "We were hired to get intelligence from the Felucian merchant's guild."

"And they sent you in alone?" Thorn asked with an unfortunate chuckle.

"No, I wasn't there by myself," Kai admitted. "But I couldn't stay, not after having attracted that much attention. I don't even know if the mission was a success or not."

"Another private sector success, then," he said, sarcasm thick in his voice. "I take it that jobs don't always end this way?"

She snorted. "Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever been arrested under suspicion of being a prostitute."

"It's a small and glorious club," he said. "It also signals the need for a career change. Ever thought about doing anything else? This espionage thing may not be your strong suit."

She grew quiet and Thorn saw her turn to stare out of the window. His heart skipped a beat. Stars, don't let her start crying... He felt an unusual wave of pity wash over him. Kai's day had clearly gone wrong and here she was being taken away from a formal event in the back of a police cruiser. Plus, Thorn's vode had always told him he could be abrasive, so chances were good that he wasn't helping matters.

"Hey, I'm not going to charge you with anything. Why don't you give me your address and I'll drive you home?"

"You can just drop me off here," she said frostily. "I can find my own way home."

"The kriff you will," he shut down immediately. "It's almost midnight. Coruscant isn't safe for civvies dressed like you are at this time of night."

"Maybe at the next intersection," Kai suggested, pretending she hadn't heard him.

"Maybe I'll take you to the precinct after all," Thorn threatened. "That way, I won't be responsible if you end up attacked or killed for walking through dangerous parts of the planet at night, looking like a-"

He cut himself off and Kai leaned forward, a challenging look on her pretty face. "Like a prostitute?"

Actually, he had been about to say that she looked like royalty, but her tart response knocked some sense back into him. "Yeah," he agreed instead. "Something like that."

"You're impossible," she told him, sounding tired. "Just… take me home."

She gave him the address, but Thorn could hardly hear it over the pounding of his heart. Kai probably hadn't meant for her words to sound inviting - far from it - but they had caused a pang of something long-buried in his memory. The feeling of home hadn't been one emphasized in flash training or any day since, but he had always imagined it would be the way he felt when he had heard Kai's request.

Still, he forced his mind back to his duty and plugged Kai's address into the navicomputer on his cruiser. Shortly afterward, they had arrived at a plain-looking building. Kai still hadn't said another word to him, which frustrated Thorn for some reason. They may not have exchanged comlink info like Thire and his girl had, but Thorn and Kai had gotten along at 79's. He couldn't remember a time he had laughed harder than when she drunkenly told an equally drunken Nikto that he had "scored a perfect 30" on the dance floor.

Deciding to make things right once and for all, Thorn shut off the cruiser and got out to open Kai's door.

"Thank you, Commander," she said stiffly. "Drive safe on your way back to the precinct."

"Hold on, let me walk you inside," he offered, injecting enough suffering into his tone that she would think it was a punishment. She didn't say anything to encourage him, but she didn't say he couldn't accompany her, either.

So Thorn found himself following Kai down two flights of narrow stairs to her housing unit. When they arrived at the door, he noted an odd lock keeping it closed. Still, he thought little of it until Kai also frowned and made a confused little sound.

Every instinct Thorn had demanded that he act. In half a second, he had grasped Kai around the waist, spun to place her behind him, and drawn one of his blaster pistols. He ignored Kai's questions and focused on the area, but his HUD wasn't showing any signs of potentially hostile lifeforms. More importantly, the strange lock wasn't bringing up any warnings.

"What's on your door?" he demanded, still scanning their surroundings.

"It's a lock," Kai explained slowly.

"I figured that," Thorn's response was dry. "What kind of lock and who put it there?"

"How do you know I didn't?"

"Body language, tension, and observation, now focus," Thorn commanded. "Who put that lock on your door?"

"Probably Ark," Kai admitted with a sigh. "It's for me to practice slicing."

The answer was so far beyond anything Thorn had been expecting that he actually let the barrel of his blaster drop toward the floor as he turned to face her. He repeated, "Slicing?"

"Yeah, I'm over-" Kai stopped her sentence halfway through. "You know what? I don't want to explain this to you."

"Do it anyway," Thorn advised. "Because I'm not leaving, otherwise."

She crossed her arms, kicking up her chin. Right as Thorn thought he would have to press her again, Kai said quietly, "I'm sick of being the bait. I want to do something useful, like slicing, but I'm not very good at it. Ark is trying to teach me and she's big on practice. She bought me this lock and said it would give me motivation to learn."

"So, she put a practice slicing lock on the door to your apartment. You would have to use your new skill to get inside," Thorn summarized. It sounded like something that his vode would do. He silently supported the endeavor even as he mentally noted the implication that Kai and Ark worked as some kind of team.

Still, Thorn holstered his blaster and gestured at the door. He took a step to the side so she could access the lock. "Well, go ahead. Slice."

Kai looked at him, eyes severe. "I'm not any good at it and I'm tired. Do you know anything about slicing?"

"Not a thing," said Commander Thorn of the GAR, official head of the department overseeing arrests and difficult extractions that often included slicing.

"I could get a hotel room for tonight…" she mused.

Thorn rolled his eyes. She was as dramatic as Hound. "Or you could just try it. Your friend wouldn't put an unsliceable lock on your door, would she?"

"Probably not," Kai agreed with palpable reluctance. She sighed and pulled a small set of tools out from behind a potted plant in the hallway as Thorn watched with growing amusement.

Kai placed the scramble key on the back of the lock, but it was backwards and wouldn't work. "What are you doing?"

"Unlocking the door? I'm pretty sure," Kai told him, poking at the lock. "I don't know why the key isn't registering, though."

"Explain the process to me," he invited.

She turned to stare at him, seeming shocked. "You want me to teach you how to slice?"

"Why not?" Thorn asked. "Teaching a skill is one of the best ways to see if you've learned it."

"Fine," Kai huffed. "First, you attach the scramble key to the back of the lock… oops. That's definitely backwards. Anyway! Once the system has registered the key, it can start running possible combinations. Then your only job is to keep the security systems from booting you out."

Thorn watched the process, trying not to smile as Kai clumsily shut down security checks and shutdown attempts. Her methods weren't pretty, but they were effective, and the lock dropped from the door after a few minutes of work.

He retrieved the lock and the scramble key for her, taking a moment to study the key close-up. Thorn hadn't seen anything like it before. That was impressive, considering how much of his job revolved around slicing attempts. The key was homemade, like all the best scramble keys were, but on a level that told him how well the maker understood the process of slicing.

"Interesting key," he commented, hiding his interest. "Where did you get it?"

Kai glanced at it, unimpressed. "Ark gave it to me. She said it was trustworthy."

So Ark was a slicer. If she had been the one who made that key, she was kriffing good at it, too. Thorn made a mental note to ask Thire about the woman he had been spending so much time talking to. A moment later, that and all other coherent thoughts left his mind as Kai turned back and asked, "Do you want to come inside?"

He stared at her, dark brows furrowed. "You don't like me."

"I don't like when you mock me," she corrected. "But I like you just fine. Plus, you aren't arresting me when we both know you could. I think that's worth a cup of caf. Maybe even a cookie."

"Maybe even two cookies," he joked, following her into the apartment.

Kai gave a teasing scoff over her shoulder. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

---

A/N - Poor Kai. That would have to be a pretty hefty blow to your ego! Good thing Thorn was the one to respond - even if he did lie about knowing how to slice. On that note, do you know who knows nothing about slicing? Me. So if anyone is an expert about the process and this reads poorly, I'm sorry! I just started playing Republic Commando and did a lengthy skim on the Wikipedia page about slicing, but that's the extent of my knowledge.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Book Roundup April/May 2019

This spring has been exceptionally difficult and busy for me on both a personal and professional level.  I really haven’t had the time to read as I’d like--so I’m combining April and May.  With that being said, there were some good books within the past couple of months--Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan was DEFINITELY a huge highlight.

Call Me Evie by J.P. Pomare.  2/5.  Kate is held in a remote cabin by Ben--who holds her captive while claiming to protect her from the fallout of something terrible that she did.  The trouble is that Kate can’t remember the night that terrible thing happened.  As she struggles to piece together her memories, what Bill tells her isn’t matching up--and she must reconcile who she is with what she did.  I’m sure that lots of people would love this book, but the pacing was thrown off for me by all of the flashbacks.  It’s not you, it’s me.

Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan.  5/5.  Nadya is a Kalyazi cleric, and as such she can commune with--and draw supernatural power from--a pantheon of gods.  She’s spent her life in a monastery; however, a looming threat finally materializes in the form of Tranavian invaders, heretics that send Nadya on the run.  Falling in with Malachiasz, a Tranavian defector, she sets out to end the war she only way she knows how: by killing the Tranavian king.  Meanwhile, Serefin, the heir to the throne, is summoned home from the front--only to discover that he’s in more danger at home than abroad.  This is a wonderfully atmospheric and delightful novel.  Emily never holds back--you get monsters, you get royal politics, you get alcoholic princes and questions of theology.  And there is a romance that I’m absolutely obsessed with, which is always major for me.  I loved this book to death, and there is one bit at the very end that just got at my soul.  I can’t wait for the next installment!

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.  3/5.  Kya is a young child when her mother walks out on the family; it isn’t long before her brother and father follow suit, leaving Kya as the borderline-feral Marsh Girl.  At first, she’s dependent on the kindness of strangers.  But gradually--with the help of friends and Tate, a boy who will become her first love--she becomes independent, if never truly accepted by the nearby townspeople.  Her way of life is shattered when a young man shows up dead--and she is accused of murder.  On the plus side, this book was very engaging, and some the descriptions were at times beautiful.  If you’re from the South, some things will indeed ring true.  It’s not perfect, but it is engaging, and a fun if predictable read... until the last third or so, when everything kind of collapses and the book’s flaws are emphasized in a big way.  I really, really disliked how much Owens went in on the “untouched wild beauty” thing with Kya.  It felt very fetishistic.  She’s this beautiful poor white girl living feral in the marsh... learning everything she knows from black people, by the way.  And all the men love her and want to have sex with her.  I’m honestly just torn about this one; I feel like I would have given it a lower rating if not for how much I did enjoy the first chunk.

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang.  4/5.  Khai is accomplished and handsome; however, he’s never had a girlfriend.  On the autism spectrum, he’s convinced himself that he’s incapable of love.  His mother has other ideas--and while visiting her homeland in Vietnam, she meets Esme.  She offers the single mother a golden opportunity: visit America for the summer and convince Khai to marry her.  If he refuses, she can go home, no strings attached.  It’s too much for Esme to possibly turn down--but making Khai fall in love with her is a much more difficult task than she first imagined.  This wasn’t quite up to par with Hoang’s debut (the delightful Kiss Quotient) but I did really, really like it.  Her trademark humor is there, as is her sensitivity and knack for sweet romance.  Khai and Esme’s story is just kind of lovely.  (And sexy.)  I did feel like the ending was a bit rushed--I wanted more.  But I’d recommend it any day, and can’t wait for Hoang’s next book.

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding.  2/5.  Following the birth of her twins, Morgan and Riley, young mother Lauren is exhausted.  Therefore, few believe her when she says that she saw a woman slip into her hospital room and attempt to replace her babies with strange creatures.  A month later, the boys briefly go missing in the park--and when they’re found, Lauren insists that the things that have been returned to her are not her children.  This may have been a bad fit for me--I love magical realism and changelings, but the overwhelming depressing darkness of this book was just... not even vaguely enjoyable.  And it did help put me off of having children for a looong time, if ever.  I couldn’t focus on the writing quality; it was just so dour.

From Scratch by Tembi Locke.  5/5.  This memoir tracks the first few years following the death of Tembi’s husband, Saro, following a long battle with cancer.  As she visits his Sicilian family each summer with their daughter, she flashes back to the early days of their courtship and marriage--as well as her in-law’s initial struggles over the fact that their Italian chef son married an African-American actress.  “From Scratch” is LOVINGLY written and painfully beautiful.  It made me want to be more open to falling in love, as cheesy as that sounds--what Tembi and Saro shared was clearly worth all of the pain she’d feel after seeing him slowly deteriorate and ultimately losing him... which is saying something.  Locke also has a talent for writing in general, but especially about food.  I appreciated her human examination of the prejudice she faced; it’s really obviously on her to decide whether or not to reconcile with people who treated her with clear racism, but...  She also clearly loves and is loved by her mother-in-law now.  The honest complexity in that relationship is refreshing.  I don’t usually love memoirs, but this one was fantastic.

The Unlikely Adventures of the Chergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal.  4/5.  Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirina aren’t estranged, exactly, but they don’t have much in common either.  But after their mother’s death, it’s revealed that she charged them with a journey through their ancestral homeland of India.  With each sister carrying secret struggles, they unite in an attempt to fulfill their mother’s wishes--and come to terms with their relationships with not only her, but each other.  Balli Kaur Jaswal is so good.  And even if I didn’t love this quite as much as Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, it’s still quite good.  She’s a rare author who can blend genuinely funny moments with high drama (that is often socially aware).  There is one subplot that I didn’t super love due to its implications, but otherwise I really enjoyed the book and the sisters.

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev.  3/5.  Trisha Raje is a successful surgeon--who is nonetheless alienated by her blue-blooded family due to her history.  When she meets DJ Caine, a high-profile chef in the running to cook for the prestigious fundraisers supporting her brother’s political campaign, it’s dislike at first sight.  He can’t stand her snobbish bossiness; she finds his assumptions about her frustrating and demeaning.  But even if DJ didn’t need the job, they can’t avoid each other--because Trisha is the only person who can save DJ’s terminally ill sister.  So: Dev says that this is very loosely inspired by Pride and Prejudice, but as the title suggests it’s VERY inspired by Pride and Prejudice.  Points for the genders being swapped here--though DJ does stand in part for Darcy, he’s the Lizzie of this story--and Dev does a great job of bringing cultural backgrounds and social issues into the forefront without beating us over the head with it.  But for whatever reason, I never really clicked with Trisha and DJ’s romance, and the Wickham side of this was... not great.  Still, it’s a fun read and it made me very hungry.  Not bad for a day by the pool!

[masseffecthoe]

Soul Glitches

Chapter 4

< Chapter 3

The Observation Deck was a wreck, with metal scraps and wires trailing from one end to the other. A few pads and monitors bleeped alive with colorful writings all around the L shaped couch. The only "clean" part of the room was the improvised cot in the far left corner. But there was order in the chaos of tech. Jun knew exactly where things were and each served a precise purpose. Most importantly, it made the place feel like home. The only thing amiss was one depressed looking commander staring blankly into the dark void ahead.

"Weight of the world on your shoulders again, huh?"

"Fells like it will never end. We warn them, they ignore us and then we struggle on our own to save everyone. A vicious cycle."

"I don't know, this one seems pretty final. I mean, the reapers were the end game from the start, right?" She placed a hand on the other woman's shoulder, squeezing just enough to grab her attention from the stars outside. They locked eyes and she wished she could do more to help Shepard carry that weight. "Just one more, then it's shore leave, baby! I'm thinking of visiting more of Earth." The commander smiled sheepishly at her.

"You? On Earth? Vega got to you that badly?"

"Pff no, we're just passing time." She realized the possible interpretation as soon as the words left her mouth and she paused a bit to reconsider. "Wait, that sounded wrong. We just get along, that's all. Nothing weird happening between us."

"Mhm."

"He flirts like that with everyone, I wouldn't look too much into it."

"If you say so. But it looks pretty different from the outside." What looked different? Jun was pretty sure she figured him all out: he was just a fun guy, masking his inner demons from a shitty childhood probably, with little flirts and jokes. She doubted he'd actually put any of those naughty things that came out of his mouth into practice. He was all bark and no bite and she was perfectly okay with it.

"How's Kaidan?"

"He's awake already. Might have been worse if you weren't there to take action so fast. Thank you."

"Any time, Shep. You do know I don't actually hate him, right? Damn, I've been saying this a lot lately."

"I know. I'm sure he knows it too."

"I do hope he gets over himself..."

"Jun!"

"Ok, ok, I promise to try to be nicer to him when he gets back." She put her hands up in defeat, noting the small smile playing on the commander's lips, and went to sit on the clear spot on the couch. Shepard's eyes followed her, then scanned the state of the room, brows slightly furrowed.

"You working on something?"

"Yeah, you'll see soon enough. EDI's helping me with... a pet project."

"Something for fighting?" Jun raised her head from the little circuits she was working on and looked the commander dead in the eyes.

"Well it wasn't going to, but that could actually be pretty cool." She turned to regard the pieces in front of her, a new spark in her voice. "I'd have to make it a little bigger to make room for the additional systems and reinforce the other layer. The shielding will be easy enough, so I'll figure that one last... but... yeah, that would be neat. Can't wait to test this baby out!"

"You got me a little curious. But make sure you check on that Cerberus robot soon. I want it off the ship as soon as possible."

"I'm on it." She didn't raise her head from pile of wires she was sorting out as the commander left her room. She was completely engrossed in the possibilities this new idea brought. Claws! Now that would be awesome. It wouldn't be as efficient as any of her current drones, but it would be marvelous to watch her little creation in battle. After a little fun in a test drive, it could stay on the Normandy as a little extra defense. Never repeat the situation with Joker and the Collectors again. When EDI's voice sounded above her she was almost done modifying the outer carcass.

"Jun, I was wondering if you could help me with something as well?"

"Sure, EDI. What do you need?"

"I was scanning the Cerberus unit for more Prothean data, but I can't run a full diagnostic."

"Yeah, I'll check for anything useful in a minute."

"I would be more suitable for the job as I already have all the system mapped out."

"Then... what do you need me for?"

"It would be more accurate if I had a psychical link to the unit?" Jun dropped the little laser she was using and looked at the ceiling as if the AI would be pocking though it.

"You want me to plug an unsafe Cerberus unit to your main core?"

"Yes. I have located an appropriate cable in the Shuttle bay."

"That's a bad idea EDI, even for my standards."

"If I had any doubt of failure I wouldn't have asked." There was the briefest of pauses, not giving Jun the occasion to shut her down again. "Plus, as you said before, you 'owe me one'."

"Shepard will never allow it..."

"It will be our little secret."

"You're getting cheekier by the minute, girl! Hot damn!" Pinching the bridge of her nose, she thought about the outcomes. "I can't believe I'm actually considering this... But, I will run some diagnostics first, see how dangerous that thing can still be, okay?"

"If it will help ease your mind."

With a final look at the piece she had been working on and a long sigh, Jun made her way to the Shuttle Bay. The elevator ride there was long, her mind filled with questions about what they were about to do. One one hand EDI was right, she'd be faster and more thorough in her search, but on the other hand they were sort of going behind Shepard's back, though not doing anything particularly nefarious. She was hoping the commander would never know the full scope of their little rebellion, but when did she ever get what she wanted?

The double doors hissed open and she casually stepped into the shuttle bay. She'd never spend much time down there and was unsure where they kept spare parts and all that jazz. But as she rounded the corner she was met with a sight she did not expect: James Vega doing pull ups. And what a sight it was! With his back towards her, she could ogle him without shame, glorious muscles going taunt every time he lifted himself. The expanse of his back, even through the sweat ridden t-shirt, was just calling for her to run her greedy little fingers on. She found herself wishing what the commander said was true, and he did act differently around her, flirted just a bit more, with just a hint of seriousness to his words. Or maybe his eyes would linger on her a second more they did on others.

"Quite the view, isn't it?" Jun's spirit almost left her body, both from surprise and shame for being caught drooling all over the lieutenant. She was happy the man spoke loud enough for just her to hear.

"Umm, well, like I told him, I've seen better."

"Oh, that must have hurt, but I guess his ego didn't need to grow any bigger." The man looked fondly towards the lieutenant and Jun got the impression they were close, the kind that taunted each other a lot. He turned towards her shortly after, hand outstretched. "Steve Cortez, I'm the new shuttle pilot."

"Oooh that's great, no one should suffer through Vega's piloting skills ever again. Jun Saros." She shook his hand energetically, genuinely happy they now had an actual pilot for the damn shuttle. Besides Joker, there was no one on the blasted ship who could drive anything, her stomach would still turn when someone even mentioned the Mako.

"So you're Jun."

"You've heard of me?"

"A little bit." A smirk plaid on his lips as he gestured towards the still busy lieutenant. It took Jun every ounce of self control and dignity not to turn her focus back on his work out. "But Saros... why does that sound familiar?" She felt like she might have paled a few shades, but if her discomfort showed, Cortez said nothing about it and before she could change the subject he remembered, his eyes widening the second he made the connection. "Were you on Torfan?"

"Um, well... yes..."

"Impressive. I'm glad too see you're up and kicking."

"It's been, a long journey, but um, thanks." She wished, for a brief moment, that she could just teleport back to her little tech cluttered room and bury herself in research and possibly never speak to any living being again. She knew she didn't really want that and one day she'll have to get over it and talk about... Hell, it might even help to actually talk abut it. But that day was not the day and thankfully the Cortez guy was empathic enough to see she was dying on the inside and changed the subject.

"You were looking for something down here? Maybe I can help."

"Yes actually, I need a Y72 cable."

"Ah yes, I've seen it a few days ago. I'll get it for you." She watched him go deeper into the bay, behind the shuttle. She was waiting, a little impatient to get out of there, when she noticed the little white robot dog running around the room. Now that was interesting. She got just a little closer and crouched in it's path. It came closer, before making a small turn as if to avoid her, but she was faster. She made fast work, opening the small panel on it's back and examining the infrastructure. It had an odd choice of head and no functional mouth. Weren't dogs supposed to fetch things? And with no fur, petting it or "rubbing its belly" seemed pointless, even if may have been programmed to act like it enjoined the action.

"I don't think that's the way to play with it." How was he so silent on his feet when he was so damn bulky? She lifted her gaze and almost swore under her breath. James was, well, hot and it was affecting her a little more than she cared for. Maybe it had been all the commander's fault, putting ideas in her head. Or maybe it had been there all along, but whatever the case, it was not good.

"I was just curious what makes it tick. And also what's its purpose..."

"Yeah, this one's a little weird, but he grows on you." When she close the panel, the dog came back "to life" and made a few circles around James. It was probably designed just as a companion to show affection, maybe for a small child even, but the lieutenant was right, the more you starred at it the cutter it got.

"Well he seems to like you, Vega."

"It's because I spend a lot of time down here. Not a lot of people come this far except when we leave for missions." He scratch the back of his neck, thick, strong neck... Get it together, Saros! "Speaking of which, why are you here? Missed me already, cariño?"

"She was actually here for this." She ignored the question altogether and took the cable from Cortez, thanking to the stars he came when he did, for she might have actually said something positively retarded.

"Thank you. And it was nice meeting you. I look forward to next mission now that Vega isn't in the pilot's seat."

"Oh come on, we all got there and back in one piece."

"If it could, the poor shuttle would argue with that." She poked her tongue out, already backing away towards the elevator. "I've got to go finish something, see you guys around."

James waved her goodbye, eyes never leaving her until the elevator doors closed behind her. He wanted to ask if she needed help with anything, but he doubted he could actually understand anything of what she'd be working on. Nevertheless, he was weirdly interested in her passion for tech. His smile dropped a bit when he noticed Cortez' worried look.

"What?"

"You have no idea who she is, do you?"

"What are you getting at, jefe?"

"She was on Torfan. Their ship had been badly hit, they were abandoning it, but she went back alone and crashed the entire thing in an enemy dreadnought. She saved her entire team that day." It took James a few moments to process the information, mostly because it seemed surreal: Jun, sweet and fun Jun, piloting a burning ship into another. Steve saw the questioning look in his friend's eyes and continued. "I don't know the full story, they kept it pretty quiet for some reason. All I remember was that she was badly injured and they graduate her early from N7 for her service."

The first thing James thought about was how distraught she had been when he crashed the shuttle, how fast she hid her face, knees giving in under her and her voice cracking up. He felt like a jackass, especially with the comment he'd made. How was she still talking to him? He was beyond curious to find out more about about her accident and why she never mentioned she was N7. Most wore it like a sign on pride, but Jun didn't once talk about it. If anything, she avoided any topic slightly relating her time in with the Alliance before Shepard's suicide mission. He was sure the commander knew everything, but it didn't seem fair to pry. Even the bits of information Steve had told him felt like an invasion in her personal life she hadn't wanted to be known. He was sure curiosity would take the best of him sooner or later, though. He might at least apologize and ask Jun herself. Soon.

Back in the AI core, Jun was having a different dilemma. She had ran all the diagnostics she could think of, and a few suggested by EDI despite the cheeky AI probably already having done them. EDI had been patient with her, only cracking a few jokes about the speed process, but otherwise not pestering Jun to plug the robot to her main terminal. She had been staring at the still form of the robot a good fifteen minutes, having ran out of precautions she could take, but not yet ready to take a plunge.

"I'm going to regret this..."

"There is no scenario where we fail, the probability of success-"

"There's always one more variable we didn't account for, one more surprise factor we didn't notice..." She pinched the bridge of her nose, fatigue settling in. After this, a hot shower and sleep until they reached Palavan. "Alas, here we go. Anything goes wrong, you back out of there and tell me to unplug this thing." With her onmi-tool on hand in case the worst came to pass, Jun hooked one end of the cable in Dr. Eva's back, the other in EDI's terminal.

What followed were a few seconds straight out of those old "man vs machine" movies. The robot's eyes opened, a few moments of disorientation, before fixing on Jun. She barely had enough time to duck and evade the first shot. Cloaking her self, she wanted to move from her current position, thinking she could sneak behind her and unplug. She didn't get far before one of the shots ignited a fire and the extinguishers turned on, blocking her vision. The whole ordeal must have lasted less than half a minute, but the stress certainly took one year out of Jun's life. The panel above the console had gone dark, was EDI alright? Was the ship alright? Joker had probably freaked out and already alerted Shepard who was going to barge through the door in any second!

"Jun, are you alright?"

"EDI?" She peaked from behind her hiding spot, the air clearing enough to see the robot lady, thankfully not shooting at her anymore.

"Yes, I have taken control of this unit." It was said so matter-of-factly that Jun wondered if that had been the AI's plan all along. Shepard's voice rang loudly from the other side of the door, but she just sank back on the ground, headache drumming at her temples.

"This is going to be a fun one to explain."

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Halak, Markstrom, Gibson, Ferland, Shattenkirk and even more goalie talk (Jan 14)

Ramblings: Halak, Markstrom, Gibson, Ferland, Shattenkirk and even more goalie talk (Jan 14)

***

I released the 11th annual Midseason Fantasy Guide on Friday. It has deeper, more-ready prospect info, plus KHL/Euro/NCAA free agents, trade block musings and of course second-half projections. It’s a great way to step back and take a look at your team, take a look at your league, and figure out a strategy for the second half. It also supports the site and damn if it isn’t a great read. It’s also my longest ever at 231 (!) pages. Pick it up here!

*

I’m getting a lot of questions on Twitter about goaltending. All season long, to be honest, but it’s really picked up again over the past week as the early-on struggling starters begin to take their jobs back from the red-hot backups. And some of these are just so tough to answer. Drop Casey DeSmith for MacKenzie Blackwood? A proven guy who is losing starts for an unproven guy who may get the starts but is on a weak team? Another tough one – drop Jaroslav Halak, who is losing his grip on starts as Tuukka Rask is on fire and will get most starts down the stretch…to pick up Alexandar Georgiev who is a backup and is terrible but he’s behind a starter who is even worse? Sure, you could take the guy who will get you 0.8 points over the next week instead of the guy who might get you 1.2 points. But maybe it could be vice-versa? Your guys who have really helped you in the first half are no longer helping you. Sorry, but there’s no solution, if he’s your second goalie you’ll just have to take the two starts every three weeks that you’ll be getting from now on. Adding Georgiev is not going to save you. If you’re in this position I am guessing you were lucky to grab Halak (or DeSmith, or Domingue, etc.) in the first place so the time to stabilize your goaltending for when this happens would have been a month ago. But instead, you bet against the contract and hung on.

Mikko Koskinen sits for three out of four games when he’s the superior goalie, what to do with that guy? Same thing as with Halak, except Cam Talbot isn’t exactly stealing his job back just yet – he’s just getting most of the starts again. David Rittich could be in the same boat soon, despite how awesome he’s been. Louis Domingue was helpful too, but his time is over. Ditto for Casey DeSmith – and those of you in keeper leagues hoping he would parlay this great season into a starting gig somewhere else, well, his new contract isn’t a starter’s contract. So he’s doomed to be a backup and that’s that.

Long story short, this is why I follow the contract. Because even though it can be painful owning some of these guys for 10, 20 or even 40 games, eventually they retain the starting gig and generally do okay with it. Chasing backups is something that I don’t do in keeper leagues unless I see a chance at his becoming a starter. I had mild interest in DeSmith, now that interest is gone. I have interest in Collin Delia, I have interest in Rittich, and I like Cal Petersen over Jack Campbell. That’s it.

*

Adin Hill coughed up seven goals on Sunday but it really wasn’t his fault, the Coyotes were horrible. But he is 3-5-0, 3.75 and 0.872 since December 6.

Darcy Kuemper has posted four solid games in a row and has six Quality Starts over his last eight.

Calvin Pickard was underwhelming in his AHL conditioning stint, allowing 11 goals on 99 shots for Tucson. Although he did go 3-0-0 so he stopped ‘enough’ pucks to get it done (he’s 4-2-2 in the NHL too, so maybe that’s just how he works?). Pickard was recalled from his stint Sunday, but he’s not looking like the answer for Arizona. But I don’t think they would mind his warming the bench while they give Hill some better starts down in Tucson. I suspect they’ll send Hill down soon.

*

Three more points for Mark Giordano and he was also a plus-5. He’s now a ridiculous plus-36 with 47 points in 45 games on the season.

*

Arizona line combinations with Jordan Weal in the lineup:

#1

28.6%

COUSINS,NICK – GALCHENYUK,ALEX – GARLAND,CONOR

#2

25.4%

ARCHIBALD,JOSH – CROUSE,LAWSON – KEMPE,MARIO

#3

22.2%

HINOSTROZA,VINNIE – PANIK,RICHARD – STEPAN,DEREK

#4

12.7%

FISCHER,CHRISTIAN – KELLER,CLAYTON – WEAL,JORDAN

Immediately tried out with the big guns. But he did cough up a tough one on the fourth Calgary goal so I’m not sure how long that will last.

*

I was worried about Sergei Bobrovsky after this weekend’s mysterious team suspension. And now I’m worried that his focus is blown. He got the win but gave up five goals on 27 shots. It really hasn’t been fun owning Bobrovsky this year.

With two assists Sunday, Ryan Murray is still humming along at a point every two games.

Kevin Stenlund played his first and second career NHL games Saturday and Sunday. He is a solid middle-six prospect who had a great training camp and as an AHL rookie so far appears to be a 20-goal scorer this year. He was plunked on a line with Alexander Wennberg and Anthony Duclair this weekend, but was held without a point. His DobberProspects profile is here.

*

Neal Pionk has one point in his last 10 games. Kevin Shattenkirk has four points in that span. The Rangers also gave up their five-forward top power-play-unit experiment and let Shatty back on it. A few games ago he was moved to the second PP while Coach Quinn went with five forwards on the top one. Shattenkirk has seen 10 minutes of PP time over the last three games so it appears things have returned to normal. Other than the ‘scoring points’ thing. Shattenkirk’s last PP point was on November 9. The one before that was October 16. The one before that was last season.

*

Loui Eriksson was on nobody’s active roster yesterday as he went out and had himself a three-point game. This after going eight games without a point. He was also plus-4. He was still on a depth line playing with checking-line players, he just happened to have a good game.

After a couple of rough games, Jacob Markstrom bounced back with a Quality Start. Since December 6 he is 10-3-1, 2.13 and 0.925%.

I don’t care how great Thatcher Demko is, I am the lone wolf of the DobberHockey writers – Demko isn’t going to usurp this. Markstrom is posting stellar numbers, he was a highly-touted prospect (more highly-touted than Demko is now, even), and yes he had some rough years and took six years longer to ‘make it’ than we wanted – but he’s getting it done and he’s making $4 million next year. So he’s getting all the starts he wants for the next year and a half. And you know what? If he keeps posting a 0.920 SV% as this team gets better, the best prospect in the world isn’t going to take it from him. I’ve seen it before and I’ll see it again (remember Jonathan Bernier was the next big thing, but couldn’t wrench the job away from a fella named Quick who got there a year earlier).

Sometimes, starting goaltending is about timing. Mid-level, lesser-touted goalie prospects can become great fantasy assets because they arrive in an organization at the perfect time (Corey Crawford, Jimmy Howard, Chris Osgood, and maybe soon Delia?). And sometimes amazing goalie prospects never get rolling because the timing just missed (Bernier a great example of this, Cory Schneider another one). I know the simple, reflexive answer is “well, trade one!” But it never seems to be that simple. Obvious trades never seem to get done in real life. If Markstrom continues to play above average and gets paid $4 million next year, what if they extend him in the summer? You know the Canucks will try to lock him in, so what if he gets extended for even higher salary for three or four more years? Then what happens to Demko then? I’ll tell you what happens – he gets the Schneider treatment. An extra couple of years too long in the AHL, plus far too long as a backup goalie.

So, here I am. The lone wolf. I think highly of Demko and his upside. I would trade him away in my keeper league because I want someone who will actually play a lot in the next couple of years.

*

Victor Hedman left the game after taking a ref’s shoulder to the eye. Doesn’t sound like an injury that would cost him future games, but be wary of a possible concussion.

{youtube}xBhz3u8GZgo{/youtube}

*

Micheal Ferland is back on a line with the big guns Sebastian Aho/Teuvo Teravainen and he’s racking up the points again. Give him five in the last two games. He added seven PIM on Sunday. He’s back on the power play as well, both of Sunday’s points were with the man advantage.

And with four points on Sunday, Aho now has 22 points in his last 15 games, so playing on a line with him is like striking gold these days.

*

Colton Sissons, who is filling in for Kyle Turris, seems to be doing better than Turris was on the Kevin Fiala line. Then again, Calle Jarnkrok was doing great there as well. In fact, it seems like if your name isn’t Turris, you’re going to do great with Fiala. Which begs the question – why does Turris get to play with Fiala? Sissons has a four-game points streak, which was preceded by four pointless games, which was preceded by another four-game points streak. In all, Sissons has 11 points in 12 games.

Pekka Rinne was pulled after giving up five goals on 20 shots. In his last 11 games, Rinne is 3-6-2, 3.18 and 0.896. Meanwhile, Juuse Saros has posted five consecutive Quality Starts.

*

Anaheim has lost 11 games in a row. The GM announced that he was going to fire Randy Carlyle by saying “I am not considering a coaching change at this time” which, as we know, is the kiss of death.

The sign of desperation? Playing two of your six defensemen 8:30 or less. That leaves the other four defensemen killing themselves out there. Another sign? Jakob Silfverberg was up playing with Ryan Getzlaf and I almost never see that. It’s happened, I just rarely catch it. Another sign? Pontus Aberg is now getting scratched – three games in a row now. Carlyle is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at this problem.

John Gibson is 0-5-4 with a 0.896 SV% during this stretch. He is the goalie I would say has the biggest fan club around these parts – I have probably received the most questions about my perceived low ranking of Gibson over the past several years than any other goaltender. Or maybe the Gibson owners are just more vocal. Anyway, I digress. I noted here a few weeks ago that if the Ducks made the playoffs then Gibson should get the Vezina and the Hart, because I felt that the team was terrible but the goalie was doing amazing. Now he’s not stealing games anymore and their crappiness is catching up with them.

One good thing for the Ducks – Daniel Sprong has five points in his last seven games and has wired 29 shots on goal over his last nine. He seems to settling into his new home okay now.

*

When I was putting the Midseason Guide together I was surprised at the kind of season Brandon Tanev was having. And with an assist Sunday he has a five-game points streak going. He also added five SOG and six hits.  Since November 14 here is the line on Tanev:

29-9-5-14, plus-4, 13 PIM, 54 SOG, 100 Hits and 26 BLKs.

Just picked him up, myself.

*

I just took a look at the hot/cold tool and there are seven players at the 15-game max window we look at that have 23 points or more. That is to say, seven players have at least 23 points in their last 15 games. How about that. Nikita Kucherov (32), Johnny Gaudreau (28 before Sunday night’s three points), Connor McDavid (26), Steven Stamkos (25), Patrick Kane (24), Sidney Crosby (23) and Brayden Point (23).

*

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">19 points in last 20 games for Erik K̶a̶r̶l̶- I mean Gustafsson</p>— Dobber (@DobberHockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/DobberHockey/status/1084288158043385856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2019</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

*

See you next Monday.

    from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-halak-markstrom-gibson-ferland-shattenkirk-and-even-more-goalie-talk-jan-14/

[aesary]

Letter to future me, from 2015

I felt the craziest need to post this because I just found it on my computer. It’s basically a letter that I wrote to the me of 2015 from the me of 2014. Me being who I am, though, I forgot about it and just found it just two years late. So, enjoy.

[All of my current comments are in brackets] Also, warnings for profanity.

Saro of December 2015,

Hey, you thin, sexy beast! LOL, thought it was worth a shot. Probably haven't changed a bit, have you?[Not really] But I bet you tried like Hell.[Totally did] You are who and what you are and I love you, fatso. If you're still fat, you'll just keep on trying to be better. That's all you can do.

I know it's been a long year and I know that some shit[mom had more mini-strokes/hospital time] probably went down that'll be added to your list of things to bring up with the future therapist. But I'm sure some good things happened, too, if you'll just REMEMBER them. Those are the ones that count. The ones that really matter. Don't forget that.

You better have got that fucking job in January[hahaha] because this getting rejected by WALMART shit is getting way too fucking old. I'm on a goddamn ancient computer that is getting on my last fucking nerve. I/Me/You/We need a laptop. Preferably a good one, but I'll take whatever you get. [I am on a laptop now, but no job] Plus, new MP3 player. It's held together by tape. Um...what else?

Money. And updating other CD collections and books and shit. Oh, yeah, and getting that apartment you're living in and reading this in right now. Right? RIGHT?! Apartment, car, clothes, music, life, get fucking on that if you aren't already! [Still at home. On couch. Dying slowly.]

Ummm...playing guitar, yet? Cuz I wanna play guitar and it's you that needs to work on that.[Given up on the guitar thing. I really don’t care about that anymore.]

Sprechen Sie Deutsch? [Nur ein bisschen, Liebe...trying to focus more on that]

Published author? People love my work? Yes? Yes! [Published as in Fanfiction and somewhat loved. Origs haven’t really gotten an amazing response unless they’re full of, like,...bestiality and gay cockbirth. You get the picture.]

I want you to remember how happy I am this December.[I don’t even remember writing this letter, lol] ALWAYS write what makes you happy. Even if it is a ball of chaos that doesn't make any sense right now, it will later. Promise. Pinky promise. Or porn. Incest porn. Twincest porn.[Aw, yeah!] You know where this is going. Just be happy, lovey.

I know you're gonna take this year and make it yours. Quality, not quantity. Love, not hate. Acceptance, not...the opposite of acceptance. :)

I understand now that I lost myself and almost lost you. I never want that to happen again. We were hanging on the edge and that can't happen again. [sniff, tears up]

I love you, Future Me. I want to say that by the time you read this, you'll be a hot, thin, German-speaking, guitarist who lives on your own with tons of fans for your finished novel.[okay, that does sound pretty cool] Don't get me wrong, that would be pretty fucking cool.[exactly!] Oh, and bellydancing! We HAVE to learn to bellydance. HAVE TO.

I love you, Liebe, 

Saro from December 2014

[thrashermaxey]

20 Fantasy Hockey Thoughts

Every Sunday, we'll share 20 Fantasy Thoughts from our writers at DobberHockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week's "Daily Ramblings".

Writers: Michael Clifford, Ian Gooding, Cam Robinson, and Dobber

  1. Micheal Ferland has been a wrecking ball in Carolina. For example, last Sunday, he scored, added eight hits, and even had four faceoff wins, to help out those leagues that count that. Boy was I wrong about this guy. I had him trending the opposite way in the Guide. I should have read it better – the Hurricanes wanted sandpaper, they have a hard-working coach. So, of course they would give Ferland top billing. I miffed this one, just a poor read. Seems so obvious now. (oct15)

  2. After years of being a source of many dominant fantasy hockey teams, the Red Wings don’t have much for fantasy owners to get excited about anymore. But one early sleeper from the Wings is rookie blueliner Dennis Cholowski, who leads the team in both power-play minutes and total minutes (21:48/GP). Cholowski scored a goal and added an assist while taking five shots on Saturday to give him five points in six games, including four power-play points. He could easily hit a rookie wall at some point, but he’s owned in just seven percent of Yahoo leagues. That’s surprisingly low ownership for a player earning first-unit power-play minutes, even if it is for a likely lottery-bound team. (oct20)

  3. In case you hadn’t noticed, Anders Nilsson just recently enjoyed a three-game run, all wins, where he posted a 1.67 GAA and .943 SV%. Yes, I was as surprised as you are. Do remember, though, that after last season, he backstopped Sweden to a World Hockey Championship.

A long-term question is whether Nilsson will unseat Jacob Markstrom as the de facto number one in Van City. I’d say that Nilsson would need more consistency than we’re used to with him before I would proclaim that he will be the guy two months from now. He could also easily force a timeshare with Markstrom, which might be the more likely scenario here. The Canucks are playing well right now, but their defense is the envy of no team. So, over an entire season, I still wouldn’t consider either Nilsson or Markstrom to be a must-own. (oct17)

  4. It’s finally happened, folks. Evgeni Kuznetsov is a superstar. We’ve been as patient as any sane human could ever hope for. Four years of KHL action that had Caps fans and fantasy junkies salivating at the prospect of him tearing it up in the Nation’s Capitol. It took nearly 100 games to push near the point-per-game mark, then a quick backslide and now, now it is here!

Sure, it’s only been six weeks, but all the magical ingredients are coming together. He’s 26-years-old and still in his statistical prime. He’s clicking on a heeeealthy 16.7 percent of his shots, all the while eating up the entirety of all-situations deployment next to the best finisher of all-time (Alex Ovechkin).

Speaking of time-on-ice, he’s getting a lot of it. Through seven games, he’s played 20:57. That’s more than three minutes above the mark he set last season – which represented a career-high at the time. His time-on-ice total places him firmly in the top 10 for forwards to begin the season. With over four minutes of that coming on the man-advantage, you can’t ask for better deployment. The scary thing is, he hasn’t even begun filling his apple basket by feeding Ovi for the patented one-timer. Of Kuzya’s six power-play points, four of them have been goals. That rate will dip, but the PPA’s should more than make up for it. He’s also shooting more than ever before, averaging 3.43 per game. His previous career-high was 2.35.

Last year, we had an unseasonable number of high-end scorers. Nine players cusped the 90-point threshold. Will anyone be surprised if Kuznetsov breaks that milestone this season? I don’t know about you, but I snuck a little preseason coin on him grabbing the Hart Trophy. At 82-1 odds I would’ve been stupid not to, right? Right? Right. (oct19)

  5. Jeff Skinner entered Saturday afternoon’s game against LA with just one goal in his first seven games as a Sabre, mainly playing on a line with rookie Casey Mittelstadt and veteran Kyle Okposo. But on Saturday, Skinner found himself on a line with Jack Eichel and Jason Pominville and produced exactly what the Sabres hoped he would when they acquired him from Carolina, scoring three goals in a 5-1 win. In fact, his entire line combined for nine points in this game. Eichel recorded three assists, while Pominville scored a goal and added two assists.

Eichel’s previous linemates, Sam Reinhart and Conor Sheary, found themselves centered by Vladimir Sobotka, which is obviously a significant downgrade from Eichel. Reinhart has yet to score a goal in eight games, while both Reinhart and Sheary have been held without points in their last three games. Obviously, lines are constantly in a state of flux, but as an owner of both Reinhart and Sheary in separate leagues, I’m not thrilled about the deployment at least in the short term. (oct20)

  6. Here's some more good news for Sabres' fans, they're not in the basement! It might not sound like much but for a team with such a storied history in the cellar, their 4-4 start must be considered a step forward. What's even more heartening is the play of their prospects in AHL Rochester. Victor Olofsson and his ridiculous release crossed over from the SHL this fall and has been terrorizing goaltenders in the AHL early and often. The 23-year-old led the SHL in goals last season and is leading the AHL in points (14) and sits tied for third in goals (5).

Fellow Swede and SHL import, Lawrence Pilut is second among AHL blueliners in points with 10 in six games. The most relieving start has to be from former eighth overall pick, Alex Nylander. The Sabres top pick from 2016 has struggled in two teenaged seasons in the American League. But, so far in 2018-19, he has produced eight points in eight games and looks ready to really knock the door down for a NHL gig. He hasn't been a passenger either. Of his eight total points, seven have been primary and five have come at even-strength. It's just him and Olli Juolevi who haven't cracked the NHL from the top 10 in 2016. The race is on to see who gets the call first. (oct19)

  7. Ryan Suter has seven points in eight games. He looks none the worse after that nasty ankle break last spring. He’s playing over 25 minutes a contest, which is likely a better place for the 33-year-old than 27-29 range he’s lived in in the past. He may not be flashy, but Suter is as consistent as they come. He's played at or above a 40-point pace in eight consecutive years and nine of his 13 career seasons. (oct19)

  8. Roope Hintz got a turn on the Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin line Friday. Hintz always been an interesting talent. He found good success in the Finnish Liiga but none more than his playoff run in 2016-17 with HIFK. He led the league in scoring that spring and that helped catapult him to a 20-goal rookie season in the American League last year. He's a young player to watch. The change-up was the result of an Alexander Radulov lower-body injury. Something to keep an eye on. (oct19)

  9. Elias Lindholm sure looks like he's found his forever home. The talented Swedish forward has toyed with fantasy owners for years. He had the lofty draft slot, the silky skills and the promise of more production to come. However, over the course of his five NHL seasons, he'd never broke the 50-point barrier. That mark is certainly in danger this season.

A goal and an assist in Calgary's 5-3 loss Nashville on Friday brings him up to five goals eight points in seven games. That's all well and good, but what I like to see is the insanely juicy deployment. Lindholm is locked onto to Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan at even-strength and on the top power-play unit. He's skating over 19 minutes a night with 4:41 coming on the man-advantage. You can't ask for much better than that. The shooting percent is ridiculous (35%) and due for a fistful of a market correction, but this a player who has always appeared to have 60-plus point upside and he's trending nicely towards that this season.

Things haven't been as rosy for the other major forward addition in Calgary. James Neal has just two points in seven contests.  With the Flames putting the Mikael Backlund-led  3M line back together, Neal is struggling to find much offense next to Sam Bennett and Mark Jankowski/Derek Ryan. The second unit power-play deployment isn't helping much either. To make matters worse, he has just 11 shots in seven games, five of which came in game two of the season. It's time to cut ties if you haven't already. (oct19)

  10. The Predators have placed Pekka Rinne on injured reserve, which makes Juuse Saros a must-add if he’s still available in your league (47 percent owned in Yahoo leagues at the time of this writing). Saros has played in four games this season, and all have resulted in wins.

If Saros is still unowned in your league, I can’t stress enough how you need to go add him now. Go directly to the waiver wire. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. And even when Rinne returns, you should try to find a way to retain Saros given the Preds’ status as one of the league’s top teams. Remember that Rinne is on the final year of his contract, so a phase-in could be in the works. Even if Saros is pushed to the bench when Rinne returns, owning a strong backup is in many ways better for your fantasy team than owning a weak starter. (oct20)

  11. How quickly things can change. In a recent Ramblings, I mentioned the solid play of Semyon Varlamov. Since then, coach Jared Bednar has decided to turn to Philipp Grubauer not once, but twice. Grubauer made Bednar’s decision look smart on Saturday, making 42 saves in a 3-1 win. This is shaping up to be an all-out competition in the Colorado net, with both goalies playing extremely well. Despite facing an average of 35 shots per game (one of the highest in the league), the Avalanche hold one of the league’s highest team save percentages. (oct20)

  12. Has Keith Kinkaid earned the starting job for good? Even though Cory Schneider has the larger paycheque with the longer term, this job could be Kinkaid’s to lose. Either way, Kinkaid is the perfect third goalie to own right now. (oct17)

  13. I mentioned that you should probably hold Kevin Shattenkirk in spite of his healthy scratch last week because of his 50-plus point upside on the blueline, but I’m not going to tell you to do the same with Brandon Saad. Unless you play in a very deep league, Saad is most likely replaceable given the number of available forward scoring options. Saad could very well become fantasy relevant again at some point, but it’s been a calendar year since he’s been able to produce at a 50-point pace. (oct17)

  14. If you own Pavel Buchnevich and are wondering whether to drop him, it appears that his scratch this past week isn’t due to a lack of scoring. Buchnevich has scored two goals and added an assist in his six games, which isn’t drop-worthy on its own. In fact, Buchnevich could rebound from this and become a more complete player who competes harder, assuming the coach’s message gets through. If you’re in a league where every game played matters and there’s an equal or better option, then make the move. Otherwise, I’d be fine with holding here.

On a side note, if you’re a Shattenkirk and/or Buchnevich owner, you’ll know by now that coach David Quinn doesn’t care about your fantasy team. I say that facetiously, though. Sarcasm doesn’t translate well over the internet sometimes. (oct17)

  15. When the Erik Karlsson trade was announced, the first thing that popped in my head was how this was going to affect the power play. For years, Brent Burns had been the focal point, ripping shots at will. That helped push him over 300 shots per season for three years. My assumption had been that Karlsson would be a facilitator on the PP with Burns retaining his shot-ripping role.

It hasn’t quite worked that way. And there is cause for concern here. Burns’s shot rate on the PP is his lowest in a decade, about 25 percent lower than last year, and he’s lost about three minutes per game at five-on-five (which I did not anticipate). The latter could lead to a loss of six or seven points alone. Unless that production is made up on the power play, this could be a very down year from what we had been expecting from him. (oct16)

  16. In an effort to maximize the odds that Jake Allen will pan out, the Blues put all their eggs into that basket. To give him confidence and remove any competition for his job. But now, we’re seeing the downside to that. Chad Johnson has been decent but is not going to bail this team out the way Carter Hutton did last year. It’s Allen or bust. Mike Yeo could be the first coach fired this year. (oct15)

  17. I have this ‘breakout’ vibe on Jakob Silfverberg, a la Josh Bailey (last year) or Brad Marchand (three years ago). That’s how good he’s been looking. That’s why it’s such a shame that he left last Sunday’s contest with an upper-body injury in the third. Back in August, I mused that Silfverberg was the perfect Bailey/Marchand situation template: Has more offensive talent than he’s shown, has solidified his production window in around that 50-point range, and it’s now at the point where we don’t expect more (just as it was with Marchand and Bailey). And then ‘whoa’, he gets 65 points out of the blue. So far Silf has seven points in six games so let’s hope he returns soon. (oct15)

  18. I talked about Silfverberg and the Bailey breakouts but Kyle Palmieri is also a suitable candidate. He’s 27 and we have very firm expectations for him and what he can do, as it’s been very stable and reliable in that range. He also plays with Taylor Hall, which can’t hurt. The big Devils’ line (Palmieri, Hall, Nico Hischier) is also the first PP unit. (oct15)

  19. It was a real shame seeing Elias Pettersson go down like that last week. As far as players go, and my early impressions at that point in the season, it’s Pettersson and Auston Matthews. Pettersson is an elite player and I had no idea just how elite until watching two of his games in the NHL. I feel like he’s gonna do what Mathew Barzal did last season, production-wise. It would be a shame if this injury has any long-term implications on his health (i.e. susceptibility to concussion). (oct15)

  20. Matthews has been on another planet. You don’t need me to tell you that. But it’s as if adding John Tavares on another line has freed things up for Matthews to the point where he’s just toying with the poor suckers that the opposition trots out there to try to stop him. I had always considered him a Patrick Kane-type of talent, but now I wonder if he’s a Sidney Crosby-type of generational talent. I don’t use that label very easily. (oct15)

Have a good week, folks!!

    from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/20-fantasy-hockey-thoughts/20-fantasy-hockey-thoughts-46/

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Wayne Simmonds, Carolina, NHL Awards – June 21

The NHL Awards took place on Wednesday night and as with most NHL awards shows, there were quite a few bad bits of comedy along with some feel-good stories mixed in. They started the show with a magic act and then a ventriloquist. I wish I was kidding.

Anyway, the winners are…

Ted Lindsay Award (Most outstanding as voted by players) – Connor McDavid

Not sure there’s a huge argument with this one. McDavid lapped the field in five-on-five points – he had more 5v5 points than Sidney Crosby and Patrik Laine combined – and was held back by an abysmal team. This is where the semantics between “most outstanding” and “most valuable” separate the Lindsay from the Hart. Just imagine what his point totals might look like next year if the power play isn’t awful.

  Norris Trophy – Victor Hedman

This is another on where it wasn’t much of a surprise. Having a 60-point season with the plus/minus he did on a division winner is pretty much a lock. He’s probably number-3 in terms of fantasy defencemen behind Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson but given the team that’s employing him, I’m sure people are ready to make an argument he should be higher. Expect Hedman to be perennially in the Norris conversation. Shout out to the guy who voted Josh Manson (?) fourth (??):

Full Norris voting. Roman Josi finished seventh. pic.twitter.com/iVopwn5sEJ

— Adam Vingan (@AdamVingan) June 21, 2018

  Calder Trophy – Mathew Barzal

This might have been the most automatic award of the night (though four people who voted someone else other than Barzal for first place, including Yanni Gourde). The kid is electric. Hope he’s ready to be the face of the franchise.

  Not considered one of the major awards, but huge kudos to Brian Boyle on his win of the Masterton Trophy. Not only did he overcome leukemia with which he was diagnosed in the preseason, he came back and was a big part of the team that miraculously made the playoffs. A tremendous story of perseverance and dedication. All the best to him moving forward.

They also awarded the first Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award to Darcy Haugan, the head coach of the Humboldt Broncos who passed in that trafic accident two months ago. They had 10 members of the team come on stage and his wife accepted the award. It was a truly special moment and should inspire people to follow Mr. Haugan's lead in helping others before themselves.

  Anze Kopitar won the Selke as the best two-way forward but the best part was they had the magician do the reveal with a magic trick and he screwed up the trick. He was supposed to reveal the cards to form a picture of Kopitar but they were all in the wrong order and no one could tell who won. Then Kopitar just walked past him:

Oh my god the magician screwed up and then got snubbed by Kopitar pic.twitter.com/gt8BGhFPus

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) June 21, 2018

Just amazing stuff.

  Vezina Trophy – Pekka Rinne

The heavy betting favourite from Bodog came through as Rinne took home the Vezina. It’s truly a remarkable turnaround from just a few years ago. Remember that from 2012-2016, he posted three seasons with a save percentage of .910 or less, averaging .913. He’s posted a .923 over the last two years and then that wonderful playoff run in 2017. He has one year left on his deal, though, and we’re all waiting for the reigns to be turned over to Juuse Saros. It'll be interesting to see what the Preds do in 2018-19. 

  Hart Trophy – Taylor Hall

It was pretty close between Hall and Nathan MacKinnon but Hall won out in the end. I wasn’t going to argue one way or the other here. Both had fantastic seasons and led their down-and-out franchises to playoff appearances. Both should be commended.

But also, never forget:

Trade is one for one: Adam Larsson for Taylor Hall.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 29, 2016

*

As Ian pointed out in his Ramblings yesterday, rumours are that Wayne Simmonds is available in a trade. Per Cap Friendly, Simmonds has a limited NTC which has him able to submit a 12-team no-trade list. That kind of cuts things down a bit. But for the teams not on the list, he has one year left on a very cheap cap hit and is one of the elite power forwards in the game. As a net-front presence on the power play, there probably aren’t any better in the game.

Which playoff hopeful could use a player like him? Remember, this is without knowing which teams he’d have on his NTC.

Edmonton would appear to make sense because they need to rebound from an awful year but they need controllable, young players. A guy with one year left on his deal and turning 30 in August doesn’t fit the bill.

What about the Blackhawks? This is a team who believes their Cup window is still open and once they LTIR Marian Hossa, they’ll have more than enough cap space to add Simmonds. Their power play was a horror show at times last year and Simmonds can help a lot in this regard.

To me, the most sense is Calgary. This team *desperately* needs some depth on right wing. Assuming they don’t want to break up the 3M line, there really isn’t a whole lot else there. They need a guy who can play on the top line and they need a guy who can kickstart that abysmal power play. Simmonds can do both. Calgary should be doing everything they can to add him, and I say this not only as a greedy fantasy owner. The question is if they want to part with more assets given their lack of draft picks already.

*

Don Waddell was on Sportsnet’s Hockey Central on Wednesday discussing Carolina being ready to make some deals in the next week or so. This isn’t a surprise to anyone but Jeff Skinner’s name came up specifically while he downplayed the rumours on Noah Hanifin. He made it sound like their intention would be to keep Hanifin long-term.

With that said, a column yesterday from Bruce Garrioch at the Ottawa Sun said that Carolina had shown interest in acquiring Erik Karlsson. As pointed out by TSN’s Travis Yost on Twitter, the revelation that Carolina was one of the teams, on top of the usual suspects like Tampa Bay and Vegas, inquiring on Karlsson during the season is interesting.

Could a sign-and-trade package revolving around Hanifin and Skinner make sense for Ottawa? It would give them a proven scorer to replace Mike Hoffman that they could re-sign should they so choose, and a young, controllable defenceman that they could have on their blue line for much of the next decade. There would obviously be other pieces involved and I’m just spitballing. But a package like that could get the ball rolling on Karlsson. Just a thought.

*

With the NHL Awards taking place, now might be a good time to look forward to the NHL Awards of 2019. It’s prediction time!

These are almost certainly going to be wrong as we haven’t even gone through the Entry Draft yet, let alone free agency and the meat of trade season. But until we get the Draft, trades, and free agency, there just isn’t a whole lot to cover in the hockey world at the moment.

  Hart Trophy

Winner: Jack Eichel

Nominees: Connor McDavid, Mark Scheifele

We saw this year that the PHWA is willing to vote not necessarily for the best player as MVP but the player who helped an underdog reach the postseason. When looking across the league, are there any bigger underdogs to reach the postseason than Buffalo? Sure, they’re getting Rasmus Dahlin in the Entry Draft, but this is a team which has been home in April in seven straight seasons and has averaged 63.4 points over the last five years.

If Buffalo were to make a huge turnaround, a lot of things have to go right: both Dahlin and Casey Mittelstadt have to be Calder-worthy, Ryan O’Reilly probably can’t get traded, Kyle Okposo has to be the player they signed in free agency two years ago and not the player he’s been since, Sam Reinhart’s production progression needs to continue, and they need to make a splash in free agency to reinforce their defence corps. They should probably add a couple good bottom-six forwards as well. I get that the East is tough, but if a few things go right, they can pass teams like Ottawa, Montreal, the Rangers, and Detroit. Depending on what happens with trades and free agency, they can pass teams like the Islanders and Hurricanes as well. It doesn’t leave them that far from playoff contention.

Of course, if Buffalo were to even make a playoff push rather than be out of contention by Christmas, Eichel has to be one of the top producers in the league. He’s coming into his fourth season (we love our Year 4 guys here at Dobber) and hopefully he’s healthy all year long. It might be a longshot that the Sabres can turn their fortunes around in one season, but we saw two stark examples of this in 2017-18, and if they can pull off the miracle, a monster season from Eichel will be a big reason why.

  Norris Trophy

Winner: Erik Karlsson

Nominees: Victor Hedman, Brent Burns

This is all predicated on Karlsson being traded out of the raging landfill fire that is the Ottawa Senators organization. All signs are pointing to him having a new home for the 2018-19 season and honestly, it doesn’t matter where. There’s nowhere he can be traded in the NHL that will be a downgrade.

Karlsson has two Norris wins and two second-place finishes in the last seven years. And, honestly, it should be three wins but there was a season where Drew Doughty got a lifetime achievement award or something, so it’s not as if picking Karlsson to win is stepping out on a ledge.

In 2017-18, Karlsson managed just (and I say that laughingly) 62 points and did so on 219 goals scored by the team. But he missed 11 games and the Sens scored 30 goals in those 11 games. Karlsson thus figured in 32.8 percent of goals in games that he played. If he can go to a team like Vegas or San Jose, and play a full season, figuring in on nearly one-third of 250+ goals works out to a point-per-game season. If Karlsson is a point-per-game player on a playoff team, he walks to his third Norris Trophy.

  Vezina Trophy

Winner: John Gibson

Nominees: Antti Raanta, Sergei Bobrovsky

The potential loss of Ryan Kesler undoubtedly hurts this team if he indeed misses the 2018-19 season, but he was injured and largely ineffective last year as it was. A full season from Ryan Getzlaf and Sam Steel making his way to the team should go a long way in shoring them up down the middle. Don’t forget that Hampus Lindholm started the season injured as well. Just this team being healthy, Kesler aside, should mean improvement from the Ducks. Despite the injuries last year, Gibson was still one of the best goaltenders in the league. He just needs to stay healthy himself.

Anaheim still boasts a pretty good top-4 defence corps with Lindholm, Josh Manson, Brandon Montour, and Cam Fowler. They can still ice a pretty good top-3 lines so it’s just really tinkering with depth that they need. A healthy year from this roster, and Gibson playing like he can, should have him in the Vezina conversation.

As always, goaltending is very uncertain. Feel free to throw this all in my face in 12 months.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-wayne-simmonds-carolina-nhl-awards-june-21/