#that one hab on the left took SO LONG TO RENDER

[buggybadhabits]

🍰 Happy Birthday Habit & Happy New Year ^-^ 🎉

[stickytrigger69]

can i get starscream who requires some soft words & cuddles form his bot s/o after being beaten by the autobots or megatron?

TFP Starscream x GN Cybertronian Reader

Went with TFP, hope you don't mind

Reader is gender neutral

Readers frame type, paint job, etc. is unspecified.

A/N: I hope you like it; I am also so sorry that it took me so long to finish it, but I was suffering some slight writers block and then I broke my phone cause I'm a clumsy idiot XD

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A tall, lanky, winged shadow was gliding over the walls of the Nemesis, a grumble here, a snarl there. The shadow belonged to the SIC and aerial commander Starscream, and he was upset beyond belief. He felt so humiliated. First the Autobots had foiled his brilliant plan, Soundwave ratted on him, and then Megatron beat him in front of the entire control room. He doesn't even want to go see Knockout about fixing up his wings, claw marks and indents left behind by large, violent servos. Especially not if the 'good doctor' was feeling particularly chatty today.

No. Way. All he wants right now is to sit in his hab with his loving conjunx and catch a break from all the slag he's gotten into today. His plan was amazing though, it should have worked, would have, if it weren't for those nasty little flesh bags. 'Ugh, no! Stop dwelling on it, remember what they told you. Good thoughts, cute, sappy thoughts,' he reminded himself of the many things you had told him before about how keeping the negative thoughts swirling around his processor isn't good for him. He started thinking about you instead, of course what came up first was the struggles of the beginning of your relationship.

Then it moved on to one of your more tender moments together. Every time he thought about you, the images in his head were bathed in soft light, blues and purples and dusty pinks. The colors accenting your own in the most beautiful and ethereal ways. Almost immediately he began to strut down the halls like normal despite the slight pain in his left leg. Oh, he cannot wait to see your face, so smooth and free of impurities, even through all this war and chaos you've stayed so sweet and clean, untouched by the madness. Doesn't mean you can't dig your digits into somebots soft protomesh and tear them apart, and my, did you look delectable covered in their freshly spilled energon.

Wait, those are still somewhat negative hm? Well, he's at his hab anyway, it matters not. The door slides open, and he steps in, you're at the desk in the corner, the decorative mood lights you fancied changing colors. They're all of the soft ones you like, the cool teals and soft purples. You sense his presence and swivel around in your chair to face him. Within moments of just looking at him you hold your arms open, beckoning him to you. He's so upset, so angry he feels as though he could cry, and seeing you like that, so welcoming, makes coolant build up in his red optics.

He slowly makes his way to you, suddenly feeling; helpless. When he stands before you, he slowly descends to his knees and puts his face into your abdomen. Your arms tenderly wrap around his shoulders, careful of his wings, "You know, I really wish you had gone to see Knockout." He lets out a short grumble, you chuckle and put your face down onto the back of his helm, you release calm waves from your EM field to soothe him. The soft purr of your engine, warmth from your tanks bathing his faceplate, and calming EM field has rendered him powerless. In a good way of course, you're the only bot who has ever gotten to have moments like this with him.

The only bot he trusts with all of his vulnerabilities. He knows you trust him too; you have said so before. That you trust him and feel like you can do or say anything around him, that you need him, want him around. "My handsome mech, my sweet Starscream.", his optics flutter shut, and he leans futher into your warmth. A small bead of coolant slid from his optic and his arms tightened around your middle, causing your chair to move towards him slightly. You exvent deeply and pull from him just enough to try looking at his face, the only part of him that's visible is the top of his helm.

You wait there for a few kliks more before you're hoisting him up, sitting the large mech in your lap to cradle him. Your optics are closed the entire time, you look peaceful but you're thinking a lot, mostly about how you'll try to have a word with Megatron about how he treats your conjunx. You know it's usually his own fault, and you've tried to help him, tried to get him to stop scheming and see the value in his current position. You've even helped him with a scheme once, it was almost successful but, of course, it wasn't. Megatron was amazed and confused and a whole lot of other things, he hadn't thought you would turn on him but the more he swung at you both he finally began to notice it. Not only were the two of you partners in crime, it appeared as though you were actual partners, interesting.

You had taken a few hits for your Star which was the first big clue, to him and everyone else. Megatron was furious, Starscream had finally turned one of his best against him, oh did he have plans for you and Starscream both. You were practically banned from putting a single pede on the earth's surface, you were, theoretically, chained to the Nemesis. Thus, Starscream was out in the field alone, no partner to watch his back like you would, like how Breakdown and Knockout did for each other. It was a good way to torture you. Teach you a lesson. And it was a hard one that the both of you learned.

After a little while of just holding him in your lap you started to feel tired, Starscream was exhausted. You could feel it through his field. So draining. You stood upright, holding him in your arms still. He was latched to you, his servos holding on as tight as possible. You rubbed the side of your cheek against his helm and hummed a little song you heard on the human radio channels. You sat him on your berth and turned to grab the little medkit KO gave you humming all the while.

When you turned back around Starscream was slouching and looking at the floor. You slowly made your way over to stand in front of him and lifted a servo to tilt his helm so he would look at you instead. Your optics met his red ones, and you pecked a little kiss to his face, then another, and another. After you showered his faceplate in kisses you pulled back to look him in the optics again, "I love you Star, you know that right?" He nodded, you pecked his face again and set the medkit down next to him. "Scoot back a little please.", he complied and scooted further onto the berth.

He was curious as to why but when you climbed up on the berth and straddled his hips, he stopped thinking. You opened the medkit and pulled out some cleaner and nanite oils and got to work cleaning and rubbing the oils onto his wounds. He started to feel better, especially because you picked up the humming again. Diligent servos lovingly smoothing over his body causing Starscream to become even more tired. He leaned forward and rested himself against your chest, allowing you to get at the wounds on his back and wings. He began to drift off into recharge, his own servos caressing your lower back, memorizing the feel of your exposed spinal strut.

"I'm done sweetspark. You feel better?", your smooth voice drew him back a little "Hmm?" You let a small chuckle escape your derma, but you don't ask him again, instead, you opt to allow him to continue resting against you. Slowly petting at his back and fiddling with some of his plating and caressing the soft protomesh in between. Your spark swells and you feel emotion begin to build up, and fast. You love him so dearly that you cannot imagine, let alone begin to imagine, how he would be handling himself if he wasn't interested in you. If neither of you had felt what you had after spending so much time together.

You know that you mean just as much to him as he does to you, he just has trouble expressing it. Especially if he is fully conscious, unlike now, he is so tired that he is being overly affectionate in ways he deems 'too soft for a decepticon'. That statement always pulls a laugh from your vocalizer and then a small retort of 'well, not if we're in the confines of either of our habs it's not', from then you receive a roll of red optics and a grunt. He was Always a little stubborn about all kinds of things, despite his difficult nature you know for a fact that you will stay by his side for as long as your engines are running. When you say things like that to him, he snorts and sometimes gives you a small 'yeah right' but is always met by a smile or a smirk. That always makes his vocalizer malfunction, his processor slows down and really takes in what you said and slowly begins to believe it.

You have had to repeat certain phrases and actions so many times now that you just do and say them without even thinking about it. And it always makes him flustered, you know he is by the way his wings do their little twitch. "Star?", he hums in response again, "I love your cute wings.", they almost appear to flutter. He finally opens his optics but doesn't move his helm, "And I adore your heel struts, and how gentle you are even with your claws. I love listening to you talk, no matter the subject of your attention. I love when you let me hold you like this. I love you Star, my Star, hehe, my 'screamer' haha." That was what made him lift his helm. "Don't call me that.", he threatened, your laughter made him a little more defensive. "Come on, why can't I? I mean, I should be the only one allowed to anyways."

He was not amused at all, so you quieted yourself and got up from his lap and laid in the empty space on the berth and patted your chest. You wanted him to lay on you. Starscream stared at you like you didn't just insult him; you always do that. It's not like you don't get what you want though. He hesitates for a moment; he doesn't want to give in; doesn't want to grant you the satisfaction. But laying on you is so comfortable and makes him feel weightless.

"Come my love, please lay with me.", that was the ticket. No sooner had the words left you had he caved and adjusted himself so he could get into a comfy position with you. As he laid there in your arms, you kept on talking, telling him about how much he means to you. Letting him know that he is more than enough for you. He not only listened to you but felt you loving on him, the seemingly endless affections poured from you in an even stream that filled his spark to the brim. He no longer felt the need to cry and the anger and whatever he felt before melted away a long time ago.

All he could feel in this moment was peace. He felt so warm and calm that he began to doze off. He slipped easily into recharge laying on your chest. Feeling your love and warmth in ways that he never thought he would get to know, let alone become familiar enough with to want it. You know it yourself that you have changed him, even if it isn't visible, you can feel it. It is just as tangible as his metal plating, the love you feel for this mech will surely be the end of you.

[spicynbachili1]

Void Bastards is System Shock 2 meets XCOM and it looks great

I’m actually enthusiastic about Void Bastards. I imply, it’s a brand new deeply systems-driven FPS made by a few of the individuals behind System Shock 2, Neptune’s Satisfaction and Captain Ceaselessly. In fact I’m excited. You play as a determined crim boarding extraordinarily hostile derelict spaceships to loot stuff. It’s bought cool weapons and a hanging comedian e book artwork type, and it’s the results of some extraordinarily certified unfinished enterprise. I reckon that’s the very best cause to get into making one thing particular.

It began with XCOM. “I really like XCOM,” Jon Chey, founding father of developer Blue Manchu tells me. “All of us love XCOM.” And he as soon as had the chance to work on an XCOM recreation. The difficulty was that it was 2K’s ill-fated XCOM FPS mission, which ultimately got here out, lengthy after Chey left, because the unloved The Bureau. “It felt like a missed alternative on my half that I hadn’t managed to make that mission work whereas I used to be there,” he says. “I at all times thought there needed to be a manner of constructing a recreation of XCOM as a firstperson shooter.”

Making issues proper is the place Void Bastards’ story begins, however Chey didn’t leap straight into it after going indie. Blue Manchu’s first recreation was Card Hunter, a pleasant tabletop gaming-inflected tactical CCG which was meant to be a easy year-long first mission. It didn’t end up that manner: its rising scope ultimately pulled in six employees and took on as consultants Magic: The Gathering designers Richard Garfield and Skaff Elias.

However because the staff continued to broaden Card Hunter, they began to debate what would come subsequent. Chey began his profession as a programmer at Trying Glass on Thief and, after cofounding Irrational Video games, directed System Shock 2 and managed BioShock’s growth, and he talked about the place the Shock collection had gone, and the way a few of Thief’s concepts about persistence had been left behind: ranges that you could possibly backtrack via and monsters that lived in them, outdoors the affect of the participant.

“We thought, there’s one thing there,” says Chey. “The BioShock video games had that too, however they didn’t push it and in a manner went backwards, as a result of as they bought extra narrative-heavy they needed to constrain the participant extra. I bear in mind having lengthy arguments throughout BioShock about whether or not we must always permit the participant to return to earlier ranges. It wasn’t actually one thing the sport wanted but it surely was System Shock-y. So we thought, what if we constructed a framework wherein the participant can get into fascinating tactical fight conditions extra regularly and in a extra structured and player-directed manner?”

That concept advanced into half of Void Bastards: a systems-driven FPS. Essentially, an action-based immersive sim. Whenever you board a derelict you select three gadgets to equip. A damage-dealing weapon. Fairly commonplace: assume shotgun, assault rifle, pistol. A secondary weapon, normally extra contextual and complicated and sometimes requiring a bit foresight and preparation. Suppose the Clusterflak, which shoots a cluster of bomblets on a gradual timer. Open a door, shoot, shut the door, wait.

The final weapon doesn’t inflict direct injury. Suppose the Rifter. “Proper now I feel it is perhaps essentially the most highly effective weapon within the recreation,” says Chey. Use it to ‘rift’ any NPC into it, carry it about, after which shoot it out once more. “I can rift a man, then I can lock the door of a bit room and rift it into it, via the stable wall, so I can have a bit room the place I maintain all of the monsters prisoner!” Or you’ll be able to rift monsters right into a launch tube and eject them into house, or hack a turret and rift it across the stage, capturing monsters for you.

It’s all about choices, Warmth Signature-like choices, the truth is, in 3D Warmth Signature-like ships. Chey’s nicely conscious of the comparability, although Void Bastards began earlier than it was introduced. (See additionally Blendo Video games’ forthcoming Pores and skin Deep. Let’s coin a brand new sub style, the Warmth Sig-like! (Disclosure: Tom Francis is an efficient good friend.)) And, like Warmth Signature, earlier than you board you get to see what enemies you’ll be going through so you’ll be able to select the gear to go well with.

Properly, when you’ve got sufficient ammo reserves. In Void Bastards your ammo ranges are persistent, and also you don’t get to select up new gear throughout missions. “Ammo and useful resource shortage is a very massive factor on this recreation,” says Chey, who likes the way it drives gamers to attempt new issues. “The participant ought to at all times be hungry. You’re low on meals and gasoline and it’s essential get ammo for this weapon, however you’ve bought a few grenades and kitty bots, so I assume that’s what you’re utilizing. It creates that feeling of stress and fixed want. It’s additionally a recreation about lots of looting, and looting isn’t actually satisfying except you want stuff.”

However not a lot stress that you simply really feel such as you’re struggling. “We wished to create the flavour of a recreation the place you’re determined and operating out of stuff,” clarifies artwork director Ben Lee. The goal is to generate conditions which can be price considering your manner out of, so you’ll be able to pause the sport at any time to see the map of the ship and work out a plan. (Whether or not the map would pause the sport or depart it operating, as per System Shock, was some extent of scorching debate, however emphasising considering gained the day.)

“So right here I’m within the airlock, and I must get to Hab as a result of I feel it’s the place I’ll discover a specific form of loot I’m after,” says Chey. “However the map exhibits the door’s locked, so I’ll must go across the entrance of the ship, possibly via the Helm, and I’ll use the map terminal to inform me the place all the nice loot is.”

Every derelict out in house is of a sure sort which informs the sorts of modules you’ll discover on it, and loot might be in logical locations, so the air compressor you’re after so you’ll be able to craft extra stuff out of your ship will most likely be within the ambiance module. Extra widespread loot, like meals, will drop extra typically in hab modules. However you’ll additionally pay attention to radiation leaks, fireplace, safety programs, collapsed sections, powerful enemies, crawl areas, and also you’ll achieve extra info by hacking terminals.

“But when that’s all there may be to it, it’d be this very thinky, exhaustive, inch-through, maximise-your-loot recreation,” says Lee. “However I discover it enjoyable since you’re doing all that whereas your oxygen is ticking down. That’s what makes choices actually enjoyable, they’re not simply puzzles to resolve.”

And generally the correct choice is to get on the derelict, go searching, and nope out of it. “That’s really one thing our playtesters had a little bit of hassle with,” Lee says. “You don’t should do the mission! Don’t kill your self, simply depart!”

All this sounds rather a lot for a studio the scale of Blue Manchu to tackle. However Void Bastards is a selection mix of excessive ambition and intelligent economising. At its outset, Lee thought they’d discover it not possible to make an FPS, worrying concerning the large prices that are available rigging fashions, animating and texturing them. However then he noticed a screenshot of Return of the Obra Dinn. “I believed, what if we radically stylised the sport in a manner that ignores the issues we’d face?”

So Lee proposed utilizing an old-school Doom and Duke-style sprite renderer. Monsters would have the standard eight facings, however be excessive res in order that they’d keep away from a retro look. The staff jumped on the concept, and really shortly it began to tell the sport’s general comedian e book look, full with suiting sparsely detailed environments.

“It gave financial savings throughout the board,” says Chey. “When you’ve gotten sprite enemies, nobody expects them to work together with the setting in difficult methods.” And so they lent the sport satisfying immediacy and readability. Essentially the most advanced mannequin is of a tea-dispensing machine, which took a complete week to make and was initially meant to be mere setting artwork. Being so opulent they needed to give it an precise use, and now consuming tea from it grants a triple-damage buff.

In order that’s one half of the sport. The different half is a turn-based technique performed out throughout a nebula wherein your ship’s trapped, and that is the place XCOM is available in, particularly its Geoscape and its elegant relationship with the tactical recreation. “It’s the place your objectives come from,” says Chey. The general object of the marketing campaign is to flee the nebula by discovering tools to restore your ship, travelling between nodes on the map, in search of derelicts to board.

“It’s a medium-complexity technique recreation you’re enjoying on high of the motion recreation,” Chey continues. “You don’t spend hours in there. It’d be fairly boring to play by itself, but it surely frames the extreme missions.” In that sense, the technique aspect additionally paces out the motion a part of the sport, which they discovered turned draining when performed in lengthy classes.

Many of the systemic video games Chey has labored on solely got here collectively on the very finish. “Thief was mainly damaged proper up till 30 days from gold grasp. It had an fascinating mechanic but it surely wasn’t enjoyable.” However Void Bastards has been playable from very early on, so it’s already had months of iteration. And Chey’s previous buddy, Ken Levine, has already sunk 36 hours into it. “Ken’s well mannered, however not well mannered sufficient to play for that lengthy if he didn’t prefer it. And we have now the metrics, so we all know he has.”

That’s simply the form of endorsement I would like for a recreation that guarantees to replicate the important thing concepts behind XCOM, Warmth Signature and System Shock. Blue Manchu hopes to launch Void Bastards in spring subsequent 12 months. I can’t wait.

from SpicyNBAChili.com http://spicymoviechili.spicynbachili.com/void-bastards-is-system-shock-2-meets-xcom-and-it-looks-great/

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Nate Schmidt Contract; More Canucks Injuries; Jersey’s Top Line; More – October 27

  First and foremost, a hearty congratulations to Ian Gooding and Cam Robinson on their promotions within here at Dobber Hockey. While Cam’s has promotion been known for a while, Ian’s has not. Cam is the new Managing Editor for Dobber Prospects while Ian is the new Managing Editor right here at Dobber Hockey. Both are bright fantasy hockey minds with unique perspectives that are valuable resources for the readers. 

The site is in very capable hands with Cam and Ian in their new positions.

*

We have a lot of NHL news to get to so let’s get to it.

  The Vegas Golden Knights signed Nate Schmidt to a contract extension, tacking on six years with an AAV just under $6-million. This tweet from Cap Friendly shows some recent comparable contracts:

  Most comparable contracts: Nate Schmidt (VGK) 6 years, $5.95M AAV Player (Signing Team) 1. Jeff Petry (MTL) 2. Andrew MacDonald (PHI) 3. Marc Staal (NYR) 4. Jonathan Ericsson (DET) 5. Andrej Sekera (EDM) https://t.co/9ZxLSYUzSn pic.twitter.com/od3s5oL61S

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) October 25, 2018

  Here’s the thing with Schmidt. For a long time, the analytics community had been clamouring for the Capitals to give him more minutes and he never really got them – his career-high for minutes per game in Washington was his rookie year. As such, we have one year of Schmidt playing top pair minutes (admittedly, with good results) and one year of Schmidt cracking 20 points. He’s 27 years old and is serving a 20-game suspension. It feels like a lot of money for a guy with that kind of track record at that age.

This contract will render him useless in cap leagues, by the way. If you’re in a dynasty cap league, the time to trade him will be before the All-Star break. 

*

Scott Darling is back with the Carolina Hurricanes. When he starts and how many starts he’ll get is up in the air.

*

Travis Zajac returned Thursday night for the Devils.

*

The injury woes continue for the Canucks as both Alex Edler and Sven Baertschi have been put on IR. Both players left the game on Wednesday night and did not return. There was word that Edler may be out weeks, plural, rather than a week. Once we get more updates we’ll let you guys know.

*

Torey Krug took part in the game-day skate for the Bruins but was not in their lineup on Thursday night. At the least, that should indicate that he’s very close to his return to the lineup.  

*

Speaking of returning to the lineup, the Ducks may get back a couple forwards soon:

  Nope. We're two hours away from the morning skate. Both practiced yesterday, but on an extra forward line. https://t.co/DicGTrtoC9

— Eric Stephens (@icemancometh) October 25, 2018

  Once again, when we know more we’ll let you guys know.

* Jesse Puljujarvi was a healthy scratch Thursday night for Edmonton. I have no words, just anger.

*

Kevin Fiala was demoted to the fourth line for Nashville’s game. Likely just some motivational work being done by the coach. I wouldn’t worry.

*

A big night for New Jersey’s top trio, albeit in a 4-3 overtime loss to Nashville. Kyle Palmieri had three assists (more on him later), Nico Hischier had a pair of goals, and Taylor Hall had a pair of helpers.

With three shots on goal, Hischier is now up to 20 shots in 7 games. Should anyone have NHL Gamecentre, go watch Hischier’s third period. At times he was downright dominant and got the better of PK Subban a couple of shifts in a row. The kid is really starting to come into his own in all facets.

Speaking of top lines, both Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson scored their respective seventh goals of their seasons so far. That’s the start fantasy owners were looking for.

*   

Zdeno Chara had his first multi-goal game in nearly five years while Jaroslav Halak registered his second shutout of the season in Boston’s 3-0 win over Philadelphia. Halak had one shutout in 49 starts last year.

Travis Konecny led Flyers forwards in even strength ice time, by the way.

*

Anthony Duclair and Boone Jenner both had a pair of goals in the Columbus 7-4 win over St. Louis. The lines were a little bit of a mess again as Jenner was between Nick Foligno and Josh Anderson. Artemi Panarin had three assists to give himself his fourth multi-point effort of the season.  

*

In today’s edition of “Who got power play time for the Kings?” we have Ilya Kovalchuk and Jeff Carter being QB’d on the PP by Sean Walker and Dion Phaneuf.

Incredible.

*

Jeff Skinner’s three-assist game against the Habs (a 4-3 Sabres win) gives him an even 10 points in 10 games to this point.

*

I will recap the late games in the morning.

*

Going through Yahoo trades is something I like to do from time to time. While we don’t know the context of each particular league in which the trades are made, they are a reasonable gauge of what the public thinks of certain players. This knowledge can help. Maybe someone in your league doesn’t have the *exact* same opinion of a given player that someone else in the tubes of the internet does, but I’d wager that in many cases, the opinions aren’t drastically different. Stats and trades as of Thursday afternoon.

  Trade 1: Kyle Palmieri for Mathew Barzal

Yes, Kyle Palmieri is shooting over 30 percent and no, that won’t last. But he’s also landing 3.67 shots per game, even if that were to fall to 3 shots per game, and his shooting percentage the rest of the season is 10 percent, he scores 23 goals the rest of the year and finishes with 30 on the campaign. That doesn’t even begin to dig in to his exemplary PP production (5 points) and huge hit totals (15).

There was an article recently from Chris Ryan interviewing Devils coach John Hynes. Hynes stated he has absolutely no intention of breaking up their top line.

If only someone had written over, and over, and over, and over, and over that he was a player to draft in every league this year.

The only type of league where I wouldn’t trade away Barzal to get Palmieri is a straight points-only league. That said, do people realize Barzal has 7 shots in 8 games? That’s abysmal. I would wager people drafted him hoping he could crack 30 goals this year. His shot rate at five-on-five is near the bottom of the league right now. The Islanders are a mess and Barzal is somehow going to have to figure out how to pull the trigger a little more often.

  Trade 2: Anders Lee for Max Pacioretty

This is an interesting trade for me because there was a huge gap in their final ADPs – something in the realm of five or six rounds. My personal rankings for standard Yahoo leagues had them a lot closer – something in the realm of about a round and half (player 55 vs player 73). In a lot of ways, at least fantasy-wise, they are similar players. Both are known for goals rather than assists, both had questions coming into this year (new team off a down year vs. no John Tavares), and both can put up stout hit totals.

It’s a fun trade. I think if we’re talking standard leagues, we’re shuffling deck chairs for the most part. I’ll throw it to the readers: who wins this trade the rest of the season in standard Yahoo leagues?

  Trade 3: Ilya Kovalchuk for Mike Hoffman

Los Angeles has been a massive disappointment this year and Ilya Kovalchuk with them. It’s weird because Kovalchuk is on pace for a 46-point season (as of Thursday afternoon). It’s not that bad for a 35-year old in today’s NHL. Consider that no player aged 35 or older cracked 60 points last year and it gives you a good barometer of what to expect for Kovalchuk. My preseason prediction had him at 58 points, so, he’s got some work to do.

On the flipside, Mike Hoffman has four goals, six points, 3 shots per game, and three PPPs so far this year. That’s a good start. He’s also been relegated to the fourth line at times, pushed off the top PP unit at times, and has a role that generally can’t be defined. Uncertainty isn’t a good thing in fantasy sports, at least not when you’re trying to value your asset. Hoffman has a lot of uncertainty.

It’s easy to see either side of this trade:

Kovalchuk – surely Los Angeles will improve this year and even at an advanced NHL age, Kovalchuk will reap the rewards.

Hoffman – he’s producing just fine for fantasy leagues at the moment but role uncertainty makes an owner nervous. However, if his role can ever be defined in the top-half of the lineup, there is more upside to be had.

Where does the Dobber community fall on this trade? Let us know in the comments. 

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-nate-schmidt-contract-more-canucks-injuries-jerseys-top-line-more-october-27/

[thrashermaxey]

Ramblings: Penguins En Fuego; Faulk Can’t Buy One; Jackets Stumble – February 3

Phillip Danault appears prepping for a return for the Habs as he skated on Friday morning before the team hit the ice, his second time this week. Danault has been out since the middle of January with a concussion. Baby steps.

Obviously, skating before practice and taking part in a full-contact practice are two very different things when discussing this type of injury. The team desperately needs all the help they can get as soon as possible, seeing as they’ve scored one or fewer goals in nine of their last 15 games dating back to Christmas.

*

The Rangers got more bad news on Friday:

Pavel Buchnevich sustained concussion last night on second period elbow to jaw. Receiving treatment in protocol. Sidelined indefinitely.

— Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) February 2, 2018

Pavel Buchnevich left the game in the middle of the second and id not return. As Mr. Brooks mentioned, obviously we have no idea how long he’ll be out.

With Chris Kreider already on the shelf, this is two top-six wingers (when AV decided to use Buch there, that is) not in the lineup. The team is 6-8-1 since Christmas and 3-7-0 in their last 10. This is probably the push they need to start the fire sale. It’ll be interesting to see how long they decide to hold out hope on making the playoffs.

Jimmy Vesey got first crack on the top line but was eventually supplanted by Mats Zuccarello. I would say that’s good news for Zucc owners, but he’s apparently one of the guys that’s set to be traded.

*

Bobby Ryan tried to bat down a puck with his right hand in the team’s game on Thursday night and seemed to have suffered a hand injury. This was confirmed on Friday:

Bobby Ryan won't play this weekend. Being sent for further examination by doctors. Won't be back anytime soon. #Sens

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) February 2, 2018

As Dobber heads know, Ryan has a long, long history of hand issues, and this is just another in a laundry list of such issues. It’s a shame, this was a guy who was a top-tier scorer five years ago and he’s still just 30 years old. One has to wonder if he’ll ever come close to regaining his earlier form now.

Colin White will be called up and taking Ryan’s spot on the top line. Good news, dynasty owners!

*

Ok, this is getting a bit ridiculous for Justin Faulk. The Carolina defenceman who scored at least 15 goals each season from 2014-17 had just four going into Friday night’s game, meaning his pace would give him six or seven goals. It appeared he was going to get his fifth on the power play in the first period of their home game against Detroit as his shot went off Detroit goaltender Petr Mrazek, popped up in the air, looked to be coming down to roll in… and then Sebastian Aho came out of the corner and swiped it in at the last second:

SEBASTIAN AHO TAPS ONE OUT OF MIDAIR WITH ONE HAND TO MAKE IT 1-0 HURRICANES! pic.twitter.com/twkII0Zw1n

— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) February 3, 2018

Faulk ended up with the primary power-play assist but, man, when it rains it pours I guess.

Anyway, Carolina ended up losing that game 4-1, and the Wings were powered by… their defencemen? Danny DeKeyser scored the first goal to tie the game and Trevor Daley’s second-period tally ended up being the game-winner.

Petr Mrazek saved 36 of 37 for the road win.

If you count hits in your league, Anthony Mantha had seven of them to go along with his six shots on goal. For not getting on the scoresheet, not a bad fantasy night.

Aside from Mrazek, Darren Helm was the standout for Detroit in this one. He scored a goal with about six minutes left in the third to salt the game away while also assisting on the first two. He added three more shots, two penalty minutes, and a blocked shot for good measure.

Jaccob Slavin tied a season-high with six shots on goal for the losing team.

*

Columbus looked flat-out bad in their home game against San Jose, and that’s a problem considering the Sharks were without Joe Thornton (of course) and playing their third road game in four nights. Through two periods, the Jackets had 15 shots, and that was very much indicative of their play. They also gave up three power plays which led to two Sharks goals.

One of those penalties, by the way, was taken by captain Nick Foligno, and it resulted in him being stapled to the bench for about 10 minutes of action. Fun times in Ohio.

The Sharks ended up winning 3-1 with Marc-Edouard Vlasic adding the insurance marker in the third period on a partial breakaway at five-on-five.

Tomas Hertl led all Sharks in even-strength ice time in this one and is averaging over 20 minutes a game in the four contests since Joe Thornton’s injury. He assisted on Logan Couture’s power-play goal in the first period.

Martin Jones got the start for the Sharks and saved 28 of 29 for his first win in these last three games.

Boone Jenner scored the lone goal for the Jackets and had a prototypical Boone Jenner game: one goal, three shots, one blocked shots, and three hits. Getting that kind of depth scoring will be important for the Jackets if they hope to turn this skid around.

*

Remember in a Ramblings earlier this week when I discussed the improvements of the Columbus power play since they installed both Seth Jones and Zach Werenski on the top unit? Surprise! Torts blew it up.

On Tuesday, they went with the four-forward PP units, the first unit including Jones with Cam Atkinson, Artemi Panarin, Alex Wennberg, and Nick Foligno. I had hoped that Atkinson returning wouldn’t mean a return of the four-forward power play, and yet here we are. That unit played the entire power play in the team’s only man advantage in their game on Friday.

I suppose there’s nothing to do but remain in a holding pattern and hoping that the team going back to the power-play setup that rendered it effectively useless all of a sudden isn’t useless. I mean, they did score a power-play goal on Tuesday against Minnesota, so maybe all hope is not lost? This situation will be monitored over the coming weeks to see if there are indeed any improvements made over the beginning of the year.

*

Speaking of having things blow up in my face almost immediately, remember when I sang Jakub Vrana’s praises recently? He was a healthy scratch Friday night, as he was on Wednesday night.

The official word from coach Barry Trotz is that Vrana has been invisible and maybe needs a little reset. Okay, fair enough. Let’s not pretend this isn’t a problem exclusive to Vrana, though. Chandler Stephenson had two goals in their contest on Wednesday; TJ Oshie has one goal since Christmas. Though I suppose you can’t scratch a guy whom your general manager gave an eight-year, $46-million contract to halfway through his first season of said contract.

I’m still a believer in Vrana, his talent, and his production. For dynasty leagues, now would be the best time to trade him for pennies on the dollar. For season-long leagues, I’m less bullish because he’s clearly fallen out of favour with the coach. Do keep him in mind when 2018-19 drafts roll around, though.

By the by: he’s fourth on the Caps in goals per 60 minutes at five-on-five and has done so shooting 9.4 percent. No one above him in this regard is under 13.5 percent. So, don’t give up.

*

Not much love for Ryan Suter these days, huh? Odd, considering he was on pace for 10 goals and 43 assists heading into Friday’s action, the former being a career-high and the latter being tied for a career-high. That seems pretty good.

I know the peripheral numbers aren’t there, but they’ve never really been there for most of his career; he’s never had 150 blocked shots or 80 hits in any single season despite gigantic ice time numbers. He’s also never had 190 shots on goal and this year will likely make six straight 82-game campaigns without 50 penalty minutes. Those hoping he’d turn a corner at some point are truly optimistic people.

The production is there, though, as it has been for the majority of his career. Though it’s hard not to wonder when it starts running out. We’ve seen Mark Giordano fall off over recent seasons and he’s about the same age as Suter. With Matt Dumba and Jared Spurgeon on the rise, when does time run out for Suter? Well, not year at least.

*

One night after a dramatic overtime win in Winnipeg, the Golden Knights looked a little slow as Minnesota laid the wood to them in a 5-2 win. Eric Staal did most of the damage with two goals and an assist, while Tyler Ennis chipped in with one of his own. 

Oddly enough, speaking of the Minnesota blue line, they were all over the scoresheet in this one: Brodin had three assists and three shots, Dumba had two assists, two shots, and a fight, Spurgeon had a goal, three more shots, two blocks, and two hits, while Suter had a power-play assist with two blocks. 

Erik Haula had a goal and an assist for Vegas, and is now up to 20 tallies on the season. Colin Miller had an assist on Haula's power-play marker, and Miller is now knocking on the door for top-20 in the league for scoring among d-men (he's tied with Roman Josi, by the way). 

*

Patric Hornqvist took a hard (and clean) hit from Brooks Orpik early in the third period of Pittsburgh’s home game against Washington and did not play a single shift after. Keep an eye out for updates. At first glance it looked like maybe he got the wind knocked out of him but apparently it’s more serious than that. Jake Guentzel took his spot on the top PP unit.

*

The game itself was a wild one as the Pens took it 7-4. That might seem lopsided, but it was 3-3 after the second period. The Pens scored two power-play goals four minutes apart in the final frame to pull away.

Evgeni Malkin’s heater continues as he had two goals and two assists in this one. In total, he had five shots, two blocked shots, two PIMs, and a hit. He has 16 goals and 11 assists in 16 games going back to Christmas.

Sidney Crosby’s hot streak continued as well with a pair of assists, adding four shots and two blocks. Going back to Christmas, he has 24 points in 16 games.

To round out the hot streaks, Phil Kessel had two goals and an assist, including an absolute snipe over the shoulder of Braden Holtby. He has 23 points in 16 games going back to Christmas.

That’s 74 points in 16 games between just those three going back to the holiday break.

Lost in all this was a pair of goals from Alex Ovechkin, his 31st and 32nd of the season. Both Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetsov had a goal and an assist in this game as well.

*

Conor Sheary looks to be out for a few weeks, which means a likely rotation on the top line alongside Sidney Crosby. Who isn’t going anywhere is Dominik Simon.

It’s unbelievable how well Crosby and Simon have played together. Below is a screenshot taken from Natural Stattrick, and it shows how well Crosby and Simon have played together, and how well Crosby has played without Simon on his wing, adjusted at five-on-five play:

The contrast is stark. When he is on the ice with Simon, the Pens have controlled way more of the shots and generated way more offence. Yes, it covers only about 20 percent of a season, which is not enough to make any real determinations. All this is to show how well they have played together, not how well they will play together for the balance of this season, in the playoffs, or next year.

If we’re looking for a reason that Crosby has gone on a tear of late, part of it is the offence generated by himself and his line mates, along with the inevitable shooting percentages turnaround and power-play production. Everything is finally starting to click, and the Pens are hitting their stride as the stretch run of the regular season hits. We’ve seen this movie before.

One final note here: I’m not sure how much fantasy value Simon will have. Yes, Crosby has been on fire lately, but in that span, Simon is playing just 13:25 per game, and even that is skewed by one game where he played 18:24 (the next-highest is 15:10 and the majority of them are under 14 minutes). People will harken back to Sheary last year, but he was playing just under 16 minutes a game, a full 2:30 more than Simon, and that included 1:47 of power-play time per game, where Simon is getting none. Unless Simon retains an absurdly high shooting percentage, the scoring may be sporadic. 

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-penguins-en-fuego-faulk-cant-buy-one-jackets-stumble-february-3/