u/TentacleHockey

I've been following them for their attempt at non partisan news both locally and globally. But the last week its been a straight Trump Jerk 🤮

My rink has a longer and cheaper public skate window than stick and puck, and I’m still pretty terrible at skating.

Do figure skaters generally get bothered by people practicing hockey-style skating during public skate, especially hockey stops, backwards skating, and crossovers?

Everyone seemed nice when I went, but I definitely got a few dirty looks. The public skate I go to is mostly figure skaters and a few older recreational skaters, which is why I figured I’d ask here.

I’m not trying to fly around or get in anyone’s way. I mostly just need a lot more practice stopping and controlling myself better.

Seems a bit too quiet. Oh well at least we get a game tomorrow on knight plus.

https://preview.redd.it/hg7wb1ulhjlh1.png?width=2048&format=png&auto=webp&s=73fdf80350eccecff9b486abe8b4cbff5b7bbe24

bless the little ones.

Anyone have to use their support? Were they quick to solve it? They sent me a right handed stick even though the sticker on stick and order both say 'LEFT'. Sent a message and got a response that it could take 7 days to respond. I was really excited for my new stick too 😭

Curious if anyone's had the chance to try most of the low kick options out there, Bauer, Warrior, True, Sherwood. And if so which one had the best 'hand feel'.

My local shop only carries CCM and I'm not a fan of the Ribcor hand feel, especially on wristers. Probably going to order online, but it sucks I can't try them out in person first.

:edit: By hand feel, I simply mean how the stick feels through the gloves from stickhandling to shooting, mostly the shape of the shaft.

non stop this summer and will probably keep getting worse

Regulation size, close to regulation weight, has a better glide compared to a real puck. Doesn't flip on me and holds up to full wristers and slappers without falling apart. Anyone found a better puck for synthetic ice?

Been chewing on this since Armstrong dropped the center hierarchy prediction (Schmaltz-Cooley-Hayton-Stenlund as the 1-4C). Here's how I see it shaking out, plus where I think the real strongest lines land once the dust settles.

Armstrong's Blueprint (going off his own words)

LW / C / RW

L1: Trocheck / Schmaltz / Keller
L2: Lee / Cooley / Guenther
L3: Crouse / Hayton / Carcone
L4: McBain / Stenlund / Yamamoto

My Predicted Best Lines (all players in their preferred positions, except McBain)

L1: Crouse / Schmaltz / Keller (proven trio, don't fix what isn't broken)
L2: Lee / Trocheck / Guenther (Gunner's capable of scoring 50 goals, and he'd thrive with a veteran line that actually plays net front)
L3: Carcone / Cooley / Yamamoto (protect that Cooley-Yamamoto chemistry from last year's playoff run)
L4: McBain / Stenlund / But (size and PK insurance, plus But actually solves the L4 righty problem)

Hayton's the swing guy for me. Coming off a down year I think he'll continue downward, I've got him pegged as the extra forward here, with Iginla (natural C/LW, legit camp threat) to be called up as needed and Tanev rounding out the bubble.

https://preview.redd.it/a79w36ocogdh1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=0e87190905e425382596ff137a3f5a2b70cc0193

Based on what Armstrong is saying, this leads me to believe Trocheck line 1, Lee line 2, and Hayton line 3(Armstrong already confirmed this one).

Bill Armstrong gave us the Mammoth’s projected center depth:

1C Nick Schmaltz
2C Logan Cooley
3C Barrett Hayton
4C Kevin Stenlund

After looking deeper into Trocheck’s numbers and contract situation, my opinion has changed quite a bit.

Trocheck coming in as a top-six winger actually makes a lot of sense. I’m guessing we see Trocheck-Schmaltz-Keller on the first line, and honestly, Schmaltz has earned the 1C spot. His last two seasons at 5v5 make a pretty strong case that he’s becoming a legitimate mid-pack 1C in the NHL.

Hayton at 3C is where Armstrong loses me. McBain was already matching, if not outperforming, Hayton in a lot of areas last season. We could have taken the second-round pick, moved McBain to 3C, and kept nearly $5M in cap flexibility. Combined with the cap space we already had, that could have put us in position to hunt a big fish during the season.

Instead, we’re locked into a high-risk, high-reward year with Hayton. We can’t trade him, and he can still walk as a UFA next summer, leaving us with nothing in return. I believe this will go down as one of Armstrong biggest mistakes on the Mammoth.

So which three sit? McBain, Yams, Carcone, Stenlund, But, Tij, Tanev. It’s easy to say But or Tij because they’re young even though they had a great season, and Tanev is an obvious scratch, but all of them bring something to the lineup that Hayton doesn’t.

Then who gets pushed out of their natural position? McBain back to the wing? Or do Carcone, Yams, or McBain get buried on the fourth line?

I don’t think people realize how bad this signing is for the roster. It creates a logjam and makes the entire bottom six worse for a couple extra face off wins.

Edit: Hayton was a No. 5 overall pick with the potential to become a top-six player. Last season, he produced like an average 4th line wing despite getting significant 2C and 3C minutes, plus PP1 time.

Downvote all you want, but the stats speak for themselves, he is massively underperforming. This is not a player who should be penciled in as our 3C, especially when McBain is crushing it in that role.

I could be way off, but my first thought is this either pushes Utah toward exploring a trade, or it’s a reality check that Hayton’s value has fallen. Filing for arbitration suggests there’s a significant gap between what Hayton believes he’s worth and what Utah is willing to pay.

That said, arbitration is also pretty common for RFAs. A lot of players file and then agree to a contract before it ever gets to a hearing, so this could just be part of the negotiation process.

Either way, I hope Utah doesn’t give him a raise. He needs to take a pay cut and prove he wants to become the player he was supposed to be.

:edit: grammar.

Maybe its because I'm a coder and they are clearly pushing this new 'You have a new rate limit reset available' options. But based on normal workflow I'm receiving roughly 1/5th less tokens than normal. Anyone else noticing this?

This is my opinion based on a mix of rumors, articles, contract projections, player stats, and roster construction. Curious what other Mammoth fans think.

My current prediction:

- Stenlund walks in free agency. Great PK player and faceoff guy, but I think another team pays more than Utah wants to.

- Kerfoot leaves because he is asking too much, with Daniil But eventually taking his spot at a much lower cap while adding more size.

- Hayton stays, moves to 4C. His offensive production hasn't justified a large contract, but we need faceoff wins especially with Stenny most likely leaving. Hayton focuses on defensive/PK role since PP was a bust.

- McBain remains the 3C. His physicality, faceoffs, and overall style fit that role perfectly.

- Schmaltz remains 1C for now. Cooley is the future, but he stays developing in 2C.

- Cole is out, Simashev takes his spot.

- Yamamoto most likely to stay BUT the biggest battle isn't Yamamoto vs Iginla. It's Peterka vs Iginla.

Peterka has the offensive skill and NHL experience, but Iginla projects as the stronger 200-foot player. If Tij develops as expected, he wins that top-6 LW spot.

Basically, the Mammoth already have their core. This offseason feels more about deciding which young players get the opportunity to become the next wave of impact players.