Anybodyhome

Lumber prices across the board are through the roof right now, in excess of 300% in many cases. An 8' stud normally goes for $2.69 is over $6.00 right now. Builders can't afford new construction right now because what was a $200k house last year is now a $500k house and it'll never sell at that price. Hence, all the inventory is either older new construction that's been on the market for a while or it's existing inventory.

TB confirmed McElHinney as their starter in goal tonite.

First cop on scene said he was lucid and answering questions with no apparent indicators. And it appears the police have wrapped their investigation without mentioning a toxicology screen, even though he has a history, not to mention he had back surgery 2 months ago. But yeah, let's give him another pass. And while we're doing that, let's start the list of players on the PGA tour who would not be getting that same pass. I'll go first- Patrick Reed.

I didn't see the game, either. I heard the term "lackluster performance" more than once later last night when I got to check some scores. The team is tired right now while TB was off for 4 days before starting this series last week. TB will probably put Vas the Vaj back in net because this is a crucial series and even a tired Vas is better than either of Carolina's rested goalies.

So, TB came out like any team that has had their butt kicked for a few games and the Canes didn't look ready for it. Before you get a chance to breath, they put 10 shots on goal. Anyway, Vas the Vag played well and if not for an own goal and Reimer not playing Stamkos's shot very well, it's a different game. The refs missed some obvious calls too, on both sides, but the majority of them from TB.

That hit is a penalty in any game. Went right at the numbers with Necas in a defenseless position

I've sat back and watched the catfight over DeShaun Watson play out over the past few weeks while thinking about the best way to post my thoughts. As much as I think Watson would be a franchise QB, it's not going to happen if you have to give up the few building blocks the team already has. Giving up the draft picks necessary to build an O-line and a few players on D, while also trading a major offensive weapon in CMC and/or a WR makes no sense. You've created a team which is much worse than last year's by losing starting players and gave up the draft picks necessary to replace them just so you could land a QB... who, by the way, no longer has one of the best RBs in the game and one of the best WR corps in the league, not to mention a suspect O-line that's not getting fixed any time soon under this scenario.

Chief is now 10 years old. He's got Rottie, Husky, Doberman and St. Bernard DNA. Smart and a gentle soul. He's gone from walking 2-3 miles every morning on the trail to barely being able to stand up in less than 3 months. He's lost close to 20 pounds during that time an we fear he's cancer ridden and his back legs just aren't working anymore. All he wants to do is lay around and sleep. We'll know something in the next week or so.

Excellent goal scoring tonight, but none felt better than Paquette getting his first as a Cane against his old team. And this team went hard for all 60 minutes tonite.

You went "No-hitter?"

Volkov has been on the wrong side of a couple good hits tonite.

I love Paquette showing the grit- looks like it's starting to rub off on some of the other guys.

Bean, Lorentz and Fleury with Turbo down (I missed that- why?) and Gardiner. On the other hand, it's a 24-hour turn-around game; maybe RBA is almost conceding this one or he thinks he can mix it up enough to put Tampa off balance.

This set of 4 games will either put Carolina in a pretty good playoff position or the Canes will asking for help from other division foes. Carolina is up 2 points to 1 in the season series based on the OT win in January. The Canes are a much better team today than they were in January and they have 4 solid lines which creates some matchup advantages- Tampa Bay has 2 exceptional lines, a third which is good and a 4th that doesn't impress me. Sorry, I don't see the reigning Cup champs as being all that good- not as good as last year. But they do have a goalie, and that's a big deal, especially when Carolina's 1A is giving up over 3 goals a game. Bottom line- I'll take points from this series any way I can get them.

My Center Vinny...

Wha???? "Gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme Nino Niedereiter....!" Abby is back!

Him & Slavin set that up- good pressure on the puck got it going.

Don't like the Hartford uni and all I want is a fugging win!

Kinda like Teddy B's QB skills.

Very strong 1st period, defensively and the offense. Is it just me or has Staal already been better this season than all of last?

If I'm looking at this payroll and I'm being honest, I'm not so sure Dougie is coming back next year. May be the reason we'll see more of Bean this season.

Many, many years ago when I was traveling the world while in the Navy, I had a "Balls Deep Project." Anyone care to know how that went?

FYI

As much as I would love to see a quality goalie on the roster, I can't see it happening without making sacrifices elsewhere. I'd rather stand pat and figure out how to pay a couple of the UFA's to stick around. That being said, Reimer has some decent games under his belt when the Canes are smothering on D and giving up 25 shots or less. But they catch a team like CBJ who will throw 35+ shots a game and Reimer is in deep sh!t. I think Mrazek will come back and he'll be the #2 for a while because he'll be a little hesitant at first, Ned is out and Reimer is the #1.

Korshkov was the 31st overall in 2016; 6'4" 214lb forward, leftie.