Line Combos: 2017-18 Roster Thread II - Massive changes not coming

[The Mighty Duck Man]

As people speculated a little bit ago, Stephens has joined The Athletic to cover the Ducks. Lisa Dillman has also joined and will cover both the Ducks and Kings.
EDIT: According to Lisa's bio she will be mainly focused on the Kings, but with some Ducks stuff.

Yeah I think they got that backwards a bit, Dillman is mostly Kings and Cooper does both. Either way, could be promising that theres three more people covering the team in some way.

Also, Stephens' first story was pretty good, I thought. Wasn't easy on the team, either, and might be a sign of what direction he's gonna go with this new outlet.

 

[McCoy]

Trade Cogs. Play rookies. Give the 4th line lots of minutes.

Rakell plays pretty good.

 

[duxfan1101]

Also, Stephens' first story was pretty good, I thought. Wasn't easy on the team, either, and might be a sign of what direction he's gonna go with this new outlet.

Agreed, definitely more critical than he usually is. Maybe he was under some restrictions at the Register. Also, in his introductory article (not about the Ducks, but about him), he mentioned being very grateful that The Athletic has no strict deadlines for stories like the Register does, so hopefully that leads to better content.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Rakell plays pretty good.

I have no idea what this is about.

 

[McCoy]

I have no idea what this is about.

Race.

 

[Duck Off]

Yeah I think they got that backwards a bit, Dillman is mostly Kings and Cooper does both. Either way, could be promising that theres three more people covering the team in some way.

Also, Stephens' first story was pretty good, I thought. Wasn't easy on the team, either, and might be a sign of what direction he's gonna go with this new outlet.

Summary for those of us who don’t subscribe?

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

Summary for those of us who don’t subscribe?

It's a very long piece, but pretty detailed breakdown of all that went wrong last year(even mentioned the #fancystats, which I think is a first). Ripped them for the playoffs a bit and for the deadline, defended Getzlaf as w captain(and the leadership group as a whole, I think), suggested they need more speed and skill if they want to contend, emphasized Carlyle having to play the fourth line and third pair more(and suggested its paramount to his survival).

I don't want to tell anyone how to spend their money, but if you can afford it, I highly recommend it. I've been a subscriber for maybe close to a year now, it's been well worth it and they barely covered any teams that I follow, if at all. Tons of content all around and should especially be a lot for the LA area teams.

 

[McDonald19]

I'd imagine Boyle is already the #3 for this season. Given Anaheim are quite squeezed financially for the coming season not sure they're going to be spending 700-800k on a veteran goaltender to sit in the minors a la Berra.

My thoughts exactly. The Ducks feel comfortable handing Boyle the #3 Reto Berra job.

 

[Paul4587]

It's a very long piece, but pretty detailed breakdown of all that went wrong last year(even mentioned the #fancystats, which I think is a first). Ripped them for the playoffs a bit and for the deadline, defended Getzlaf as w captain(and the leadership group as a whole, I think), suggested they need more speed and skill if they want to contend, emphasized Carlyle having to play the fourth line and third pair more(and suggested its paramount to his survival).

I don't want to tell anyone how to spend their money, but if you can afford it, I highly recommend it. I've been a subscriber for maybe close to a year now, it's been well worth it and they barely covered any teams that I follow, if at all. Tons of content all around and should especially be a lot for the LA area teams.

Yeah I was a reluctant subscriber but ended up giving in, the content is very good.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Maybe it'll be sicard.

Please no.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Please no.

Luckily you still have to be journalist to be a beat writer at an actual newspaper so he's out.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Luckily you still have to be journalist to be a beat writer at an actual newspaper so he's out.

Has the OCR replaced ES yet? If not, i'd say we aren't yet out of the woods.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Has the OCR replaced ES yet? If not, i'd say we aren't yet out of the woods.

Not that they've announced. Maybe it'll be Jen whatsherface. That would make sense, because she's significantly worse than Stephens, and the rule these days is that everything news - related gets dumber and dumber as it progresses.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Jen's already hit the big time. She writes for Yahoo, where grammar, spelling, and facts take a back seat to pushing an agenda. Can't see her giving up that dream job.

 

[DaGeneral]

I’ve been on the fence with paying for The Athletic.. not necessarily the money issue but more so not a lot of value for the “teams” I like. I finally bit the bullet. And it was seeing Eric’s piece, I never thought I’d say that since I’ve never been a big fan of his. With that said, it was a GREAT article that stresses the changes that need to happen and brings to question wether or not RC is that guy.

I used my old school email address and got it for $30 for the year. I think it’ll be worth it. That’s like 2.50 a month

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

So, who told ES or any other of these reporters, they couldn't write the same stories at their previous employer?

Regardless of the quality, I don't see the Athletic sticking around long. The subscription model for news/sports has proven to be a losing proposition. Not enough people will pay to keep them going.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

So, who told ES or any other of these reporters, they couldn't write the same stories at their previous employer?

Regardless of the quality, I don't see the Athletic sticking around long. The subscription model for news/sports has proven to be a losing proposition. Not enough people will pay to keep them going.

It's been around for two and a half years and has spent the last year aggressively expanding, there definitely seems to be a market for it. And it makes sense, separating the sports from everything else and charging less as a result, people tend to have no problem paying if it's worth it.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

It's been around for two and a half years and has spent the last year aggressively expanding, there definitely seems to be a market for it. And it makes sense, separating the sports from everything else and charging less as a result, people tend to have no problem paying if it's worth it.

Well, for their sake I hope it works. I just wouldn't put a lot of money on it.

 

[Duck Off]

It's a very long piece, but pretty detailed breakdown of all that went wrong last year(even mentioned the #fancystats, which I think is a first). Ripped them for the playoffs a bit and for the deadline, defended Getzlaf as w captain(and the leadership group as a whole, I think), suggested they need more speed and skill if they want to contend, emphasized Carlyle having to play the fourth line and third pair more(and suggested its paramount to his survival).

I don't want to tell anyone how to spend their money, but if you can afford it, I highly recommend it. I've been a subscriber for maybe close to a year now, it's been well worth it and they barely covered any teams that I follow, if at all. Tons of content all around and should especially be a lot for the LA area teams.

Thanks for this. I've been on the fence about getting it. I think I'm going to though. I had told myself I was definitely signing up when they got around to covering Anaheim, but honestly when I found it was Stephens, it made me a bit less tempted. Stephens is a great writer, but he's never struck me as being passionate, which is huge for me. That said, the guy seemed to insinuate that a lot of his writing was because of guidelines so the free reign along with new career may inject more passion. That, along with his relationship with the Ducks (which seems really positive) is probably going to make me go ahead and get it.

Money isn't the issue, it's honestly principle (as cheesy as that sounds). I hate the idea of paying for something i'm used to getting for free. I've always lauhed at the notion for paying for ESPN insider, despite me also being a die hard NFL fan. Still, I'm probably going to get it today.

Couple of questions though:
Is it a 1 time payment?
Does the thing automatically renew?

Any other info you (or anyone else who has it) can give me is appreciated.

 

[ADHB]

It is an annual payment that recurs at the regular price (I think 54.99) unless you cancel it. Right now they have a deal where it is I believe 44.99 for the year (plus a free t-shirt if that sways you). They always are offering various discounts to new subscribers. So if this one doesn’t meet your standards, you can probably wait a week and there will be a different one.

 

[Duck Off]

It is an annual payment that recurs at the regular price (I think 54.99) unless you cancel it. Right now they have a deal where it is I believe 44.99 for the year (plus a free t-shirt if that sways you). They always are offering various discounts to new subscribers. So if this one doesn’t meet your standards, you can probably wait a week and there will be a different one.

ugh, I despise when things auto renew when I don't ask them to. Especially since they try and play it like their doing it so we don't lose that service. bullshit, it's a tactic used to generate more money.

 

[KyleJRM]

I agree with the tone of that Atlantic article: That the Ducks wouldn't mind mixing in rookies, but are a bit skeptical of the ones they have being ready.

This isn't a full rebuild, nor should it be. You aren't going to play rookies just so you can say "See? We're playing rookies!" When they're ready and deserve NHL jobs and you can't justify keeping them off, that's when it's time. And it looks to me like most of our prospects are a year away. Terry, for example, it supposed to be the closest forward. And while I saw flashes on talent, he didn't look remotely ready to handle an NHL job for 82 games a year. He'd be a speck of dust on someone's boards by late December.

 

[Trojans86]

The reality is we dont have a great prospect pool. We have some decent talent but not ultra high end young kids that are shoe ins for tons of minutes. I would like to see us make some moves to win the next two years before looking at rebuild options. If we had some elite guys coming up through the system I wouldnt mind selling off assets and try to pull a quick rebuild but the reality is we dont have the next Getzlaf and Perry in the system, or it doesnt appear we do.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

After reading everything I've read over the last several years, I can't imagine all of a sudden paying to read Stephens' content.

 

[Masch78]

Btw, what do you expect from the extensions from Montour, Kase and Ritchie?