GDT: Ducks at Sharks Preseason game 1 7:30pm: is Karlsson here yet?

[Phalanx]

I really hope Merkley gets some time with the big club this season. Nothing extensive, just the usual 9 games or whatever. Even if he didn’t play, I just think having the opportunity to learn from Karlsson, Vlasic and Burns would be amazing for his development.

While I’m inclined to agree with you, I would understand not playing him. He is not an NHL ready defenseman. At all. And putting him in before he’s ready could destroy his confidence, which among his many high end qualities, might just be his best. Probably prudent to let him season. He needs to spend the next year bulking up significantly and working on his defensive game. That being said, the armchair GM and fan in me says put him in, see how it works out. It’s a good thing I don’t run player development lol.

 

[Hinterland]

I honestly expected Getzlaf to be dominating given our lineup but I am not even sure if he is the best player on the ice.

Getzlaf hardly ever dominated anybody...physically yes...but that's about it. He's a scorer more than anything else.

 

[Hinterland]

I chose to learn it over Spanish.

Beauty > common sense

French is official language in about 50 countries...Spanish in about 30. There are some big Spanish speaking countries and that's why there are more Spanish native speakers than French and of course it depends on where you live or go but I wouldn't say that it's common sense to learn Spanish over French. Not at all.

 

[slocal]

French is official language in about 50 countries...Spanish in about 30. There are some big Spanish speaking countries and that's why there are more Spanish native speakers than French and of course it depends on where you live or go but I wouldn't say that it's common sense to learn Spanish over French. Not at all.

Uh, dude, I'm quite aware of francophone countries and regions. California isn't one of them.

It was a joke, anyhow.

 

[Hinterland]

Some of that pronounciation I gave is based on the interference of Quebecois French, which does its best to make everything sound harsher and more guttural than Parisian French. Shortcuts, hard sounds, and English loanwords abound. Le Hot Dog, Le Weekend, both perfectly valid in Canada's second official language.

People from Tours, where they speak the most perfect French, don't understand a single word when they're in Quebec and neither do I. That's how terrible that language is. Just something random they created...yet still they're actually convinced that they're francophone

 

[Hinterland]

I am expecting a lot of Melkman + PDB memes from you this season. He is no DeMelo but Melker is the next best thing PDB has got.

Karlsson played top6 minutes for years now...for no reason. He's hardly a 4th liner.
DeMelo is a fine 3rd pairing defender and that's how DeBoer used him. I agree that DeBoer should have dressed Heed over him for certain games...but that story was honestly a bit overblown. Not even close from being DeBoer's worst mistake. It was absolutely insane to use DeMelo on the PP though...I agree with you guys here...