The Stars take Game 1, meaning I need a Lightning sweep to keep my prediction. The NFL could field a 53 man roster with the amount of injuries suffered around the league. Kirk Cousins will be the death of me. The Habs kept things quiet but a couple prospects are making headlines, but first quick word from the flawless John Lu.
To start things off I want to take a moment to send John Lu some well wishes. I had the pleasure of meeting John in person, we were even on a first name basis for a moment in time. I will never forget the first time he remembered my name. It did help that we had the same first name but the kindness he shows to everyone around him is unequivocal in the Montreal media landscape.
As a prime example, once at a Press Conference I was absolutely berated by an asshole reporter (his name isn’t important because he isn’t). The Hotel at which the Conference was held told me that I had 5 minutes to clear all of our stuff from the room but since this guy was not done with his reports he ripped me up and down. John came over to me and said “Where’s your car?” He helped me take things to my car, meanwhile the asshole told me to go fuck myself on the way out.
He is also the best dressed man in the industry. To this day, I will never forget his outfit at the first Charity Golf tournament I worked. Pink polo with a matching hat to go along with Violet and Navy Blue checkered patten pants. This guy was looking freshhhhh, and I will always strive to have a John Lu wardrobe. It will be a sign that I have made it in life.
So John, I am glad to hear you are doing better and hope to see you back behind the camera soon!
UPDATE IN HABBYLAND
Not much to report in our backyard. The Canadiens were relatively quiet this week, but there are two headlines out of Sweden worth noting. The first is yet another update on Mattias Norlinder who looked good in his first professional game with Frolunda. Habs fans love to cling to the positives, well all fans really, but in Montreal, the media circus and fans tend to hype guys up past the point of no return.
I have nothing against being optimistic above a prospect, especially a guy like Norlinder who has steadly climbed the prospect ranks. But let’s not start the comparisons between him and Nick Lindstrom (yes, some fans are actually making this comparison). A year ago most people didn’t even know the name Norlinder and now they are comparing him to the greatest Swedish defenseman in history? Will he be good? The trend right now says yes. Will he be Lindstrom good? You can count these defenseman on one, max two hands, alors on se calme.
Sticking with Swedish headlines for a moment, rumours are now starting to come out that Cole Caufiled is possibly going across the Atlantic. I think this would be a great move for his development, not that Wisoncsin wouldn’t be, but the SHL is arguable the second best professional league in the world (at worst third). Not to mention Rogle qualified for the Champions League (the same concept as in soccer) which means Caufield will be facing the top talent in Europe all season. As a smaller, skilled forward the open ice could do wonders for his game, not to mention he can pick up a little pocket change in the process.
Fun fact; the last team to win the Champions League (the hockey version), Frolunda.
NFL; NO FUNCTIONAL LIGAMENTS
If you watched football this weekend you probably noticed an absurd amount of injuries. The majority of which were knee ligament and ankle injuries. In a season where I expected COVID to wide out half a roster in the matter of days, we are seeing another silent assassin take players down one in bunches. ACL, MCL, PCL, High Ankle sprains, you name a lower body injury and almost every NFL team has a player with such an injury. None of these injuries are uncommon or new, but the volume at which they are occurring is.
The NFL spent the majority of their training camps and practices abiding by a new set of COVID rules. These rules included dividing the teams into smaller groups across the field. So when you actually take it for what it’s worth, players have gone from running cone drills to now executing cuts at full speed on a full field. I understand that the NFL didn’t really have a choice in the matter but what did they expect would happen? The force and pressure put on knees and overall bodies from the turf is already an issue in itself. Just for fun, let’s add on the fact that player’s have been practicing at half capacity.
In the mean time we will just have to hope for the best and remain optimistic that these injuries will reduce with more reps and games. I don’t think fantasy rosters nor the NFL will be able to withstand this many injuries on a weekly basis.