Mr.TaterSalad

Random note, but if Gary, IN can support an NFL franchise, I don't want to hear anything more about Quebec not being able to support an NHL franchise. The median household income for Gary, IN is less than $35,000/year and they have less than 100,000 people in the Metro area. And before you say "Yeah, but it's really Metro Chicago", how many people are really going to buy season tickets and spend their time in Gary to watch football?

I guess I am not fully opposed to trading Larkin for the right established player. But trading for a guy like Hischier or any established veteran just keeps this team in purgatory I feel like. We either need to get a #1 center, capable of putting up 90+ points in a season or we need to revamp this roster in the vein of Carolina, Florida, or Vegas and get tougher forecheckers and role out 3 lines of scoring. I don't see either of those two scenarios playing out anytime soon. As such, I would rather start the rebuild all over again, get draft capital, and have a shot at a #1 center or top-end talent now and in the future. This Larkin news has me in the camp of rebuilding the rebuild.

I think Platner is rightly cooked at this point. He has had scandal after scandal for the better part of 6-8 months now. Nazi tattoos, disgusting posts online/reddit about sexual assault, allegations of affairs and being hostile to woman. He should step aside and end his campaign and allow Janet Mills to become the nominee. Unfortunately, his ego and arrogance won't allow for that. He's blowing a golden opportunity for Democrats in Maine and assuring that Susan Collins will be back in the Senate.

Abdul endorsed Kamala Harris and was openly supportive of her election. He did the same in 2020 for Joe Biden. Yes, in the primary only, he supported a vote for uncommitted. But in the general he did everything you asked. Furthermore, as someone who has seen him speak at least 5 times now, he does far more than just pitch Medicare For All. He has a whole swath of ideas, on a range of issues. Just because you plug your ears and go la-la-la-la like Lloyd Christmas doesn't make it so. It's just you choosing not to hear or acknowledge them.

One, polling suggests he might well be the nominee. He's been tied or leading in several primary polls lately. Two, they will do exactly what they did for Attorney General this year. At the MDP Convention they endorsed Karen McDonald, but she lost to Eli Savit. They endorsed Eli after the convention. So if Mallory or Haley Stevens wins, the UAW will endorse one of them.

We could also get Gavin McKenna if Toronto does Toronto things. I could see a world where Toronto does something incredibly dumb, passes on McKenna, and he falls to whomever is drafting at #2 overall. If not, we still have the chance to get top tier talents like Stenberg, Malhotra, or even Reid the defenceman.

The Antisemites at the UAW have endorsed Abdul El-Sayed for Senate. One of the largest and most important unions in Michigan endorses Abdul.

What if you could get San Jose's #2 overall pick in this year's draft instead of a player. Would you take that?

What would you ask in return for Larkin? Do you want draft capital? Are you trying to get a Top 5 pick in this year's draft given that it doesn't have a true #1 center? What are you looking for?

Well I hope he wants to go to San Jose then because I want that #2 overall pick in this year's draft . If we somehow could land Gavin McKenna that would be a real blessing. If not, one of Ivar Stenberg or Caleb Malhotra is probably the player I am targeting. Stenberg looks like he could be an 80+ guy in the NHL and a pure goal scorer, which we need in the worst way. I've read and seen that he is an elite skater already too and very crafty with the puck on his stick. Put the puck in the net and win games with this guy. Malhotra lacks some of the production you'd want from a true #1 center, which is a concern. I don't just want to trade Larkin only to draft another Larkin. But from reports I have read this guy is a dog on the forecheck and has the skill to be a goal scorer. I've read Nick Suzuki comparisons which would be awesome and I've also ready Dylan Larkin comparisons, which would be less exciting and a bit of an LOL.

This is a blessing in disguise. This rebuild was going nowhere and needed to be blown up and started over. Now we get to do just that. Dylan Larkin is not a #1 center. In order to win in the NHL you either need to build a deep, phyiscal team like Florida or Vegas or you need to have a #1 center, capable of getting you 90-95+ points per season. Right now we are neither deep nor physical. We also lack a #1 center capable of producing 95+ points in a season and really being a top line guy who can make the wingers around him better. If Larkin wants out good, fine. I'm starting this rebuild over and getting rid of virtually everyone over the age of 32 on this roster. I'm starting off my rebuild of the rebuild by offering Larkin to San Jose immediately and asking for their #2 pick in the draft this year. San Jose has a good, young core of players. A guy like Larkin can give the Sharks the veteran presence they need and help them win now as they are come out of their rebuild phase. The official deal I would offer them is Larkin for #2 overall pick + 2026 2nd round pick.

Are you kidding me. We're already starting with the injuries again?

This is what a country song should sound like. Really digging Joshua Ray Walker.

I know this is fake. But since it is an incompetent organization like the Bears, maybe there is a hint of truth to the GM passing out and missing a phone call after eating too much Arbys.

Your talking about former Jewish Congressman Andy Levin. The same leftists that you parade around as terrible, Jew-hating, antisemites have supported a Jewish man in Eli Savit for Attorney General, a Jewish woman for Attorney General in Dana Nessel, a Jewish man in Andy Levin for Congress, and a Jewish man in Bernie Sanders for President. For a group of people that hate people of the Jewish faith, they sure do support a lot of Jews, especially for higher offices.

He's a complete trainwreck. I'm all for supporting the more progressive candidate in a primary. But there is nothing progressive about his actions. Nazi tattoos, sexist and misogynistic posts, cheating on his wife with staffers. Platner had some appealing working class traits, but it has become more appalling than appealing now.

Yeah, it probably is just that. I hope Levi comes back this year and makes an impact because we are thin at DT otherwise.

They liked where Marcus Davenport was at too. I will believe it when I see Levi on the field, in a uniform, playing football.

The old James Carville quote of "It's the economy stupid" rang true in 2024 and cost Kamala Harris and the Democrats. That same quote and same notion is going to cost the Republicans in the 2026 midterms. Trump has reversed any of the economic gains made by the Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress and turned them into negatives for his party. Inflation is pushing close to a 4% pace. Gas prices are up nearly $2 above the national average and are over $5 and $6 per gallon in some states. In the eyes of the average American consumer and voter, this economy is in bad shape. They are feeling it and are going to express it at the ballot box. Republicans are very likely losing the House because of it and could very well lose what should otherwise have been a gifted win for them in the Senate. I think North Carolina with Roy Cooper and Maine with Graham Platner will flip giving Democrats seats 47 and 48. I think Ohio probably goes next with Sherrod Brown returning, followed by Alaska with Mary Peltoa, giving Democrats seats 49 and 50. I think the Talarico seat ends up the tie breaker if there is one. I don't think Talarico wins, I think Paxton squeaks out a victory margin between 1-3%, but will make is closer than it should be. There are other seats like Independent (Democrat) Dan Osborne in Nebraska and Josh Turek/Zach Wahls in Iowa that could flip in the most amazing of years for Democrats. I tend to think that the electorate is waaaaay too partisan at this point and that both Nebraska and Iowa are simply too far out of reach. So I wouldn't count on those flipping. But the Senate should have been an absolute lock for Republicans and impossible for Democrats. Thanks to a terrible economy, with high prices and expensive gas, Trump has made it a competitive environment for Democrats to take advantage of and win the Senate.

What a **** series Vegas vs. Colorado was. I thought this was going to be a fun series to watch. I thought this would be a dog fight and instead the curse of the President's trophy comes through again. Also, how does a jackass and jerk like Tortterella keep getting head coaching jobs yet Babcock is blacklisted for being an asshole?

At some point it has to be sink or swim no? Cossa needs to just be called up and given the chance to play at NHL game speed, against NHL talent. The guy is going to be 24, if he isn't ready at 24, then when?

Long before Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bernie Sanders came onto the scene, there were options to stop Donald Trump or a guy like him from taking control of the White House. The best way to have avoided Trump would have been to reelect Jimmy Carter in 1980. We likely don't get Trump if we didn't have the failed presidency of Reagan and the era of deregulation and union-busting that came about as a result. The next best way to have not gotten Trump was to elect Walter Mondale and stop/reverse much of what Reagan did. After that, it would have been to have had a progressive President like Jesse Jackson to reverse what Reagan did and bring back the New Deal era of the Democratic Party, minus the segregation and discrimination of course. After that, the next best time to have stopped Trump would have been to nominate someone like Paul Tsongas as the Democratic nominee for President in 1992 instead of the Diet Cola Republican that was Bill Clinton. We got Trump as President not because of any one person, though Reagan and Clinton aided in him becoming President. We got Trump largely because of bad economic policies built around failed economic theory. Trickledown Economics and an era of deregulation gave us Trump. Not supporting the material conditions of working and retired Americans gave us Trump. This failed economic theory of putting the wealthy on top and assuming wealth would trickle down the pyramid was deeply flawed and always doomed to fail. It gave us an exploding wealth gap and stagnant wages. They gave us an economy where people's economic means were not keeping up with their cost of living. We got Trump because bad trade deals like NAFTA/CATFA/PNTR with China, guided by failed economic theory, crippled blue collar jobs and hollowed us industrial states. We got Trump because economic theory and big business told us that it is better to have employer-based, market-priced health insurance that leaves many uninsured, many more underinsured, and millions bankrupt due to costs they incurred after getting sick. We didn't get a demagogue like Trump after FDR. Even though FDR had to deal with the worst economic crisis in our countries history, he and the Democrats gained strength through his Presidency. We got 4 terms of FDR because he was so beloved by Americans. And he was so beloved because he helped improved the economic well being of the average American and guided us through a World War, nearly to victory before dying. They buffered the economy with regulations like Glass-Stegall and prevented economic shocks like the Great Depression from routinely occurring. They improved the lot of the ordinary (white) American with Social Security, the Public Works Administration, federal jobs programs, National Industrial Recovery Act, Electric Home and Farm Authority, and more. These programs provided financial security and jobs for people so thy wouldn't fall into despair and become susceptible to demagogues like Trump. And they paid for it all and created financial stability with progressive income taxation on the wealthy and big business. We can complain about who should have run when to stop Trump. While that has some relevancy, the real debate should be centered around policy. Bad policies, built around a failed economic theory of Trickledown Economics, being implemented are what lead to the material conditions of working and middle class Americans getting worse. The Presidents and Congresses who pushed them are certainly to blame.

I've been a Benson supporter from day one. I'm elated to see that Mike Duggan is dropping out. Independent races are generally an uphill battle and doomed from the start. I hope he comes out and supports Jocelyn now.