Monday Morning Hot Links: We’re Done

Good morning everyone, I know your weekend wasn’t great, but here’s some links.

To start off, I’ve been doing these links for 6 months now and it’s made me realize a few things about printed stories. Mostly, things I hate. This is the kind of thing I notice when the team is bad. If we were winning, it probably wouldn’t bother me so much. Anyway, I’ve decided to list my three most hated things about articles.

#3. Titles phrased as a question. It’s typically just click-bait. Sometimes there’s useful information inside but I’m turned off right off the bat with the title.

#2. Either incidentally or intentionally misleading stats. There are no shortage of stats sites and articles that use them to support a claim, I have no problem with that. What I hate though, is when stats are presented in a way to end all discussion. Stats do nothing more than tell you the result of what happened, there is also the issue of deciding which stats are most important. Anyone saying that they have a conclusion about anything, without discussing the context, or what may have lead to that result is someone not worth reading.

#1. The worst thing out there, the thing that I come across more than anything else, is content production. Slide shows, click bait, articles with no useful information or analysis, produced for not other reason than to get clicks and have content on a site, is the worst part of bloggers/journalists today. I understand that it needs to happen to generate ad revenue, but it also destroys credibility and is just general noise.

That rant felt good, maybe tomorrow I’ll do things I actually like. Here are the Links.

Lowetide takes a very in-depth look at where things went wrong for Peter Chiarelli. There are quite a few areas, and none of which even warrants a rebuttal, at this point. (The Athletic)

Jaromir Jagr’s time in Calgary appears to be done. The Flames and Jagr’s agent are working on an exit plan. Either he gets traded, or his contract gets terminated. It will be interested to see if he gets another shot in the NHL. It was one hell of a career either way. (Sportsnet)

In a very long read, Gare Joyce looks at how the USA is becoming a powerhouse in hockey. I’m not shockingly surprised, either. The USNTDP is a great program and has been producing stars for quite a while now. (Sportsnet)

Tyler Yaremchuk writes a piece about not panicking when it comes to the Oilers. I agree with almost all of it. (Oilers Nation)

Mark Spector had a little sit down with Peter Chiarelli. There isn’t a lot of substance, but Chiarelli assures us he isn’t firing Todd McLellan. Kind of reminds me of when Marc Bergevin gave Michel Therrien a vote of confidence last year, then fired him when a better coach became available. (Sportsnet)

That’s all for now. Enjoy your day. The next disaster is tomorrow.