Links for you to post in the comments like you haven’t even read this post

Nashville Predators 1, Pittsburgh Penguins 4: 3rd Period Dooms Preds, Pens Up 2-0 - On the Forecheck
That game was fun up until the 3rd period.

Game 2 Recap: FINNISH HIM. Pens roast Rinne again, take 2-0 series lead - PensBurgh
Big 3rd period breakout for the Pens with 3 goals in the first 3:28 to lead the charge and take a 2-0 series lead over the Nashville Predators in the Stanley Cup Final.

Complete List of Hockey Analytics Data Resources - Hockey Abstract
Rob Vollman’s list of alternative sites to Corsica.

Benning stresses need for play-making centre - Video - TSN
Canucks GM Jim Benning talks about how they are preparing at the combine with fifth pick overall, and discusses the team's need to acquire play-making centre. Benning also speaks about the rebuild, where things stand with Ryan Miller's contract status with Jacob Markstrom taking the number one spot next season, and more. [LeBrun’s annual interview series is underway, and listening to one of the worst ones first sets the tone.]

Lamoriello on Leafs' captaincy, expansion draft and managing expectations - Video - TSN
Lou Lamoriello joins Pierre LeBrun to talk about the Maple Leafs strategy heading into the draft, what their plans are for a captain, how the 'process' has been going and why they need to continue to manage expectations in Toronto. [Not very exciting, but he has a few intriguing answers.]

Sign them or lose them: The Toronto Maple Leafs have three decisions to make - Pension Plan Puppets
Have we seen the last of Desrocher, Korostelev, and Herzog?

Who will the Leafs lose in the expansion draft? - Pension Plan Puppets
Pick who you’d be okay with losing.

The Calder Cup finals are free on AHL live.  Broadcast in the AHL’s exclusive fuzz-tech low-definition blur-o-vision, so it’s well worth what you’re paying for it.

And another free agent may hit the market in a month. He’s leaving college early and is a Buffalo draft pick, so they have 30 days to sign him or he’s a free agent who would qualify for a two-year ELC.

Welcome to PPP: I’ll be your managing editor today

And for a while to come, I hope.

Hockey is fun, you know

I’ve been known to say that to people when they get a little overheated when someone here, either in an article or a comment, has a wrong opinion.

It’s true, though.  Most of the time.

Which isn’t to say hockey or writing about hockey isn’t serious as well. It often is. But most of what we do here at this blog is have fun writing and talking about a game we love.

Hockey is for everyone

I have believed in that long before the NHL decided to make it their slogan.  Hockey — the game in Canada, elsewhere in the world, or the NHL itself — has not yet made itself open to everyone. We know this.  We can see it.  For those of us who don’t look like the image the NHL executives have in their minds when they talk about fans, we feel this everyday.

We at PPP do not have to report to jokers like Colin Campbell and Gary Bettman, though.  We decide who we are. We can choose our own way, and we have done that, and we will continue to do that.  I hope we will do better in the future because resting on laurels is always a bad life choice.  But PPP is a damn good place because of Scott Wheeler and all the other people who made the place what it is long before I came along.

There is no such person as PPP

The staff aren’t a collective voice or a hive mind. We have divergent opinions and tastes about everything to do with hockey (and every other topic). And yet, as people do, we’ve collected ourselves into a group that leans in a certain direction.  The wider membership of the site is the same.  That’s not likely to change.

New boss, same as the old boss

However, if you thought this was going to be a whole new PPP full of exciting changes, innovation and drama, well... I hope you’ve learned your lesson.  Bloggers are all slackers at heart.

Not much is going to change.  After all, we haven’t recovered from nu formak trauma yet, have we?

To email support to report bugs, offer feedback on the site or to ask for help: support@sbnation.com

The next month or so is going to be exciting, and might be one of the most important periods in the Leafs’ rebuild, and we’ll be here, having wrong opinions and finding facts and telling stories and arguing about all of it.

When all this drafting and free agent stuff is done, we will have our Top 25 Under 25.  It will get underway in July, date to be nailed down soon.

Speaking of Mods

Hockey is fun, you know.  And arguing about hockey should be fun.  But sometimes, we are all imperfect and get carried away.

If one of our staff tells you to chill, do it.  This is never a personal attack on you, and it is very rare for a staff member to issue a warning of any kind without discussing it with the rest of us.  If you’re new here, you should read our welcome post.

Sometimes, though rarely, I just delete comments silently.  If you’ve written something that I think could hurt someone to read, I’ll just make it go poof.  I always assume you had no bad intentions. I never think you mean to harm anyone.  Not unless you’ve turned troll, and then I’ll ban your ass.

Whining that there’s a women’s hockey post, OMG, on the front page is an instant delete, however.

I have very little no patience for endless discussions about should that mod have said that thing to that commenter that one time, and that wasn’t fair, and geez, I think they should of done this instead, blah, blah, ad infinitum.  This kind of rules lawyering is not going to do be allowed to drag on, and all you’re doing, intent notwithstanding, is undermining the mod’s position.

This is an easy problem to solve. If you have a genuine issue to discuss, email me.  Shouting at the ref from the bench does not actually get you want you want, and I will always back my people. Always. My team is my team, and we aren’t perfect either.  But everyone on staff here always has my support.

Blogging is fun, you know.  Well, you do know that, because you are the reason that PPP is what it is.  Carry on as you are.

From The Branches