Cheap Trick Is Playing The Wild-Blackhawks Stadium Series Game

I am usually super critical of the decisions that the NHL makes about musical performances at their major events. It's not just hockey really, because I do it for basically every sporting event because I'm an asshole.

.@cheaptrick to headline entertainment for #StadiumSeries in Minnesota. More: https://t.co/NE87Iok2rd pic.twitter.com/ztcStSJkxg

— NHL (@NHL) February 18, 2016

So basically, we get a main show of I Want You To Want Me, Surrender, Dream Police, and maybe The Flame?

I'm not going to say that show will suck, but I'm sure we're all thinking it. That's what we're left with then they insist of using hometown musical talent - we get Dierks Bentley and a bunch of no-name country singers at the All-Star Game, and we get a 40 year old band from a suburb of Chicago for the outdoor Wild-Blackhawks game. Typical NHL bias, including the 'Hawks in every outdoor game every played and also giving them home field advantage during the halftime show.

 Who could the NHL have gotten instead? I mean, they basically had their pick of every band from the whole state of Minnesota and chose Cheap Trick - from Rockford, Illinois - instead.

The nominees, with four-song set lists that should all be at least as good as Cheap Trick:

Semisonic (from Minneapolis)

Set list: Closing Time, Closing Time, Closing Time, Closing Time

This would be the best intermission show of all time. How freakin' incredible would it be if Semisonic came out and just played their only song four times in a row?

They could mix in some guest artists, like maybe a Travis Barker drum solo or a Skrillex guitar solo, and the whole thing would generate so much buzz that hockey twitter would probably implode.

Motion City Soundtrack (from Minneapolis)

Set list: ???

For some reason, I thought this was a band that had some popular songs. I was mistaken, and they would without a doubt be worse than Cheap Trick or Simple Plan or anyone else that was considered. Sorry, let's move on.

Haley Bonar (from Duluth and St. Paul)

I'm not even going to pretend to know any of her songs, but she was on the list of Minnesotan musicians that I found, and her last name is enjoyable. Plus just look at this girl, know that she's a talented musician, and tell me why she landed on being a folk singer instead of going the Taylor Swift/Katy Perry route and becoming a superstar.

Haley Bonar - remember the name (as long as she fires the shit out of her agent and rebrands herself).

Bob Dylan (born in Duluth)

Set list: The Times They Are A-Changin' (Radko Gudas tribute montage), Like A Rolling Stone, Tangled Up In Blue, All Along The Watchtower (with a Tim Reynolds solo to close it out)

One of the best of all time, and he'd be performing in his home state. I think the one knock on Dylan here, besides the fact that he's like 1000000% above the NHL's budget, is he's more mellow than the usually-intense game of hockey.

Prince (born in Minneapolis)

Set list: Let's Go Crazy, Kiss, Purple Rain, When Doves Cry

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that Prince would make for the best halftime show in history? Wait, what's that? He already did rock out the best halftime show ever?

Prince is the greatest. 

The Flyers Should Trade For Ryan Suter

..okay, not actually. Because he's on my list of players that I don't think we could acquire without trading the captain, and that's not something we should even consider doing. Sorry for the clickbait.

But there was a post this afternoon on SB Nation about Ryan Suter not being happy with his situation in Minnesota. Basically, Suter is a left-handed shot. He's been paired Jonas Brodin recently, and his issue is that Brodin is also a left-handed shot.

That apparently causes issues for Suter (even though he just signed a contract that pays him $98 million), because his partner is thus playing on the weak side. It's easiest to see when you think of a team set up in the offensive zone, or preparing for a breakout from the defensive zone. You always want both defenseman to have their forehand toward the boards, but it's impossible to set up a roster that can always make that happen.

Flyers reference - here are our current pairs:

• Del Zotto (lefty) and Gudas (righty)
• Schultz (lefty) and Schenn (righty)
• Gostisbehere (lefty) and Medvedev/Manning (both lefty)
• PP1: Gostisbehere (lefty) and Voracek (lefty)
• PP2: Del Zotto (lefty) and Medvedev/Manning (both lefty)

The first impulse move I'm making right now if I'm Dave Hakstol is swapping Schultz and Ghost, and then immediately looking to trade Schultz for a right-handed shot (or waiving him and sending him to Lehigh Valley in favor of Mark Alt). 

Maybe we should just let it be, though. We have too many left handed shots, and Mark Streit's return won't help because he's a lefty too. Maybe we can swap him for a young right-handed defenseman at the deadline, because it's not something that will be alleviated when Sanheim and Provorov - both also lefties - join the big club. It's only going to get more crowded on that side. 

The Ghost/Manning and Ghost/Meddy lines prove that it's not absolutely necessary to play on your strong side, but that definitely benefits the DZ/Gudas and Sch/Sch pairings. 

This situation also underlines just how much of a baby Ryan Suter is. I mean he's complaining about playing with a Twenty-Two Year Old Future Star Defenseman. Brodin would immediately be our top d-man, or would at least challenge MDZ for the honor. Let Suter trade places with Del Zotto and see if he can carry Gudas around for 25 minutes per game. 

Perhaps Suter is a little disgruntled that he's on a team paying 31, 32, and 33 year old forwards and a 30 year old defensemen (all with No Movement Clauses) a combined $26.4 million per year for this year and next year and that team is just 11-7-4 (12 points behind in their division) and on a three game losing streak. That take could be a little hot, but it's a small reminded that things could always be worse than Philadelphia.