Here's How the NHL Can Fix Its LTIR Embarrassment

By now it's become something of a punch line within the ranks of NHL front office executives. Need more cap space? Simple, just put one of your players on long-term injured reserve. Problem solved.

It worked so well for the Tampa Bay Lightning that they tried it twice. At the start of the 2020-21 season, GM Julien BriseBois placed Nikita Kucherov and his $9.5 million cap hit on LTIR for the entire regular season, thus allowing the Lightning to be under the salary cap.  But once the postseason began, Kucherov made a remarkable recovery. I don't know what's in the water down in Tampa, but ole Kuch led his team in scoring with 32 points in 23 playoff games.

During the ensuing offseason, BriseBois decided he couldn't count on one of his players coming down with a strong case of injuritis so he traded Tyler Johnson and his $5 million cap hit to the Chicago Blackhawks for Brent Seabrook, who, by the way, hasn't played an NHL game since midway thru the 2019-20 season and whose career, for all intents and purposes, is likely over. Seabrook, in case you're wondering, carries a cap hit of $6.875 million, all of which goes on, you guessed it, LTIR.

Now you know why BriseBois is the best GM in the league, as far as I'm concerned. No other executive manipulates the system as brilliantly as he does, all with the tacit approval of the suits who work at 1185 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY. 

Well, almost no one. Kelly McCrimmon of the Vegas Golden Knights borrowed a page out of BriseBois's playbook over the summer when he traded Evgeni Dadonov and his $5 million cap hit to the Montreal Canadiens for Shea Weber. Like Seabrook, Weber hasn't played in at least a year, which means his entire $7.85 million cap hit goes on LTIR. When the Golden Knights traded for Jack Eichel last season, Eichel was on LTIR. In order to activate him, McCrimmon was forced to move Mark Stone to LTIR. Talk about musical chairs.

If this charade weren't so embarrassing, it would be comical. The NHL, in its infinite lunacy, has not only failed to close a loophole in its LTIR policy; it is giving a wink and a nod to teams that are ostensibly gaming the system in order to get a leg up on their rivals. As for the damage such ambivalence is causing to the league's reputation, well we are, after all, talking about the NHL: the only professional sport in North America that still tolerates fighting and allows its top stars to be mauled, all to appease a fanbase that looks upon the Broadstreet Bullies as the Golden Era of Hockey.

If the NHL really wanted to fix its LTIR embarrassment, these are the steps I would immediately consider implementing.

1. The LTIR would be eliminated altogether. In its place, each team would be allowed to carry a reserve fund of $10 million to be used to replace players who sustain season-ending injuries. If, for example, the Rangers were to lose the services of Artemi Panarin for the season, Chris Drury would have upwards of $10 million to spend on a replacement without having to worry about going over the salary cap.

Teams would also be permitted to use part of that reserve fund to acquire players they feel would improve their team. However, for every dollar spent on one of those players, two dollars would be subtracted from the fund. For instance, if the Rangers wanted to acquire Patrick Kane from the Chicago Blackhawks at 50 percent retention, they would use up the entire $10 million reserve fund plus be on the hook for the remaining $250,000. They also would be shit out of luck if one of their players went down for the season.

See how this works? The league gives each team the same amount of money to work with and says to them, use this money as you see fit. Those who know how to spend their money responsibly will flourish; those who don't will suffer. But the shenanigans will finally be over.

Since I don't for a minute believe Gary Bettman and the Board of Governors will ever agree to this, let's proceed to the following steps.

2. Any player that goes on LTIR during the season must be activated at least five games PRIOR to end of the regular season in order to be eligible for the postseason. If a team does not have sufficient cap space to accommodate the return of said player than it must create that space by moving another player or players off its active roster. If the salary cap is $83.5 million during the regular season, it's $83.5 million during the playoffs. In other words, the Kucherov maneuver is now kaput.

3. A player who is on LTIR cannot be traded either during or after the season. In order to be traded, that player must be eligible to play the moment the trade is consummated. Trading contracts simply to get cap relief will no longer be allowed.

4. To avoid any ambiguity as to what constitutes eligibility, the player in question must have played in at least five games during the regular season and be examined by a league physician prior to the trade. He also cannot be placed on LTIR immediately upon his acquisition. In other words, no more "Gee, he was healthy when he got here and now, look at him, he can't play" horse shit. Either you're eligible to play or you're not.

5. Teams that violate this new league policy will be subject to any or all of the following: 

• The full amount of the cap hit will be subtracted from the team's salary cap the following season.
• The team will lose the services of said player for the entirety of the playoffs.
• The team will forfeit a draft pick or picks to be determined by the Commissioner's office.

Wow, that's pretty strict. You bet your ass it's strict. And it will send a message loud and clear to every general manager throughout the league. If you can't manage your cap, get a new job.

I submit that the vast majority of teams will have no problem complying. Teams like Tampa Bay and particularly Vegas, who are still over the cap and have only 16 players on the active roster, are going to have to rethink how they conduct their business.

The bottom line is that this has become an eyesore that the NHL can no longer afford to ignore. The powers that be have got to put an end to it.

Drury Needs To Lock Up Lafreniere ASAP!

While we "patiently" wait for Kaapo Kakko to come back from wherever he is and sign his extension, believed to be a two-year bridge deal worth between $2 and $2.5 million, another ticking time bomb is one year away from possibly going off.

Let me put this as plainly as I can. Chris Drury cannot afford to let Alexis Lafreniere become an RFA next summer. If that happens, if Lafreniere hits the free agent market, there is absolutely no doubt that a team will sign him to an offer sheet. You can bet the ranch on it; in fact, you can bet every ranch in the state of Texas and Montana on it.

How do I know this? Because Jesperi Kotkaniemi was the third overall pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2018 and after his entry-level contract was over, the Carolina Hurricanes signed him to a one-year, $6.1 million offer sheet. Lafreniere was the first overall pick of the Rangers in 2020, and if you do a side-by-side comparison of both players after only their second season, Lafreniere has more goals and points than Kotkaniemi. Furthermore, Lafreniere appears poised to have a break out season, especially if he plays on the Zibanejad line. There are those in the organization who believe the winger has the potential of becoming one of the team's best forwards. No one in Montreal thought that about Kotkaniemi during his tenure there.

Now I know what you're thinking. The offer sheet to Kotkaniemi was just payback by the Hurricanes for Montreal signing Sebastian Aho to an $8.45 million offer sheet back in 2019; an offer sheet that they were forced to match, mind you. And we all know that payback's a bitch, right? No way a rival GM would ever do that to the Rangers. Oh, really? Perhaps we should run that by Jeff Gorton and John Davidson. Both men were once employed by James Dolan before he unceremoniously fired them last year. Gorton now runs the Montreal Canadiens while Davidson runs the Columbus Blue Jackets. How do you spell "fuck you" in hockey? O-F-F-E-R S-H-E-E-T, that's how.

Wow, that's pretty cynical, wouldn't you say? To think that Gorton and Davidson would be that petty. Are you fucking kidding me? If I were them, I'd hire a messenger to deliver the offer sheet to Dolan personally with the inscription, "Blow me, asshole!" written at the bottom. Then I'd call up Drury and say, "Sorry, man, it's not about you."

So what kind of deal should Drury dangle in front of Lafreniere? The same kind of deal Kotkaniemi got from the Hurricanes after his one-year offer sheet deal expired: $4.8 million x eight years. That's a shit-load of money, Peter. Well, yes and no. Up front, it's a lot, but down the road, if Lafreniere turns out to be the player we all believe he can be, it'll be the steal of the decade. Seriously, how much do you think wingers who average 25 to 30 goals will earn in a couple of years? A helluva lot more than $4.8 million, that's for damn sure. Think about it: Chris Kreider makes $6.5 million a year and he just had the first 30 plus goal season of his career. Trust me, in a couple of years, Drury will look like a genius for inking this contract.

How would locking up Lafreniere to a $4.8 million, eight-year contract starting in 2023-24 affect Drury's ability to re-sign his other RFAs like K'Andre Miller and Filip Chytil? Admittedly, it'll be tough. Drury may have to choose between the two. Personally, I'd keep Miller. The upside on him is far greater and, let's face it, you can always find an affordable 3C out there for between $2.5 and $3 million that could easily replace Chytil. Defensemen with Miller's skillset don't grow on trees.

The reality is that this roster will look radically different after the 2023-24 season anyway. Jacob Trouba's NMC converts to a NTC, which means the Rangers wouldn't need his permission to trade him. Also Ryan Lindgren's contract is up, and while he has been one of the hardest working defensemen on the team, it is unlikely that Drury would re-sign him. That's $11 million more in the kitty to sign other, younger players. Drury's ultimate goal should be that never again would he, or any future GM, be forced to send out a letter to the fans informing them that the Rangers are being torn down and rebuilt. You get one mulligan for that as an organization.

One!

Memo To Steve Cohen: Get Soto!

Let me first just go on record right now and say that the salaries of major league baseball players these days are completely out of control and insane. There's simply no justification for them. None. Seriously, when a ballplayer who's barely hitting his weight is making $10 to $15 million a year, and a family of four has to scrape together $300 to $400 to watch him play in person, there's something profoundly wrong with America's national pastime.

The sport I grew up loving has been irrevocably harmed over the last couple of decades by greed. The stars always took center stage, but there was at least a grudging acknowledgment that they owed, if not their fame, than certainly their wealth to the patrons who frequented the ballparks or watched them from the comfort of their home. The money didn't grow on trees, that much they knew.

Those days are long gone. Today's professional athletes act as if the money that shows up in their checking accounts comes from some magical printing press. They are oblivious to the long-term consequences their bloated salaries are causing, not just to their own integrity, but to the integrity of the very game itself.

It is a system that is unsustainable, and deep down everyone knows it. Sooner or later, the breaking point will be reached. Fans will simply stop coming out to the ballpark; they won't be able to afford it anymore. The Law of Elasticity will eventually kick in and have the last laugh with these athletes. It is inevitable.

But it will not happen this year, nor is it likely to for several years to come. For the time being, baseball remains a top heavy sport in which the richest franchises have a built-in advantage over their poorer counterparts. Without a salary cap to constrain them, like the NHL, NFL and NBA currently have, baseball owners are ostensibly allowed to spend like drunken sailors on a three-day pass. 

And one of those drunken sailors - Steve Cohen - happens to have the wherewithal to buy his own fleet of ships if he prefers. George Steinbrenner ain't got nothing on this guy. The Mets owner has already gone full bore on contracts for Francisco Lindor and Max Scherzer to the tune of $341 million and $130 million respectively; the former over ten years, the latter over three. And he's made it abundantly clear to his general manager Billy Eppler, that there's more where that came from should the opportunity to improve the roster present itself. Mets fans haven't been this giddy since they heard the Wilpons were selling the team.

That is certainly good news to Juan Soto, currently playing right field for the Washington Nationals. Since the Nats decided to go into full rebuild mode, their home park has resembled a morgue. The 23 year-old phenom has made it abundantly clear he wants out and just rejected a 15-year $440 million offer that was heavily backloaded to stay in Washington. That means he is officially on the trade block.

Let's cut to the chase. There are maybe three or four teams that can afford to sign Soto. The Mets, the Yankees and the Dodgers are the top three, and the Phillies are the fourth, but owner John Middleton may have over-extended himself a bit in Philly. Plus, he's already got plenty of hitting; it's his pitching that sucks. The Dodgers, after pilfering Freddie Freeman from the Atlanta Braves, had to defer $57 million of the $162 million they are paying him over six years. I doubt they have the resources to reel in a fish as big as Soto.

That means it's between the Mets and the Yankees. The Bronx Bombers have for decades been the big spenders in town. While the Metropolitans had to be content to eat chop steak, the Yankees were dining on Filet Mignon. But now, for the first time in their respective histories, it's the National League franchise whose pockets appear to be deeper. Let's not forget that Cohen was willing to write off $45 million of his own money just to rid the team of Robinson Cano's contract. You know any other owners who have that kind of disposable income?

And the Yankees may have a much bigger problem than just Steve Cohen's ego to contend with. Their mega star Aaron Judge rejected a contract offer that would've paid him $30.5 million a year over seven years. He will become a free agent after the season. The bidding for his services will start at $400 million for ten years. And I do mean start. It could go as high as half a billion. With Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton already making $36 million and $29 million a year respectively, not even George himself would have the stomach to take on another big contract.

Which leaves the Mets in the driver's seat, as it were. All that's needed to bring Soto to Flushing is a) for  Eppler to be willing to part with the top prospects in the system, including Francisco Alvarez, as well as one or two position players on the team, and b) for Cohen to remember to bring his check book with him.

That's it: the richest franchise in baseball with the prospects available to make this a done deal. Cohen would be nuts not to do it. And as for the argument that Soto isn't worth that kind of money, who is? Is Lindor worth $341 million? Is Scherzer worth $130 million? Will Judge be worth $450 million? Don't be ridiculous; no one is worth that kind of money. But like it or not, that is what they are fetching these days.

The truth is if Scott Boras tells Steve Cohen that the price to ensure Juan Soto will be patrolling right field for the Mets for the next 15 years is $500 million, then that's the price. Cohen has the money, he just has to pony it up. Imagine a lineup with Lindor, Soto and Pete Alonso in it, and a pitching rotation with Scherzer and Jacob deGrom at the top.

With the exception of the 1980s, the Mats have played second fiddle to the Yankees. With Steve Cohen at the helm, they finally have a chance to buy the whole fucking orchestra. Excuse me if I don't seem overly concerned about appearances right now.

As for the tab, don't worry about it. Tomorrow will get here soon enough.

It's Time for the Rangers to Move on From Ryan Reaves

Let's be honest here: If Ryan Reaves had been a Ranger during the 2020-21 season, there's no way in hell Tom Wilson would've slammed Artemi Panarin to the ice like a rag doll. There's also no way in hell the Islanders would've manhandled the Blueshirts three straight down the stretch, outscoring them a combined 13-1. The word around the NHL was that the Rangers were soft. And that was putting it mildly.

Reaves' arrival in the summer of 2021 sent a clear and unambiguous message that the days of this team being a patsy were over. From his first shift on opening night, he hit everything in his path. And on those rare occasions when a player who obviously didn't get the memo foolishly decided to take him on, he would glare back at him as if to say, "Dude, you have a choice: you can die of old age or right here and now. Your call." Fortunately, most reconsidered.

Ryan Reaves did his job. This team is respected around the league. Better still, every player in that locker room stands up for each other. When someone is challenged, the whole team responds. I haven't seen a locker room this tight and together since the days when Mark Messier donned a Rangers uniform. Mission accomplished, as far as I'm concerned.

But the sad truth is that if you watched Reaves in the postseason, it was clear that the spirit was willing but the flesh just wasn't up to the task. He was slow, and I mean slow like 1970s Nick Fotiu slow. He was so out of position that he eventually became a defensive liability in his own zone. Frankly, I wasn't surprised that he was a healthy scratch the last couple of games in the Lightning series.

The way the game is played these days you need to be quick on the puck and possess the skills necessary to help your team win. You don't have to be a 20 or 30 goal scorer, but you have to at least keep the other team honest. Apart from his physical prowess, Reaves doesn't do a single thing that can help this team get to the next level, which at this point must be winning the Stanley Cup. He doesn't kill penalties, he's useless four on four, and don't even think about putting him out there on the power play.

With the signing of Vincent Trocheck and the soon to be, any day now, keep your shirt on extension of Kaapo Kakko, the Rangers will have less than $1 million in available cap space if they elect to go with twenty-two players on the roster: thirteen forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies. That's cutting it pretty close. To put that in perspective, last season, the Rangers had the most cap space of any playoff team in the league. That allowed Chris Drury to go shopping for Frank Vatrano, Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte and Justin Braun. I need not remind you what contributions those players made to last season's playoff drive.

Obviously, this season presented challenges for Drury that required some creativity on his part. In addition to finding a replacement for Ryan Strome and extending Kakko, there were the new contracts for Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox that were kicking in this season to the tune of $8.5 million and $9.5 million respectively. Fortunately, Henrik Lundqvist's buyout was over, so that gave him $1.5 million to play with. There was also the trade of Alex Georgiev to the Avalanche that freed up an additional $2.4 million, $1.5 of which went to Jaroslav Halak. With the Coyotes agreeing to take Patrick Nemeth's contract off his hands, Drury at least had a fighting chance of putting a good team out on the ice.

But no matter how much he sharpens his pencil, there's simply no math that allows Drury to keep Reaves on this team, not if he plans on being active at the trade deadline, which I presume he will be.

If you look at Capfriendly, the way you calculate deadline cap space is by taking the available cap space and multiplying it by 4.65. So a team with, say, $1 million in available cap space would be able to take on $4.65 million in contracts at the trade deadline. With Reaves on the team, Drury would only have about $3 million in deadline cap space. With him gone and a cheaper replacement on the roster, that amount would go up to $7 million.

Why does that matter? Let's say it's March, and Patrick Kane is still a Chicago Blackhawk, and the Rangers are flirting with the best record in the Eastern Conference. Drury places a call to Kyle Davidson to inquire what it would take to pry him away. The two agree on the compensation, but Davidson balks at retaining 50 percent of Kane's cap hit. He wants at least 60 percent and informs Drury he has two other teams that are willing to meet his demands. 60 percent of $10.5 million comes out to $6.3 million. 

Beginning to get the picture? If Drury doesn't have enough deadline cap space, Kane goes to another team, perhaps one in the Eastern Conference like, say, the Carolina Hurricanes. Imagine losing a best of seven playoff series because your opponent was able to snatch up one of the better forwards in the game. Drury cannot let that happen. If there is anyway to get Kane into a Rangers uniform that doesn't involve giving up key assets, he must do it. 

Look, Ryan Reaves has been a solid citizen in the Rangers locker room. He has done everything the organization has asked of him. But it's time to move on. In the era of the flat salary cap where every dollar counts, $1.75 million can better be spent elsewhere, like the final piece on a Stanley Cup championship.

Drury Knocks It Out of the Park

Going into Wednesday afternoon, Chris Drury knew two things: 1. Andrew Copp was likely going to sign a multi-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings; and 2. Evgeni Malkin had agreed to a four year extension to remain with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The latter was significant because it meant that Drury's number one target in this year's free agent draft, Vincent Trocheck, was his for the taking, provided he could come to the table with an acceptable offer.

With only about $10 million in available cap space and knowing he still had to re-sign Kaapo Kakko and find a backup goaltender and a fourth-line center, the Rangers President and GM rolled up his sleeves and went to work. In the end, the two sides reached an agreement: $5.625 million x 7 years. While the term was longer than Drury would've preferred to go, it was necessary to keep the dollar amount manageable. Anything above $6 million and Drury would likely have walked away and gone with Filip Chytil as his 2C next season.

Does Trocheck make the Rangers a better team? In a word, yes. Unlike Ryan Strome and Copp, Trocheck is one of the better two-way centers in the league. He's good in all three zones, is quick on the puck, isn't afraid to park himself in front of the net and - this is crucial - wins face-offs; 52.1 percent over his career. The one knock on him is that he's not a particularly gifted scorer, but then he's never played with someone as talented as Artemi Panarin before.

It cannot be overstated the impact Panarin can have on a player's stats. For instance, before his arrival in New York, Ryan Strome averaged 35 points per season. Since he was paired with Panarin three years ago, his season average has gone up to 54 points, and one of those seasons (2020-21) was shortened by the pandemic. During his brief stint with the Blueshirts, Andrew Copp scored 18 points in 16 regular season games. Before that, he was a half a point per game player at best. Having a world-class playmaker on your line has its advantages. Now those advantages will be Trocheck's to enjoy.

But while the Trocheck signing was significant, Drury wasn't done, not by a long shot. He found someone to take Patrik Nemeth's contract off his hands. When the Rangers failed to exercise their option to buy out the defenseman the day before, the feeling was that maybe he could be sent to Hartford, thus giving the team a modicum of cap relief. Instead, Drury pawned Nemeth off on the Arizona Coyotes. The price? A 2025 second-rounder and a future conditional pick. He even managed to swindle the Yotes out of a prospect to complete the deal: Ty Emberson, K'Andre Miller's defense partner from his Wisconsin days.

Just like that, $2.5 million in cap space was freed up; cap space that Drury then used to sign backup goalie Jaroslav Halak ($1.5m x 1) and center Ryan Carpenter ($750k x 1). For shits and giggles he even signed Pens third-string goalie Louie Domingue - yeah, that Louis Domingue - to fill out the Hartford roster. Assuming Kakko re-ups for $2.3 million, and assuming the Rangers elect to go with only 21 players on their roster, they would have about $1.5 million in cap space when all is said and done. And that will be important should Drury wish to add a player at the trade deadline.

I will be compiling a list of winners and losers in this year's free agency class. Suffice to say, the Rangers, thanks to Chris Drury, will be among the winners.

Thanks for the Memories, Keith

There are two dates that will always live in the hearts and minds of Mets fans everywhere: June 15, 1977 and June 15, 1983. The former was the date that Tom Seaver was traded away to the Cincinnati Reds for a collection of players that were little better than triple A prospects. The latter marked the arrival of Keith Hernandez from the St. Louis Cardinals.

The years in between represented the darkest period in Mets history. Not even the first seven years of the franchise's storied existence (1962-68), in which they were known as lovable losers, comes close. At least those teams had an excuse. There was no excuse for what this fanbase had to endure from 1977 thru 1983.

It is difficult to explain to anyone who wasn't alive at the time just how depressing it was being a Mets fan during that period. They weren't just bad, they were the laughingstock of professional baseball. And what made it even more humiliating was the fact that the hated Yankees were winning World Series titles just across Flushing Bay.

After principal owner Joan Payson died in 1975, her daughter Linda de Roulette took over the day to day operations of the team and drove it right into the ground. Three times they flirted with losing a hundred games (1977, '79 & '82) and three times the baseball gods took pity on them. When the team was finally sold at the end of the '79 season, it took the new ownership group three years just to replenish the pipeline with talent, that's how bare the cupboard was.

When Whitey Herzog traded his gold-glove first baseman to the Mets in June of '83, the prevailing logic was that he was exiling him to the baseball equivalent of Siberia. Seriously, this was where ballplayers came to end their careers, not rejuvenate them. That's surely what Hernandez must've thought when he arrived at Shea Stadium.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Siberia. Far from being a graveyard, the Mets were developing some of the best, young talent in the majors. Players like Ron Darling and Darryl Strawberry were already starting to make their mark. And down in Tidewater, a young pitcher by the name of Dwight Gooden was turning heads. Hernandez liked what he saw and signed a five-year contract with the team.

The years 1984 thru 1988 were the most successful in Mets history. Two division titles and a World Series championship. The team averaged 97 wins and set franchise attendance records. For the first time since that miracle year of 1969, the Mets owned the back pages of the New York Post and the Daily News.

It was fun being a Mets fan back then. They were no longer the punch line of every late-night comic. Almost overnight, they went from being a perennial door mat to a contender. They, and not the Yankees, were the toast of the town. But none of that would've been possible if Hernandez had opted to leave after the '83 season, which was his right. His decision to stay gave this franchise something it hadn't had since Seaver was sent packing: respectability.

Hernandez just wasn't a good ball player; he was the consummate professional. He was by far the best first baseman I ever saw play the position. The way he played the game didn't just earn him gold gloves, it earned him the respect of his peers. His teammates saw in him a player who left it all on the field and they wanted to emulate him.

He had grown accustomed to winning in St. Louis and he expected this team to do the same. They came close in '84 and '85, finishing second both times to the Cubs and Cardinals respectively, before finally winning it all in '86. Had it not been for a freak gardening injury that sidelined Bobby Ojeda for the entire '87 season, they most likely would've repeated as World Series champs. And if baseball had had a wild card back then, it's entirely possible they would've made the postseason all five years, that's how good they were.

But I keep coming back to Hernandez. Yes, he had some help. The trades for Ray Knight and Gary Carter gave the Mets one of the most potent lineups in the National League. But apart from Tom Terrific, no other player who's ever worn the orange and blue has meant as much to this franchise as number 17 has. He walked the walk as well as he talked the talk.

That's why it was emotionally gratifying to see Hernandez being honored at Citifield Saturday afternoon by the organization he has been a part of for almost 40 years. It was shameful that Fred and Jeff Wilpon never retired his number. But then what else would you expect from Frick and Frack? If there was a way to screw up a sunset, you could always count on those two knuckleheads to do it. Whatever else you might think about Steve Cohen, he hasn't been shy about what his intentions are regarding this team. Retiring Keith Hernandez's number was the least he could do.

As a Mets fan, I can't thank Hernandez enough for all the double plays he started, the clutch hits he got, the example he set.

To quote the late, great Bob Hope, thanks for the memories, Keith.