from Sean McIndoe of Grantland,

So here are a few suggested New Year’s resolutions for hockey fans to consider. Pick one or two. Pick them all. Or pick none of them and just berate me in the comments. [Adds “stop being thin-skinned about the comments” to personal resolutions list.]

Wait, where were we? [Adds “stop overusing that distracting third-person device” to personal resolutions list.] Right, the resolutions. Here are 10 suggestions for your consideration....

Let’s just agree to stop being shocked by the extensions that pending UFAs get

Does your favorite team have a pending UFA or two? Want a little spoiler on how that’s going to work out? Lean in close, because here’s the scoop … He’s going to get way more than you thought he’d get.

They always do. The salary cap will keep going up, the new eight-year max on extensions will push annual salaries higher, the ban on front-loading will push cap hits higher still, and if you could hook him up to a lie detector, the typical NHL GM would admit he just doesn’t care about his team’s cap situation in 2020 because he knows it won’t be his problem. No matter how bad you thought the last UFA extension was, the next one will be worse. Just accept it.

And yes, that whole paragraph was just a thinly disguised message to the future-me once Phil Kessel gets his extension. Which I will still freak out over, by the way. I hope you enjoy the 10,000-word post that goes up eight minutes after he signs, since I already have it 90 percent finished.

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