Rich

If being the "best team" is what mattered then everyone would celebrate and clamour to win the Presidents Trophy. But they don't. They clamour to win the Stanley Cup. You need to be able to get 16 wins through a gruelling 2 month beat yourself dead marathon. The team with the most talent or best players may not win. But that isn't what a team sport is about. The team that does win was able to come together as a team, make the whole better then the pieces, able to overcome all the adversity, the pain, the ups and the downs, the emotional roller coaster. To be the victor in one of the most gruelling playoffs in professional sports. The team that does that IS the best team. They are the champs. That is what history will show.

Any predictions?

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http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/toronto/gord-downie-cancer-1.3596839

What does having played in the NHL have to do with coaching in the NHL or AHL?

I want the coach who is the better teacher and player developer for my AHL team. I want the coach who can connect with the prospects and prepare them for the professional game. On the ice and off the ice. Which may or may not be the coach with NHL experience.

Not for the original build but it will be expandable down the road if they want to increase capacity. The seats between the goal lines get the highest prices, so if they can fill more of their current attendance in that area, they make more money.

Lawless had an interesting take yesterday where the interview could play a big part on who they take. If they get the feeling the player is a "big lights, big city" type of player who wouldn't be happy in Winnipeg long term, that could factor into them choosing JP over Laine. They don't want an Evander Kane repeat. He wasn't suggesting that was necessarily the case with Laine, but it would be a factor in the decision after the player interviews.. I wonder though how much stock you ultimately put into that if you truly believe one player is better than the other. You basically control an RFA for 8 years. People change a huge amount between 18 and 26.

http://www.bluebombers.com/2016/05/17/bombers-add-two-defensive-linemen/

Winnipeg Blue Bombers Add Defensive BackWINNIPEG, MB., May 17, 2016 - The Winnipeg Blue Bombers today announce the club has signed International defensive back Donald Celiscar. Celiscar (5-11, 195, Western Michigan, October 14, 1991 in Haiti) played four seasons at WMU where he picked up 221 tackles. His interception total increased each season and he finished his collegiate career with ten. As a senior in 2014, Celiscar earned First Team All-MAC honours. He signed with the Indianapolis Colts after going undrafted in 2015.

It would really depend on if Columbus was really partial to one player over the other. In this hypothetical world, IF we have JP ahead of PL, then Columbus might also, so who knows if they would deal. Or they might be happy getting either or in which case they wouldn't be willing to give up a whole lot.

I think there are two reasons: Sentimental. People like to see players they cheered for continue on with the organization in some capacity once age catches up with them. People tend to know the names of ex-players more then up and coming coaches who may or may not be in the CFL currently (especially for positional coaches). So it is rare you will see someone say I would like ______________ to be our next DB coach for a coach who is not a player because most fans don't know who the potential candidates would even be. At the end of the day, the fans don't make the decisions on coaching, so it is a relatively harmless thing to do.

If anyone is interested in two tickets to the pre-season game, send me a PM. First come, first serve.

Interesting, I was under the impression that Matty had pulled him out of football due to concussions. This story was from 2012. https://www.thestar.com/sports/football/argos/2011/04/13/cfl_legend_dunigan_faced_tough_choice_in_concussion_crusade.html

No one was better at the time, that is the point, no competition was brought in. At no point have I said Laine or Ehlers should have been in the 'A'. It is the other prospects that were rushed. As for the 'ripen' and 'supposed' to do it, these are Chevy's words, not mine. But last year he wasn't really following what he has been preaching, which has been the point I've been making in this whole discussion.

Got this email from True North today Link to donate can be found here http://view.tmclient.ticketmaster.com/?qs=fd3d2f9fc928cf4dfe6ce2587dc46c51f618870487b4c8ccac801295d9e1a2af305b7b53adae6f3d5afe8bd6df9e4458a0a7da6df92580fca01d8aa2053705f90dafe735b61252702734b5333f30ab08 Or if you prefer to donate directly to the Red Cross, donation page is here. https://donate.redcross.ca/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1951&ea.campaign.id=50639

Actually the debate isn't at all about resigning Stempniak. I have said I'm perfectly fine with what has happened last year. The debate is about the model that Chevy preached was to let prospect "over ripen" in the AHL before bringing them up to the NHL. And he hasn't done that at all. The argument was he didn't have to be bring all those rookies onto the team this past season when they weren't ready but he did anyway. So has he changed his philosophy and "rushing" rookies in or is this a blip in the radar.

Tlusty - Signed for 1 year @ 800k Stempniak - Signed a PTO because no one would sign him, flipped that into a 1 year @850k Yep, both of those sure look like they are not cap friendly and horrible for the long term. I have no problems with Trouba or Ehlers starting when they did. We should not have started the season with both Copp and Petan in the starting lineup. They were handed those jobs with virtually no competition. Make the kids earn it in the AHL and take a spot on an injury call up. Chevy didn't let Petan ripen in the AHL, he had him penciled in at the beginning of last season and he obviously wasn't ready so he got sent down and we really had no backup plan.

You don't have to trade to fill those spots, you could have signed players like Tlusty and Stempniak to reasonable and short contracts at the end of last season to fill out the bottom part of the roster. They made a conscious choice not to. Also Petan started the year with the Jets, mostly because there was not a better option. He wasn't ready and was sent back down. A few of those vets would have been nice at that point as there wasn't a whole lot there. That lack of depth and experience is a big factor into the season we had. We also moved Ehlers and Copp into the lineup. Thats starting the year with 3 rookies with no AHL experience and no real competition they had to beat out for those jobs. I'm not saying I disagree with those choices moving into last season. I'm okay with taking a step back for a year if it means moving forward two or three. Especially now that we are getting Laine or Mathews, but that was never a guarantee. But those choices are in contrast to one of the tenants Chevy has been preaching, which is to let prospects over ripen in the AHL. Hopefully we now have the depth to really start doing that.

It is an interesting point to discuss, and it does seem counter intuitive to Chevy's "over ripen" in the AHL quotes. At this point though, as guys are on ELC's, we can still afford to see who should actually be in that core going forward. Scheifele looks like he is going to belong, Ehlers is only one year in, and Trouba has been too up and down to say for sure one way or the other. Give Scheifele the long term deal and a bridge to Trouba to see what he really has. I think the Jets have finally gotten to the point where they have a huge amount of depth in the system that some of their prospects HAVE to be in the AHL next year. Petan, Copp, Lowry, Dano, De Leo, Armia, Lemieux .... only room for about 3 of those guys if Connor and Laine (assuming we get Laine) make the team. And if Laine or Connor don't show in training camp, or struggle during the season, there is 3 - 5 guys itching to take their spots. All of those guys are on ELC and waiver exempt, so the competition amongst that group should be immense. We will be able to pick the best of the bunch to become the core and trade the others away similar to Chicago has done to compliment those core pieces. Certainly an argument could be made that we could have signed some short term vets to let these guys play for the Moose a bit longer, and I'm not sure the reason we didn't, but it is definitely one of the reasons we were not a playoff team last year.

From the Regina Police Website http://www.reginapolice.ca/2016/05/regina-male-charged-in-assault/