Mike

you're wrong. Ladd/Little/Wheeler is a 2nd line at best. Scheifele is a young player and as a result still prone to inconsistency, Frolik is a 2nd liner at best and Kane is the only guy who can be a legit first liner, but again still a young player and not elite so prone to some inconsistency. Then the bottom 6 really is lacking. Their defense has got some pretty good potential but again, Trouba is a rookie so you can't rightly expect him to be doing too much, Byfuglien has always and will always be inconsistent in his effort level, Enstrom is good but more offensive minded than defensive, Bogosian is servicable on a top pair but not much more than that and other than that very uninspiring. Seriously compare it to other western teams and you really start to see how lacking it is. http://www.arcticicehockey.com/2013/8/20/4628136/winnipeg-jets-andrew-ladd-blake-wheeler-bryan-little And yes, I know this focuses on the East. But really, they're not as bad as people try and state. Have they been a bit off this year? To say the least. But I'm willing to see what Maurice does with them.

I don't think our top end talent is that far off, to be honest. Ladd/Little/Wheeler is a better line than people give them credit for and Scheifele/Kane/Frolik are meshing well enough. It's the bottom six (five, since I'm going to cut Olli Jokinen a break) that are junk and our defense just struggles with consistency from game to game. Oh and then obviously the goaltending. Pavelec is just not a good NHL caliber goaltender.

How can Hamilton sell that to their fanbase after a Grey Cup appearance?

if they didn't make a difference why would we even hire for those positions?

It's easy to make reasonable assumptions. Most of our coaching staff is set. We will have one of Collaros, Willy or Burris at QB. Likely sign a few free agents and bring in some new bodies from down south to compete. Looks like everyone wants to be difficult here so feel free to lock this thread. Honestly, and again I'm not trying to be difficult, I have no idea how to assume anything about this club right now. I have no idea if we'll see guys like Jovon or Stewart back. No clue if we're going to run with Will Ford or bring in a starter from college. Even the familiar faces are full of question marks right now so it's just so hard to have any idea.

I don't really know what my expectations are, it's just tough to see until the lineup is built. If you're asking for expectations for a performance from the roster I see in front of me right now, I'd say it's very likely we could win 1 or 2 games. Do we even have a 42 man roster under contract at this point?

Seems like a lot of people have a defeatist attitude regarding Henoc.

He was signed by a team that has worse NI depth at receiver than us, so what are you on about?

I'm starting to get a little nervous. Where would you rather go ...to a team that just went to the Grey Cup or the circus Winnipeg has become? Not just about dollars and term. Really depends. Most quarterbacks probably think they're good enough to be a difference maker. I doubt they're as dependent on past history when it comes to making decisions.

I will say this about Kavis Reed ... if he can coach in an environment where he doesn't have to be THE loud guy, THE noticeable one that wears his emotions on his sleeve ... he might just impress. And I think that Winnipeg is going to be that type of environment. Kavis struggles with motivating. But he's a good coach.

lol @ the French logo being the opposite. ps is it called TD PLACE

Two of the names that have recently come into focus ... current Hamilton DC Orlondo Steinauer and current Hamilton DL coach Dennis McPhee. EDIT: for DC, I meant.

Noel is a major problem if you ask me. At what point do you start to wonder if the players are too entitled or if it's the coach who is simply a problem? Burmistrov left town because of Noel. Kane has feuded with him in the media. Ladd chirps him in practice. At what point do these stop being coincidences and do we look at the common denominator in all of these situations? His system doesn't seem to work, he's not consistent with just about ANYTHING regarding this team. We let other teams dictate how we are going to play instead of forcing them to play Jets hockey. He seems, at times, to choose his line combinations via names from a hat. He doesn't treat the players equally in terms of consequences for unstellar play. He doesn't do anything to allow young players to build confidence in themselves. And on top of all of that, he won't sit James Wright in the press box which I think is the worst infraction of all. That guy wouldn't have a spot on my beer league team with his offensive zone skills.

Which team owns his neg list rights? I would guess based on the fact that he's being contacted by three teams, nobody owns his rights.

Winnipeg one of three CFL teams showing an interest in Ohio Bobcats QB Tyler Tettleton. Montreal and Hamilton also after him.

Meant starters, not role players. And I would go as high as 15. You definitely took a bizarre approach to making it clear you meant only our starters. Next time, try not to emphasize the words ENTIRE TEAM if you mean half of it.

It would be less than 10 players? You're ridiculous. You mean to tell me that you think there are only 10 players on our team who could offer an improvement to someone's roster in ANY way, shape or form? I'd put the number closer to about 30-35. Just off the top of my head, Hall ... Ford ... Denmark ... Watson ... Etienne ... Poblah ... Kelly ... Greaves ... January ... Edwards ... Pencer ... Swiston ... Matthews ... Anderson ... Turner ... Gilmore ... Neufeld ... Mainor ... Muamba ... Wild ... Washington ... Dunn ... Jovon ... Sears ... Stewart ... Suber ... Pontbriand ... Volny ... Markett ... Kohlert (since you said before the expansion draft) ... Jones ... Thomas ... Peach ... Parenteau ... Lucas. There's 35 players who are no doubt NOT on their last job in the CFL unless they retire. If you had said major difference makers or guys who could START, maybe you'd have an argument. Maybe what you should have said was 10 players who would have an equal role to the one they have here. But guys who wouldn't make it onto active rosters as backups, special teams roleplayers, etc? Think again.

Jabari Arthur may have something to say about that. Just kidding.

Personally, I don't think it should matter if the ball is catchable or not. Interfering with the receiver should be called even if it's on the back side of the play IMHO. See the infraction. Throw the flag would make it a lot easier call for the refs who have to make determinations in probably in less than a second. It would also eliminate the 'but the ball wasn't even catchable' as well as the 'if he didn't interfere the receiver might have made it to the ball' arguments. I know I'm going to see the 'It doesn't affect the play if it's away from the ball' argument, but thats just letting the DB's away with cheating and the receiver may have been part of the play, but the QB went to the next read because of the interference. I'd also like to see the offensive PI called more. Lots of receivers push off while the ball is in the air and the almost never get called. So call it illegal contact on a receiver. I don't think they should ignore it if it happens, but call it properly. If a DB is manhandling a wideout but the ball is overthrown by a mile, then yeah .. it should be a 10 yard penalty, the ball shouldn't be placed at the spot of the foul.

Another thing they really need to improve their judgment on is what actually constitutes a catchable ball.

I guess if the definition of rookie has changed since I last looked, you may have a valid point. I'll look into it.

Siddall is Canadian (Winnipegger, actually) and Morris is American. PS Tracey is not a rookie.

Funny because he'd be one of my examples of why Howell wasn't a good coach. Maybe I need to reconsider.

As per official Bomber Twitter. Well ... I am underwhelmed heavily by us retaining Howell. Yet ANOTHER Canadian though. Hopefully I've just been wrong about his performance as a coach and a good QB will make it clear that he is capable of doing the job.

They're trying to drum up any interest they can. Wouldn't be surprised if they have a presser for Brendan Dunn where he comes out and rips his shirt off before motioning to the crowd for them to get loud.