Mike

I mean ... I’m just curious where you get this idea he’s a beast on ST ... he had one career tackle in college.

And just for fun, even though I've paid like zero attention to the lead-up to tomorrow ... Toronto picks Desjarlais, Hamilton picks McInnis, Edmonton picks Betts, Winnipeg picks Wilkinson and Kongbo and then after that I don't really care. That'd be my prediction/hope.

Agreed, would like to see us pick one of either Kongbo or Betts for sure. We can afford to gamble. Especially because I don't buy into this idea of us needing a receiver like everyone says we do. Even if we want to start 3, I'd rather see us bring back Coates or try and scrap lower rounds for depth - we don't need to blow a first round pick on CDNWR5 when we have Demski, Wolitarsky, Simonise and Petermann.

I hope so.

The reality of the situation is we need to try and turn some of our assets that are up for big money contracts into assets that are undervalued contracts with team control left. I don't know how you do that other than identifying a team with a competitive window that fits that need. With that said, I think if you could get everyone in the same room, I truly think the best fit would probably be some kind of three-way deal with Calgary and Florida. Calgary probably sees a need to add forward depth and they can deal from a position of strength on D (especially if they're adding a guy like Alex Yelesin from the K, which it seems like they are) ... Florida really seems to be a good fit (player and team) for Trouba and Winnipeg could use a team like Calgary to bolster their D corps with the loss of Trouba. Florida gets: Jacob Trouba, James Neal Calgary gets: Vincent Trocheck, Matthieu Perreault Winnipeg gets: Noah Hanifin Add picks/prospects as you see necessary to make the deal work. Why for Florida? They have the cap space to add Trouba and have long been reported to be a team interested in acquiring him - the fit for the player is there too, as Trouba wants to be in Florida with his girlfriend. James Neal is an albatross for Calgary, but he might be a better fit on the wing in Florida for a team that would need to fill a hole on the wing when Huberdeau goes back to the middle to fill the hole left by Trocheck. Gives them a top six of Dadonov-Barkov-Hoffman, Tippett-Huberdeau-Neal and you can still add spare parts in FA with your excess cap space (they should still have around 6-7 million left over and their only real guy they need to give more cash to is Hawryluk) Why not for Florida? Maybe they're not comfortable moving Huberdeau to the middle and then maybe Neal is redundant, especially since you can spend your money in better ways (like finding a better option than Hawryluk for your 2C) Why for Calgary? They really seem to need add forward depth and Trocheck is the kind of cost effective 2C that will present them with the ability to have an easier time resigning all the big ticket players they're going to have coming up in the next little while ... Tkachuk/Rittich as RFA this year ... Brodie/Hamonic UFA and Jankowski RFA the year after ... Perreault gives you some bridge depth that you can afford in the interim to keep your team's top 9 solid, especially if you let Bennett walk as another cost-controlled measure. Why not for Calgary? Maybe Hanifin isn't the piece they want to give up on D and they're not sold on their ability to retain Brodie/Hamonic the year after next and would rather keep the guy they have secured for longer term. Why for Winnipeg? The biggest asset you gain here is the flexibility to retain your players in a cap crunch and offer your current roster an opportunity to gain a bigger role. Hanifin is a big add for a team that just lost Trouba. Why not for Winnipeg? I'm not sure. Maybe that's a sign this trade isn't as good as I think it is but I already typed all this **** out and I still think it makes decent sense so here we are.

I’m happy if they decide to pull the trigger on Betts or Kongbo somewhere in the draft. Don’t see a lot of need, especially since I anticipate we only need 5 CDN starters this year. Not seeing a huge need for OL but of course, it’d be a wise decision to pick at least one somewhere during the evening.

OTC pretty much implies he was taking it without recommendation from a training staff.

Offensive? No, not really but then again, you're basically asking "has he found a receiver" because we haven't really had a need for American offensive linemen or running backs.

How does this address any need for us?

That is absolutely a pipe dream. Couturier is easily the most valuable player in that deal and you think they're going to take a backup goalie and an albatross of a contract for Sanheim and a prospect?

Entirely different situations and we all know it. The CFL is honouring these contracts right now out of sheer respect for a process, but if push comes to shove, they're not going to think twice about providing a guy an opportunity to earn a living in spite of what some defunct circus thinks about their entitlement to these players.

It's a sign, alright.

what you may find even more interesting is that while he's not under contract, he's been on our negotiation list for quite some time.

Konar was a guy who got paid in FA a couple years ago and I remember thinking "why???"

Unlucky Whitehead

Rodney Smith sucked, and he's older for a new player. No thanks. He had a couple productive starts against us and then the league figured him out and he was useless for the next half dozen games.

I'd rather pick guys that aren't gonna be here this year.

Normally, I'd call it a day and say something like "100 to Saskatchewan" or "50 to the Leafs, 50 to the Riders" but then I remember their insufferable fanbases combined with their awesome ability to have glorious self-implosions that result in me laughing at them makes me realize maybe I don't hate them so much after all. 100 to the Blues, especially Alex Steen because I really just don't like his face.

Hansen was the only guy I thought was even worth considering so ... great? But I still expect absolutely nothing.

This CFL 2.0 vision is so stupid. So rushed. Mexican draft, now a European draft? And why? None of these guys can play. How can we get fans to care when the league executives don’t even care? Sutherland called it out for what it was.

It’s not right that the league insists on having guys run drills and tests that they’ve already run, just to allow them to talk to teams.

Every team should get just one team to choose from. Or you go off birthplace. Slippery slope, this idea is.

Well there it is, Betts announces he’s not attending.

What about a kid like Oliviera? Would the dibs be based on birthplace or university location?

lmao