TrueBlue

What's $18k between friends? I'm sure Bombers would all be happy to pitch in that coin if it meant the same outcome.

The first time I saw that comment it wasn't quite so specific, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he meant start eventually, not immediately. This quote doesn't leave it open to interpretation. O’Shea’s inexperience is what’s showing through with a statement like that. I have no problems with a coach wanting to set expectations for his players, but you’ll be better off in the face of the public if you don’t paint yourself into a corner. Either way, whomever we draft with our first pick, will have goals and expectations for themselves too. It all creates pressure, or motivation, depending on how you take it.

If this did indeed came into consideration, would the private owners accept a proposed model of revenue sharing that was weighted based on a profit/loss ratio?

You can never have enough non import tackle prospects. If Lavertu is off the board, Foucault should be the guy. If Foucault is for sure going to be that starting tackle, make the pick. If he's going to be an interior convert, we're just burning a hole in the rest of our roster by continuing to pick these types of players, of which we already have 3 (Swiston, Pencer, Neufeld who is essentially our 2nd round pick in this draft) plus Morley, a good football player who took two full seasons to become an average guard. IMO there's a strong bias for the NI tackle body types, and very few of them end up actually playing tackle, and most of them stink at playing inside when they ultimately have to because they can't handle edge rushers who are twice as quick as anything they see in CIS. Everyone, including seasoned football people, are in awe of a 6'8 guy who can move and looks great relative to CIS competition, and dream of the NI tackle, but in reality it isn't happening all that much. Now that's tying a general bias to Foucault, probably unfair to him until he proves otherwise. The best OL in this draft class could very well end up being a guy like Kyle Paterson, who doesn't draw ooohs and ahhhhs because he's 6'2 280, not 6'8 320. From a Bomber perspective, we have too many holes in the roster to just keep cramming guys in the pipeline for a position we end up using an import at anyways. Interesting perspective. So you don't see Pencer or Neufeld having the ability to start at either RG or RT? Morley isn't a long term answer and I could see him gone in the next 1-2 years. If we're lucky, one of Pencer or Swiston become a good CFL guard. I think Pencer has loads of potential but he needs to play and they need to decide right now what position he's going to play and focus his development. 2014 is a huge year for him, we'll know if he's going to be a player or a bust by the end of it IMO. I don't have a lot of hope for Neufeld to be more than stop-gap/ratio desperation at any positon. He's the guy I'd have working on snapping and see if he can be a centre, much like what the Bombers did with Obby Khan in 06, might be a longer process for Neufeld. Morley will be gone in 1-2 years, he's at the end of his career. Yes, make this pick. If any one can get Foucault to work into a starters position this season it's Bob Wylie. Same thing goes for Pencer, Wylie should be able to squeeze every drop of ability out of that guy. I agree that 2014 should be the year where by the end you know what you're getting with him.

The attitude of the team should be much more aligned this season. I am hoping that dedication becomes more of a priority. At this point, I'd be guessing in the 5-7 win range without knowing the full identity of this team yet.

Not true completely. The ball has to be touched. Actually, that's only during a kickoff that it needs to be touched. Any other time it just needs to be kicked through the end zone. "In Canadian football, a single (single point, or rouge), scoring one point, is awarded when the ball is kicked into the end zone by any legal means, other than a successful field goal, and the receiving team does not return, or kick, the ball out of its end zone. It is also a single if the kick travels through the end zone or goes out of bounds in the end zone without being touched, except on a kickoff. After conceding a single, the receiving team is awarded possession of the ball at the 35-yard line of its own end of the field. Singles are not awarded in the following situations: if a ball is downed in the end zone after being intercepted in the end zone if a ball is fumbled outside the end zone if the kicked ball hits the goalposts (since the 1970s; before then it was a live ball) when a kickoff goes into the end zone and then out of bounds without being touched In all these cases the defending team is awarded possession of the ball at the 25-yard line." I stand corrected. Shouldn't have left out, "on a kickoff"...

Not true completely. The ball has to be touched.

If you are referring to my comments, I didn't suggest he admits that Pavelec is a bad goalie. What good does that do? But answering the question in a little more open-ended format was what I would have expected at this point in time.

Not sure why you would be. Lets look at reality instead of sillyness for a moment. Pavelec is the only goalie currently under contract for next season. Montoya is a UFA and a career backup, as much as people want to pretend he's a starter, he isnt. Pasqualle hasnt played a game up here. Hutch has played 3. Helle and Comrie are way too young to bring up just yet. Not sure why so surprised actually. I dont know why people seem to expect these guys to come out to the media and say, yup pav is gone for sure or yeah we gonna buy him out or stuff like that. It doesnt work like that. He's the only goalie currently under contract for next season. Its as simple as that. Maurice seems to think its less pav and more on the entire team. I'd honestly take chevy and maurices opinion over people who arent in the room. Same really with Kane, ill take the guys in the rooms opinion over people who post on fan forums anyday, Ive heard things like Kane is a cancer in the room, is he tho? how would any of us actually know this? Let me clarify why I find it odd. A team that repeatedly misses the playoffs has to look for reasons for their deficiencies throughout the course of the offseason. Having the GM come out less than a week after the season has ended, and publicly declare his firm stance on Pavelec is basically saying that the problems aren’t goaltending related. I would have honestly expected a response that may have suggested he still believes in the goaltender, but still addressed the constant need for improvement in all positions. It just seems too soon to be so cut and dry on the subject. Makes sense, the way i uhh heard him say it was, pav will be the number 1 goalie next season but... its up to PAV to show that he can be. Im not sure he gave him the ringing endorsement but he did say he'd be number 1 and right now, since he is the only nhl goalie on the roster under contract for next year, makes sense why he would say it. Im pretty sure he also said that pav has to prove he belongs also (not those words) but reading between the lines a bit, it seems to me that chevy and company believe in pav, they wont throw him under the bus, goalies confidence issues are a bit of a sticky situation, you dont want to say yeah he sucked, he's the reason we missed and we definitely need an upgrade, you need to tread carefully cuz there is no guarantee that a guy like halak/holtby/greiss whoever will be here so cant put all your eggs in the free agent basket i guess you can say. Do i think PAV will be number 1 next season? not if they can sign a guy i mentioned, if not... well, id rather go with pav and hutch then monty and hutch. I think what chevy was saying is... right now pav is the number 1 goalie going in to next season, things can tho and might change. I think there was a better way to translate things to the public right now in my opinion, but I can understand where he was coming from.

Chad Eight-Five?

Chevy's an honest guy, I'll give him that. But sometimes, he's almost too honest.

Not sure why you would be. Lets look at reality instead of sillyness for a moment. Pavelec is the only goalie currently under contract for next season. Montoya is a UFA and a career backup, as much as people want to pretend he's a starter, he isnt. Pasqualle hasnt played a game up here. Hutch has played 3. Helle and Comrie are way too young to bring up just yet. Not sure why so surprised actually. I dont know why people seem to expect these guys to come out to the media and say, yup pav is gone for sure or yeah we gonna buy him out or stuff like that. It doesnt work like that. He's the only goalie currently under contract for next season. Its as simple as that. Maurice seems to think its less pav and more on the entire team. I'd honestly take chevy and maurices opinion over people who arent in the room. Same really with Kane, ill take the guys in the rooms opinion over people who post on fan forums anyday, Ive heard things like Kane is a cancer in the room, is he tho? how would any of us actually know this? Let me clarify why I find it odd. A team that repeatedly misses the playoffs has to look for reasons for their deficiencies throughout the course of the offseason. Having the GM come out less than a week after the season has ended, and publicly declare his firm stance on Pavelec is basically saying that the problems aren’t goaltending related. I would have honestly expected a response that may have suggested he still believes in the goaltender, but still addressed the constant need for improvement in all positions. It just seems too soon to be so cut and dry on the subject.

But they watch a lot of hockey...isn't that enough?

With Chevy's Q & A yesterday I found it a little odd that his stance on Pavelec is unwavering.

Should I now or later?

Decent speed, and size but his college numbers were mediocre. Signed undrafted with the Chargers, but never played. Looks like he hasn't had a lot of production in more than a few years.

12th man? Well damm....there you have it. Perhaps some orientation and observation is indeed in order.......I'm going to Google some differences between the CFL and NFL........."did he say 12th guy"?...what the heck The CFL and NFL are pretty different. 12 men on each side being one. Another big difference being the the field size. The CFL fields are 110 yards rather than 100, and they are also about 12 yards wider as well. Not to mention the end-zones, which are 20 yards deep. It takes some getting used to. Once you look it up, you'll see the leagues contrast in many ways.

No way the Oliers trade one of their top canucks for two imports. That would totally mess with their ratio.

For those calling the the games that Hutchinson has played meaningless, should ask him if they were meaningless.

The problem will be solved one way or the other, and the less information that is made public about what happens during the process, the better. It's no longer newsworthy in my opinion. Fix it, and let's move on.

At the time of the combine Coombs said he put on 10lbs of muscle. Brian Dobie said he has put on about 20lbs total since training this offseason. If Ottawa takes Lavertu, I would not at all be opposed to taking Coombs. Do we really need a NI running back who gets two touches per year? I think that Coombs is a solid talent, one that wouldn't just be relegated to special teams and sub-duty, on any team. He's being compared to Andre Durie, and that calibre of player is what he could be. A legitimate, consistent contributor to the offense, possibly even a ratio changing starter. He has way more upside than any other canuck RB we have drafted in a long time.

At the time of the combine Coombs said he put on 10lbs of muscle. Brian Dobie said he has put on about 20lbs total since training this offseason. If Ottawa takes Lavertu, I would not at all be opposed to taking Coombs.

All of a sudden, that open air press box doesn't seem so bad.

That presumes the Jets are well out of the playoffs by deadline next season. In which case, thats very bad news for the Jets. Not necessarily...

Brian Elliott is likely heading to free agency, and I've always liked his game. He'd command a healthy contract though. So what would we be willing to slice, if it came to it?