17to85

You have to trust the people building the team to make the right pick regardless of what rankings may say.

Especially since Aaron Kelly is still on our roster. Bellefeuille bromance? I'd rather bring in a reasonable prospect for a look in training camp, hell if we really need Kelly back I'm sure he'll be available. Don't even get me started on Aaron Kelly, I have no idea why he's still on our roster. For everyone that loved to rag on Jade Etienne, here's an import who tons of people seemed to fall in love with because of a few spectacular catches despite the fact that he actually produced LESS than a guy like Jade. If we're going to be competitive, we should be able to do much better than Aaron Kelly. But he made two really big highlight catches early on in his tenure!!!! Next Stegall!!!11!!!!

Because he is still a damned good player and lots of teams need a centre who can do the things he does in the regular season. Not everyone is as deep as San Jose that they have centres playing on the wing just to fit everyone in.

The fact that even us diehards felt like turning the game off before it was over many many times last year should be a damned good indication that selling season tickets would be tougher this year. People want entertainment and last year was not entertaining in any way. Alternately, clearly the public has spoken, they are not in favour of firing Joe Mack as GM.

Why would they blow up a team that does so well in the reg. season and takes a great team like LA to a 7th game? The irony is folks like you tell Chevy & Chipman to be patient and keep returning deadbeat players to the roster. At the same time you exhort a successful organization like San Jose to 'blow it up'.... San Jose has been a contender for years and keeps choking in the playoffs and unlike WInnipeg they have amazing depth. I'm not saying blow it up, I'm saying you can run with Pavelski and Couture as your centres and still have great centre depth and if a piece like Thornton can net you a good defenceman (cause let's face it once Pickles went down their D started to look vulnerable) it might make your team better. Winnipeg needs to be patient because they are still building that depth, San Jose has good depth and a good drafting and development system they could trade someone like a Thornton or a Marleau and still be a good team, especially with the right return. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. I love Joe Thornton as a player but he's not getting the job done as the captain in San Jose in the playoffs and a change might be in order for everyone.

why in gods name do you think guys like that would sign in Winnipeg exactly? Especially someone like Vanek. He can basically write his own ticket on any contender looking to add a piece like him, Winnipeg is so far down the list of places big names are going it's not even funny. disagree with this big time. Vanek has a home in minnesota, if miny didnt want him and he wanted to play close to home, winnipeg is a logical destination. This attitude that players dont want to be here is so toronto. Im sick of it, its not about the city at all, its about the team, this team starts winning and everyone will want to sign here. Yeah but they're still a non playoff team. Hell there's lots of talk about the Wild wanting Vanek anyway or he could stay in Montreal where he's currently on a nice little playoff run and showing amazing chemistry with his linemates. Winnipeg might be a great destination when they start winning but they're not winners yet just another also ran who hasn't made the playoffs in ages.

why in gods name do you think guys like that would sign in Winnipeg exactly? Especially someone like Vanek. He can basically write his own ticket on any contender looking to add a piece like him, Winnipeg is so far down the list of places big names are going it's not even funny.

Common thinking is that Florida covets the defenseman Ekblad. With Campbell getting older would make sense they'd be looking to get a D, especially when lots of people feel Ekblad is the best player in the draft and has the highest ceiling. I don't think Kane has enough value on his own to get a first overall pick anyway. Teams hold onto those picks very tightly.

I don't think San Jose would blow it up but they might see if they can get some big value for guys like Thornton or Marleau and just run with Pavelski and Couture.

Because people who consistently post as much nonsense as you do are either stupid or trolling and you're too coherent for me to think you're stupid.

Because Glenn wants out and is unhappy being there feeling he was mistreated AND because Henry Burris is notorious for not liking someone behind him on the depth chart who can challenge him in any way shape or form. Stop posting your deliberately trollish nonsense and start speaking common sense.

The draft pick would not be voided. The rules at CFL.ca say: Meaning if they traded their 2015 1st round pick then they would forfeit their 2016 1st round pick. I realize that this is current rule, I'm just concerned that it could be abused. Certain GM's don't value picks highly, so they trade them off for established players. It could go on indefinately. I suppose that the rule could be amended to prevent offending teams from trading picks until they have "paid" the penalty, but I just don't see draft picks as being as a strong enough deterent in the event of a serious offence. Justice delayed is Justice denied. I would think that if a GM was abusing it like that then the league would step in and change the rule or just arbitrarily decide on another punishment and enforce that.

city of douchebags is much more accurate.

Flames fans are bandwagon jumpers anyway. The Saddledome wasn't ever full before Iginla and Kiprusoff carried that team to the finals in 04 and after that everyone jumped on board. Now that the team is **** again you're seeing people opt not to go. If not for the massive corporate ticket base I wonder if they would actually sell out or not.

If Glenn is released or you can get him for a late round draft pick sure bring him in, if you have to pay a premium for him **** off.

yeah people are still caught up in the trap hype but the Wild actually play a pretty quick game these days. Lots of people simply don't care about that team and for good reason, but they got some skill there. That series has been great watching just because it's so back and forth with very little to choose between the teams. The Sharks vs. Kings series has just been great hockey. Sure there's been some blow outs but the push back by the Kings overall and the pushback within the game from each team has just been amazing. Momentum is really the deciding factor. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed the opening round of the playoffs this much.

If you can call 18 goals in an 82 game season a GOAL SCORER!!! But Evander has a pile of excuses - self-inflicted injuries, infections, bad coach, new bad coach, linemates with stubby hands, linemates with no hands. Trouble is - at this point he's untradeable as a 30 goal scorer - cuz he's NOT a 30 goal scorer. He's a 15 to 20 goal scorer and for 6 million a year, thats not only a money blow - its a formula for golf in April. He had 19 goals in 63 games..... how is that an 18 goal scorer in an 82 game season? This past year he had injuries and other struggles and still almost hit 20 goals. He had 17 goals in 48 games last season in the lockout, that's a 30 goal pace basically. He had 30 goals in 74 games the season before. You might have the axe to grind but don't sit there and tell me the kid isn't a goal scorer. He was one of the highest rated players in his draft year for good reason.

You know what it is in my mind? There's a lot of money in this city and a lot of people making more money than they come from (not that they're rich but you can be dumb as a stump and make a very good living in the oil field) and with a jump up in station a lot of people like to try and pretend they're not trailer trash and part of that is latching on to the biggest and best everything which includes the NFL over the CFL. It's hard to explain but if you've spent any time in Calgary you can see where a lot of the newer citizens of the city display that kind of attitude.

Kane IS a goalscorer... god damn Nate you say some stupid **** sometimes.

well point per game is simply your pace. if you want to score 80 points in a season you basically need to average a point every game. Yeah it works out that you might miss some nights and have multi point games other nights but the key is the guys who score 80 points or better generally don't have many stretches where they are held off the board. For example one of last seasons 80 point guys (and I use this example because I saw it recently) Taylor Hall, he never went more than 2 games in a row without scoring a point. That's the kind of consistency it takes to score 80 points in the NHL and Wheeler just isn't that guy. I wouldn't say he's improved each year in Winnipeg either, at least not from a point perspective. He had 69 this year, his pace was 70 in the lockout year, and he had 64 the year before that. That's pretty consistent production when you break it down. So what is going to make him take that next big jump to an 80 point player at 27 years old?

to get 80 points you need to be healthy an entire year and score every game, one slump and that's all shot to hell. Guys who cracked 80 points this past season include Crosby, Getzlaf, Giroux, Seguin, Perry, Kessel, Hall. Wheeler is not in that company when it comes to offence. Yes he is. No he isn't Yes he is. Not Crosby but Wheeler is in the category of guys that can score a point per game. Without looking up the stat (Im too lazy), Wheeler was scoring at that pace for X amount of the season. He had a slow start. Had he not had a slow start, he scores 80 *this* season. Now ofcourse, if I learn to skate, get into shape and practice my shot then I guess Im an NHL calibre player. Everything is subjective. But Wheeler has the skill and talent to score 80 points. That is exactly the point, the number of guys who can play an entire season without a slow part is very small and Wheeler isn't one of them. Lots of guys can play at a PPG pace except for those couple weeks they didn't. The ability to play a full season at a PPG is rare and Wheeler doesn't have it.

to get 80 points you need to be healthy an entire year and score every game, one slump and that's all shot to hell. Guys who cracked 80 points this past season include Crosby, Getzlaf, Giroux, Seguin, Perry, Kessel, Hall. Wheeler is not in that company when it comes to offence. Yes he is. No he isn't

There is no question about it in my mind. Lots of anecdotal evidence for people not giving a **** about the CFL. I play in a rec flag football league, you figure you'll get lots of football fans there right? They all care about the NFL or the Riders if they happen to be from the gap but very few people seem to give a thought to the stampeders. It's really sad.

Rask is part of why the Bruins are such a great team without question. I personally think he's in the top teir of goaltenders.

But I think it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that the Bruins could have any goaltender and still be fine. Rask is a hell of a goaltender and I think he can carry a team. The Bruins aren't supermen, teams can and do outplay them, but Rask can stand tall and bail them out as well.