17to85

I think the REDBLACKS!!!!111!! would be more interested in signing players at more conventional NI positions just because it's easier to build depth there. Can find a MLB who can play and a backup for him anywhere in the states, if you invest big in a NI at that position you better have a decent guy behind him as a NI.

Read your other post. You said lose, not trade. I still would like to know what Hufnagel has said or done that makes people think Mitchell is ahead of Tate on the depth chart. Iso just doesn't like Tate so therefore it's BLM all the way. He does that from time to time, projects his owns opinions as being shared by the GMs around the league. Simple fact is that Hufnagel has treated Tate like his starter a hell of a lot even when Glenn was playing well and Tate was always getting injured. Just don't see Calgary starting the season with anyone but Tate behind centre.

Yeah Hank will find a home somewhere, but it will depend on whether he is comfortable sitting behind a younger QB who a team wants to develop. If his massive ego can take that, then he'll be fine. He'll still be raking in $250K or so, can buy a lot of women's undergarments with that. Speaking of inflation - I was watching the 1984 Grey Cup and the announcers were saying that Dieter Brock had turned down $250K a year with the Ti-Cats to make the jump to the NFL, where he was thinking he'd get more than that. $250K in 1984 - QB salaries haven't really gone up much in 30 years. When you consider what guys like Flutie were rumoured to make in the 90s they may have even gone down in the last 20 years, isn't that something?

A perfect case study to look at when debating the merits of building through the draft versus the merits of building through free agency were the tenure's of Tambellini (Oilers) and Feaster (Flames). I don't think the Flames ever tried to rebuild when Feaster was there though. They were desperately trying to cling to the delusion that they were competitive. They didn't start to rebuild until they traded Iginla and Feaster only got one draft from that. Don't forget that stupid offer sheet he sent out on Ryan O'Reilly.

cause it's always been about money with that guy. He was a tough sign right after being drafted too cause he wanted to get paid, he wants to get paid now that he's a free agent. It's not a slight against the player, he is just looking for money and he'll get it.

I can't remember a single time Walters said that. Can you point me to any link where Walters has said that the Bombers will match any offer Muamba gets? Thanks. I remember, Walters said in one of his presser that Bombers will match any offer as long as Henoc/agent will give him the chance. Maybe learning from the Carr FA debacle. the Carr debacle wasn't on management that was on Carr. They had agreed to a deal, but Carr is the one that backed out and didn't give the Bombers a chance to match.

Blackhawks yes but largely in part to having Seabrook and Keith in the system before they ever drafted Kane and Toews, You might want to go back and look at the pens though, they drafted very high before they ever got Crosby remember. Whitney was top 5, Fleury was #1, Malkin was #2, Crosby was #1 Staal was #2 So that's 5 top 5 picks in a row for the Pens before they did anything of note, The Oilers have still only had 3 top 5 picks since they started this process and there aren't often Crosbys available to draft either. It's easy for people to forget but the Penguins sucked for a while after they got Crosby too and he was one of their last high picks.

The Oilers are a good case study in how long it actually does take to build a team through the draft. Their high picks are doing fine, the problem there is they had a GM who liked to keep firing coaches to hide his failures to sign those unheralded free agents to supplement the young players and who was reluctant to make a trade. In short they fired their GM because he didn't appreciate that young players can not carry a team in the NHL on their own. I don't see that from the Jets though, they do make some of the free agent signings to help, they just don't have the truly elite talent around that.

The best free agent moves are seldom the big splashes. The best moves are the role players on a good deal. The unheralded moves. Don't read too much into what happens after you fire a coach either, Bomber fans should know that. Jim Daley and Tim Burke both "improved" the team right after firing. Players know that if a coach gets fired they gotta step up and it's sort of the dead cat bounce.

those are actually good moves to make, bring in veterans so that the guys you draft have some time and less pressure to perform. They knew this was going to be a long road so why freak out when the GM is doing exactly what they said they would do?

maybe if there's a top teir centre and left wing to play with but the guy is a 2nd liner on his own. If Wheeler wasn't 6'5 no one would even think twice about him. Dime a dozen offensive skill there.

I don't see Hank taking a back-up role, and it's time to give Collaros a shot at starting, especially if we give him starter money to come over here. Exactly. Hank won't take a backup role until he starts going downhill. And after this years Grey Cup appearance, I don't see that happening. Someone will want him to start somewhere. And Collaros won't take a backup role either from what I can tell. If he's trying out for the NFL he obviously thinks he's ready for the main event. even if he goes downhill Hank won't want a backup role cause he won't accept that it's his play that's faltered. Guy is the best team mate in the world when things are going right, but when things aren't he's in it only for himself. Real POS that guy.

That's not what anyone said, what we're saying is he's the only guy with the high end offensive skill. If you really think Wheeler is your best that's an all kinds of damning statement about the offence on the Jets and really goes to back up what we're saying about a serious lack of talent on the Jets.

http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/roster.htm When the Jets get some comparable D and goaltending call me.

everything we've seen from the guy so far indicates that his main goal is to get paid and who is going to pay him more than the Bombers will?

The Jets have a pretty good middle part of a competitive roster, what they don't have are the top end players and they don't have much for depth. When you play in the west you can't get by with an incomplete roster like that.

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. oh yeah cause I'm going to take that piece seriously with a headline like that. That line is a prime example of why Noel wasn't a bad coach, he got a bunch of 2nd liners at best playing better than they should be. Those guys are not a first line. If they are your first line then you're a bad team. Give anyone top line duties they will likely find some points but it doesn't make them more talented than they are. The top end talent is what is lacking in Winnipeg more than anything. Kane is the only guy who has that quality offensive ability on the Jets at this point and even he has his own issues.

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.

Can you honestly say that this Jets roster is capable of much more than they are doing though? Look at the rest of the western conference and honestly see where the Jets roster stacks up, it's not favourable. The answer is yes... how can they beat teams like Colorado and then simply roll over against crap teams like Florida and Buffalo. This team if properly coached should of had at least 5 - 10 more wins. So many gimmies they gave away. I don't think this team could compete for the Cup by any means... but we definitely are way below what we should be at. Edmonton has beaten good teams too, so has Calgary doesn't mean anything. 82 games is a long time teams win games they shouldn't and lose games they should win all the time, what mattes is what you do over the long haul and the Jets roster is more similar to Edmonton or Calgary than it is the actual good teams. The Jets roster is really unimpressive. They have one legit offensively talented guy on the team and that's Kane, the rest are guys better suited to a 2nd line role at best.

Can you honestly say that this Jets roster is capable of much more than they are doing though? Look at the rest of the western conference and honestly see where the Jets roster stacks up, it's not favourable.

and that's what they said was going to happen when the team was brought back! They said this is going to take time. FA isn't a magic bullet and a lot times getting the big ticket guys can hurt you in the long run because you're sinking a lot of money into a guy who maybe isn't worth it. Firing the coach is done to appease the fans nothing more nothing less.

Yeah I really think that Grey Cup appearance screwed up Austins plans. Think he was perfectly happy to part ways with Burris but now that they made the big game how can you possibly walk away from Burris? The fans would riot.

Until the guys they drafted get enough experience you can't expect much. Have to remember how terribly this team was run in Atlanta. They sold a ton of assets for peanuts and there wasn't much in the system when they came to Winnipeg and the Jets didn't make any big FA splashes so it was always going to take patience. I think Noel actually got more out of a lot of guys than people realize. Ladd Little and Wheeler should never be a top line but he had them playing well enough to at least pretend they were. Kane has some good skills but he has issues of his own as a player too. The defense is a good offensive group but in terms of defense they are lacking somewhat. Their bottom 2 forward lines aren't terribly impressive at all. I just don't think this team is actually under performing at all, I just think that a lot of people didn't appreciate how much of a grind playing in the west is compared to the east and how it can beat a team down if they start to struggle. Firing the coach now really only appeases the fans. He might not have been the guy long term anyway, but firing him won't change anything except give the fans their sacrificial lamb.

What happens when the team still can't win and make the playoffs? Worst thing that happened to that team was getting a sniff of a playoff race in a crappy division in a lockout shortened season. Made people actually think they were closer than they are.

the problem is we have to play tough teams like BC and Saskatchewan and Calgary more, no more soft soft eastern teams to play where the toughest team is the painfully average at best toronto argos Won't every team play each other twice? (8 other teams X 2 = 16). That's only 2 extra games against the West instead of against the East. Hardly a huge difference IMHO. I'm trying to call the Argos crap, why you gotta ruin my fun?