17to85

the surgery he had in the offseason has fixed the problem, it's stronger now than it has ever been. Seriously people who have no clue always like to spout nonsense like it's gospel but RNH is in no way shape or form too frail for the NHL.

yeah but your opinion on Etienne is less than neutral. After how you instantly wrote him off cause he was an "off the board" pick nothing would change you mind about the kid.

yeah guy who has had 1 injury in his career, a nagging shoulder injury from jr.s that he got fixed in the offseason is too fragile to play, give me a break. Watch the kid play sometime, he played 28 minutes last night, he is a lot stronger in his core and legs than people give him credit for. He's 6'1 and listed at 180 pounds for gods sake

Mack traded players he no longer had a use for for draft picks on more than one occasion so let's no go rewriting history. It was getting established people that he didn't do.

It's not a choice and it's not something any of us are happy with but the product that the Bombers are putting on the field is so bad we don't even expect them to be competitive let alone win. If the Bombers don't make changes in the offseason to the head coaching position nothing is going to change. Burke is a crappy head coach who inspires no confidence all that will happen is the Bombers will go through another season of bad losses and fans will not care. You have to be some kind of bad to make the absolute die hards who never miss a game stop caring and that's what Tim Burke is managing to pull off.

Hall has been terrible this season, but he'll snap out of it. He's too good not to. It's fair to laugh at anybody who thinks he hasn't already shown he's an impact player. Not everyone can be a top line centre in the NHL, Hall struggled there, but he also had old man Ryan Smyth tied to him both games, Now that Ryan Nugent Hopkins is back Smyth is a healhty scratch and Hall goes back to wing and plays with RNH and Eberle so we are likely to see a much better performance from him tonight and going forward.

holy crap it's like stockholm syndrome in here

Nah, Burke can't wear it all. Some, but not all. Tim Burkes record as a head coach is 6-12, his teams have scored 479 points and given up 746 points. in those 24 games they have scored over 30 points (arbitrary number) 3 times, they have given up over 30 points 13 times. Going with some other arbitrary numbers they have lost by 20 points or more 7 times, that's nearly 30% of the games Tim Burkes teams go into they get blown away! He in no way has his teams prepared to play and the results bear that out. Yeah I'll stand by the **** Tim Burke. Lapo at least kept games close. Just to compare Lapos team (playoffs included, no preseason for either) Lapo was 16-30 so wins and losses are close, .5 for burke .533 for Lapo but here's where the differences really kick in, in those 46 games Lapos Bombers scored 1113 points and gave up 1198 points. They had 12 games where they allowed more than 30 points but had 14 where they scored more than 30 points. Games where they lost by more than 20? 3. They had 2 wins by more than 20, compared to Burkes 1. yeah, **** Tim Burke.

It's asset management. Neufeld as a likely loss to Ottawa and not playing in saskatchewan should have low value to them. Hall being one of the best players in the league at his position and the riders looking to play in the home Grey Cup should have help value to them. There is no way the picks should have needed to be involved especially not the 11th overall pick.Taman played Walters like a fiddle. Walters got a player in his head and over payed to get him.

Nah, Burke can't wear it all. Some, but not all. Tim Burkes record as a head coach is 6-12, his teams have scored 479 points and given up 746 points. in those 24 games they have scored over 30 points (arbitrary number) 3 times, they have given up over 30 points 13 times. Going with some other arbitrary numbers they have lost by 20 points or more 7 times, that's nearly 30% of the games Tim Burkes teams go into they get blown away! He in no way has his teams prepared to play and the results bear that out. Yeah I'll stand by the **** Tim Burke. Lapo at least kept games close.

Hall's now a third year player. Beginning to think he'll never be the true impact player everyone thought he'd be. He's got all the physical tools to be great but maybe not the heart or desire. Then there's RNH who is always injured. His small frame can't take the pounding of an 82 game regular season & then the physical grind of the playoffs. Jordan Eberle may be the only one of those 3 guys who may truly become a great player. I've always liked him from the start. Devan Dubnyk is just not a starting goalie long term in the NHL. Andrej Pavlec drives me nuts sometimes to watch as he gives up some easy goals a times. But he can bear down when he has to. I think Pavs is mentally tougher than Dubnyk & as a Jets fan, I'd take him hands down over Dubnyk. Oilers have lots of talent. But heart wins games over talent all the time. Spoken like a true Calgary fan. Taylor Hall was top 10 in the league in scoring last season and 2nd in the western conference. Is that not an impact player? He was **** these two games but he was playing a new position with RNH and Gagner on the IR. And spare me that crap about RNH being too frail to play, he caught a rut and fell into the boards with no one within 20 feet of him when he hurt his shoulder, he's a hell of a lot stronger and more rounded than people give him credit for. He will be the most valuable of all the OIlers young players while Hall is the heart and soul. He combines those physical skills with the desire to do whatever it takes to make a play happen. He's the guy who will skate head first into the goal post if it means scoring a goal. Eberle is the lowest ceiling of all the Oilers young forwards. Great hands and great hockey IQ but the physical skills aren't up to the same level as the others. He's a great compliment to them though. The Oilers #1 problems is that they have not surrounded the young players with any kind of veteran support. Too much put on the shoulders of teenagers.

I still watch the games, but at this point it's more out of habit than because I care. I know they're going to find new ways to make fools of themselves. Very much a sense of apathy set in. Thank god hockey is back, much more invested in that than the CFL. I hate that it's come to that. the CFL is my favourite league by far and the Bombers are so terrible I just don't care. **** you Tim Burke.

yeah centre ice always does a preview in october, it's awesome

does he? what proof do we have of that exactly? It's one more area where Walters has a lot to prove. I'll point out that his one big NI addition to the team so far has been foster who hasn't done anything noticable except drop passes. His solution (though I put that more on the coaches too) to the kicking game was a downgrade.

That's basically what we did. Neufeld for a 2nd rounder & Hall for a 4th rounder. Your previous post allowed for the fact that Neufeld & a 2nd rounder are equal value, so what's the problem? no sadly that's just more spin. No where is this trade being reported as Neufeld traded, Hall is the biggest part of this trade, he was traded for the o-lineman, but Walters couldn't pull the trigger on just that, he had to bend to Taman and add to make it happen. I don't think Neufeld for a 2nd is a good trade either for the record. Neufeld to me is something we already have on the roster. So even though this trade meets what you previously said was ok (though now you've flip flopped...), it's no good b/c it's not being framed that way in the media? Alright... only if you ignore the other part of what I said, that I don't think the o-linemen for the 2nd round pick is great either because I think we're adding more of what we already have on the roster.

I disagree that Hall has no value to the Bombers, he was one of the only reasons to watch this team currently, How do you value that? I put quite a bit of value on it. At least watching one of our players try and win the sack race was something to tune in for. This whole idea that some people are pushing that Hall was worthless is fantasy to me. If we can't get anything decent in return then keep him for the year, let him try the NFL in the offseason and if he doesn't make it maybe all the changes here convince him to come back, but as soon as you trade him he's gone for good.

That's basically what we did. Neufeld for a 2nd rounder & Hall for a 4th rounder. Your previous post allowed for the fact that Neufeld & a 2nd rounder are equal value, so what's the problem? no sadly that's just more spin. No where is this trade being reported as Neufeld traded, Hall is the biggest part of this trade, he was traded for the o-lineman, but Walters couldn't pull the trigger on just that, he had to bend to Taman and add to make it happen. I don't think Neufeld for a 2nd is a good trade either for the record. Neufeld to me is something we already have on the roster.

you can't do that because he's the key piece to this trade because he is the best player in the trade. Doesn't matter if he was gone anyway, the idea behind making those trades is to give something that may be gone and get something, we gave that plus something that could have been a long term solution in the draft pick. If the 2nd round pick and Neufeld have similar value then why did we include hall in the first place? Sorry people but Walters got schooled by a veteran GM on this trade. Taman gets a key piece for a grey cup try AND a pick to mitigate the loss of NI depth (someone that maybe he looses in the expansion draft anyway) Walters gets a player who may or may not be better than some of the guys on his team anyway.... trade for the sake of making a trade and he displayed poor asset management. The problem with this post is you're working under the false assumption you have any idea what Hall's trade value was around the league. if he has so little trade value that we have to pay the riders to take him then don't trade him! or just trade him for a late round pick! Terrible asset management and no amount of spinning from you guys will change that fact. and you know what, it's not unheard of for 2nd round picks to step in and start right away for teams. Didn't the stamps get a starting o-lineman in the 2nd round just this past draft? I question whether Neufeld is any better than guys like Swiston or Pencer, seems that the tackles who have trouble adjusting to guard and a team that uses 2 americans at tackle maybe should prioritize their targets a little better. Really the last trade that Walters made that everyone said was good was getting Foster and Foster hasn't done anything for this team except drop passes, at least that trade it was just player who needed to go for Foster and they didn't have to bribe the Lions with a quality draft pick. Oh! so now you're seeing that your argument is not the only valid one...so now you want to package the Foster trade as a negative for Walters. That's just lame! No I'm not saying that the foster trade is a bad one, I'm saying that it was only good because it was player for player. If it had been Buck Pierce and a 2nd round pick for Foster and a 4th round pick it'd be just as bad cause Foster hasn't done anything to stand out from what we already have at the position. Will Neufeld be able to stand out ahead of the guys already on the team? We're already loaded with guys drafted as tackles who haven't adjusted to guard and we use 2 imports at guard so is this really the best use of assets? I say no. One for one the trade is fine, having to add to make it happen not a good trade.

you can't do that because he's the key piece to this trade because he is the best player in the trade. Doesn't matter if he was gone anyway, the idea behind making those trades is to give something that may be gone and get something, we gave that plus something that could have been a long term solution in the draft pick. If the 2nd round pick and Neufeld have similar value then why did we include hall in the first place? Sorry people but Walters got schooled by a veteran GM on this trade. Taman gets a key piece for a grey cup try AND a pick to mitigate the loss of NI depth (someone that maybe he looses in the expansion draft anyway) Walters gets a player who may or may not be better than some of the guys on his team anyway.... trade for the sake of making a trade and he displayed poor asset management. The problem with this post is you're working under the false assumption you have any idea what Hall's trade value was around the league. if he has so little trade value that we have to pay the riders to take him then don't trade him! or just trade him for a late round pick! Terrible asset management and no amount of spinning from you guys will change that fact. and you know what, it's not unheard of for 2nd round picks to step in and start right away for teams. Didn't the stamps get a starting o-lineman in the 2nd round just this past draft? I question whether Neufeld is any better than guys like Swiston or Pencer, seems that the tackles who have trouble adjusting to guard and a team that uses 2 americans at tackle maybe should prioritize their targets a little better. Really the last trade that Walters made that everyone said was good was getting Foster and Foster hasn't done anything for this team except drop passes, at least that trade it was just player who needed to go for Foster and they didn't have to bribe the Lions with a quality draft pick.

you can't do that because he's the key piece to this trade because he is the best player in the trade. Doesn't matter if he was gone anyway, the idea behind making those trades is to give something that may be gone and get something, we gave that plus something that could have been a long term solution in the draft pick. If the 2nd round pick and Neufeld have similar value then why did we include hall in the first place? Sorry people but Walters got schooled by a veteran GM on this trade. Taman gets a key piece for a grey cup try AND a pick to mitigate the loss of NI depth (someone that maybe he loses in the expansion draft anyway) Walters gets a player who may or may not be better than some of the guys on his team anyway.... trade for the sake of making a trade and he displayed poor asset management.

I think it means more than that. Hall may not be a long term option in Saskatchewan but he holds value this year, and for them playing in the Grey Cup is priority #2 so from that standpoint they're getting one of the top defensive linemen to help acheive that goal, don't tell me there's no value there. The concerning part about this isn't that the 2nd round pick isn't all that valuable it's that Walters got taken advantage of of by Taman. Taman gets exactly what he wants, a top player for the rest of this year and a draft pick to replace the player he lost (and maybe lost to ottawa anyway?) Taman comes out looking real good, Walters gets a guy who is maybe an average player on a good day.... hardly the kind of thing he should be adding a pick for. Realy looks like he either made a trade for the sake of making it or got absolutely schooled in the negotiation of said trade, either way not a fan.

I doubt that was his only option, other teams were also interested in Hall. Whether this trade is good for us or not comes down to how good Neufeld is versus what we would have chosen for our pick, which was 10th overall. We seem to have a lot of NI Olineman that are not of, or barely of starting caliber. Neufeld may be an upgrade, but will we really be able to challenge teams like Saskatchewan when we seek to acquire their 6th or 7th Olineman as our starters? The draft is a crapshoot, but your odds of winning go up the more picks you have, especially in the first 2 rounds. I think a strategy of hanging on to our picks, even though it will make us worse in the short term, is the only way we eventually join the stronger franchises like Calgary and BC. A 10th pick overall could yield nothing, or it could yield a starting NI lineman that plays at a higher level than Neufeld. You need to find some of the latter is you ever want to develop a premier O-line, and the draft is the most likely place to find them. I agree with you. Especially since based on what we have now, 2 imports on the o-line looks like the ideal set up. With January and Jones it appears we might have something servicable at tackle position and I don't see how this guy helps the interior in a way that it's worth giving up a high 2nd round pick in addition to the top rental player on the market. The whole idea behind rentals is trading something you were going to lose for something maybe useful. trading that plus something maybe useful for something else maybe useful is just bad asset management. Walters really showing that he's got a lot to learn about being a GM here. Really screams of making a move just for the sake of making a move.

I agree totally. As well there is no reason we can't resign Hall next year if he does not catch on in the NFL.Well done Walters. if you actually believe there is a chance Hall re-signs here you're insane. Why come back to this place after he gets a taste of a winning team? No as soon as you trade him you ain't getting him back.

no that is a terrible attitude to have just to try and justify it. To teams looking to add the missing pieces for a championship run Hall did have value. Walters should have been in the drivers seat but instead of getting straight across value for one of the best if not THE best at his position for that team looking to put themselves over the hump in the playoffs he had to pay a pretty significant price to get something of questionable value (he is a backup still don't forget, maybe he starts here maybe he doesn't but he is not a sure thing) One for one this trade is easily understandable, adding in the draft picks it's a really slick trade by Taman.

so instead we lose Hall AND 10th overall in the draft, great job.