Atomic

People like to think athletes are above the temptations that other people face but money and fame do not make you into a new superhuman that is invulnerable to all the vices faced by other people. My favourite is the old "Wow if I was making millions I wouldn't <insert silly action>".

I don't know but it happened.

TJ Heath and next year's first overall pick can answer that question for you....

5 years seems like a little much. I think I would do 4 for Walters and 3 for O'Shea. I'm not sure how anyone can look at 2014-2015 and call them "almost complete failure." We've seen that. That's Tim Burke, that's Jeff Reinebold, that's Jim Daley and that's 2012-2013 Joe Mack. 2014-15 didn't go that well but they definitely built towards what we're seeing now. I know people will hate reading this, but you put Medlock on the 2015 team and they're likely playoff-bound. Who could predict that Hajrullahu would fall off the cliff like he did? I look at 2014-15 as a detox from a life of alcoholism. It looked like things were getting worse but the process was still working.

I'm not sure our C depth is as bad as it looks right now. I'm not a Burmi fan. I think he is taking a spot from someone who could do a little better. I'm talking about my man Chase De Leo. Or possibly even Quinton Howden, who I'm not sure got a fair shake in training camp and has shown he can compete in the NHL. Or COULD we do better with one of the kid lines from late last season? De Leo - Copp - Armia? Here are the line rushes this morning as reported by Free Press Jeff Hamilton: Laine - Scheifele - Wheeler Ehlers - Perreault - Stafford Connor - Burmi - Armia Matthias - Lowry - Tanev

Who's panicking?

Should we place bets on whether someone shows up to IGF in a Riders jersey?

Not so simple if you've already paid for Jets tickets that day. Lots of people who go to Jets games are the same people that go to Bombers games.

I couldn't agree more! He was awesome on the mic, I was really feeling it.

Gotta mention the return of Goldberg. I wasn't really watching RAW but caught the end. He didn't say much but damn that's exciting.

So every move was the right one? And yet here we are.

My argument is that we've been waiting six years and Chevy has delivered the poorest team yet.

OK Frosty that's uncalled for

Hey man if you want to believe everything the big man feeds you, be my guest. I'll be a little more discerning. You can thank me later when I'm right. Actually now is later, because I was right about blowing up the team after we finally made the playoffs. It was a bad move. I wonder, how many years can Chevy stay employed without a playoff win? We're at five now. Can we get to ten? Will you still be defending him because in ten years I'm sure we will still have a great YOUNG TEAM!!!!

Sheif, Wheeler, Buff. Well we might as well just close up shop now because that trio doesn't hold a candle to the ones I listed above.

I'm shocked that Chipman explained something the Jets did in a way that presents them in a favorable light. I expected that he would just say "we ****** up". NOT!

Hell no to one division. Sometimes it's nice to have things just for the CHARACTER of the league. East vs West is one of those things. It might not make the most competitive sense but it is better from a rivalry and storytelling perspective. And realistically having one division wouldn't solve as many problems as people think.

I just think, when you get into a situation like "Oh, well Player A is better right now, but Player B is going to be great and we need to extend him next year so we gotta get rid of Player A...." that's when you get into trouble. As in, we can't afford Frolik because we have to extend Trouba. If you make that decision too many times, the team turns into the Oilers.

So you agree. Planning for the future is futile.

Big money for Chungh has to be Plan A, for sure.

It just goes to show that you cannot plan for the future. Look at the situation we're in with Trouba now. You're not going to get a better player back. Guaranteed, no way, will not happen. So now we have no defensive prospects beyond Morrissey. You don't see that as a huge problem? That we banked on Trouba being a top-pairing guy for three years and when he's ready, he leaves? If you think this was part of Chevy's plan you're nuts.

So what have the last 5 years been about? Why didn't we just tank if it's so critical to build around a first or second overall pick? I just feel like we keep hearing about a plan but there actually isn't one at all. And it's not asinine at all. It actually proves me correct. You CAN'T plan far into the future because so-called "one-off" events like Trouba demanding to leave throw off the whole plan.

Do the people who already bought tickets get partial refunds down to the new price? Seems like a bit of a joke... Of course good news for me if the Bombers make it cuz I'll be buying

Yeah. As in 2 or 3 players. Toews, Kane, Keith. Stamkos, Drouin, Hedman. Kopitar, Doughty, Quick. Crosby, Malkin, Fleury. And then they supplemented those players through free agency and trades. You can't build a whole damn team through high draft picks, it doesn't make any sense. Nobody has ever won by doing that. 6 years in and who are we building around? Scheifele?

I love the idea of trading our first round pick (not Toronto's) next year for an OL if we can get one. But the trade deadline has passed, so that's more of an off-season thing. I also wouldn't mind dressing Keeping/Neufeld and starting Couture. If he's really getting beat, we can put in the veteran. If he does ok, it's great experience for next year.