Atomic

Dallas did make the playoffs... oh right, they lost to anaheim in 6 games. Gotta start somewhere. You don't go from missing the playoffs every year to suddenly Cup champions. Not the way it works.

So you wouldn't be happy with a run to the Cup finals that ended in defeat? That's your opinion, but I'm pretty sure 90% of Winnipeg would have been glued to their TVs for every game if the Jets had a similar run. The Stanley Cup isn't the only goal. Deep playoff runs are nice too. It would be nice to be watching the Jets play playoff hockey, the city would be absolutely electric during their run, that is undeniable.

Dallas did make the playoffs...

Thanks for sharing. Should be interesting!

I'm not in-tune with hockey rumours. When you say "always-accurate" Hockeybuzz, are you being sarcastic? I can't tell I would be in favour of the Penner signing, as I said in a different thread. It fills a need that still exists in the top-9, IMO.

We don't know if it's true or not but Kuale did not deny it on Twitter (and he did respond).

I think they've realized that they're going to suck this year so they are dumping salary and using it to extend the players they want to be with the team in the future.

What digital camo might look like on the Bombers (sub out red for gold):

Hamilton radio guy was throwing a huge bitchfest about this after the game. I'd copy his tweets here but there are probably about 50+ of them. Not kidding. He is still going on about it. His Twitter handle is @TedCHML if you want to take a look.

Scottish and Greek pavilions are both good, for different reasons. I love Greek food, and the Scottish one is a hell of a party.

Tough call this week, let's go with Aaron Kelly.

Oh come on. If Austin was acting like that as our coach, at 1-4 on the season, you would be absolutely crucifying him. And you know it.

I wonder if Hinse will dress as the backup OL rather than Big Swiss. Looks like Stephan is healthy again.

He's #8 in Anaheim so that'll be the number they retire, I'm sure. I meant if the Jets ever retire his number

I'm not sure we'll ever see the retro Jets jersey in action. True North has tried to distance themselves from it as much as possible. Even the employees who pick people for on-ice contests are told not to select fans wearing the old jersey.

Selanne also wore two different numbers while he was with the Jets. Do you retire the number 13 that he wore during the majestic rookie season, or the 8 he became known for as his career continued?

Yeah, yeah, you've made your point. The team is too far from being competitive and it is impossible, IMPOSSIBLE I SAY, to sign free agents. Fair enough. I disagree on both counts.

This is an argument I've heard before, and generally I believe that it holds true. But an interesting case has developed recently in Dallas. They were sitting in that 9-12 spot just like the Jets from 2011-2013, until they made the blockbuster 7-player trade to acquire Tyler Seguin. They had to give up a budding star in Loui Eriksson, among others. And that was enough to push them into playoff position last season. Now, they've made another big move to acquire Jason Spezza, completing a total overhaul of their top 2 centres over a short period of time. We don't know what's going to happen in Dallas this season, so it is hard to point to this as a model we need to follow. But it will be interesting to see what happens there, because their situation was incredibly similar to the Jets' situation before they made the big trade. Is it realistic to expect Chevy to pull off something like that? Maybe that is asking too much... but in Dallas we have an example of a GM who proactively went out and acquired big, star-caliber players without mortgaging the future to do so. All I'm saying is that it is not impossible to pull off big moves that help the team without killing its long-term viability. It may not be easy... but nobody said being an NHL GM was an easy job, and they don't hand out gold stars for trying to sign players or trying to make trades.

Fantastic post, I feel the same way.

Yeah... Damon Allen was the CFL MOP in 2005 at 42 years old and then retired at 44.

Are we all keeping track? They're up to 14 coaches now: Tom Higgins, Head Coach Noel Thorpe, Assistant Head Coach, Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Backs Coach Ryan Dinwiddie, Quarterbacks Coach Erik Campbell, Receivers Coach Mark Speckman, Running Backs Coach Kris Sweet, Offensive Line Coach André Bolduc, Offensive Quality Control Coach and Assistant on Special Teams Keith Willis, Defensive Line Coach Greg Quick, Linebackers Coach Anwar Stewart, Defensive Quality Control Coach Jean-Vincent Posy-Audette, Defensive Assistant and Special Teams Assistant Don Matthews, Consultant Turk Schonert, Offensive Consultant Jeff Garcia, Offensive Consultant

14-4, First place. Same as my pre-season prediction.

I really like the idea of a Buff- Scheifele - Wheeler line. Here is how I see the 23 man roster shaking down, if the season started today: Ladd - Little - Frolik Buff - Scheifele - Wheeler Kane - Perreault - Halischuk Galiardi - Slater - Thorburn Tangradi - Peluso Enstrom - Bogosian Stuart - Trouba Clitsome - Postma Pardy Pavelec - Hutchinson I know Galiardi has played some right wing and centre as well, so it's possible he could slot in on the third line, pushing Halischuk onto the fourth line or into reserve with Tangradi on the fourth line. It would really be a matter of who can play best with Kane and Perreault. On paper this gives us 3 solid scoring lines.

I think the Bombers and Riders are very close right now. Should be a good game.