The Unknown Poster

There was a heavy implication that the Jets weren't even permitted to make an offer. That might changed now...who knows. Unless someone blows the Jets' socks off, Trouba is going to have to listen to a Jets offer pretty soon.

WWE released 3rd Quarter earning. Network is at 1.46 million, down a bit from last quarter (WM) but up from last year. Seemed to have leveled off at around 1.5 million as their subscriber universe. WWE still talking like 3-4 million subs is their eventual expectation. They gained 388,000 Subs. Lost 455,000 subs. WM is what attracts subs. But they arent growing and it shows a lower interest in SummerSlam (which they tried to make bigger). Profits for this quarter were $11 million and dividend is $9 million so they're barely covering the dividend. They are fine, and thank God they're not UFC where they lose money with less than $140 million profit, but profits after nine months this year are $25.8 million, up from $25.3 million last year. Dividend is $28 million. So as far as actual cash goes, at this point last year they had $102.4 million and at this time this year they're at $67.6 million. - Dave Meltzer

Its up to the player in the end. By many accounts, the agent has been working on trade proposals for months to no avail. Lindholm was his last chance to get a huge comparable. What he's going to get paid is more or less decided. Term is pretty much decided by comparables too. All that is left to be decided is if Trouba is playing for Winnipeg or sitting out the year and playing for Winnipeg next season. Seems like an easy choice at this point.

I think the speculation is that perhaps Trouba doesnt care as much as other people do, namely his parents, especially dad who is trying to create some sort of Trouba Brand with which to make money (and maybe pay for lawyers to avoid jail over some other issues). So he has a hardass agent who says "Come on, what can the Jets do? let their best D man sit all season?? Stick with me kid, Ill have you in your choice of city in no time". With the idea of "what if" comes up, as in what if we sit all year, the people advising him are saying "so what" because they see the dollar signs of "The Brand" down the road and dont care about a few bucks this year. But more importantly they think Winnipeg is a small market city that would never dream of losing an asset. Thats why this agent went on H&L and tried to blame the Jets. It was PR. And why he didnt let Trouba do it because Trouba probably isnt as hardass about leaving. So if its true Trouba is getting nervous and thinks he might miss an entire year...and other RFA's signed in their cities, its entirely believable that he just wants to play hockey.

Yes sorry, I meant to include the link.

Im not sure. I cant say I recall him ever breaking news or anything. He seems to collect information and present it in a solid manner. He always has the fancy stats etc. More of an analyst than a news guy. But he claims he was told this by someone close to Trouba so I would suspect someone DID tell Peter this if thats what Peter says. I wouldnt expect him to make it up. But no telling how good the info is. But its worth a discussion point.

This from Peter Tessier (jets blogger) Trouba will be back within two weeks with the Jets. Contract details being finalized and he’s getting ready to go. Just spoke with person he works with. He further says Trouba is preparing to return and contract is being worked on as we speak. Expect 6 year deal similar to Lindholm.

I know people who think Helle isnt that good. Same reason Atomic said...great positionally but no reflexes or athleticism. If the puck doesnt hit him, he doesnt save it. I dont believe that myself...but I know people who do.

I think also, these contracts are second deals for these players. And I think many of them thought they'd cash in with $6-$7m deals and teams are holding the reigns a bit. They are reasonable deals for very good D men at that point in their careers. And we might be seeing the trend away from a bridge deal, which cost the Habs. Jets will sign Trouba for 6-7 years.

Could be. Some reports are, even with LTIR they are slightly above the cap.

Myers is very good. Decent cap hit, lower cash. Perfect for a team like the Jets.

Yeah poor Armia. Sure, dont split of a team generating chances but it didnt seem like a group effort. it was Armia, setting up his line mates repeatedly who have hands of stone. I imagine Armia gets some time in the top six tonight. Maurice also said Howden was the likely call up.

$5.25... Well, Trouba's life just got more complicated. Jets are happy. Dont the Ducks have LESS than $5.25 in cap space? EDIT: seeing reports that this puts Ducks $1.4 million over the cap so will have to make a move. Ill tell you, if Lindholm is available, I'd trade Trouba all day long for Lind at that price.

Ducks still have to make some more cap room. All indications are Jets wanted Stanley and when D started getting picked they worried he wouldnt fall to them. Not that they were desperate for D...desperate not to lose a guy they wanted. They ended up picking him right where he was slated to go.

Fuller steps down as show runner. Claim he's too busy to devote full attention but remains as exec producer. Uh oh

Anthem is also represented at this hearing. Reminder, Anthem is parent of The Fight Network and owned by the Asper's.

Yeah Copp would make sense. Ehlers-Scheif-Wheeler Laine-Perreault-Armia Matthias-Copp-Connor Tanev-Lowry-Thorburn(Burmi) Given the fact faceoffs have been an issue, it would make sense to add someone who is good at it. Dano is another good choice in that we're replacing a winger. Lowry remains at 3C, Burmi at 4C and Dano slots in at 3RW.

The hearing continues

Maybe Chevy dropped it in the elevator and a fan picked it up. Which team did that happen to?

Winner. Isnt there an annual Cali road trip in the winter?

Updates coming fast and furious now. TNA's response to Billy is astonishing. They accuse him of being a "predatory lender" who made unreasonable demands. Even though TNA was going to go out of business without Billy's THREE cash infusions and the fact all the officers agreed with the conditions. Their CFO even put in writing "without Billy's money, all was lost". Dixie told Anthem in an email that Billy's role was "President" was essentially a made-up title and he had no power. Billy's investment allowed him the option of converting his loan into a 36% stake. But if the company was instead sold, as Dixie claimed it was in negotiations to do when she convinced Billy to make his third investment, he would receive his loans plus a premium payment. Billy accuses all parties involved of deliberately dragging out any sale to try and get Billy out of the way to avoid making that premium payment. The sale being talked about is Anthem paying off Billy and gaining 85% of TNA, Aroluxe getting 10% and also agreeing to produce the next two sets of tapings at a reduced cost and Dixie maintaining 5%. Additionally, the CEO of Aroluxe would be named CEO of TNA. TNA claims they are not insolvent. But Billy claims their own filings to the court prove they are. And he says their argument of value is based off of proposed offers from Anthem and WWE which do not represent binding or even official offers. And that if WWE knew the real financial picture of TNA, they'd surely value the company lower than they did in June. Which bring us to this: WWE officially expressed an interest in buying TNA in June. Dixie and CFO declined to Billy that they ever spoke to WWE and Dixie told the talent they never negotiated with WWE. WWE submitted a non-binding offer for the company. They later lowered that offer (not sure why, I can speculate it was because they realised TNA was a mess). WWE further expressed concern over Billy's "note" against TNA and Dixie told WWE she intended to pay off Billy in full prior to selling the company. So Dixie has been lying to everyone. TNA's only defense seems to be that in Billy's agreement, they have the option of paying him back by Nov 1st and intend to do so. But Billy contends they cant and the only offer was for Anthem to pay him off but in return wants a full release which he isnt obligated to provide and if Anthem is paying him off because they are buying TNA, then he still is owed his "premium payment". Court is in session... This is amazing stuff.

More motions released in the Billy vs Dixie lawsuit. Billy had to lay out his reasons for wanting a permanent injunction. He explains that when he made his initial loan in June to ensure TNA could run their TV tapings at the time, he was given a "senior secured" note, meaning he was told he was first in line to get paid back. What they didnt tell him was they promised the same thing to two other debtors, Aroluxe (the Nazi's) and Anthem (Asper's Company). Billy was further told the debt of the company was X (this was redacted) but it turns out he was lied to and the debt was far more (again, redacted). It was only after Billy's third investment (August, the one where he got certain conessions such as being named President and the pledge agreement from Dixie) that he was finally given a balance sheet. That balance sheet was dated June (remember, this is August) and showed higher debt than he was told...in June. Further, as a result of this lawsuit and the documents TNA had to provide to the court, Billy contends the debt is even higher than he thought and claims he would never have invested had they been honest about the true financial picture of the company. Billy also claims he made his third investment due to repeated representation from Dixie that they were deep into acquisition negotiations for TNA to bought out and, presumably, better financed. So really, it was put to Billy that his lifeline was to keep the company going until the purchase was complete where he'd presumably be paid back (remember, he thought he was first in line) and/or be the President of a stable, better financed company. He doesnt specity if Dixie told him who the company was that was allegedly buying TNA other then to note she claimed further investment by Aroluxe so it could be them or could have been a third party (WWE?) or it could have been complete BS. Aroluxe DID want TNA but due to their own investment in TNA they had a default clause where if Dixie couldnt either pay them by a certain date or run scheduled TV that they'd gain TNA...and thats why Billy initially stepped in, to save TNA from Aroluxe. But it seems Dixie is still in bed with Aroluxe. Ugh In other words, there is fraud here. Dixie and her CFO lied about the company debt, lied about other debtors being first in line for re-payment, liked about advanced acquisition negotiations. Dixie might be lucky to just escape this losing her company and not end up charged criminally. TNA was also scheduled to tape first week of November but those tapings have been postponed due to lack of funds. Billy also aledges that talent continues to not be paid and Dixie's new scam is to blame the lack of payment on Billy's lawsuit. Talent was slated to be paid Oct 15th and Oct 30th with some suggesting if they werent paid they would declare it a breach and begin negotiating elsewhere. No one specific has commented on this yet. Billy was sent a term sheet by TNA recently offering to repay his loans in return for a full release of claims against them. This was previously speculated as being money from Anthem to pay Billy to go away. Billy refused and asserts he is not obligated to provide a full release in return for the money owed to him and even if he got the money, he has claims against certain parties that are separate from specific loans. In other words, even if he was willing to take his money back, he doesnt want to drop his suit. He wants damages (and he wants control...although he hasnt specifically said he still wants TNA given all this debt). Billy claims TNA owes ten times more than the value of its assets (its main asset is the library which will be interesting to see how both sides value it). Billy also claims as a result of his second loan he received the option to convert said loan into an ownership stake but the company was required to make him fully informed when and if he chose to make that conversion. They haven't ofcourse. This also makes sense as previous speculation was Billy was an owner but his lawsuit contends he isn't officially an owner, but he apparently has an agreement whereby he can convert his loan into equity. Billy claims an executive with Aroluxe is currently acting as day to day operations manager for TNA including planning events for 2017 and negotiating with talent. This is interesting as it confirms the prior point that Aroluxe wants the company...it would seem in their mind, they are going to get it.

Yup. NHL had him ranked #19 among North American's. A quick look at pre-draft mocks had him going 18 in some. So regardless of what happens, Jets didnt take a chance on him at #18. Aside from trading for that spot and thats really what makes people add a caveat here...the fact the Jets traded up to get that pick.