TrueBlue4ever

As always, post-deadline time trades filtering in

Can hear TSN now, who have been begging the Jets to make a move all day - “Well, it’s a move but they still did not do enough” (and I say this not knowing who they got).

Tree fiddy? Were you trying to type Perfetti and got autocorrected? Time’s up (save for the late faxes into the NHL head office). Only 9 trades today. Have to think COVID quarantine and the looming Seattle expansion draft played big factors, although the early buyers’ demands were too much out of whack (Nashville wanting a first rounder, elite prospect and current player for Ekholm seems more and more ridiculous with every passing minute).

10 minutes to go, very slow day. Calgary just sent Sam Bennett to Florida for a 2nd round pick and Eric Heineman (Florida’s 2nd round pick last year). If the Jets make a move I would think it is for Oleksaik, who the Leafs and Oilers would also like (at least their fans would). 6’7” and 255 lbs. What would be a bad/fair/good give up to make that happen?

I think he is learning how big he is. His first fight was just a “yeah, it’s time to inject that into a game” but the Corey Perry non-tilt was him stepping up for a teammate and knowing what role he can provide. And Perry’s timid reaction had to embolden him to realize how imposing he is becoming.

And there is a trade to announce: And possibly the biggest “name” moves of the day was not a trade but a waiver pick up. So are the Stars loading up for a playoff run or finding a replacement for Jamie Oleksiak?

6:00 pm on TSN3 from Ottawa Streaks: Sens 4L, Jets 3W (points in 4)

There is a decent sized part of me that would love to see the Jets stand pat, see the Leafs load up, the Oilers and Habs bring in pieces, and then watch the Jets get to the final 4 just to shut up all the talking media heads and advanced stats geeks who keep telling us how flawed a team they are whose win-loss record means nothing.

That’s the entire TSN mantra.

An absolute gaffe on Ambrosie’s part there, no doubt. Politicians are not in the habit of propping up pro sports leagues anyways, or in giving free advice rather than playing the “I’ll help you but here is want I want in return” game at all times, and I sense the private owners had zero desire to open their books to the Government as was requested and gave Randy his marching orders to in no way do that (we live in the rarified air here in Winnipeg of having a publicly owned team that has to show its financial statement every year), but all that said Ambrosie needed to play the political game and at least give the appearance of schmoozing and gladly accepting advice to get onside with Ottawa since he was coming hat in hand. I wonder how much of his measured responses to things now is in part based on his public failure and the leaked info in that instance?

The only times it poses a problem is (A) in a new topic like this where I was trying to play catch-up from the last few days and want to keep each trade separate but things can happen quickly, and (B) when you come back to thread after some time away and want to respond to different multiple posters and quote their posts. For the TLDR crowd (who I am a favourite target of) I can appreciate their frustration at these long disjointed posts that are focussed on more than one topic within the thread.

And we finally have a trade to announce. Yes, the same Kulikov who was a Jet. It’s a 4th round pick, could bump to 3rd round depending on the Oilers’ playoff performance.

I can give their blue collar fans (not the suits who actually go and sit on their hands at a game in the high priced seats) a pass for the most part. But the media does get them riled up more than they have a right to be. Meanwhile, I’ll just leave this guilty pleasure right here:

So what do the Jets do? Every media outlet is begging them/ordering them to make a trade to shore up their defence. But I don’t see anything out there to justify a 1st round draft pick, much less that plus a prospect. There is no Pietrangelo out there this year. And if they find a top 4 D-man, who gets pulled? You aren’t yanking Morrissey or Pionk, you shouldn’t pull Stanley although he is technically the #6 guy right now. Poolman’s size is tough to give up, Forbert is the best shot blocker on the team and is steady and simple with size, which is kind of what they would trade for. Does DeMelo, last year’s saviour, ride the pine? Or is the best solution what they already have internally in Heinola and Samberg?

So it has taken only 40 games with them as a new division rival, but the Toronto Maple Leafs are fast climbing my hate rankings. Again not really the players themselves, but the incessant media flogging. And beyond the adulation of their all-star team and every new addition as the next MVP (Jack Campbell apparently is a lock for the Vezina with 11 games under his belt this year, and Nick Foligno is THE move of deadline day), the worst thing that I have encountered is that they STILL can’t let go of the 1993 loss to LA. Not a week goes by without some reference to how they got screwed by Kerry Fraser, how Wendel Clark was guaranteed to win that series in 6, how Gretzky got special treatment and should have been suspended, how they were robbed of their divine right to play against the Habs in the Cup that year. I have heard whiny fans in every market lament that one soul crushing loss, but this is about losing a game 6 in a non-finals scenario when they still had another chance to advance even after the loss 28 YEARS AGO. I haven’t heard this much bellyaching from the combined fandoms of Buffalo, who have a much more legit complaint about being screwed of of a Cup by a referee, and Hartford, Quebec City, and Winnipeg, who all lost their actual franchises, much less a game 6. Losing doesn’t make you special, Leaf Nation, it makes you losers.

Sorry about the cluttered posts. This new merge feature is counter-productive to multiple short posts.

https://www.tsn.ca/ottawa-senators-trade-defencemen-mike-reilly-braydon-coburn-1.1621951 Montreal acquires D help, Ottawa trades it away. Pens adding veteran depth for one more run. Buffalo’s fire sale continues. Given that the Leafs dumped a first rounder for Foligno, Boston scoring Taylor Hall for a 2nd rounder is a steal. https://www.tsn.ca/buffalo-sabres-send-taylor-hall-curtis-lazar-to-boston-bruins-for-anders-bjork-second-rounder-1.1621992

Separate thread just to show/discuss deadline deals. https://www.tsn.ca/toronto-maple-leafs-acquire-nick-foligno-from-columbus-blue-jackets-stefan-noesen-from-sharks-1.1621834 https://www.tsn.ca/toronto-maple-leafs-acquire-goalie-david-rittich-from-flames-1.1621960 I would love to know where the Leafs get the money to make any deals given how much they pay their top 4. Interesting cap juggling. https://www.tsn.ca/montreal-canadiens-acquire-d-jon-merrill-from-detroit-red-wings-1.1621715

So I read a piece last week that talked about trying to get Drake to invest in the CFL as the Canadian version of The Rock with the same Twitter presence. Said his connection with MLSE made it viable. Strange article, but the one line that really stood out was “MLSE is very much pro-XFL merger and expansion into the US.” And today Bob Irving tweeted this: Irving has been having a regular Twitter war with David Naylor, who is constantly writing about how this merger needs to happen to save the league, and comes across as pretty bullish on the idea (as does Farhan Lalji). Irving and Naylor snipe about the history of the league and the supposed reality of the modern-day economics of the CFL. All this to ask a few questions: Does the Toronto media have an agenda in seeing this XFL merger happen? Is the the CFL catering to Toronto’s owners by exploring this, and should they be, especially given how little MLSE invests in promoting the Argos? Bottom line, can the CFL survive without Toronto and does any belief That they cannot influence their current actions?

Great picture!

But he has said that. Jan. 22 letter to fans- Here at the CFL, we’re watching closely the pace of the virus, and the progress of the vaccination efforts. And they will ultimately affect our ability to get our great players back on the field and our wonderful fans back in the stands. We’re in constant communication with medical experts. We’re working to be ready when public health officials give us the green light. But we are determined to play. Feb . 18- We’re going to play a full season. But we’re also going to have the ability to be flexible and that’s the other side of this. You have to be adaptable and flexible according to whatever circumstances come our way. We are still very hopeful that the vaccine rollout will accelerate. We hang on the announcements being made by government officials and health care officials. We are listening and watching and talking with great intensity to all levels of government to get their take on the status of the vaccine rollout because we do know that it’s going to play a major role in getting all of us back to a more normal existence. Feb. 20- Right now, June 10 we will kick-off, that’s our plan. We’re looking at every possible scenario that we can be flexible if necessary to make a season happen. Is it possible that there’s a few weeks of the season where we maybe don’t have fans? That’s a scenario that we’re talking about and then maybe after that governments will start to allow larger gatherings and we get 25-30 per cent of our stadiums filling up. We’re talking about playing in our stadiums, we’re talking about playing in our stadiums with a smaller group of fans and then we’re hoping that as the season goes along, people are vaccinated and they are desperately wanting CFL football. Mar. 13- What we’re working on today is that we’re going to do everything we can to get back on the field. That is our focus. We want to play a 2021 season, want to get our players back on the field. We want to get our fans back in the stands. We’re obviously watching the vaccine rollout very carefully. We’re talking with public health officials about health and safety protocols. There are only so many ways to say “we are set to go but are at the mercy of the health authorities and how the vaccines go and how the lockdowns evolve. Would an update every week that says “we are no more certain today than 7 days ago” be better? And remember that in the last week of January we had over 200 cases in a day, 2 weeks later it was down to 50, then over 100 a week later, and so on. From 50 cases a week ago to 179 a couple of days ago. This virus is so unpredictable, no guaranteed message that is given today will be sure to hold water next week. So why make promises about 6 weeks in the future when so much can change between now and then. Announcing weekly that you are jumping from Plan A to B back to A to C and so forth when plan A is still over a month away is a waste of time and breath. And last thought, being blunt and saying “We have a plan and are good to go, but the Government has been dragging its heels on approving our return to play protocols” is not the way to get them onside. Part of the quiet is a political game. Ambrosie got burned last year when his plea for Government bailout money went public. And when you are trying to court new business investors to increase your revenues, giving a doom and gloom approach to the fans for the sake of full transparency is not going to woo those businesses to invest in your brand.

First Jets shutout in Montreal ever. And Hellebuyck has beat the Habs 6 times this year, first to do that in 55 years.

This game will irk the round table panels at Sportsnet and TSN itching for the Jets to mortgage the future for a rental defenceman so they have something to talk about on their 12 hour trade deadline shows.

Scapegoat Ambrosie all you want, but the pandemic is not his fault. The government locking things down is not his fault. A flawed business model that overly relies on filled stadiums just to break even was not created on his watch. Apathy in Toronto by a billion dollar corporation in MLSE who put pretty much zero dollars into marketing their club, the media in Toronto pushing the 4 down agenda, and owners who can’t agree with each other and who historically would rather fire a commish than let him lead were not his doing either. And the answers you want just aren’t available, plain and simple. The Government doesn’t know when things will open up again, but you continually hold Randy to a higher standard than anyone else. And if he came out every week with “ here is my update, we are still in a holding pattern until the pandemic situation becomes clearer” you be ticked off with that too. If he just pulled the plug on the season today you’d gripe about him quitting on the fans.

Ok, 3 questions for you to answer. 1. What kind of power or leadership does Ambrosie have in this situation that he has neglected to use to fix this situation? 2. Name another CFL commissioner who was more vocal and showed better leadership in dealing with a major comparable problem like this. Specifics please, don’t just throw out “any of them” or pick a random name, identify a specific person, issue, and how they showed visible transparent leadership to the fans throughout the problem. 3. Name a commissioner that ever had power over the owners or the Government that could have altered the course of this season?