Goalie

Amazing what happens actually, earlier in the year the eastern teams like hamilton and toronto were dealing with injuries to key players, those teams are pretty damn good when healthy, toronto is a force when healthy, hamilton is pretty decent too, They are the cream of the crap out east for sure. Now? THe western teams are dealing with some injuries to key players, all of the western teams really... Calgary with BLM and Cornish, Edmonton is relatively healthy actually, Sask with Durant, I'm not going to count Lulay cuz he never started the season but Harris and Yell out in bc, Wpg/ well.. where to start really. What this shows a bit is if people don't think losing your number 1 receiver is a big deal, look at the argos, without owens they suck, with owens, they don't suck at all, they are quite good actually. Losing Moore has really hurt us.

Budaj is a UFA at the end of this season and was going to be sent to the AHL if he wasn't traded, believe he might have even cleared waivers earlier this pre-season. He ain't here to be the starting goalie, why do people think this? He's hear because he is good with the young guys, good in the locker room and is a capable player when he gets the chance to play. I'm almost certain he will be sent to St Johns to mentor Helle. Just waiting for the Jets to announce it.

Pavelec has looked good this pre-season, amazing what happens when he doesn't get tons of shots a game. He's a good goalie, he just needs some help out there. Not sure why people always want to blame one guy, Pav has played solid this pre-season, looks to be in the best shape i've seen him in and his rebound control seems to be much improved, His positioning this pre-season has also been much better. Pavelec will have a very good season, just wait and see. It's pretty obvious that PAV put in a significant amount of work in this off season. Budaj ain't here to be the number 1 goalie, i'm not even convinced he's here to be the number 2 goalie. Guaranteed that trade was tangradi for holland and budaj was thrown in as a cap dump by Montreal with Winnipeg agreeing to it because they need a veteran backup in st johns to help out helle.

Willy is being left in because he is a rookie starting qb and needs to learn how to deal with certain situations. He isn't ricky ray, what do you gain by pulling your first year starter qb? when he actually wasn't really the issue at all, sure i guess you can say to keep him from getting killed out there but again, I'd understand pulling Willy if we lost that game because of him or were losing directly because of willys piss poor play but we weren't losing cuz of willys play, we were losing because everyone other than willy didn't show up for the game. How can you blame your qb when is being sacked 5 times a game and being pressured every other play. Willy is the last guy i would pull this year. These are valuable reps for him this season, he can only get better by playing, not by watching. Brohm, marve? Man maybe they will get some time when we are officially eliminated but reality is we are one game behind bc and still play them.. Hell it's likely both us and bc could miss the playoffs but we aren't done yet, you know, it's funny, people on here saying the season is over? But it's not. And thank god the team and people in charge don't think that way either. Pulling Willy in a game is giving up on the season when the season isn't even over yet. Despite what a few nostradamus's say on this board, We still have a chance really to make it. and until we don't and until we are actually eliminated for real, willy will play the entire game. and Rightfully so, that's how he will get better. He's got a full off season to recover from his injuries, we ain't risking anything by playing him. Injuries happen and if willy got hurt? That would suck but he'd have a full off season to recover, I'm sure if he got hurt and hurt bad, he wouldn't be playing anymore but the reason he is and the reason he isn't pulled is because quite frankly, he gives us the best chance to win. Why put brohm and or marve in? so they can get killed too? Keep the guy in that gives you the best chance to win and keep him in so he can get those valuable reps that he very desperately needs.

Can you explain how we are being exposed exactly? we are in these games for the most part, The redblack game was a stinker and so was the bc game (willy got hurt tho) but the team has had chances to win, they keep making mistakes tho, turnovers, special teams turnovers have killed us this season, you eliminate those special teams turnovers and we probably win 2 vs sask, the bc game? man The D held us in right until the 4th but when you are playing your 2nd string qb who has had like no reps, and can't move the offence at all, eventually the D will tire out. We got blown out by the redblacks sure, but again mistakes, tackling issues, turnovers. If we could actually eliminate our mistakes (mainly turnovers and special team blunders) we would have won several of those games. How are we being exposed exactly? outside of one game vs ottawa and one game vs bc, and i suppose the toronto game, we have been in every game this year with a chance to even win most of them.. Exposed? How? This team is 6-8 right now but eliminating mistakes and turnovers, which easily could have been avoided if we actually had some depth at some positions, guess easier said than done tho, that 6-8 easily could be 10-4. we have been blown out once, just so happens it was against the worst team in the league but besides that game and the other 2 i mentioned, we could have won every other game we lost if not for shooting ourselves in the foot. I don't disagree with you entirely. However, football games are usually won or lost by one or two big plays (often turnovers). Also, many of those turnovers were not as easy to avoid as you make it sound. A good number of them were the cumulative result of too much pressure on Willy and poor snapping on punts. If anything, I dare say there could have been MORE turnovers on special teams. This is true. I was going to add though, if anything has been exposed, it's been our lack of depth and we all know that would probably be an issue this season if a few guys got injured.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Etcheverry He's been coaching longer than i've been alive. Obviously he has some talent to last that long.

Can you explain how we are being exposed exactly? we are in these games for the most part, The redblack game was a stinker and so was the bc game (willy got hurt tho) but the team has had chances to win, they keep making mistakes tho, turnovers, special teams turnovers have killed us this season, you eliminate those special teams turnovers and we probably win 2 vs sask, the bc game? man The D held us in right until the 4th but when you are playing your 2nd string qb who has had like no reps, and can't move the offence at all, eventually the D will tire out. We got blown out by the redblacks sure, but again mistakes, tackling issues, turnovers. If we could actually eliminate our mistakes (mainly turnovers and special team blunders) we would have won several of those games. How are we being exposed exactly? outside of one game vs ottawa and one game vs bc, and i suppose the toronto game, we have been in every game this year with a chance to even win most of them.. Exposed? How? This team is 6-8 right now but eliminating mistakes and turnovers, which easily could have been avoided if we actually had some depth at some positions, guess easier said than done tho, that 6-8 easily could be 10-4. we have been blown out once, just so happens it was against the worst team in the league but besides that game and the other 2 i mentioned, we could have won every other game we lost if not for shooting ourselves in the foot.

Hard to say, Apparently budaj is a good leader to young goalies, helped out price quite a bit the last couple seasons, he's a pretty good backup, has been the last couple seasons now. I guess looking at St Johns you got Helle and That Jussi guy, Don't think Jussi belongs in the AHL, he belongs in the ECHL, gotta think Budaj might be the veteran backup to help out on the Rock.

We have a pretty good top 9 forward group actually so i understand why ehlers or petan weren't kept. Those guys aren't bottom 3 players, they are top 6 or top 9 at the least. I think they both showed the could play but.. i suppose a year in junior, a year to see what this team does, we will see what happens, next training camp should be quite interesting with all the prospects beating down the doors, nice thing next year tho is guys like petan and morrissey can be sent to st johns instead of junior. Ehlers will probably have to play another game in junior unless he bulks up significantly.

No it really isn't. For some people maybe but... think about it. Playing in your home province for your home team, growing up a fan of that team, it's definitely not always about the money. There are so many cases where guys have taken the hometown discount that it's too long to list those names. It's not always about the money at all. THe perks alone that he gets for playing for the riders probably trump the extra 5000 or 10000 bucks he would have made here anyway. Maybe for you it's all about the money, but some guys, quite a few guys, there is no difference between 5000 and 10000 bucks. How much money would you have given him to stay here? It has to be significant and even then, i highly doubt he would have stayed, face it man, accept it, he was gone the second he could be. He wanted to go home, when someone wants to go home, money isn't the deciding factor at all, could he have got more for playing here? probably but the fact he went home tells you it doesn't matter how much money the bombers offered him, he was going home.

Pretty obvious that labatte was gone the second he could be.

I agree, O'Shea can criticize specific aspects of the team without naming names when they under-perform instead of deflecting as he does. I like Chamblin's no-nonsense approach with fans, players and media alike, he is brutally honest, straight forward and doesn't throw players under the bus. He does bench players though so he makes clear there are consequences for poor play. If you watched the RR/Stamps game after he pulled Doege, Chamblin had a face to face with him from about 6" embracing him with his hands on his shoulder and helmet as he would a son. He wasn't yelling at him but actually speaking directly to him though words and his eyes. To me that shows ultimate accountability. Isn't chamblin also the guy that bans the media from attending practices? you think that would fly here? LOL. For every good that one coach on another team does, there are equally as bad things he does and if he was coaching here, the fans would rip him a new one too. Maybe worse even, Chamblins coaching pretty much lead the riders to lose a few games earlier in the season they shouldn't have also and you can even say that not playing sunseri the entire game vs calgary was a coaching mistake. The kid looked good that game. What if he played the entire game? Perhaps sask would have won?

Who are you...some guy stalking me? When I call into the CJOB show I question O'Shea, I have ever kissed his ass. CJOB actually used one of my questions on their promo for the Coach's show. I have a fantasy hockey draft tomorrow night but am still hoping to call into the show with this exact question. Re. Kuale, two weeks ago I called him out on twitter about his poor performance and his terrible comments on the CJOB post game show, and he acknowledged he needs to play better. Game against Hamilton I said he redeemed himself, which he did, playing one of his best games of the year; that was in reference to the previous game, not the entire season. I then called him out again after the loss to Ottawa, where he played terrible. "Not sure what I want week to week"...WTF are you talking about? If someone plays well I'll congratulate them. If they play poor I might tell them. What's so complicated about that? Kuale loves responding to fans on twitter so I tweet him more than others. Either way, you sound creepy. Is there an ignore function on here? Funny thing about that twitter, when you follow the same guys and i follow kuale too, you get to see the tweets that that person retweets on your timeline. Weird how that works. Lol though calling me creepy or stalking when you talking about twitter which is pretty much the definition of stalking people and when you use the same username you do on here, makes it even more obvious who is tweeting what. Whatever though. I don't really care to be honest, just questioning why one week you are one way and the next week you are the opposite. Now i know, it's cool man. Calm down a bit though eh. Ignore me all you want, i'll still be able to see your tweets when they are retweeted by the same guys i follow.

Or that one yup.

I don't know how true this is, i recall hearing the bombers offered him similar money to what sask offered him and even offered him up some cash to help him out with his racing stuff. But really, he's been gone a while now and not coming back, does it really matter why he left anymore? Sometimes 5000 or 10,000 bucks aint enough to convince a guy to stay when everything he wants is basically at home. Maybe his girlfriend didn't want to move to Winnipeg, Maybe he wanted to be closer to his parents, maybe he wanted to raise his kid in sask, there are so many variables here to say it just came down to money, I don't think it came down to money at all. I tend to agree with 17 when he talks about the idea that someone wanted him to move to center and labatte didn't even tell the team that he didn't want too, if he really wanted to be here, he would be here. The fact that he isn't here tells me he never really wanted to be here long term. Sometimes, just need to accept the fact that some guys (mainly sask guys) want to play for SASk and it don't matter what you offer them, they grow up in sask, they bleed green, they want to play for the hometown only pro sports team in town. He probably could have made some money here but that money probably isn't enough.. I'll relate this to hockey, I'm born and raised in Winnipeg, big Jets fan, if i was playing in the NHL and i had the choice between playing in my home town or playing elsewhere, I'd definitely take the hometown discount to play for the team i wanted too play for my entire life.

Last time the ORBs and Lions played it was 7-5 BC. They aren't a gimme at all.

Pretty obvious what FEWQ means, it's that four letter swear word that begins with the letter F.

Budaj could be the guy being sent down to the AHL. With that being said though, Hutch didn't look that great in the pre-season so maybe Hutch goes down, doubt he would be claimed on waivers if a guy like Markstrom wasn't. I like this trade actually, get a couple guys and possibly a veteran backup to either 1. Push Pav or 2. Give some leadership to Helle in St Johns. I wonder though if someone is hurt a bit or banged up. Hutch maybe, i dunno but... hutch on a 2 way deal this year so... who knows. Teams rarely to never claim goalies on waivers, espeically ones that didn't look so good in the pre-season. For as bad as maybe some of us wanted Hutch to be the man to push Pav, judging from the pre-season, hutch probably needs a full year in st johns first. With all that said though, Budaj probably wouldn't get picked up on waivers too so they could send him down also. The fact Chevy got anything for Tangradi is a pretty crazy thing but when you really think about it.. It was probably Tangradi for Holland with Budaj thrown in as a cap dump. Probably means he's headed to St Johns.

petan ehlers morrissey sent back to junior. Kind of surprised about Morrissey as i thought he played better than clitsome and pardy. Ellerby,Chiarot,Holland sent to St Johns.

http://amfootball.isport.com/amfootball-guides/characteristics-of-a-good-football-coach O'shea has all of those.. What he seems to be lacking tho is overall talent on the field, depth and a fan base that doesn't really know what they want. Last years coach throws players under the bus, people hate it, this years doesn't, people hate it. I have an idea there Gbill... Why not call in to the radio show on Monday and question his leadership. You call every week pretty much but you seemingly kiss his ass all the time, just like last week you were kissing kuales ass on twitter.. I see your tweets dude, last week you basically said kuale made up for everything he has done this season because he had a pretty damn good game. This week, going after the guy, not really sure what you want week to week eh?

Jets actually looked pretty damn good tonight vs the Flames, pretty much dominated them. We should have 3 very good lines actually, perreault is such a under the radar free agent signing, he's going to do very good things with us. That Kane Scheif Wheeler line is as legit as any number 1 line in the league and ladd little and whoever they play on the right side is pretty good too. Kept the shots down this entire pre-season so the defense first approach seems to be working, most the other teams shots have come on the power play. Pav looks much better than last season too, better rebound control and positioning it seems. This team could make some noise this season. Interesting to note that during the game on walrus and odor or lawless and order or whatever they call it, lawless stated the Jets were in the hunt for Nick Leddy from Chicago, ultimately got traded to NYI, apparently the Jets didn't want to give up one of Helle or Comrie so that's why they didn't trade for Leddy. Chicago wanted one of those 2 in return plus a few other prospects not mentioned, Jets said no thanks. Apparently right in on it until the end though. Isles offered up the goalie prospect, Jets weren't willing to part. Leddy would have looked good here though. Minnesota boy on a good contract for this season and still an RFA after this season. Another interesting note there is Helle had his first start for St Johns the other night and got a shut-out.

at the end of the game i thought.

Very true.

REILLY with the TD, 20-14 argos. Reilly keeps doing that though and he's gonna get injured for sure.

Hey, did John White have a big game last week vs SASK? cuz i'm not sure, black only repeats it every time white touches the ball.