mbrg

That's just a silly game to play. If we played that game 2 months ago, why sign Stanley Bryant, cause he might get hurt. Go with the smart money, start Taormina and save 80 grand.

If Kyle Walters is in a position where he is "up against it" cap-wise a month before training camp even opens because of the possibility of extending the QB he traded for 14 months ago in the hopes of him becoming a franchise QB, he is an incompetent GM. I do not think Kyle Walters is an incompetent GM.

The crux of the matter is... 'Is Willy a franchise QB'? If you think he is then you want to lock him down for as long as possible no matter the cost. If you think he's a JAQ (Just another QB) then you don't care if he's signed or not. If you're not sure (Me) then you want him to prove it before you give him the big bucks. Your argument would be valid if contracts were guaranteed, but seeing that they are not, the worst thing that happens is that we pay him top dollar for one year and if he doesn't pan out, we cut him. If he is the real deal, then we are getting exactly what we are paying for. So this is, in my opinion, a small gamble, compared to the potential big payoff. Your argument would be valid if it was a binary situation. Either great or bust. The reality is that there's lots of shades of grey in between. We may still want to keep Willy if he's progressing even if he's not great this year. That becomes harder to do the more you pay him. It also forces us to start Willy otherwise it looks like Management doesn't know what they are doing by paying him as the franchise QB It's a huge gamble either way. Put all our eggs in the Willy basket in the hope that he's the QB we've been looking for forever. If it turns out he is, then great, we made the right move. If it turns out he's not, then we've lost time, money and spent our SMS poorly which we could have used to upgrade the team elsewhere. We take on all the risk of any injuries that Willy may have and the risk that he's not the QB we've been looking for. OTOH, if we wait to see if Willy's the guy we run the risk of having to pay him more next year. He takes on the injury risk and the risk of not being the QB we're hoping he is. Yes it is not binary, yes there is lots of room for grey, no it's not a huge gamble. It's a mild regret. Whatever imaginary formula is used to calculate a QB's value - wins, TDs, TD:int ratio, whatever - there's not much chance that paying him more than that amount creates collateral damage. There aren't any upgrades we'll pass on between now and November because of paying Willy more than he might "deserve". With the exception of a few opportunities like a hypothetical Muamba return mid season, what we have now will be our roster. And what we have now will already have wiggle room built in for injuries, extensions, NFL cuts, and all the same stuff that has happened every previous SMS season. And if the bar for QB value has been set by Burris - each win is worth $225,000 - then I'll step out on that limb and boldly declare that Willy will be worth the money!

I have mixed feelings on Enstrom except when it comes to the powerplay - if I never see him on the powerplay again it will be too soon. Watching him repeatedly pass the puck OUT of shooting lanes like his children will be murdered if he takes a shot is sooooo incredibly frustrating. He effectively turns a 5 on 4 into a 4 on 4 when he's out there. The other team's forwards stopped wasting their time challenging him this year - when he gets the puck they don't move into shooting lanes, they move into passing lanes. The penalty killers can cover 5 guys with 4, just because they've seen enough tape to know that when Enstrom gets the puck, 95% of the time he will move it to one of the other 4 Jets. As for the rest of it, with Enstrom you take the good with the bad. A statement true for all defencemen. And athletes. And humans.

So there are individual preferences for fans when it comes to having Willy secured or letting Willy hang...

You guys are easily shocked. I'll be shocked if the Bombers draft an albino zebra and immediately hold a press conference to announce it's retirement. There's reasonable arguments to be made for drafting a receiver and an Olineman. Why would either be shocking?

6 guys competing for 4 jobs? Doesn't seem like too many to me.

Downtown WPG is a sea of surface parking. Its one of the main reasons the downtown is such a hole compared to similar cities. So one end zone can go at the corner of Ellice and Donald, center field will be at Main and York, the other end zone over by Waterfront drive, spectators will sit at Hargraves and St. Mary, and the concessions are located on Carlton. People are asked to use one of the nearby rivers if they need to go to the bathroom. It is expected water quality will be improved.

Considering it could just as easily have been a retirement announcement instead of a release announcement, your take is most likely correct.

It's possible that his turf toe hasn't fully healed yet, in which case training camp and the 2 a days would guarantee it would linger all season. Vega hanging around town for a few months hoping it gets better is always a possibility. I've seen the Bombers do that with players before, and until he's ready to go, clear a space on the roster for training camp. But if the new guys are good enough, that job won't be waiting for him once he's healthy.

Well we can hope all we want. If we draft any player at any position, getting regular non-injured-starter snaps from him is pure gravy, not something to bank on. If we draft a receiver at 2, the realistic hope is that he'll be able to fill in for a tired or injured Kohlert/JFG without the offence missing a beat. If you're hoping that he outright beats out one of these guys for their job, history has shown that there's a high probability your hopes will be met with disappointment. He might have a ton of skill, but that doesn't change the amount of time it takes to transition from the CIS to the CFL.

I'm really going to have a hard time agreeing that it's a good idea to force one of Anderson, Turner and even Nate Collins (who I think is going to be a stud up here) to the inactive roster. I agree it's possible, but I don't like the thought of it. #2 stepping in and performing is unlikely at any position. It happens on rare occasions, but planning around it in April is a fools errand. If the Bombers make a move to shift their ratio, I really doubt it's going to be 4 on offence and 3 on defence. If they added DT to the group of 7, the odds are still much higher that they are taking that spot out of the defence at LB or DB. The problem for the Bombers is they just can't fix all their problems in one draft. Something has to be ignored for now, and it looks like DT will be that spot. Even if we drafted Waud, he's a first year player and it's going to take time. A rotation of Thomas/rookie-Waud as a near-full time ratio spot is hard for me to give a thumbs up to. Now maybe a trade is in the works for one of those Ticat DTs, in which case starting a guy like Gaydosh with Thomas rotating in and Waud getting a chance to develop at a less frantic pace definitely affords us a chance to reposition the ratio - although I still think the Bombers would prefer to only start 2 NIs on defence.

No, I was the first to admit I don't know enough about the draft or the CIS in general. ...tired of not getting proper credit from internet chat sites...grumble grumble...going home...

For sure, and thanks to all who do it, it makes for great reading. Since a) I know very little about individual prospects beyond commonly available thoughts of others, b ) pay little attention to the personnel situations of teams not named Bombers, and c) ha ha, get back to work me, I will once again pass this year. But while reading these posts I found my own thoughts and the psychology behind them interesting. After reading Mike's post, specifically about who we might take with our 4th pick... ...I was disappointed. I didn't recognize the name (doesn't help that it's Smith), and couldn't recall any hype from the commonly available thoughts of others about this player. Then I read Rids thought on the same player who disappointed me about 10 posts prior... ...and whoosh - 180 - I'm on board the Blair Smith train. Let's get this guy! And all that without any improvement in the knowledge of the player, just a single mention from Rids that another team likes him. In other words, a dash of hype. And this is why I will continue to never form or give opinions on individual players leading up to the draft.

No microbrew! And no antiquing! Wouldn't putting you, 17 and Noeller in the same room by definition be antiquing? Very well played...I laughed right out loud. And death to "No microbrew".....we have these awesome stone coasters on the coffee table that say "Craft Beer Only". Isn't there some cool brew pub in Winnipeg that's got a ton of microbrews on tap? I'm all in... I'm also quite fussy. I insist my alcohol contains alcohol. Nothing but the best. decent. passable. Oh who am I kidding, find a way to ferment a yak and I'm in.

Why? Keeping in mind the rankings are meaningless.

No microbrew! And no antiquing! Wouldn't putting you, 17 and Noeller in the same room by definition be antiquing?

They kept Kane for years until the issue was forced. Kane has and had more talent and potential than Burmi. We werent discussing talent. Exactly - we were discussing Burmistrov... If you want to keep setting these up for me, I don't mind.

If he ever gets used, that's my guess. Just get 10 yards or so downfield between the hashes and win the battle with his size. And he'll still need to either wait for an injury or two and/or show he has value on special teams before an opportunity like that will be given to him. Pure project player.

That is not flawed thinking, and you should probably keep doing it.

That entirely has to do with if the team thinks Hellebuyck is ready to play in the NHL. They don't rush player development, and given all the success they've had with that policy (and all the failure Atlanta had doing the opposite), they won't change for this case either. It's really just about creating a timeline for the goalies. They drafted Hellebuyck and Comrie as future starters, and right now they still project forward as future capable NHL starters. Pavelec has I believe 2 years left on his contract after this season. Hutchinson is effectively found money - he was never part of the master plan but we're glad Boston decided he wasn't part of their plans either. I'm not sure there's a move to be made in the short term. I don't believe Hutchinson is starter material, but he's on the bubble and could go either way. Do the Jets take a risk and go with Hutchinson as a starter next year with Hellebuyck as the backup? That does not seem in their nature. My guess is Pavelec is the starter for at least one more season before they move in the Hellebuyck direction. What Hutchinson could be for this franchise is one of the league's best backup goalies, which means that in 3 years time when Comrie is in the equation, the Jets would have the option of keeping the better of Comrie and Hellebuyck and trading the other - a player who also currently projects as a capable NHL starter. That is likely where the Jets could make a high value trade with a goalie asset. Pavelec, on the other hand, if traded at the end of next season, likely doesn't offer much return value as the situation where he fits in for another team will be limited. Despite some moanings and groanings from some people, his contract does not make him untradeable at all (there are only 5 teams in the league who use less cap space on their 2 goalies than the Jets). It just requires the right situation, something that's needed for almost any trade. And while unlikely, I could also see the Jets moving Hutchinson and bringing up Hellebuyck to be Pavelec's backup. Hutch would be an easier trade to make, the value on Hellebuyck's contract makes it doable, and the process of exposing Hellebuyck to NHL minutes begins that much sooner. In the future that means the team likely has him or Comrie sitting in a backup role, which could be a problem, but it's still the good kind of problem. I guess none of that rambling is specific to a Jets Oilers trade. But I also don't see that happening anyways.

Missed assignments. I wished I had PVR'ed the game but on first look it seemed like Enstrom lost his assignment when Kesler scored that tying goal. Defensive coverage was also pretty brutal on the Ducks goal where Byfuglien clocked Perry. Two defenders behind Pardy who was near the circle and he had no clue about it. The Ducks got the puck into our end with 35 seconds left in the first period during the 4 on 4. We regained possession 4 times in our end. 3 of those times we left our end on an odd man rush. All of those times we left without the puck. On their 3rd 2 on 1 / 3 on 1 chance the Ducks finally scored. 5 seconds left in the period. Our decision making in our own end was horrible, and on each Duck goal I can point to a horrible decision made by one or more Jets players. On the drive home I said I don't think the Ducks deserved to score 5 goals, but we certainly deserved to be scored on 5 times. And holy crap, these are NHL players - do they not understand that responsibilities change in even numbered periods? When I tell my players it's a long change at the start of the second, it's not so they don't accidentally go to the wrong bench. The forwards have a responsibility to drive the puck deep so defence can change. Getting the puck to the other team's blue line and turning it over doesn't get a tired defenceman off the ice. This is basic situational awareness that I expect from players who aren't professionals.

The Jets drafted Hellebuyck and Comrie to make Pavelec expendable.

Nothing off target with any of that. What I'd like to see them get from their first 3 picks is Demski, an Olineman, and that RB out of UNLV, taken in that order. I don't see them using picks on a LB or DB unless it's late in the draft and they're throwing darts to find special teams foot soldiers - we're likely set at those spots for NI's. Pontbriand won't ever get an all-star nod but he does everything that's asked of him with proficiency, so another fullback seems very unlikely. Unless he can long-snap. I think this team desperately needs a NI DT - when I look at Calgary and Hamilton's NI situation on the Dline I get very jealous. We have to start taking the steps to create that situation for ourselves. If Bilukidi and Mulamba ever end up here then that changes, but I'm not holding my breath on those guys. We may never see them. But with the way we're likely to locate our starting 7 NI's, my guess is we won't be using a high pick on Waud or any DT, but rather on receivers. I'm expecting us to look at a DT after the 3rd round of the draft.