Rich

The NHL ties you to a team for 7 years or until you are 27. However the NHL also has guaranteed contracts. From a bargaining stand point, you would probably have to throw in guaranteed contracts to get that level of free agency, which will never happen. The NFL on the other hand doesn't have guaranteed contracts. Here are their RFA rules: 5 years would be tough unless you are giving some other concession back to the players. I like the 3 years. Or in reality, I think it should be they are an RFA for their 2nd CFL contract. . CFL doesn't always release contract information. Is a typical rookie contract 2 or 3 years? If it is 3, I guess it doesn't make much of a difference on the 5 years because your second contract would probably cover it.

I don't think you want the Moose to be strictly development players. You have veterans on the AHL team to teach the younger players how to be a professional day in and day out, to set the example. A team with purely development players would not be good at all. I don't know enough of Raffl's history and background to know if he is one of those vets you want setting the example, but you definitely need vets on the Moose.

The 3on3 had me sitting on the edge of my seat, and that is saying something for a pre-season game. Put me in the fan column. Interesting rule quirk they highlighted tonight. If you pull your goalie for an extra skater and lose during the 3on3, you forfeit your single point from the regulation tie (unless there is a delayed penalty). Guess they were worried about a team dominating possession by doing this.

Both more entertaining than watching a Bomber game these days.

Chances of Trestman coming back to the CFL are very slim IMO. And if he does, chances are he returns to Montreal. However, if he were to come to Winnipeg, I'd love to see what Willy could do under his offence.

I know this is only for a tournament, but how does this guy keep getting a job? http://www.tsn.ca/tortorella-to-be-named-u-s-world-cup-coach-1.364089

It is for sure an interesting theory. Not that this should play too much into Maurice's decision on this, but Lowry is an RFA next year. If he does start logging 1st line minutes and put up decent points playing beside Little and Ladd, wonder what that does for his next contract.

I'm fairly sure he could resign and forfeit his contact... but there's no way the bombers would "force" him to stay... There is always a way out of a contract. They can't force him to come into work. I'm pretty sure the only thing they could do is stop him from working for another CFL team.

Because Saskatchewan has too many good quarterbacks? Saskatchewan is into next year territory. If they can get something for Glenn, they should. Is he even under contract next year?

Are you really that surprised? NFL gets $7 Billion a year for all of their TV rights. CFL gets $40 Million per year. They have much more money to pay for talent and production.

Not a surprise,

They think the Liberals are a bigger threat than the NDP

Deleted some posts in here. Please try to keep the discussion civil and leave the insults at the door.

Wow, this is totally out of left field and a ridiculous statement. Depending on what his camp is asking for, if the options are Buff wants a deal for 6+ years or he is going to free agency, I am fine trading him. Flame away at me for being racist.

There is really no choice if you make that contract offer. You take the 3 years and get the money up front. After 3 years you either get another contract (from any team) or you don't. If you get another contract you get more money in the long run. If you don't get another contract, you are still getting more money sooner and can invest it, giving you more in the long run. Why would anyone choose to extend that over 5 years?

Here's the scorecard so far: HC's who started off with 2 or more losing seasons who went on to greatness: In the NFL... One in the '50's - Lombardi. Two in the 60's - Knoll/Landry. One in the 70's - Walsh. One in the 90's/2000's - Belichick. In the CFL... One in the 80's - Murphy. One in the 90's(After 11 years) - Lancaster. HC's who didn't make the playoffs in their first 2 years who were kept on by their teams in the CFL since 2000 - One - Barrett. So it works out sometimes, just not very often. So what you are saying is that O'Shea is going to be the next great head coach with the best parts of Lombardi, Walsh, and Belichick all mixed in? Wonderful!

This last off season it seemed to me that defensemen were being given the bigger contracts over forwards. There seem to be less of them to choose from and teams coveting them more when their cap space gets tight. Now no Dman got an 8+M contract last off season, I think the biggest was Hamilton with a 5.75M cap hit, but that included RFA years. I think the problem for the Jets is that there is no real incentive for the player to sign if they aren't going to pony up the money or term. In years prior, teams could count on the cap going up and would offer the big escalating contracts. That isn't true anymore. There are a lot of potential UFAs next year and this problem isn't unique to the Jets. Agents and teams are still figuring out the market place in a world where the cap stays the same or may even decrease year to year. So agents / players are going to be reluctant to sign long term to what teams are offering. And the highest paid D-man is PK Subban @ $9M.

Your depth doesn't have to be rookies though. Halischuk and Fraser are two examples of veteran guys who might get pushed to the AHL by rookies. Sure, I understand that. I'm just very wary of going too young, too fast... And that's what I'm seeing right now. Not trying to be negative, it's just hard to ignore. I think our opening lineup will be: Ladd - Little - Stafford Perreault - Scheifele - Wheeler Burmi - Lowry - Ehlers Fraser - Copp - Thorburn With Hali and Peluso as extra forwards. Options for call-ups will be Petan, Cormier, Johnny Albert and Ryan Olsen. Not so bad but still seems a little scary to me. I just hope our prospects are as good as the hype train has made them out to be. There is for sure reason to be concerned when we are depending on rookies coming into the lineup out of training camp. When you look at the Jets prospects coming up, they will have to be adding a couple each year to the lineup. Ideally though they make it into the lineup as injury call-ups and force the team not to send them back down with their play to prove they are ready. Let them play in the AHL until they give you no choice. After this year and maybe next, I think you will start to see that happen more.

I think this has run its course

There was an article that came out a few days ago (can't remember where now), but attendance at BC for the last home game dipped below 20k. There is concern about the health of the franchise. They need to be a competitor to be relevant in that market. Pressure will be on Buono.

Blueandgold extended his lead this week moving up to 34 wins, leaving Atomic and saskbluefan tied for second with 31 wins. Still time to make up some ground with 11 weeks (including playoffs) remaining. Leaderboard can be seen here: http://morningbigblue.com/community/index.php?app=pickems&do=leaderboard&pid=6&wid=82 Picks this week need to be in by Friday at 8PM. They can be made here: http://morningbigblue.com/community/index.php?app=pickems&do=games&pid=6&wid=83