Rich

There is no way we trade him at the trade deadline if we are in a playoff hunt. You either have to trade him now or early in the season where there are pieces that are at least some pieces coming back that can help now. Similar to what we did with Kane, but those trades are much much harder to make during the season. It was a unique situation last year with Buffalo tanking. Here is an interesting article that ranks the top 5 free agent defensemen for 2016. Byfuglien is ranked 3rd. They give the chances of him hitting free agency 8 / 10. This summer it was defensemen getting all the money in free agency. Can't really see that changing next year. Wonder what kind of talks Chevy has been having. http://www.mynhltraderumors.com/2015/08/20/top-free-agent-defensemen-in-2016-ranking-1-5/

Nice present after beating BC

Embedded it for you. How do you do that? I just paste the url in and the everything else takes care of itself. If you put it in as a web link though it won't embed the video.

Embedded it for you.

Apparently Stempniak wanted to come back to the Jets, but wasn't given an offer. Jets want to go with a youth movement. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/free-agent-stempniak-wanted-to-remain-a-jet/

If I understand that, they mean I could sign up using YOUR email address. Hmmm. if thats true, its another strike against Ashley Madison for NOT sending verification emails. I guess the argument to using your legitimate email address is if you're actually "buying" an account, you're providing your real credit card number so why not. Or people are signing up "in the moment" and dont go to the trouble of creating a "fake" email address for this one thing. Or they have a secure email address (meaning their spouse doesnt have access) so what does it matter if they use their real one. And I'd suspect that for the people using work email its either their only email address or they figure its safer in that their spouse will never access it. I know several people who share one email address between spouses or who have liberal access to each other's email. There is only about a billion places out there you can get a free "new" email address. Surely most people have heard of gmail or hotmail or yahoo mail.

Hacking and all that aside, but ... who is foolish enough to use their work email address to signup for something like this?

http://www.bluebombers.com/article/bombers-add-quarterback-tyler-russell

This is a pretty good breakdown of Ladd and how he compares to similar players from the Illegal Curve guys. http://illegalcurve.com/2015/07/06/what-is-the-fair-market-value-of-jets-captain-andrew-ladd/ Their comparable players: Parise's and Spezza's contracts take them to a similar age to what a 7 year deal would for Ladd, so $7M is probably in the range. I just wonder how happy those teams are going to be playing those players that salary when they are in their mid 30s. Their suggested salary is: $7.0 million per season on a four-year term $6.75 million per season on a five-term term $6.5 million per season on a six-year term and $6.25 million per season on a seven-year term.

Deadline to get your picks in this week is Thursday at 9:00 PM. Picks can be made here: http://morningbigblue.com/community/index.php?app=pickems&do=games&pid=6&wid=79 Blueandgold maintains his hold on 1st place with 21 correct picks. Atomic is now tied with LeBird, and saskbluefan for a 3 way tie for 2nd with 20 correct picks. Still a log jam of people still in contention just below them. Leader board can be seen here: http://morningbigblue.com/community/index.php?app=pickems&do=leaderboard&pid=6&wid=78

7 years is too long for him to be making 7 million. He will be 30 when that contract kicks in. More than I really want to pay, but could stomach it for 4 years because we have the cap space to afford it (at least for the first half of it). Paying him that much when he is 35+ is not good.

Media didn't say it, I did. Petan has played against boys bigger than him, never against men who are as big or as fast as a fully developed NHL player. Lets see how he does the first time he gets checked into the boards by someone who is 220+ pounds or tries to beat NHL calibre defensemen and goalies. Scheifele has been in the NHL for two years now and still can't stay on his feet against bigger men. As to where this comes from, here are a few recent players comparable in size and skill potential: Nik Petan - 5'9" 166 lbs - 20 years old Tyler Johnson - 5'9" 175 lbs - Spent two years in the AHL before making the NHL Johnny Gaudreau - 5'9" 150 lbs - Never played in the AHL but he took the US College route. He made the NHL last year at age 21. Or how about the fact that on opening day last year 83% of the players on NHL rosters spent time in the AHL. High first round draft picks and US College prospects tend to be those who don't graduate from the AHL. If the only thing Petan can do is play power play and the 4th line it will be detrimental to his development into a complete player. Maurice's system needs players to play a complete 200 foot game, and for Petan to get the ice time he needs, he will need to be defensively responsible as well as making plays in the offensive zone. He needs to learn that defensive responsibility, and doing that against men in the AHL where it won't hurt the Jets. I'd be thrilled if Petan shows enough to make the big club next year, but I wouldn't hold my breath on it.

I don't think Petan makes the team if it is going to be on the 4th line, even if he gets power play time. He needs playing time to develop and learn to play against the size of professional players (as opposed to junior players). He won't get that with 4th line minutes. He would get that with top 6 minutes on the Moose. Lemieux I believe has one more year of junior eligibility. I see him going back down to the Colts. The Jets also had Copp up with the team at the end of last year (which I believe burns a year of his entry level contract?) They did a similar thing with Trouba, and Trouba made the team the year after. This also might have something to do with them being US college players and the Jets wanting to get them signed up early so they don't lose their rights. Copp projects out to a 3/4th line player and it is arguably easier for those players to make the jump than the more skilled players. Lemieux salary won't count if he goes back down to junior, so I wouldn't read too much into what he signed for, and his cap hit is less than 100k more than Copps. There really isn't that much wriggle room in those entry level contracts.

The only free agent that really mattered that the Jets let walk is Frolik. His presence will somewhat be replaced by Burmistrov. The top 2 lines will be the same as last year in some combination of Littler, Ladd, Wheeler, Perreault, Scheifele, and Stafford. Taking that into account there are two definite spots open for a rookie. Probably be Ehlers on the 3rd line with Lowry and Burmi and Copp on the 4th line with some combination of Thorburn, Peluso, Halischuk, and Fraser.. There is a chance they add more rookies, but someone will have to steal a job in training camp or as an injury replacement to do it. They definitely haven't added a whole lot to get better, but they really haven't lost as much as people think. This is the draft and develop model the Jets are committed to. Having all of these prospects coming in over the next few number of years means you need to start adding a couple of rookies every year. I wouldn't be surprised if they make the playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised if they miss the playoffs. The line in today's NHL, especially the central division, is razor thin and has as much to do about coaching and gelling as a team in the system as it does about personnel.

You aren't allowed to talk about that. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

The police won't do anything unless Smith chooses to pursue and press charges.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/phil-kessel-s-first-penguins-pic-leads-to-photoshop-hilarity-152259243.html This picture was taken of Kessel in his new Penguin jersey. He looks so "happy" to be there, people have been photoshopping him in to other pics.

Why would you take 40% of the games we've played out of the equation and compare that with numbers from other teams? That makes no sense. Everyone has to play those teams. In fact, before last week Hamilton was only 4th for overall sacks. Edm - 17 Mtl - 12 Ott - 12 Ham - 11 SK - 11 Cal - 11 BC - 9 Tor - 8 Wpg - 7 Now through all those sacks they got against us and Hamilton will vault right up there on the leaderboard.

Deadline to get your picks in this week is Thursday at 6:30 PM. Picks can be made here: http://morningbigblue.com/community/index.php?app=pickems&do=games&pid=6&wid=78 Blueandgold is still in first place with 18 correct picks. Atomic has moved up into 2nd place with 17 correct picks. And still a log jam at 3rd place. 7 people with 16 correct picks: BigBlue204, coach17, LeBird, Jacquie, MOBomberFan, saskbluefan, and sweep the leg Leader board can be seen here: http://morningbigblue.com/community/index.php?app=pickems&do=leaderboard&pid=6&wid=77

That would be way better then the 71 we gave up last year.

No I think it's 23 now. 16 was prior to the Hamilton game. Double checked the stats I pulled from and you are correct that was up to Week 6. It didn't include last week. http://cfl.uploads.mrx.ca/league/pdf/en/stats/2015/2015_CFL_Statistics_Wk__6_Final082319.pdf

If it isn't schemes ... then either we have poor talent, the players aren't executing, or the coaches aren't communicating what they should be doing in certain situations because so far this year we are again worse in the league in sacks allowed at 16. Now we haven't had our bye week yet and Edmonton and Calgary are only 1 and 2 less sacks better than us respectively, but we are for sure right now in the bottom third. We sit at 16. BC is tops at 3. Montreal 5, and everyone is somewhere in between 11 and 16.

I will be at the game no matter what, but I can understand people not wanting to go. There has been too much time spent in that new stadium watching the game with disinterest knowing that your team has absolutely zero chance of winning. Unfortunately Tim Burke set the tone for Bomber teams in that stadium, and we really haven't been yet able to shake it.

Lets look at Marcel's historical schemes and see where they ranked in the years he was an OC. Sacks His first 3 years as an OC in Saskatchewan (2003 - 2005) - His offence was the 2nd, 3rd, and 1st best at giving up the least amount of sacks (27,28,23) 2007 Montreal - Ranked last in the league (8th) with 68 sacks 2008 Hamilton - Ranked last in the league (8th) with 67 sacks 2014 Winnipeg - Ranked last in the league (9th) with 71 sacks Passing His first 3 years as an OC in Saskatchewan (2003 - 2005) - He was consistently in the bottom half of the league in passing (7th, 6th, and 8th with 4054, 4619, and 4229 yards) 2007 Montreal - Even with Calvillo he ranked 4th in the league in passing with 5044 yards 2008 Hamilton - Ranked last in the league (8th) with 4474 yards 2014 Winnipeg - Ranked 5th in the league with 4374 yards Rushing His first 3 years as an OC in Saskatchewan (2003 - 2005) - He was tops in the league in rushing each of those 3 years (2605, 2504, and 2436 yards) 2007 Montreal - Ranked 6th in the league with 1791 yards 2008 Hamilton - Ranked 1st in the league with 2532 yards 2014 Winnipeg - Ranked 8th in the league with 1513 yards Points Scored His first 3 years as an OC in Saskatchewan (2003 - 2005) - He was in the bottom half of the league in points scored all 3 years (4th, 4th, and 8th for 470, 444, and 379 points) 2007 Montreal - Ranked 7th in the league with 362 points 2008 Hamilton - Ranked 6th in the league with 408 points 2014 Winnipeg - Ranked 6th in the league with 397 points Summary Other then his first 3 years in the league 10 - 15 years ago, his offence has consistently given up the most sacks in the league. His passing offence has at best ranked in the middle of the league but that was with Calvillo at the helm, every other year has been pretty much bottom 3rd (or bottom half with Willy). He has ranked 1st in rushing every year except with Montreal and Winnipeg In points scored, his best seasons were 15 years ago when he was ranked about middle of the pack. Every other year has been middle of the pack to bottom half of the league So in conclusion, Marcel is at best an average / middle of the pack OC whose offence seems to have more success with the run (except in Winnipeg). His best passing years passing have been with Calvillo (4th best) and Willy (5th best) Can't wait to see what Willy can do with a new offensive coordinator....