Rich

I think those players are closer to playing in the NHL than draft picks would be (1 year away now + waiting for them to develop). Chicago needs cheap players now to fill out their roster now. Dano was a late 1st round pick in 2013 (27th overall) and on a cheap entry level deal. Anisimov is a 3rd line player making $3M Morin and Tropp were throw ins and bottom line players,

Just listening to H&L right now. Apparently Stafford's agent said they had lots of other offers and interest from other teams, they liked the fit with the Jets. Good opportunity for Stafford. And they are the ones that wanted the shorter 2 year term. Stafford being 29, figures he can revitalize his career in Winnipeg compared to what he was doing in Buffalo and cash in on one last big contract at 31. Hopefully for the Jets, we have some of the young guys moving in are in a better position to let him go.

Ladd, Versteeg, Boland, Byfuglien. All guys Chicago has had to move over the years and replenish from within. They just keep on trucking. Be curious to see how Anisimov does on a team like Chicago.

It is 50 contracts but I don't think that has anything to do with them choosing to keep both Slater and Copp as options on the 4th line. You still have a maximum number of players you can have up with the club. The 50 contracts is the maximum any team can have including players signed that are in the minors and juniors I believe. This is actually one of the benefits of drafting players out of the NCAA and USHL, because you can't sign those players to a contract while they are down there (well NCAA for sure). So you don't burn one of your 50 on those players but still retain their rights. Being close to the max is more a result of how many prospects we have coming up. I'd be surprised if Slater is back. With all the prospects now coming up the Jets really need to start adding at least 2 a year. Copp, Ehlers, Morrissey, Petan, Armia, all possibilities this year. My money is on Copp and Ehlers.

Very reasonable cash and term. I like it.

Buchko should never have been hired. Buchko as manager of CJOB signs a seven year extension for the broadcast rights with the Bombers - November 20, 2011 March 1, 2012 (essentially three months after this announcement), Buchko is announced as CEO for the Bombers. Looking at the cost that TSN paid for the CFL television rights, I'm willing to bet that CJOB got a sweet deal on the Bombers radio rights in exchange for Buchko becoming CEO.

There is a log jam in first place with ten people at 3 wins after Week 1. First week is always tough to call and nobody was perfect. Week 2 kicks off on Thursday with the Bombers home opener against Hamilton. Get your picks in for the week before game time Thursday! http://morningbigblue.com/community/index.php?app=pickems&do=games&pid=6&wid=72

You could luck out. It is a two hour period within that timeframe. Maybe they will start at 10.

I did forget about Burmistrov. If we could sign him, he would look awfully good on that 3rd line.

The draft is over and free agency is a day away. Thought I'd give a quick run down on where the Jets are at and my thoughts on what they will be looking for in free agency. Right now, the Jets have about $50M tied up in cap space for next season. The cap for next season is $73M, giving the jets $23M in cap room to play with. Taking a pure guess, I'd put the Jets internal cap at somewhere between $60M - $65M, giving us $10 - $15M to spend in free agency. Goalies $4.5M Starting with goalies because I don't see much changing with them next year. $4.5M tied up between Pavelec and Hutch. Of note Pavelec has this year and next left on his contract while Hutchinson is an RFA going into next year. So we are either going to have to pay Hutch to bridge to the end of Pav's contract or trade him if they want to have Hellebuyck play a year as a backup before taking over. Pavelec - $3.9M Hutchinson - 600K Defense $24.3M Like the goalies, barring a Byfuglien trade, can't see a whole lot changing in the Defense corps next year. Clitsome is still on the book for one more year. Not sure if insurance covers his salary or his salary is deferred due to long term IR, but I've included his salary regardless. Safe to say he won't be playing for us next year though. Morrissey and Kostalek are prospects that may push for a job, but I can't see either starting the year up with the Jets, but Morrissey may get a chance this year as an injury call up. We still have an issue with too much high end depth on the right side, and not enough on the left. Maurice has said that in some situations (like playing from behind), he would consider switching one of them sides to get more high end talent on the ice to come back in a game. I'm guessing the D Pairs will look something like this: Enstrom - Myers Stuart - Trouba Chiarot - Byfuglien Postma and Harrison would be the 7th and 8th D. Enstrom - $5.75M Myers - $5.5M Byfluglien - $5.2M Suart - $2.6M Clitsome - $2.3M Harrisson = $1.1M Trouba - 900K Chiarot - 900K Postma - Unsigned RFA but was qualified today. I would expect his salary to be in the $1M - $2M range. Word is they also want to re-sign Pardy but he can't be much more than $1.5M. This may mean getting rid of Postman or Harrison or trying to bury one in the minors to start the season and risk them being plucked off waivers. Forwards - $22.1M Left the forwards for last because there is where the most change in the lineup will occur, and the most question marks heading into free agency. We only have 8 forwards signed with that $21M so that leaves lots of open spots for prospects to step up and holes to fill with free agents. I think we are going to need to fill at minimum of one hole with a rookie. I think Ehlers, Petan, and Armia have the best chance. I'm going to guess that Ehlers makes the team this year. That leaves the lines something like this: Ladd - Little - Wheeler Perreault - Scheifele - <Free Agent 1> Ehlers - Lowry - <Free Agent 2> <Free Agent 3> - Copp - Thorburn Peluso is also signed but I have him as the 13th forward. Ehlers and Perreault may swap between the 2nd and 3rd line throughout the season. With the cap space we have left, I see us signing two forwards for around $5M (give or take $1M) each to fill in on the 2nd and 3rd lines. Stafford could well be one of those guys. Depending who those players are, they could push Perreault down to the 3rd line with Ehlers. Looking at the top 25 free agents that was posted in the other thread, going to be tough to fill those two holes. Stafford would be an obvious choice. Justin Williams and Joel Ward would be a nice fit if the term isn't long, but if they are going to cut a short term deal it would likely be with more of a contender. I would even consider Vermette though though that would likely mean moving Lowry or Copp to the wing. All three of those guys shoot left though. My guess is we get Stafford and none of the other top 25 free agents. This will give us a hole in the top nine and hope one of the prospects can step up. Then you will likely sign one or two pluggers to fill out the 4th line for around $1M - $2m each. Stempniak may very well be one of those guys if they can agree on a contract. Armia and Petan would be the obvious choices for the first injury call ups. Wheeler - $5.6M Little - $4.7M Ladd - $4.4M Perreault - $3M Thorburn - $1.2M Scheifele - 900K Lowry - 800K Copp - 800K Peluso - 700 K Other players I haven't included in the current cap numbers: Ehlers - 800K Armia - 800K Petan - 600K

Just got a notice that the sites internet host will be doing maintenance on their servers and the site will be down for a couple of hours on July 1st between 9PM and 1AM.

The surprise is when was the last time that this clause was ever exercised? It is likely going to be a long drawn out battle, although I have heard speculation that Richards won't want whatever this is to come out and may accept the ruling. This is probably the reason LA is quiet on the reasons why. Accept this and no one will know, fight it and it will all come out in the media. Whatever it is, hope Richards is okay.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/kings-terminate-mike-richards-contract-cite-breach/ This is going to be a long drawn out court battle with the NHLPA. You wonder if it was lack of training or something more going on with Richards behind the scenes.

Wow. There is still $22M remaining on Richards contract. If they can actually get out of it, that is crazy. And if there is a valid breach, it is unlikely he will sign another NHL deal.

37 , 20 , 37 , 32 80 , 52, 82 , 64 Those are Kessel's goals and point totals over the last 4 years. The 52 point season was in the 48 game shortened lockout. He has also never missed a game in those 4 years. He is 27 years old, so just entering his prime, and signed for the next 7 years. Not exactly sure how cap hit works when someone eats $2M off the salary (cap hit is AAV), but his cap hit is $8M right now, would go down to like $6M for retained salary. Someone will easily pay that for him You just can't get players who are capable of putting up those numbers. Is a head case? Maybe. Be interesting to see him on a stronger team not in the Toronto media. Would I want the Jets to trade for him? Would I give up a Trouba, Ehlers, and 1st round pick? Probably not.

Well it does for religious people. And for those that arent religious, why should they be held to the standard of the religious? Is a marriage between two non-religious people any less of a commitment?Someone asked what the big deal was outside of the ceremonial nature of marriage. There are matters of benefits, death benefits, decision-making etc. Things of that nature. Franky I think those matters are the big deal. I also don't know why one religion would pretend to have a monopoly on the concept/term since it's been around forever under many different civilizations. Although never between two men or two women, to be fair. Thats not entirely true. Ancient Greece and Rome, Mesopotamia, some regions in China, and some older European areas allowed a same-sex marriages until Christianity came into more prominence.

Good call! I don't either. Spending the day off with TSN1290 on isn't bad either.

Even if the Jets don't sign anyone day 1, I still find it fascinating the deals other teams give to players on free agent day. I am also very curious who other teams in our division and conference sign. Don't think it is a waste of time at all. It is a fun way to pass the time at work, checking in and who was signed and for what.

I don't think Fehr is going to be coming back after the failure of his last stint here, and I think they would rather have some prospects take the spot he would fill on the roster.

I think with the change in management over the summer, and the trades they made at draft, Edmonton will very soon become a desirable location. Maybe it takes a year or two to prove the circus has left town, but I think they are going to be a very scary team very soon. Adding Reinhart and Gryba will help solidify their D core. Talbot still has to prove he can be a #1 goalie over the long haul, but the potential is there, Scrivens isn't a slouch either. One of them will step up to claim the #1 spot. D and goaltending were Edmonton's biggest needs, and they have moved to strengthen that. Throw in a legit coach and with the group of forwards they have, they aren't going to be a cake walk anymore.

Can't see the Jets being all that active in the top free agents this year. Money will go to Ladd and possibly Buff. They will likely look for a deal in the secondary wave of players like they got with Perreault last year,. I've always been a fan of Vermette with his face-off abilities, but with Little / Sheifele / Lowry as our top 3 centres, not sure he would be worth the money he is going to want. He will likely be in the Frolik range and would you rather have kept Frolik than Vermette? Sekera, Beauchemin, Oduya, Martin, Ehrhoff, and Jackman are all left handed D. I wonder if you could sign one of them to play in the top 4 D and trade Buff. Beauchemin and Martin are probably too old for what the Jets are looking for, then again maybe they can bridge a couple of years before Morrissey moves in. If we don't re-sign Stafford, than I think we definitely have to be in the market for at least one top 6 forward to step in for the loss of Frolik / Stafford. I wonder if there will be any interest in Mike Richards with his hometown being so close. Not sure he is much more than a 4th liner now, and is that centre spot reserved for Copp?

Very interesting. This might be where the pre-free agent day window to talk to teams plays into our advantage. Surely his agent made some calls and they have an idea that the Jets offer was in the ballpark of fair market. Otherwise there is no reason to work on a deal the day before (or two days before) Free Agency. It would seem to indicate Stafford enjoyed his time here also and wants to be here. Which is weird since no one wants to come to Winnipeg. Be nice if Jets announce signing of Stafford AND extension for Ladd this week. Burmi signing probably not far off either (or trade). For sure there will always the percentage of players that prefer to play in a bigger city, but I think it has been shown, even back to the Jets 1.0 days, that while Winnipeg isn't a top priority for many players, once they get here, there are many players whole like it and wish to stay.

It was there before. The Washington Capitals' seventh-round pick will go to the Winnipeg Jets as the result of a trade on June 28, 2014 that sent Eddie Pasquale and a sixth-round pick in 2014 to Washington in exchange for a sixth-round pick in 2014, Nashville's seventh-round pick in 2014 and this pick.[51]