Rich

I'm not saying we are guaranteed to get Harris or Coombs when they become free agents, but Harris is different as he played junior football in BC and was a territorial exemption pickup for BC. He wasn't a local kid that grew up here and played their football here. Harris was born in Winnipeg and played high school football here before going to BC to play junior football. He is also here in the off-season iirc. How is that not a local kid? I didn't say he wasn't a local kid, I said that he didn't grow up here AND play his football here. The original post insinuated that Harris being born here didn't work out for him coming back to Winnipeg, comparing that to Coombs and Demski. I said it wasn't a valid comparison because Harris played his junior football in BC and had four years playing there to put down roots, make friends, and get accustomed to the place, regardless of whether or not he comes back here to visit family. And I see now in my original post we are not guaranteed to get Harris or Coombs, meant to say Demski or Coombs.

I'm not saying we are guaranteed to get Harris or Coombs when they become free agents, but Harris is different as he played junior football in BC and was a territorial exemption pickup for BC. He wasn't a local kid that grew up here and played their football here. Harris was born in Winnipeg and played high school football here before going to BC to play junior football. He is also here in the off-season iirc. How is that not a local kid? I didn't say he wasn't a local kid, I said that he didn't grow up here AND play his football here. The original post insinuated that Harris being born here didn't work out for him coming back to Winnipeg, comparing that to Coombs and Demski. I said it wasn't a valid comparison because Harris played his junior football in BC and had four years playing there to put down roots, make friends, and get accustomed to the place, regardless of whether or not he comes back here to visit family.

I'm not saying we are guaranteed to get Harris or Coombs when they become free agents, but Harris is different as he played junior football in BC and was a territorial exemption pickup for BC. He wasn't a local kid that grew up here and played their football here.

I'm not at all a LOTR fan boy but enjoyed the movies. When comparing the story and action to GoT, you have to remember the time difference and when LOTR was written. It pretty much defined and spawned the fantasy genre. I tried reading LOTR books and couldn't get through them.

I remember patrols getting Jets tickets as well once or twice a year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc4lB9WT2C4 Anyone think Kucherov will get any extra discipline for the hit on Enstrom ... I mean Engstrom ... Watched it a bunch and while Toby turns to see him coming, Kucherov is taking a bee line for his back the whole time, knocks him into the board from at least 3 feet out and leaves his feet as he pushes him into the boards. Dangerous hit ... should get 3 - 5 games IMO

Jets win. Absolutely needed that tonight. Scary hit on Engstrom, glad to see him come back out to finish the game.

Probably right, though I suspect with the popularity of the team coming back that still wouldn't have been the case for the first few years, and they could have pulled in full value for those tickets. If you follow the Minnesota timeline, I believe it was 10 years after the Wild came back that they really stopped selling out the building on a consistent basis and really had to push to have a competitive team to sellout. So who knows, in another 5 years, if the team is still in the bottom half of the team, there may be less demand and there may be promos with sponsors.

Every game in Winnipeg is sold out with season ticket holders with the exception of whatever they decided to hold back. Cheapest seat is around $80 I believe. That is the season ticket bundle price. I've purchased Jets tickets on Ticketmaster this season for $60 each. Is that the same seats other people sell through seat exchange or are those part of the limited seats they open up each game for non season tickets?

Every game in Winnipeg is sold out with season ticket holders with the exception of whatever they decided to hold back. Cheapest seat is around $80 I believe. That is the season ticket bundle price.

No? Everyone won't be having the same discussions when they go into the last year of their contracts and set to be UFAs? I hope we can sign at least one of them in the off season. And that is probably Ladd because he would be cheaper and we have a bigger need at LW. But I wouldn't want to pay much more then 5.5 - 6. I've set it before. This is one off season I'm glad I'm not the GM and making these decisions. Have to decide on what to offer the UFAs we traded for as well.

I'm not saying they have to be re-signed at any cost. I just don't think it is as simple as saying the old core didn't work so ship them all out. We got one sentence from Maurice in that interview, none of us knows really what that means. The alternative plan could have been trading Kane. They kept Frolik for one year knowing they could lose him. You can't always be trading for the future as then the future will never come. If we trade Ladd and Buff I don't think we make the playoffs again next year and this group needs to taste that. Experience that. You probably shop them around but unless you are getting a lopsided deal, I don't trade them. Certainly not both of them. If you keep them and make the playoffs great. If you keep them and are out then you get some deadline day deals. If you keep them and we are on the bubble again, well sucks to be us.

You can't go with an all youth model. Look how that has worked in Edmonton. Ladd and Buff both have rings. You can't ignore what that means in the room either. It sure is going to be an interesting off season for the Jets. A lot of choices to make that will affect the team long term.

I seem to remember there being TVs in the upper deck of the old Winnipeg Arena to allow people to see what was happening in blind spots with the poor site lines. And this was before big screen TVs, these were like old style square TVs.

Yikes ... I hope the Jets don't do these long term contracts that bring a player into his late 30s. A 7 year contract shouldn't end later then when a player is 35. After that you can evaluate where they are and if they have declined with age.

Budaj is a UFA next year, and while I am sure he wasn't thrilled at going down to the AHL, word is he has been a great teammate and mentor to Connor Hellebuyck

True enough but some professional athletes take it more of a challenge to win it back not throw in the towel and say they wan't to play elsewhere. In this particular case though, I'm not sure where Pavelec sits with this as I don't have enough information. Agreed, it is pretty hard to guess what has happened without knowing what has gone on behind closed doors and what discussions Maurice has had or not had with Pavelec.

I'm pretty sure most players don't worry about screening the goalie when they are out past the blue line.

Of course he does. He has lost his starting job here. What professional athlete would be happy with being replaced.

Split off from the IGF thread

I found that part interesting as well. Got the impression that if the team had not shown the progress it did after Maurice took over last season that a lot of those guys you mention would have indeed been traded last season. Would have to think Buff and Ladd were up there because their contracts were expiring sooner then the rest, so a decision would have been made on them.

I know everyone is quick to say trade a player who isn’t going to re-sign here, because we need the assets and all of that, and that is what we have kind of been trained to think with the draft and develop message that has been sent by the organization since getting here. But I am curious; at what point do we consider ourselves a contender? When do we become a buyer? If another team trades a 1st rounder, a prospect, and a roster player for Buff, that means that the other team thinks Buff is worth it to them for that one year. I’m not at all suggesting that the Jets are in that position today. We are still a bubble playoff team, and not a team that needs that one piece to put them over the top to contend for the cup. But will the perception and expectation ever be that we are there? Or because of the market we are in, and a budget team, will we always place a premium and draft picks and prospects?

www.nhlnumbers.com is a good substitute for capgeek for now. The presentation isn't as nice, but the numbers are there. Apparently they had an agreement where they got a lot of their data from capgeek, so who knows how valid that website will be after this summer when new contracts are signed. Be interesting to see if they can continue to get the info. As to trading Buff... I'm glad Chevy gets the big bucks to make those decisions. There is a lot of information that we don't have that will feed into it. What the Jets budget on salary actually is for one. I’ve also heard that True North has said that when the time is right, they would kick in more money to compete / build a winner. Is that time now? Would they up their internal cap for Buff? How much does the Canadian dollar affect this decision? What salary will Ladd demand, and which of the two would you rather pick (this is more of a value per dollar decision I would think), assuming you wouldn’t be able to afford both. If you do trade Buff, does that make re-signing Ladd less likely because he wants to go to a team that is ready to compete. What are the projections for re-signing Scheifele / Trouba / Hutchinson and other RFAs that are coming due in the next year or two? How does Morrissey play into the defensive picture? Do he and the addition of Myers make Buff more expendable then other years. Even if you decide that you can’t or won’t re-sign Buff, is keeping him around for one more year to push into and deeper into the playoffs for the experience of all your other players worth more to the team then prospects and draft picks who are at least 3 years out for impacting your team. Does making the playoffs or not making the playoffs this year affect this decision? It really is a very fluid situation with compelling arguments on both sides of the fence. At this point, I’m not even sure which side I fall on.

I really don't think if it will draw 10,000 plus. They'd have to open the upper deck for that and the Moose only ever did that for playoffs. A lot of the Moose core ticket base have Jets tickets now, and I can't see a lot of them getting tickets to both. It is a huge time investment aside from the financial cost. I think they can be successful for a year or two, but I don't think they will even draw what the Moose did when the Jets weren't here.