Atomic

Well I hope you're right. We'll see.

I think that's a little extreme! One right-winger making an extra million is going to cripple our team? I don't think so. Maybe I could see if we had some players knocking on the door making their way into our top 6, I could agree. But we don't have anyone like that. Our best forward prospects, Petan and Ehlers, are still a couple years away. If Lowry or Lipon come up, they are not top 6 players, not right now and probably not for awhile. I just don't see the downside of signing Frolik to a five-year deal. He is going to be worth it. How far apart could they really be? Is it worth risking losing him altogether to save 500k, or even 1M?

As opposed to what, a one year deal and he's gone after the season anyway? How is a one deal and he's gone after the season worse than a one deal and hes gone after the season? Use some common sense. I don't even get what you're trying to say here. Get your thoughts straight and get back to me. I would have liked to see a deal LONGER than one year. What is so hard to understand about that? Ill type it slower for you. If Frolik wasnt going to sign a long term deal, then this isnt on Chevy. He cant make a player sign. So the alternative is to go into arbitration which everyone says is usually nasty and gets a one year deal anyway. So instead of that, Chevy agrees to a friendly deal with both sides retaining the option to keep talking. According to Lawless, they were negotiating a five-year deal. So lets presume that means both sides wanted to sign a long term deal but ran out of time. Now Frolik has the leverage because the closer we get to next season the more likely he is to want to test free agency. But if Frolik likes Winnipeg and the opportunity here then its the devil he knows. If he has a poor season, he hurt himself. if he has a great season, he helped himself. That stuff is just money. What we dont know is why they didnt sign a five year deal. Ofcourse I wanted a long term deal. But do you really think long deals just happen because you want them to? be emotional if you want to but your anti-Chevy bias is showing. The five-year deal was on the table, so why didn't it get done? That's all I'm saying. You're absolutely right that Frolik now has the leverage. If he wasn't going to sign a five-year deal now, what is going to change to make him want to sign it in January? What if he is still unsigned by the trade deadline? Now we're in a tricky spot... do you move him or risk losing him for nothing? Are we expecting Frolik to have a bad year (where he will almost certainly be in the top 6 and producing points)? That's the only way I can see us giving him LESS money than what he was asking for right now... and I just don't see it happening. As far as an anti-Chevy bias goes, I actually liked him in the first couple years, but this off-season has really soured me on the job he is doing. I just look at what he has accomplished and think "Ugh", because I know we're in for another year out of the playoffs. I know he is trying, and I know it is probably hard to attract players to Winnipeg. But he has to do more to improve the team. Every team in the league is drafting good players every year... that can't be the only way to build your team.

Yup, Chevy hasnt been able to sign any players. Not Ladd. Not Bogo. Not Wheeler. Not Kane., NONE! Hey you forgot Thorburn... wow, Chevy is really on a roll! I guess his vision for the team is "Keep as many Thrashers here as possible, for as long as possible." Nobody else can have a long term deal. So signing Ladd, Wheeler, Kane, Bogo etc were bad ideas? Good God some people shouldnt be allowed to be hockey fans. Yeah you're right. When you want to improve a team, the best way is to keep all the same players as the team that was no good the year before.

As opposed to what, a one year deal and he's gone after the season anyway? How is a one deal and he's gone after the season worse than a one deal and hes gone after the season? Use some common sense. I don't even get what you're trying to say here. Get your thoughts straight and get back to me. I would have liked to see a deal LONGER than one year. What is so hard to understand about that?

Yup, Chevy hasnt been able to sign any players. Not Ladd. Not Bogo. Not Wheeler. Not Kane., NONE! Hey you forgot Thorburn... wow, Chevy is really on a roll! I guess his vision for the team is "Keep as many Thrashers here as possible, for as long as possible." Nobody else can have a long term deal.

The bad news is that it is a one-year deal and Frolik will be gone after this season. Unless you believe that they are actually going to continue negotiating and work out a long term deal during the season

Kulemin just got over 4M per year and Frolik puts up the same point production and far better defensive play. Derick Brassard just got 5M per year and his best season is 47 points... in 2010-11. He put up 45 last year. So you can either look around the league and say "OH, well those are just bad deals!", or you can recognize that this is the new reality of the league. We are sitting on 10 million+ in cap space and the cap is only going to go up. But feel free to continue making excuses for why it is IMPOSSIBLE for Chevy to sign players.

He didn't sign Frolik to a long term deal. Bungled.

One year??? Come on. Of all our players, Frolik was one that is worth overpaying to keep around long term. Chevy bungled this one hard. With a one-year deal, Frolik will be gone at the deadline or we will lose him for nothing after this year. What a waste.

Well done, great video!

I'd be disappointed if Dressler was available and we didn't go after him. He is a great receiver.

Probably less than 20 minutes of actual content in the hour long show.

???? Romby just wasn't getting open at all. It was painful. Nah you're way off. Romby was wide open on two plays that would have been TDs if not for obvious underthrows by Willy. No need to know the play call.

Or perhaps leave Johnson at HB and put in Markett at corner, if he is healthy.

Fantuz is still their best receiver. He will get his catches, just gotta limit the damage, and make good tackles. Did someone say Sears is back practicing? Inserting Greaves on the OL and Sears over Teague Sherman is a nice boost for the team. No disrespect to Teague intended... but Sears is quite clearly the better player.

So then, draft & develop is kind of a joke, isn't it? We're counting on one, maybe two, players each year coming up in the system. At that rate, it takes 8-9 years to rebuild a team. This is how long we are expected to wait? yes basically, unless you're interested in spending a ton in FA it takes a long time to build up a system with depth, especially when you're starting from as shitty a place as the Thrashers were in. That team really crippled it's organizational depth. They left a few good pieces in the system, but not nearly enough. Well, Winnipeg has the fourth-most cap space in the league right now, so I think a free agent or two wouldn't kill us.

So then, draft & develop is kind of a joke, isn't it? We're counting on one, maybe two, players each year coming up in the system. At that rate, it takes 8-9 years to rebuild a team. This is how long we are expected to wait?

Bilukidi will be a Blue Bomber. It's just a matter of time now.

He might struggle at left guard

Their OL is truly awful. Worst in the league right now.

Romby could have had 2 touchdowns against BC with better throws from Willy

The difficulty is that 2nd and 3rd round picks often take 4 or 5 years to be ready to even start to break into the NHL, it's development. People get impatient though expecting instant results. Well in 4 years, our second round picks are Nic Petan, Eric Comrie, and Lukas Sutter. Petan and Comrie obviously have potential, but Sutter isn't even Jets property anymore. I'm as excited as anyone about Petan, but in four years of drafting you would hope we could find one player in the second round that would be able to play at least a depth role moving between the Jets and IceCaps.

LeFevour is an excellent runner, right on par with Reilly. He is also very accurate. BUT his arm strength is lacking, IMO. His mental game should get a workout vs the Etcheverry defence. If we can contain him to the pocket, we will win.

Sounds like Simoni Lawrence, Mike Filer and Rico Murray will be back though. Hamilton is going to be fired up for this game, best not to take them lightly.