TrueBlue4ever

Some pretty juicy candidates for the #53 spot, including Pat Neufeld, Philip Hunt, Steve Patrick, Dom Picard and Aaron Brown (although both wore other numbers), and rocket man Pete Catan, but the selection is a Ring of Honour member and defensive player of the half century.

Then the next scapegoat will emerge. Dubois will start getting bashed for all the penalties he takes (right now the worst in the league) and people will ignore all the penalties he draws (best in the league). I’ve said it before , and I’ll repeat it until it sinks in - Wheeler is not being traded. His contract is not something that is moveable with the cap situation In the NHL right now. And they aren’t going to retain 50% of his salary and operate with a salary cap of $4 million less than every other team. The Jets are not going to waive him and give up 15-20 goals and 50-60 assists for nothing, besides, his no-move clause prohibits it. If they buy him out, it costs them $2.5 million for the next 4 years, again, to have nothing to replace him. Now, of a team is interested in Scheifele with his contract and it benefits the Jets, then nothing is off the table. But to give up a 30 goal, 85 point centre because fans are pissy because of one missed playoff year is a path to disaster. Watch the Oilers and Sabres for the past decade overreacting to every tough year. Do not care to become that, thanks.

I guess I equate “problem in the room” differently. Throwing a player’s tracksuit in the shower, that’s a problem in the room. Ehlers’ criticism is that players are passing up basic shots to make the pretty play, or not playing straight line hockey, and as he says it’s team-wide, not just one or two guys. And then he himself was guilty of it on a power play, passing up a slot shot to pass down to Connor on the goal line. But the suggestion seems to be that Wheeler and Scheifele get to dictate the line combos and run the team. Maybe it’s just that they have produced well enough together to be our best two players the last 5 years, and adding Connor made Connor an elite scorer in the past few years. In the end, the whole “problem in the locker room” angle seems to suggest that the issue is culture and not personnel. Well to me to harsh truth is that this team does not have the talent to compete right now. Wheeler still can make passes with the best of them, but his body is breaking down and he should be more of a Joe Thornton 2nd line guy by now. Dubois looks like a good power forward but still takes too many penalties. Scheifele is still playing the old “transition off the rush” system that worked when the team had a mobile, puck moving defence, but he has not adapted to the changing personnel around him or other teams’s adjustments. And there is definitely something not right between the ears since he got suspended. Ehlers is still brilliant at zone entry, but again is somewhat injury prone. And Connor is a sniper who still has the same defensive deficiencies. And that’s about it. Stastny has probably over-achieved, but I don’t think he is reliable for 20+ goals again. Copp was a good third liner who they needed to play top line, which speaks to a depth problem. And Lowry is being overpaid if he is a 4th liner, and playing above his head and underproducing for a what a 2nd or 3rd liner should be. The only blue chipper in the pipeline right now is Perfetti, and he is a few years away from being top-line ready. And the defence was not fixed with the trades. Morrissey is not an elite number 1 d-man and I don’t really think anyone else right now is better than a second or third pairing guy. Sanberg may be a second pair guy next year, and I think Heinola is still a ways off, especially with his lack of size. This team wants to play the way they did 4 years ago, but they don’t have the personnel to play the same way. At this point none of their bottom 6 are “must keep”. Maybe a wholesale coaching change and a new defensive philosophy are needed until they can re-stock their cupboards after sacrificing a few picks to keep the playoff window open. Unless Barry Trotz shakes free, maybe a Ken Hitchcock type.

Please elaborate. You have said this again and again, along with Maurice saying he doesn’t coach your favorite pariahs, but do you have any hard evidence or just internet rumours? And a player taking a bad penalty or not back-checking or missing his assignment does not always equate to a “problem in the room”.

Was in the same graduating class as my father.

Matt Sheridan wishing your mother a Happy Easter.

Millen complaining again, this time about Hellebuyck’s workload. When did it become impossible for a goalie to play more than 60 games? Brodeur played 70+ every year and he never complained about being tired or suffered for it in the playoffs.

Nice to see the ref call a retaliation penalty to even it up. The hit was late but not dirty, players need to not be so sucky when they get hit hard and turn everything into a scrum to “defend the code”. They sure take their sweet time announcing goals in the building in Tampa.

To be fairer he did just what he was complaining the whole team has been doing in not being “accountable”. Just because he isn’t Wheeler or Scheifele doesn’t mean he’s not immune to the odd critique.

Jets are terrible about giving up slot shots, but they may be worse at not shooting themselves when they are open in the slot. Ehlers passes one up to pass down low.

Knew they were going to challenge before the broadcast said it. Worst rule in hockey.

This will get called back on offside

Which player do you want?

My dog got into my wallet and ate a $20 bill. We have taken him to the vet, they are monitoring him and report his condition as serious. No change is expected.

Let’s go Blue Jays!

So some interesting stuff about Saunders. He has not played football in 3.5 years. His last game was the 2018 Labour Day game in Hamilton, where he tore up his knee (ACL). He was signed up for 2019 by the Tiger-Cats but was cut in training camp when his recovery was set to take longer get than expected. He was signed by Houston of the XFL to start 2020 but placed on injured reserve right away and his contract suspended when the league folded. Ottawa signed him in 2020 before the season was cancelled by the pandemic. Was re-signed for 2021 before his June car accident led him to retire. Here are some pics of the accident (not meant to be ghoulish or sensationalistic here, they come from Saunders’ own Instagram post - did he take these himself after the accident? Seems unlikely but someone must have with a camera he had access to). Not many more details about this crash, however this was not his first car accident as a football player. As a rookie with the New York Jets in 2014, he was in a single vehicle accident after suffering a seizure at the wheel. He bounced around NFL practice rosters for a couple of years before being suspended in 2016 for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Long and winding road for him to get back to the game this year. Would make a nice “comeback player of the year” story if he could return to some of those numbers he was churning out before his injuries. I wish him well however it turns out.

I have generally gone to Google, entered the player and looked in images. Then click on the image until it lets me copy it, and then go to the insert image from URL and click “paste” and it downloads the URL in most cases. If you have a player in mind, just say and I’ll see if I can assist.

Wanted to add Ed Kotowich at #56 but the pic would not download. Another beauty.

Also wrote Glengarry Glen Ross, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Untouchables, Wag the Dog, and The Verdict.

I believe it isn’t so much not looking into things, but rather knowing why things are the way they are and working to keep it that way. Maybe we are saying the same thing in that they want to ignore the issue, but it seems to be borne less out of “I don’t want to understand the problem that needs fixing because it is too complex and I can’t be bothered to learn” and more so “I understand it perfectly, but it’s not a problem to me because I am the advantaged one, and let’s keep it that way shall we”

This may be the most subtle shot across the bow to the “whiners” in his thread: Must offer a reasonable alternative if you want to criticize? Has this guy never visited an internet chat site before? Complaining without justification is step one.

Would that be a form of insider trading?