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As have I. From both sides of the table. Here's a primer for people to help them understand how this stuff works:

Man, that's sad...one of the all time great power forwards. You never realized just how good he was until he put on the Maple Leaf, and then he was an elite level superstar...

my honest belief is it's not going to take that long.... I think we're talking this upcoming season. It's not going to surprise me at all if Streveler takes over as starter by August. That is, of course if O'Shea can bring himself to make that move.

Since when is Gord Miller anything but a play-by-play commentator? Why would any team divulge such information to him? Sounds like deflectionary fodder to me. Spoken like a self-proclaimed expert. And an ignorant one, at that. Stastny's stats with the Jets (regular season and playoffs): regular season: 19GP, 4G (4EV), 9A (5EV, 4PP), +4 playoffs: 17GP, 6G (5EV, 1PP), 9A (5EV, 4PP), +5 Saying Stastny "didn't do lots" at even strength is utterly comical. He did more 5v5 than in any other situation.

I doubt you find one person who wants Helle to start tomorrow so she was right

Fairly sure that Walters has a better idea of what's going on than you do. Crazy talk I know, but my gut's telling me I'm right.

One good thing...Tanev's 9th goal is the most he's had in one year. He had 8 in 61 games last year.

you have to remeber as well...both sides have already most likely have several scenarios and offer/counter offers already approved by their respective sides..so it's not like when actual sit down talks start that they are starting from nothing...once initiated pretty certain it will move along fairly quick

save for a guy or two we "might " lose to the NFL..I have a pretty good feeling we will be able to sign the free agents of ours that we want to sign...and also have an ace in the hole over the rest of our Western counterparts as we already know where our QB SMS money is allocated for 2019...so we can target certain guys at certain price points knowing it fits our budget, whereas the uncertainty of what QB's will be actually available come free agency and 3-4 teams fighting for them with price obviously being driven up to unknown numbers..will make it hard for some teams to go after other assets they need aggressively as they can't hamstring themselves...so shall be an interesting next couple months

Considering his dad owns two professional sports teams I'd imagine the resources that AEW would have at their disposal would be absolutely amazing. Their is no doubt that you couldn't find a better situation for an upstart wrestling to start off with.

thing is..all teams are in this boat, and actually it most likely will work in the teams favor as there will be a few big ticket guys who will get their bank...but there is only so much SMS money to go around on all teams and when the dust settles after the frenzy of the big contracts, some guys better just accept the first fair offer they get because they may have to end up playing for the same, or somewhat less than they did the previous year...there will be a lot of the second tier free agents signed to very team friendly deals this year..regardless of the cap increase

I think that Streveler only starts if Nichols gets hurt, O'Shea won't hand over the keys just yet....

should be able to re-structure Nichols contract and make it incentive based and drop 150K.... but that's just wishful thinking that won't happen!

Someone is going to get the ban hammer...

Time : Friday 7, TSN3 Stars : 16-22-7 @ 27-14-2 Notables : Broissoit to start

some will I think....with a caveat written in their contract that what ever percent the CBA increases...so shall their deal to a certain degree...

Its super dynamic. With TNA you had millionaire backers (Panda Energy) who didnt really understand wrestling. And in ROH you have super rich Sinclair (Billionaire company) who owns it but arent committed to it being anything more than decent content for its syndication stations. To have billionaire owners who understand wrestling, who understand business, understand sport...its hard to predict success or failure because its a new world now, but its the best chance of success since WWE went public.

Cariou & Selleck are less than 10 years apart in age.

Does it not take two side to negotiate why is it all on the league for March start?

So far Bombers and Ottawa have locked up the most of there own free agents. Think both have eight or nine locked up.

The same way he is doing now I suppose. The lack of a CBA certainly hasn't stopped players who were going to be FAs from re-signing with their teams.

Some updates from Dave Meltzer: - AEW is wholly owned by Shad Khan and his son Tony Khan (who was a long time subscriber to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter by the way). Khan's are worth over $6 billion, far more than both McMahon and the Fertitta's (former owners of UFC) (and makes them the richest wrestling promotion in the world). - Currently, AEW is negotiating with two outlets for a weekly, two hour, prime time, LIVE TV show. And this opportunty is directly related to the connections and clout of the Khan's and the value of WWE's programming. There is a potentially more lucrative international TV deal on the table as well. The value of wrestling as a TV property is the highest its ever been in the industry. - Tony Khan is the President of AEW and head of Creative, described as the "Vince role" (in other words, the creative buck stops with him) but there will be others in creative. - The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) & Cody Rhodes are all Executive Vice Presidents. Bucks' roles will include a focus on tag teams while Cody will focus on singles. Brandi Rhodes is the Chief Brand Officer and will focus on women's wrestling. Matt Jackson's wife is head of merchandise (she was heavily credited with the excellent merchandising of the Bucks over the years. Ryan Barkan of Pro Wrestling Tees will also be part of the merchandising division. - At least one more executive VP will be added to senior management (I wonder if this is being held for Jim Ross who's WWE contract doesnt expire until spring). - Bucks & Cody have three-year contracts with options on a 4th & 5th year. They are world-wide exclusive but would be available to work other places pending corporate agreements with those companies (such as New Japan or PWG etc) - Currently signed are Bucks, Cody, Hangman Page, Brit Baker (fiance of Adam Cole), Chris Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Scorpio Sky, Chris Jericho, PAC, MJF, Joey Janela & Penelope Ford - All are signed to contracts of various stipulations and lengths (ie. no standard contract, some can work other places, some are exclusive) - Jericho was negotiating with WWE as recently as December but chose AEW and signed a three-year deal that was better than any contract he had in WWE. It's exclusive to AEW except for the right to negotiate his own New Japan deal and future Jericho Cruises. (It's something to note that AEW out-bid WWE for Jericho) - Originally, All In 2: Double or Nothing was scheduled for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas but the arena said if the Golden Knights ended up having a home playoff game that night, AEW would have to move. While slim, they didnt want issues so moved to MGM. - Estimates between 50,000-55,000 PPV buys for the first All In event (I'd suspect that's below what they hoped). The show was also available on New Japan World and Rong of Honor's streaming platform so that would cut down on buys. There was an issue with DirectTV where the show didnt air at the last minute, cutting down buys as well. - They did average of $50 per head in merch sales at All In ($500,000 in merch....wow) - Drew 196,000 viewers for the Pre Show on WGN Meltzer is really fair on this saying you need more than hardcore fans and good shirt sales and feeling that, without a major publicity blitz you can't draw on TV initially. But he pointed out TNA on SPIKE went from 200,000 on FOX Sports Net to over a million on SPIKE. He points out that AEW has a far more underground presence than TNA did but is also paying way more Cody & Bucks then TNA paid for even Sting & Angle. He says AEW's owner is far more wrestling savvy than TNA's and their top executives understand social media and merchandising better than TNA. He specifically notes a $250 per match guy in 2005 is earning over $100,000 a year now. - Second PPV event will be in the summer in Jacksonville and likely an anniversary show over Labor Day back in Chicago. Meltzer said PAC vs Page looks to be a big match on the Vegas show but noted "a major main event is scheduled that is likely to be announced when tickets go on sale in February". (The fact he didnt even allude to whom makes me think it's Kenny vs....maybe Jericho?) - They have an affiliation with China's OWE which has some talent (and everyone is desperate to breakthrough into the Chinese market). - They dont want to be enemies of any promotion and are not trying to be enemies with WWE. Cody & The Bucks praised Hunter for how negotiations were handled (Meltzer notes that WWE will see them as the enemy whether they want it or not) - Since Smackdown was held in Jacksonville the day of the rally, many fans attended both and WWE was not allowing fans wearing AEW shirts in but once it hot social media, they rescinded that (WWE denied it and I wouldnt be surprised if it was a lower level decision made by security). - Aex Marvez was one of the hosts of the rally. He works as an NFL Insider for Sporting News and is a long time wrestling fan (ran his own newsletter in his youth) and his close friends with Tony Khan. He's expected to be part of the broadcast team. - HBO Vice was at the rally filming, reportedly just a news item for their Vice show and nothing else (HBO, you say...?) - Tony Khan wants wrestling to be treated more like sport - AEW wants to work with New Japan. New Japan is happy with ROH. (But reading between the lines, I have a sense New Japan and AEW will work something out after the ROH/New Japan show at WM Weekend). - Hunter really wanted Cody, Bucks & Page. He offered Page main roster money to be a top guy in NXT. The Bucks were offered money nearly on par with AJ Styles and their Being the Elite show would be a Network show. And amazingly, they were given a six month window to opt out of their contracts if they werent happy with their push - WWE thought there was no way Bucks would turn it down and the Bucks were tentatively booked to debut at the Rumble with a significant WrestleMania angle. - Hunter and the Bucks spent about 12 hours in talks and they praised him for the process and noted he enjoyed their BTE show where they had Kaz portray Triple H and get superkicked - Noted that AEW trademarked Tuesday Night Dynamite and felt Tuesday was a good night but that it seems unlikely now and will be decided by the Network they sign with, though noted, it would be prime time live. - Health Care will be provided for executives, including Bucks, Cody, Brandi, Mrs Bucks, Daniels (also a Producer), Billy Gunn (Producer), Will be the same insurance provided to Jaguars execs. - New Japan was surprised when Kenny Omega announced he was leaving as they expected to re-sign him. He's hugely important to their plans. The rumor is that Omega has already declined WWE's offer and will be announced for AEW in February. And its believed it impacts New Japan's willingness to make a deal with AEW. (Imagine this...AEW made Jericho his best contract offer ever. Assuming Kenny gets a tip top deal too (he would) PLUS gets a lucrative New Japan contract as well...man, he's going to essentially get TWO top contracts. Good time to be on his Christmas gift list! Who was it that tried to argue no one knows who he is? hahaha) - If Omega signs with AEW, its expected Kota Ibushi would work shows as well (he doesnt sign contracts). - New Japan is offering two-year deals now as opposed to their usual one year and both them and ROH have made increased offers to talent. Good time to be a good wrestler.

I'm not sure he has any team insiders but I'm certain he talks to other journalists. And journalists love to talk and speculate. And journalists love to repeat things they hear from teams and agents, like Kurt Over-charge, to build up speculation. Lawless used do this tons. Sure he had tons of insider information but he also created a lot of rumours by spreading info fed to him by teams and agents. If they wanted it out there, to be speculated on and to send a message to the other side, they spoke with Lawless. Sometimes it came to fruition but lots of times it just remained talk. EDIT: But in this case, everyone at TSN loves stroking the Almighty Leafs. Who would possibly walk away from the greatest team on the planet??

Trump team should be allowed to ‘correct’ final Mueller report, says Giuliani https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/424871-exclusive-trump-team-should-be-allowed-to-correct-final-mueller 🙄 Yes, any indication, in that report .....that Trump was involved in any criminal activity..... would be an OUTRAGE Bet John Gotti wished he had a lawyer like this.

He tucked his tail and ran from that thread. Lol. At least everyone was polite. I wonder how often he sends his resume to true north.

WTF??? According to you, our 2 best players sucking ass AGAIN? I felt sorry for you when posters here went after you on the Wrestling Thread earlier today.... but after that comment I'm thinking now that you deserve it. Where would we be without Scheifle & Wheeler? Not even close to a playoff team. And it's always Maurice's fault.

Idiot fans like iheart blame goaltending but no mention of 55 and 26 sucking ass yet again.. No mention of zero in game adjustments made by the coach. . We lost tonight because our coach while a good interview does nothing in game to actually make adjustments. Its beyond time to break up 55 and 26 but he won't cuz they got pics of him.

Blue Bloods is my favourite on tv as of now & has been for almost a decade. Would like to see it make 10 years & finish the run of the show with Frank retiring. However, the ratings are down. Especially in the 18-49 demographic. It still consistently draws 8-9 million an episode which is down from the 10-12 million it was drawing just 2 years ago. CBS deserves to treat loyal fans of the show the right way & if it's determined the series will be cancelled then let it go out the right way & finish off some of the series ongoing storylines. I've never understood how NCIS remains such a ratings bonanza for CBS especially with the departure of Michael Weatherly, Cote De Pablo & now Pauley Perette. I swore off that show when De Pablo left 3 or 4 years ago. Perrette apparently left as she couldn't stand working with Mark Harmon. Things got so bad between them that by season's send last year she refused to be filmed in any scene with Harmon. This all stems from an incident where Harmon brought his dog on set. It attacked a member of the production team mauling him severely. Harmon was told not to bring the dog back but he ignored the directive & did so anyway. Perrette felt Harmon was being selfish & putting everyone at risk. They had words & an argument ensued. She felt his dog was a risk to attack someone else. Fed up she quit. When she left the series last year, she tweeted that Harmon is "dead to me". Speaking of Weatherly, just can't into Bull. I hear the ratings have dropped significantly for that show since last year as well.

Yeah I dunno if it's one guy repeating the Wild needs to go to save money schtick or if there are multiple people who keep saying it, but Wild at the restructured deal he took is absolutely 100% worth having around. Guy is good on teams and a very capable backup (hell I still believe he's a quality starter) so why in gods name wouldn't we keep him since he wants to play here so much he is taking a cheap deal.

Yep. Its a cruel cruel world. not long ago mo and randle were two of our best, and the leagues best defenders and dbs. Today they are both out of work and could be out of football. Randle was such a monster for us, and he came here at a time that FA vets didnt come to winnipeg. He was here through some awful days. He is a big part of what we have today, both in terms of class and quality. It doesnt last forever, and it never lasts long enough. I wish the best for him in football and in life.

I'd like to see what Jennings looks like in Dickenson's offense. Great coaching and receivers would elevate his game IMO.

Rick Nash retires

Stastny did Most of his points work here on the PP. He was a good pickup but i feel u are overrating him big time. Ppl go on about how Ehlers struggled in the playoffs.. His center was Stastny.. Stastny didn't do lots 5 on 5.

From Jeff Hamilton: The #Bombers announce they have released cornerback Chris Randle, who was still under contract for next season. Below is a statement from GM Kyle Walters. #wfp