Mike

Wouldn't get too excited about Eppele, the odds on favorite for his destination is probably retirement.

When you get put on the practice roster, the official transactions are a release and a re-signing to a practice roster agreement. When you get put on the active roster from the practice roster, the official transactions are a nullification of your practice roster agreement and a signing of a new deal. The new deal could have been signed under the terms of the new CBA.

Honestly, if I'm Walters, I'm not targeting any receiver other than Demski early (in the top 20) We'll have Goodrich signed eventually. Depending on what happens, that leaves us with Kohlert, JFG, Watson and Goodrich as primary options, as well as Carter. Could also look to free agency to fill a sixth spot. I'm not burning a top 20 pick on another prototypical receiver, the only reason I'd go after Demski is because of how multi-dimensional he is. A guy like that would be Bellefeuille's dream. It doesn't have to be the first pick, but one of our 3 in the top 20 has to go to an OL in my opinion. Seems like Walters subscribes to that theory as well, based on interviews. I'd like to see one on a defensive lineman too. If I had to make an educated guess at this point, I envision the top 5 picks being (in no particular order) Chung, Waud, Demski, Groulx and either Varga or Mateas. Depending on who gains eligibility going forward, that could obviously change. I also think Chris Ackie has a chance to sneak into the first round similar to Pruneau last year, he'll show very well in one on ones. If Lemar Durant gains eligibility, I wouldn't be surprised to see him go first overall. Few other guys out there who could make noise at the top of the board if they apply for national status as well. I don't see Boyko being an option inside the first, the NFL Draft will see to that. At the 11th pick, I'd target a falling OL (Ruby or Mateas?) or even a guy like Brandon Tennant. Tennant is interesting to me, but I could see his stock fall if executives don't like his answer to the inevitable questions about why he lost his temper and broke his toe kicking a garbage can after being tossed from a team practice. Awful move to pull in a draft year. 3 games played is a small body of work for your draft year. Very exciting draft this year.

Still fairly active on Facebook so ... he's not dead

I think it's more likely to be because of the talent pool available. This is the year you can make a big impact with some moves at the draft and in free agency. New salary cap means plenty of guys will be hitting the open market to establish value. Deep draft pool means if you know what you're doing, you could end up with two or three immediate contributors there. Going to be a very exciting offseason.

Based on what? There's literally no trend to support this statement. JJust my own observation But it's ... not an accurate observation. Since 2004, 12 OL have gone in the top 3 picks of the CFL Draft. ONE of them has signed an NFL contract after being drafted. Dmitri Tsoumpas. And he came back.

Based on what? There's literally no trend to support this statement.

Offensively you could just employ stronger blocking backs like Cory Watson and Brad Sinopoli and have that ground attack dominate.

Sign all of them!

Same with Goodrich It's Because they're from Winnipeg They're both very good. But realistically, this talk of Demski going #1 is premature. At least until the combine.

Demski slowly venturing into overrated territory around here.

Best player available. OL are always projects, the bust rate for taking the blue chip OL is fairly high.

When he got demoted to the PR he could've ended up signing a 1 year deal under the new CBA when he got promoted back up.

There's a lot of room for grey area in between "wants to be traded" and "has a desire to be here".

Show me a top flight player who plays like crap on purpose because he wants a trade but has not publicly asked for one? Kane has always played hard. Him playing hard this hear means he wants to stay but him playing hard last year means he wants out? Cant have it both ways. I never said Kane wanted out. My disagreement with Mike was his silly equation that playing hard and saying you like your line mates means you like playing for a specific city. I said I dont doubt that Kane asked for a trade. I still believe that he did. How he feels right now, I dont know. But like I said about wives, and you pointed out also, the "spouse" can have a lot to do with the happiness of a player in a particular city. If Kane is single now, you could certainly be onto something. If we're lucky, he marries a local girl. That is pretty much exactly what I said. You know, except for that it's not.

Willy has a contract that goes until the end of next season currently.

Penton says 3, but Stoudermire wasn't on any free agent lists, so I wonder if it's really a 2 year extension, if he was already under contract for next season. It's all semantics, but it'll essentially be them tearing up the existing contract he had for next year, rewriting it and adding 2 years. More money next year in return for an extra two years of commitment by the player.

Three years nice

Stopped there.

Yeah I don't really care if Etch is back or not. Will I be disappointed either way? No. I strongly believe if our defense ranked the same but it wasn't so *different*, there wouldn't be nearly as many complaints. It's because it's unconventional AND it had its ups and downs that people want Etch gone so bad. And y'know ... because they wanted him gone before he ever even got here.

I would've easily chosen Bowman over Elimimian for MOP. Bowman's numbers aren't HUGE. Until you see the numbers of everybody else.

Waters wins easily either way.

You missed the part where I said with enthusiasm. There's showing up to do your job and then there's showing up to do your job with enthusiasm. The difference is fairly obvious when it comes to Kane. Every player has options. In this day and age, you can force a trade quite easily. It may not happen quickly but players control the ability to basically dictate their future however they choose. Kane dictated his by signing a long term deal here. They have a ton to do with playing in Winnipeg. Especially when a player like Kane goes out of his way to make them. To me the reason Kane's attitude has changed has a lot more to do with the vibe inside the locker room than anything else. A coaching change can solve a lot of problems.

Disagree. You can deal in speculation. I'll deal in what I can actually see and measure. You have no way of measuring Kane's desire level when it comes to playing in Winnipeg. Unless you are close personal friends with him or his agent. I can watch him play balls to the wall, pedal to the floor every shift he's out there. I can hear him talk about how he's excited to play with Scheif and Wheels. I can see him try and get the home crowd into the game and how his energy translates to his attitude on the ice. You can ... read some articles? You do realise that you're watching of him playing hockey for which he is paid a significant amount of money has nothing to do with the question of his desire level to play in Winnipeg, right? I mean, you *do* understand that, right? And no player in the history of professional sports has ever let their desire to leave a city outweigh their obligation to perform their job at a high level with a clear sense of enthusiasm, right? Don't get me wrong. I think Kane wanted out at one point. I don't think he does anymore and the difference in his attitude is night and day.

Disagree. You can deal in speculation. I'll deal in what I can actually see and measure. You have no way of measuring Kane's desire level when it comes to playing in Winnipeg. Unless you are close personal friends with him or his agent. I can watch him play balls to the wall, pedal to the floor every shift he's out there. I can hear him talk about how he's excited to play with Scheif and Wheels. I can see him try and get the home crowd into the game and how his energy translates to his attitude on the ice. You can ... read some articles?