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Blackhawks yes but largely in part to having Seabrook and Keith in the system before they ever drafted Kane and Toews, You might want to go back and look at the pens though, they drafted very high before they ever got Crosby remember. Whitney was top 5, Fleury was #1, Malkin was #2, Crosby was #1 Staal was #2 So that's 5 top 5 picks in a row for the Pens before they did anything of note, The Oilers have still only had 3 top 5 picks since they started this process and there aren't often Crosbys available to draft either. It's easy for people to forget but the Penguins sucked for a while after they got Crosby too and he was one of their last high picks. Define awhile. The had over 100 points in Crosby's 2nd season. Malkin also didn't arrive until two years after he was drafted. The Oilers have had 6 top 10 picks in the last 7 years. The excuses should be finished for that team. The Oilers problem is that they didn't actually start to try and rebuild until partway through the year they drafted Taylor Hall. Before that they were still giving away assets trying to recapture the magic from 2006. They had nothing in the system before that because they traded away a lot of it. It's not making excuses, just giving the facts which a lot of people don't realize when it comes to Edmonton. They were basically an expansion team because of how much they mismanaged their development system after their run in 06.

no. You think Damon Allen is above him? No definitely not, but I can't call Calvillo the best anything when he was gifted an easy division and STILL choked as often as he did in the playoffs. That many Grey Cup appearances he should have won a lot more than he did and his failure to do so is a giant black mark on his career.

no.

Absolutely do not want a guy who tries to outsmart everyone by making players play roles they aren't comfortable with. It's a gimmick and gimmicks don't work long term and alienates players.I don't give a damn what rider fans say, their opinions are worthless when it comes to the Bombers. Ask them if they want the guy running their defense and I bet the tune changes.

I think you hope that, I don't see it. Tate will start the year as starter. Whether he lasts the whole season is another matter.

Why so bitter? being a bomber fan isn't reason enough?

Good riddance.

but that's not the point here, what you or I think doesn't really matter, Hufnagel has treated Tate like his starter all along and I don't see that changing. Less focus on what you or I think, more focus on what Hufnagel thinks.

I think the REDBLACKS!!!!111!! would be more interested in signing players at more conventional NI positions just because it's easier to build depth there. Can find a MLB who can play and a backup for him anywhere in the states, if you invest big in a NI at that position you better have a decent guy behind him as a NI. You mean like finding the backup that Joe Mack never did... and now left us completely screwed if Muamba leaves....? We had a pretty good backup in Labbe

I think the REDBLACKS!!!!111!! would be more interested in signing players at more conventional NI positions just because it's easier to build depth there. Can find a MLB who can play and a backup for him anywhere in the states, if you invest big in a NI at that position you better have a decent guy behind him as a NI.

Read your other post. You said lose, not trade. I still would like to know what Hufnagel has said or done that makes people think Mitchell is ahead of Tate on the depth chart. Iso just doesn't like Tate so therefore it's BLM all the way. He does that from time to time, projects his owns opinions as being shared by the GMs around the league. Simple fact is that Hufnagel has treated Tate like his starter a hell of a lot even when Glenn was playing well and Tate was always getting injured. Just don't see Calgary starting the season with anyone but Tate behind centre.

Yeah Hank will find a home somewhere, but it will depend on whether he is comfortable sitting behind a younger QB who a team wants to develop. If his massive ego can take that, then he'll be fine. He'll still be raking in $250K or so, can buy a lot of women's undergarments with that. Speaking of inflation - I was watching the 1984 Grey Cup and the announcers were saying that Dieter Brock had turned down $250K a year with the Ti-Cats to make the jump to the NFL, where he was thinking he'd get more than that. $250K in 1984 - QB salaries haven't really gone up much in 30 years. When you consider what guys like Flutie were rumoured to make in the 90s they may have even gone down in the last 20 years, isn't that something?

A perfect case study to look at when debating the merits of building through the draft versus the merits of building through free agency were the tenure's of Tambellini (Oilers) and Feaster (Flames). I don't think the Flames ever tried to rebuild when Feaster was there though. They were desperately trying to cling to the delusion that they were competitive. They didn't start to rebuild until they traded Iginla and Feaster only got one draft from that. Don't forget that stupid offer sheet he sent out on Ryan O'Reilly.

cause it's always been about money with that guy. He was a tough sign right after being drafted too cause he wanted to get paid, he wants to get paid now that he's a free agent. It's not a slight against the player, he is just looking for money and he'll get it.

I can't remember a single time Walters said that. Can you point me to any link where Walters has said that the Bombers will match any offer Muamba gets? Thanks. I remember, Walters said in one of his presser that Bombers will match any offer as long as Henoc/agent will give him the chance. Maybe learning from the Carr FA debacle. the Carr debacle wasn't on management that was on Carr. They had agreed to a deal, but Carr is the one that backed out and didn't give the Bombers a chance to match.

Blackhawks yes but largely in part to having Seabrook and Keith in the system before they ever drafted Kane and Toews, You might want to go back and look at the pens though, they drafted very high before they ever got Crosby remember. Whitney was top 5, Fleury was #1, Malkin was #2, Crosby was #1 Staal was #2 So that's 5 top 5 picks in a row for the Pens before they did anything of note, The Oilers have still only had 3 top 5 picks since they started this process and there aren't often Crosbys available to draft either. It's easy for people to forget but the Penguins sucked for a while after they got Crosby too and he was one of their last high picks.

The Oilers are a good case study in how long it actually does take to build a team through the draft. Their high picks are doing fine, the problem there is they had a GM who liked to keep firing coaches to hide his failures to sign those unheralded free agents to supplement the young players and who was reluctant to make a trade. In short they fired their GM because he didn't appreciate that young players can not carry a team in the NHL on their own. I don't see that from the Jets though, they do make some of the free agent signings to help, they just don't have the truly elite talent around that.

The best free agent moves are seldom the big splashes. The best moves are the role players on a good deal. The unheralded moves. Don't read too much into what happens after you fire a coach either, Bomber fans should know that. Jim Daley and Tim Burke both "improved" the team right after firing. Players know that if a coach gets fired they gotta step up and it's sort of the dead cat bounce.

those are actually good moves to make, bring in veterans so that the guys you draft have some time and less pressure to perform. They knew this was going to be a long road so why freak out when the GM is doing exactly what they said they would do?

maybe if there's a top teir centre and left wing to play with but the guy is a 2nd liner on his own. If Wheeler wasn't 6'5 no one would even think twice about him. Dime a dozen offensive skill there.

I don't see Hank taking a back-up role, and it's time to give Collaros a shot at starting, especially if we give him starter money to come over here. Exactly. Hank won't take a backup role until he starts going downhill. And after this years Grey Cup appearance, I don't see that happening. Someone will want him to start somewhere. And Collaros won't take a backup role either from what I can tell. If he's trying out for the NFL he obviously thinks he's ready for the main event. even if he goes downhill Hank won't want a backup role cause he won't accept that it's his play that's faltered. Guy is the best team mate in the world when things are going right, but when things aren't he's in it only for himself. Real POS that guy.

That's not what anyone said, what we're saying is he's the only guy with the high end offensive skill. If you really think Wheeler is your best that's an all kinds of damning statement about the offence on the Jets and really goes to back up what we're saying about a serious lack of talent on the Jets.

http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/roster.htm When the Jets get some comparable D and goaltending call me.

everything we've seen from the guy so far indicates that his main goal is to get paid and who is going to pay him more than the Bombers will?