Atomic

Agreed, he ain't Canadian doe. Was going to write up an American top 5 too but ran out of time. Maybe tomorrow.

There is officially only 2 weeks remaining until free agency. As we all know, there is still plenty of time to re-sign potential free agents but many who have waited this long will increasingly be tempted to test free agency. So without further Apu, I present my authoritative list of the top 5 Canadian Free Agents (from a Blue Bomber perspective). Here we go! TOP 5 CANADIAN FREE AGENTS 1. BEN HEENAN - This one is too easy. Everyone knows he is going to be the number one target in free agency, and he may even get some NFL looks. But with the right offer, maybe the Canadian Big Ben ends up in Winnipeg and moves our OL further towards respectability. Heenan's value comes from his outstanding play but also his versatility. Many believe that he would be best-suited as a guard, but his value as a proven starting tackle can't be ignored. Even if the Bombers only made this one signing, the free agency period would have to be deemed a success. A ratio changer, and likely even better than any of the American tackle options currently on the roster. To borrow a term from soccer, this signing is a slam dunk home run. 2. TYLER HOLMES - It should be no surprise that another offensive lineman heads up this list. Holmes may not be as much of a big-name as Heenan, but he has the potential to make just as great an impact (and probably at a lower cap hit). After being drafted 7th overall in 2011 (3 spots behind the immortal Jade Etienne), Holmes spent the 2012 season with the Minnesota Vikings, suiting up at Guard in 4 pre-season games. He played another 2 pre-season games for the Vikes before being cut during camp in 2013. Shortly afterwards, Holmes signed with the Argos where he spent the last two seasons starting at left guard. Although Holmes would appear to have settled in as a CFL guard, he was an OT in college and may still have the potential to play tackle. He is only 26 years old. The Redblacks are rumoured to have interest in his services, and I imagine many other teams will as well. Holmes is the son of former CFL RB Richard Holmes, who played 3 seasons in Ottawa and one in Winnipeg. 3. SPENCER WATT - My first non-OL pick in free agency goes to fifth year Argonaut Spencer Watt. This pick is all about depth and versatility. While Watt is certainly not a household star, he has been a consistent performer for the Argos at the wide-side receiver spot. The Bombers only have three Canadian receivers under contract right now, and with the unreliable health of Cory Watson, depth is still needed here. Adding Watt will give the Bombers a reliable player that coach O'Shea is already familiar with, and one who has five years under his belt while being the same age as Cory Watson was when he was first drafted. Adding Watt would give the Bombers flexibility in the passing game, perhaps allowing Rory Kohlert to move inside and get more passes thrown his way, or to even have 3 Canadian receivers starting at times. 4. GREG WOJT - We quickly shift our focus back to the offensive line. If the Bombers whiff on their first two OL targets, Greg Wojt could at least be a decent consolation prize. Wojt has started many games in the CFL for both Edmonton and Hamilton, mostly at guard but occasionally filling in at tackle. Wojt could be valuable depth and present stiff competition to both Chris Greaves and Patrick Neufeld for their starting spots, which should not be guaranteed at this point. Wojt was named a Western Division all star in 2011 but hasn't been able to attain that level of play since then. However he is still just 29 and could be entering the prime of his career. A date with Bob Wylie could be just what Wojt needs to rejuvenate his career. Hell, we'd all love a date with Bob Wylie... did you know he's a magician? 5. DON ORAMASIONWU - Could 2015 see the return of DONNY O to the Blue Bombers lineup? The Bombers were already thin along the defensive line when DT Ryan Lucas announced his retirement, and they desperately need some help here. Jake Thomas is a wonderful player but he could use some Canadian help in the middle. The Bombers also have Louie Richardson and Ameet Pall on the defensive line, but both could be considered "tweeners" and might not fit into Richie Hall's schemes as well as they did for Gary Etcheverry. Don missed most of last season but if healthy could be a great asset to the Bombers' DL, taking some rotational reps and possibly even starting if necessary. I would still like to see the Bombers draft a strong DT but Donny O would be good insurance in case that is not possible. And it's always nice to have a local guy on the roster. So there's the list. And if you're not down with that, I got two words for you....... WHY NOT???

I think this might be true but not for playoffs. Who rotates goalies in the playoffs? Only teams that lose in the playoffs. Jets v1 hold the record I think. Yeah until someone wins doing it, and then everyone will do it.

Good speed, decent size, and a track record of success when he is on the field. He put up 400+ yards in only 7 games last season. He has star potential, just needs to stay healthy. Also, historically the third year in the CFL has been kind to import receivers. Seems to be the time that a lot of them really hit their stride.

Your example isnt even close to a fair comparison and the humour is a 5 out of 10 at best. But good try! I give the humour a solid 7.

Wouldn't mind seeing either of those two guys here but I'm not going to be too broken up if we don't get them. Hopefully we can bring some good young receivers in.

17-17 and the rotation continues into the playoffs. I truly believe this will be the case.

I'd describe myself as a casual observer. I spend a decent amount of time each week reading dirtsheets and results, just in case ... but I don't watch much anymore. Here's what I felt was wrong with the Rumble. - Awful storytelling. When the Wyatt Family reunited in the ring, it was kind of a cool moment. Until they had Bray and Harper turn on Rowan after like what ... 10 seconds? What was the point? Build that a bit more, use Rowan to do your bidding a bit (since you so easily manipulated him) and THEN turn on him. Pointless. - They sandbagged Ziggler, Cesaro, Ryback and Ambrose. Just awful booking. Made them look incredibly weak. - Incredibly predictable final 3 (or 4, whatever) and in 2015 if Kane / Big Show are in the final four of a Rumble ... you're doing it wrong. How are we supposed to believe either of them had even a minute chance? - Daniel Bryan. It's like they purposely made him look weak just to piss off the crowd. Eliminate him early, go ahead. I even get the idea of not having him in there very long if he's still not 100% health wise. But at least make his elimination more memorable. Yep, can't disagree with any of that. Except the Wyatt stuff. I don't think it was intended to be a reunion. I thought Rowan was coming down to fight them both. I thought so too. Then it looked like for a moment, they were going to reunite. Then it looked like Harper and Rowan were going to go after Bray. Then they attacked Rowan instead. It just made no sense. Total cluster**** Yeah I really didn't know what they were getting at.

Not a fan of Rowan at all, he was pretty poor at the recent Winnipeg show and I've never been impressed with him. Harper really could be great. He is a big guy and a good wrestler too.

What a surprise...Mike disagrees with me! lolI've presented my thoughts and opinions on issues and others are free to agree or disagree. Pretty sure that's the point of a message board. Keeps things interesting in my opinion. backtrack alert. Implying Bowman AND Chipman are corrupt people is not simply expressing an opinion to keep things interesting. It's practically slanderous. And ignorant.No it's called freedom of speech. Freedom of speech doesn't imply freedom from criticism...

I'd describe myself as a casual observer. I spend a decent amount of time each week reading dirtsheets and results, just in case ... but I don't watch much anymore. Here's what I felt was wrong with the Rumble. - Awful storytelling. When the Wyatt Family reunited in the ring, it was kind of a cool moment. Until they had Bray and Harper turn on Rowan after like what ... 10 seconds? What was the point? Build that a bit more, use Rowan to do your bidding a bit (since you so easily manipulated him) and THEN turn on him. Pointless. - They sandbagged Ziggler, Cesaro, Ryback and Ambrose. Just awful booking. Made them look incredibly weak. - Incredibly predictable final 3 (or 4, whatever) and in 2015 if Kane / Big Show are in the final four of a Rumble ... you're doing it wrong. How are we supposed to believe either of them had even a minute chance? - Daniel Bryan. It's like they purposely made him look weak just to piss off the crowd. Eliminate him early, go ahead. I even get the idea of not having him in there very long if he's still not 100% health wise. But at least make his elimination more memorable. Yep, can't disagree with any of that. Except the Wyatt stuff. I don't think it was intended to be a reunion. I thought Rowan was coming down to fight them both.

Full disclosure, I golfed with Mike Richards a couple years ago at a charity golf tournament and just think he's a great guy. LOL. Probably not a good enough reason to pick him up buuuut........

Well that was mean.

278 additional seats. If I understand what I've heard correctly, they're basically stripping down the current LED ribbon, extending the overhang of the 300 level over the suites a bit and using that space to add 278 more seats. They'll add the new ribbon to the face of those seats. Danke. I guess an additional 3000 seats added to the overhang was out of the question. Not to mention absurd! Almost as absurd as squeezing an arena into the old Eatons footprint. Yeah it totally hasn't worked out.

I watched the Rumble. I thought it was pretty underwhelming but I wouldn't have been booing Reigns. Seemed like a lot of sour grapes over people expecting Daniel Bryan to walk away with it. Cena vs Lesnar vs Rollins was great though. Rollins really made it a good match.

I didn't think we'd have much interest, since we already have Leggett on a longer term deal. Good for the Riders though.

Why wouldnt the Jets want an All Star Game. They make money and brings all sort of sponsors and business tycoons to town. It creates 3 (do they still do the young guns game?) additional events that they can sell tickets to. What's the average ticket price - $150? 45,000 x 150 = I can think of 6,750,000 reasons why they would want the all star game. Plus concessions. $150 for tickets? You think? That seems awfully steep. But really I have no idea.

Trade makes more sense because we could trade a limited asset and get Kings to retain salary. Jets wont go near him at that salary for 5 years. The last two years, however, are not too bad at $3 million (even though its a higher cap hit). Kings would have to retain some salary though. What were they thinking not buying him out? Not every team can afford to pay a guy a lump sum of ~$20 millon to not play for them. The Kings can. You don't know the first thing about their finances. Please inform us all of the intimate nature of their finances then. I don't know anymore than you do. Which is to say neither of us know anything. You read some speculation, good for you. It didn't happen did it? So maybe you shouldn't always believe what you read. You're right. Applying common sense and logic to this, the Kings are willing to send Richards to the minors and still eat most of his salary but were not financially able to buy him out after winning the Cup. Yeah because Mike Richards is really going to be in the minors for the next five years. Come on.

Do players hesitate to sign in BC? Wally is 100 times more ruthless than Taman could ever be. Did Tedford hesitate to sign after Wally micromanaged the last coach out the door, and then fired him in a window opportunity so they didn't have to pay him? I think this Foley thing is just a surprise because Taman isn't seen that way around the league. Do players hesitate to sign in BC? I don't know, maybe they do?

Trade makes more sense because we could trade a limited asset and get Kings to retain salary. Jets wont go near him at that salary for 5 years. The last two years, however, are not too bad at $3 million (even though its a higher cap hit). Kings would have to retain some salary though. What were they thinking not buying him out? Not every team can afford to pay a guy a lump sum of ~$20 millon to not play for them. The Kings can. You don't know the first thing about their finances. Please inform us all of the intimate nature of their finances then. I don't know anymore than you do. Which is to say neither of us know anything. You read some speculation, good for you. It didn't happen did it? So maybe you shouldn't always believe what you read.

Yeah its much warmer in February Actually. Historically speaking. It's more similar than people realize. December on avg = -9 high. February = -12 high. Not a huge difference Uh yeah, that's my point. The temperature argument is irrelevant if we are talking about December vs. February. It's going to be cold for a Heritage Classic in Winnipeg, that's a given.

Trade makes more sense because we could trade a limited asset and get Kings to retain salary. Jets wont go near him at that salary for 5 years. The last two years, however, are not too bad at $3 million (even though its a higher cap hit). Kings would have to retain some salary though. What were they thinking not buying him out? Not every team can afford to pay a guy a lump sum of ~$20 millon to not play for them. The Kings can. You don't know the first thing about their finances.

Yeah its much warmer in February

Yeah you're right. No GM's ever consider players' perception of them. That's why they never let players out of contracts early to sign in the NFL.

Surely you can understand the value in seeing players play live. Lots of front office guys, especially GM's, really don't get to see young players play live because they are tied up with their pro teams for most of the college season. Actually the CFL scouts generally don't stay & watch the game usually. They watch the practices that week leading up to the game to get an idea of the players but usually leave before the game is played. Ya the practices are live.