Nasty Nate

Wasn't last year his first season playing hockey in North America?  Young, small, fresh out of the box smell - he won't be wearing a Jets jersey past 10 games.  It sure looks like he has crazy offensive talents though.  He will be a fun one to watch someday.  He still has holes in his game now, work on them for a while before bringing him up.
 
 
 
Was true before the draft, true before the opening of free agency, true in 2 months time.
 
I see it driving home from work every day - there's always a couple of drivers cutting in and out of traffic, lane to lane to lane, trying to get ahead of one more car.  They're trying to win the drive home.  Yet every red light, who's there next to them?  The same cars they think they are "beating".  Traffic moves at the rate traffic moves.
 
One team will win the cup in July 2015.  Someone will point to a free agent signing or a trade deadline move or whatever as a reason.  Yet all 29 other teams were doing the same thing.  Jets fans will say only 28 were.
 
The Jets are climbing their way out of the muck one slow step at a time.  It's tedious.  We want them to just grab a jetpack and zoom on out immediately.  Scheiffle, Trouba, Morrisey, Elhers.  These guys are all looking like fantastic picks.  Petan, Lowry, Comrie, Hellebyuk.  The current plan looks like a pretty good one.  It just doesn't reward the impatient.  But in 3 years time most of these guys will be in our starting lineup, playing together, growing together.  In 5 years time these guys might all be contending together, year after year.  Imagine going into every season with this team being spoken about in the same breath as Pittsburgh, Boston, St. Louis, LA and Chicago.  Those teams weren't constructed on splash, they were constructed on savvy.

Did you listen to what Tallon said on TSN last night on their mock draft show? said he wants a good young player who can play and contribute for years to come and a draft pick. Straight from the horses mouth. I get it, you think Kane is the cats ass, he's the Jets best player so I don't blame you, but the Jets don't have a lot of talent, Kane isn't as good as you think. First overalls these days get you better players than Evander Kane, especially when the top of this draft is 3 centres and a defenseman, all of which are valued much more highly than wingers who only score goals. 

The Jets would have been better being granted a new franchise and getting some favoured draft picks. The Trashers were nothing but trash and vermin, highly-paid spoiled players that only got contracts cuz Atlanta had to pay to established NHL levels to be considered members of the league. Horrible management, feeble scouting, inferior coaching, half-arsed players made this team a poison. Mark Chipman was so desperate to grab an NHL team Bettman was able to foist this horrible pack of vermin on him with virtual impunity - and Bettman got full bore on the price, too.
Wpg would have been better served with Phoenix's group of crap, at least they had goal-tending, and a semblance of coaching, scouting and management. 
Both Phoenix and Atlanta required long-term development. Phoenix might have been rehabbed in less than 4 years - the Trashers are about an 8 to 10 year turnaround and then its even dicey cuz too many things can happen in a decade.

I don't think any QB is cut.  One of them will be stashed away on IR.

I think Carter earned a spot. He has great hands, and was the leading "National" receiver for the Bombers last night. He played both slot and WR so they were definitely having a good look.

I see our team this year being similar to the 2005 Bombers. A good QB with an offense that can score points but a defense so atrocious you have to score 50 points to win. Now, I don't see us being as bad defensively as the team that employed Marcus & Marcel Smith but I do feel like that's the sort of season we'll have.

I'm willing to give the defence the benefit of the doubt until the regular season begins. The missed tackles are frustrating, though.
Pass defence looked ok, it is going to be tough to keep all our good DBs. I like Randle, Washington, Suber, Sears, Markett, Leggett, B. Johnson... Don't know what we'll do there.
Honestly more worried about the atrocious kick coverage. I don't see how it can be that bad. Rookie ST coordinator Pat Tracey better figure his unit out because I have a feeling O'Shea won't be particularly patient with poor special teams.

Historically Etch has used undersized personal in his defense sand had difficulty stopping the run. He may have been the innovator of the SAM as a DB/LB. His mistake in Sask with that was moving Vincent Donaldson, a true corner who was shy about tackling into that spot. Teams exploited that and ran up and down all over them. It is early but a fear of it here lingers.

Things I liked:

1. Drew Willy overall
2. Paris 100% Cotton
3. Brent Maher
4. O'Shea's cool on the sideline
5. Bomber solidarity when Newman went down
6. Lack of turnovers

Things I disliked:

1. Sloppy special teams tackling and positioning
2. O-line getting consistently over-powered
3. Receiver drops on routine catches
4. Soft zone pass coverage
5. An erratic def. coordinator supplied with inferior personnel

If Hall is smart he should start learning about offensive systems and being a QB coach. Sorta doing a Dinwiddie. He doesn't have the talent, arm or overall talent to be an effective starter. But I like his spirit and personality. 

Every time I read one of your posts, I feel like I'm getting dumber.

because any OC that sees him out there is going to pick on him...

The old saying is underpromise and overdeliver.  Flory overpromised to such a ridiculous extent that underdelivering was always a certainty.

Hey, someone on here gets it. What I said a few times - there'll be no strike. When was the last time any of you heard of a 'minor league' go on strike. I never have. Now it is a bit difference because we are an independent league, but the bottom line is these guys all want to play in the NFL or they just want to play and this is their part time gig (like Lacrosse players). So striking for them does nothing, and in the end the owners will win no matter what, or the league will fold. Either way, NFL hopefuls lose another road to get there, and the guys that play for the love of the game lose that. 
 
I said no missed regular season games. My bet is the owners told the PA that for every dime lost on pre-season games, that's how much their offer would go down by before the players agreed to it. If you're a player, what are you going to do. That plus what I bolded above - owners have all the cards

I want one, too!
 
Could we put a picture of the MorningBigBlue clock on them? You know, the clock that never has the right time!
 
I don't want my acronym on the back. Too many folks like Lord Lyle and Jeff "Slash" Bannon still have warrants out for me!
 
Hopefully, not pricing them at 'Roman from Wild Planet' nut-rates!!!!

Kyle Walters today on CJOB:
 
​- Status quo on the CFLPA/CFL…no comments
 
- thinks Drew Willy has had a great camp so far and it'd good to see the QB coach and how he is helping the young QBs learn the game better and is on them every day. Wasn't possible before for an OC to have enough time to teach and watch…too time specific.
 
- Much better system now…for all positions to have coach's eyes on them all the time.
 
- battle for #2 is interesting…mentioned both Hall and Brohm, says Marve is coming along for the newest member in the CFL and has a really strong arm.
Will have to wait for game situations for more QB evaluations.
 
- Kicking battle is going very well, Lirim has been phenomenal -strong leg, FGs and punting has been good….Maher has a strong leg and the battle is going well.
 
- Goosen is getting better, there is a learning curve, identifying the calls is a big step up, and he is handling it…will be an exceptional player, just a matter of time for the mental part of the game.
 
- Bob Wylie is a teacher with a vast amount of respect and experience, technically the best, fantastic to watch him coach and to see the improvement in the O-Line every day.
 
- Volny is looking like his old self now that he's not wearing a brace.
- Grigsby is the bigger, smoother back, Cotton is the smaller, 100 MPH guy and Ford is somewhere in between.
 
- Mike O'Shea is a no nonsense guy, the way he comes across is the way he is….he's committed…knows the way he wants things done and is entrenched  in how he approaches everything and demands that the coaches promote his message, and that he wants a unified group.
 
Nothing about him missing any school time. 

Maybe he means he's trash as in he is past his expiration date and is starting to stink badly?

If you want good articles... Include the media, don't fight with them.  Work with them.  Give them what they want.  Make their jobs easy.  Don't tell them no unless you absolutely have to.  Make them an extension of the team.  Treat them like friends.  
 
Almost all of the articles written this offseason have been positive.  Walters understands what working with the media is and he hasn't had a single bad story that I can think of.  Miller has only one bad story and that's when he refused to work with the media on the leaky stadium issue.  O'Shea hasn't had any bad articles up to now and they've given him the benefit of any doubt.  For example: They could have written about how O'Shea flip flopped on Smith over a 2 day period, but they didn't.  
 
Now O'Shea says he's going to control the message and no one else will be allowed to talk with the press.  That sets up an adversarial situation with the media.  When you do that, don't act surprised or complain when the media starts treating you like an adversary.  

I think you accept the terms of the deal cuz finding a decent OL coach was proving nigh on impossible for the Bombers.
 
Too bad they had to wait til Big Bob was absent from work (training camp) to release the terms of the contract they signed with him.
 
Not very transparent by an organization that vowed more transparency. But to be expected nonetheless!

Talk to the school divisions rent their busses for half the price of the city for game day, they are never used during that time.  Get drivers to volunteer and the schools can use the profits to buy sporting equipment for the gyms.
 
Everyone rides and the kids win.

I really admire the Blackhawks. Such a great organization. It wasn't too long ago under the old tightwad Bill Wirtz that they were struggling. Now look at them. 

Compared directly to other goalies nothing about Pav or his deal will look favourable.
 
However when you view it within the context of the Jets' build-thru-the-draft philosophy it isn't the disaster some make it out to be.  If they are going to stick to their guns on avoiding free agents with high price tags, and it looks like they will, then consider the following points:
- When the deal was signed the Jets didn't really have any prospects at goalie.
- While Pav will never ever ever ever be an elite NHL goalie, I can see what Chevy sees in that he could become a pretty good one.  He will need better coaching to get a handle on his rebound control and he will have to apply himself in the offseason.  This may never happen, but if it does I can see him being a middle of the pack NHL goalie.
- The timeline on the development of our prospects is still long enough that the length of Pav's contract is a non-issue.  Of the three guys we have my money's on Hellebuyck as our future starter, but that doesn't mean it's happening this September.  More likely in the 2016/17 season after a season with the Icecaps and a season as backup.  Comrie seems to be less ready than Hellebuyck right now.  Hutch is still entirely unproven at the NHL level.  If he can put together a nice run in the playoffs he might make Montoya expendable, but he does not push Pav out of his job.  By the time any or all of these guys are ready to start in the NHL there will probably only be a year left on Pav's contract.  If necessary we can eat that.
- The non-goalie prospects on this team are still a year or two away from impacting the Jets' fortunes in a meaningful manner.  This team is not likely to be a playoff team this season or next.  That will piss some people off, but if it's part of the process of turning the sad-sack Thrashers into perrenial cup contenders then I can wait.  Jets 1.0 gave us 17 years of scraping into the playoffs only to flame out in the first round over and over again.  Making the playoffs this season is a short-sighted goal.
- Montaya was the 6th overall pick in 2004 (Ladd was 4th and Wheeler 5th) and the highest rated goalie prospect of that draft year.  He has been typecast as a backup at the NHL level.  While he's currently scheduled to become a free agent, IF the Jets re-sign him (Hutch's playoff performance is probably the biggest deciding factor) he potentially could take over the #1 job if Pav falters once again.  Chevy/Maurice aren't annointing Pav as an undisputed starter when they call him the man going into next year; they are trying to cut out the legs of the news hacks in wpg who want to get pageviews by crying "goaltending controversy" everytime Pav lets in a bad goal.  They have eyes.  They know who's playing well and who isn't.  They also want to be driving the bus, not letting the ginger wonder over at the Winnipeg Stunned try and make the coaching decisions.
 
None of this sounds particularly appetizing in the short term.  Pav remains the starter.  He might not get better.  The Jets will continue to finish 10th in their conference.
 
When you step back and look at the long term philosophy it is possible to say that neither Pavelec's play or his contract go against the Jets plan for building a winner, and that rolling the dice on him being the goalie of the future was never really the high-stakes gamble that it seemed like at first glance.  While it would be nice for Jets fans if Pav would play better, things are still largely going according to plan.
 
And if you really want to take a long term view, Pav's play might be helping build this franchise thru higher draft picks.

I don't see the Jets really making any big moves at all. They will roll with the same team and hope that Pavs picks up his game

I heard they were looking at putting a 30% tax on toothbrushes and toothpaste province wide but figured it would only raise about seven bucks annually. 
 
Looks like they are now thinking of introducing a 5 cent flat fee for kissing your cousin.  With this they may have the entire stadium paid off by Thanksgiving.  

I'm saying there was little or no speculation here in Calgary when Bauer left the Bombers that he had already been hired by the Stamps. Why can't you understand that? Sure there were stories in Winnipeg after Bauer left that he was walking into a new position in Calgary. Those stories have never been substantiated. When the hiring process for the Stamps actually got underway then we started hearing more about Bauer. On December 17, 2009 he wasn't being touted for anything. By the end of December & first week of January 2010 he was. Then he was hired mid January. Did he already have a job with the Stamps on December 17, 2009? Only Lyle Bauer, John Forzani & Ted Hellard know & they will  never talk.