Bombers ink Adam Bighill to one-year extension

Yes of course all if that is possible. If it happens the Bombers will have to go for a discounted Harris or Masoli or someone else. I just don’t think it is likely. M

As for Pronger, it doesn’t sound like you know what happened there and I won’t post it on this forum. Pronger, in my opinion, was probably the best defenceman the NHL has seen since Orr. He virtually single handedly carried the Oilers to the final and they collapsed to less than ordinary after he left.

Farhan Lalji and Dave Naylor are reporting the Collaros wants to stay in Winnipeg; and, that he and the Bombers are on the same page for money. Its just a matter of how the contract is going to be structured. They are expecting it to be a done deal before the end of the month

2 Likes

I don’t know, I am a Rider fan… Just pointing out the Bombers were the best in 2019 no season in 2020 and best again in 2022 and are looking for ways to stay there…the rest of us are playing beat the giant…

2 Likes

It looks like the Bombers are well on their way to having another excellent team, but the Riders are no slouch and doing their best to compete and be in the big game in their own backyard. It’s fun to talk about signings but there is a long way to go with that and then there’s the actual season. Injuries are always a factor. Some established stars won’t be stars and some new stars will come out of the woodwork. I still think the Bombers will be the oddsmakers pre season favourite, and they have earned that, but that guarantees them nothing. Right now every fan of every team has reason to be optimistic. As a Bomber fan I seem to wary of your Riders more than any other team. I wish the season started tomorrow!

4 Likes

There is much to your argument. But the alternative is horrid. Blowing up a team thats held the Cup for 3 years?
No way!
Yep. No depth after Collaros. Just American hobos who earn their keep holding converts for errant kickers!
Bighill is 34 but he’s been a keeper since Day 1 - might have a year or two left - and he’s been relatively injury free given his reckless tackling abilities.
Jefferson & Jeffcoat have been monsters - same with Toaster Richardson.
Big loss at DB with their ROY guy off to the NFL. He’ll stick btw, maybe not as starter but certainly rotation guy or taxi driver.
Pushing Andrew ‘Husky’ Harris away seems to be the way they’re gonna dispense extra dollars. Harris was prolly in for $200k + bonuses. At 35, he’s starting to show injury warts. Might still ramp for 400 to 700 yds in Ottawa or Edmonton as a Canadian feature back.
Have a feeling Harris might beg down his money - he’s got a ton of businesses in Wpg - plus his nite club in Vancouver so he might bite on a base contract of $100k - with performer bonuses.
Collaros just announced as a re-up for 2022 - 1 yr extension. So thats a sigh of relief. If Collaros had jumped somewhere all these current bomber signings could be thrown out the door.

2 Likes

If its a 16 game season I can easily see the Bombers sliding into 1st or 2nd with a record of 10-6 or 11-7 at worst. No point beating your brains out and taking on injuries by going all out. You still have to win a game at the end to get into the Coupe. No such thing as playing 110% every outing. Bombers gave away a few games last year, in almost a perfect season. Then, in the playoffs their were touch 'n go to slither past Sask'n and snake past Hammy in OT.

1 Like

Not that I see it happening in bomber land but many a team has had great players only to have one cancer in the locker room set fire to it all late in the season. There is no reason to think it will happen in the top 3 teams in the west but one never knows. It was great to see the west semi and the west final be classic great games

2 Likes

A selfish player like Antonio Brown can always happen but I think smart management can largely avoid that. I am always struck by how the Bombers to a man praise their teammates and coach and team atmosphere, much more, in my opinion, than the normal lip service to that concept. For a player that acts selfishly to have much of an impact they would have to be a very good player, if not a superstar. Any less than that and they will be shown the door very quickly. I don’t see that bad trait in any of the Bombers best players and leaders, but I suppose you never know what a little success might do to someone. Winnipeg had an example of that not too long ago with Evander Kane. In that case the players, led by Byfuglien, threw his track suit and other clothes into the ice bath. He was traded not long after. Sort of like the code in A Few Good Men I figure.

5 Likes

Agreed, but good chemistry goes south really fast with a few losses … the asshatery surfaces quickly … But as you said the good coaches handle dat shite fast.

2 Likes

Winnipeg Jets are a losing organization run by billionaire mopes & a wealthy Winnipeg car dealer. But they do try to keep their organization clean and free of vermin cancers like Evanka Kane. Even Laine started to be cancerous a couple seasons ago and was traded for another guy who was thought unsalvageable - Pierre Dubois; Laine is still a deadbeat. Dubois had blossomed into the Jets top player - even though he still is too easily triggered into stupid penalties. But I see your point. Good organizations try to keep it clean.
The best ones also can advance to championship status.
The Bombers have advanced.
The Jets still live in deadbeat country!

3 Likes

I wouldn’t agree with Laine being a deadbeat for various reasons or agree that Dubois is the Jets best player, although he has improved remarkably from last year. Laine hasn’t had the chance to improve but I will say no more as this is a Bighill thread. Some other time perhaps.

3 Likes

Hats off to Bomber management. They have somehow kept all 4 of these together, It is unusual to sign the top 4 of the league at their positions staying put. Very unusual.
The caveat of course is can they still afford their good supporting cast?

6 Likes

But that right there is the difference here. It wouldn’t be MOS handling it - it would be the leaders on the team that would deal with any player…we basically have player/coaches all over the field that demand buy in from their teammates. If a player steps out of line, they likely won’t be on the team for long.

3 Likes

Thank you very much Mr. Everyman, for being one of the few on this site with a positive comment towards a team who is going about there plans to re-sign players, and having some success with it.

2 Likes

I recall Wally B saying “If i had to bench every player who got into on or off field trouble, I would never be able to field a team.”

I think Everyman is a Bomber fan…

2 Likes

Again, every other team would have drooled to have Bighill, Collaros, Jefferson, Jeffcoat, Hardrick....and they would have opened the vault to get them. These guys didn't want to go to FA, they wanted to stay here. Why would they want to go anyplace else?

3 Likes

I don’t know. I half expect to wake up one day after free agency to discover that we ran out of Cap space and could only field thirty players (really good players mind you). Maybe our “those willing to take IOU’s will be given free T-Shirts” campaign will pan out and save us from having to hold a team bake sale.

Fingers crossed.

2 Likes

Every team has to deal with cap space…some out right cheat it and can hide most of the incursions with creative book keeping, some flirt with the cap and pay the price for going over… but the bottom line is teams so far have not been too afraid to go over the cap.

1 Like