Good Times Grimes

This article on the AFL site about Jake Carlisle suggests that due to his ban his contract will last a year longer than it initially would have. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but is this the case with all the banned 34? i.e. with Melksham's contract not begin until next season?

I'm not disagreeing with that. All I'm saying is that it's impossible to judge at the moment.

Obviously it's not an ideal situation, but we won't be able to tell who won the trade for years.

WYL, it's impossible to say whether or not "this trade is a complete crock" until Melksham's contract with us is up and we see the output of Mason Redman over the course of his career. If Redman gets delisted after two seasons and Melksham comes back to be a consistent member of our best 22, then it will be a clear win for us. I understand how you feel about the Essendon 34, but to say that this trade was bad for the MFC is jumping the gun.

That sounds like something straight out of Chris Connolly's joke book. I'm not overly concerned about his fitness/maintaining his football shape. He'll be given a program to follow and can still see personal trainers, physios, etc. It'll just be like he has a season ending injury.

Statement on Jake Melksham from the MFC

Agree. Roos talks about not wanting to put too much pressure on young players, and for an MFC player, the Queen's Birthday is about the most pressure-filled environment that a young player could debut in.

I don't think there's even a debate

Maybe "gravity" should be #6's new nickname.

We finished first in something! The 10 Best Big Hits and Tackles of 2015

It'll be very interesting to see how the Western conference pans out over the next couple of months, but my money is on the Avs making the playoffs. On another note, the All Star lineups were announced today. It's going to be a 3v3 format with one team representing each division (4 teams total). Quite a few surprises here: -John Scott (Arizona's enforcer) named as captain of the Pacific after a fan campaign to vote him in. -Jagr captain of the Atlantic despite requesting fans to not vote for him because he would rather have the weekend off to go to the Bahamas. -No Crosby -The Central Division is the strongest by a fair way, IMO. Atlantic Division Central Division F Patrice Bergeron (BOS) F Jamie Benn (DAL) F Jaromir Jagr (FLA)* F Matt Duchene (COL) F Leo Komarov (TOR) F Patrick Kane (CHI)* F Dylan Larkin (DET) F Tyler Seguin (DAL) F Ryan O'Reilly (BUF) F Vladimir Tarasenko (STL) F Steven Stamkos (TBL) F Jonathan Toews (CHI) D Aaron Ekblad (FLA) D Dustin Byfuglien (WPG) D Erik Karlsson (OTT) D Roman Josi (NSH) D P.K. Subban (MTL) D Shea Weber (NSH) G Ben Bishop (TBL) G Devan Dubnyk (MIN) G Roberto Luongo (FLA) G Pekka Rinne (NSH) Metropolitan Division Pacific Division F Nicklas Backstrom (WSH) F Johnny Gaudreau (CGY) F Claude Giroux (PHI) F Taylor Hall (EDM) F Evgeni Malkin (PIT) F Joe Pavelski (SJS) F Alex Ovechkin (WSH)* F Corey Perry (ANA) F Brandon Saad (CBJ) F John Scott (ARI)* F John Tavares (NYI) F Daniel Sedin (VAN) D Justin Faulk (CAR) D Brent Burns (SJS) D Kris Letang (PIT) D Drew Doughty (LAK) D Ryan McDonagh (NYR) D Mark Giordano (CGY) G Braden Holtby (WSH) G John Gibson (ANA) G Cory Schneider (NJD) G Jonathan Quick (LAK) * Fan-elected captain

Bad loss for the Avs as the West is very tight with only four points separating last place and a playoff spot, making winning games against the teams around you vital. That being said, Colorado has some very good young players and a solid goalie tandem. I'd be surprised if you didn't make an impact in the playoffs.

Another win for Bernier with Reimer out injured. 5-2-2 since his conditioning stint ended, but can he keep it up when Reimer is healthy and there's pressure on him?

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, 3Dee...we're still tied for last in the league on points, and our current goaltending stocks do not inspire a great deal of confidence. I'm happy that we're competitive in most games and that a few players (like Leo) seem to be thriving under Babcock, but I think we'll be down near the bottom for the rest of the season. I'm okay with that though...word is that Auston Matthews is a decent player, and if we can somehow add Stamkos as well we'll be in decent shape heading into next season.

I like what I'm hearing so far. There has long been talk of him one day coming to the Leafs, so hopefully it comes to fruition. It's been a while since we've had a real star player. Sundin was probably the last one. Word is that Bernier is going to get the start against Tampa, with Sparks to be backup. Looks like Sparks will be sent back to the AHL when Reimer returns. I wouldn't be surprised to see Reimer traded at the deadline.

At least at this stage we seem to have a lot of young players that are driven to succeed and willing to lead by example that won't be forced into the top job before they're ready. It's nice to have a few potential candidates for when Jones is ready to relinquish the leadership, which hopefully won't be for another few years.

Didn't go as well as you would have hoped against the Jets, though the team in front of him did him no favours. It would be a hard life being a Maple Leafs goalie.

A shutout will do! He became the first Maple Leaf in history to get a shutout on debut. Well done!

About time! He's been brutal for a long time now. Hoping that Sparks can give us something!

Time for a few more Good Wins, now.

That's the only concern for me, really.

Maybe when they become an exciting team to follow!

Taylor did state that he's been on the radar for a while, but also mentioned that he wasn't in our top 30 prospects coming into this season. Anyway, clearly he's shown enough to warrant his selection, and I look forward to seeing him attack the preseason looking to earn a spot in round one.

He's got Parish covered in terms of the haircut if you ask me, DC.

This is what many thought about Wines as well. I'm not concerned. Particularly impressive given the excess weight he's been carrying as well. His speed should only improve.