Player Signings

[igive2]

Speaking of Asselin, does anyone know where he is playing this year? Is he going to University? A tryout? Just curious.

[bpfox]

This is newguy's post with my commentary. His original post will in italics and my comments will be in bold It should be fun!

You'd be SUCH a good poster without the whining and condescending nature. I don't point out your spelling and grammar issues, why question our literacy skills?
Number one I wasn't whining, number two when you have a superior intellect it's kind of hard not being condescending, I will try and work on that. ;D I use the smiley so you will know I was joking!
Woe is me...I don't know why I bother with these boards....

You know, I don't know why you bother posting here either.! ;D

But other than that, I like our back and forth. Me too!

Two paragraphs spent on one semantical point. Nick Lees didn't play for the Spirit in 2002-03. Shocker for all of us. Call Constantine. Revise the record books. Please point out to me where I said Nick Lees played for the 2002-2003 Spirit. Never said it, never happened.
The POINT was we had a back-to-back 25 goal scorer and PROVEN vet coming in from another team to join a young and somewhat rag-tag group of talented rookies and the occasional misfit. I like how you have tried to shy away from being negative. I am sure the players appreciate it.They haven't made an addition "similar" to Lees from another squad. Or even a Justin McCutcheon for that matter. And they've lost tons of offence from the start of last season with Mursak, Zaborsky, McDonough, Nigel, Asselin, etc.

Other than POSSIBLY the Euros? Has Edwards added an impact player...a NON-goalie since the start of last season?

This is open to anyone. I'm not being freaking negative. I'm asking a very legitimate question. Pretend this is sports talk radio instead of "Happy Hour".

I owe an apology to the 2 Europeans. They might be Mursak/Kvapil level. They might be Tomas Csabi. No one knows, but I really shouldn't suggest they can't score 20 goals this year.

I don't get the sensitivity. It's amazing. spiritfan8 never IMPLIED that you IMPLIED Saad would be riding the pine. I more got the sense it was referring to the younger players who didn't play a lot like Crawford or Clouthier in the 06-07 season. She made the comment about Saad "riding the pine" . Up till that point, the only poster who used the term "riding the pine" was me. That's where the implication comes in. By using the same term in reference to Saad she is drawing a comparison to the use of the term in my post. That's where the "implied" part comes in. Not a big deal, but it is accurate. And we DID know they were coming. The Tyler Haskins deal had been done in the summer. Same with Maunu, same with Garlock.The Lees deal with either late September/early October, but Haskins went through the full training camp. So yeah, factual accuracy...and all that...it's just not easy getting through sometimes...Your point about Haskins is noted. He was not in the same situation as Nick Lees who did come to the team after the season started. Not sure what your point is about Ryan Garlock since he never played a regular season game with the Spirit. My point is that there will be players coming that we don't even know about yet.
SO glad you mentioned OAs...

Lees - they overpaid big-time for him because Costa was worried about scoring. No, Costa was worried about losing his job. As it turned out, he was right to worry.
Haskins - a great trade bringing a proven vet and leader to what was thought to be an OHL Championship contender.

Please -- and don't duck around this one.....

1) Who are some OAs you'd like to see the Spirit bring here...
To be honest, I haven't had time to evaluate the list. That said, there will be plenty of guys who want to play another season and I am sure a deal will be struck.
2) What should we pay for them and what's their motivation to come to a non-contender? Simple answer, as little as possible. Not sure why any player wouldn't want to report to a team who is going to make some noise this season and be a part of that. Perhaps they might just want to further their career and a chance to be on a team where they can really shine might just do that for them.
I think these are very fair and valid questions...even for Don Edwards or Todd Watson at the first Blue Line Club with Wayne Newton.[/i] Now this one really stumps me. Is Wayne Newton that overager I have been talking about. Perhaps not.

It should be noted for the record that I used spell check on the post but only used it to correct my spelling errors. I decided not to correct the spelling errors of others. Peace.

[jrp0629]

Any idea where Brad Smith, Zane Neily, Brendan Taylor went, and if they will be playing for the Spirit this season?

[spiritfan8]

I have heard that Taylor left camp to return home and play lower level. I heard he did not like Watson's coaching methods, but I have no confirmation of that.
Maybe this is just me, but unless Smith is going the university route, why isn't he back?? I'd like to know. He wasn't a flashy guy, but he was solid, and a real asset on the PK, which the Spirit were--to be kind--weak on last season. I thought he was a great 3rd/4th line guy. Perhaps the staff has a younger guy in min to take his place--I guess we'll see.
Neily--no clue. After waiting all last season to see him, I'm surprised he isn't at least in camp.

[sensspiritfan]

I liked Smith a lot last year he was a good honest player that hardly ever took a shift off.

Smith is from Prince Edward Island so maybe this had something to do with why he is not here- maybe too far to travel for him or the team?? This is costly for an OA to be 3-4 line player when someone that is here already can do a comparable job.

I thought that Neilly would have been back and be a decent scorer this year.

[mccartystillsuxs]

SUPERIOR INTELLECT......... I love it. I'd bet you would be head coach if you could skate . You do look good at the bench during the skate with the players trying to get your inside scoop and trying to butter up to them, I've seen you there ever time.. I think I did see some SUPERIOR INTELLECT at the game last night. There was a fan from the SOO that was talking like he know so much about hockey and everyone around him was laughing at him and it wasn't because he wore his Canada jersey either...

[newguy]

Some people talk to just to hear their own voice.

Some people type just to draw attention to themselves.

So pointless. And so utterly condescending. It lacks civility. Tired of someone who obsesses over my every word enough to....obsess over my every word. Those that feel the need to mock others bring the debate down to such a juvenile level.

Thanks for all the PMs of support from others. I'm glad there are so many of us who think there should be an open forum where opinions and thoughts aren't monitored or labeled as "positive" or "negative" but are simply classed as "honest". It's something that I agree we should look into so we are free to say what we want about our team.

Kingston's fans ask for more and are incensed Larry Mavety will not leave. Windsor's fans asked for more and got it in a new owner. Oshawa's fans constantly demand more of their leaders. Here, our vocal minority gets stifled by those who make you fret that our team will leave and won't come back, and those that think the debt of gratitude we owe Richard Garber (and we do) means that we should shuffle our feet past the graveyard of mediocrity and worse that they've provided for us on the ice at times.

When I read of "fans" on this board who go and say they don't care if the team wins or loses, and that those that do ride the "bandwagon", it makes me so so sad.

Taking quite a break. I'm done at least until those first two results against London and Windsor. Several posters have agreed to let the rest of you know if I am banned anytime soon. Let me know if those page views and web traffic keeps up while I'm gone, without myself and others challenging the status quo of "Happy Hour". It'll be fascinating to find out.

[SaginawGensFan]

Enough already.