3 hours ago, claptonrocks said:

CBJ are 6-1 since he took the job.

He’s had a really impressive coaching career. Being a lifelong Bruins fan, I remember when he coached there… might have been his first HC gig.

He’s bounced around a bunch, but he did a good job in Dallas during the pandemic when they reached the Cup finals. And turned things around in Winnipeg, too.

Very likable guy, the kind of guy you root for. Gonna be tough for CBJ to snag a playoff spot, but there’s still time.

One really has to be a hockey fan, to live in Columbus. There is an OK base locally…but nothing close to a regional or even a state-wide attraction.

There is no such sense of “I’m a CBJ fan!” pride…and it has nothing to do with wins/losses. Despite its size, Columbus just has never outgrown a college-town persona. While hockey was the only major league sport with a chance to stick here (and it remarkably has), there has never been a community or state-wide ignition of interest. They are more of an “oh by the way” topic for locals and media.

I used to go to games frequently back in the beginning years…but it was usually only to watch the other team (which to this day a still sizeable number of the crowds do). They give a commendable amount of effort to stir up interest with marketing, etc., and the arena is and has always been a “fan friendly” environment. However, they still have the need to present and explain the game itself as though they were a first-year franchise.

Their few appearances in the playoffs over 25 years, have ended quickly. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall them ever getting past the first round. They have always seemed to be building, then tearing down, then building, then tearing down…

The McConnell years set a reasonably good foundation for the franchise to build upon. They just never have built past the foundation. I would expect that this little surge of competency, will fade back to the normal state of affairs in due course.

2 hours ago, Le Tigre said:

I could be wrong, but I don’t recall them ever getting past the first round.

😒

https://www.nhl.com/schedule/playoff-series/2020/series-v/bluejackets-vs-mapleleafs

8 hours ago, Le Tigre said:

One really has to be a hockey fan, to live in Columbus. There is an OK base locally…but nothing close to a regional or even a state-wide attraction.

There is no such sense of “I’m a CBJ fan!” pride…and it has nothing to do with wins/losses. Despite its size, Columbus just has never outgrown a college-town persona. While hockey was the only major league sport with a chance to stick here (and it remarkably has), there has never been a community or state-wide ignition of interest. They are more of an “oh by the way” topic for locals and media.

I used to go to games frequently back in the beginning years…but it was usually only to watch the other team (which to this day a still sizeable number of the crowds do). They give a commendable amount of effort to stir up interest with marketing, etc., and the arena is and has always been a “fan friendly” environment. However, they still have the need to present and explain the game itself as though they were a first-year franchise.

Their few appearances in the playoffs over 25 years, have ended quickly. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall them ever getting past the first round. They have always seemed to be building, then tearing down, then building, then tearing down…

The McConnell years set a reasonably good foundation for the franchise to build upon. They just never have built past the foundation. I would expect that this little surge of competency, will fade back to the normal state of affairs in due course.

man hockey is cult like... CBJ are still working on generation hockey fandome. they began 25 years ago... so you are still in the between phases. like my dad was a browns fan as a kid because the bengals didnt exist.. they became a team when he was 17-18, which is outside the parameters of crowing up with them... with the early success he became a fan. but it wasnt something he was raised in..

so for columbus bluejackets fans to even exist.. for kids to be raised on the bluejackets and be 25 right now, had to ahve fairly young parents that were somehow hockey fans in central ohio, and latch on and bring them to games as kids and know and love the game..

they got probably 20-30 more years before they can build a diehard fanbase... and without some deep playoff success thats harder and harder..

its like coffee in china or japan. was it startbucks that wanted to open there and the local market was like yeah man maybe in 20 years... first you need to make coffee flavored candy, sell it to kids for decades so they have a want and taste for it, then you can start growing the beverages from the kids who grew up eating your coffee flavors as candy..

and within the last 5-10 years or whatever they started killing it in that market..

same idea... kids need to have, love and grow up with the bluejackets.. kids who were born at its inception are only 25.. so still not a prime age to be spending decent money on sprting events in most cases.

i left in 2010, so CBJ were there for 10 years and i still catch myself saying "yeah there is no hockey in ohio" because there wasnt from ages 0-19 i was out of high school, running a record label and partying.. hockey in columbus didnt register on the brain..... still doesnt i guess...

i laways feel like pro sports are rigged to give expansion teams a championship in the first 10 years to build a fanbase early... i guess the CBJ's are evidence of that not being the case..

11 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

man hockey is cult like... CBJ are still working on generation hockey fandome. they began 25 years ago... so you are still in the between phases. like my dad was a browns fan as a kid because the bengals didnt exist.. they became a team when he was 17-18, which is outside the parameters of crowing up with them... with the early success he became a fan. but it wasnt something he was raised in..

so for columbus bluejackets fans to even exist.. for kids to be raised on the bluejackets and be 25 right now, had to ahve fairly young parents that were somehow hockey fans in central ohio, and latch on and bring them to games as kids and know and love the game..

they got probably 20-30 more years before they can build a diehard fanbase... and without some deep playoff success thats harder and harder..

its like coffee in china or japan. was it startbucks that wanted to open there and the local market was like yeah man maybe in 20 years... first you need to make coffee flavored candy, sell it to kids for decades so they have a want and taste for it, then you can start growing the beverages from the kids who grew up eating your coffee flavors as candy..

and within the last 5-10 years or whatever they started killing it in that market..

same idea... kids need to have, love and grow up with the bluejackets.. kids who were born at its inception are only 25.. so still not a prime age to be spending decent money on sprting events in most cases.

i left in 2010, so CBJ were there for 10 years and i still catch myself saying "yeah there is no hockey in ohio" because there wasnt from ages 0-19 i was out of high school, running a record label and partying.. hockey in columbus didnt register on the brain..... still doesnt i guess...

i laways feel like pro sports are rigged to give expansion teams a championship in the first 10 years to build a fanbase early... i guess the CBJ's are evidence of that not being the case..

I'm not going to claim the NHL is squeaky clean, or that refs don't decide games.. but a lot of the appeal for me as a newer fan comes from how little of that bullshit is evident compared to the average NFL game. So sick of 15 minute stoppages including one or more ad breaks, dissecting replays from every angle like the fucking Zapruder film just for "New York" to issue a decision that may or may not make any sense.. The "independent doctors" trying to cover the league's ass.. It's so much more self-regulating as far as sportsmanship, too. Get a rep as a dirty player and some old dude with cauliflower ears and half his teeth will square up center ice and beat it out of ya in front of God & everybody you know. There's an authentic grittiness to it that pro football lost sight of long ago. It's still unapologetically a full contact sport.

23 hours ago, texbengal said:

He’s had a really impressive coaching career. Being a lifelong Bruins fan, I remember when he coached there… might have been his first HC gig.

He’s bounced around a bunch, but he did a good job in Dallas during the pandemic when they reached the Cup finals. And turned things around in Winnipeg, too.

Very likable guy, the kind of guy you root for. Gonna be tough for CBJ to snag a playoff spot, but there’s still time.

They won again last nite and play again Tonite.

A win would get them to 61 pts..

Jett is the goalie tonite

I trust him more than Elvis.

10 hours ago, Le Tigre said:

One really has to be a hockey fan, to live in Columbus. There is an OK base locally…but nothing close to a regional or even a state-wide attraction.

There is no such sense of “I’m a CBJ fan!” pride…and it has nothing to do with wins/losses. Despite its size, Columbus just has never outgrown a college-town persona. While hockey was the only major league sport with a chance to stick here (and it remarkably has), there has never been a community or state-wide ignition of interest. They are more of an “oh by the way” topic for locals and media.

I used to go to games frequently back in the beginning years…but it was usually only to watch the other team (which to this day a still sizeable number of the crowds do). They give a commendable amount of effort to stir up interest with marketing, etc., and the arena is and has always been a “fan friendly” environment. However, they still have the need to present and explain the game itself as though they were a first-year franchise.

Their few appearances in the playoffs over 25 years, have ended quickly. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall them ever getting past the first round. They have always seemed to be building, then tearing down, then building, then tearing down…

The McConnell years set a reasonably good foundation for the franchise to build upon. They just never have built past the foundation. I would expect that this little surge of competency, will fade back to the normal state of affairs in due course.

That was commendable.

I started following NHL last year.

Knew the very basics.

After season 1 I became enamored with the sport.

I seem to be grasping most of it now.

The team has good players that needed

a change in coaching.

So far so good.

They're playing well.

1 minute ago, Griever said:

No reason not to sign DJ Reader now...now..

2 hours ago, T-Dub said:

I'm not going to claim the NHL is squeaky clean, or that refs don't decide games.. but a lot of the appeal for me as a newer fan comes from how little of that bullshit is evident compared to the average NFL game. So sick of 15 minute stoppages including one or more ad breaks, dissecting replays from every angle like the fucking Zapruder film just for "New York" to issue a decision that may or may not make any sense.. The "independent doctors" trying to cover the league's ass.. It's so much more self-regulating as far as sportsmanship, too. Get a rep as a dirty player and some old dude with cauliflower ears and half his teeth will square up center ice and beat it out of ya in front of God & everybody you know. There's an authentic grittiness to it that pro football lost sight of long ago. It's still unapologetically a full contact sport.

man the nfl is as you describe the nhl compared to the NBA. really with the nBA (and i guess the nfl) is that the refs call the game even, whatever foul situation you decide is how its going to be called just call it that way..

the OKC thunder and pistons are teams that MAUL the opponent, im talking 10-15 true fouls per PLAY that arent called in the name of "good hard nosed defense" and the opponent is not allowed to do the same... and that shit i cant stand.... but if youre allowed to mug guys today, fine, everyone can mug guys.. if you cant sniff a guy or its a foul, fine, make it so for everyone.. all good.

nuggets played the clippers last night, and i was geting furious with the touchy fouls called against the nuggets.. and nuggets were getting man handled...

now at the end of the day they gave JOKIC the same calls the clippers got, but murray, tim, spencer, watson were getting smacked around.. jokic shot 17 ree throws playing 25 minutes of game... nuggets shot 32 free throws, which is way too many, but at the same time they were getting mauled. clippers shot 21. which i felt was too many, but they were getting love tapped. and th eofficials went back and forth you can maul us this qtr but touching jokic was a foul in the next qtr, body check watson this play, no call, brush against harden next play, and 1 foul... so everyone was mad all the time..

in the NBA if you are under a 3 pt shooter when he lands, its a foul and can be a flagrant foul for doing so under his jump. that happened, NO CALL, no foul at all, but ref saw tim hardawway injured from it, and 10 seconds later stopped the game to review the play for a flagrant foul.

you cant do that. was WHAT foul a flagrant foul? there was no foul called! so clippers coach was furious, then they dont call a flagrant.. but they call a foul! which you also cannot do, lol. was it the right call? yes, was it allowed? no. so the nba is just making shit up at this point..

so long rant ended, i feel that aspect of hockey.

the nfl doesnt make players wear pads anymore, so they certainly cant let them kill eachother anymore.. if WR were wearing these:

then you can allow them to get wrecked a bit.

but guys wearing this shit:

dude you just got shorts on...and tiny pads..

went from body protection to "just help stop concussioins if you can" and fuck the rest..

24 minutes ago, claptonrocks said:

No reason not to sign DJ Reader now...now..

Not at the expense of injury contingency funding… and draft picks.

We will go to war with what we have (ducks).

3 minutes ago, texbengal said:

Not at the expense of injury contingency funding… and draft picks.

We will go to war with what we have (ducks).

happy to sign anyone who doesnt cost shit and doesnt have false built in snaps tied to overpayment..

he is palying at a fair level, but also his last two seasons have been the worst of his entire career.

a guy to come in a 1st and maybe 2nd down ot short downs, minimal snaps.. throw him 4mil... sign me up.

the lions took a 13 mil cap hit from his last year to be the 36th ranked run defending DT. not exactly a value return.

14 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

happy to sign anyone who doesnt cost shit

Why do they need to not "cost shit"? Did they sign someone to a $50M extension I don't know about?

DJ Reader on the downside of his career would still be an upgrade over Slaton, as I see it. A little more expensive but not enough to worry about for a historically bad defense on a team with plenty of cap space. I don't expect the old DJ Reader.

40 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

man the nfl is as you describe the nhl compared to the NBA. really with the nBA (and i guess the nfl) is that the refs call the game even, whatever foul situation you decide is how its going to be called just call it that way..

the OKC thunder and pistons are teams that MAUL the opponent, im talking 10-15 true fouls per PLAY that arent called in the name of "good hard nosed defense" and the opponent is not allowed to do the same... and that shit i cant stand.... but if youre allowed to mug guys today, fine, everyone can mug guys.. if you cant sniff a guy or its a foul, fine, make it so for everyone.. all good.

nuggets played the clippers last night, and i was geting furious with the touchy fouls called against the nuggets.. and nuggets were getting man handled...

now at the end of the day they gave JOKIC the same calls the clippers got, but murray, tim, spencer, watson were getting smacked around.. jokic shot 17 ree throws playing 25 minutes of game... nuggets shot 32 free throws, which is way too many, but at the same time they were getting mauled. clippers shot 21. which i felt was too many, but they were getting love tapped. and th eofficials went back and forth you can maul us this qtr but touching jokic was a foul in the next qtr, body check watson this play, no call, brush against harden next play, and 1 foul... so everyone was mad all the time..

in the NBA if you are under a 3 pt shooter when he lands, its a foul and can be a flagrant foul for doing so under his jump. that happened, NO CALL, no foul at all, but ref saw tim hardawway injured from it, and 10 seconds later stopped the game to review the play for a flagrant foul.

you cant do that. was WHAT foul a flagrant foul? there was no foul called! so clippers coach was furious, then they dont call a flagrant.. but they call a foul! which you also cannot do, lol. was it the right call? yes, was it allowed? no. so the nba is just making shit up at this point..

so long rant ended, i feel that aspect of hockey.

the nfl doesnt make players wear pads anymore, so they certainly cant let them kill eachother anymore.. if WR were wearing these:

then you can allow them to get wrecked a bit.

but guys wearing this shit:

dude you just got shorts on...and tiny pads..

went from body protection to "just help stop concussioins if you can" and fuck the rest..

NBA is a tough watch, break-away dunks are cool but I'm into all-around basketball. Always catch a few NCAA tourney games. The refs can be pretty bad there but the game is more fundamentally sound & you get to see more variety. Different metas 🤓

Must admit watching those old Piston teams bully people was kind of fun, though. Olajuwon fan, too.

7 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

Why do they need to not "cost shit"? Did they sign someone to a $50M extension I don't know about?

DJ Reader on the downside of his career would still be an upgrade over Slaton, as I see it. A little more expensive but not enough to worry about for a historically bad defense on a team with plenty of cap space. I don't expect the old DJ Reader.

NBA is a tough watch, break-away dunks are cool but I'm into all-around basketball. Always catch a few NCAA tourney games. The refs can be pretty bad there but the game is more fundamentally sound & you get to see more variety. Different metas 🤓

Must admit watching those old Piston teams bully people was kind of fun, though. Olajuwon fan, too.

guys who have had several year stints of injury issues and are on the wrong side of 30 and have just had the worst two seasons of their career indeed need to not cost shit... because you are more likely to not get shit out of them.

Slayton and reader were basically the same guy the last half of the season. so its tough to stomach slayton was a disappointment and must be repalced and dj reader is a messiah who is here to save us. ....which is where my "sure, add him to the room" mentality comes from. dj reader is a good vibes guy good locker room guy, solid professional, we could use that in the locker room, but i am always cautious as the fanbase seems to think he was great when he left and would be great when he returns if he does, and neither of those things are accurate.

the bengals can effectively walk away from slaton and save good good money.

but its becoming more known that kris jenkins isnt putting in the work expected of him, which is why he fell out of favor a bit.. not sure of jackson is the same but he came on in second half and get into games got reps and was a productive member of the team.

i keep digging but no one is talking... there was some sort of cancer in that defensive locker room and evidence points towards to logan wilson, everyone on the team on defense seemed to have go their shit together once he was paid off to go get benched in dallas.

47 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

but its becoming more known that kris jenkins isnt putting in the work expected of him, which is why he fell out of favor a bit..

Disappointing, he looked the part a few times IMO.. But if you want to blame someone? Can't be glazing Myles Murphy because he decided to show up for work just in time for a contract year & then wonder why someone only in year 2 of their own contract might think it's ok to slack off. Then going to IR late in the season.. Running a Happytown country club/group home & then complain about work ethic. Yeah what a mystery..

Slayton and reader were basically the same guy the last half of the season. so its tough to stomach slayton was a disappointment and must be repalced and dj reader is a messiah who is here to save us.

Ah yeah, the ol "last half of the season" where they beat one winning team then got shut out by them, missed the playoffs.. Too bad we can't play 8 games against shit opponents every year, this defense would be top 5.. ish.. 😆

I think we both know DJ Reader is a much better DT than Slaton - who is only a year away from crumbling into dust himself, as one does at 30 years of age. Plus that whole "sucked whole ass until it didn't matter anymore" stuff that applies to the entire defense. Maybe trading away Logan Wilson reminded them that the Bengals are also expected to partake in professional football games in between their charity work & smile-a-thons? If they were capable of playing like this the whole time, why the fuck weren't they? That's a whole different & bigger kind of problem than a weak roster.

Wilson's sudden transformation from Team Captain to Locker Room Cancer to be traded away for peanuts does raise questions. If he turned into a dickhead there's probably a reason, maybe being tasked with lining up 2 rookies? Wasn't Golden's guy? Doubt we'll ever get a straight answer to that one. They can't even flatly admit they had a losing season ffs... Under no circumstances are they responsible for any of it, but they're crushing it anyway so it's not even a question of blame. They should all give each other medals, and a pizza party, probably.

10 hours ago, HavePityPlease said:

😒

https://www.nhl.com/schedule/playoff-series/2020/series-v/bluejackets-vs-mapleleafs

Oh yeah…that year. The one where the season was so pandemic-screwed up, that they had to go to a “Qualifying Round “ format in order to even out the point system.

So yes, they did technically advance in a shortened series. They then lost 4-1 to Tampa in the “real” Round 1.

5 minutes ago, Le Tigre said:

the “real” Round 1.

😞

5 hours ago, GoBengals said:

they got probably 20-30 more years before they can build a diehard fanbase... and without some deep playoff success thats harder and harder..

They actually do have a fairly solid season ticket base. It isn’t a “tough ticket” by any means…but the lower arena bowl is almost always full; as is a considerable portion of the upper area.

And one sees those 30-40 something’s sporting gear here and there…even a decent number of kids. Thing of it is…I rarely—if ever—see anyone in other parts of the state wearing it.

TBH…my interest in the NHL faded a long time ago, so maybe I view it in NFL lenses—where you are never surprised to see Broncos crap being worn in Georgia. CBJ might be—or soon will be—the cat’s ass soon…dunno. But the day I hear people around here talking like they do some local university, I will be surprised.

2 hours ago, T-Dub said:

Disappointing, he looked the part a few times IMO.. But if you want to blame someone? Can't be glazing Myles Murphy because he decided to show up for work just in time for a contract year & then wonder why someone only in year 2 of their own contract might think it's ok to slack off. Then going to IR late in the season.. Running a Happytown country club/group home & then complain about work ethic. Yeah what a mystery..

Ah yeah, the ol "last half of the season" where they beat one winning team then got shut out by them, missed the playoffs.. Too bad we can't play 8 games against shit opponents every year, this defense would be top 5.. ish.. 😆

I think we both know DJ Reader is a much better DT than Slaton - who is only a year away from crumbling into dust himself, as one does at 30 years of age. Plus that whole "sucked whole ass until it didn't matter anymore" stuff that applies to the entire defense. Maybe trading away Logan Wilson reminded them that the Bengals are also expected to partake in professional football games in between their charity work & smile-a-thons? If they were capable of playing like this the whole time, why the fuck weren't they? That's a whole different & bigger kind of problem than a weak roster.

Wilson's sudden transformation from Team Captain to Locker Room Cancer to be traded away for peanuts does raise questions. If he turned into a dickhead there's probably a reason, maybe being tasked with lining up 2 rookies? Wasn't Golden's guy? Doubt we'll ever get a straight answer to that one. They can't even flatly admit they had a losing season ffs... Under no circumstances are they responsible for any of it, but they're crushing it anyway so it's not even a question of blame. They should all give each other medals, and a pizza party, probably.

with murphy coming on halfway through like i guess the entire defense, it points more, for me, to the fact that he was buried in the epth chart under Lou demanding to run hubbards health into the dirt and trey for obvious reasons ... if murphy magically was better all year, id think more "oh contract year he wants paid" but the fact it came along with the rest of the defense.. feels more, to me, like the stink finally fell off that fell off of everyone when stink left the building.

if that makes sense

8 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

with murphy coming on halfway through like i guess the entire defense, it points more, for me, to the fact that he was buried in the epth chart under Lou demanding to run hubbards health into the dirt and trey for obvious reasons ... if murphy magically was better all year, id think more "oh contract year he wants paid" but the fact it came along with the rest of the defense.. feels more, to me, like the stink finally fell off that fell off of everyone when stink left the building.

if that makes sense

oh yeh i think that's at least possible but damn.. if Logan Wilson was somehow holding everyone back, that's some weak minded shit all around. Or maybe it was Lingering Lou?

I would love to believe the loser stink is gone but it's been lingering for too long. I'll reconsider if we see those '21/22 Bengals again but they keep clinging to that 2 year span. Looking backwards.. Again, mindset - I think their "'member the Super Bowl?" talk is closer to where the smell is coming from.

Im confued about the cap space thing. I thought we had like 110M. Spotrac had us at 80M before and then we had 30M in rollovers

8 hours ago, MichaelWeston said:

Im confued about the cap space thing. I thought we had like 110M. Spotrac had us at 80M before and then we had 30M in rollovers

$30M in rollovers seems a bit high? Bengals usually have around $10M rollover?

3 hours ago, I_C_Deadpeople said:

$30M in rollovers seems a bit high? Bengals usually have around $10M rollover?

Here is a snapshot someone did in December

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=25743240125307622&set=p.25743240125307622&type=3