Updates

Obviously, still working the kinks out of the new blog technical stuff. Yes, stuff, is the scientific term.

Knowing Garth Snow, he just might send Morency here which is good for the Komets and Morency fans. Snow by the way is the Islander GM who retired last year to take the GM job and then signed goalie Rick Dipietro to a ridiculous long term contract.

My gut tells me Richardson is leaving, then again I didn't feel well last night so it could be that.

Glad to see offers for Hansen, Dupuis, and especially Hukalo. Surprised at the offer to Bozoian but glad to see it. I think there's something to him if he can get the right coach to bring it out of him.

Hope Brent heels fast.

I hope Richardson does come back and sign with the Komets. I love his passion and fire that he plays with every night and I think down the road he would make a great coach for the Komets!

Another plus in having him is that he is well liked by other players and can recruit good players to come to Fort Wayne.

Glad to see the other offers out also, hopefully all these guys sign here! Get well soon Henley, I defintely wanna see the big #43 playing in Fort Wayne soon!

Glad to see a contract offered to AJ. He had a good season last year, if paired with the right partner on defense I think he could be a great asset. I hope Hansen signs as well.

Henley is going to be a HUGE signing (pun intended). I think we sign an enforcer for the 19th spot at the beginning of the season. Henley doesn't need to be relyed upon to go toe to toe with some of the clowns that will end up in the IHL. Sign some nutjob to come in and bust his nuckles, let Brent play defense and bust some skulls only when needed.

I would only want Bruce to return if his heart is in it.

Anyone wanna bet that the CHL team is Tulsa?

I would like to see Bruce back for sure.

Henley would be a great addition also, I actually have no problems with any of those players...that they want. I wonder who or what we should we expect to see at training camp.

Blake has already told us that it is Wichita that Bruce is mulling over.

Sure hope the Morency deal works out. That would definitely be a bonus for the K's. I also hope that the three "H's" return - Hansen, Henley and Hukalo. AJ would be great too. I also read somewhere that the K's are trying to contact Kevin Reiter again. That would be something. Just hope they don't count McWhinney out. I'd like to see him back.

October is getting closer. Can't believe the year is half over already.

McWhinney is not coming back.

You know this how????

Glad to see there's an offer on the table for Hansen. Same goes for Bozo...I've never been a big fan of his, but his play last year impressed me.

I get the feeling that the longer the wait goes on, the more likely Richardson is to sign with the CHL club.

Blake, I have a (stupid) question about a line from today's article:
"The Komets are preparing to send contract offers to last year's players & their dispersal draft choices by July 15." Does this mean they're going to make offers to the rest of last year's team that haven't been mentioned yet? I don't think I've seen/heard anything about Gascon/Lackner/Marchant/Trembley/Labarre/Kiyaga/McAllister.I know Gascon was looking to move up, and there are at least 2 on that list I would be surprised to see back.

Does this mean we could see Worlton come back and play???

just kidding....but seriously

How do you know McWhinney will not be back? There was just an article in the other paper that they had called him???

Since 13 of the 14 players drafted have been contacted, what's Chaz Johnson going to do Blake? Is he playing in Europe this year, going to Elmira with his old boss? Know anything?

Friend talked to him and said he wasnt plaining on coming back inless a good offer. also heard Kiyaga and gascon are not either. Gascon wants to move up and not sure about Kiyaga. This is just what a good friend said, because she is friends with them.

It would be great to get him. The guy can score, skate, hit, and fight. Frankes need to offer him a good sum. Where is he planning on playing if not here?

Well there you go. We don't know what the Komets will offer McWhinney, so unless you know more than that, McWhinney is still a possibility.

Everyone from last year's team except Daniel Goneau is getting an offer. I have no idea on Chaz Johnson and likely will not have one soon. I have no idea on any of the draftees and ditto. I have other responsibilities that I need to get done, as well, and they need to take more of a priority in the offseason sometimes.

Right now everyone says they aren't planning on coming back unless they get a good offer. That's par for the course. Let's see if everyone says the same thing in late August. Not trying to be flip, but that's usually how it works out. Everybody holds out for more now and owners try to hold the line. It's just part of the business. With the salary cap going up, wouldn't you guess most players will be getting raises over last year? We'll have to wait and see.

Until players actually sign somewhere else, they are always possibilities. The simple fact is 99 percent of all players always go where they are offered the most money. That's normal as we'd all probably do the same thing. We'd probably all like to believe that the fan base here, the team's priority in the city, facilities, tradition, travel and all of that matters, but it basically all comes down to money. That's not being cynical, just realistic from what I've seen over the past 17-plus seasons. Players always say publicly it might have been some of those other things, and it's great that the Komets and the city treat players so well, but it's almost always really about the money. Players are no different from anyone else in that respect. About the only time it doesn't is when a player comes back in the middle of the season, and even then the money better be at least comparable. It's all about the Benjamins -- kind of appropriate on the Fourth of July, doncha think?

There's usually an ebb and flow to contract negotiations in the summer. That's really just starting now as the teams make the initial offers. Up to now everything has all been speculation. Next the players will counter or say they have an X offer from X team and then the real decisions will start to get made.

You want to know what really usually makes the difference in how good a team is? It's based on the recruiting of new players, particularly younger ones that nobody has heard of. One reason the Komets were so strong last year was their depth which primarily came from their younger players. That's why they had a solid third line and why they were able to go six-deep on defense. Every team fights over the top 6-8 players, in part because the fans are most interested in those, but it's really those next 10 that make or break a season.

We just have to sit back and wait to see. Nothing we as media or fans can do right now will influence any of this. But it's fun to think so and talk about.

Shoot, I don't expect anything to get done til at least the middle of next week and that only invovles Guy and Richardson. My guess we'll have to wait til at least August before we start seeing some serious signings, especially with all the minor leagues team going under. Players may be playing close to the vest to see what they can get.

One thing I wanted to add. In my opinion Kevin Hansen is one of the most underrated defensemen. He is just plain solid night in and night out. I also like the fact that even though he isn't one of the toughest players in the league, many times last season he was one of the first to stick up for his teammates.

He isn't great at any one thing, but solid all around. I hope he comes back to the Komets as he would be a solid building block to the defense.

Amen.

I have always been a hansen fan seince he came hee and has played good, people just don't see how good he really is.