Somewhat surprising to see Hamilton acquire Bruce in a trade with Toronto. Knowing that Bruce had pretty much burned his bridges with Argo coach Bart Andrus it seemed that no other CFL team would offer much at all. Since Hamilton placed last last year, they the first chance at Bruce if Toronto outright released him. Obviously another team could have offered a low pick, so Hamilton found a way to get a deal done. Giving up the rights to defensive tackle Corey Mace is a little bid sad, since Hamilton could certainly use a potential Canadian starter on the defensive line or even a great backup who could rotate in often. Didn't seem like Mace was particularly close to signing with the Cats anyways, so not an immediate lost to the team and Hamilton should in theory be better with Bruce in the lineup. Bruce's $180,000 salary is interesting, however Kenton Keith is already on the nine game injury list, so half his salary doesn't count against the cap, Bruce has already collected four games of pay and the Cats very likely have cap space that otherwise would have went to some wang coming back from the NFL at midseason who promptly gets injured and contributes nothing.
Bruce is a bit of worry in terms of character, especially the allegations that his route running sometimes includes going where he wants, however after getting shown the door, Bruce will probably be on his best behaviour for the rest of the year. Plus they can always release him in the offseason to get around his contract.
It will be interesting to see how he works with Porter or Glenn out of the gate. Certainly combining with Prechae, Davis and Stala makes for a better four receiver set than what the Cats have now. There may be some problems distributing enough balls for everyone however...
Sad to see the Cats are only expecting 18,000 for the game against BC, especially after the crowd was over 24,000 for the last game (although that was a bit papered with Hage's kids). I like their policy of offering cheaper tickets to season ticket holders, rather than everyone. It is always a good policy to keep the season ticket holders happy and give them as much value as possible. Maybe a few more fans will show up to check out Bruce. Certainly makes the Labour Day game and the followup game in Toronto more interesting. Perhaps Bruce is a possibility for Tigercatatonia's jersey.
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