Post Anwar Stewart, Where Does The Alouettes go From Here?

With Anwar Stewart given his walking papers, in the aftermath on Twitter, there was a lot of bitter resentment from the Alouettes fans towards Jim Popp’s decision.

It is understandable to see it from both sides. From Stewart’s perspective, he mentioned to Montreal Gazette writer, Herb Zurkowsky about the lack of loyalty from management’s towards him.

Moreover, the fans are disappointed to see one of the old pillars get crushed to make way for construction of a new one.

From the Alouettes point of view, it is the business of sport. They’re trying to forecast what could be a player’s future production value compared to where he is now? Even though last winter Stewart took a pay cut and was making $50,000 in 2011. For Popp and his management team they figured the fountain of youth was about to run dry on him.

In sports, management will have to make bold predictions, so it better to release a player one year early than one year too late.

Last night, just as I posted my Stewart article, one of the potential targets in Justin Hickman, signed with the Indianapolis Colts.

So who is the most desirable CFL free agent left? Scouring through the list, the most enticing player is B.C. Lions defensive tackle, Aaron Hunt.

By the time training camp is underway, Hunt will be 32 years old. But he could still have a good couple of years left in him.

His size is perfect to plug in the middle of the defensive line, for those who have been up close to Hunt, knows how wide his lower base is. Thus, it could alleviate the potential double teams that rush end John Bowman could face in 2012.

Furthermore, Hunt does have a connection to the Montreal organization, as his older brother Reggie played in 2008 with Alouettes. So he could get first hand information of how they operate under Marc Trestman and Popp.

But from reading the tea leaves, a lot of pundits figure Hunt could re-sign with the Lions, or potentially take his talents to Calgary where they need to replace recently retired Devone Claybrooks.

With one week before free agency begins, Alouettes fans have expressed their angst about the future makeup of this team.

However, Jim Popp has a plan that will be on display soon enough. Shortly afterwards, everything would be forgotten and potentially this team could be back to their old winnings ways, albeit with a new cast of characters.

You can follow me on Twitter @MoeKhan19

Listen to me every Friday night on The Midnight Snack from midnight-2am, every Tuesday night on Gamepoints, and various shows on TSN 990.

Photo Credit: www.bclions.com