![](https://media-cdn.socastsrm.com/wordpress/wp-content/blogs.dir/2323/files/2019/06/CPT118524017.jpg)
It’s been a busy off-season already for Grey Cup-champion Stampeders
Change is inevitable in pro sport, but Dave Dickenson has never seen an off-season quite like this one.
Since the Calgary Stampeders’ Grey Cup win in November, defensive co-ordinator DeVone Claybooks left to become the B.C. Lions head coach while linebackers Jameer Thurman and Alex Singleton, defensive lineman James Vaughters and receiver Marken Michel all signed NFL contracts. And there could be a fifth as quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, the ’18 CFL and Grey Cup MVP, has worked out for eight teams south of the border and is scheduled to become a free agent next month.
There’s also the matter of the CFL’s impending collective bargaining talks with the current deal expiring in May.
“I doubt there’s been a year where a team has lost more than four players to the NFL,” Dickenson said via telephone from Mont Tremblant, Que., where CFL presidents and GMs are meeting this week. “I think it’s different for all of us with so much uncertainty right now.