Under Further Review – Douglas Smith with Editor Bill Morphy. Regular contributors include Jordan Moss, Rob Wagner, Howard Steiss, Ian MacPhee, Dave Kittle, Peter Hucul, Ted Tait, Bill and Glen Myles, Frank Sullivan, Mark Hughes, Iqbal Grewall and Charlie Frenette.
Spanning the digital ether to bring you the constant variety of sport… the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition… This is Under Further Review.
Editor’s Note: We will be taking a hiatus for the next few months. It’s time to step back and take a time-out. We may drop in with a column from time to time if there are major developments worthy of comment. Otherwise, have a great summer everyone.
NHL Playoff Takeaways – If the 2026 NHL playoffs have shown us anything so far, it’s that youth is being served. We are definitely seeing a changing of the guard. Perennial contenders like Dallas, Tampa, Vegas and Edmonton are showing cracks in the foundation. Buffalo, Philadelphia, Anaheim, Utah and Montreal are proving young legs can be a big advantage. Frankly, it’s great to see the shift taking place in real time.
In case you didn’t notice, our playoff predictions are not holding up. We will quote the legendary Toe Blake to support our reluctance to make predictions. Blake was once asked to make a prediction about an upcoming playoff series. His answer? “Predictions are for gypsies.”
Montreal Canadiens/Tampa Bay Lightning – Looks like the Canadiens are recapturing the overtime magic. Who can forget the last time the Canadiens raised the Cup back in 1993 when 10 of their 16 wins came in overtime? That will never happen again.
Lane Hutson is putting his stamp on the series. Hutson may get rubbed off the puck at times by more physical opponents but you have to love what he gives the Canadiens when he has the puck. Off the rush, Hutson has been forcing Lightning defenceman to back off and it’s created time and space and offensive opportunities.
Oft-injured and much-maligned Kirby Dach is out of the doghouse in Montreal. Our intrepid Montreal contributor Ian MacPhee says Dach had received death threats with fans wanting to run him out of town. Fast forward to game three, and not only does Dach score a goal and add an assist, he screened the goalie on Hutson’s overtime winner. Kudos to Martin St. Louis for sticking with him.
The Lightning led the NHL in PIM’s during the season. Taking penalties against the Canadiens is not a good idea as witnessed in the series opener when Montreal scored three times on the power-play including the overtime winner. Most of the after-the-whistle nonsense in this series has been initiated by the Lightning. It’s up to the refs to make them pay.
Tampa is 2-14 in their last 16 playoff overtime games. Before that streak, they had won 14 of 15 in overtime. How quickly things can change. The Lightning lineup is aging and it may be catching up with them. Staying at the top is tough. The best-before date comes sooner or later.
Ottawa Senators/Carolina Hurricanes – It’s lights out in Ottawa. Swept away by the Carolina Hurricanes in four games leaves a lot of question marks.
The injuries on the blueline were too much for the Senators to overcome. Losing Artem Zub late in game one was devastating. Tyler Kleven was playing with a broken jaw. The final blow came in game three with a blatant head shot by Taylor Hall on defenceman Jake Sanderson who suffered a concussion and had to sit out game four. How could there be no five-minute major? Please, don’t get us started on the NHL’s failure to protect its stars.
Ottawa has had trouble with five-on-five scoring in each of the past two seasons. Travis Green’s system may keep the goals against down but it also stifles offence. Did Shane Pinto even play in this series? The Sens scored only five goals and that included a double overtime game. The power-play was scary to watch and went 1-for-21 in the series.
Good on Linus Ullmark for stepping up after a very trying season. He was a series standout and finished with a .932 save percentage. You couldn’t ask for more.
The Sens two offensive stars, Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle failed to make an impact. Stutzle was held to one assist. Tkachuk failed to register a point. Tkachuk is two years away from free agency. Can the Sens reach an agreement on an extension? If Tkachuk isn’t willing to put pen to paper this summer, the team should look at a Quinn Hughes-like trade to bolster the lack of organizational depth.
Anaheim Ducks/Edmonton Oilers – It seems like goaltending is the topic of conversation every post-season when it comes to the Oilers. It goes back at least five years from Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen to Jack Campbell and Stu Skinner and now to Tristan Jarry and Connor Ingram. What a succession of backstopping bums! Enough already! The Oilers have no one to blame but themselves. They had lots of time to fix the problem.
The upstart Anaheim Ducks have been flooding the Oiler net. The Ducks scored 16 goals in the opening three games of the series.
Connor McDavid looks like he’s ready for the next chapter in his career.
Club Francesco – When we put a microscope to all that ails the Vancouver Canucks, we always seem to circle back to ownership. How can we not? Ultimately, the buck stops with the owner. If you were going to grade NHL owners, where could Francesco Aquilini score? At or near the bottom, certainly.
For perspective, look at what’s happened in Ottawa since Michael Andlauer took control of the team. The Senators were an absolute tire fire when Andlauer purchased the team from the estate of Eugene Melnyk. Under Melnyk, the organization was a mess. He had cut staff and player budgets to bare bones. Melnyk had made enemies throughout the community. Season ticket sales had plummeted. Sponsors and advertisers had abandoned ship.
Andlauer arrived in the Nation’s Capital with lessons learned as part owner of the Montreal Canadiens. Look at how things have changed in a few short years. Andlauer has created goodwill in the community. An agreement on a new arena has been reached. Players and their families are treated extremely well. Ottawa is no longer a ‘no-go’ zone.
With the owner often missing, the mood among the Vancouver fan base is similar to the Melnyk era in Ottawa. Fans have lost faith. The messaging is horrible. No one knows what the plan is and this didn’t just start recently. It’s been going on for 15 years. Where does the blame lie? In the owner’s box. Full stop.
Nothing will change in Vancouver until Aquilini gives up ownership of the team. Vancouver fans need to find someone like the guy in Ottawa who, on his own dime, took out billboards urging Melnyk to sell the team.
Canuck fans need not worry about winning the draft lottery. Pray for the owner to sell.
The Aquilini File – The record doesn’t lie. To truly get up to speed on the Aquilini family and their lovely history in the Vancouver community, Reddit put together a series of links with news reports going all the way back to 1983. It is rather revealing.
1983 – Slumlords who raised rents by up to 100% on tenants causing homeless seniors.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/flashback-15-years-ago-25-years-ago/article17975765/
2006 – Screwed over Gagliardi to buy the team.
2011 – Charged with diverting river water to their farms unlawfully, killing thousands of fish.
https://www.pressreader.com/canada/vancouver-sun/20110310/282690453698971
2011, 2012, and 2018 – Fined for having unsafe transport vehicle for temporary farm workers.
2017 – #2 biggest political lobbyists in the province.
https://commonground.ca/big-money-corrupts-politics/
2017 – Stiffed Google partner on a contract and lost the subsequent lawsuit.
2017 – Two kids of workers at their vineyard died after a fire, where the mobile homes allegedly had no smoke detectors and improper electrical.
2019 – Cheated on their taxes, declaring just 51k in income per brother, before being reassessed at $11.5m/each.
2019 – Stole wages from temporary workers on their farms. Denied them water breaks.
2019 – Fell behind on child support.
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/owner-of-vancouver-canucks-taken-to-court-over-child-support-1.4382959
2022 – Still falling behind on child support, accused of child abuse by ex-wife and three kids, none of whom want contact.
You don’t have to look far to find tradespeople in Vancouver who have been stiffed by the Aquilini’s for work they did. I have a great friend who was never paid in full for work done on the Canucks refurbished dressing room at Rogers Arena.
One final item: Aquilini hired the former VPD police chief to be the family’s spokesperson.
The GM Search – The Athletic recently published a story identifying nine potential GM candidates for the Canucks. Not surprisingly, Abbottsford general manager Ryan Johnson was at the top of the list and he remains the frontrunner. He’s a worthy candidate. However, if he was the choice, why did they not name him right away? There may be reluctance to hire a third straight rookie GM.
The remainder of the candidate list was shockingly uninspiring including a number of failed GM’s from other organizations. The list of recycled managers included former Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, former Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin, former Sabres GM Kevyn Adams and former Seattle GM Ron Francis. Is this the best they can do?
Rounding out the list were Roberto Luongo, special assistant to the GM in Florida; Sam Ventura, Buffalo Sabres VP of Hockey Strategy and Research; Penguins AGM Jason Spezza; Tampa AGM Jeff Tambellini; and Leafs AGM Derek Clancey who has been on Rutherford’s staff both in Vancouver and Pittsburgh. Former Arizona Coyote Shane Doan has reportedly been interviewed as well.
Do any of those names jump out at you? Would you be excited if any one of them got the job?
Make no mistake. No one should want this job. Rutherford was quick to throw Patrik Allvin to the curb even though everyone knows Rutherford’s been calling the shots for the past four years. Allvin had little autonomy. The Canucks should have cleaned house completely including Rutherford. What happens if Rutherford steps away in a few months after hiring a new GM? His replacement is then saddled with a GM and coach he didn’t select. The Canucks are getting this ass-backward.
It appears Rutherford is again favouring candidates who worked for him at one point or another. In other words, someone like Allvin who will do what he says.
In a recent article, Frank Seravelli got it right. “To present it as ‘we didn’t like the decision-making that Patrik Allvin had’ is really disappointing. [Rutherford] carved [Allvin’s] reputation, threw some red meat and a body on the tarmac to try and provide an explanation for this season and how it all went wrong.”
It points up the lack of good management personnel in the National Hockey League. We call them ‘old hockey pucks.’ Guys like Columbus GM Don Waddell. In many cases, former players who lack the education and overall skill set to handle a management position. Where are the qualifications? In the National Football League and Major League Baseball, most top executives have degrees in sports management from top Ivy League schools. Not in the NHL. It’s who you know.
Sunny Mehta just got hired in New Jersey. No doubt he’s a veritable genius when it comes to data analysis. His claim to fame is writing a book on poker. Mehta grew up near the arena in Jersey and has been a lifelong Devils fan. Nice story but where are the qualifications to be an NHL general manager? Don’t see it. Mehta was on the Panthers staff for two Cup wins which helps his resume. Just not convinced he has the scouting background, experience in contract negotiations and knowledge of players to be a top GM. Maybe he will prove us wrong. At least the Devils went ‘out of the box’ and avoided the recycle bin.
While many Leaf fans may be skeptical about hiring Mike Gillis, the idea should not be out of left field. Gillis and Pat Quinn are the two best GM’s in Canucks history. Both have university degrees. In fact, both have law degrees. In case you weren’t aware, Gillis now lives in Victoria. He’s a member at Victoria Golf Club. There are reports Gillis will be part of the new management team in Toronto. The list of GM candidates has reportedly down to former Arizona GM John Chayka and Dallas assistant Scott White. Is that the best the Leafs can do?
Paging Jim Benning – Ever wonder what happened to Jim Benning? Can’t sleep at night thinking about it? It’s hard to believe he lasted seven years in Vancouver. If that isn’t an indictment of the organization, we don’t know what is. Imagine how much he earned during that time? How did he even pass the interview? What convinced Aquilini to hire him? Francesco is a real judge of executive talent, isn’t he?
NHL Notebook – What separates great GM’s like Bill Zito in Florida and Julian BriseBois in Tampa is their ability to identify complimentary players to surround their core stars. They seem to know exactly who to acquire and how seamlessly they will meld into the lineup. It was exactly why Brad Treliving got a failing grade in Toronto. Every move seemed to set the Leafs back. Good GM’s have a better handle on the makeup of their team both on the ice and off. They will even overpay to acquire a player if they are confident the fit is right and it will provide an incremental upgrade. Like a good recipe, you have to be very careful with the mix.
Judging by his comments during his season-ending exit interview, it looks like Connor Hellebuyck may have played his last game with the Jets. It sure sounded like Hellebuyck wants out of Winnipeg. The Jets went from Presidents’ Trophy winners to the draft lottery in one season. The team is aging. The contention window is closing fast. Hellebuyck made it clear most NHL players don’t want to play in Winnipeg. You can be sure Winnipeg is number one when it comes to no-trade lists. The Jets may be better off moving Hellebuyck and beginning the process of turning over the roster.
NFL Draft Notebook – Football is a religion in the United States. For proof, witness 300 thousand showing up in Pittsburgh for the NFL Draft. Americans can name every starter on their favourite NFL team but they couldn’t tell you their state capital.
The NFL Draft has turned into a blinged-up, wave the flag, bring out the colour guard show of U.S. indulgence. Let’s all sing God Bless America and be sure to pay tribute to our men and women in the service.
Over the three days of the draft, we saw enough tears among the draftees to make the Monongahela River overflow. Guess when you check your phone and see that the first big payday has cleared, you would be tearing up too. The best job out there may be jeweler to the incoming crop of NFL rookies. “Hey kid, you should drop by the store. I just got a new shipment of gold chains.”
Congratulations to Ottawa native Akheem Mesidor, the Miami pass rusher taken by the Los Angeles Chargers with the 22nd pick of the first round. Mesidor is the fifth Canadian and first-ever defensive player to be selected in the opening round of the draft.
The most criticized pick of Round 1 was the Los Angeles Rams choice to take Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th pick. Many draft experts figured Simpson would be available late in the first round. The Rams passed on some top talent that could have helped them immediately. Simpson is just 6-foot-1 with only 15 career starts in college. No Super Bowl champion quarterback ever had less than 35 college starts. Can you say BUST?
Seahawks Draft Recap – The Seahawks went into this year’s draft with only four picks total. They had selections in the first three rounds and used them to basically replace three players lost in free agency, running back Kenneth Walker, safety Coby Bryant and cornerback Riq Woolen.
Seattle grabbed Notre Dame RB Jadarian Price with the final pick in round 1. Price played second fiddle to Jeremiyah Love but still delivered the highest big-play rate in college football. Price had runs of at least 12 yards on nearly 16 percent of his carries and had eight carries of at least 20 yards. He could start immediately.
In the second round, the Seahawks took TCU safety Bud Clark. He’s got outstanding ball skills and will fit into the safety room along with Julian Love and Ty Okada. In the third round, Arkansas’ Julian Neal adds much-needed depth at cornerback. He has the size (6’2″, 203lbs) and athletic profile they Seahawks prefer. Neal is an excellent tackler and strong at the point of attack.
Blue Jays Notebook – The Blue Jays have dug themselves quite a hole. Looks like George Springer and Addison Barger will return to the lineup sometime next week. Can’t come soon enough.
Why the Jays chose to re-sign Max Scherzer is a mystery. He continues to get lit up. Trey Yesavage and Jose Berrios are close to returning and should give the starting rotation a huge boost.
It’s about time the Blue Jays turned over the closer job to Louis Varland. He’s been the team’s best option out of the bullpen. John Schneider has stuck with Jeff Hoffman despite numerous blown saves and meltdowns. Why wait? Make the switch.
Random Leftovers – Sitting dead last in the American League East with a record of 10-17, the Boston Red Sox axed manager Alex Cora and five members of his coaching staff. Hard to have any sympathy Cora who was part of cheating scandal in Houston. Cora will now have plenty of time to practice banging the garbage can.
Baseball fans of a certain vintage are familiar with the Alou brothers – Felipe, Manny and Jesus. Of course, Felipe was the long-time manager of the Montreal Expos. Fans are probably not aware that there was another Alou brother – Boog Alou. Sounds like a famous Dominican dancer. Lol.
Goodbye Dave Mason – Unfortunately, it seems like all the rock stars of yesterday are passing away one by one. This week, we lost Dave Mason at the age of 79. He was one of the founding members of Traffic and best remembered for penning the classic tune “Feelin’ Alright” which Joe Cocker turned into a massive hit.
Mason appeared on some of the most iconic recordings in rock history. He played 12-string acoustic guitar on “All Along the Watchtower” with Jimi Hendrix. Mason also contributed on sessions with the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
After departing traffic in 1969, he relocated to California and became part of the Laurel Canyon music scene. He enjoyed a prolific solo career highlighted by the album “Alone Together” with its distinctive marble vinyl. His final release was “A Shade of Blues” in 2025.
Here’s Dave and the Quarantines including Sammy Hagar, Michael McDonald, Mick Fleetwood and members of the Doobie Brothers performing “Feelin’ Alright” from a session in 2020.
https://youtu.be/Xd56ap_aa4k?si=RMVO3hm65-rEzBvn
YouTube Music Video of the Week – Back in the days of The Tonight Show on NBC, it took Johnny Carson a while to come around to showcasing rock bands and any kind of alternative music. Comedians, yes, Maybe, Johnny learned a thing or two from Ed Sullivan who was never shy about giving musicians an opportunity regardless of colour or the length of their hair.
In October, 1990, the Allman Brothers including Dickie Betts and Warren Haynes appeared on The Tonight Show and performed two songs. The second with Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show brass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a64awsgc3uE&list=RDa64awsgc3uE&start_radio=1
Let’s turn back the clock for a classic from the great New Orleans legend Dr. John. He appeared on The Tonight Show with Rickie Lee Jones in 1989 to perform “Makin’ Whoopee” from the album “In A Sentimental Mood.”
https://www.facebook.com/reel/2464753683995787/?fs=e&mibextid=wwXIfre
We have featured Playing for Change many times in our weekly YouTube videos. Here’s Jackson Browne and a cast of international artists performing the Browne classic “Doctor My Eyes.”
https://youtu.be/VQPD17v6eLU?si=ZDR4xqLJM-2Ngn-P
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