Under Further Review – Douglas Smith with Editor Bill Morphy. Special thanks to our regular contributors including Jordan Moss, Ian MacPhee, Dave Kittle, Ted Tait, Peter Hucul, Glen and Bill Myles, Howard Steiss and Rob Wagner. This week, takeaways from opening week of the NHL playoffs plus a wrap on the NFL Draft.

NHL Playoffs – We are just a week into the NHL playoffs and already we are seeing how things may play out. Could we see a Vegas/Florida final again this year? The number of Canadian teams remaining after round one may be reduced to just two. That would be hugely disappointing.

From a Canadian standpoint, the biggest story is emerging in Toronto where the Maple Buds are making their annual march to nowhere. The 10-year Shanaplan is combusting before our eyes. Mark Messier was right when he said “the playoffs have a way of revealing the character of a player and a team.” It’s so true. When it comes to the Leafs, mental-toughness is nowhere to be found.

Losing organizations make excuses. They’ve already fired up the Excuse-O-Matic in Toronto. Blame injuries. Blame Keefe. Blame goaltending. It’s always something. The Leafs laid an egg in the biggest game of the season. How could you possibly expect anything different from this group? It’s been eight years of playoff humiliation. They seem to have no understanding of the kind of fire and passion required to have playoff success. This is a selfish team. Full stop. The bickering on the bench in game four said it all.

You would have to think this is the final act for the Leafs as currently constructed. Will they bring out the axe? Not likely. Amnesia always takes over by August and the hype machine starts up all over again. If they really want to change the narrative, my first call would be to the owner of the new Utah franchise. Find out if he might want a high-profile forward to help sell tickets.

Here are some thoughts on all the playoff series to date.

Canucks/Predators: The hockey gods are suddenly shining on the Canucks. When Thatcher Demko was injured, you wondered if the Canucks were cursed. Who could have predicted they would be up 3-1 in the series with victories from three different goaltenders? Casey DeSmith is now reportedly injured so the Canucks may have to ride Arturs Silovs the rest of the way. Good teams overcome obstacles. They are going to need a return of Demko at some point but they can certainly win one series without him.

The comeback victory on Sunday will be remembered for a long time. For North Van native Colton Sissons, it’s one he would rather forget. Sissons had a chance to put the game away with an empty net but rang it off the goalpost. Otherwise, the conversation right now would be very different.

The Canucks are fortunate to be up 3-1 in the series. We are finding out how important special teams are in the playoffs. In game three, the Canucks scored twice with the man advantage in the opening period while the penalty-killing unit killed off three power-plays. The Canucks exited the period up 1-0 when they were severely out-played.

One thing the Canucks can’t do is give up the first goal in the game. It’s a huge factor in the playoffs. You end up chasing the game. The Canucks need to get more pucks to the net. They had an alarmingly low number of shots on goal in the two games in Nashville. They had only 12 shots on goal in game three and 20 in game four.

The Predators have been targeting Quinn Hughes. He took some huge hits in the two games in Nashville. You wonder if he’s not hurting. He had to take a few shifts off in the opening period of game four. The Canucks need Hughes to be at his best.

Oilers/Kings: The Oilers have taken control of this series after a 1-0 shutout victory in game four to go up three games to one. Edmonton has been scoring goals in bunches. Teams are going to pay if they parade to the penalty box against the Oilers. The Oilers do seem like a different team this year.

In the big picture, do you believe Stu Skinner can provide the answer in goal as the games get tougher? He surrendered nine goals in the first two games against the Kings. The inconsistency has to be worrisome to Oiler fans. What happens when the Oilers face a tougher matchup?

Jets/Avalanche: I guess having a $9 million dollar goalie doesn’t make any difference in the playoffs. Connor Hellebuyck has been sieve-like in the series vs. Colorado, surrendering 19 goals in four games. You figured the Jets would have a big advantage in goal but it hasn’t been the case. Winnipeg can’t seem to get over the playoff hump. The Jets special teams were middle-of-the-pack in the regular season and it’s biting them in the ass in the playoffs. The defence group always seems to get overwhelmed when the game gets turned up a notch. The Avs speed has been giving them nightmares and it’s left the Jets on the brink.

Stars/Golden Knights: Mark Stone magically returned from LTIR for game one and scored on his first shift. How can the Golden Knights be considered anything other than Cup favourites at this point? All the pieces are there. Who’s going to take them down? Dallas will have to be lights out to extend this series the distance.

Do you think Jim Nill regrets not doing more at the trade deadline? When you are one of the top Cup contenders, you have to be willing to take more risk. Vegas acquired Anthony Mantha, Noah Hanifan and Tomas Hertl. The Stars picked up Chris Tanev. Not good enough.

Leafs/Bruins: As predicted, the Bruins are taking the Leafs to the woodshed. The Leafs have lost six straight playoff games on home ice and nine of their last ten. What greater indictment of this team do you need? Brad Marchand has six points in the series. The Leafs pricey Core Four have combined for the same total. The Leafs are 1-for-14 on the power-play. The Bruins are 7-for-13.

The Bruins finally woke up and stopped alternating their goalies. Jeremy Swayman has been lights out. He’s 6-and-0 against the Leafs this season with a 1.32 GAA and a .958 save percentage. No reason to think this series will extend beyond Tuesday night in Boston.

Panthers/Lightning: Tampa managed to avoid a sweep with a victory in game four. We keep emphasizing the need for depth in the playoffs and there’s a reason why. You are going to face injury setbacks and you better have the bodies to handle it. The Panthers lost centre Sam Bennett and the timetable for his return is unknown. Do they have the depth to withstand the loss? We shall see. The Panthers will need him back if they want to make a deep run.

Hurricanes/Islanders: Tough loss for Carolina losing defenceman Brett Pesce to injury. He’s a key piece on their back end. The Hurricanes will advance without him but his absence will be felt as the playoffs move along.  Good on former Canuck Bo Horvat for helping the Islanders stay alive.

Rangers/Capitals: New York is the first team to be moving on after their sweep of the Capitals. The Rangers look like a good bet to come out of the east but let’s see how they do when they face a team better. We’re still not buying into a team that’s led by Mika Zibanejad. History shows he folds up when the matchups get tougher. Still, the Rangers have a lot of the pieces you need to go deep in the playoffs.

Not surprised to see the menace named Matt Rempe doing it again. Cheap, blind-side hit on the Capitals Trevor Van Riemsdyk that knocked him out of game three. Mark it down – this gutless puke is going to end someone’s career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JP9PSS_pjQ

NHL Notebook – As much as we cried foul when it comes to the fact there’s no salary cap in effect in the playoffs, you might be surprised to learn the Vegas Golden Knights were not far from being cap compliant on opening night of the playoffs. When you added up all the contracts on the Vegas roster for the opening game of their series with Dallas, the total was only $750,000 over the cap. If necessary, the Golden Knights could have easily switched out one player and been under the cap. It helped that Alec Martinez ($5.25 million) was not in the lineup. By comparison, when the Leafs added Nylander and T.J. Brodie to their lineup, they were more than $10 million over the salary cap. Lot of good it did them.

Everyone knows the Maple Leafs made a huge error in judgement in letting Zach Hyman leave for Edmonton. But their generosity doesn’t end there. The Leafs have managed to let go of Carter Verhaeghe, Trevor Moore, Mason Marchment, Dakota Joshua and Sean Durzi for basically nothing. Any of those players would be big additions to the Leafs lineup right now.

Several NHL teams are searching for a new coach. It will be interesting to see how creative they get in identifying candidates. Todd MacLellan is one name that is surfacing. He’s been through the rinse and repeat cycle several times. Why keep going with the same recycled coaches when they’ve yet to have any success in their previous stops? Makes no sense. It’s ‘Back to the Future’ in Buffalo with the return of Lindy Ruff. Do you really think he’s going to make a difference? It’s been 25 years since Ruff led the Sabres to the Cup final in 1999.

It appears teams are now leaning toward coaches with a reputation for toughness. Just look at what Rick Tocchet has achieved in Vancouver and John Tortorella in Philly. Joel Quenneville fits the mold as well. Will he get the green light this summer to return behind the bench? If so, he could move to the front of the line. Keep an eye on what happens with Rod Brind’Amour in Carolina. If the Hurricanes fail to sign him to a new contract, teams like Ottawa should be waiting at his front door.

As soon as the season is over, the Canucks have a major decision to make on Elias Lindholm, a pending UFA. Until scoring the OT winner in Nashville, the season has been a nightmare for Lindholm. He is no longer the player that scored 82 points in 2021-2022 playing on a line with Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. Lindholm may regret not re-signing with Calgary. We wonder if he might be willing to sign a one-year, prove-it-deal in Vancouver in order to re-establish his value.  Looking around, Boston seems like a potential fit. The Bruins will have salary cap space this summer and need help down the middle.

In Ottawa, it’s paralysis by analysis. The Senators have still not selected a new coach. They keep defending the goaltending when it’s clearly inadequate. Bad teams always find excuses and that’s what’s happening in Ottawa. Playoff teams don’t have three young defencemen in their lineup on a nightly basis. The Sens had Jake Sanderson, Erik Brannstrom and Jacob Bernard-Docker as regulars for most of the season. The bottom-six forward group was patch-work. They’ve got a lot of work to do in Ottawa before the team is ready to take the next step.

Every summer there are literally hundreds of players in the National Hockey League who are out of work and looking to sign their next contract. Fringe players at the end of their careers or players yet to establish themselves. The list of UFA’s this summer is not particularly attractive. We scoured the list to find players who should be reasonably cost-effective. If you are a team like Ottawa looking to add depth and lengthen your lineup, this is the list of players we would be considering, in no particular order.

• Matt Roy, Jake DeBrusk, Dylan DeMelo, Anthony Duclair, Chandler Stephenson, Sean Walker, Nikita Zadorov, Sean Monahan, Teddy Blueger, Yakov Trenin, William Carrier, Nick Cousins, Sam Lafferty, Brandon Duhaime, Kevin Stenlund, Kiefer Sherwood, Danton Heinen, Michael Amadio and Dakota Joshua.

Goodbye Bob Cole – It seems like the end of an era with the passing of legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole. He can take his place beside Foster Hewitt and Danny Gallivan among the best play-by-play men ever. Bob would have turned 91 on June 24.

The tributes have been pouring in. Sportsnet’s Stephen Brunt looked back at Bob’s marvellous career.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/bob-cole-mastered-the-feel-and-flow-of-hockey-and-we-all-benefited/

NFL Draft Recap – In watching the NFL Draft, it occurred to me the players can’t spend their newfound riches fast enough. There had to be at least 50 grand spent on sunglasses. Twice that on suits and a million or more on gold chains and jewelry. You can bet half the players will be broke two years after their football careers are over.

The NFL Draft always produces some surprises but absolutely no one would have predicted six quarterbacks going in the top 12 this year. Hands up if you think they will all be successful. The odds suggest maybe two will have long and successful NFL careers.

Here are some of our takeaways from the first round:

• The Atlanta Falcons shocked everyone by taking Michael Penix Jr. with the eighth overall pick. Penix has incredible arm talent. No argument there. But the Falcons just invested over $100 million in guaranteed money for Kirk Cousins so why draft Penix? It shows you how much teams value quarterbacks. Penix is already 24. He could be 26 or 27 before he gets a chance to start.
• Not a single defensive player was taken until the 15th pick. Overall, 23 of 32 first-round picks were offensive players.
• The run-on quarterbacks played a big part in why the Seahawks stood pat and selected Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy (No.16). He was the top-rated defensive player on their board.
• Memo to the Buffalo Bills. If the Kansas City Chiefs call trying to trade up, don’t pick up the phone! The Bills allowed the Chiefs to trade up and draft Patrick Mahomes. Then, this year, they traded down twice in the first round and missed out on an opportunity to draft a receiver to replace Stephon Diggs. Head-scratcher! They allowed the Chiefs to draft speedy wideout Xavier Worthy who set an all-time NFL Combine record with a 4.21 second 40-yard time. Just what Mahomes needed. Another weapon. Why would you help the team you can never beat in the playoffs?
• We anticipated the run on receivers. Eleven receivers were selected in the first two rounds. The 49’ers took Ricky Pearsall. Could open the door to trading Brandon Aiyuk who’s a potential holdout candidate.
• How desperate are the Denver Broncos? They took quarterback Bo Nix with the 12th pick when they could have easily traded down and still selected him. If Sean Payton thinks Nix is the next Drew Brees, he’s dreaming. Many teams had Nix rated in the second or even third round. Hey, if the Broncos think Nix is not ready, they can always go with Zach Wilson!
• Good organizations always seem to get it right when it comes to the draft. The Philadelphia Eagles grabbed the first cornerback when they selected Quinyon Mitchell with pick No. 22. Shocking that he was still available. Mitchell has everything including great character. Instant starter. The Eagles added Cooper DeJean in round two to further solidify their porous secondary.
• It’s a new era of football in Washington now that weasly Dan Snyder is out of the way. The Commanders came away with an A+ draft that included what they hope will be a franchise quarterback in Jayden Daniels. The comparisons to Lamar Jackson are legit.
• Detroit hosted this year’s draft and were able to land the other top corner available – Alabama’s Terrion Arnold. The Lions may be the favourite in the NFC next season. They have very few holes.
• No team walked away with more talent than the Chicago Bears. The Bears added quarterback Caleb Williams with the top pick and Washington Huskies WR Rome Odunze with the ninth selection. Will the Bears finally become relevant?
• The New York Giants had a chance to get in on the quarterback frenzy but instead are stuck with Daniel Jones. Will they come to regret it? Malik Nabers is a pretty good consolation prize however.
• There was some Canadian content in this year’s draft. Illinois offensive lineman Isaiah Adams, from Ajax, Ontario, was the first Canadian selected. He went to the Arizona Cardinals in the third round, No. 71 overall. Tight end Theo Johnson was drafted by the New York Giants in the fourth round. Massive offensive lineman Giovanni Manu became the first ever UBC Thunderbird to be drafted in the NFL. The 6-foot-8, 353-pound native of Tongo was taken by the Detroit Lions later in round four. He’s the first Canadian U Sports player to be selected since 2009.

Seahawks Notebook – With Pete Carroll out of the way, John Schneider has complete control of the Seahawks roster construction. Along with it comes increased pressure in a very tough division.

Schneider did a nice job with the Seahawks top two selections of Murphy and Christian Haynes, a much-needed offensive guard. The remainder of their picks were debatable. There were still some very good players available when the Hawks were on the board with the 102nd pick in round four. They chose to trade down. That was a mistake. They could have grabbed Canada’s Theo Johnson who went five picks later. They selected tight end A.J. Barner with a later pick. Doubt whether he will have a career as good as Johnson. Give the Seahawks a C+ grade.

The Seahawks have now gone through three drafts since trading Russell Wilson and they still don’t have a franchise quarterback to replace him. That’s on Schneider. Geno Smith was supposed to be a ‘bridge’ quarterback. A bridge to what? Geno will have been a placeholder for three years after next season. It’s inconceivable that the Seahawks would not have drafted a quarterback by now.

The Seahawks need to start operating differently. A non-playoff team should not have salary cap issues. The Seahawks are currently just under the salary cap but once the contract of Laken Tomlinson is officially added along with the money required to sign this year’s draft class, Seattle will be forced to make moves to get under the cap.

The Seahawks need to find at least $11.5 million in cap space between now and the start of the season. Expect a couple of contract restructures including D.K. Metcalf. Seems like a ridiculous way to be operating. It’s just bad business and wouldn’t be happening if they were not carrying $12 million in dead cap space thanks to the release of Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams.

The Seahawks should be taking a page from their division-rivals. Both the Rams and 49’ers have done a superlative job of taking advantage of the NFL’s compensatory draft program. The league awards compensatory picks based on two formulas. One involves the balance between players lost and added in free agency. Team can earn a maximum of four comp picks a year in this manner.

The other way to accrue extra picks is through the minority hiring process. This is where the 49’ers have really gained traction. Since 2021, the 49’ers have seen three assistants, Robert Saleh, Mike McDaniel and DeMeco Ryans land head coaching jobs. Two members of the front office, Ran Carthon and Martin Mayhew, have become GM’s. The 49’ers received three third-round comp picks in this year’s draft as a result. No wonder they are contending every year.  We are happy to report the Seahawks are expected to receive compensatory picks at the end of the third and fourth rounds next year.

Blue Jays Notebook – If the Jays are not already concerned about the early season struggles of Vladdy Guerrero, they should be. He’s hitting .218 and looks lost at the plate. Anything off-speed has him flailing. Thoughts of Vladdy having an MVP-type season are out the window. Frankly, the Jays should be looking to move him for a package of prospects because it’s doubtful he plans to re-sign in Toronto. The same probably holds for Bo Bichette. He’s also playing like he can’t get out of town soon enough.

Didn’t Ross Atkins promise internal improvement this season for the Jays batting order? The Jays are currently 23rd in MLB in home runs and 25th in runs scored. After losing a pair to the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend, the Jays have fallen under .500 and there are no signs the situation is going to improve. How long before John Schneider becomes a sacrificial lamb?

Regardless of the outcome of the season, major decisions are coming for the Blue Jays. This winter, Danny Jansen, Yimi Garcia, Justin Turner and Yusei Kikuchi are among the list of players who will be free agents. Then, after the 2025 season, Vladdy, Bo and Jordan Romano will be among 10 other players eligible to walk. The Jays competitive window could close in a hurry.

They need to start incorporating some new faces into the lineup. We were glad to see Addison Barger promoted from Triple A. He’s a versatile left-handed bat who’s earned the right to get a look. More promotions are coming including prized prospect Orelvis Martinez who’s been tearing it up in Buffalo. He was recently named MILB player of the week.

MLB Notebook – Some further thoughts on the epidemic of arm injuries among MLB pitchers. Baseball should be listening to Greg Maddux. He won 355 games and four Cy Young awards. Maddux pitched 23 years and never had an arm injury. Ask Maddux why young pitchers are breaking down. “I think when we were growing up, we were learning how to pitch. We were learning how to locate our fastball and change speeds. We threw hard enough to have success. We weren’t trying to force extra velocity. We were working on command and location and movement and game planning and all those things.”

The facts don’t lie. 18 of the 21 hardest-throwing starting pitchers in the last five years have broken down. That’s a 90% injury rate. When you take the same measurement for starters with average velocity (93.8 mph), the breakdown rate was only 60%.

You have 12-year-olds pitching year-round and training like professionals. What happened to playing multiple sports? Starting pitchers in baseball can no longer get through a lineup three times. Why? Because they have no idea how to adapt and keep hitters off balance. That’s not done with velocity. It’s a minor miracle now if a pitcher throws a complete game. As Maddux noted, command, location and movement are a lot more important than velo.

So much for Jackson Holliday winning AL Rookie-of-the Year. The Baltimore Orioles prized prospect has been sent back to the minors after an inauspicious debut. Holliday hit just .059 with 18 strikeouts in 34 at-bats. The 20-year-old clearly needs more time to develop.

Random Leftovers – What golfers Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler are doing this season is historic. Talk about dominance. Korda has won five straight tournaments on the LPGA Tour including the season’s first major. Scheffler has won four of his last five starts including the Masters.

In a span of 42 days, Scheffler has earned $16.3 million. That’s already the second highest total for a PGA Tour SEASON. Yes, Scheffler holds that record. He earned $21.04 million last season. Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, has earned nearly $1.78 million for carrying his bag. That would put him 45th on the Tour money list, ahead of Rory McIlroy, among others.

The PGA Tour just announced they will be awarding Tiger Woods $100 million as part of a new award program for career loyalty. McIlroy is reportedly going to receive $50 million for basically refusing to join LIV Golf. The payouts are based on a points system that awards players for career achievements. Tiger certainly won’t be earning anything for his play on the golf course. He’s currently ranked 788th in the world.

After defecting to LIV Golf, there was concern whether Jon Rahm and Tyrell Hatton would be part of the next European Ryder Cup team. Apparently, they will be eligible as long as they remain members of the DP World Tour. However, it may cost them over one million dollars each in fines. The pair combined to go 5-0-3 in last year’s Ryder Cup.

The last American-born player to win the NBA MVP award was James Harden in 2018. This season, the three MVP finalists are all from outside the U.S. – Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luca Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.

Have you noticed that Bill Belichick has now miraculously become ‘media-friendly?’ While coaching the New England Patriots, his disdain for the media hordes was palpable. There wasn’t a bigger prick to deal with than Belichick. He’s now unemployed and suddenly smiling while appearing on the ‘Pat McAfee Show.’ Do you think teams will suddenly buy this act and hire him next season?

Platter Chatter – Los Lobos may be best known for their 1987 hit “La Bamba” but their influence is much greater. The East L.A. outfit is still touring with their unique Tex-Mex blend that includes rock and blues and so much more.  Los Lobos was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.

We decided to look back at their catalogue and make some recommendations. From the release Gates of Gold, have a listen to ‘Made to Break Your Heart’ and ‘I Believed You So.’ From Good Morning Aztlan, check out ‘Done Gone Blue’ and ‘Hearts of Stone.’ From The Town and the City, we recommend ‘Free Up.’ The album Kiko is great from start to finish. For a sampling, listen to ‘Dream in Blue’ and ‘Peace.’ The band does a fine job with the Buffalo Springfield classic ‘For What It’s Worth’ and “Sail on, Sailor’ on the album Native Sons.

Singer David Hidalgo has released solo efforts and has appeared as a guest on many other recordings. Listen to ‘All I Know’ from his solo album ‘3 Skulls and the Truth.’ Hildalgo appears on the release ‘Greetings from East L.A.: Dig Infinity Meets David Hidalgo.’ They do a great job on the track El Camino.

Hidalgo also appears on an outstanding release called ‘Be Cool’ by artist Willie J. Campbell. He’s featured on the track This Time. From the same album, check out ‘You Better Let Go,’ ‘Devil on My Shoulder’ and ‘No More’ featuring Anson Funderburgh.

From the vault, we stumbled onto a live album called ‘Live on Mountain Stage – Outlaws and Outliers.’ We recommend two tracks, ‘You Know the Rest’ featuring Steve Earle and ‘Traveling Alone’ with Jason Isbell.

YouTube Video Tribute – In 1984, a show called “The New Show” debuted on NBC. It was quickly cancelled but in one episode, they aired a spoof on the movie “The Hustler” with John Candy starring as Minnesota Fats and actor Kevin Kline as Fast Eddie. It was an instant classic. Here it is from an old VHS tape that showed up on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDFfBJpdvZY

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