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.
Pelley’s Heroes – Let’s be clear. No team in National Hockey League history has a prouder history of fuck-uppery than the Toronto Maple Leafs. Here we are at another crossroads and you can bet the Leafs will get it wrong.
Keith Pelley, the guy in charge of making the decisions, can drag out more corporate buzzwords than Mark Shapiro. At the news conference following the firing of GM Brad Treliving, Pelley said the Leafs need to focus on vision, structure, process, alignment and execution. Is that all? If he hadn’t already lost the narrative, he added, “each team has certain verticals and the verticals weren’t as horizontally integrated as they need to be.”
Our only question, do Pelley’s glasses remind you more of Charles Nelson Riley or Sally Jessy Raphael? Bet he has white loafers, white belt and white-framed sunglasses in his closet.
From his comments, it looks like Pelley prefers retool to rebuild. Who’s kidding who? Any GM candidate who believes the Leafs need a full-blown rebuild need not apply. Watch the Leafs waste the next three years chasing a playoff spot only to realize they should have torn it down. Sound familiar? Remember Trevor Linden telling the Canucks just that and getting turfed for speaking the truth?
The Leafs front office is falling all over itself. What organization carries five assistant general managers? The Leafs front office includes Assistant GM, Brandon Pridham; Assistant GM, Player Personnel, Derek Clancey; Assistant GM, Player Development, Hayley Wickenheiser; Assistant GM, Hockey Research and Development, Darryl Metcalf; and Assistant GM, Minor League Ops & GM, Ryan Hardy. Paralysis by analysis.
The Leafs are heading toward 60 years without a Stanley Cup. Not even one trip to the Cup Final. They’ve watched 27 other teams raise a championship banner. Yet, they act like the hockey world revolves around them.
Canucks Notebook – Are big changes coming in Canuck Land? One report suggested general manager Patrik Allvin may be axed as soon as the season is over. From our perspective, we don’t foresee massive changes. It would be too costly for Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini to clear the deck. A coaching change is possible but that may be as far as ownership is prepared to go. If Adam Foote is fired after only one season, it would signal another massive organizational failure.
Once the curtain falls on this nightmare season, it will be critically important for the organization to come clean with a highly skeptical fan base. What’s the vision? What’s the plan? The Canucks long-term direction needs to be spelled out clearly by ownership. And don’t tell us, “It’s a retool in a little bit of a hybrid.” The messaging is going to be very important.
Canucks president Jimmy Rutherford has already admitted the team needs more Canadians. As it stands now, the Canucks will likely head into the summer with only one Canadian, Jake DeBrusk, on the roster. In our deep dive into the team’s organizational challenges a few weeks ago, we outlined several steps that need to take place. In a nutshell, the Canucks are in the asset accumulation business. They need to aggressively seek out draft picks and young players and be creative doing it. Make the fans believe that’s your primary intention. The second major point of emphasis has to be to acquire size and toughness. The Canucks have no hardness to their game. They are easy to play against. That has to change before the needle begins to move.
Miller’s Crossing – Time will tell but the trade of J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers may end up being one of the best deals consummated during the Rutherford-Allvin era.
The entre trade reads like this: Miller, Erik Brannstrom, and Jackson Dorrington in exchange for Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini, and a 2025 first-round pick. The trade would be even better had the Canucks not immediately flipped the first-round pick for Marcus Pettersson. Extending Pettersson only made it worse. Chytil has been damaged goods and his career may be over. Who knows what Mancini will ultimately provide?
Why is the trade a big win? Miller has struggled mightily in New York this season. It was reckless to name him captain. He’s already wearing out his welcome. Miller will be lucky to pass the 50-point mark this season. He’s been on the ice for 3.18 goals against per 60 at five-on-five, which is by far the worst rate among all Rangers forwards. Worse yet, and here’s the kicker, the Rangers are on the hook for four more years at $8 million per season.
The Canucks should be happy they are out from under the contract.
Absentee Owner – How often have we said, “show me a bad team and we will show you a bad owner?” It’s been the case in Vancouver since Francesco Aquilini acquired the team. He’s among the worst owners in the NHL. The Canucks will never win anything as long as he’s in control.
Aquilini had a reporter escorted out of the arena recently and his credentials revoked after a story was published by the Daily Hive regarding his business interests in the U.S. The story revealed a business owned by the Aquilini family had been named in a U.S. federal indictment involving a labour contractor.
Since when does journalistic transparency become the cause for yanking a writer’s credentials? The only way for fans to respond is to stop buying tickets.
NHL Notebook – We were very sensitive to the mental health issues of Senators goalie Linus Ullmark when he left the team for over a month. Ullmark received lots of support and returned in time for the Sens playoff push. That being said, it’s absolutely unacceptable that he would go to Travis Green and beg out of the biggest game of the season in Tampa. It wasn’t even the tail end of a back-to-back. When he did return the following game, Ullmark was lit up for five goals in the opening period in a crucial game against Florida.
Speaking on TSN’s OverDrive, former NHLer Jeff O’Neill blasted Ullmark’s absence. “What Linus Ullmark did on Saturday night was completely unacceptable. I know he’s had his difficulties this year, his team stood by him … this is about the team chasing the playoffs and everybody contributing, and he said he needed a day off in the biggest game of the year … not buying it. You don’t get to pick and choose when you wanna feel good, and when you don’t, so he owes this team a performance.”
“You make a lot of money, you’re the number one goaltender … Travis Green has done such a great job with that Ottawa team, he’s established himself as a great coach, the team has come together, and everybody is pushing and you can’t have a guy who’s the most important player on your team say, ‘Not really feeling it tonight’.”
If Ullmark can’t answer the bell with the team’s season on the line, then just retire from the game. Privately, the organization has to be pissed.
The Montreal Canadiens are rolling at a great time. The Habs reeled off eight straight wins and carry plenty of momentum into the playoffs. Seems like the Canadiens have found a new level of late. It will be great to see Cole Caufield hit the 50-goal mark. So many people doubted him in his draft year because of his lack of size. In case you are wondering, only six players in Canadiens history have scored 50 goals in a season, “Rocket” Richard, “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Pierre Larouche and Stephane Richer.
It’s impossible to understand why some players flop on one team and suddenly flourish in another. Take Viktor Arvidsson for example. He was an absolute bust in Edmonton. He produced only 27 points in 67 games with the Oilers last season. They acquired him to provide secondary scoring and it didn’t happen. Arvidsson landed in Boston and has revived his career. He’s got 24 goals and 50 points in 64 games and is a solid plus-21. Something about being a Bruin.
What a remarkable sophomore season for Vancouver native Macklin Celebrini. He’s only the sixth player in NHL history to record 100 or more points in a season as a teenager. Celebrini joins some pretty elite company including the Great One, Mario, Sidney, Dale Hawerchuk and Jimmy Carson.
Torts-ure Chamber – In case you haven’t noticed, the Vegas Golden Knights are on a downward trajectory. How desperate do you need to be to fire Bruce Cassidy and insert John Tortorella? Cassidy helped Vegas win a Stanley Cup three seasons ago and had the team at or near the top of the Pacific Division every year.
Tortorella arrived with the Golden Knights sporting the second-worst record in the NHL since the Olympic break. At the time of the hiring, Vegas had won only nine of 36 games this season against teams currently in a playoff position.
Torts has won only two playoff series since 2013 and hasn’t reached the conference finals in more than a decade. This is an organization that axed Peter DeBoer after he led the team to the Western Conference final in two of his three seasons.
The decline has been apparent for a while. The big money acquisition of coach-killer Mitch Marner hasn’t had the intended impact. Marner is on track for the worst statistical season of his career. The goaltending has been mediocre since the team let Logan Thompson slip away to Washington.
The Golden Knights are no longer bullet-proof on the back end. They made two big ticket deals with Calgary to acquire Noah Hanifan and Rasmus Andersson. Problem is neither defenceman covers the front of the net like Alex Pietrangelo, Zach Whitecloud and Nic Hague, three blueliners no longer on the roster.
Looks like the Golden Knights championship window is over.
Moving Matthews – There’s sure to be a ton of speculation around Auston Matthews this summer. Will the Maple Leafs move their captain and launch into an all-out rebuild? Leaf Nation is probably split down the middle on what the team should do.
Bleacher Report recently published four different trade scenarios involving Matthews.
The Trade Offer: Matthews for Mason McTavish, Pavel Mintyukov, and a second-round draft pick with the Leafs retaining 50%.
The Trade Offer: Matthews for Tij Iginla, JJ Peterka, and a second with the Leafs retaining 50%.
The Trade Offer: Matthews for Porter Martone, Rasmus Ristolainen, and a second with the Leafs retaining 25%.
The Trade Offer: Matthews for William Eklund, Sam Dickinson, and a third-round pick.
Not sure what you think but we wouldn’t bite on any of those deals, not even close. We’re talking about a two-time 60-goal scorer who’s a legitimate number one center. Forget about salary retention. No chance the Leafs should have to retain salary on Matthews. That’s non-negotiable. Upgrade some of those second and third-round picks to first-rounders and then, maybe, you have a framework for serious discussions.
Blue Jays Notebook – How quickly things can change. The Blue Jays season with so much promise is going sideways already. We had questions about whether the team was going to hit enough especially minus production from Bo Bichette and Anthony Santander.
All of a sudden there are alarm bells. Alejandro Kirk is out for an indefinite period with a fractured thumb. The starting staff is short-handed due to injuries. Lefty reliever Brendon Little has been shelled every time out. He has an option left so expect a demotion to Buffalo or a DFA.
It didn’t take Bichette long to find out the grass is not greener on the other side. He had one hit in 14 at-bats in the Mets opening series of the season with eight strikeouts and the boo-birds came out immediately. Welcome to New York.
Bichette spent the first seven seasons of his career in Toronto before signing a three-year deal with the Mets that will pay him $42 million per season. After losing out on Kyle Tucker, the Blue Jays front office could easily have panicked and overpaid to keep Bichette. It’s already looking like a very disciplined decision. It will be interesting to compare the stats of Bichette and Kazuma Okamoto at the end of the season.
Fans of the Vancouver Canadians should see a few top Blue Jays prospects at Nat Bailey Stadium this summer. Shortstop JoJo Parker, the eighth pick last year, is starting the season in Dunedin but could arrive in Vancouver at some point. He added 20 pounds this winter. Many scouts believed Parker’s hitting tools were the best in the 2025 draft. Parker may not stay at short but expect a rapid rise through the Jays system.
Remember the name Brandon Barriera? He was drafted in the first round by the Jays in 2022 but has appeared in just 13 professional games due to a series of arm injuries including Tommy John surgery. Well, he’s back and already touching 98 miles per hour. The young lefty is still only 22 years old. Depending on how he progresses, we could see Barriera in a Canadians uniform as well.
MLB Notebook – Baseball’s new ABS system to challenge calls is getting a workout so far this season. It’s going to expose umpires to plenty of criticism. The worst example came on opening weekend during a series between Boston and Cincinnati. Umpire CB Bucknor had eight pitches challenged and six were overturned via ABS, including consecutive challenges by Eugenio Suárez. Can you imagine how bad it would be if Angel Hernandez was still umpiring? It’s scary to think how many balls and strikes would be challenged with Hernandez behind the plate.
Prior to the season, with the ABS system coming into play, every MLB player was measured since the ABS zone is specific for each batter. Of the 430 hitters on Opening Day rosters, 225 lost at least one inch off their previously listed heights. Six lost three inches, 48 lost two inches. Never believe those baseball cards!
Canadian-born Guardians catcher Bo Naylor has been the target of some good old-fashioned ribbing from teammates. He went from a listed six feet to five-foot-nine.
As much as the players and fans might like the challenge system, you can tell the umpires are not pleased. Umpires never like being shown up. It’s also made life more difficult for pitchers.
La Dolce Vita Gone Sour – Soccer fans in Italy are apoplectic. How the hell can the Azzurri miss the World Cup three consecutive times? Italy was denied entry this year by Bosnia Herzegovina – population 3.1 million. Italy has a population of 60 million. Italy came into the qualifying ranked 12th in the world. Bosnia is ranked 65th. Last time around, Italy was beaten out by North Macedonia. Yes, you read that right. If there’s a South Macedonia, Italy probably would have lost to them too. It’s an embarrassment of the highest order.
Italy’s loss is Canada’s gain since the winner had a date with Canada in World Cup group play at BMO Field in Toronto on June 12. At least now, it will be a home game for Canada. Had Italy qualified, you can be sure the stadium would have been filled with Italian Canadians cheering for Italy.
While the Bosnian shocker was happening, Canada was playing a lifeless friendly with Tunisia. It’s become pretty obvious Canada can’t finish. You wonder where the goals are going to come by when the World Cup opens.
Calling Betty Ford – Thank God Tiger Woods is seeking treatment. In the wake of his latest mishap, Tiger says he will step away to concentrate on his well-being. Woods will reportedly seek help outside the country to avoid attention. He will miss the Masters for the second straight year. He’s also turned down the captaincy of the 2027 U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Body-cam footage from the scene showed Woods putting his phone away and telling police “I was just talking to the president.” Guess he was getting the jump and making an early request for a pardon.
Tiger is not the first athlete to struggle with the reality of a prolific athletic career nearing an end. It’s not easy letting go of fame and fortune. The finish line can creep up quickly especially when you are ravaged by injuries. Woods’ win at the Masters in 2019 was a magical comeback story but it may have also created false expectations. Was Tiger pushing too hard to try and return to Augusta to seek more glory? It appears that was the case.
People are wondering why Woods was even driving in the first place. He’s worth hundreds of millions yet won’t hire a driver. No excuse for that. Charles Barkley claims Woods was the cheapest guy he ever hung out with. Bellhops at hotels in Vegas used to scatter when Tiger arrived. He would have loads of luggage and wouldn’t tip them a dime.
You would hope this latest brush with disaster is rock bottom. It’s not a crime to ask for help. Sobriety is a good thing, Tiger. Try it.
Money for Nothing – The F1 season to date for Aston Martin has been an absolute disaster. Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll, executive chairman of Aston Martin and owner of the Aston Martin Formula One team, has spent a small fortune trying to build the team only to sit dead last in the championship standings this season.
The results have been so bad, Adrian Newey has already stepped away as managing technical director. Did we mention Newey’s salary this season is 30 million pounds? The team’s two drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, are both making huge money. Alonso’s salary is $20 million U.S. Stroll’s estimated base salary is $12 million U.S.
Altogether, Lawrence Stroll’s consortium has invested over $500 million USD into the Aston Martin F1 project to build a competitive team. Stroll has also invested $388 million CDN in a new Canadian-based Aston Martin headquarters including a state-of-the-art wind tunnel. According to Forbes, Stroll has a net worth of US$3.9 billion. Looks like he’s intent on blowing it all out the door.
Random Leftovers – The matchups for the Frozen Four have been set. Denver will play Michigan on April 9 in Las Vegas. Denver is going to the Frozen Four for the third time in a row and fourth time in five years. The team has won an NCAA-best 10 national titles including championships in 2022 and ’24. Wisconsin meets North Dakota in the other Frozen Four semifinal.
UConn will face Michigan in Monday night’s NCAA basketball final. The Huskies advanced by taking out Illinois. UConn will be seeking their third national title in four seasons. The Wolverines destroyed Arizona in the other Final Four matchup. Michigan will now go after their first national championship in 37 years.
Canadian basketball giant Olivier Rioux has entered the transfer portal and will be departing Florida in time for next season. Rioux is seven-foot-nine and considered the tallest player ever in U.S. college basketball. He played sparingly last season after red-shirting the year before when the Gators won the national title.
Hats off to Team Sweden for capturing their record eighth world curling championship. Sweden defeated Canada 9-6 in the final in Ogden, Utah. It was a remarkable recovery for Niklas Edin’s rink after bombing out in the Olympics with a 2-7 record.
YouTube Music Video of the Week – Artificial intelligence is changing the music industry. One of the hottest-selling artists right now is an R&B singer named Eddie Dalton. Through the magic of AI, Dalton is silky-voiced with a sound reminiscent of Otis Redding and an amalgam of old-time blues stars. All of the computer-generated material comes from a company called Crusty Tunes.
Of course, Eddie Dalton doesn’t even exist. He’s AI-generated but yet, has three hits in the iTunes top 10. One of them is number 1. One of his YouTube videos has had ONE MILLION views. Eddie also has 230,000 followers on Facebook. Could an AI artist be nominated for a Grammy?
Check it out for yourself. Here’s Eddie Dalton performing ‘Running to You.’
https://youtube.com/shorts/kQ0x6N0TgHk?si=8–4jvno9CGbnTyO
Here’s the second Top 10 hit, ‘Another Day Old.’
https://youtube.com/shorts/ONq-Eo2jYMs?si=lMZ8KdGhjZhDvKhZ
Have a listen to ‘Stay a Little Longer.’
https://youtu.be/F7aUbFgzYO4?si=SJWTwswHbAghPWVG
And finally, ‘Cheap Red Wine.’
https://youtube.com/shorts/CLMtirgleds?si=8SDD-MmjuKCmByCv
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