Under Further Review – Douglas Smith with Editor Bill Morphy. Special thanks to our regular contributors including Jordan Moss, Ian MacPhee, Dave Kittle, Ted Tait, Frank Sullivan, Peter Hucul, Glen and Bill Myles, Howard Steiss, Rob Wagner and Iqbal Grewall.

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.

Super Bowl LIX – The countdown is on to Super Bowl 59. The Kansas City Chiefs are on the verge of history, looking to become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls. The Philadelphia Eagles stand in the way and it’s a formidable challenge. This isn’t the same Eagles team that lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl two years ago. Less than half of the players remain on the team. The biggest makeover has come on defense with the addition of budding star tackle Jalen Carter and a pair of first-round cornerbacks in Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell. Throw in Jordan Davis, Nolan Smith, Zach Baun and Josh Sweat and you have a younger, quicker and much-improved defense.

The Chiefs are riding a string of incredible streaks. Try this on for size.

• Kansas City is 9-0 in their last nine playoff games
• The Chiefs have won an NFL record 17 straight one-score games
• Pat Mahomes is seven for seven on game-winning drives in the playoffs with the scored tied or less than a touchdown
• Mahomes is 8-0 vs. Vince Fangio-coached defenses. (Fangio is the Eagles defensive coordinator)
• The Chiefs haven’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in the last 18 playoff games
• The Chiefs have given up one 100-yard rusher over the last three regular seasons. Lamar Jackson rushed for 127 yards but yes, the Ravens lost the game
• The Chiefs have one turnover in the last nine games. That was a fumble against the Bills two weeks ago

The top priority for the Chiefs will be stopping Eagles running back Saquon Barkley. He needs only 30 yards to break the all-time rushing record for combined yards, regular season and playoffs, of 2,476 yards held by Terrell Davis. In three playoff games, Barkley has run up 442 rushing yards and five scores. Can Chiefs defensive genius Steve Spagnuolo figure out how to stop Barkley from breaking off big runs? If anyone can, it’s Spags.  When Kansas City has the ball, look for the Chiefs to attack the Eagles through the air. Philadelphia allowed 289.5 passing yards per game in their two playoff wins against the Commanders and the Rams.

Rest assured Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni will want to get the best of Andy Reid. Sirianni began his NFL journey with the Chiefs back in 2009. He worked as offensive quality control coach under Todd Haley. He was later promoted to wide receivers coach during Romeo Crennel’s one season with the Chiefs. Sirianni’s stint in K.C. came to an end when he was fired upon Reid’s arrival in 2013.

How do we see it playing out? The Eagles can win if they play clean. Eliminate the big mistakes and turnovers. No team schemes better than the Chiefs. No team adjusts during the game better than the Chiefs. Hard to see Sirianni out-coaching Andy Reid. Hard to see Jalen Hurts out-playing Mahomes. Can Hurts rise to the occasion? His completion percentage in the last four minutes of a game is under 50%.

If the Eagles want to lift the Lombardi Trophy, they had better not give Mahomes the ball in the final minute with a chance to win the game. You know how that ends.

The Miller Fallout – Where do we start with so much to unpack? The trade of J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers, and the subsequent deal with the Penguins, will reverberate for years to come. Regardless of what you think of the trades, there’s no doubt it’s re-energized the team. Are the Canucks any better? Did they trade the right guy? Let’s try and sift through the fallout.

• The Rangers got the best player in the trade. That was never in question. After Jim Rutherford let the whole world know the Canucks dressing room was in turmoil, getting full value was always going to be difficult. Simply ending the drama was a win. Add in a first-round pick, the promise of Filip Chytil and Victor Mancini, and the fact the Canucks gained valuable cap space, well, things don’t look so bad. Chytil has had a history of concussions but the Canucks are banking on what they believe is untapped potential. Who knows what he can do going from playing 14 minutes a night in New York to 18 minutes in Vancouver? We’re about to find out.
• It took the Canucks less than three hours before announcing the second deal. No doubt the trade was in place before Miller was dealt. The Canucks fully intended to flip the first-round pick to the Penguins. Marcus Pettersson is the second-pairing defenceman the Canucks were seeking. He’s long with a great stick and can move the puck effectively. Fits what the team needed perfectly. Drew O’Connor is underrated and a player the Canucks have also liked for a while. O’Connor has great wheels is already making an impact with his ability to get in on the forecheck.
• The Canucks wasted no time getting Pettersson signed to a six-year, $5.5 million AAV extension. Looks like they will try to get O’Connor under contract as well before he becomes a UFA on July 1.
• Including Danton Heinen and Vincent Desharnais in the trade with Pittsburgh removed $4.25 million off next year’s cap. It was a nice bit of business but clearly an admittance the pair shouldn’t have been signed in the first place. Hey, if you make a mistake, own it and fix it, before it becomes a bigger problem.
• The trades provided the Canucks with a much-needed infusion of talent. Pettersson, O’Connor, Chytil and Mancini deepen the lineup and make the Canucks a lot bigger and faster. Our only gripe is the fact the Canucks have so few Canadians on the roster. None of the new players are Canadian. We count only three regulars in the entire lineup who are Canadian – Jake Debrusk, Carson Soucey and Tyler Myers, who was born in Houston but grew up in Calgary and represented Canada at the 2009 World Juniors. It doesn’t seem right that so few Canadians are playing for a team in a Canadian-based market. With so many Swedes on the roster, the Canucks should be playing the Swedish national anthem before games.
• NHL insider Frank Seravalli reported several Canuck players were upset with the trade of Miller. Former NHL’er Ryan Whitney said the Canucks traded the wrong guy. Dumping the Miller contract (five more years at $8 million per may) may end up looking pretty darn good. Miller is 32. It’s doubtful he has five good years left. How long before his act wears thin in New York?
• The moves shift the spotlight onto Elias Pettersson and the glare could not be brighter. No NHL player is under more pressure than Pettersson. He has one goal in 14 games since the calendar turned. Pettersson may not hit 20 goals and 60 points this season. The front office has reportedly taken Pettersson off the market for now. Our opinion has not changed. If you can find a dance partner, pull the trigger!
• The Canucks have cornered the market on Pettersson’s with three now in the lineup. The Canucks tried to recruit Oscar Peterson to play the organ but were informed he’s deceased.
• Fans are wondering what comes next? Are there more moves in the offing before the trade deadline? The Canucks may have over $12 million in deadline cap space to make additional moves. There are more difficult decisions looming. Do you deal Boeser before the deadline? Can you extend goalie Kevin Lankinen? You can’t risk losing both players this summer with nothing in return.
• The cap space does provide opportunity. If Sam Bennett reaches free agency on July 1, he would be just what’s needed to replace Miller. It would be much better to slot Chytil into a third line role. It’s doubtful the Canucks can retool on the fly without the addition of another high-quality centre.
• It does seem like the Canucks front office is intent on reshaping the team. With the arrival of Marcus Pettersson and the emergence of D-Petey, it’s made Carson Soucey available. Moving Soucey (Does his name not sound like a sommelier at the Chateau Frontenac?) and Nils Hoglander would save another $6.25 million next season. Soucey has suddenly become too expensive as a third pairing defenceman.
• It sure looks like Brock Boeser’s days in Vancouver are numbered. Boeser was extension-eligible last summer coming off a career-best 40-goal season, yet the Canucks showed little interest in getting a deal done. GM Patrik Allvin says they are “still evaluating” the player. What’s to evaluate? Boeser has played over 500 games with the Canucks.  Shows you what they think of him.

NHL Notebook – You’ve probably already heard the NHL salary cap is about to take a huge jump. It may be good news for the players but we’re not sure it’s good for every NHL team. The cap is going to rise by $7.5 million next season to $95.5 million, with a further jump to $104 million the following year and $113.5 million in 2027-28. That’s a jump of $25 million in three years. With the Canadian dollar on shaky ground, not every team will be spending to the limit. The salary cap floor will be set at $30 million below the upper limit. Many teams will operate with their own internal cap. Do you really think small market teams like Winnipeg and Ottawa will spend to the cap? And it’s not just Canadian-based teams. Many U.S. clubs will be operating with a budget below the upper limits of the salary cap.

With the cap rising, one question immediately comes to mind. With more money to play with, will teams be more apt to submit offer sheets on restricted free agents? The St. Louis Blues hit the jackpot last summer when they stole away Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway from Edmonton. There’s bunch of outstanding young defenceman who will be RFA’s this summer including the Islanders Noah Dobson, Buffalo’s Bowen Byram, K’Andre Miller of the Rangers, Winnipeg’s Dylan Samberg and Tyler Kleven of the Ottawa Senators. RFA forwards of interest include the Jets Gabe Vilardi, Mason McTavish of the Anaheim Ducks and the Rangers Will Cuylle. It’s a situation worth monitoring.

Earlier this week, if you looked at point difference by team from this time last year to now, the Canucks would have the worst mark in the league at minus-17. Not surprisingly, the Boston Bruins are 16 points worse than last season. The Rangers are third worse at minus-15. Kind of sums up how things have gone.

Everybody and their uncle know the Maple Leafs need to acquire a third line centre. Have you noticed that every time a trade is proposed on any of the hockey sites, the Leafs are always offering Fraser (Breath) Minten and Nick Robertson. The Athletic proposed a trade between the Leafs and Nashville that would send Preds centre Ryan O’Reilly to Toronto for Minten, Robertson and a fourth-round pick. That has zero chance of happening. Can we please stop this nonsense? No one wants the Leafs garbage.

The Winnipeg Jets have not been able to get over the hump in the playoffs and the big reason is a lack of size on the blueline. Dylan DeMelo is too soft. He would be better named Dylan De(Marsh)Melo. He can’t handle big forwards in front of the net and the issue is more apparent come playoff time when controlling the front of the net is critical.  Logan Stanley is a giant on the third-pairing but his puck skills are terrible. The Jets need to put their chips into the middle of the table and acquire another quality blueliner. If not, they are going to suffer the same playoff fate as in past seasons.

The Ottawa Senators are on track to make the playoffs but get absolutely no respect. The NHL treats the Sens like a third world nation. Ottawa has had five back-to-back’s so far this season including Carolina-Ottawa and Nashville/Tampa. What other team is forced to do that? The league would never do that to the Leafs.

Good on the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for handing down a ten-game suspension to Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman. It’s about time the NHL started protecting the league’s best players. Fans pay to watch Tim Stutzle. Fans don’t come to see Ryan Hartman. He’s also half a million dollars lighter in the pocketbook which may send a bigger message.

The Montreal Canadiens are finding out about Patrik Laine. He’s scored one five-on-five goal all season. Laine makes no effort defensively. Marty St. Louis had every right to sit him down. Laine’s comeback was a nice story for a while. The Habs would be wise to unload him at the deadline even if they have to retain salary next season. You don’t win with players like Laine.

Can’t understand what they are doing in Dallas. The Stars are one of the leading Cup contenders and should be going ‘all-in’ this season. Instead, the Stars gave up first and fourth-round picks to San Jose for Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci. The Stars would have been far better off acquiring Marcus Pettersson. He’s a much better defenceman than Ceci. With Miro Heiskanen undergoing knee surgery, Dallas may have to go back on the market in search of another blueliner. The Stars had a poor trade deadline last year. It’s shaping up as more of the same. Brad Treliving tried to get in on the deal. He offered Fraser Minten and Nick Robertson but it didn’t fly.

It’s been 35 years since a WHL defenceman has hit the 50-point mark in their rookie season. Hall of Famer Scott Niedermayer had 69 points in 1989-90. We could have two 15-year-olds do it this season. Landon Dupont, son of former NHL’er Mickey Dupont, hit the 50-point mark last weekend. Dupont is the first defenceman to be granted exceptional status to play full-time in the WHL as a 15-year-old. Ryan Lin of the Vancouver Giants is also a rookie in the league at just 15. He has 37 points in 45 games and could also go over the 50-point mark this season as well.

NFL Notebook – Expect a lot of player movement as soon as the Super Bowl is over. The Los Angeles Rams have already told receiver Cooper Kupp that he will be traded or released. The Super Bowl 56 MVP is set to count nearly $30 million against the cap next season. The Rams can save a large chunk of that by releasing or trading Kupp with a post-June 1 designation.

Myles Garrett wants out of Cleveland. Who wouldn’t? I’d rather live in Gaza. (Especially when it becomes the Riviera of the Middle East) Garrett was the AP Defensive Player of the Year last season and is a finalist again this year. There’s no better pass rusher in the NFL. Garrett had 14 sacks this season, second in the league. He’s the first player ever to record 14 or more sacks in four consecutive seasons. Any team wanting him will have to surrender a bounty of draft picks. Problem for the Browns, Garrett carries a $36.2 million dead cap charge if traded and Cleveland is already $30 million over the cap based on their current roster.

Luca the Laker – Anyone who follows basketball, even remotely, had to be astounded by the seismic deal between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers involving Luca Doncic and Anthony Davis. No one saw it coming. Doncic was a franchise icon in Dallas after leading the Mavs to the NBA Finals last season. Davis helped the Lakers win a championship. He’s one of the league’s top big men but has missed a ton of action over his career. Shaq and Charles Barkley came up with the best nickname for Davis – ‘Street Clothes’ – alluding to the fact he was often on the bench in street clothes.

What happened to spur the deal? You bet…it was money. As a super-max player, Doncic was in line to sign a five-year, $345 million dollar contract next summer. That’s almost $70 million per season. We can all agree no player is worth that kind of money but this is where the NBA finds itself. Doncic has reportedly put on 20-25 pounds and the Mavs had concerns about his conditioning. Luka rarely hustles on defense.

The NBA’s new media rights deal kicks in next season and it’s going to change the landscape entirely. The old deal paid $2.67 billion per season. The league will now earn an average of $6.8 billion annually over the next 11 seasons. The players receive over half of all business-related revenue so get ready for more absurd contracts. The NBA will earn more from the new rights deal per season than the NHL made during the entirety of the current 12-year contract that pays $5.2 billion per season. Think about that for a minute. There are dozens of rotation players in the NBA earning more than Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid.

NBA executives predict we will soon see a player making $80 million a season. It’s estimated the NBA salary cap could rise to as high as $274 million within five years. That would be two and a half times higher than the NHL. Can you imagine? For what? 15 players? The salaries will be obscene. For 48 minutes of work a night. Players will be earning hundreds of millions by the time they are 25. There is zero chance the league will be better for it.

NBA Trade Deadline – Can anyone explain what the Toronto Raptors are doing? Aren’t they supposed to be rebuilding? Tanking for a lottery pick to maybe land Cooper Flagg? Apparently, Masai Ujiri has other ideas.

The Raptors acquired forward Brandon Ingram from the New Orleans Pelicans at the NBA trade deadline. An odd gambit to say the least. The Raptors surrendered a 2026 first-round pick (acquired from Indiana as part of the Pascal Siakam deal) plus Bruce Brown, Canadian big Kelly Olynyk and a future second-round pick. Ingram is headed toward free agency this summer and any new deal will be expensive. He checks a lot of boxes but he hasn’t played since December 7 and has averaged only 57 games a season in his five years with the Pelicans.

Ujiri was preaching patience in what was thought to be the first year of a rebuild. The Raptors were 16-35 at the deadline. Will Ingram suddenly vault the team into contention? Not likely. Just seems like a risky gamble.

Random Leftovers – What can you say about Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? The Oklahoma City Thunder star is the runaway leader for NBA MVP. SGA leads the NBA in scoring at 32.5 points per game. Against Milwaukee on Monday night, he poured in 21 points in the first quarter on 9-of-11 shooting, finishing with 34 points in only 22 minutes. Flat out, he’s the best player in the league.

All six Canadians in the field made the cut at the WM Phoenix Open including Adam Hadwin who rang off seven straight birdies in the second round, two short of the all-time PGA Tour record. Hadwin finished with a 66 and is T7 heading into the weekend. Adam Svensson is T12. Mackenzie Hughes and defending champion Nick Taylor are T18.

What were the Blue Jays thinking in signing Max Scherzer? They gave $15.5 million to a 40-year-old who made nine starts last season and failed to get out of the fourth inning in four of them. Scherzer will make more next season that the NHL’s highest-paid player. Crazy!

We try not to mix sports and politics when it comes to this column. We could be joking about the orangutan in the Oval Office every week. However, it’s worth offering a word or two on the Canadian icon who is Wayne Gretzky. Where is the Weiner when Canada is under fire and an act of economic warfare is declared on this country? Last seen, Gretz was hob-knobbing at Mar-a-Lago.  Father Walter would be turning in his grave. Apparently, this is what happens when a kid from Brantford lives in the U.S. for the past 30+ years. You drink the Kool-Aid and start thinking like your hillbilly son-in-law. For all intents and purposes, Wayne Gretzky is now an American. He’s always been vanilla and never had an opinion on anything. Should we expect that to change now? For the longest time, it used to really bother me that a Russian, Alex Ovechkin, was going to break 99’s all-time NHL goal-scoring record. Not so much anymore. And for that matter, where were all the other Canadian celebrities when Canada was getting screwed over by the White House? Haven’t heard a peep from any one of them. Thanks for standing up and being counted.

And finally, Canadian fans need to stop booing the U.S. national anthem at sporting events. We can all understand why. People are angry. But it’s disrespectful to our American neighbours and needs to stop. There are other ways to voice our displeasure. It only serves to stir up animosity. In response, American fans have started booing the Canadian anthem. We only hope it doesn’t get out of hand when Team Canada faces the U.S. at the Bell Centre in Montreal on February 15. Emotions are sure to be high. Take the high road, folks!

Feature Artist of the Week – Ghost Hounds is the Pittsburgh-based, blues-tinged rock band masterminded by Thomas Tull, a guitarist, songwriter, and entrepreneur who started the group around the time he struck gold with Legendary Entertainment, a production company responsible for top-grossing movies including The Hangover, The Dark Knight Rises, and Jurassic World. Once Tull sold his interest in Legendary Entertainment, he returned to music, forming a new incarnation of Ghost Hounds, adding a new crew of collaborators including veteran multi-instrumentalist David Grissom. The band has been on a roll of late with a string of albums and hit tunes. They opened last summer for the Rolling Stones on the Stones’ latest tour.

Here’s some recommendations. Have a listen to the title track from ‘First Last Time.’ From the album ‘You Broke Me,’ check out Through Being Blue Over You and On Your Trail. We recommend the track Bad News from the release ‘Roses are Black’ and from ‘A Little Calamity,’ have a listen to Half My Fault and Firefly.

For a closer look, here’s Ghost Hounds performing Bad News.

https://youtu.be/hmZy25CBBkY?si=834mqOI-oBSQ7jtW

Here’s the Official Music Video for the song Half My Fault.

https://youtu.be/gGIfK-_9ydY?si=7YKrbFCdhEK0-bqI

Spotify Tracks – Here’s ten good tracks to add to your music rotation.

1. ‘Protection’ – Colin James from his new release Chasing the Sun
2. ‘Walk This Road’ – Title track from a new release from The Doobie Brothers featuring Mavis Staples
3. ‘Higher Ground’ – Playing for Change from the release PFC2: Songs from Around the World
4. ‘Sunny Came Home’ – Shawn Colvin from the album A Few Small Repairs
5. ‘The Gambler’s Last Pour’ – Blue Label Bandits from the release On the Rocks, With Regret
6. ‘One of These Days’ – Bill Frisell from the album Nashville
7. ‘What You Want’ – Eden Brent from the release Getaway Blues
8. ’02-09-23’ – Seth Finch with Gabrielle Cavassa from an album not yet released
9. ‘Let’s Rock’ – Nick Lowe from the release Soul Blues
10. ‘Mystery Train’ – Justin Johnson from the release Drivin’ It Down

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