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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 and Rob Wagner.

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.

Breaking News – What can you say about Canada’s Nick Taylor? He certainly has a flare for the dramatic. Taylor ran his career playoff record to 3-0 with a two-hole playoff victory over Nick Echavarria at the Sony Open in Hawaii. It was the fifth career win for Nick (the last three coming in a playoff) and the third straight year he’s posted a PGA Tour win. Taylor will pocket $1.566 million for the victory along with multiple tournament exemptions. The Abbotsford native appeared to be out of it after missing short putts on 15 and 16 but he holed a 60-foot chip on the final hole for eagle to join the playoff. The victory was the first top ten for Taylor since winning the WM Phoenix Open last year. What a way to start the year for Mr. Clutch, ‘er Mr. Playoff!

Road to the Super Bowl – It was wildcard weekend in the NFL. Following tonight’s clash between the Vikings and the Rams, six teams will have been eliminated from the playoff bingo card. Yes, home field advantage continues to matter in the playoffs. Only one road team survived the weekend.

Starting with the Saturday matchups, Baltimore steamrolled Pittsburgh with 299 yards rushing. Derrick Henry ran for 155. The Steelers have lost six consecutive playoff games. They’ve been outscored 73-0 in the first quarter of those games. It could be time for the Steelers to cut ties with Mike Tomlin whose offence is far too vanilla. Pittsburgh employed the NFL’s highest-paid defense in 2024 (they are also scheduled to have the highest-paid defense in 2025) yet they were ripped apart on the ground. The Steelers look stale.

We had the Chargers favoured against the Houston Texans. Didn’t see Justin Herbert throwing four interceptions. He was picked off only three times all season. Very uncharacteristic. You know the stat. When you turn the ball over three times or more, you lose over 75% of the time. You wonder if Herbert’s focus was off after all the devastation taking place in Los Angeles. Give C.J. Stroud credit. He’s won a playoff game in each of his two seasons in Houston. Stroud and the Texans must now go into Kansas City to face Pat Mahomes and the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs.

Fast forward to Sunday where the Bills crushed the Denver Broncos in Buffalo. The Bills scored on six of their first seven possessions and won going away 31-7. They held the ball for over 41 minutes and rang up 210 yards rushing. It was Denver’s first postseason appearance since 2015. They looked overmatched. Buffalo moves on to the divisional round for the fifth straight year. It sets up a dandy matchup with Baltimore at Orchard Park next weekend.

The Philadelphia Eagles advanced after forcing Green Bay into four turnovers. It was an easy day for Jalen Hurts who threw for only 131 yards. Saquon Barkley ran for 119. The Eagles will now host the winner of the Rams-Vikings matchup  in one of the two NFC divisional finals.

The Washington Commanders were the only road team to win over the weekend, doinking a field goal on the last play of the game to upset the Bucs in Tampa Bay. The Commanders now have the unenviable task of heading to Detroit to face the top-seeded Lions next weekend.

Canucks Notebook – As we put pen to paper on this week’s column, the Canucks have a tentative hold on a Western Conference playoff spot. Give the team credit for grabbing four points through the first four games of a genuinely challenging five-game road trip. We don’t often use the cliche ‘character win’ but that’s exactly the case after the Canucks shut out the Maple Leafs.

The Canucks didn’t reach their hotel in Toronto until one o’clock on Saturday afternoon. Severe winter weather along the Eastern seaboard prevented the Canucks from flying out of Carolina on Friday night. They were scheduled to leave right after the game but were unable to depart for Toronto until Saturday morning. Easy back-to-back – Raleigh and Toronto. Thanks NHL schedule-maker.

It’s been a daunting stretch for the Canucks. They finish the trip in Winnipeg before returning home to meet the Kings and the Oilers. It’s amazing how quickly things can change. A year ago, the Canucks were riding high and looking like a true Cup contender. This entire season has been a soap opera. Call it “As the Canucks Turn.” This is what you get in a rabid Canadian market. The Miller-Pettersson drama doesn’t seem to want to go away. Elliotte Friedman addressed the on-going trade rumours on the Don and Dhali Show on CHEK TV.

https://youtu.be/tqJeNlbpVXQ?si=yUGY1NM1Nob3K50U

The trade rumours continue to fly. According to The Bleacher Report, the New York Rangers proposed a straight up one-for-one trade that would have sent J.T. Miller to New York for Mike Zibanejad. The Canucks reportedly turned thumbs down. As we move closer to the trade deadline, we can expect more scuttlebutt for sure.  Another proposed deal had the Canucks shipping Miller and Nils Hoglander to the Rangers for centre Filip Chytil, defenceman Braden Schneider, prospect forward Brennan Othmann and a 2025 third-round pick. On the surface it may sound OK but Chytil has had concussion issues, Schneider’s overall game has not progressed and Othmann is yet to really pop in the AHL.

A year ago, the front office ran the table with low-cost acquisitions. Pius Suter, Carson Soucey, Ian Cole, Sam Lafferty and Teddy Blueger all made solid contributions. This year, the Canucks hit on Kevin Lankinen, Keifer Sherwood and Jake DeBrusk but so far, the contributions from Danton Heinen, Vincent Desharnais and Derek Forbort have been minimal. Guess you can’t be expected to hit it out of the park all the time.

We continue to sing the praises of Sherwood. He is the runaway NHL leader in hits and already has more than he had all of last season. Sherwood has 70 more hits than the closest pursuer. He’s third on the team in goal-scoring with 13. What a bargain!

In this season of turmoil, decision time is approaching on a new contract for Brock Boeser. It would be extremely risky to let him get to July 1 without a new deal. Boeser has never been fleet of foot. He turns 28 in February. A seven or eight-year deal would be very dangerous. What’s the right number? If it starts with an 8 or a 9, forget it.

We speculated in an earlier edition of UFR that the Canucks were likely to recall Jonathan Lekkerimaki from Abbotsford by the end of January. It happened sooner than anticipated with the injury to Dakota Joshua. With the lack of scoring, it appears as though Lekkerimaki is here to stay.

Long-time Canuck followers have been clamouring for a true ‘tough guy’ for years now.  Teams are taking too many liberties on Quinn Hughes. The Canucks need a bonafide deterrent. Desharnais is not the guy. When Miller has to answer the bell to protect Hughes, you have a problem.

NHL Notebook – After getting humbled in Carolina last week, has anything really changed in Toronto when it comes to their playoff aspirations? There’s no excuse for Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner EACH going minus-6 against the Canes. Add in Matthew Knies and the Leafs top line was a collective minus-17. The Leafs are trying to play low-event hockey but they still have trouble protecting the front of the net against good teams.

The clock is ticking on contract talks between Marner and the Maple Leafs. It will be interesting to see where this goes. Marner is already one of the highest-paid forwards in the league at $10.9 million. He’s free to walk this summer if he chooses. Marner has scored 14 goals this season. Ten of them have come against non-playoff teams. He’s MIA when it comes to the playoffs with only six goals in 37 career playoff games. Tough decision to make. Probably best to wait and see how he performs in the playoffs this season. If Marner flops again, just walk away and use the $10.9 million to deepen the roster. For comparison, Matthew Tkachuk has 24 goals and 37 assists in 71 playoff games. Who would you rather have?

You can expect roster moves due to injury prior to the start of the Four Nations Face-Off in February. For Canada, Mark Scheifele has to be on the radar as next forward up. On defence, two names stand out. Both Vince Dunn and Evan Bouchard deserve an opportunity if injuries hit the blueline corps. If Team Canada needs to add a goalie, look no further than Mackenzie Blackwood. He’s been in good form since joining the Colorado Avalanche.

For the U.S., Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson and Tage Thompson of the Sabres are worthy of a shot if the American team has an injury up front. John Carlson would be a good add on the back end. Thatcher Demko and John Gibson are next up in goal.

As good a job as Kent Hughes has done in Montreal guiding the Canadiens through a painful rebuild, there’s a couple of deals he would probably like to have back. Hughes gave up first-round picks and more to acquire Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook, two forwards who fit into the age group and figured to be part of the Habs foundation going forward. Unfortunately, neither player has made a big impact. Through 42 games, Dach has 6 goals and 14 points. Newhook has 7 goals but only two assists. Worse yet, the two have by far the worst plus-minus numbers on the team. Dach is minus-25. Newhook is minus-15. You can understand the desire to augment the young core but, in this case, it hasn’t worked out.

In case you are wondering, the top seven worst plus-minus figures so far this season belong to members of the San Jose Sharks and the Chicago Blackhawks. William Eklund of the Sharks leads the way at minus-45. Connor Bedard and Philipp Kurashev of the Hawks and Filip Zadina of the Sharks are all at minus-44. San Jose defenceman Kyle Burroughs is minus-42, followed by Chicago’s Kevin Korchinski at minus-39 and the Sharks Mario Ferraro at minus-38.

Being a professional hockey player is not easy. The body takes a severe beating. How about the Oilers Evander Kane? Before the start of the season, he underwent several procedures including abdominal surgery to repair both abductors, two hernias, and two abdominal tears. If that’s not bad enough, Kane just had knee surgery that will likely keep him out another two months. The Oilers must be wondering if he will be able to contribute in the playoffs.

Staying out of Long-Term Injured Reserve can be a huge advantage for contending teams come playoff time. It’s why the Canucks have worked so hard this season to resist using LTIR even at the expense of unloading a draft pick to deal Tucker Poolman to the Avs. Teams staying out of LTIR can accrue cap space over the course of the season. At the deadline, the cap hit of any player acquired is prorated when a team isn’t using LTIR. What it means is only $1 million in cap space is required to fit a $4 million dollar player onto the roster for the remaining quarter of the season. If a team is sitting with $5 million or more in cap space, it allows you a lot of flexibility.

NHL Perks and Freebies – Harman Dayal of The Athletic recently penned an outstanding dive into the quirky rules contained in the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement. Dayal writes, “The NHL CBA, an ironclad legal contract over 500 pages long negotiated between the players’ union and the league, governs the on-and off-ice rights, power, rules and conduct of players, clubs and the league in meticulous detail. It addresses many topics that fly under the radar, including player dress codes, the elite-level amenities and off-ice services they’re entitled to, extra perks related to pensions, rent/mortgages, rental cars, team rights and so much more.”

It was enlightening to learn about the perks players receive when they are traded or waived. Here’s some of the highlights:

  • You may not know but, similar to MLB, the NHL uses deferred contract payments. Frank Vatrano just signed a new, three-year, $18 million dollar contract extension with the Anaheim Ducks. He will be paid $3 million per season through 2027-28 with the remaining $9 million paid out over ten years starting in 2035. The benefit for Vatrano is, if he moves out of California by the time the deferred payments kick in, he will avoid the state’s high income tax level. For the Ducks, they benefit because Vatrano’s contract will count only $4.57 million against the cap instead of $6 million.
  • In order to avoid paying rent/mortgage in two locations when a player is traded or waived, the team acquiring the player is obligated to cover costs. This ensures a player isn’t paying for two residences at the same time. The player is entitled to receive relief for up to six months. Teams now cover up to a maximum of $5,600 per month. Players are not eligible for reimbursement if they have a fully paid-off mortgage for the residence in their previous NHL city.
  • For players called up from the minors, teams must provide a “reasonable single hotel room” for up to 28 days. By the 28th day, the NHL team is required to send the player a letter notifying them whether they will stay with the NHL team permanently. If a player receives that letter stating they’re sticking with the big club, they’re now free to obtain a residence and move their household goods and family. The club will reimburse the player for reasonable moving expenses. Often the hotel room is not equipped with a full kitchen which can be costly to the player since they may end up eating out at restaurants.
  • When a player shifts from one team to another, his new team must provide a “mid-size rental car” for a period of up to 21 days. The player can choose to rent a more expensive car, but the club is only required to reimburse the player an amount equivalent to what a mid-size rental car would be. This is a welcome perk for players living out of a hotel and trying to get acclimated to a new city.
  • This season, the per diem meal allowance while on the road is estimated to be around $135 USF. It’s given to the players in cash. Since teams typically provide meals on game days and sometimes even on non-game days, the per diem is often just pocketed. According to Jake DeBrusk, players can easily bank over $5,000 per season in per diem money.
  • Players must adhere to numerous club rules. Among them, alcohol consumption is prohibited on team flights, at airports and hotels unless authorized by the head coach or general manager. Players must wear a formal jacket, ties and dress pants to all games and while traveling to and from games; players must adhere to the team’s curfew policy on the road; and the use of any tobacco products “while in the presence of fans in any arena or while attending any team function is prohibited.”
  • Players are entitled to free tickets for home games but not road games. The parameters are very clear. Every NHL team is required to make two free tickets available for every player for every home game plus an additional two tickets for purchase per player and they must be lower-bowl seats at worst. Players aren’t, however, entitled to free tickets on the road. The home team must leave two tickets available for every player on the visiting team, but they are for purchase, not complimentary. Just ask Connor Bedard who dug deep to cover all the ticket requests from family and friends for his first game in his hometown of Vancouver.

Seahawks Notebook – As the Seahawks close the books on another non-playoff season, it will be interesting to see by their actions if they are taking the ‘half-empty’ or ‘half-full’ approach. Should they be happy with a 10-win season even if it means being out of the playoffs? Our fear is the Seahawks will continue to act like they are better than they actually are. Let’s be honest. They are a ‘good’ team, not a ‘great’ team and there’s a big difference. Remember how they acted last off-season? They seemed to think a coaching change and a few additions would solve everything. It didn’t. The Seahawks are still sitting outside the playoffs and need to act more decisively.

Thankfully, the off-season started with the firing of offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. It was the right move. Yes, the pass offense put up big numbers. Geno threw for over 4,300 yards. But you can’t ignore the fact the Seahawks failed to run the ball with any authority. The screen game was completely ineffective. The Hawks rarely used play-action. Geno spent too much time in the shotgun. 75% of the plays were run out of the shotgun. Head coach Mike McDonald says he has a different vision of how the offense should operate. Let’s hope he can find the right replacement and get some balance back into the attack.

If you’re an optimist, you can point to the Seahawks 7-1 road record this season. However, on closer inspection, six of the wins came against non-playoff teams. The other win was the meaningless final game of the year against the Rams who sat most of their starters. The Seahawks should be more concerned with the 3-6 home record which included a loss to the Giants at Lumen Field. Should never happen. Kept them from gaining a playoff berth.

You can be sure there’s going to be roster churn. The Seahawks are currently sitting over the salary cap so cuts will be necessary. Here’s a few players who are unlikely to be in a Seahawks uniform next season:

Edge Rusher Dre’Mont Jones – Cap Savings: $11,572,500 – The cap hit for Jones next season is $25 million. Based on his production, this is a no-brainer. Cutting him, however, will come with a dead cap hit.

Receiver Tyler Lockett – Cap Savings: $17 million – If on the roster, Lockett’s cap hit next season would be $30 million. Too much for a 33-year-old receiver. Lockett is likely to play elsewhere although it would be nice to have him back if the number were drastically reduced.

Offensive Tackle George Fant – Cap Savings: $3.8 million – Not a tough decision here. Fant was brought in to start for injured right tackle Abe Lucas and ended up injured himself. Thanks for coming George!

Safety Rayshawn Jenkins Cap Savings: $5.4 million – Jenkins began the season as the starter, then got injured and missed several games. Coby Bryant took over at safety and played much better. No way you pay a backup safety that kind of money.

Defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris – Cap Savings: $6.6 million – Giving up a draft pick to acquire Robertson-Harris was a mistake to begin with. Paying $6 million for a rotational lineman is far too much. Cut bait and let him test the free agent waters.

Edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu – Cap savings: $8,481,666 – This should be an easy decision with young edge rushers Boye Mafe and Derick Hall on the roster. Nwosu was effective when he played but he was seldom available over the past two seasons. Releasing Nwosu will save nearly $8.5 million.

NFL Notebook – Be prepared. Could we see Deion Sanders and son Shedeur together in Las Vegas? Attention-seeking Deion is telling anyone who will listen that he’s interested in Raiders head coaching job. The Raiders need a quarterback so drafting Shedeur is a possibility. What a Gong Show it would be! Perhaps the Raiders are not completely out to lunch. They have interviewed Detroit Lions co-ordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, Kansas City Chiefs defensive co-ordinator Steve Spagnuolo and are also scheduled to interview former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll sometime this week.

The NFL has announced a $5 million dollar donation to support L.A. area communities devastated by the wildfires. On the surface, it seems like a nice gesture but $5 million is a drop in the bucket for the 32 billionaire NFL owners. You would think they’d be willing to do more.  

While the Seahawks have some work to do to get their books in order, several NFL teams enter the off-season with plenty of cap space. The New England Patriots are the frontrunners with $131.6 million according to SpotTrac. The Las Vegas Raiders have $112.3 million in available cap space. Next is Washington with $103 million. Rounding out the top five are the Arizona Cardinals with $86.9 million and the Chicago Bears with $81.6.

Many veterans face the chopping block. We looked over the rosters and pinpointed several vets who are likely to be released in order to create cap space. The New York Jets will save $30 million by releasing receiver Davante Adams.  The L.A. Rams will save $15 million by cutting Cooper Kupp. The Kansas City Chiefs may have no option but to release veteran guard Joe Thuney. It would save the Chiefs $16 million. They may need the money in order to retain right guard Trey Smith who’s younger and coming off a Pro Bowl season. Here’s a few other names who we anticipate being released with the amount of cap relief: Bradley Chubb, Miami ($20 million); Jaire Alexander, Green Bay ($17.5 million); Jonathan Allen, Washington ($17 million); Mark Andrews, Baltimore ($11 million); Von Miller, Buffalo ($8.5 million); Jadeveon Clowney, Carolina ($8 million). Let’s see how many we get right.

The New Orleans Saints finished the season 5-12. Even worse, they enter the off-season a projected $80 million over the salary cap. The Saints will have to make several roster cuts just to get back to even. Quarterback Derek Carr is sure to go. He carries a cap hit for next season of over $30 million.

There was no election. There was no vote. No process. Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank just arbitrarily elected to name himself to the Falcons Ring of Honour. Guess you get to do that when you own the team and the Home Depot empire. Blank has been witness to years of Falcon failure. The Falcons have never won a Super Bowl. They have one Super Bowl appearance since Blank purchased the team in 2002. Come to think of it, I’m going to name myself to the Colquitz Avenue Ring of Honour and put up a banner in front of the house.

CFB Playoffs – We should not be surprised that four blueblood programs survived the 12-team CFB playoff. Many of the teams who earned berths in the playoff were mere passengers.

It will be Notre Dame and Ohio State in the national championship game on January 20 in Atlanta. At least the two semi-final games provided some drama. Notre Dame came away with a thrilling, last-second win over Penn State in the Orange Bowl. The Buckeyes took out Texas in another classic. The Longhorns had first and goal from the one with just over two minutes remaining but couldn’t punch across what would have been the tying touchdown.

The Fighting Irish enjoy a huge advantage over conference programs. As an independent, Notre Dame sets its own schedule and has no affiliation with any conference. By reaching the national final, it’s estimated Notre Dame will earn about $20 million. Unlike other programs, they will not have to share the CFB payouts with other conference teams. Notre Dame also has an exclusive television deal with NBC worth $50 million annually. With total TV and CFB playoff earnings of $70 million this year, the Fighting Irish are on par with the highest revenue teams in the SEC and Big Ten.

Don’t be surprised if the storied Notre Dame program is back competing for a national title on a regular basis.

MLB Off-Season Notebook – The Blue Jays signed Vladdy Guerrero Jr. to a one-year, $28.5 million dollar contract and beat the arbitration filing deadline. It’s doubtful it will lead to a long-term agreement. The Jays need to wake up and realize Vladdy has already decided to go to market next fall. The Blue Jays reportedly offered Vladdy a long-term deal worth $340 million which was flatly rejected. It was apparently $100 million dollars shy of what Vladdy is seeking.  Short of a long-term deal with Vladdy, the Jays are looking at more tear-down trades at next season’s deadline because it’s unlikely they will be in contention.

The Jays were able to ink reliever Jeff Hoffman to a three-year deal worth $11 million per season. Hoffman may be asked to handle closer duties. The Orioles reportedly had a deal in place with Hoffman but backed out after conducting a medical. That’s when the Jays jumped in. Hoffman was among the league leaders in strikeout rate last season but has posted only 11 saves over the past two seasons The Jays had better hope his arm holds up. Also makes you wonder why the Phillies let him walk.

Seattle Mariners fans are wondering if the M’s are going to make any moves this off-season. The Mariners have been very quiet. Are the lights on? Seattle has been trying to move veteran pitcher Luis Castillo, but so far, no takers. There were talks with the Boston Red Sox about a deal for first baseman Triston Casas. One of the reasons the Mariners have not been able to strike a trade is because of Castillo’s contract. He’s owed $68.25 million over the next three years. Teams are aware that both his fastball velocity and strikeout rate have been dropping. That’s a lot of money to pick up for a pitcher who may be in decline.

Random Leftovers – Not sure what to make of the new Monday night TGL made-for-TV golf venture. Response from golf fans was tepid at best. It’s basically like watching computer golf on a big screen. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy hoodwinked a lot of very rich billionaire sports owners into investing in the enterprise. The players are happy to participate. They are easily seduced whenever there’s money.

From  the ‘You’re Not Going to Believe It’ Department comes this: Do you know the team name for the University of California Santa Cruz? Answer: The Banana Slugs. Go get ‘em Slugs!

Woody and Howard – One of my biggest thrills in broadcasting was meeting Howard Cosell. He was at the height of his popularity when he showed up for the 1982 MLB All-Star game at the Big O in Montreal. I remember being in awe. What was most surprising was Cosell was tall, about 6-foot-3. I always thought he was a short guy.

Years earlier, in 1971, Cosell was so popular he was recruited by Woody Allen for a scene in the movie ‘Bananas’ where he did the play-by-play of Fielding Mellish’s wedding night. It was a classic.

https://youtu.be/shijJmRYnEg?si=YZHMifLLVCu0lt-f

I hasten to guess how many times I saw the movie. There were so many scenes that left you in hysterics. The courtroom scene may be the best.

https://youtu.be/8a3mk9sp0oE?si=ROfbW9QmFFSYsQ22

Street Beef – As you may have noticed by now, we are huge fans of SCTV. If you ever need a laugh, just troll YouTube and you will find dozens of old clips from the show. John Candy was just the best. He played so many different characters on the show. One of our favourites was Street Beef with Johnny Larue. Here’s a clip with Bill Murray that contains an hilarious reference to basketball great Oscar Robertson.

https://youtu.be/iqTxXBt1ii0?si=HaE1g_w7U3ABnQZ3

Canadian Slang – Now that Donald Trump is threatening to annex Canada, it would be helpful to assist Americans with Canadian slang. Here’s a lesson from Will Arnett.

https://youtu.be/evvzG0Xz69Q?si=BkP66s3YOuq_XS0n

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