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, Charlie Frenette and Allan Watts.    

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.

Gone to Carolina – Time to close the book on the NHL season. The Carolina Hurricanes are deserving Stanley Cup champions. Heck, they went 16-3 in the post-season. Never lost two in a row over the last 53 games of the season including the playoffs. Give the Canes their due.  

No NHL team is as unconventional as the Hurricanes. They’ve let numerous players walk in free agency rather than ponying up big dollars. They didn’t swallow the usual NHL bromides for roster construction. No team has drilled as deeply into analytics.

The Cup victory had as much to do with resiliency as anything. Few teams have endured as much playoff disappointment as the Hurricanes. Through it all, they became battle-hardened, yet methodically continued to add pieces until everything clicked. We always talk about depth and Carolina had it. They also had a heavy dose of Canadian content including an inspirational coach from Campbell River. The fact the Canes were $12 million below the salary cap ceiling is even more impressive.

If you want to win a Stanley Cup, you had better have a solid third line. It’s often the difference in winning a championship. The Hurricanes third line included Conn Smythe award winner Jordan Staal flanked by Nik Ehlers and Jordan Martinook. Lines like that are a coaches dream because they allow for easy matchups.

Stanley Cup Leftovers – Vegas forward Brett Howden has turned into the ultimate ‘late bloomer.’ Howden flourished in the 2026 playoffs, leading all playoff scorers with 14 goals. At 28, and here’s the topper, Howden is under contract for four more years at just $2.5 million per season. What a bargain!

Glad that Torts didn’t get to raise the Cup. He’s such a dick. There’s no comparison to a class act like Rod Brind’Amour.

Guess we can assume Mitch Marner brought the Leafs curse to Vegas. In the last three games, Marner had one assist as he morphed back into Leaf-ness. When the rubber hit the road, he became a Leaf again. (And refused to speak with the media after game seven). Can you believe Marner turned down a deal with Carolina in order to sign with the Golden Knights? How’s that for just desserts? And speaking of justice, Carter Hart bombed out in the final with a GAA less than .900 in every single game.

Bedlam on Broadway – Watching the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup and the New York Knicks capture the NBA crown, you could not help but notice the difference. A study in contrasts.

After the Knicks secured their first title in 53 years, the San Antonio Spurs walked off the court immediately. Unlike the NHL, no handshakes. No outward recognition of your opponents accomplishment. The Knicks brought out the cellphones for selfies. The Hurricanes victory celebration was a team celebration. No phones. No photos. The families joined them on the ice in tribute to the support provided by family and friends during each players hockey journey.

NHL players don’t need to be reminded of how difficult it is to win 16 playoff games. The Knicks went 16-4 in the playoffs. Maybe it was just too easy. Their margin of victory for the entire playoffs was 14.9 points, an NBA record.

Meanwhile, it was bedlam in Manhattan following the Knicks title, reminiscent of what occurred in Vancouver in 2011. There were clashes with police. Fans set fire to police cars. Gunfire erupted at one point. One person was shot. Four people were stabbed. 63 people were arrested. You know, the usual.

Seems you can no longer have a peaceful championship celebration in any city.

NHL Draft Preview – One thing is certain. There’s no Macklin Celebrini or Matthew Schaefer atop this year’s NHL Draft.

Depending on your taste, a team may have any one of five or six players ranked first overall. Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg are the top two selections on many draft boards but both are undersized wingers. Not exactly the prototype of players you want to build around.

Most mock drafts have McKenna going to the Leafs with the first overall selection. The San Jose Sharks hold the second pick and have a clear need on the blueline. Do they go with Chase Reid or Keaton Verhoeff if Stenberg is sitting there? Stenberg would make for a very appetizing running mate for Celebrini.

Once the Sharks make their choice, the Canucks will be waiting to follow. Caleb Malhotra is the consensus pick with the Canucks having such a major hole down the middle. Vancouver could have a tough decision if Stenberg is still on the board. Don’t sleep on big Latvian defenceman Alberts Smits. Some teams may have rated ahead of the second tier of defencemen, Carson Carels and Daxon Rudolph.

Among Canadian teams, the Calgary Flames hold the sixth pick as well as the 30th overall. The Winnipeg Jets choose eighth. The Canucks pick again at 24. Montreal will select 28th in the first round. Ottawa will close out the round at 32. Edmonton and Toronto are without first round picks.

As the draft gets closer, there are always a number of late risers. Expect Swedish defenceman Malte Gustafsson, Swedish center Alexander Command, USHL winger Wyatt Cullen, University of Miami center Ilia Morozov and Russian winger Gleb Pugachyov to go higher than their ranking in many of the mock drafts.

Canucks Notebook – In case you haven’t noticed, a certain cleansing has been going on at Rogers Arena. The stench that enveloped the Canucks last season is being removed. The season was joyless. Couldn’t end soon enough. The first challenge has been to just fumigate the place.

As the front office completes its draft meetings, the focus has to be on players who can be culture-setters. Malhotra and Verhoeff fit that mold. Guys who are potential future captains are all about the team. The Canucks need Canadian-born players who care about winning first. And for heaven sakes, get some kids with size and pushback. Nothing will change until you can stand up for each other.

The Canucks have ten draft picks in total including four in the top 50. With picks (24), (33) and (41), we would be zoning in on big Swedish defenceman William Hakansson; 6’3” winger Casey Mutryn, a Boston College commit; 6’5” Russian defenceman Nikita Shcherbakov; Czech defenceman Adam Goljer and 6’3” Swiss center Simas Ignatavicius. Sportsnet’s draft ranking has 6’3” Swedish center Adam Andersson ranked #80. The Canucks should jump on him if he’s available in round three.

Looking at the NHL Draft previews, they should take away the keyboards of some of these so-called draft experts. Canucks Army listed five players the Canucks should consider drafting with their second first-round pick. Every player listed is under six feet. Forget it.

https://canucksarmy.com/news/5-high-upside-players-vancouver-canucks-target-pick-24-2026-nhl-draft

The Canucks have begun back-filling some open spots in the organization. Richard Seeley has been named Assistant General Manager and will take over the duties in Abbotsford. Seeley has been running the Kings top farm team in Ontario, California. The 47-year-old is a native of Powell River. Daren Hermiston, another BC native, has been appointed the club’s new director of player personnel.

You can be sure the Canucks will be making every effort to find a new address for the sullen Swede, Elias Pettersson.  There’s a potential deal with the Penguins that’s making the rounds. Pittsburgh would absorb the entire contract but would dump Ryan Greaves (3 years X $4.5 million) on the Canucks. Vancouver would also receive two conditional second-round picks which could become firsts if Pettersson reached certain production targets. Kyle Dubas loves reclamation projects. EP could play in the shadow of Sid and Malkin and maybe learn a thing or two. Where do we sign up?

The Ottawa Senators have reportedly shown interest in Canucks winger Jake DeBrusk. Hey, if the Sens want him, have at it.

Desperate Measures – How desperate can the Edmonton Oilers possibly be? From all reports, they are on the verge of hiring Mike Babcock as their next head coach. Yes, THAT Mike Babcock. Hockey’s biggest pariah. You can be sure the lineup for Babcock’s services was one deep.

How could you even contemplate hiring Babcock? Did they think no one would ask questions because he’s been out of the game for seven years? The NHL is now investigating the circumstances around his departure in Columbus.

There’s only one word for this – desperate. Babcock has a laundry list of incidents where he mistreated players. McDavid is reportedly on board with the hiring. Seems he’s as desperate as the owner and front office.

Oilers GM Stan Bowman is completely tone-deaf. Are we certain he’s the son of the great Scotty Bowman? Maybe the milkman was dropping by for visits while Scotty was out of town.

NHL Notebook – Veteran Red Wings center Dylan Larkin has issued a trade request. No wonder. Larkin just finished his 11th season with the Red Wings and he’s made the playoffs once. He’s the only player remaining from Detroit’s last playoff appearance in 2016.

What does this say about the job Steve Yzerman has done? If Larkin is dealt, the Wings already shallow center ice group will be further depleted. Hey, can we interest you in a certain Vancouver Canuck?

Doesn’t it seem rather odd that the Nashville Predators were able to lure Colorado GM Chris McFarland to Music City to become President of Hockey Operations while the Maple Leafs were happy to settle for John Chayka?  Pretty sad when the biggest hockey market in the world sets their sights so low.

Try THIS for amazing! For 46 straight years, at least one player in the Stanley Cup final was a teammate of Jaromir Jagr.

Now that their new multi billion-dollar TV deal is going into effect, Sportsnet has dumped the CBC as a broadcast partner. The CBC has been airing Hockey Night in Canada since 1952. Pray that this will be the end of Ron McLean!

Change happens slowly at the CBC. This is a network that carried The Beachcombers for 19 seasons. How many capsized boats can you rescue? Bruno Gerussi must have worn out the bar at Molly’s Reach.

Trader Cliff RIP – Hockey lost one of its most respected figures recently with the passing of Cliff Fletcher at the age of 90.

Fletcher earned the moniker “Trader Cliff” and it was well-deserved. Cliff was never shy about pulling the trigger. The megadeal in 1988 with St. Louis for Doug Gilmour was the final piece in building the Flames ‘89 Cup team. After moving from Calgary to the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of Cliff’s first moves was to acquire Gilmour again. It was one of the biggest swindles in NHL history.

Cliff once told me that he never tried to win a trade outright. He said it was important the other team gained value too. Fletcher knew that if you fleeced teams too often, no one would deal with you. He also revealed that he tried to improve his team by 3-5% every time he made a trade. His goal was incremental improvements. Do it often enough and you will improve the team over time.

When the Flames won the Stanley Cup in 1989, Calgary met the Chicago Blackhawks in the conference final. Back in those days, reporters were allowed to travel with the team. While on the plane to Chicago, Cliff dropped by the section of the plane where the media were sitting (of course, that was at the back of the plane) and advised us not to miss the post-game bus back to the hotel because cabs would not go to Chicago Stadium at that time of night. Who would take the time to do that?

After a practice on a non-game day, my cameraman and I ventured outside Chicago Stadium to do a story on the state of the surrounding area. I remember getting footage of burned-out apartment buildings – with people still living in them. Can you imagine?

A report in the Toronto Sun listed the Hall of Famers that Fletcher traded for. The list includes Doug Gilmour (twice), Mats Sundin, Lanny McDonald, Joey Mullen, Grant Fuhr, Dave Andreychuk, Glenn Anderson, Mike Gartner and Larry Murphy. Fletcher also drafted a number of Hall of Famers and near-Hall of Famers including Al MacInnis, Mike Vernon, Joe Nieuwendyk, Brett Hull, Gary Suter, Kent Nilsson, Paul Reinhart, Tom Lysiak, Theo Fleury, Gary Roberts, Hakan Loob and Sergei Makarov.

Many hockey fans criticized Fletcher for the trade that sent Brett Hull to the St. Louis Blues for Rick Walmsley and Rob Ramage. Fletcher said at the time Hull would become a dynamic scorer. He was right. Hull would score over 700 career goals. Yet, Fletcher maintained he would make the deal again. And he was right. The Flames would never have won the Cup in ’89 without the contribution from Ramage who replaced the injured Gary Suter.

World Cup Notebook – Canada is going football crazy with the World Cup in full swing. A win in Vancouver on Thursday against Qatar is looking like a necessity. It would certainly go a long way to ensuring Team Canada moves past group play and potentially remains in Canada at the start of knockout play.

It’s worrisome that Canada needed a late goal to salvage a tie in their opener against Bosnia-Herzegovina. Jonathan David has been a disappointment. He had already exited the game when Canada notched the tying goal. From all reports, Alphonso Davies is improving but his status remains in doubt as he battles back from injury. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Part of what makes the World Cup so compelling is the unpredictability. Qatar earned a surprising draw with Switzerland in Group B. Morocco managed a draw with favoured Brazil in Group C. On Monday, Egypt drew against Belgium and Cabo Verde, a massive underdog, played Spain to a scoreless draw. Love to see the giant-killers come out of nowhere and shock the world.

The pressure to win is immense. Tunisia fired their head coach after an opening game loss to Sweden. Off with his head!

CFL Notebook – Here we go again. Seems the CFL is looking at the possibility of awarding an expansion franchise to Quebec City. For literally decades, the expansion talk was all about the East Coast or the Maritimes. Why not try the Quebec capital?

Quebec City is considering plans to build a new stadium on the site of Le Colisee, the former home of the Nordiques. Quebec City has tried to woo an NHL team for the past 15 years without success. It’s not going to happen.

Football is surprisingly popular in Quebec. Laval University is a CIAU powerhouse and draws up to 15,000 per game. The population of Winnipeg is about 850,000. The population of Quebec City and the surrounding area is about 900,000. No reason to think they could not support a CFL team.

Does this mean we won’t ever have the Atlantic Schooners? We’re so upset!

Blue Jays Notebook – Congratulations to Max Scherzer for becoming just the 11th pitcher in baseball history to record 3,500 strikeouts. Great accomplishment. Now it’s time for the Jays to release him because he’s done like dinner in the immortal words of Tiger Williams. The Jays should never have brought him back this season. Dumb move in the first place.

Remember the 2024 baseball trade deadline when the Jays unloaded eight veterans for a garage full of prospects? The haul brought back 13 players, four of which are now on the current roster. Pieces from the trade of Yusei Kikuchi ultimately landed the Jays Brandon Valenzuela and Jesús Sánchez. Yohendrick Piñango came over from the Cubs for Nate Pearson. Charles McAdoo was the return for Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Pitcher Jake Bloss is working his way back from Tommy John and may yet be a big contributor. Got to give the Blue Jays scouting department some major props.

For those of you in the Vancouver area, get your ass out to the Nat to check out righthander Nolan Perry. He just cracked Baseball America’s Top-100 prospect list. A year ago, he wasn’t even pitching coming off Tommy John surgery. Perry was just named Pitcher of the Month in the Northwest League, posting a 1.08 ERA in May including an 18-inning scoreless streak. Better check him out soon because he won’t be in Vancouver much longer.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is ranked 112th in the American League in home runs. You just don’t get what you used to for $500 million.

Still don’t understand why the Minnesota Twins gave up so early on Louis Varland. He’s a Minnesota native. Varland has been a revelation for the Blue Jays this season. He’s had a couple of missteps recently but he’s single-handedly held the bullpen together.

MLB Notebook – Seldom do the Tampa Rays come up on the short end of a baseball transaction. In 2019, however, the Rays made a monumental blunder. With their 40-man roster at the limit, Tampa traded lefthander Christopher Sanchez to the Philadelphia Phillies for minor league infielder Curtis Mead, rather than losing Sanchez in the Rule 5 draft.

This season, Sanchez rattled off a scoreless streak of 50.2 innings, becoming only the third pitcher in the modern era and the only leftie in MLB history to pitch 50 or more innings without allowing a run. Orel Hershiser of the Dodgers pitched 59 scoreless innings in 1988. Dodgers legend Don Drysdale threw 58 scoreless innings in 1968. Pretty good company.

Mead failed to deliver in Tampa and was traded away to the White Sox for a bag of beans. Mead was later dealt to the Washington Nationals where he’s exploded with an OPS this season well over .800. No doubt the Rays would like to have that one back.

Golf Notebook – Four Canadians will tee it up at this week’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, New York. Corey Conners, Nick Taylor, Ben Silverman and Sudarshan Yellamaraju make up the Canadian contingent.

Yellamaraju will be making his first appearance in a major. He booked his ticket with a T8 finish at the Canadian Open, his third top-10 result of the season. No doubt Yellamaraju has been the biggest story among Canadians on the PGA Tour this season.

How can you not be happy for Bud Cauley who made the Canadian Open his first-ever Tour win? Here’s a guy who almost had to give up the game after a very serious single-car accident after missing the cut at the Memorial in 2018. He suffered six broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a fracture in his left leg, and a concussion. As a result of post-operative complications, Cauley did not return to the PGA Tour until 2024. Way to go Bud! Everyone was cheering for you.

Good on Rory McIlroy for coming to the defense of the Canadian Open. The PGA Tour is planning more changes to the schedule for next season and Rory is not impressed.

“An event like last week, the Canadian Open, potentially going to one of these Track Two events? Track Two is like a glorified Korn Ferry event,” McIlroy said. “Like that’s what Track Two is going to be. I don’t think the Canadian Open, which has been around for 104 years, should be one of those. And yeah, I just think there’s going to be certain events that might lose their stature if a sponsor doesn’t pony up $30 million.”

Golfers will go to great lengths to qualify for a major. Take the case of Ben Kohles. He captured the BMW Pro Am in South Carolina on the Korn Ferry Tour but was intent on trying to qualify for the U.S. Open. After grabbing the trophy and kissing his wife and kids goodbye, Kohles drove two hours to Charlotte Airport. He waited to catch a plane to Washington, D.C. His qualifying tournament was the next day in Maryland. He landed in the early morning hours, checked into a hotel and managed to get a couple of hours of sleep. Early the next morning, Kohles found his way out to Woodmont Country Club where he shot 7-under to book his entry into the Open. Crazy 24 hours.

Phoney Phil Mickelson has been booted out of his home course in the San Diego area after allegations he made unwanted physical contact with a female employee. Golf Digest cited sources saying Mickelson approached the woman in the clubhouse and made nonconsensual and inappropriate physical contact with her. The woman rejected his advances and reported it to her supervisors. No word on whether they caught something on camera. It must have been serious because management confronted Mickelson right on the golf course and told him his membership was being pulled. He was escorted to the parking lot.

Why We Hate Lebron – LeBron James just can’t let go of the GOAT (Greatest of All-Time) debate. In an interview with TIME magazine, James made the assertion that there should be NO debate.

“I’m not taking nobody over me,” James said. “There’s no question. But I think Mike (Michael Jordan) will say the same thing. Rest his soul, Kobe will say the same thing. Magic will say the same thing. Bird will say the same thing. Shaq could say the same thing. The late great Wilt. Kareem. I don’t think none of us are going to take somebody else.” He finished off the interview with this gem. “If there’s a general manager and he’s eyeballing all of us on a baseline, with the No. 1 pick, it’s gonna be hard not to take me.”

Really? Has there ever been an athlete with a higher opinion of himself? Why not just tell the interviewer, “It’s not up to me to decide.” Show some class.

James played in eight consecutive NBA Finals. He lost five of them. Does this sound like a GOAT? He holds the all-time NBA scoring record with 43,400 points but it has more to do with the fact he’s played 23 seasons.

Just go away and for once, shut your blow hole!

Random Leftovers – If you can play quarterback in the National Football League, your criminal past doesn’t seem to matter. 27 women accused Deshaun Watson of sexual misconduct during private massage sessions. He lawyered up and walked away. Watson hopes to regain the starting job in Cleveland this season. Michael Vick financed an illegal dog fighting operation. He was allowed to return to action.

Now, we have Brendan Sorsby who has applied for the NFL’s supplementary draft despite having admitted to thousands of dollars in NFL and college bets including wagers on Indiana while playing there. Sorsby was offered a multi-million dollar transfer deal to play at Texas Tech this fall but a firestorm of backlash put an end to that. It’s unconscionable that the NFL would allow him entry in light of the gambling allegations.

If the Rams trading for Myles Garrett wasn’t bad enough for the Seahawks, there’s speculation Aaron Donald may come out of retirement and join the Rams for one more Super Bowl run. That’s a scary proposition. As good as Garrett is, and he just broke the all-time, single-season sacks record, Donald may be an even more impactful player. Seahawk fans better pray he stays retired.

No league has more overpriced players than the NBA. At the top of the list is OKC big man Chet Holmgren who performed a disappearing act in this year’s playoffs. He’ll earn $41 million next season. One more reason why you have to be very careful in handing out rich contract extensions to young players before they’ve built a solid resume.

YouTube Music Video of the Week – Check out this great live performance from 2021. Steve Winwood & Carlos Santana performing ‘Why Can’t We Live Together.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NshSKcE454k&list=RDNshSKcE454k&start_radio=1

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