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.

Breaking News: Tons of late-breaking hockey deals. We’ll weigh in next week following the NHL Draft.

Changing Face of Hockey – In case you haven’t noticed, NHL players are suddenly empowered. Since winning Olympic gold, several members of the U.S. team have found or are seeking new addresses. Nothing like a taste of winning to whet your appetite for more.

Let’s review the movement. Quinn Hughes engineered his way out of Vancouver. Dylan Larkin has requested a trade out of Detroit. Brady Tkachuk is now in Florida. Vincent Trocheck is on the trade block in New York. Zach Werenski can’t be satisfied with all the losses in Columbus. Connor Hellebuyck is yet to go public but you would think his days in Winnipeg are numbered. It’s doubtful he’s a Jet come September.

This is NBA-type player control. The Tkachuk deal in particular is symbolic of the trend toward players dictating where they want to play. It’s been happening in the NBA for more than a decade where star players join other stars in favourable locations. The rising NHL salary cap has only served to accelerate the process. Don’t expect this to slow down any time soon. The concentration of talent in certain markets is growing.  Witness the talent drain in Calgary. Gone are Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Noah Hanifan and Rasmus Andersson. Can’t blame it all on a rebuild.

Only Montreal has been spared. Wisconsin-born 50-goal man Cole Caufield has five years left on a long-term deal. Star defenceman Lane Hutson, a Michigan native,  just signed an extension last October. Nothing like winning to change the narrative.

What’s most concerning for hockey fans in Canada is the migration is pointed south of the 49th parallel with Canadian markets feeling the greatest impact. Makes you wonder if Canadian teams will be reluctant to draft American players because this storyline is not about to change any time soon.

Bill Zito Strikes Again – The Florida Panthers GM is playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers. Seems there’s a sucker born everyday. We’re not totally dissing Ottawa’s decision to deal Brady Tkachuk but you get the drift. The rich just get richer.

There’s a lot to unpack here. Credit the Senators for getting out in front of an unworkable situation. Tkachuk reportedly made it clear he was not going to sign a contract extension in Ottawa so the Sens decided to rip off the band-aid. Vancouver fans know the routine. Had the Sens stayed the course, it would have become an even bigger distraction.

Heck, it’s not easy to deal your captain and vocal leader. Tkachuk is a unicorn in today’s game. The guy’s a beast and won’t easily be replaced. Does he have flaws? Yes. He takes too many penalties and is sub-par defensively. Can you replace the scoring and the physicality? Not easily.

Tkachuk may flame out quicker than you think. We are reminded of Wendel Clark who took the league by storm only to end up having a short career. Playing so aggressively takes a heavy toll. Don’t see Tkachuk having a 15-year career.

The Senators extracted reasonable value under the circumstances. Hard to argue with three first-round picks and a second. The ninth overall selection in this year’s draft is nothing to sneeze at. It gives Ottawa an opportunity to replenish a barren farm system and the ammunition to act now and fill some gaping holes. The Sens have already been tied to Anaheim’s Mason McTavish.

The big caveat was Ottawa’s failure to land a single roster player. The Sens reportedly asked for Anton Lundell and were rebuffed. They also failed to convince the Panthers to remove the top-10 protection on the 2029 first-rounder. What’s worse, the Sens dealt a player in his prime to a division rival who could return to the playoffs next season at your expense.

For the Panthers, the Tkachuk trade leaves the team absolutely stacked up front. No NHL team is as deep through the top three lines. If the season started today, the top nine would feature – Verhaeghe, Barkov and Reinhart; Bennett with the Tkachuk Brothers; and Lundell between Luostarinen and Marchand. That’s sick. No question Florida will be the loudest team in the league. The Panthers have cornered the market on chirpers. Imagine facing the Tkachuk Brothers, Marchand and Bennett in a seven-game series? Think they might get under your skin?

In order to build the draft stock to acquire Tkachuk, Zito somehow convinced the Seattle Kraken to part with first and second-rounds picks for smallish forward Mackie Samoskevich. Yes, THAT Mackie Samoskevich. The one with a career-high 12 goals last season. Sleepless in Seattle, indeed.

You have to wonder what the Panthers plan to do in goal with Sergei Bobrovsky headed to free agency. The two goalies listed on Florida’s depth chart at the moment are Cooper Black and Kirill Gerasimyuk. Good luck with that!

Babs Goes to Edmon-Chuk – The Edmonton Oilers have made a deal with the devil and announced Mike Babcock as their next head coach. Considering Babcock’s sordid coaching legacy, you knew he was going to be a target for every comedian. How about this guy parodying Babs on route to his new gig? (Make sure to click on these following video links, they are hysterical)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ULU5V5YmVaI

Babcock was accused of looking into players cellphones while in Columbus. He was grilled on the subject at his first news conference.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PW28qlTWXMA

Nobody can dodge questions quite like Babs.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fLqgvBLYGy0

With wacky Mike Babcock at the helm in Edmonton, what free agent will want to sign with the Oilers? Iron Mike may be good at the X’s and O’s but players want to play for a coach who’s open and easy to be around. That’s not Mike Babcock.

Canucks Notebook – Teams in the midst of rebuilds need to find distressed assets that can be revived and flipped for future draft capital. The Canucks should be looking around the league and identify players who fall into that category especially on teams looking to dump salary. Sabres forward Jordan Greenway would be worth a gamble. He’s got one year left at $4 million. Minnesota is tight against the cap and in a contention window. Dumping Yakov Trenin (2 years, $3.5 million AAV) or Ryan Hartman (1 year, $4 million) would open cap room. The Canucks could take a chance on the Blackhawks Andre Burakovsky. He has a year left at $5.5 million and could be flipped for a pick at the trade deadline. Detroit would be happy to part with a pair of underperforming centers in J.T. Compfer (2 years, $5.1 million AAV) and Michael Rasmussen (2 years, $3.2 million AAV). Florida needs to shed salary. You can be sure than Evan Rodrigues is on the block. He has a year left at $3.08 million.

Plan the Parade Route – The Maple Leafs have hired Jim Hiller as their next head coach. Translation – no one of any consequence, including Bruce Cassidy, wanted the job. Not one top candidate was interested. Pretty sad state of affairs in the centre of the hockey universe.

Hiller says he wants the team to have ‘fun.’ If the Leafs play the dreary 1-3-1 system as operated in L.A., then they’ll want to get the first cab out of town. Can’t see Auston Matthews being happy. He’s another candidate to move south.

Big gamble by the Leafs to sign 30-year-old free agent defenceman Darren Raddysh. Eight years and $68 million is a lot of term and dough for a guy who’s had one great season. Raddysh has a big shot which helped him break out last year with 21 goals. Trouble is, he won’t have Nikita Kucherov in Toronto to feather soft passes to tee up from the point. There was zero chance Tampa was going to pay him that kind of money. It’s why teams like the Lightning and Carolina stay on top.

When Brad Treliving was in Calgary dealing the Flames into the ground, before trading Matthew Tkachuk to Florida, he reportedly turned down a deal with Carolina that would have landed the Flames Martin Necas, Alexander Nikishin, Jake Gardiner and at least one, and possibly two, first-round draft picks. Can you believe he turned that down?

The Day the Junior Canadiens Upset the Soviets – The date was December 15, 1965. The Montreal Jr. Canadiens met a touring Soviet national team in what was a groundbreaking exhibition game. The Junior Canadiens were coached by Scotty Bowman and reinforced with retired NHL stars including goaltender Jacques Plante and the legendary Doug Harvey. Backed by Plante’s acrobatics, the Baby Habs defeated the Russians 2-1. It was the first and only win by a Canadian team during the tour.

Plante received a lengthy standing ovation. He later said he felt more pressure in that game than during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The exhibition clashes between the Junior Canadiens and the Russians were a preview of the hated rivalry that would develop in the years to come, culminated by the epic 1972 Canada-Soviet Summit Series.

World Cup Notebook – The American sporting public, who know diddly-squat about soccer, are all giddy about the U.S. winning a couple of World Cup matches. The corrupt landlords of FIFA gave the U.S. a free pass by placing them in the weakest group in the tournament. The U.S. were bunched with Turkey, Paraguay and Australia. Not a worth opponent among them.

As a host nation, the Americans received an automatic berth into the World Cup. Considering the form they showed during CONCACAF qualifying, it’s questionable whether the U.S. would have even qualified if they actually had to play their way in.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Canada was the last team standing among the three host nations?  Could happen.

CFL Notebook – The Edmonton Elks have had a reckoning. The team is now openly admitting the name change from the Eskimos to the Elks has been an unmitigated disaster. According to team president Chris Morris, “The transition was a disaster in so many ways.”

Morris says the name change in 2021 remains one of the team’s biggest obstacles. The change was made after criticism from Inuit leaders and organizations who claimed the name Eskimos was offensive and outdated. It came at a time when pressure was mounting on sports teams to abandon names viewed as racist or stereotypical. Read: Bleeding heart, politically correct liberals who want to stick their nose in everybody’s business. Not a football fan among them. The name Eskimos was never offensive to Edmonton football fans.

Here’s the thing. There was tremendous political pressure put on the team to drop the Eskimo name. The team spent over $300 thousand dollars engaging with the community and Inuit leadership. City Council demanded a change. Even the Prime Minister’s Office threatened to get involved. The team eventually capitulated to the mounting firestorm.

Ultimately, all it served to do is alienate longtime supporters of one of the CFL’s most storied franchises. Since the name change, season-ticket sales have fallen from more than 20,000 to 7,000. But blaming it solely on the name change is pure bullshit. Put a better team on the field. Maybe someone will buy a ticket. Don’t forget, the Elks lost 22 home games in a row from October 12, 2019 to August 27, 2023. Almost four years. How many season-ticket holders were lost during that with slide into infamy. It was the longest home losing streak in major North American professional sports history. You’re going to blame THAT on the name change? When the Eskimos won five Grey Cups in a row, they had the best personnel department in the CFL. That’s how you win.

According to club officials, there’s no turning back. They say the name Elks will remain. Why? Because you’re too chicken-shit to correct the mistake? Grow a pair. You can’t have it both ways.

Every sports franchise to have bowed to a name change has lost the brand war. Redskins to Commanders. Indians to Guardians. Eskimos to Elks. The connection to the fan was lost. Building the brand back may be a lost cause.

Editor’s Note: Readers of UFR will recall we railed against this when the Eskimos first relented and made the name change. It was a stupid decision at the time and they are paying for it now.

Golf Notebook – U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark somehow managed to become a villain on both sides of the border.

Clark’s reputation was first tarnished at last year’s Open championship at Oakmont. After missing the cut, he busted up a locker. The photo evidence went viral. The club sent Clark a letter saying he was no longer permitted on the property. In order to lift the ban, Clark is required to compensate the club for the damages, complete an anger management program, and make a “meaningful” contribution to a charity chosen by the board. Oakmont is set to host the U.S. Open again in 2033.

At this year’s Canadian Open outside Toronto, Clark foolishly decided to don a Jack Hughes U.S. hockey jersey in front of the pro-Canadian crowd at The Rink hole. As you can imagine, Clark was greeted with robust boos. What did he expect wearing a U.S. jersey on Canadian soil? Clark later accused Canadian fans of “crossing the line.” Really? The surly Clark crossed the line of stupidity. How did he think the fans would react?

Saturday at this year’s U.S. Open will be remembered as one of the most completely inept performances by the chasing group in majors history. The nine closest pursuers to Clark shot an average score of 3-over 73. Not a single one could apply pressure on the leader. Clark led by a touchdown at the end of the day. So much for ‘moving day.’

With the cushion, Clark managed to hang on for the victory on Father’s Day.

Giannis on the Move – What did we say about NBA stars controlling where they play? In the latest NBA blockbuster, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis are headed to Miami for Wisconsin native Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis. Milwaukee also received four picks including the No. 13 selection in Tuesday night’s NBA draft along with unprotected firsts in 2031 and 2033, a pick swap in 2030 and a 2033 second-rounder. Are you taking notes? There will be a test later.

Herro has a year left on his contract and will likely be flipped to another team to bring back further draft capital. Pretty good haul for the Bucks for a player 14 years into his NBA career.

Random Leftovers – Is there a pro sports team more blessed than the San Antonio Spurs? What are the odds of being in position to draft, in succession, three generational big men in David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Victor Wembenyama? Compare it to the Canucks who have never owned the first overall pick in the draft in 56 years. The trip of bigs has helped the Spurs win five NBA titles and probably several more.

The NFL has declined an application from former Cincinnati and Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby to enter a supplemental draft this summer. After Sorsby lost his NCAA eligibility due to gambling, he decided to apply for the supplemental draft, hoping to turn pro. The NFL said NO. Restores our faith in responsible governance.

Baseball has the best statistical trivia. During the ’89 and ’90 seasons, Dennis Eckersley posted 81 saves. He allowed a total of only 80 baserunners. In other words, he had more saves than baserunners allowed. Pretty damn dominant.

In a game on June 14, 1974, the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-3 in 15 innings. Angels starter Nolan Ryan pitched 13 innings, struck out 19 and threw 225 pitches. Louis Tiant of the Red Sox went 14 and a third innings and threw 163 pitches. Won’t see that ever again! Pitchers today go five innings and they call it a quality start.

Top Ten Tracks – Female Artists – Here’s ten great tracks to add to your playlists from female artists we admire in honour of my great and good friend Brent Atkins who always tells me we feature too much blues.

1. Emilie Schiott – ‘King or Clown’ from the release After the Rain
2. Kat Eaton – ‘Out of the Rain’ from the album Talk to Me
3. Miss Emily – ‘My Friend’ from the release In Between
4. Natalie Merchant – ‘Tower of Babel’ from the album Keep Your Courage
5. Diane Birch – ‘Wind Machine’ from the release Flying on Abraham
6. Devon Allman – ‘Real Love’ from the album The Blues Summit featuring Sierra Green on vocals
7. Chrissie Hynde – ‘Me and Mrs Jones’ from the release Duets Special featuring k.d. Lang
8. Halle Elliott – ‘Eden’ from the album Carry Me Home
9. Eilen Jewell – ‘Crawl’ from the release Gypsy
10. The Secret Sisters – ‘All the Ways’ from the album Mind, Man, Medicine

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