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.

Canucks Notebook – With only 14 games remaining in the season, the Canucks are caught in the crosshairs of a desperate battle for a playoff spot. Nothing is assured at this point. The race is likely to go down to the final few nights. The Canucks have a tentative hold on the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference but Calgary, St. Louis and Utah are all very much in the chase. Thursday’s date with the Blues is massive.

Nothing like a healthy return of Quinn Hughes to boost the Canucks fortunes. Hughes is clearly not 100% but his mere presence is a game-changer. Couple Hughes’ Norris-level play with a resurgence from Elias Pettersson and the Canucks are closer to the ‘best version’ of themselves. Now all that’s needed is the return of Thatcher Demko. His on-again, off-again season has been mostly ‘off.’ Demko has appeared in only 17 of 68 games.

Compounding the issue is the latest concussion suffered by newly-acquired centre Filip Chytil. He took a head shot from the Blackhawks Jason Dickinson and it’s uncertain when he will return to the lineup. Chytil has a long history of concussions and it’s the main reason the Rangers were happy to move him out as part of the deal to acquire J.T. Miller. Chytil missed most of the 2023-24 season after a serious concussion.

The decision to hold onto Brock Boeser at the trade deadline was questioned by many. The pair of goals against Winnipeg on Tuesday night were his first markers in 13 games. It’s critical Boeser continues to contribute. The deciding factor on a playoff berth will be the Canucks ability to generate offence. Since dealing Miller, the Canucks rank 30th among 32 NHL teams in goal-scoring rate at five-on-five.

NHL Notebook – With the NHL playoffs a month away, it brings into focus the drawbacks of the current playoff system. As the standings sit right now, Dallas and Colorado will meet in the opening round. The Stars and Avs are among the top five Cup contenders, yet one will be sidelined after round one. How is this fair? The system stinks and it needs to be changed. The current format also keeps churning out the same round-one matchups year after year. Don’t expect anything to change as long as Gary Bettman is around even though both the players and fans favour a 1 vs. 8 playoff-system.

Turn out the lights on the Toronto Maple Leafs. They’ve teased fans for eight years and only advanced past the opening round once. It’s obvious to even the most positive fans that the competitive window is closing. The Leafs are poorly constructed for playoff success and their recent slide is further proof they lack the ‘right stuff.’ Before feasting on the flickering Flames, the Leafs had lost five of six including measuring stick games against Vegas, Florida, Colorado and Ottawa. All teams that play a heavy game. The Leafs are 8-9 against Eastern Conference teams that currently sit in a playoff spot including an 0-3 mark against the rival Senators. Face it. All signs lead to another first-round exit.

Maple Leaf season ticket holders received notices that ticket packages for next year are going up by more than 20 percent in some sections. In the purple section, which is near the top of the building, two season tickets next year will cost $10,396, up from $8,522 this season. You must either have deep pockets or half a brain to fork out that kind of dough to watch Mitch Marner pirouette during warmups. Ten grand to see dots on the ice from the nosebleeds. That will be the day!

Thanks to the fawning Toronto media, many Maple Leafs end up being grossly overrated. Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman foolishly handed defenceman Justin Holl a three-year, $3.4-million-dollar AAV contract in free agency. Holl now rarely dresses in Detroit. The Chicago Blackhawks already regret giving Tyler Bertuzzi a five-year deal at $5.5 million per season. How dumb was that? Brad Treliving tried to move out Max Domi at the deadline, less than one season after handing him four years at $3.75 million. The Leaf lickers build these guys up and completely ignore the warts. Bobby McMann is the latest. You would be better off with Ed McMahon. He was a waiver wire candidate just a few years ago. Now, he’s getting top-six minutes, something that would not be happening on other top contenders. Let’s slow down.

How does Kevyn Adams keep his job? The Buffalo Sabres GM traded Jack Eichel to Vegas. The Golden Knights won the Cup. He handed Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour to Florida and the Panthers won the Cup. His latest act of generosity was trading Dylan Cozens to Ottawa. With Adams track record, the Sens may be the next to lift the Cup. Since arriving in the Nations Capital, Cozens has two goals and three assists in six games (five of them Senator wins). He’s fit seamlessly into the Ottawa lineup and has helped the Sens solidify the first wildcard spot in the East. The Sabres, meanwhile, will miss the playoffs for the 14th straight season and guess what, Josh (Linguine Limb) Norris is already injured (again) and out of the Sabres lineup.

Brad Marchand is yet to play a game with the Florida Panthers due to injury. When the Panthers traded a conditional second-round pick to Boston, the Bruins agreed to retain half of Marchand’s $6.125 million cap hit. TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reported that Marchand’s expiring eight-year, $49 million contract was front-loaded and left just $4 million to be paid this season. With $3 million of that coming in signing bonus, LeBrun claims the Panthers will pay Marchand only $125 grand for the remainder of the season. That’s how you work the cap!

No question NHL players are motivated to get back into the lineup as quickly as possible when injured. Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad missed eight games in January with an undisclosed upper-body injury. Is that when he decided to use PED’s? We will never know. Ekblad tested positive and was banned for 20 games which will include the first two playoff games. He’s the first NHL player to be suspended for violating the league’s PED policy since Nate Schmidt in 2018. Schmidt is now Ekblad’s teammate. A second positive test results in a ban of 60 games. A third triggers a lifetime ban. It will be interesting to see if the Panthers make an attempt to re-sign Ekblad. His eight-year, $60-million contract expires this summer.

Look out for the Colorado Avalanche. All the in-season changes seem to be working. The Avs have undergone a complete makeover since the start of the season. The lineup includes five new forwards, three new faces on defence and a change in both goaltenders. Who has the guts to do that? Credit Avs GM Chris MacFarland. He has not been shy about making changes. Can you believe that Avs captain Nathan MacKinnon has just passed the one-thousand-point mark? He’s the first player from the 2013 draft class to reach 1,000 points. The next-closest is Florida’s Aleksander Barkov with 771.

The NHL season can’t end soon enough for North Van’s Connor Bedard. Frustration from a lost season has boiled over for the Chicago Blackhawks star who was slapped with 10-minute misconducts in back-to-back games. Bedard received the first misconduct for abuse of officials in a loss against San Jose. He followed it up with another against the Canucks with three minutes remaining on Saturday night after a scrum behind the Canucks net. Bedard needs to step away this summer and reflect on a frustrating sophomore season.

If you think the Canucks made a mistake trading Vasily Podkolzin to the Edmonton Oilers, think again. Podkolzin has spent much of the season playing left wing alongside MVP candidate Leon Draisaitl and has managed to score only seven times and put up only 22 points in 68 games. Footspeed has always been an issue with Podkolzin and nothing much has changed in Oil Country.

Next season, the Detroit Red Wings will celebrate 100 years in the National Hockey League. The team has a proud history. The winged wheel logo is iconic. The jersey’s are two-colour, simple and distinct. But whoever was responsible for the team’s new ‘third’ jersey’s should be taken out to the woodshed. God awful! Opposing players were laughing when they saw the helmet’s with the white stripe down the middle. A complete embarrassment.

Gavin McKenna is cementing his status as the presumptive top pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. The 17-year-old Medicine Hat star has a 38-game point streak going which is the longest single season streak in WHL history. McKenna has had two or more points in each of the Tigers last seven games including a seven-point flurry (3 goals, 4 assists) in a recent game against Red Deer. He sits second in WHL scoring this season with 121 points (37 goals, 84 assists) in 54 games.

Seahawks Notebook – We called for a transformational off-season and it looks like we got it. We will reserve judgement until the Seahawks make additions to the offensive line but so far, it’s hard to argue with the changes.

• Geno Smith: It caught many fans off guard when he was dealt to the Raiders for a third-round pick but look under the hood and it made complete sense. The Seahawks were not prepared to meet Geno’s contract demands. Why pay a quarterback $40-$45 million in his age 35 and 36 seasons? It was time to move on and the Hawks made the right call.
• Sam Darnold: Darnold comes much cheaper and at 28, he’s much younger. Only $55 million of the three-year, $110 million dollar contract is guaranteed. If Darnold flops this season, the Seahawks can easily bail after just one year. It would cost $55 million but you would still be off the hook. The Seahawks are hoping Darnold is a better fit for the system they want to install. The Seahawks will be his fifth team in six years.
• D.K. Metcalf: There was zero chance the Seahawks were going to pay a lazy route-runner $30 million per season. The team has made it clear they want players who are high character and committed to the program. Metcalf was all about D.K. and you can be sure the Seahawks got tired of the petulant, selfish penalties. The act was definitely wearing thin in Seattle. Why Metcalf would want to sign with the quarterback-needy Steelers is a mystery. Oh yea, it was apparently all about the money after all.
• Cooper Kupp: No surprise that he would return to the Northwest. Kupp is a native of Yakima, Washington and played college ball at Eastern Washington University. The Seahawks are hoping he still have some juice left at 32. There are few better route runners. Contract details have not been released but the cap hit and contract guarantees will probably be low. You can’t have enough good people in your program and Kupp is a great dude. It would be nice if he has something left. 60 catches, 1,000 yards and 8-10 touchdowns. Not out of the question.
• No Shough Thing: Is this the year the Seahawks finally draft a quarterback? Don’t be surprised if they have eyes on Louisville’s Tyler Shough. At 25, he’s older than you might like, having played seven years in college including stints at Oregon and Texas Tech. He’s got the requisite size at 6-5 and 225 pounds. The Seahawks have five picks in the top-100 but following his performance at the NFL Combine, Shough may not last through the opening round. Would the Seahawks be willing to use their top pick, 18th overall, to ensure they land a quarterback? That could be what it will take. It’s doubtful Shough will be around when the Seahawks pick 50th in the second round.

NFL Notebook – When it comes to NFL free agency, there’s no such thing as fiscal responsibility. Common sense goes out the window. How can you account for the Cincinnati Bengals giving wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase a new deal worth $40 million per season? Chase quickly eclipsed Myles Garrett as the highest paid non-QB in the NFL. Houston Texans cornerback Darryl Stingley Jr. received an extension worth $30 million per season, raising the bar on defensive backs. No question, these are great players but in the case of the Bengals, when you factor in the salary for quarterback Joe Burrow and the new deal for Tee Higgins, where’s the cap space to build a championship team? The three will earn a combined $115 million next season, almost 40 percent of the Bengals total cap.

No NFL team has taken a bigger gut punch this off-season than the San Francisco 49’ers. The Niners were decimated in free agency, losing linebacker Dre Greenlaw, cornerback Charvarius Ward, safety Talanoa Hufranga, guard Aaron Banks, tackle Jaylon Moore, quarterback Joshua Dobbs and running back Elijah Mitchell. Receiver Deebo Samuel and running back Jordan Mason were traded. The 49’ers are manoeuvring to create cap space in order to sign QB Brock Purdy. Not sure he’s worth it but Purdy is set to be the next quarterback to receive a lavish payday.

New Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson is familiar with the importance of having a first-rate offensive line from his time spent in Detroit. The Bears were intent on providing better protection for quarterback Caleb Williams and the additions of Jonah Jackson, Drew Dalman and Joe Thuney should make a huge difference up front.

There are some poorly managed teams in the NFL but you would have to stoop pretty low to beat the New York Jets. In 2018, comedian Larry David, a staunch Jets fan, called then Jets GM Mike Maccagnan and urged him to draft quarterback Lamar Jackson. Larry says he has a witness to this. Maccagnan just laughed at him. It seems a comedian can draft better than the Jets. Another case of a team that is destined to flounder until there’s an ownership change.

Can you believe that no NFL team has signed Aaron Rodgers? Shocking! Who would not want a washed-up, self-absorbed, high maintenance whack job like Rodgers? Sure looks like a similar endgame as the career of Brett Favre who also played into his forties when he should have called it quits. Talk about ruining your legacy. Rodgers has been connected to the Steelers. That would be a new low for a franchise with a solid history. The blue-collar Steeler fans must cringe at the thought of bringing in Princess Athabaska. With the addition of Metcalf to go along with George Pickens, can you imagine having this pair in the same locker room? Powder keg of malcontents. The Steelers were always known for having a great culture. Not anymore. Meantime, looks like Russell Wilson could end up with the Minnesota Vikings to back up J.J. McCarthy.

PGA Tour Notebook – It was rather fitting that Rory McIlroy captured the Players Championship on St. Patrick’s Day. Rory walked away with the title after brushing off J.J. Spaun in a three-hole playoff. The win, in golf’s richest event, was worth $4.5 million dollars.

McIlroy has now won 39 times worldwide. Rory certainly has plenty of momentum heading into the Masters a month from now. McIlroy is a green jacket away from the career Grand Slam.

Corey Conners has put together his two best finishes of the year over the past two weeks. The Listowel, Ontario native shot a final-round 71 to finished T6 at TPC Sawgrass. It was his best-ever result in the event. Conners was solo third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill which stamped his ticket to this year’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

Conners is still trying to find the Sunday magic needed to break through and win a big event. Conners had 15 straight pars in the final round at Bay Hill before recording his first birdie. He’s undoubtably one of the best ball strikers on Tour but continues to struggle with the putter when it counts. A recent change to a new centre-shafted prototype model putter seems to have helped. Taylor Pendrith was the only other Canadian among seven to make the cut at the Players. He struggled to a final round 75 to finish T38.

There’s still plenty of time for all the Canadians to put together career-defining seasons. After his finish on Sunday, Conners vaulted all the way to third in the FedEx Cup standings. The missed cut dropped Nick Taylor from 11th all the way down to 31st.

Justin Thomas finished 33rd which is nothing to write about except for the fact he had the largest round-to-round scoring turnaround in tournament history. Thomas shot an opening round 78 but rebounded on Friday with a course-tying 62, a full 16 shots better. Thomas failed to break par in either of his rounds on the weekend.

One of the perks afforded the defending Masters champion is you get to select the menu for the Masters Club dinner for champions. The dinner in honor of the tournament’s defending champion dates back to 1952. When Jon Rahm captured the green jacket a couple of years ago, he selected an amazing array of dishes in honour of his native Spain.

You would think defending champion Scottie Scheffler would have put more thought into this year’s menu. Club members will start with appetizers comprised of cheeseburger sliders, firecracker shrimp and meatball and ravioli bites. There will be Texas-style chili and a main course of either cowboy ribeye or blackened redfish. For dessert? It’s a chocolate chip cookie and vanilla bean ice cream. Wow! How creative? You’re better off eating off the menu in the clubhouse.

MLB Notebook – The major league baseball season is officially underway with games between the Dodgers and Cubs in Japan. It remains to be seen whether the Toronto Blue Jays can contend in the competitive American League East. The starting rotation is without a single lefthander. The bullpen is still questionable. The lineup is deeper and should have more pop than a year ago. How could it be worse?

In the 32 years since the dramatic Joe Carter home run, the Blue Jays have finished in the top six of the American League only eight times, never once finishing first in the American League. The Mark Shapiro-Ross Atkins scorecard, discounting the 2016 team, which wasn’t theirs: Jays have finished 11th, 10th, 11th, 7th, 6th, 3rd,  5th and 12th in the AL. It’s the playoffs or bust for the current front office even with an ownership group that appears to be entirely out of touch.

It’s still a mystery why the Blue Jays wanted to sign 40-year-old right-hander Max Scherzer. Not surprisingly, he’s sidelined with a thumb injury and is unlikely to start the season on the roster. Scherzer has made more than 23 starts in a season just twice in the last five seasons.

Even the most ardent Yankee-hater would have some sympathy with the string of injuries facing the Bronx Bombers so early in the season. Former Cy Young Award winner Gerritt Cole is seeking a second opinion but is facing season-ending Tommy John surgery. Starter Luis Gil has a lat strain and is done for a minimum of two months. It’s put a serious crimp in the Yankees starting rotation. The Yanks now have injury-prone Carlos Rodon and free agent lefty Max Fried at the top of the rotation and not much else. Meantime, slugger Giancarlo Stanton is sidelined with severe tendon issues in both elbows. He may not return until at least late May and surgery has not been ruled out.

Marsch Madness – Team Canada is in Los Angeles getting ready for tonight’s Concacaf Nations League semi-final against Mexico. The U.S. is set to meet Panama in the other semi. Both matches will be played at SoFi Stadium with the final and third-place games also slated there on March 23. Jesse Marsch’s boys are no longer piñatas for the top teams and no longer enter a match against Mexico as a prohibitive underdog. Canada is currently ranked 31st. Mexico is ranked 19th. The good news is Canada is unbeaten in their last three matches vs. Mexico (1 win, 2 draws).

It’s certainly a new era for Canadian soccer. There was a time when Canada was unable to recruit the best players into the program. Remember when Owen Hargreaves left to play for England after being deemed eligible? Nothing like winning and the lure of being a World Cup host to change the perception.

How things have changed? Marsch now has plenty of options in putting the roster together. For the Nations League semi-final, Canada has added promising forwards Daniel Jebbison and Promise David, the latest in a growing group of talented youngers joining the squad. Vancouver Whitecaps’ Ali Ahmed and Niko Segur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia) were also named to the roster. Sporting Kansas City’s Zorhan Bassong has replaced injured fullback/wingback Richie Laryea. It looks like there could be a changing of the guard in goal where Dayne St. Clair is set to take over for Maxime Crepeau.

There’s big excitement around Jebbison and David. Jebbison plays for Bournemouth in England’s Premier League. David is playing in Belgium. At just 21, Jebbison shows all kinds of promise. He signed a four-year deal with Bournemouth last July after his contract with Sheffield United expired at the end of the season. David was born in Brampton, Ontario but lived in Nigeria for four years as a child. Upon returning to Canada, he had a stint with the Toronto FC academy before playing club football in Croatia, Malta and Estonia. David is 6-foot-4 and has the potential to be an absolute beast.

It’s great to see dual nationals eager to join the program. Niko Sigur was born and raised in Burnaby but played for Croatia at the youth levels. The 20-year-old midfielder and right-back, switched his international allegiance to represent Canada. Not surprising Marsch is decidedly delighted to have so many options.

March Madness – Despite losing three of their last four games, Auburn has been installed as the number one overall seed for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The Tigers will play out of the South region. Florida is the No. 1 seed in the West after beating Tennessee in the SEC championship game. The Gators appear to be the early betting favourite to win it all. Duke is the No. 1 seed in the East with Houston the top seed in the Midwest. The SEC has eight teams in the tournament yet the conference hasn’t won a national title since 2012 when Kentucky took the national crown. Defending champion UConn is seeded eighth. The Huskies are looking to become the first team to ‘threepeat’ since the 70’s.

A total of 20 Canadians will be playing in the tournament led by Houston guard Emanuel Sharp. The 21-year-old junior was named the outstanding player of the Big 12 tournament. He averaged over 20 points in three games as the Cougars took the conference title and a number one seed.

Cheapskate Sportsnet – If you are a regular viewer of SportsCentre on TSN, you are certainly aware of the talent drop-off when you tune into Sportsnet. The lineup on the Sportsnet news desk is woeful by any standards. What do they pay these people? $20 bucks an hour? The current list of Sportsnet Central anchors includes Jesse Fuchs, Martine Gaillard, Faizal Khamisa, Tim Micallef, Danielle Michaud, Evanka Osmak, and Ken Reid. Martine and Evanka are OK. The rest can take a hike any time. Our first question is – who hired this crew? Is this the best they could do? Clearly, TSN is working with a much bigger budget since their ratings far exceed Sportsnet.

Sportsnet is so cheap they just announced Arash Madani has been let go. On the self-importance scale, you would think Madani was reporting on the crisis in the middle east. Edward R. Murrow or Heywood Hale Broun he was not. Madani had a big head (don’t sit behind him in a movie theatre) but at least he brought some insight and an ounce or two of actual broadcast journalism to the table. Outside of hockey and the Blue Jays, where Sportsnet holds the national rights, the network covers almost nothing else with any depth. If you are a sports fan in Canada, there’s only one sports network where you can find any solid reporting.

Random Leftovers – Congratulations to the University of Victoria Vikings who won their first CIAU men’s basketball title in 28 years. The Vikes knocked off the Calgary Dinosaurs in the championship game. It was the Vikes first trip to the championship game since 2006. For those of us who have been around a while, we remember when the Vikes dominated men’s basketball at the university level, winning seven consecutive titles between 1980 and 1986 under legendary coach Ken Shields.

It’s been an odd season for the Toronto Raptors. They were expected to be among the worst teams in the NBA and end up in the lottery with a chance to land Duke star Cooper Flagg. Instead, the Raps have been surprisingly competitive. Among the positive stories is the emergency of Oakville-born guard A.J. Lawson. In a recent game, Lawson came off the bench and posted 32 points and 12 rebounds, both career highs. Hopefully, he can continue to stick around and make an impact. Always nice to see Canadians on the team.

There’s another rising star you need to know about on the men’s sprinting scene and it’s a name you won’t soon forget. Meet Gout Gout, a 17-year-old Australian teenager who could be the next Usain Bolt. In December, he recorded the fourth-fastest under-18 100-time in history, clocking in at 10.04 seconds at the Australian All-Schools Athletics Championships in Queensland. The run was wind-aided so it won’t count as an official record. Gout first came to prominence when he clocked 20.60 in the 200-metres at the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships – 0.01 seconds faster than a 15-year-old Bolt managed in 2002, the record at the time. Remember the name. Gout is destined for greatness.

You can’t make this up: A group of 15 Canadians bought tickets for Friday’s spring training game against the Houston Astros in West Palm Beach. When making the purchase over the phone, the ticket buyer was asked an unusual question: Can you sing the Canadian national anthem? She said no, but told the ticket agent her husband could. So, on Friday, a guy from Mississauga, wearing a Blue Jays jersey, without rehearsal, sang the national anthem before the Jays game. And he apparently did a great job. How about that?

YouTube Feature Artist – The spotlight this week is on the late, great saxophonist Michael Brecker who died in 2007 at just 57 from a rare blood disorder. The 15-time Grammy award winner was in demand as a soloist, sideman and session musician. He appeared on nearly 900 albums during his stellar career including work with James Taylor, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Dire Straits, Joni Mitchell and Eric Clapton.

Brecker recorded with scores of leading jazz musicians including Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Quincy Jones, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, McCoy Tuner and Gary Burton. During the early 1980s, he was also a member of NBC’s Saturday Night Live Band.

Here he Michael Brecker performing in Barcelona in 1992. The sax solo is absolutely amazing. It’s a ballad called “Common Grounds” written by Mike Stern.

https://youtu.be/QyZS6qbQre0?si=U7_z4hKkg9AVWzbW

One of Brecker’s finest solo albums was entitled “Tales from the Hudson,” a brilliant collaboration with Metheny, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland and Joey Calderazzo. Have a listen to a live performance of “Song for Bilbao,” one of the best tracks off that release.

https://youtu.be/sONRZXDkOI8?si=I1s1S-J0j2hInAsP

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