Under Further Review –  Douglas Smith with Editor Bill Morphy. Special thanks to this week’s contributors including Rob Wagner, Howard Steiss, Ian MacPhee, Dave Kittle, Peter Hucul, Ted Tait and Blair Morrison.  

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.

Some Legacy – RIP Leafs. All you ever deliver is pain and anguish. 58 years worth.

After going up 2-0 in the series vs. Florida, fans and media had the Leafs ready to pop champagne. When adversity hit, all the scar tissue resurfaced. The headline before game five read: “Time for Matthews and Marner to Cement their Legacy.” What legacy? The only legacy they know is failure. As a team, the Maple Leafs have now lost seven straight game 7’s. The Core Four have lost six straight. Neither Matthews or Marner have scored a single game seven goal.

In the midst of a soul-crushing meltdown in game five, not one Leaf stepped up to challenge a Florida player. In game seven, Matthews claimed the Leafs “had too many passengers.” You’re the captain, dude! You’re supposed to make sure that doesn’t happen! In the NHL playoffs, there’s a physical toll you have to pay. It just seems like the Leafs are unwilling to go there. It’s certainly been the case in game 7’s. Florida had the first 21 shot attempts in game seven and over 90 in the game. How can you come out so flat? How can you lose two critical games on home ice by a combined score of 12-2?  No wonder fans were throwing jersey’s on the ice.

No team in hockey is more scrutinized than the Leafs and maybe that’s part of the problem. What we witnessed was just a reprise because we’ve seen this movie before. So much for the Sham-a-Plan. The Leafs are no longer a young team on the upswing. Matthews, Marner and Nylander have all played nine seasons. The supporting cast is the best the team has had. Can’t blame goaltending. Remember how they ran Freddie Andersen out of town? He seems to be doing okay. The Leafs are out of chips after trading two first-round picks and several young prospects at this year’s trade deadline. The Panthers picked up Brad Marchand and Seth Jones. The Leafs acquired Brandon Carlo and Scott Laughton. Guess who stood out in game seven?

The eulogy has been written. The Leafs haven’t been to the conference final in 23 years. They have two series wins in nine years. It’s their DNA. What do they always say? “You’re only as good as your best players.” Reilly (-3), Tavares (-3), Matthews (-2), Marner (-2), Knies (-3) and Nylander (-1) were a combined minus-14 in game seven.

Funeral services will be held on Monday at Nathan Phillips Square.

NHL Playoff Takeaways – With Florida advancing, the Final Four is now set. The Eastern Conference final opens on Tuesday night with the Hurricanes holding home ice advantage against the Panthers. The Western Conference final starts on Wednesday night in Dallas. The Oilers seem to be firing on all cylinders. Stu Skinner rose from the ashes against Vegas and maybe he can somehow backstop the Oilers to their second straight Stanley Cup final. Don’t be surprised if it’s a replay of last year’s final. Stars coach Peter DeBoer is headed to the WCF for the sixth time in the last seven seasons and he’s been fired twice. Go figure.

It was a teary-eyed exit for the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night. Mark Scheifele played game six with a heavy heart after the passing of his father Brad at home in Ontario. Scheifele scored the opening goal of the night and it looked like it might be a 30 for 30 story. Unfortunately, Scheifele was in the penalty box when the Stars scored the winning goal in overtime. The Stars are off to their third straight conference championship. The Jets go home wondering what they need to do to win a road playoff game, something they haven’t been able to do in over two years.

The Jets have lost ten straight road games including all three in their first-round series against St. Louis and all three in Dallas. They haven’t scored more than twice in any of the losses. Before game six in Dallas, Connor Hellebuyck was 0-5 on the road in this year’s playoffs with a 5.84 GAA and .793 save percentage.

Can’t think of a player with worse luck than Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey. He was forced to leave game seven against the Stars after landing awkwardly on his knee. You’ll remember he also was forced out of game seven against St. Louis and missed the final against the U.S. in the Four Nations Face-Off. Such a great player. Hate to see that.

Always been a big fan of Jets blueliner Luke Schenn. He was written off five years ago before resurrecting his career in Vancouver playing alongside Quinn Hughes. (Who better to help revive your career?) Plays with a ton of heart. But in this year’s playoffs, his footspeed and decision-making were a big problem. Schenn was minus-8, by the far the worst mark among any of the remaining teams. The Jets should have tried to make a greater upgrade at the deadline. They paid the price for not acting more decisively.

According to reports, the Maple Leafs made a bid for Mikko Rantanen at the trade deadline but Mitch Marner, who was to be included in the deal, refused to waive his no-trade option. Rantanen was reportedly on board with a move to Toronto. H leads the playoffs with 9 goals and 19 points. Marner has 9 goals in the last seven playoff seasons.

Essay On a Fan’s Frustration – Are you like me? An avid Canadian hockey fan losing their attachment to the game? It’s a marriage headed for divorce.

As a fan, how can you safely become invested in your favourite team? Your Stanley Cup fortunes can be snuffed out at any time as the result of an unsuspecting hit on one of your team’s best players. The league is paralyzed to do anything about it. The NHL fails miserably in protecting its stars. Max Domi crushed Alexander Barkov head-first into the boards and received a $5,000 fine. What a joke! No one has any idea of how the NHL weeds out punishment. Would Domi have been suspended if he had hit Connor McDavid? Maybe. Jamie Benn cross-checked Scheifele in the face and only received a fine.

Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues missed games five and six after being blind-sided by Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. It was a blatant cheap-shot. Two-minute penalty. No supplemental discipline. Sam Bennett helped put Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz out of the series. Did his elbow result in the concussion to Stolarz or was the damage done earlier with a puck to the face-mask? We will never know but it had the Leaf fans blood boiling. It only underlines how precarious it is for a hockey fan. One defenceless cheap-shot and all the time and energy you have invested in your team is out the window. Why put yourself through it?  A strong wind near an NFL quarterback draws a roughing the passer call. Like it or not, the NFL decided to protect their number one asset and it’s working. Goodbye late hits.

The default excuse used is always “it’s playoff hockey.” Anything goes. How is hitting someone from behind proving your manhood? We go through this crap every post-season and a lot of us have become tired of it. It’s why so many fans have tuned hockey out. They’ve lost trust in the purity of the game. Canuck fans know. The Bruins ran them out of the rink in 2011 to the point where there were no bodies left on the bench.

The Apologists –Between-period intermissions on Sportsnet and HNIC have become almost unwatchable. Canadian hockey fans deserve so much better. The Maple Leaf bias is sickening. This isn’t something new. You would think the announcers were being paid by the team.

You don’t see this in other sports. When you tune into Monday Night Football, Al Michaels is non-partisan. You don’t get the sense he’s cheerleading for one particular team. Troy Aikman and Cris Collinsworth would have carved up Matthews and Marner in real time if it were an NFL game. What do we get here? Craig Simpson basically mum as the Leafs imploded in game five on home ice.

Give the fans some credit. Announcers should reflect what we are seeing. Don’t hide when fans are dying for an unvarnished assessment. With Canadian hockey coverage, criticize at your own risk. Just ask Doug MacLean and Nick Kypreos. If you don’t toe the company line and become a Leafs apologist, you’re gone!

Can someone explain why the hockey panels in Canada are filled with ex-goons and back-up goalies? In other sports, most of the analysis is provided by Hall of Fame-worthy former stars. In hockey, it’s analysis for the lowest-common denominator. Luke Gazdik? PLEASE! He praises the ‘code’ to make himself look better. As if he’s going to criticize a star player. That’s like a fiddle player criticizing someone playing a Stradivarius.

The in-game analysis is still soaked in hockey’s tired ‘code.’ When former Canuck Kevin Bieksa joined the HNIC panel, he brought humour and a breathe of fresh air. It didn’t last. He’s sipped the Leafs Kool-Aid. After Domi ran Barkov, Bieksa opined, “I didn’t like the hit but I liked the intent.” Liked the intent? The intent to injure? What an absolutely archaic comment! So, it’s OK to run the other team’s best player from behind?

Sportsnet just paid $12 billion for NHL broadcast rights. Why are they so afraid to ruffle any feathers? The coverage is SO woke. Just a constant stream of pablum. All we are asking for is fair, unbiased, objective opinion. Apparently, that’s too much to ask.

Canucks Notebook – Time to put a (salary) cap on the Canucks dismal season. The good news is the NHL salary cap is jumping from $88 million to $95.5 million next season with further jumps over the next few seasons that will take the cap to $113.5 million by the 2027-28 campaign.

Looking at the Canucks current roster, they have $79.55 million in total cap commitments with 20 players under contract. Hampering the bottom line are the two contracts on the cap sheet that total $5,479,167 in dead salary-cap space. The buy-out for OEL rises to $4,766,667 for the next two seasons. The Canucks are also retaining $712,500 as a result of the Ilya Mikheyev salary dump.

What’s left is just under $16 million in effective cap space to complete next year’s roster.  With so many vacancies in the top six, it’s going to be next to impossible to significantly bolster the lineup. Looking at the Western Conference, who amongst this year’s playoff qualifiers are the Canucks going to topple? Utah and Calgary will be better. Anaheim will be better. Hard to be optimistic.

One thing’s for sure. Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini saved a whole whack of money with the Canucks coaching change. Rick Tocchet goes to Philadelphia for a reported five years and $25 million. In comes Adam Foote on a three-year contract for maybe, $2.5-$3 million per season which is about the going rate for a first-time coach.

The most important thing is it appears as though Foote is Hughes-approved. No doubt Foote is well-liked and did a fine job with the Canucks blueline group. But it’s hard to see how he will help boost the Canucks attack which is one of the lowest scoring units in the league. As it stands now, the Canucks have one of the worst top-six forward groups in the NHL and one of the weakest centre ice groups. Hard to be optimistic. Better wish Foote good luck. It could be a bumpy road.

After a long, drawn-out negotiation, the Canucks finally got top defence prospect Tom Willander under contract. He signed a three-year ELC. Willander was the Canucks top pick, 11th overall, in 2023 and leaves Boston U. after two seasons. The contract talks were stalled over Schedule A bonuses. According to PuckPedia, Willander will receive $500,000 worth of possible Schedule A bonuses in Year 1, $900,000 in Year 2 and $1 million in Year 3. Compared to the ELC signed by Jonathan Lekkerimäki, it’s obvious the Canucks capitulated. Lekkerimaki received 475,000 across each of the three years in his ELC.

PGA Championship – Scottie Scheffler is the best golfer in the world. We’ve known that for a while. After his runaway five-shot victory at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, Scheffler is rapidly putting himself into the record books. At just 28, he now has three majors. He joins Jack and Tiger as the only golfers to post 15 wins before the age of 29. Pretty good company. Scheffler’s iron play is head and shoulders above everyone else. Unless his putter acts up, you know he’s going to be in contention every week.

Scheffler’s dominance is becoming routine. After years of watching Tiger, Scheffler is about as exciting as reading CV updates on LinkedIn. He’s plain vanilla. At least Rory and DeChambeau leave a trail of dust. Jon Rahm briefly had the lead after a birdie on 11 on Sunday. The Green Mile turned him into roadkill. Rahm went five over on the final three holes and went home to cook some paella.

Five Canadians earned berths in this year’s PGA Championship. A final round three under 68 helped Taylor Pendrith leap up the leaderboard and into a tie for fifth place. Corey Conners fired a final round 67 and moved to T19. Nick Taylor (+6), Mackenzie Hughes (+9) and Adam Hadwin (+11) all had poor showings and missed the cut.

Masters champ Rory McIlroy made the weekend right on the cut line. Upon arriving at Quail Hollow on Tuesday, McIlroy was among the players who had their drivers randomly tested by the USGA. His driver was deemed to be nonconforming and he was forced to use a backup driver. McIlroy was tied for last in driving accuracy among the 74 players who made the cut on Friday, hitting only 10 fairways in the first two rounds.

MLB Notebook – One concerning stat that could prove predictive for the Blue Jays is run differential. Right now, the Jays have a negative 28 run differential. The Jays need to get this turned around. Not a single team made the 2024 postseason with a run differential worse than plus-40.

There are slow stars and then there’s Anthony Santander. The Jays big prize free agent had only 10 extra-base hits through the Jays first 41 games. Santander was held out of the lineup on Friday and Sunday, then returned on Sunday and went 0-4. Meantime, Bo Bichette’s power numbers are starting to come. He’s on pace for a career high in doubles (48) and his hard-hit rate is the highest it’s been since his rookie season.

Max Scherzer remains on the sidelines. No word on when he might return to the Blue Jays. Did you know that Scherzer is being paid by three other teams this season in addition to the $14.5 million he’s earning from the Jays? Scherzer will be paid $15 million by the Washington Nationals, $30,833,334 by the New York Mets and $12.5 million by the Texas Rangers.

The Jays starting pitching depth took a hit with word Jake Bloss will require UCL surgery. Bloss was one of the Jays major acquisitions at last year’s trade deadline. He probably won’t pitch again until well into next season.

As expected, Vancouver Canadians fans are about to get the opportunity for a first-hand look at the Blue Jays top two picks from the 2024 draft. Trey Yesavage and Khal Stephen are being promoted to the Canadians along with right-hander Gage Stanifer. Yesavage was the Jays first-round pick last summer. He struck out a career-high 12 batters in his most recent outing at Dunedin.

There’s a good chance no wildcard teams will come out of the American League East this season. Outside of the Yankees, all the other teams are sub-.500. The Baltimore Orioles have been so disappointing, they just fired manager Brandon Hyde. In the AL Central, the Detroit Tigers are running away with the division. The Tigers are 31-13 since dropping three-straight to the Dodgers to open the season. Detroit ranks second in the AL in team ERA. They may have the best five-man rotation in the league fronted by reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. Rookie Jackson Jobe looks like a future star. The Tigers are second in the AL in runs scored. They are loaded with young bats including Spencer Torkelson, Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene. Javier Baez has moved from short to centerfield and is providing plus defense. He’s hitting over .300 and is the early choice for Comeback Player of the Year.

The New York Mets sit atop the NL East and have done it with pitching. The Mets starting staff has the best combined ERA in the majors and they’ve done it without two expensive off-season signings. Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas are both on the DL and have yet to appear in a game this season.

The number six prospect in the Mets system is Canadian righthander Jonah Tong from Markham, Ontario. He’s dominating at double-A Binghamton. Tong recently threw a perfect 6.2 innings in the second half of a doubleheader. A relief pitcher got the final out for the first perfect game in franchise history. Tong struck out 13 of the 20 hitters he faced, lowering his ERA to 2.57 and upping his strikeout total to 51 in only 28 innings. Opposing batters are hitting just .162 against Tong.  The 21-year-old was drafted in the seventh round of the 2022 MLB draft.

Mike Trout of the California Angels is turning into the Kawhi Leonard of major league baseball. From 2021 to 2024, he played in only 41 percent of Angels games (266-of-648) due to a long string of injuries. Guess what? Trout is back on the disabled list this season. Add in Anthony Rendon and Albert Pujols, and no organization was wasted more money on broken-down players than the California Angels.

For Pete’s Sake – The door has been opened for Pete Rose to finally be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Bet on it. Major League Baseball removed Pete Rose and several other deceased players including Shoeless Joe Jackson from the permanently ineligible list.

Frankly, it’s about time. You can’t watch an inning of baseball on television without an ad for bet365 or some other online betting service. Rose was a pariah but it still seems hypocritical to keep the all-time hits leader out of the Hall. Sorry but the integrity of the game went out the window a long time ago. How many drug cheaters have slipped through the cracks and made the Hall?

This week’s announcement doesn’t necessarily mean the now-deceased hit king will be enshrined. Rose and the others will not be included in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote next January. Instead, they will be eligible for consideration by the Hall’s Historical Overview Committee. Twelve of 16 votes are needed for admission and it’s anyone’s guess whether Rose will get the nod.

NFL Notebook – Brock Purdy has gone from Mr. Irrelevant to Mr. Moneybags. The San Francisco 49’ers quarterback has agreed to a contract worth $53-million per season with $181 guaranteed. That’s just two million less than Josh Allen and Joe Burrow.

Purdy earned only $7.9 million over the entire life of his rookie contract. It allowed the Niners to retain several top players. They were able to load up and reach the Super Bowl and NFC Championship game in his first two seasons. What now? Purdy has gone from being one of the NFL’s best bargains to potentially a major drain on the salary cap. The Seahawks took a chance by moving Geno Smith rather than committing huge dollars. The 49’ers may have been better off going the cheaper route as well.

As Purdy proves, if you play quarterback in the NFL, you can be very average but get very rich. Derek Carr just announced his retirement after a series of injuries. Carr earned $205 million over his 11-year career. His final numbers – a 77-92 (.455) career win percentage with just one trip to the playoffs and that was a loss. Carr pocketed the ninth-most cash of any NFL player from 2014-2024. His agent should go into the Hall of Fame.

Can’t believe people are criticizing 73-year-old Bill Belichick for his relationship with 24-year-old Miss Maine contestant Jordan Hudson. There’s only a 48-year age difference. What’s the problem?

NBA Notebook – So much for any faint hope of Duke star Cooper Flagg ending up in Toronto. The Raptors had only a 7.5 percent chance of landing the first overall pick in the NBA Lottery. Didn’t happen. In fact, the Raptors dropped from the seventh position to ninth. Will be difficult now to draft a franchise-altering player.

Meanwhile, just months after dealing superstar Luke Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks struck lightning. The Mavs had only a 1.8 percent chance of picking first but unexpectedly, won the lottery and the opportunity to draft Flagg. It sets Dallas on a whole new trajectory.

It’s worth noting that the two teams with the worst records this season, Utah and Washington, dropped to fifth and sixth in the lottery. Tanking apparently doesn’t work in the NBA. San Antonio jumped from eighth to second and now positioned to pick Rutgers guard Dylan Harper second overall. He should team nicely with Victor Wembanyama.

The New York Knicks have reached the conference final for the first time in 25 years. They will meet the Indianapolis Pacers starting Wednesday night in New York. A couple of former Raptors will figure in prominently in that series: Pascal Siakam vs. O.G. Anunoby. Not sure anyone would have predicted anything other than a Boston Celtics-Cleveland Cavaliers Eastern Conference final. This is why they play the games.

In the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder survived a wild seven-game series with Denver and will face Minnesota in the conference final. SGA helped the Thunder put away the Nuggets in game seven with 35 points.

Chasing Giannis – It’s no secret the Raptors have long coveted Giannis Antetokounmpo. Afterall, Raptors President Masai Ujiri was instrumental in spiriting Giannis out of Africa and into Greece where his journey to the NBA began.

It looks now like Giannis is ready for a move out of Milwaukee after the Bucks exited the NBA playoffs in the first round for the third consecutive season. The Bucks have an aging roster. Damian Lillard is approaching 35 and is owed $113 million over the next two seasons. Worse yet, he has a torn Achilles and will miss all of next season. Forget about drafting reinforcements. The Bucks are without a first-round pick until 2031.

Clearly, Antetokounmpo can see the writing on the wall. That’s where the Raptors come in. They lack a dominant big man. Giannis would quickly catapult the team into contender status. Keep on eye on this one. Could happen considering the close relationship Ujiri has held with Giannis throughout his NBA career.

Trivia Time – Editor Bill Morphy does a great job of uncovering obscure stats that border on the miraculous. Here’s a few that Bill passed along.

There have been 156 30-point, 30-rebound games in NBA history. Wilt Chamberlain has 124 of them. Bill Russell had three. Elgin Baylor, Walt Bellamy and Jerry Lucas each had two. All the others have had one apiece. People forget just how strong and dominant Chamberlain was during his NBA career.

Baseball is great for trivia lovers. San Diego Padres legend Tony Gwynn played 462 games before recording his first 3-strikeout game. He didn’t do it again over the final 1978 games of his illustrious career. No modern-day hitter had better bat control than Tony.

Random Leftovers – Team Canada remains unbeaten at the World Hockey Championships in Stockholm. Canada is 5-0 with games against Finland on Monday and Sweden on Tuesday to wrap up round-robin play. Macklin Celebrini is making a statement to be part of Canada’s Olympic team next February. Celebrini is playing with Sidney Crosby and the tandem have been fun to watch.

Canadian soccer star Jonathan David is set to make his next career move. David has announced he will leave Ligue 1’s Lille at the end of season. The 25-year-old striker has had amazing success in France. He’s scored 77 goals in league play while adding another 10 in 16 Champions League matches. According to reports, several top European teams are interested in recruiting David including Inter Milan.

No current broadcaster knows today’s players better than Ray Ferraro. Yet Ray never gets mentioned as a potential GM candidate. Can’t understand why.

There’s a U.S. college baseball team that’s currently 51-0 on the season. LSU-Schreveport took that record into the start of the NAIA playoff tournament. They’ve been carving up every opponent. They beat Texas College 42-4. They have scored 588 runs this season. As a team, they are batting .368 with a .500 on-base percentage and 68 home runs in 51 games. If they clean sweep the tournament, they could end the season at 59-0, which would shatter the all-time college record.

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