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 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.

Judgement Day – The court declared the junior hockey five not guilty. Truth is, they were far from innocent.

A judge in London, Ontario chose to acquit Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton, Cal Foote, and Carter Hart on sexual assault charges, stating she did not find the victim’s claims to be “credible or reliable.” The decision ended an eight-week trial and seven-year saga involving members of the 2018 Canadian World Junior Hockey team.

We are left with the question – has anything really changed when it comes to the culture in hockey? It was hoped the trial would help shine a light on the many issues in the game including racism, sexism and hazing. You will remember when the story broke, many sponsors left Hockey Canada. Today, nearly all have returned.

The NHL has ruled the players ineligible to return to the ice at least for now. The NHLPA is already challenging the decision. We question where Hockey Canada is in all of this. If they had any spine, they could contact the IIHF and urge the organization to rule the players ineligible as well.

While the trial was underway, tone-deaf as ever, the Canucks named Adam Foote as their new head coach, despite the fact Foote’s son was one of the accused. Not a good look. In the process, the Canucks overlooked Manny Malhotra who had just led the Abbotsford Canucks to an AHL title. Many believed Malhotra was the better choice. It’s doubtful Malhotra will stick around for long because he’s sure to be on the short list for NHL jobs next season. Very Canuck-like.

Summer of Blue – Have you ever seen a bigger one-year turnaround? Under .500 in early May, we were screaming for the heads of Blue Jays management. The team had underperformed for several seasons and it looked like time for big changes. Fast forward to early August and the Jays are among the top teams in baseball. For a few days at least, they were atop the MLB standings for the first time since the World Series year of 1992.

Everything has been clicking. Remember when the Jays were full of swing and miss? Not anymore. This year’s ball club leads the majors with the least number of strikeouts. The lineup has been lengthened and is balanced, one through nine, with every one contributing. The approach at the plate is so much better. It’s no longer Vladdy and Bo and not much more. If you watch the Jays on a regular basis, what stands out is the vibe around the team. These guys genuinely like each other. The chemistry is great.

No team has ever won the American League East division with less than 93 wins. Could happen this year. 90 wins may get you into the playoffs. If the Jays can win 28 or 29 of their final 50 games, they should win the division. On June 12, the Boston Red Sox trailed the New York Yankees in the AL East standings by 9 and a half games. The Sox have now passed the Yanks and are breathing down hard on the Blue Jays. Shows you how quickly things can change. The reeling Yankees are 21-29 in their last 50 games, a .420 winning percentage. Shocked that Aaron Boone has not been gassed.

Once again, at the MLB trade deadline, the Jays turned to Cleveland in hopes of strengthening their roster. Over the winter, Shapiro and Atkins went to their former employer and acquired Gimenez and outfielder Myles Straw. The Guardians were more than happy to dump the $84 million owed to Gimenez for the next four seasons and the $14 million owed to Straw for this year and next. At the deadline, the Jays took another gamble when they picked up former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber who’s working his way back from arm surgery. He could end up being the steal of the deadline if he can return to form. Bieber is a top-of-the-rotation pitcher when right.

There are three things you can count on – death, taxes and Daulton Varsho whiffing on a high fastball. Varsho had a good night at the plate in the mile high air in Denver on Monday night but he is hitting under the Mendoza Line and most of the time, is a strikeout waiting to happen. The Jays would be smart to platoon him in center with Myles Straw who also provides solid defense. Just hope the Jays continue to grind out at-bats once Varsho, Santander and Gimenez return to the lineup because all three have struggled at the plate this season when available.

One Last Stand – So, here we are again. It’s a place Canuck fans are all too familiar with. Playoff bubble team. It’s where the Canucks have largely resided for the past dozen or so years. According to many pre-season prognostications, the Canucks are ranked behind nine other teams in the Western Conference. A lot has to go right just to secure a playoff berth, let alone talk Stanley Cup.

The summer brought little change to the lineup. The Canucks have chosen to keep the band together. Only time will tell whether it was the right strategy. The front office made huge commitments to Brock Boeser, Conor Garland and Thatcher Demko and with better health, you would think a playoff spot is a reasonable expectation.

Keep an eye on Alexei Medvedev, the goalie selected by the Canucks in this summer’s NHL draft. Many questioned the Canucks selecting a goalie in the second round. Medvedev has had a growth spurt and is now 6-foot-3 and will have the net to himself this year with the London Knights. He was one of the youngest players selected in this year’s draft, (he was just days away from being eligible for 2026), so he should have plenty of runway.

Medvedev deserves a ton of credit for the kind of commitment he’s made. He came over to Canada from Russia at the age of 13 to live with his uncle in the Toronto area. He played Triple-A hockey in Toronto’s competitive U16 league as a 15-year-old before moving to St. Thomas to play Junior B. He was then drafted by London in the second round of the 2023 OHL draft. Some scouts have already compared him to Tuuka Rask and Igor Sorokin.

NHL Notebook – Connor McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov highlight the 2026 NHL free agent class and it looks like they will re-set the market. With the salary cap soaring over the next few years, get ready for some eye-popping numbers. Under the new CBA, this will be the last year of eight-year extensions. Do you go long-term or take your chances on a shorter deal and re-enter the market in a couple of years? Don’t be surprised if McDavid or Kaprizov land a deal with an AAV of $18 million. Other top 2026 free agents include Jack Eichel, Artemi Panarin and Kyle Connor.

Can you say three-peat? The Florida Panthers are in a remarkably good cap situation considering all the talent in the lineup. After magically signing Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand to new deals, the Panthers have all of their key players inked long-term. In addition to those three, Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, Seth Jones and Gustav Forsling are all under contract until at least 2030. That’s 10 important pieces locked in for another five seasons at very digestible cap numbers. Forsling locked in at $5.7 million may be the biggest steal in the league. Panthers GM Bill Zito has done an incredible job. Look for Tkachuk to start the season on injured reserve, opening up more cap space.

Looking back at some of the transactions over the summer, there’s a few that are head shakers. The Carolina Hurricanes acquired defenceman K’Andre Miller from the New York Rangers and immediately signed him to an eight-year, $60 million dollar extension. That’s a huge investment for a guy who’s puck management is a big question mark. At $7.5 million per season, Miller will need to take on heavy assignments. The Canes gave up a 2026 first-round pick (top 10 protected), a 2026 second-round pick and right-shot defenceman Scott Morrow who figures to be a solid third pairing addition for the Rangers. Big risk if Miller proves to be overmatched.

Can anyone explain what Ken Holland is doing in Los Angeles after taking over as Kings GM? Some strange decision-making. The Kings started the off-season with $22 million in cap space and held all of their first-round picks including their 2025 selection. Holland struck out in the Kings pursuit of Mitch Marner, lost valuable defenceman Vladislav Gavrikov in free agency and dealt Jordan Spence, a promising young defenceman, to the Ottawa Senators for an underwhelming return. Holland then spent $8.5 million in free agency on a pair of mediocre defencemen in Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin who both signed bloated, risky contracts. Add in Joel Edmundson and you have one of the slowest defence groups in the NHL. Sorry, but Drew Doughty can’t single-handedly carry the defence at 36.

Cue the parade! After losing Mitch Marner on July 1, Leafs GM Brad Treliving sprung into action and signed a flaming pile of dung including Michael Pezzetta, Vinni Lettieri, Travis Boyd, Dakota Mermis and Benoit Olivier-Groulx. Treliving managed to extract Nicholas Roy from Vegas as part of the Marner deal but if the Leafs think he can fill the void as a 3C, they are mistaken. Who’s going to replace the 47 primary assists Marner put up last season? The problem with the Leafs roster is they are carrying too many inefficient contracts including David Kampf, Max Domi and Calle Jarnkrok. Giving Nick Robertson $1.8 million in arbitration was a huge risk. With Marner gone, all the Leafs have show for Marner, Nazem Kadri and Zach Hyman is Nicholas Roy. That’s just bad management.

Top overall draft pick Michael Schaefer says his goal is to earn a spot with the New York Islanders this season. Maybe give him the rookie nine-game limit but the Isles would be crazy to keep Schaefer on the roster all season. He barely played last season after suffering a broken collarbone in the World Juniors. Why risk further injury? You have to be exceptional to play defence in the NHL at 18. Best to return him to junior and see where he’s at in a year.

Hockey Canada announced the invitees to the Olympic orientation camp later this month. All the players from the Four Nations Face-Off team were invited back. Glad to see Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard among the newcomers invited. Surprised that Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli was not selected. He hit the 30-goal mark last season as a 20-year-old including 26 goals in the final 51 games. Fantilli would have been among our picks especially after playing with Team Canada at the World Championships last April. Bedard, for one, chose to stay home.

Seahawks Notebook – The Seattle Seahawks prospects this season can be summed up very easy. As goes the offensive line, so goes the season. If the O-line can hold up, you may have an NFC West title winner. All best are off if the line is not improved.

The 2025 NFL draft could turn out to be another boffo draft for the Seahawks. The Hawks had 11 picks and nine of them could end up on the roster. The other two will likely be stashed on the reserve list. First-round pick Grey Zabel will start at left guard. Both of the second-round picks, tight end Elijah Arroyo and safety Nick Emmanwori, figure to play prominent roles as rookies. The biggest surprise in camp has been fifth-rounder Tory Horton, a receiver out of Colorado State. He’s been turning heads and will see time as a kick returner and in multiple receiver sets.

In a recent article, ESPN rated the Seahawks number two in the NFL in quality talent under the age of 25. The Seahawks have a bunch of impressive players on their first contracts including Kenneth Walker, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Devon Witherspoon, Charles Cross, Derick Hall, Riq Woolen and Byron Murphy II.  It’s just a matter of whether any of them will make the jump to the next level. Considering his string of injuries, it might be better to start Zach Charbonnet at running back and bring Walker off the bench as a change of pace. Let Charbonnet soften the defense before letting Walker loose.

The Seahawks open the season at home on September 7 against the 49’ers.

Top 10 NFL Divas – With the NFL season a few weeks away, it’s time for our list of Top 10 NFL Divas. These guys are more self-absorbed than Oprah Winfrey. You will notice that eight of the ten are receivers. “Gimme the damn ball Motherf#&@%r.”

1. George Pickins – Dallas Cowboys
2. DK Metcalf – Pittsburgh Steelers
3. Aaron Rodgers – Pittsburgh Steelers
4. CeeDee Lamb – Dallas Cowboys
5. Tyreek Hill – Miami Dolphins
6. JaMarr Chase – Cincinnati Bengals
7. Stephon Diggs – New England Patriots
8. Shedeur Sanders – Cleveland Browns
9. Deebo Samuel – Washington Commanders
10. Zay Flowers – Baltimore Ravens

Golf Notebook – The FedEx Cup playoffs get underway this week with the St. Jude Championship in Memphis. Four Canadians qualified for the playoffs by securing spots in the top 70.  Corey Conners is in great shape sitting in 13th place. Nick Taylor begins the playoffs in 18th spot. Taylor Pendrith sits 38th and Mac Hughes is 59th. Following the three playoff events, the top 30 quality for the Tour Championship.

The R & A Golf Club, the body that oversees the Open Championship and 21 other major events, needs to reflect on golf course set-up after this year’s runaway victory by Scottie Scheffler at Royal Portrush. At times, you would think the World #1 was playing Stanley Park pitch-and-putt. Unless the weather is nasty, Open Championship venues have become a birdie fest. Without wind and rain, Royal Portrush was defenceless. The greens run far slower than traditional major courses with little break if the ball lands in the right spot. Making a 30-footer is no big deal. Without any wind, players can just bomb the ball past the fairway traps. Scheffler came within a whisker of birdieing the 230-yard par 3 16th hole all four days. 400-yard drives and 350-yard three-woods are routine. No golf fan wants to see players shoot 20-under par in a major. The R & A needs to figure out what the future is going to look like because the Open Championship should be a tougher test of golf.

As for Scheffler, he’s what the missionary position is to a porn site. Scheffler is taking all the drama out of the game by lapping the field at nearly every event. He’s got to be killing television viewership. Interest in watching golf has severely diminished since he started dominating the game. If you don’t have healthy competition, the game suffers. Why watch when there’s a high likelihood Scheffler is, not only going to win, but probably by a large margin?

It’s time to look at the potential selections for the Ryder Cup coming up in the final week of September at Bethpage Black in New York. The six automatic qualifiers for the U.S. squad are Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, J.J. Spaun, Russell Henley, Bryson DeChambeau, and Harris English. Our picks for the final six members of the team are Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Patrick Cantley, Sam Burns and U.S. team captain Keegan Bradley. Bethpage Black is a big hitters golf course so it’s tough to leave off Chris Gotterup who’s been red-hot of late with a win at the Scottish Open and a runner-up finish at the Open Championship.

The six qualifiers for the European team are Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka. Our picks to round out the squad are Justin Rose, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm and Rasmus Hojgaard, the only European rookie.

The Europeans are the defending Ryder Cup champions. Europe has won eight of the last 11 competitions.

The Stats Man – Long-time Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto played 1,592 games in the majors and had 6,828 at-bats before he popped out to first base. That the equivalent of ten years of MLB service. The Canadian native doesn’t get enough credit for his incredible eye at the plate.

Random Leftovers – How about Canada’s newest tennis sensation Victoria Mboko? The 18-year-old has advanced to the semifinals of the NBO tournament in Montreal. She served notice with a stunning upset of top seed Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals.  Mboko started the year ranked outside the top 300 in the world. She will move into the top 50 following her performance this week and will likely be seeded at the upcoming U.S. Open in New York.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have an embarrassment of riches on the major league roster. However, no team has been burned more at the MLB trade deadline than the Dodgers. In an effort to add to their bullpen, the Dodgers have made some stinkers. They dealt slugger Yordan Alvarez to the Astros for Josh Fields. They sent Oneil Cruz to Pittsburgh for Tony Watson and Zach McKinstry to the Tigers for Chris Martin. That’s a ton of talent for three middling relievers.

What’s happened to Mookie Betts? The Dodgers outfielder is having a brutal season. He ranks 63rd in the National League in batting, 55th in home runs, 47th in RBI’s, 72nd in OPS and 63rd in on-base percentage. Looks like all the injuries have derailed Betts’ career.

NBA contracts are getting absurd. How do you explain the San Antonio Spurs giving De’Aaron Fox a four-year, $229-million-dollar max extension? OK, he’s a good player but that kind of money is crazy. After being acquired from Sacramento in February, Fox put up 19.7 points and 6.8 assists in 17 games. No exactly SGA numbers.

Can someone please explain what rationale the B.C. Lions used in trading Vernon Adams Jr. to the rival Calgary Stampeders? Adams is without argument one of the top quarterbacks in the league. To send him to a team you must face at least twice a year is a complete head-scratcher. Until getting hurt, Adams had out-played Nathan Rourke, the man the Lions chose to keep, by a long-shot and is still in consideration for this season’s MOP award. Lions management get low marks for many of their moves of late. This is a team that was forced to forfeit their top two picks in the 2025 CFL draft, the eighth and 17th selections, after begin punished for going over the salary cap last season by a record amount.

Canada almost pulled off a huge upset this summer at the FIBA under-19 World Cup in Switzerland, narrowly losing out to the heavily favoured U.S. in the quarterfinals. One of the players in the Canadian lineup was Aziz Olajuwon who was born in Toronto and is the son of Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon.

ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR SUMMER EVERYONE!

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