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 and Rob Wagner.

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.

Rat Patrol – It’s time for the NHL to start invoking indefinite suspensions. It’s the only way to stop the cheap-shots. In many cases, it’s often the same weasels who are perpetrating the nonsense. Send a message before somebody’s career is ended.

It has to stick in the craw of Canuck fans to see the modest three-game suspension handed to the Kings Tanner Jeannot for the cheap shot to the head of Brock Boeser that left the Canucks sniper sidelined with a concussion. Jeannot is already back in the Kings lineup. Boeser is not and there’s no indication when he may return.

If the NHL had an ounce of courage, they would enforce much harsher punishment with an eye on ending incidents like this one. The answer is simple. Hand Jeannot an indefinite suspension which would remain in effect until Boeser is back in the Canucks lineup. If Boeser were to return after a game or two, then revisit the length of suspension at that point and add any additional games to the suspension as deemed necessary.

What’s equally disturbing is the attitude of the players. Jeannot returned to the bench after drilling Boeser with a kill-shot to the head and the television cameras caught him with a smirk on his face as though he had done something beneficial. A teammate then patted him on the back for a job well done in the Neanderthal world of the ‘hockey code.’ We call bullshit.

The NHL has always done a piss-poor job of protecting its best players. If it wasn’t Tanner Jeannot, then it would be Matt Rempe or some other stiff. They follow in the footsteps of a long list of NHL rats who made a career of cheapshotting opposing players. Names like Matt Cooke and Matthew Barnaby and so many others. Do you really think anything will change until the NHL increases the punishment? Of course, not. Who will be victimized next?

Canucks Notebook – We’ve seen enough evidence to turn up the concern-o-meter on the Canucks defensive zone coverage. We’ve seen enough evidence to determine the second defence pairing of Carson Soucey and Tyler Myers is not going to hold up. The question is – what are the Canucks going to do about it? Switching up the defensive pairings is not the answer.

The struggles of the Soucey-Myers pairing are not something new. It’s been season long and the analytics prove it. They’ve been severely out-shot, out-chanced and out-scored at five-on-five. Zone exits are a horror show. It explains why the Canucks are struggling so mightily on home ice. The results won’t come until they start playing to their identity.

A year ago, the Canucks enjoyed career years from players up and down the lineup. It hasn’t been the case so far this season. Compounding the problems is the slow start J.T. Miller is experiencing. Miller is clearly dealing with a lingering injury. He missed all of training camp and the exhibition schedule and it’s had an effect. It’s amazing how many players have off-seasons when they miss training camp. The Canucks won’t get fully on track until their top two centres return to form.

There’s a couple of names to keep in mind as the Canucks front office searches around for a puck-moving defenceman. One is Ivan Provorov of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Provorov is making $4.725 million so he would likely fit under the salary cap at or before the trade deadline. Provorov is still young enough at 27 and has the kind of puck skills the Canucks are desperately seeking. The other is Marcus Pettersson of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s making just over $4 million and would be an upgrade. Problem is, what are you willing to surrender? Both teams will no doubt ask for one of the Canucks top two defence prospects, Thomas Willander or Elias Pettersson, and that should end the discussions in a hurry.

The debut of forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki is a nice feather-in-the-cap for the Canucks scouting department. He’s the first drafted player to make the roster since 2020. We questioned the selection at the time. The Canucks needed size and toughness up front and Lekkerimaki was not about to check those boxes. His post-draft year set off all kinds of alarms. It looked like his selection was a huge mistake.

Instead, Lekkerimaki has developed into what appears to be a future top-six scoring dynamo with power-play utility and underrated playmaking ability. Yes, he has work to do defensively but so do many young players. His development illustrates how important it is to graduate players through the system. Adding a top-six forward or a top-four defenceman can change the trajectory of a team. Can you imagine if Willander and EP2 both turn into second pairing defencemen or better? The impact is much greater than adding a bottom-six forward or a third pairing D-man. Adding a roster player through the draft is great. Adding a player who plays up in the lineup can make a world of difference.

It appears now like the Canucks made the right decision in dispatching forward Andrei Kuzmenko to the Calgary Flames in last year’s deal for Elias Lindholm. Kuzmenko has one goal in 16 games this season and has already fallen out of favour thanks to his lackadaisical commitment on the defensive end. He’s probably going to be on the move again if the Flames can find a taker before this year’s trade deadline.

Dilemma in Blue & White – What’s happened to the high-scoring Toronto Maple Leafs? New head coach Craig Berube has the Leafs playing low-event hockey and it’s working at one end of the ice and not the other. Last season, the Leafs led the NHL in five-on-five scoring. As Sportsnet’s Justin Bourne noted, between 2021 and 2024, the Leafs went 252 games without being shut out. They’ve been shut out twice already this season. The struggles have only increased with Auston Matthews out of the lineup.

So, what’s up? Berube has the Leafs playing a dump-and-chase game to limit mistakes. No doubt they are tougher to play against but he’s taken away their greatest strength which is the high-octane offence. This version of the Leafs is happy to sit back and grind it out. But is that a style suitable to their current roster?

From a strictly defensive standpoint, the Leafs have made strides. They were 21st in the NHL last season in goals against. So far, this season, they’re sixth. It’s a big stylistic change aimed at improving their chances in the playoffs. But if you can’t score, then what? It’s playing into the hands of teams like the Bruins who are happy to win 2-1 hockey games. Turning a team into something they are not is coaching suicide.

NHL Notebook – If you are looking to predict who will be the first NHL coach to be fired this season, our choice is Derek Lalonde of the Detroit Red Wings. The Wings have not shown any progress and someone has to pay. First place to look is behind the bench. If you are looking to point a finger in Detroit, it should be at general manager Steve Yzerman. What year are we into with that rebuild, Steve? A look at the Wings current lineup tells you everything. The second defence pairing is Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry. That would have been good about ten years ago. The third pairing is Eric Gustafsson and Justin Holl. Ouch! Dylan Larkin is a nice player but he’s not a legitimate number one centre. The forward group, as a whole, has very little physicality. When you are easy to play against, you have big problems.

As much as Montreal fans are angry over the lack of on-ice improvement, you have to cut the current front office some slack. Much like in Vancouver, the new management group was put in a tough position from the day they took over from free-spending Marc Bergevin. Montreal’s salary cap situation was horrible and it will be two more years before the front office can fully clear the decks.

This season, the Canadiens have over $16 million tied up in Brenden Gallagher, Josh Anderson and Christian Dvorak. Gallagher has two more years at $6.5 million. Anderson has two more seasons at $5.5 million. Dvorak is a UFA next summer. The Habs won’t get out from under Carey Price’s $10.5-million-dollar contract for another year. Until the Canadiens can clear all the unwieldy contracts, it’s hard to fully move forward. Fans want progress. It’s not happening and the frustration increases. But if you believe in what you are doing, stick to the plan and eventually things start to change. Two summers from now, the Canadiens will have a ton of cap space and a better gauge on the young talent in the lineup. At that point, they can get far more aggressive instead of fixing the sins of the past.

The Canadiens will be closely monitoring the fortunes of the Calgary Flames this season. Montreal owns one of the Flames two 2025 first-round picks as a result of the Sean Monahan trade. Calgary owns their own pick plus the Florida Panthers first-rounder which was acquired in the Matthew Tkachuk trade. There are conditions attached to these picks which could hugely benefit the Canadiens. If Calgary finishes in the bottom ten, Montreal will be granted the Florida pick. However, if the Flames continue to perform and finish outside the top ten, their native selection will go to the Habs. The pick could end up being 10-15 instead of late in the first round. The Canadiens could potentially have two picks in the top dozen or so.

Montreal got it (w)right when they decided against drafting Shane Wright first overall in the 2022 NHL draft. Wright reportedly turned off the Canadiens brass in a pre-draft interview. He dropped to fourth overall and it seems like the reservations teams had about Wright are proving correct. He has only one goal and one assist in 17 games so far this season with the Seattle Kraken. His defence is solid but you would expect far more from a kid selected so high in the draft.

As much as we were sounding the alarm on attendance issues in Winnipeg, the situation is anything but dire. Despite a couple of crowds below 13 thousand, the Jets overall attendance so far has actually improved compared to last season. Yes, the Jets’ 13,764 average crowd size through nine home games is still second-lowest in the league. But overall attendance is actually up 1,890 per game which is a heck of a lot better than last year when the Jets were averaging 11,874 at this point in the season. Canada Life Centre has the smallest capacity in the NHL at 15,325.

Did you know that Don Cherry is now 90-years-old? You can’t help but think of Don when Remembrance Day rolls around. It still rankles many hockey watchers with how Grapes was unceremoniously dumped for comments that were anything but offensive. It bothered him that many Canadians fail to wear poppies to honour our veterans. So what? Here’s some more thoughts on the Cherry saga from an article recently posted in the Edmonton Journal.

https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/don-cherry-poppy-remembrance-day

Le Coupe Grey – Very little has been written about the ouster of Randy Ambrosie as CFL commissioner. Make no mistake, it was a firing. If you are wondering why Ambrosie was let go, it has everything to do with franchise values. CFL franchise values are stagnant. Guess why Gary Bettman and Roger Goodell have been in position for so long? It has everything to do with rising franchise values in both leagues. In the CFL, most of the teams have no real value, only lingering debt. Ambrosie was powerless to do anything about it.

Ambrosie’s seven-year tenure as CFL commissioner was dotted with failed ventures and lost opportunities. Remember how he promised games in Mexico? That never happened. His vanity project was the CFL 2.0 global plan. It never materialized. Each CFL team was going to carry several international players with the wide-eyed view of increasing revenues from worldwide TV rights. What a fantasy? Cost the league millions. And how about that 10th CFL team in the Maritimes? Go Schooners!

We’ve advocated for years the CFL should be focusing on a comprehensive partnership with the NFL. Forget about the rules already! Try survival. Awarding a single point for a failed field goal is the stupidest rule in professional sports. Goodbye rouge! It’s been nice. Simon Fraser University went to four-down football in order to play in a U.S. college division. That worked out great.

The CFL’s best path to long-term survival is to serve as a feeder league to the NFL. We’ve said it before and it bears repeating. All the players currently on NFL practice squads could actually be getting game action instead of sitting on the sidelines. Makes complete sense. Every CFL team could have multiple affiliations with NFL teams. If that were the case, I don’t think Bo Levi Mitchell would still be hanging around the CFL. The league might actually be developing some young quarterbacks instead of recycling the same names. Trevor Harris has played on five CFL teams.

It will be interesting to watch the next sucker who takes over. There will be more promises. More false hopes. What we do know is the league is desperate for new fans. The current fan base consists of white males over 50. In fact, most have probably reached retirement age. If the new commissioner can’t connect with the kids in Canada who are addicted to NFL Fantasy Football and with those who bet on games, good luck changing the league’s fortunes. That’s the future fan base. Wake up and do something about it. Otherwise, the fan base will age out in ten years.

Seahawks Notebook – In looking at the Seahawks roster to start the season, we thought this season would be a rebuilding year. Especially with a new coaching staff. Problem is the organization has continued to act as though this is a contending team.

Rebuilding teams don’t hand out contracts to aging players or acquire expensive veterans in free agency. Rebuilding teams don’t trade draft picks. They stockpile them. Rebuilding teams create cap space for future seasons when younger players start to blossom and become more expensive. The Seahawks actions go against all of this. And for what? A last place finish in the NFC West because that’s where they are headed?

It’s clear now that John Schneider had a terrible off-season. You can question the coaching hire. The draft was a bust. The Seahawks signed a number of veterans in free agency including Jerome Baker, Tyrel Dodson, Laken Tomlinson, Pharaoh Brown, Nick Harris and Johnathan Hankins. None made any kind of impact. Only Tomlinson, Brown and Hankins remain on the roster and they’ve provided next to nothing. Baker and Dodson were signed to replace Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks. Both were gone by mid-season. What a sad statement!

The Seahawks keep compounding the mistakes. They reworked several contracts to convert cap space but all that does is push it into the future. Why re-sign tight end Noah Fant at over $10 million? He hasn’t caught a touchdown pass in two seasons. Rebuilding teams don’t do these things. The big lie is the Seahawks built the team this season with the idea of competing for a division title at the very least. It was a classic miscalculation and they will be paying the price for years to come.

The best thing that could happen to the Seahawks is to ‘lose out’ and select in the top ten. Maybe find a quarterback. At this point, they are a floundering organization and look mysteriously like Jody Allen’s other sports property, the Portland Trailblazers.

John Schneider did one thing right. He made the right call in releasing safeties Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs. They both landed in Tennessee and both may be done for good.  Adams was benched and later released. No team has picked him up. Diggs got hurt and won’t play again this year. It’s doubtful either player will ever land with another team.  Adams cost the Seahawks $20 million in dead money this season. Surrendering two first-round picks for Adams may be the worst deal in Seahawks history.

NFL Notebook – Who would have thought the Arizona Cardinals would have control of the NFC West? The Cards are 6-4 and lead the division. They’ve won four in a row and five of six. They will come out of the bye week to face the Seahawks twice in a matter of three weeks. How’s that for good news! Their remaining schedule includes the Vikings, Patriots, Panthers, Rams and 49’ers. Eleven wins is not out of the question. Seattle fans are asking themselves how the Cards can retool so quickly while their team struggles.  

No NFL team has done a better job of drafting in the past few years than the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams went seven years without a first-round pick. No problem. The Rams just find gems everywhere else. Cooper Kupp was a third-round pick. Puka Nacua was taken in the fifth round. Their starting running back, Kyren Williams, was a fifth-rounder. The Rams aced the 2023 draft, landing Kobie Turner and Byron Young, a pair of studs on defense, in the third round. Turner was defensive rookie-of-the-year.

This season, the Rams grabbed starting center Beaux Limmer in the sixth round. The Seahawks had several cracks at Limmer. On Friday, Seahawks center Connor Williams suddenly announced his retirement. In Seattle, finding a center has become a decade-long pursuit.

The Seahawks picked defensive tackle Byron Murphy with their top pick this year, 16th overall. The Rams picked pass rusher Jared Verse three picks later. Murphy’s been OK. Verse is an alpha male who may be this year’s defensive rookie-of-the-year.

Consider this. Last year, the Seahawks passed on Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter due to off-field issues. Carter has managed to remain off the police blotter and is now one of the top interior linemen in the NFL. It’s revisionist history but what would the Seahawks look like right now if they had Carter and Verse in their front seven?

If any NFL team is considering drafting Shedeur Sanders, it should come with a warning. The Colorado quarterback is the son of Buffaloes head coach and former NFL diva Deion Sanders. Papa Sanders is already trying to control where his son may play. Mock drafts have the kid getting drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders. Good place for him. Plenty of dysfunction. Sanders will fit right in. The 2024 NFL draft is considered to be very thin. Some draft experts don’t have any quarterbacks rated in the first round. You know that won’t be the case. Sanders will probably be drafted in the top ten whether he deserves it or not.

ESPN blowhard Rex Ryan is already touting Deion Sanders as the next coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Can you imagine the three-ring circus if Sanders is hired by Jerry Jones? You think things are out of control now in Big D? Wait till Deion comes to town.

With the Bills and Chiefs set to clash on Sunday in Buffalo, you can’t help but reflect on how easy both teams have had it in perennially weak divisions. Since taking the mantle from the New England Patriots, the Bills have won four straight AFC East titles. This year will make it five straight. The Chiefs have won eight straight AFC West titles. This year will make it nine in a row. Maybe things will eventually become more competitive for K.C. now that the Chargers and Broncos have solid coaches in place. Over the past five years, the Chiefs are 26-5 within the division.

It does appear as though the Chargers and Broncos are doing it the right way. Both teams are running the football with authority. Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton are building strong offensive lines. Hello Seattle. Are you paying attention? The Chargers and Broncos may not make the playoffs this season but the days of the Chiefs having it easy may soon be over.

Guess we shouldn’t be surprised that Shane Waldron has been fired as offensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears. He failed as OC in Seattle and now he’s gone in Chicago after only ten months. Number one overall draft pick Caleb Williams has shown little progress and the Bears are at or near the bottom in almost every offensive category including total yards (30th). Willliams should have never started this season as a rookie. He has the worst completion percentage on throws of 15+ yards by any quarterback in any season in 15 years. He ranks 468th out of 468.

It’s sad to watch NFL teams ruin these young quarterbacks. The issues are always the same. Multiple coaching and coordinator changes. Poor offensive line. Lack of offensive playmakers. Why do teams draft quarterbacks and throw them to the wolves behind a porous offensive line? Coaches get fired and the quarterbacks end up playing for multiple coordinators and ever-changing offensive schemes. They are set up to fail. It’s happening in Chicago. It’s already happening to Anthony Richardson in Indy. Richardson was not ready to start as a rookie last season. Why not let him sit and watch while you are rebuilding the offensive line? Washington’s Jaylen Daniels is showing that rookie quarterbacks can succeed but the list of failures is a heck of a lot longer.

Daddy Issues – NFL players apparently have a lot of extra time on their hands. How do you explain the number of children some players have fathered? The leader in the clubhouse is former New York Jet Antonio Cromartie. He has a whopping 14 children with eight different women. Way to go Cro!

Former Buffalo Bills running back Travis Henry has 11 kids with ten women. He’s had big problems with child support. Tyreek Hill, the erstwhile Miami Dolphin, has an unconfirmed number of children. We know it’s between 10 and 12 with at least six women involved. Adrian Peterson, the former Minnesota Viking running back, had nine children with six different women. He’s also had multiple issues with child support despite career earnings of over $100 million according to Spotrac. Former San Diego Charger quarterback Phillip Rivers has ten children. He’s had only one wife. That’s what you call a family man.

MLB Notebook – No team in professional sports is better at creating false hope than the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays were reportedly scheduled to meet with prize free agent Juan Soto this week in California. Like Shohei Otani last off-season, it’s sure to be another big tease. Only a couple of phonies like Atkins and Shapiro would try and pull this off again.

The Dodgers are apparently out of the bidding so it will come down to the Yankees or Mets. Bank on it. Soto is not going to leave New York. No question the Jays are in panic mode. ESPN’s Buster Olney quoted an MLB executive as saying, “there’s one team that absolutely reeks of desperation, and that’s the Blue Jays.”

The Jays won the team defense award in the American League this season. Didn’t know there was such an honour. So, the Jays can catch the ball. They just can’t throw the ball or hit the ball.

You would think the Jays would be focusing on re-signing Vladdy Guerrero Jr. instead of a publicity-seeking pursuit of Juan Soto. TSN’s Steve Phillips outlined what the Jays should be doing to get Vladdy under contract.

https://www.tsn.ca/mlb/a-blueprint-for-the-blue-jays-to-get-guerrero-deal-done-1.2202169

Head Hunting – There was a day when the ‘brush-back pitch’ was an integral part of baseball. It was called ‘chin music.’ Pitchers had the liberty of moving players off the plate by throwing high and tight inside. You want to lean over the plate? “I’m going to move you back.” It was an accepted part of the game.

That’s all history now. MLB has legislated it out of the game and it was a mistake. Pitchers who are deemed to be intentionally throwing inside can be tossed out of the game. What’s resulted is showboating is readily accepted. In fact, it’s even encouraged. The fans eat it up. If I was a pitcher, I would be livid.

Do you think Bob Gibson would have put up with the bat-flipping and the 30-second home run trots? He would have taken somebody’s lid off with the next pitch. Pitchers like Gibson had pinpoint control. If they wanted to brush a hitter back, they could do it easily without endangering the batter. You could argue that today’s pitchers don’t have that level of control but it still makes no sense to take away their ability to keep a hitter honest.

Watch what happens. Bat flipping will be standard practice. Pitchers will retaliate. Hitters will charge the mound and bench-clearing brawls will result. Baseball has brought this upon themselves. It’s all about scoring runs and putting up numbers.

Random Leftovers – Team Canada star Jonathan David has quietly turned into one of the top goal scorers in European soccer. The 24-year-old centre-forward is playing with Lille in the top French league. He’s scored seven times in 11 Le Ligue games. More impressively, David scored four goals in UEFA Champions League play and another four goals in Champions League qualifying. David’s market value has been set at 45 million Euros for transfer purposes which makes him the second-highest valued player in Le Lique. Don’t be surprised if an English Premier League team comes calling in the next transfer window.

If they ever complete the investigation into the drone scandal involving Canada Soccer, it’s doubtful John Herdman will survive as coach of Toronto FC. Someone will have to take the fall and all fingers point to Herdman. Bev Priestman, the women’s team coach, has been axed permanently for her role in the scandal. Herdman has somehow managed to be interviewed to this point which seems absolutely incomprehensible.

Don’t shed a tear for Lionel Messi and Inter Miami, Major League Soccer’s biggest-spending team. They were ousted by Atlanta United in the opening round of the MLS Cup playoffs in what has to be the biggest upset in league history. But was it really an upset? For whatever reason, Atlanta was a matchup nightmare for Inter Miami this season, beating Messi and company three times, all with Messi in the lineup.  Messi earned more than $20 million from Inter Miami this season which was about $5 million more than the entire Atlanta roster.

A footnote to our comments on the Hockey Hall of Fame. Contributor Dave Kittle made a good point by comparing the HHOF to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who also seem compelled to induct someone every year whether deserved or not. The 2024 RRHOF inductees include Kool & the Gang. Really? You can go down the list of previous inductees and it reads more like a Hall of Good rather than a Hall of Great.

The Athletic recently published an article speculating why Mogilny continues to be overlooked for the Hall. Mogilny is basically portrayed as a malingering ‘quitter.’ If he was such a quitter, then how did he win everything possible in the game including a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold, World Championship gold and World Junior gold?

It made us think of Brett Hull who was voted into the Hall of Fame but gave little effort defensively. In a year where Hull once scored 72 goals, he was a minus-2 on the season. That’s hard to do unless you absolutely give no effort on one half of the ice. Here’s the Athletic article on Mogilny.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5903517/2024/11/11/alexander-mogilny-hockey-hall-of-fame-snub/

Bernhard Langer is incredible. He’s a machine. Langer won the season-ending event on the PGA Champions Tour which may not seem like a big deal at first glance. But here’s the thing. Langer has now won at least one event on the Tour for 18 straight years. He’s 67 and still in amazing shape. It was his 47th career victory, a tour record. What’s even more incredible, Langer won just eight months after tearing his left Achilles while playing pickleball. He also extended his record as the tour’s oldest winner.

YouTube Music Videos – You have to love YouTube. Music lovers can spend hours searching around for old videos of artists they admire. It’s amazing what you can dig up. This week, we stumbled upon old video of Steely Dan appearing on The Midnight Special. The video contains two appearances on the show in 1973. Only diehard fans would notice that the lead singer on the first song is a guy named David Palmer. He would be let go by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker a short time later. Palmer handled vocals on the song ‘Dirty Work’ off the band’s first album ‘Can’t Buy a Thrill.’

https://youtu.be/zgQuAkm9QEE?si=6-W9_mNnwOywQr3P

We also came across a great video featuring Mick Fleetwood and Friends performing the Elmore James classic ‘Shake Your Moneymaker.’ Have a listen and see how many of the performers you can name. It’s an all-star lineup.

https://youtu.be/dIQIIJis7Mg?si=8c5eEzoG1kWUgPcp

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