The Monday Morning Goalie For SUDS
Truth & Rumours For SUDS Car Wash
1. HOME STRETCH: The passing of the NHL’s Trade Deadline on Friday (Colorado won it by the way) officially marked the start of the stretch drive in the 2025-26 NHL season. Hold onto your hats! There are some wild things going on like the fact that, as of today, the Buffalo Sabres lead the Atlantic Division while the Anaheim Ducks lead the Pacific Division. In fact the Sabres and Ducks are two of seven teams currently in playoff spots who missed the playoffs last year. It says here that’s a boon for the NHL, however having only two Canadian teams in playoff spots (Edmonton & Montreal) today feels like a gutpunch.
2. DEADLINE ANALYSIS: While some are saying this year’s Deadline was a dud, I disagree. There were 20 trades involving 33 players and that offers plenty to dissect. Scruffy said the Vegas Golden Knights did “nothing” but that’s not true. Vegas acquired Rasmus Andersson from Calgary weeks ago, and also added Nic Dowd and Cole Smith this week. In fact the Dowd deal underscored a major theme for this year: Old Guys Rule. Dowd is 35 years old and has Stanley Cup credentials. 37-year old Tyler Myers went from Vancouver to Dallas. 40-year old Corey Perry went from LA to Tampa Bay. What’s the message? There’s no substitute for experience, especially this time of year.
3. INSIDER TRADING: I’m sure most of you don’t follow the media trends the way I do, but the role of the “insider” is now the sexiest thing in our trade. Bob McKenzie was the pioneer of the position. Those guys get paid the most, and just think of them like the aces on a baseball team’s pitching staff. But it ain’t easy. I’ve seen “Insider Rankings” coming out of this Trade Deadline and it appears Sportsnet’s Elliott Friedman tops most of those lists. He didn’t have to scrape any egg off his face, but I can point to two big media names who did. Here’s the two suckiest things in sports these days: 1) Screenshots, and 2) Things change. You can be 100% correct with your report, then be made to look like a fool within an hour or a day. Again, it ain’t easy at all. The newspaper columnists and late night sports anchors used to be the rockstars of this business. Not anymore.
4. WHAT ABOUT BOB: Case in point, because our Cats N Bolts Podcast has become the go-to source for Florida NHL info, I was unintentionally sent all the info on the Sergei Bobrovsky situation (meaning I certainly didn’t ask for it). Turns out it was exactly what I thought, yet the info being spun by the insiders was pretty much entirely wrong. Suffice it to say this: Bob didn’t want to be traded, but Panthers GM Bill Zito wouldn’t be doing his job if he didn’t explore what trade options available. In the end, Bob stayed and will sign here this summer. Everyone’s happy. End of story!
5. REMARKABLE FEATS: In my commentary this week I noted how the NHL’s popularity is at an all-time high and the credit has to go to the young stars. They’re doing some unbelievable things. Buffalo’s Tage Thompson (they’re calling him “TNT”) is on an 11-game point streak. He’s the seventh player in the past 30 years of Sabres history to hit a double digit point streak. The others? Jack Eichel, Tim Connolly, Derek Roy, Sam Reinhart, Jason Pominville & Daniel Briere. … Macklin Celebrini’s 89 points in San Jose are the 9th-most by a teenager in a single season and he still has 20 or so games to go. Gretzky’s 137 points in 1979-80 are the most. #8 on the list is Dale Hawerchuk’s 91 points in 1982-83 with Winnipeg. … Islanders rookie #1 pick Matthew Schaeffer notched his 46th point Saturday night, moving him past Scott Stevens for the 7th-most points by a teenaged defenceman in a season. Phil Housley has the record with 66.
6. NFL CHAOS: The NFL’s 2026 business season opens on Wednesday and that comes with the opening of Free Agency at 4:00 pm ET. Wanna know what the NFL salary cap is this season? Make sure you’re sitting down. It’s $301,200,000. … Perhaps somewhat oddly, quarterbacks are NOT at the top of most lists of the top available free agents. Bengals rush end Trey Hendrickson is #1 on most lists (I bet the Cowboys get him), followed by Ravens centre Tyler Linderbaum, Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd, Bucs cornerback Jamel Dean and Super Bowl MVP, Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker.
7. MR. RODGERS: 42-year old Aaron Rodgers may not be at the top of the available quarterbacks list, but he’s certainly on the list. It’s endlessly fun kicking around possible destinations and while Pittsburgh and Minnesota are the most-mentioned landing spots for the 4x NFL MVP, RP Show Football Friday analyst Mike Davis (Head Coach & GM of the IFL’s Vegas Knight Hawks) mentioned Vegas as a possibility. Mike – who spent five years with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in various roles during the Chris Jones regime – said, if he was the Raiders, he’d trade the #1 overall pick in next month’s draft for a package of needs and give the ball to Aaron Rodgers. See how these personnel guys think differently than us media and fans? The Vegas Knight Hawks are the reigning IFL champions and Mike’s wife Renee is from Regina.We got to be close friends with the Riders and Mike is filling the spot, quite capably, vacated by Jim Barker on our Friday shows. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s in Vegas, where the RP Show airs daily at 9:00 pm on Silver State Sports.
8. CFL COMBINE: North of the border, attention is shifting toward the Canadian Football League combine circuit. For many prospects it was the most important week of their football careers. A strong performance in the testing drills can dramatically improve draft stock. Eight players advanced from the regional combine in Waterloo, ON on Friday to the national combine in Edmonton March 27-29. The CFL’s doing a nice event in the City of Champions, including a gala where the 2025 Coach of the Year (Corey Mace) will be announced as well as the inaugural Ted Goveia Football Operations Award winner. Wish I could be there!
Meanwhile here are my post-Free Agency CFL Power Rankings: Saskatchewan, Montreal, Hamilton, BC, Winnipeg, Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Ottawa.
9. PLAY BALL!: Panama pounced on three Team Canada errors in the sixth inning, scoring three times en route to a 4-3 victory at the World Baseball Classic on Sunday in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Canada, which started play in Pool A on Saturday with an 8-2 win over Colombia, was outhit 11-9 by Panama and left 10 runners stranded on base. Canada plays unbeaten Puerto Rico on Tuesday. … There have already been some great stories in this WBC and the tourney is only a few days old! Such as the high school pitcher who faced USA star Aaron Judge (the Yankees slugger singled), Rod Black’s kid Tyler – an infielder for the Brewers – suiting up for Team Canada, and so much more. Did you know Ernie Whitt is Canada’s manager but is actually from Detroit? … You’ll enjoy it if you tune in.
10: RANDOM THOUGHTS: Matt Dunstone’s curling team from Winnipeg, Manitoba has won the Brier. Dunstone defeated Alberta’s Kevin Koe 6-3 in Sunday night’s final in St. John’s. Dunstone, Colton Lott, E-J Harnden and Ryan Harnden will represent Canada at the men’s world championship later this month in Ogden, Utah. … Don’t judge a book by its cover. … What you see is what you get. … Liz Measner should be in the Riders Plaza of Honour. … COVID ruined April Fool’s Day. Don’t even bother. … Ric Flair was married four times. … The RP Show has moved to 10 am Sask Time beginning Monday. … New Florida Gators football coach John Sumrall has a new appreciation for the gator chomp. Sumrall got hissed and snapped at while posing for promotional pictures with a live alligator this week. “I’m pretty certain I’d look like Chubbs from Happy Gilmore if the alligator had gotten close to my hand,” Sumrall joked following his first spring practice at Florida. “Yeah, that was cool, man.” The alligator was named Helena and was from a nearby gator farm. She may have been relatively friendly, but she was far from trained. She walked in and out of shots while Sumrall flipped a football — and eventually turned on the former Troy and Tulane head coach. “As soon as I started to get kind of comfortable … I’m like, ‘All right, this thing isn’t going to do anything crazy, I don’t think.’ I get 4 or 5 feet away and it starts to kind of hiss a little and it snaps,” he said. “I’m like, ‘What the hell is going on? I’m out of here.’” … AND HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?
Y’er welcome,
RP
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Rod said. “Macklin Celebrini’s 89 points in San Jose are the 9th-most by a teenager in a single season and he still has 20 or so games to go.”
That Celebrini is something else. The Oilers have spent years trying to find someone other than Leon Draisaitl that can play with Connor McDavid At the Olympics it took Celebrini half a shift to figure that out. If he was in the East he’d be the star of the show.
Speaking of Scott Stevens, can you imagine him in his prime lining up Connor McDavid at the blue line as McDavid tries to enter in the offensive zone with his straight standup skating style? Bam! 💥🤪😵🤕 McDavid never the same thereafter.