Stackhouse’s 10 Easter Thoughts

2 – TAVARES TAXES – John Tavares is in a tax dispute with Revenue Canada and we wonder why professional hockey players put the Canadian teams on their no-trade list.  At issue is a $15-million signing bonus to which the government feels it worked harder than Tavares at getting it so they are wanting him to pay $8-million in taxes.  I know there are some of you reading this who are highly jealous of those with money but under no circumstances should a government be entitled to more than 50% of your earnings. 

3 – CANUCKS REPORTER BANNED – Independent Vancouver Canucks media personality Trevor Beggs has had his media credentials revoked after he went with a story revolving around the family that owns the Canucks being involved in a legal matter with the US Government over a vineyard the family owns in Washington.  Beggs’ removal from the press box should serve as a reminder to fans who hinge on every word uttered by these so-called ‘insiders’ during hockey game intermissions and pre-game shows.  All of the content is vetted before hand and nothing truly critical is ever going to be discussed.  The guys on Sportsnet and TSN would never endanger their own press passes in exchange for credibility nor will any of them come to the defense of Beggs, who I give credit for trying to do an actual real story.  So much for the NHL media sticking together.

4 – DUBAS MOVES ON – Full marks to Pittsburgh Penguins GM Kyle Dubas for his comments regarding Cruz Lucius, an NCAA prospects of the Penguins who was playing hard ball on signing a contract.  Dubas said he’s not going to beg anyone to play in Pittsburgh despite the fact Lucius was a key piece the Pens acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade with Carolina.  Dubas said Lucius isn’t signing for ‘a few reasons that are up to him to share’.  He will become an unrestricted free agent this summer and it’ll be interesting to see where he lands and if he actually makes it as an NHLer.

5 – NCAA RULE CHANGE – Meanwhile, the NCAA is considering a proposal that would ban athletes from playing if they have been drafted in a professional sports league.  This would, seemingly, stop players like Porter Martone from jumping ship in the major junior ranks to head to the NCAA.  However, the NHL is finalizing details that would allow a player like Martone to play in the AHL as opposed to returning to junior or the NCAA so it doesn’t look like the WHL is going to benefit from this.  In fact, with players like Gavin McKenna going to the NCAA for their draft eligible season and then players being allowed to play in the AHL after they drafted I am left to wonder what will become of the calibre of play in major junior going forward.

6 – RUSH UPDATE – The Saskatchewan Rush were off this week but they got some help from the Buffalo Bandits, who blew out the Vancouver Warriors on Saturday night and now there are six teams all within a game of each other as we head into the final two weeks.  The Rush will host two of those other five teams to close out the year as Colorado will be here next Saturday and then the Toronto Rock come to town to end the regular season.  The Rush will be in the playoffs, but a first round home date is now very much up in the air despite the Rush being at the top of the standings for most of the year.  As far as tiebreakers go, the Rush would be in third place if the season ended today but if they win their final two games, that should be enough to come first as they hold a tiebreaker advantage over Vancouver and Georgia.

7 – CFL TV – We are a little more than a month away from the opening of CFL training camps and there is still no announcement or even any buzz concerning a new broadcast deal with TSN.  The current contract is worth $50-million a year to the league and the CFL Commissioner comes from TSN so you’d think this would be a, relatively, easy business transaction to close.  There’s no reason to panic yet but I do wonder if the league can command the same price tag, especially in the current economic climate where nobody in this country seems to be the least bit concerned about how bills get paid.  

8 – BASEBALL DECISIONS – Nobody else will point this out but the Chicago Cubs are putting Cade Horton on the injured list with a forearm issue despite Horton only throwing 75 pitches in his first start.  Horton tossed 17 pitches in start number two before being removed and, immediately, put on the IL so the question should be asked yet again, ‘why are we even counting pitches’? Meanwhile in other baseball decisions that defy logic, Blue Jay hurler Lazaro Estrada pitched 4-shutout innings on Saturday and left the game against the White Sox with a 3-2 lead (another puzzling decision was to not start Estrada but rather go with Mason Fluharty in the first inning and he surrendered two runs) as they went to the bottom of the sixth, but Brendon Little, who hasn’t been effective for over half a season, was tasked with protecting a one run lead and it was, quickly, squandered and the Jays lost 6-3.

9 – RACIST NICKNAME – Chicago White Sox play by play John Schriffen is taking some criticism for an apparent racist nickname for first basemen Munetaka Murakami.  Schriffen dubbed him the South Side Samurai but upon further review this name has racist overtones.  I haven’t been able to pinpoint how and scouring social media, it would appear 99% of those commenting don’t understand what makes this a racist remark either but Schriffen is, widely, unpopular as an announcer so perhaps this will be used to not renew his contract when it ends in October.

10 – MOON LANDING – Former NFLer and current radio announcer Greg McElroy made public comments this week saying he believed there is a 0% chance American astronauts went to the moon in 1969.  While there are plenty who think McElroy wears a tinfoil hat, I would just say that these national governments have lied about so much for as long as time can trace and you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t, at least, question what you have always been told is the truth.  For those in the cheap seats, I’m not saying we never went to the moon but I am saying I don’t just accept that we did because some government says so.  I also wonder that if we could do it in 1969, why isn’t it a near common experience by 2026?

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on X/Twitter at @Stack1975)