MIKE STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – THE HARD “J”: The Saskatchewan Roughriders may have found a franchise quarterback in Cody Fajardo, who has thrown for 790 yards in two starts.  He has 4 touchdowns & 0 interceptions. He’s also rushed for 2 scores. It’s not Fajardo’s fault he’s faced two of the weaker teams in the league; but he looks like he can play.  There will surely be bumps along the road, but watching the Roughriders is fun again. Rider die hards can answer this better than I can, but has there ever been a Rider QB that has put up that kind of yardage in his first two starts?

2 – A STAR IS BORN: Fajardo is making Kyran Moore, Shaq Evans, Naaman Roosevelt, KD Cannon, and Cory Watson look like an imposing group.  Maybe they are, but most of them were here last year and were anything but the part. This is why I have long said you need a good QB before you can even begin to assess your talent.  A guy who is playing like Fajardo can make stars out of players you didn’t think were ones.

3 – MACK-A-DO!: Stephen McAdoo critics are where today?  I’m going to suggest a quarterback racking up 790 yards over two games didn’t do that by having a bad offensive coordinator.  Whether you like it or not, McAdoo didn’t trust Brandon Bridge and wasn’t going to let him do more than the bare minimum. I’m sure Brandon is a nice young man, but until he’s starring in this league for another team; I’m on the side of McAdoo understanding what he had for talent and doing the best he could with it.

4 – JETS GROUNDED?: The Winnipeg Jets are not a playoff team today.  They played under .500 for the last 50 games of the season and now they are minus Jacob Trouba, Tyler Myers, and Brandon Tanev.  Their replacements so far are Sami Niku, Tucker Poolman, and Mason Appleton. The replacements for Niku, Poolman, and Appleton are Logan Stanley, Nelson Nogier, and JC Lipon.  The depth has been decimated.

5 – KYLE DUBAS: I can’t stand Toronto and I don’t like to give Kyle Dubas any kind of credit; but he has to have some nasty photos to blackmail Colorado into giving him Tyson Barrie and Alex Kerfoot for Nazem Kadri and Calle Rosen AND convince the Avalanche to pay some of Barrie’s salary.  The Leafs D corp of Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, Barrie, Travis Dermott, Cody Ceci, Rasmus Sandin, and Timothy Lillegren is better than last year’s group. Dubas has cleared enough money to get the Mitch Marner deal done too.

6 – COULDA, WOULDA: The NHL isn’t a creative league so things like this would never happen, but wouldn’t it have been great to see Winnipeg work something out with Carolina so that Sebastian Aho and Patrick Laine could be reunited?  Maybe it’s in the form of a deal involving Kyle Connor going to the Hurricanes. I also thought a trade of Subban to Edmonton for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would have made a lot of sense; but the Preds just wanted to dump him so they could sign Matt Duchene.  I also thought Kadri for Trouba would have solved problems for both the Jets and Leafs.

7- NICE TAN-EV: Tanev is a really underrated player but Pittsburgh giving him $3.5-million a year for the next six years is too much when you consider Toronto only had to pony up $3.2-million to Kasperi Kapanen.

8 – CRAZY MONEY: Montreal’s offer sheet to Aho should allow the other restricted free agents to fall in line accordingly.  He’s going to get more, but Laine isn’t worth more than $11-million ($5.5m per) over 2-years on a bridge deal.  Connor isn’t worth more than $6.5-million a year, long term. Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk shouldn’t eclipse more than $7-million, while Brayden Point should be right around the same amount as Aho.  Brock Boeser is the wild card for me. When he’s healthy, he’s better than all of these guys. But, he hasn’t been healthy. Bridge deal? You have to think he gets, at least, $6.5-million.

9 – ANOTHER ANGEL: Anaheim Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died, tragically, at the age of 27 on Monday.  The Angels, oddly, are no stranger to this kind of sadness. In 2009, Nick Adenhart was killed by a drunk driver.  In 2013, Tommy Hanson committed suicide. In 2018, Luis Valbuena was killed by highway looters. Side bar – Tommy Hanson’s sister once was my waitress at a restaurant in Atlanta during a trip there years ago.

10 – HOUSE OF CARDS: The Yorkton Cardinals are 2-and-23 in the WCBL.  They will have one of the worst statistical years ever, but field manager Robbie Dombrowski is a bright baseball mind. Too bad he was dealt a bad hand because he was brought in late in the offseason.  If he returns next year the club will be markedly better. Take it to the bank. This year was all about franchise survival. Outfielder Noah Barron is worth the price of admission. He has 6 homers and is a threat to go yard every time he’s at the dish.  Meanwhile, Regina and Weyburn are both excellent clubs. Make sure you get out and see them over the course of the summer.

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