Scruffy’s This N That

YOU CAN’T DO THAT CONNOR:  Connor McDavid got suspended three games for losing his cool at the end of an Edmonton loss last Saturday night to Vancouver by cross-checking Conor Garland in the face. You simply can’t do that. Everyone knows it and like every other NHL’er he is paying the price even though number 97 is not like every other NHL’er.

The thing is if referees Wes McCauley and Chris Lee would have blown the whistle about 10-15 seconds previous and whistled Garland for interference or something for tackling McDavid and not letting him up, there would be no need for McDavid to punch Garland in the back of the head or for Garland to eat lumber.

Refs don’t have an easy job in patrolling what happens on the ice, but it simply amazes me how much they let get away when it comes to the game’s top players. Guys like McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, Kirill Kaprizov and yes, Auston Matthews take a lot of crap out on the ice and while a power play should come because of fouls against them, it doesn’t.  We have seen these players lose it and get suspended because of it and Saturday night was no different with McDavid.

The league tries to tell us player safety is at the top of their list, but we continually see that isn’t the case or the striped shirts aren’t getting the message. That was proven again Saturday night. Call an interference penalty and we don’t see the ugliness we saw. It’s as simple as that.

WHO’S NEXT? The NHL hasn’t had to look for a new top dog for quite a while, but the time has apparently come. Word leaked out this week that Gary Bettman is planning on retiring in the next couple of years.

You can say what you want about Bettman, but he has grown the league from 24 to 32 teams and seen the NHL’s annual revenues grow from about $400 million to a projected $6.6 billion in 2024-25 — a new league record.

Yes, his desire to have the NHL in Arizona has backfired many times but make no doubt about it: without Bettman, the Oilers, Jets and Flames would not be around. Bettman helped Rogers Place become reality. He helped the new rink project in Calgary become reality and he was key in having Winnipeg be part of the NHL roster again.

Hockey fans love to boo him, but those in Western Canada should be thanking him and hoping the new guy is as big on keeping the league in Canada and maybe expanding to Canada (Quebec City, Hamilton).

HURRICANES CREATE WAVES:  Sooooooo, I guess the Carolina Hurricanes now have to be looked at as solid Stanley Cup contenders? That was quite the trade Friday night as the Canes picked up Mikko Rantanen from Colorado and Taylor Hall from Chicago with Martin Necas going to Colorado. This is the business of hockey slapping you right in the kisser. Rantanen and the Avalanche obviously weren’t going to come to terms on a new contract, so Colorado made what they feel is the best move possible by dealing him. Carolina now may have the edge in the Eastern Conference as they look to win the Stanley Cup. Can someone also please explain how Chicago retains 50 percent of Rantanen’s deal in this deal? There has to be something more to that.

This also makes me wonder what Vancouver does when it comes to the JT Miller situation. Now that we have seen the market is like, what can Vancouver expect to get back?

ARE THE DODGERS RUINING BASEBALL? Many would say yes, they are, and I would be one of them. Over the last year, the Dodgers have made one signing after another to I think replace the Yankees as the most hated team in the majors. The signings of players like Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman catapulted the team to a World Series championship last year and they are the odds-on favourite to win it all again this season after adding the likes of Blake Snell, Tanner Scott and Japanese pitching sensation Roki Sasaki.

Baseball is the last of the major North American pro leagues that doesn’t have a salary cap or a floor. The difference between the Dodgers — who currently carry a payroll in the $375 million range — and the next-highest team, the Philadelphia Phillies, is nearly $70 million. That’s to say nothing of the gap between the Dodgers and the 30th-ranked Miami Marlins which is around $300 million. The $120 million or so the Dodgers are in line to pay in luxury-tax penalties on top of their payroll is more than the projected Opening Day payroll of 10 teams. Who’s kidding who –  a lot of teams are out of it on Opening Day when the first pitch is thrown. That isn’t right—at least not to me.

The current CBA expires after the 2026 season. Baseball needs to fix a problem that some in the sport say isn’t there. They say in the last 25 years, the team with the largest payroll in baseball has won the World Series just four times. Over the last 15 years, it’s just twice. I am guessing that will be five times in 26 years and three times in 16 years come October. Who would literally bet against the Dodgers right now? Seeing them not make the playoffs would be great for the sport, but do you realistically see that happening unless injuries decimate this squad.

Baseball has until the final pitch of the 26 season to get this figured out. If not, we might not see baseball in 27 for who knows how long.

THE GOOD OF SPORTS: Ravens tight end Mark Andrews will go down in NFL history as having one of the biggest playoff blunders. His drop at the end of last Sunday’s game against Buffalo will never surpass Scott Norwood’s missed field goal or the inane decision by Seahawks coach Pete Carroll to throw from the one and not run it in, but it is right up there.

Andrews has been skewered by many as expected and he has taken responsibility for his drop. What is great about this story is the way Buffalo fans, who for the most part are good ones, have responded.

In an effort to support Andrews, Bills fans started a charitable drive that has led to over $100,000 in donations to Breakthrough T1D, an organization that works toward curing and improving the lives of those, like Andrews, who are dealing with Type 1 diabetes.

It isn’t the first time we have seen an NFL club’s fanbase get behind an opposing players charity and helping out. There is a lot of bad in sports these days, but there is a lot of good as well and this is a prime example.

By the way, Buffalo had 1:33 left on the clock when Andrews dropped the ball for what would have been a tie. Do we really think Josh Allen wouldn’t have led the team into at least a field goal position for the win?

MAHOMES AND THE STRIPES: Was Will Anderson of the Houston Texans wrong when he said it was the Texans against the Chiefs and the refs following his team’s loss to KC last weekend? Yes it was as one could point to eight sacks, a missed FG and a missed point after and other things as reasons why Houston lost.  One can not doubt though that the Chiefs were given two favourable roughing the passer calls that prolonged drives that led to points. We have seen it before and we will keep seeing it.  NFL officials have assessed 47 penalties against the Chiefs in the fourth quarters and overtimes of one-score games over the past two seasons, including playoffs. Those same officials have assessed 48 penalties against the Chiefs’ opponents in those same critical situations.

Let’s not forget the facts that the Chiefs were the ones to complain against officiating especially after a loss to Buffalo last year when a touchdown was negated due to an offside penalty that wiped out a Travis Kelce lateral to a teammate for a touchdown.

The optics are there to say KC is getting the benefit of the doubt. The league sees it too. If they didn’t, I am guessing Clete Blackman wouldn’t be officiating this weekend’s AFC Championship. When he is the head ref, the Chiefs are 6-5 and in the past 130 games, KC is 104-26. Do the math. I am guessing the last thing the NFL wants is to see the Chiefs benefit from a call this weekend, but if they do it comes from a referee that isn’t easy for Patrick and company.

THE FINAL FOUR: Many NFL fans don’t want Kansas City playing for the Super Bowl.  If KC makes it, they don’t want them playing Philadelphia. Will that be our Super Bowl matchup? Here are a couple of game notes for Championship Sunday.

• The No. 6 seed Washington Commanders defeated the No. 3 seed Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wild Card Weekend and the No. 1 seed Detroit Lions in the Divisional playoffs. With a win against No. 2 seed Philadelphia, Washington can become the third team ever to defeat the top three seeds in their conference in a single postseason and the third No. 6 seed to reach the Super Bowl, joining the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers (won Super Bowl XL) and 2010 Green Bay Packers (won Super Bowl XLV).
• The Kansas City Chiefs are the fourth reigning back-to-back Super Bowl champion to reach the Conference Championship game, joining the 1992-93 Dallas Cowboys, 1988-89 San Francisco 49ers and 1974-75 Pittsburgh Steelers, and can be the first to return to the Super Bowl. With a win, the Chiefs can become the fourth team to reach three consecutive Super Bowls, joining the 1990-93 Buffalo Bills (four consecutive), 1971-73 Miami Dolphins (three) and 2016-18 New England Patriots (three).
• Including the postseason, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni has won 52 games since being hired as Philadelphia’s head coach in 2021 and is one of two head coaches with at least 50 wins in his first four seasons, including the playoffs, along with George Seifert (57 wins). With a win, Sirianni can join Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs and Mike Tomlin as the only head coaches to make the Super Bowl in two of his first four seasons.
• Bills quarterback Josh Allen has 83 career victories, including the playoffs, in his first seven NFL seasons. With a win on Sunday, he can surpass Russell Wilson (83 wins) for the second-most wins by a quarterback ever in his first seven seasons, including the postseason. Only Patrick Mahomes (89 wins in first seven seasons) has more.

For what it’s worth, I have Philly winning a close one and Buffalo taking down Kansas City.

ROOTING FOR ONE OF THE GOOD ONES:  Its never ideal getting the opportunity you want because someone gets fired, but that is what is happening in Estevan. The SJHL’s Bruins decided to part ways with Head Coach Jason Tatarnic this past week.  It made me wonder what this meant for all-around good guy Drew Kocur and if his days in Estevan were done? I got my answer quite quickly as the Bruins announced they were promoting Drew to interim HC and general manager.

This kid has worked hard to get to where he is and Estevan won’t be his final stop. Things obviously haven’t gone well for the Bruins this year, but I’m hoping Drew can turn things around and keep building that resume.

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• Jayden Daniels may not win the Super Bowl this year, but does anyone think this guy doesn’t have a Super Bowl title or two in his future? I will make a small investment on the Commanders to win next year’s big game.
• How do we feel about Alexander Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goal record and could Ovie hit 1000 before he is done?
• Is Rogers Communications really looking at getting into the Regina radio market?
• How many Riders fans are going back and looking at their social media for the anti-Andrew Harris statements they made when and after he was suspended? #awkward

That’s all I got! Have a great week!