SCRUFFY’S THIS N’ THAT

Welcome to Friday and the usual thoughts running through my muddled mind. As always, they come in no particular order:

–If the intention of whomever gave Justin Dunk the information about reducing the Canadian player ratio in the CFL was to divide the union, then mission accomplished. Since that news came out there have been a thousand different takes on it. A lot of them are solid arguments on both sides. 

There are plenty of quality Canadians who have shown they can play the game whether it be on this side of the border or in the NFL. There needs to be a spot for these Canadians to play. It is as simple as that. You can argue all you want on a variety of other things and at the end of the day, you will be right in some areas and wrong in the other. There is a lot of gray area. 

The thing that gets me is the outrage of the fans.  Hardcore CFL fan or not, the bottom line is 90 percent of you don’t care where a player is from, you just care about how good he is and whether or not he can help your team win. The proof in that is the fact many of you thumb your nose at University and Junior Football. You show that by not attending games whether it be in Regina, Calgary, Edmonton or Winnipeg. I have said time and time again that Canada West Football produces players that you have no idea about until they are drafted. When that narrative begins to change, then the fans discord on the ratio will matter, but right now it doesn’t.

I don’t think the ratio should change. I think it could go up a couple because there are a lot of players who either don’t get the chance they deserve with their current team or they simply don’t get a chance period.   If the idea is to reduce Canadians to add Mexicans, Germans, Italians etc. etc than that is wrong as well.

If the league and the PA are serious on this topic, they are walking a very slippery slope and one that could have drastic repercussions at the grassroots level.

–I have to admit I was surprised to see Dakoda Shepley sign on with the Riders when he did.  I thought he would take another shot at finding NFL employment. Shepley is a beast. He was a force at UBC ( again many would know that if they watched the T-Birds play when he was there) .  He makes what is a solid Rider o-line even better.  Add with him Labatte, Bladek, Blake and Clark and the Canadian depth the green-and-white have in that area may be the league’s best.

–The first CFL mock draft I have seen is out. Mock drafts are what they are and we all know you can’t put a lot of stock into them, but the one on CFL.ca has the Riders taking DL Robbie Smith from Laurier.  Is DL an area of need for the green-and-white when it comes to Canadian talent? You can never go wrong with an o-lineman and as always there are a lot out there, but I would like to see the team maybe upgrade its Canadian talent at RB. There are a couple of good Canadian RB’s out there in Maleek Irons and Brady Oliviera, but I don’t know if you take either at 6. It’s always at this time of year when I am fascinated by what goes through organization’s minds and the mock draft after mock draft after mock draft that they engage themselves in. I would love to be able to sit in a war room one night and watch things go down.

–A video of Johnny Manziel has surfaced in which he talks about the CFL. Some believe Manziel is cutting down the league in his interview with reporters in Memphis. I think he is being kind. He talks about the 12th man and how uncomfortable he was up here,

–Mike Trout is making $430 million to play baseball.  I’ll just leave this here.

–Opening day is now less than a week away.  Who’s taking next Thursday off?

–It’s time to get real in the WHL as the playoffs begin tonight. The Moose Jaw-Saskatoon series should be fascinating. On one side of the blueline is a Moose Jaw team that has not had a lot of playoff success with some very good teams—teams better than this one against a Blades squad that is stacked and has not been to the playoffs for a while. I could give you a lot of reasons as to why Saskatoon wins and a lot of reasons as to why Moose Jaw does. This should be a great matchup. It’s a coin toss to me, but I will take Saskatoon just for the fact I think they have the better goalie in Nolan Maier. Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to go to WHL Live to watch some playoff games around here? The fact the WHL doesn’t have a TV deal outside of the one Access has with the Pats is just wrong. It hurts the overall product.

–The Tampa Bay Lightning have already clinched first place in the NHL overall standings. They are the team many figure will win the Stanley Cup and for good reason. With the season they are having, do they deserve to be called one of the best of all-time. You have to win 16 games in the playoffs to ensure that, but is this Tampa team as good as those Islander and Oiler teams of the 80’s the Wings of the 90s and the Habs of the 70’s?

I don’t think there is any doubt Nikita Kucherov is the league’s MVP,  but would you give Andrei Vasilevskiy the Vezina?  Would you give Jon Cooper the Coach of the Year Trophy. I wouldn’t be.  You can’t ignore what the Lightning have done this season, but are they the best team we have seen in the last few years?  I guess that debate will start if they win the Cup.

–Jaskirat Sidhu gets sentenced in Melfort today for what happened April 6, 2018.  I truly don’t know what type of sentence he will get, but whatever it is, will it be enough?  I’d like to say he will get at least 5 years.

–Motley Crue has done a remix of Madonna’s “Like A Virgin”.  Why?  I repeat why?  WHYYYYY??!!

That’s all I got.  Have a great weekend!