STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – WHAT A MESS – It’s been a couple of weeks and I’m still floored by how dysfunctional the Winnipeg Jets truly are. Their head coach was so frustrated with the players that he simply walked away from the team and now he’s at the helm of the Florida Panthers and playing for the right to advance to the Stanley Cup final.  Frankly, I think they are the favorites to win it at this point. The hockey season truly is a marathon and I can remember when the Jets were near the top of the standings and the Panthers were languishing on the outside of a playoff spot and thinking that maybe it was Paul Maurice who was the problem after all. Here we are some 55 games later and it’s clear Maurice was the only thing right about the Jets and they let him get away.  Truly incredible.

2 – JETS/LEAFS PERSPECTIVES – When the Jets bowed out of the first round, General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff pronounced how pleased and proud he was of the team and how the last few years have been a success. After all, only one team can win it all and the Jets made the playoffs most seasons. Contrast that with Toronto, who have made the playoffs each year for the last seven but there’s talk of blowing up everything from the top on down because they’ve never even sniffed the Eastern Conference final. I would suggest these two teams should make a blockbuster trade in order to solve each of their issues but both teams have the same problems: gutless stars who are shy to accept accountability for their failures.

3 – LEAFS ISSUES – When it comes to the Leafs, they are in salary cap hell. They’ve got four stars that many people are calling to have broken up, but the reality is if they go that direction, they will have to, basically, give one of them away to free up money they need to fill other holes on the roster. What we saw from Joseph Woll was not much, but the Leafs may have to hope he’s the answer in goal because they just don’t have the money under the cap to spend on a proven star. They also need a defenseman who can fire it up from the point but those players don’t just grow on trees. Then there is the whole issue of heart and character.  

4 – BABCOCK BAD DEAL – Remember when Mike Babcock was a bad man for trying to motivate Mitch Marner? It’s important to revisit this in light of the Leafs’ star vanishing in the playoffs year after year. Sure, Marner was 19 but he’s still a grown up and should be treated as such. If he can’t handle some tough love, go back to junior. Here we are 50 playoff games later and Marner has 9 goals. Meanwhile Babcock hasn’t coached since his exercise in motivation was made public because society deems such tactics as degrading as they don’t understand the professional sports workplace isn’t the same as everywhere else no matter how hard they try to make it be. The Leafs, under Brendan Shanahan, have stressed political correctness as an organization but had they stood behind Babcock, my guess is that they’d be a lot closer to a Cup than what they have been since they sent him on his way. Now, we have a team grasping to find a new way to win and who’s the first name I heard this weekend to be their next head coach in the event they make a change? Joel Quenneville. The jokes make themselves.

5 – UNPOPULAR SHANAHAN TAKE – Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment were duped by Shanahan in a couple of ways. First, they hired him despite Shanahan having no experience whatsoever as the President of a hockey team. He retired from playing, somehow got a job with the NHL Head Office, and then was hired to fix the Leafs. From there, he ensured long term job security by preaching a rebuild that was going to take, minimum, 5 years. To this day, you have many fans who truly believe it takes that long to become competitive. I will point to the 2022-23 New Jersey Devils, who appeared to be going the wrong way with a winning percentage of .402 in 2021 and .384 in 2022 only to post a .683 winning percentage in 2023. Teams can be built very, very quickly if you really want to win. Shanahan assembled a very expensive group of managers but then whittled it down to just Kyle Dubas, who had no previous NHL experience and Dubas hired his buddy, Sheldon Keefe to be head coach and Keefe also had no NHL experience. So you have three people in charge of the NHL’s richest franchise and they are, supposedly, desperate for success and none of them have any experience at the NHL level at the jobs they’ve been assigned. We are surprised this hasn’t gone well? Paranoid and insecure bosses hire weak people who are not a threat to them. Couple that with the constant slow and steady wins the race messaging from Shanahan and I would say this has all been about his personal job security and nothing else.  Also, according to Steve Simmons, Shanahan’s fingerprints are all over everything Dubas and Keefe have been doing for the last four years so if you are looking for a scapegoat, look at the top.

6 – HO HUM TEAMS LEFT – The Dallas Stars and Seattle Kraken will play game seven on Monday night.  The winner advances to face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference final. Should Seattle win, the NHL’s two newest franchises will be meeting with the winner going to the championship series.  Meanwhile, it’s Florida against Carolina in the East. This ought to be a ratings winner for Sportsnet (use your sarcasm detector). It’s hard to think of a worse four for Canadian NHL fans. It’s one thing to not have a Canadian team in the mix, but when none of the traditional American teams are there either, it almost feels like the season is already over.

7 – NHL DISCIPLINE – If you can figure out the NHL system for handing out suspensions, congratulations.  I’m lost. Mark Scheifele got 4 games for trying to stop another player from scoring. He hasn’t been the same since. Jordan Eberle got 2 minutes for breaking Andrew Cogliano’s neck on a hit from behind. Darnell Nurse got 1 game for ‘instigating’ a fight. Alex Pietrangelo got 1 game for skating halfway across the ice and deliberately delivering a slash to the wrist of the NHL’s best playoff player. If that’s not premeditated then nothing is.  I don’t have to agree with it, but just make it make sense.

8 – XFL TITLE GAME – Arlington Renegades quarterback Luis Perez caught fire in the postseason, throwing 6 touchdowns to 0 interceptions (over two games) in leading the Renegades to the XFL title as they beat the favored DC Defenders 35-26 on Saturday night in what looked like an old school CFL game that featured tons of offense and several exciting plays.  For those interested, the game was held in San Antonio and attendance was announced as 22,754. There are over 50 XFL players who have earned NFL tryouts as a result of the league’s inaugural season under the guidance of Dwayne Johnson, which should classify the league as a success to this point.

9 – RATTLERS TAKING SHAPE – I keep looking to see if the Saskatchewan Rattlers are losing any of last year’s players to rival teams in the CEBL and, so far, there have been none. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Tony Carr, Devonte Bandoo, Scottie Lindsay, and Jordy Tshimanga have not been resigned. The credentials of the newcomers appear to be excellent so maybe they have capable replacements. Malik Benlevi, who averaged 11.4 ppg and 6.0 rpg last year, is returning. Michael Nuga, who averaged 6.4 ppg off the bench, could assume a starting role and Anthony Tsegakele is back. He showed flashes in limited action in 2022.  6’5” guard Drake Jeffries is the most intriguing of the newbies, for me. Jeffries averaged 10.3 ppg with Wyoming (NCAA) last year. Rattlers home opener is May 31.

10 – RASMUSSEN SHELVED – On May 6th, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen tossed 5 ⅔ scoreless innings (87 pitches) against the New York Yankees.  On May 11th, Rasmussen met the Yankees again and pitched 7 innings (76 pitches) of 2 hit ball, again not allowing a single run.  On May 12th, he went on the 60 day disabled list with a bad elbow.  I don’t understand it, but it seems the more careful you are with a pitcher, the greater the chance they will get hurt.  The Rays are proof of this.  They’ve always been extra weird at pulling their starters and right now they’ve got Tyler Glasnow, Rasmussen, Jeffrey Springs, and Shane Baz all out long term.  They just got back Zack Eflin and prominent reliever Pete Fairbanks is also on the shelf.  Pitching hasn’t always been this hazardous for your health.

SUNDAY NIGHT BONUS – Ja Morant is a bad guy.  You can dissect this until the cows come home and say he has problems, etc. but the reality is that some people are just bad.  Morant is one of them.

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