Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – PARAYKO – Defenseman Colton Parayko was traded to Buffalo but he nixed the deal, which is his right, by utilizing a no trade clause that he has in his contract.  This tells me a lot about Parayko as far as the competitive juices go.  He’s already won a Cup so he basically doesn’t give two hoots at this point whether he wins another or not.  He’s content to just hang out in St. Louis regardless of where they are in the standings and for however long.  It also makes me wonder how he ever ended up on Canada’s Olympic roster when you consider he’s a fringe (at best) player for Team Canada who isn’t of the mindset of being determined to win.  

3 – FINDING THE RAT – Blues GM Doug Armstrong, apparently, went through all of his staffers’ emails and cell phone messages to try and figure out who leaked word of the Parayko trade.  I’m not sure why it matters.  It’s not like Parayko was going to accept the trade, all he’s doing is sheltering Parayko from criticism–criticism that is much deserved.  After all, you make $6-million a year and it’s not like you have an office job.  You are paid to do your best and help a team win a championship.  To just fluff that off because you want to stay in the comfy confines of St. Louis is not something that he should be allowed to hide from.

4 – TOUGH TO TRADE WITH CANADIAN TEAMS – I was listening to one of the hockey programs on Sirius/XM following the trade deadline and one of the pundits remarked how hard it is now for Canadian teams to add to their rosters because, virtually, every player who has even a modified no trade clause is going to list all the Canadian teams as no-trade teams. I wonder why that would be.  I mean we are such a superior country with low taxes, hardly any organized crime, and a thriving economy.  It’s being speculated that in order to save the Canadian teams from becoming glorified farm clubs, the NHL may need to address the issue of no trade clauses in the next CBA.  I feel NHL players simply need to see what the ordinary citizen in Canada sees and they’d love to be moved here from some American dive.  GMs also just to be more selective on who gets this perk.  I’d argue Parayko is hardly worthy of such a goody in his contract.

5 – SABRES CONSOLATION PRIZE – In the end, the Sabres ended up getting Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn from Winnipeg and I think they are better off with this deal.  Stanley, in particular, has had a breakout season and he’s playing for a big contract so he’s motivated to keep playing at a high level.  Yes, Parayko has a larger profile and a more recognizable name but if you take into account this season only, Stanley is miles ahead of Parayko as far as contributing to a team trying to win.  

6 – WILD ADDS – The Minnesota Wild added numerous players at the deadline as they continue their pursuit to win a Stanley Cup.  The Wild are a top five team in the league even before these acquisitions and while it would appear as though getting depth in the form of Bobby Brink, Nick Foligno, Michael McCarron, Robby Fabbri, and Jeff Petry is a good idea; the reality is that the Wild are where they are because players on the current roster are doing their jobs well enough already.  To me, unless you are adding an impact player, there is no need to displace anyone from the current lineup.  Of all the players acquired, I see only Brink as being worthy of bumping someone down a line while the others should only be used in the event of injury.  I’ve seen it happen a lot where a team that’s cruising along disrupts the chemistry by adding players they didn’t really need.

7 – SWAYING HOCKEY FANS TO THINK A CERTAIN WAY – I don’t watch wall to wall sports coverage anymore like I used to but I do catch snippets on X and that included the NHL Trade Deadline event on one of Canada’s so-called sports channels.  One of them had a CNN ‘fact checker’ on the show and most sports fans would be totally unaware of this person being a serial liar.  This is how people in the general public get fooled or ‘brainwashed’ as some would say.  It’s almost impossible to avoid unless you tune the outside out completely. 

8 – UFC 326 – Charles Oliveira defeated Max Holloway to take a unanimous decision and win the BMF Belt.  While Oliveira dominated, Holloway exhibited tremendous defense in fending off several aggressive submission attempts by Oliveira in the first two rounds.  The final three rounds were spent with Oliveira being content to keep the match on the mat.  I’m not sure where Oliveira goes from here.  He was knocked out in the first round by Lightweight Champion Ilia Topouria last year.  He could fight Arman Tsarukyan again to try and avenge a split decision loss to him in April 2024.  He and Holloway could also stage a rematch but as impressive as Holloway’s defense was, he didn’t come close to winning even a single round last night.

9 – WHITE HOUSE – Topouria and Justin Gaethje will headline the White House card in June.  Gaethje has lost to both Oliveira and Holloway with Oliveira submitting him in round one.  The way Topouria easily disposed of Oliveira, one has to think he’s the heavy, heavy favorite in this match.  The co-main event features Alex Pereira, in his heavyweight debut, going up against Cyril Gane, who we last saw poking Tom Aspinall in the eyes and resulting in a no-contest.  Sean O’Malley will fight Canadian Aiemann Zahabi.  It feels like Dana White is trying to build O’Malley back up with easy fights but it may not work.  O’Malley, in a lot of eyes, didn’t beat Song Yadong earlier this year.  O’Malley will be Zahabi’s toughest opponent, by far.  Bo Nickal, who a lot of people have forgotten about as an up and coming star, should be favored in his match against Kyle Daukaus.  I’d like to see Nickal fight Reiner de Ridder again.  RDR derailed Nickal last May, but de Ridder is on a two fight losing skid, including last night’s unanimous decision loss to Caio Borralho.

10 – CEBL MAMBA COACH – The Saskatoon Mamba have their head coach for the 2026 season and he is Isaiah Fox of the NBA G League, where he has three league titles on his resume.  As good of a coach as Fox may be, the reality is that he will need talent on the roster to get this team even to the point of respectability.  When the CEBL released its protected lists at the end of last year, Saskatoon had only one player (Jordan Bowden) on it.  Bowden is a legit import starter but it’s going to take more than him for the Mamba to be taken seriously and then there is the possibility Bowden, himself, doesn’t even return.  I still haven’t figured out how all that works as far as player retention is concerned.  The name change and new color scheme for the uniforms continues to be met with mixed reviews in the general public but if they win, I don’t care how they look or what they call themselves.

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