Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – RUSH GAME STATS – Thomas Kiazyk got another start in goal as Frank Scigliano remained out awaiting the birth of his baby (which did occur on Saturday so he’ll be back when the Rush next take to the field) and Kiazyk was hot to start the night, making 20-saves in a row in the first half. However, the wind came out of the sails in the third as San Diego scored 5 on 7 shots but Kiazyk settled down again and made 14 saves on 17 shots the rest of the way. For the game, Kiazyk ended up with an impressive .818-SPCT. Offensively, Mike Triolo scored three goals in a row in the first quarter and finished with four on the night. Robert Church and Zach Manns both led the way in overall scoring with 2-goals and 6-assists each.  Church has 18-points in his last 2-games.  

3 – LIONS ROURKE – The BC Lions have made it official with Nathan Rourke, getting their starting quarterback to agree to a pay cut for the upcoming season. Rourke has a lot to prove after he set the CFL on fire a few years ago before leaving for the NFL. When he came back this season, he was a shell of his former self and there is no assurance he rediscovers his previous form. It’s safe to say the Lions need Rourke to rebound. If he doesn’t, their season is likely to be a disaster.

4 – RIDERS ROSE – The Saskatchewan Roughriders made a big offseason signing splash this weekend by agreeing to terms with DL Mike Rose, who spent the last eight seasons with Calgary and earning three All-CFL nods and four West All-CFL nods. Rose is coming off a year in which he registered a team high 6 sacks. Player personnel wise, the Riders have had a strong offseason and should be considered co-favourites with Grey Cup choking Winnipeg to win the West this upcoming season. Off the field, the team’s image continues to take on stone chips through various social media platforms as fans are expressing their displeasure over being unappreciated. Winning can sometimes fix most problems in sports and the Riders are on the cusp of doing some winning.

5 – MILLER/PETTERSSON – This whole JT Miller – Elias Pettersson soap opera was ridiculous. Nobody really seems to know the root cause of the issue. There doesn’t appear to be an unethical aspect to it, like the many stories we’ve heard over the years of teammates and their wives. If you read the tea leaves, it is that Pettersson doesn’t take the game seriously enough for Miller and Miller needs the odd chill pill. That’s a pretty minor matter to me and while the decision was finally made this weekend to cut bait on Miller, the best solution would be for both of them to go. To further cement the message of who’s boss, you have to wonder if the Danton Heinen trade wasn’t a ripple effect of getting rid of Miller. I’m a little surprised the Canucks found a taker, albeit they didn’t seem to get much for him.  I wouldn’t touch either Miller or Pettersson with a ten foot pole as it’s evident both can poison the dressing room.

6 – PUTTING A STAMP ON A TEAM – A wise former junior hockey coach once told me the best way for a new coach to make an immediate impact with his team and get them to realize who is in charge is to make a trade as soon as he takes over and the player he trades needs to be someone nobody ever expects to be moved.  This is what Vancouver needed to do. Trade these two multi-millionaire sucky babies and then trade someone else that would just stun the hockey world. That would put everyone in their proper place. Does that mean Quinn Hughes should be shown the door through no fault of his own? Maybe. The Canucks have a mess on their hands and they’ve allowed it to escape into the realm of public domain and trading only one of Miller/Pettersson they are still faced with a fractured dressing room.

7 – RANTANEN TRADE – I give full marks to the Colorado Avalanche on the Mikko Rantanen trade. It’s weird how I see nothing but criticism towards them on this but you can’t force a player to sign a contract. The Avalanche have a salary structure where everyone needs to fall into and even if they were to break it and pay Rantanen more money than Nathan MacKinnon, they’d be in a situation where they really can’t do much with their roster going forward with so much money tied up in so few players. There is no doubt in my mind, the Avs made a final offer to Rantanen, Rantanen’s agent figured it was a bluff and he figured wrong on that account.  As good as Rantanen is, Martin Necas is likely to fill the void well enough that it shouldn’t cost the Avs any wins in the standings. Necas has a contract that is expiring at the end of next year so the Avs could be in the same boat again in twelve months. Necas should come cheaper than Rantanen and if he also doesn’t fit in the salary structure, the Avs can make another trade at that time and remain competitive. People hollering for Colorado to get a first round pick and a decent player on a cheap contract don’t understand competitive sports even though I see a lot of teams make them. Those types of acquisitions are lottery tickets and make no sense to me. If you are going to trade someone, you should get something back that is of real value and not potential value. I give Colorado an A+ on this.

8 – MORE RANTANEN – Here’s the other side to this with regards to Rantanen: The NHL expects the salary cap to jump sharply in each of the next three seasons and it’s quite reasonable to think the Avs wouldn’t be in salary cap purgatory by keeping Rantanen if the projections hold true. Maybe the Avs and Rantanen try to mend the fence and negotiate again in the offseason. Usually when a player and a team end in a divorce the way Rantanen and the Avs did, there is no chance of offseason reconciliation but if the cap is going up, maybe Colorado can entice Rantanen to return and still keep Necas.

9 – FIXED SPORTS – Maybe all professional sports are like pro wrestling and the outcomes have been predetermined. It’s starting to look that way with the Travis Kelce Swifties getting all the calls in the NFL and now there is a new story coming out about NBAer Terry Rozier possibly being involved in a betting scandal.  Rozier is under federal investigation for potentially manipulating his performance as part of a sports betting scheme that dates back to last March. A reporter with the Wall Street Journal says he noticed a lot of strange wagers were coming in on Rozier and the bettors were all going against Rozier meeting certain statistical benchmarks.  There’s just so much money at stake now with sports betting, it’s naive to think the players aren’t, somehow, directly involved in trying to decide who wins and by how much in every single major sport.

10 – GRAHAM GARRETT – It was a fitting salute in Flin Flon on Saturday night as the Bombers held a moment of silence for local product Graham Garrett, who passed away in late January due to a heart attack.  He was in his early 50s. Graham loved the game of hockey and coached at various levels, including in Yorkton for a few seasons with the AAA Midget program. Yorkton has not been a good hockey team in the SMAAAHL for well over a dozen years and while Garrett’s teams also weren’t near the top of the league, he did turn out a significant number of players to the WHL and he also coached Damon Severson before he moved on to the junior and pro ranks. I served on the team’s Board of Directors during part of his tenure as coach and while I didn’t always see eye to eye with him, I appreciated the fact that there was no beating around the bush with him. What you saw was what he was and he didn’t care who he impressed. I can’t help but respect those qualities. He had a lot more life in front of him and it’s sad he is no longer with us.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster)