1. Has any playoff team lost more key pieces than the Anaheim Ducks have this off-season? The Ducks’ playoff roster has been depleted, and their roster today isn’t nearly as good. John Carlsson and Jacob Trouba averaged over 24 minutes per game in the playoffs, and both are gone. Carlsson signed in Tampa Bay, and Trouba is a San Jose Shark. Olen Zellweger was traded to Buffalo. Mason McTavish was dealt to St. Louis. Chris Kreider agreed to terminate his contract yesterday, and Troy Terry is expected to miss the first two months of the season after having hip surgery to repair a torn labrum and a hip impingement. Terry had 57 points in 61 regular-season games last year, Kreider had 50 points, and McTavish had 41. Those three were among their top eight scorers. They are all gone, and they’ve been replaced by A.J. Greer and Jeff Malott on the roster. Young Roger McQueen will have an opportunity to earn a role on the top two lines in camp, but he’s only 19. It is a big ask for him to score 40-50 points. They still have Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke, and Cutter Gauthier (once he signs), but the Ducks’ offensive depth is worse on paper. Their blueline is much more inexperienced. Carlsson, Trouba and Radko Gudas are out. They signed Nick Jensen, and he’ll be their No. 3 D-man, but Drew Helleson (25), Ian Moore (24), Tyson Hinds (23), and Tristan Luneau (22) are currently their fourth-through-seventh defenders. Hinds played 11:01 per game in the playoffs, Moore played 10:06, and Helleson averaged 9:13. They will all be asked to play more now. The Ducks will need many players to elevate their play in order for them to be better than Los Angeles and San Jose. That’s a big ask.
2. Speaking of Kreider, once he becomes an unrestricted free agent, he will be sought after. I think Montreal would really benefit from signing him. He would be a great complementary forward in their top nine and add some experience, size, speed and net-front presence. By agreeing to terminate his contract, he walked away from $4m. Will he get $4 million on a new deal? He did score 50 points last year, so I could see it. The Habs currently have $9.78 million in cap space, and the only unsigned player they have his defenseman Arber Xhekaj. Signing both would give them a 23-man roster with 13 forwards, seven D-men and three goalies.
3. Last year we saw some significant point increases and an equal number of decreases in point totals from the 2025 season.
   

   Atlantic Division		Metro Division		Central Division		Pacific Division
   BUF	+30	PHI	+22	COL	+19	SJS	+34
   BOS	+24	PIT	+18	NSH	+18	ANA	+12
   MTL	+15	CAR	+14	CHI	+11	SEA	+3
   DET	+6	NYI	+9	MIN	+7	EDM	-8
   TBL	+4	CBJ	+3	DAL	+6	LAK	-15
   OTT	+2	NJD	0	UTA	+3	VGK	-15
   FLA	-14	NYR	-8	STL	-10	CGY	-19
   TOR	-30	WSH	-16	WPG	-34	VAN	-32

   Eight teams had a decrease of 14 or more points, while nine had an increase of 14 or more. Not many expected Toronto and Winnipeg to drop off by 30 points, while San Jose and Buffalo’s 30-plus point improvement was also a surprise. Who will be the big movers (up or down) this year? I think Edmonton, Florida, Washington, Chicago, Toronto, Vegas, St. Louis and the New York Rangers will have the biggest point increases. Some teams I think will drop include Anaheim, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Ottawa and Boston.
4. This has been the most exciting CFL season in a long time. Offence is up, and there are five teams who could win the Grey Cup. Montreal is the favourite, but Edmonton, Saskatchewan, BC and Winnipeg could come out of the West. I’d argue it would be better to finish fourth in the West than third. I’d rather play Toronto than one of the other three West teams in the first round. It is great to see fans coming back to watch the EE. Fans had legit reasons to stop going. The organization was in disarray. So many terrible decisions by the Board in their hiring of the wrong president, and then giving Chris Jones the general manager and head coach role, dug a deep hole. But when Larry and Deb Thompson purchased the team, it saved the organization. Hiring Chris Morris as president was genius, and Morris’ first major decision was hiring Ed Hervey as general manager. Those two, along with the Thompsons, have put the team back on track. Head coach Mark Kilam is only in his second season as a head coach, and he’s made huge strides. The team is competitive again and has given fans a reason to care again. I won’t be surprised to see them average close to 30K in the coming years.
5.  It is wild to watch Vladimir Guerrero Jr. become non-threatening at the plate. He’s hit into 19 double plays this year while only hitting eight home runs. He can’t string together two or three games where he’s dangerous at the plate. I don’t think any player hits the ball into the ground more often than him. He’s hitting soft dribblers consistently and rarely hitting the ball on a line, yet the Blue Jays are only one game out of the final wildcard spot currently held by Cleveland. The Jays are magically still in the race because Cleveland, Baltimore, Texas and the rest of the AL are equally inept. With 15 games remaining in the season, Toronto could still make the playoffs, and they’d face either Houston or Texas in the opening round. Houston is 74-72, Cleveland is 74-73, Toronto is 73-74, and Texas is 72-74. This is a classic turtle derby. Cleveland holds the final wildcard spot.
   Toronto is 1.0 game back.
   Texas is 1.5 games back, and they play the game in hand tonight.
   Baltimore is 3 games back.
   Here is the remaining schedule.
   
   
   
   Who gets in?
6. Columbus needs another goalie. Elvis Merzlikins is meeting with Doctors in Switzerland this week and then will meet with Columbus’ doctors next week, and they will have a better idea of when he might return from injury. He won’t be ready to start the season and could be out multiple months. Jet Greaves is their starter, and right now Phoenix Copley is their backup. Aaron Portzline was on my show yesterday, and he said Connor Ingram could be an option for them. They either bring in a goalie, or they will be active on the waiver wire. Ingram would be a good backup option.
7. Who plays the most minutes five-on-five with Connor Murphy this year? Will it be Jake Walman or Ryan Shea? Will D.J. Smith want his five-on-five partner to be his penalty killing partner? Training camp and preseason should give us a good indication of what Smith is planning. The team, and really the entire organization, is focused on improving the penalty kill. Outside of 2024, it has been below average since 2022, and the past two playoff years have been dreadful, running at 50 per cent in 2026 and 67.1 per cent in 2025. They need to get the penalty kill sorted out.
8. Another minor hockey season is about to begin. Some teams have already had tryouts while others will start in the next week or so. I’ve had the pleasure of coaching for the past six years, and the one thing I’ve noticed is that there is way too much focus on what level kids are playing in U9, U11 and U13. It is ridiculous. Way too many associations, parents, coaches and even some kids believe the tier you are playing in matters more than what type of person you are. Parents need to rein in their infatuation with needing their kid to play at a high level. People are moving their child to different associations or leagues just so they can play A, AA or AAA. It does not matter. Hockey is a late-developing sport, and where you play at U9, U11 and U13 means almost nothing. We shouldn’t need the reminder, but every year I hear stories about people in the game losing their marbles over which team their kid is playing on, how good their team is and if a referee botched a call. We need to tone down the seriousness of minor hockey. FUN is the first priority. Remember that.
9. Fantasy football is awesome and infuriating at the same time. How many Brock Bowers owners are scrambling after yesterday’s announcement that he will be out for a few weeks. AJ Brown got injured last night, and Sam Darnold didn’t make it out of the first quarter. All your best plans can go up in smoke early in a season. I joined a guillotine league last year, and it is very different than a regular league. I like both, but guillotine is a bit more stressful because one in-game injury can end your season. Good luck to all of you in fantasy. Hopefully you avoid early injuries.
10. Will Vasily Podkolzin break out and score 25-plus goals this year? It is possible, but will be difficult since most will have to come at five-on-five. He doesn’t get much power play time. Here’s a look at how many players scored 25-plus goals at five-on-five the past three seasons.

THE FIRST NATION VACATION OF THE 2026/27 SEASON IS HERE!