RELIANCE ON VIDEO REVIEW A VEXING TREND FOR SPORTS
Adding extra technology only distracts fans from enjoying what the players are doing
The last thing the NHL, or any other professional league, needs right now is more instant replay.
At a time when we don't necessarily know what a goal is, what's a ball and a strike, what's a foul in the NBA or what constitutes a catch in the NFL, the NHL is looking to add more opportunities for video review challenges.
When instant replay was introduced in North American pro sports — to get the calls right, remember — it wasn't thoroughly thought out or examined. The intent was not to turn games into lengthy breakdowns of milliseconds of inconclusive replays. Games in hockey and goals are now being determined regularly by computer geeks sitting in their offices away from the ice and finding reasons to challenge offside calls.
Instant replay was supposed to rid the game of obvious mistakes. But instead, goaltender interference, determining what exactly is a goal and the picayune nature of the offside regulations have stolen from the game and made it worse. You need a glossary today to understand what kind of calls can be challenged and not challenged in the NFL. Some coaches don't seem to know the rules.
Baseball begins another season, this one with 12 cameras now installed in every stadium for instant replay with the sport investing $50 million on getting calls correct when at the same time it's doing nothing about inconsistent umpires who have trouble calling balls and strikes.
The intent of instant replay has always been fine. It's what's happened in the interim that hasn't been. Now every team in every league has broken down the rules to such minute detail that they've made the games worse, the arguments more, with the sports somewhat defeating themselves.
Adding more replay in baseball and hockey won't the make games better. It will mean we will talk more about technology and less about the players and what they do on the field.
THIS AND THAT
This is the kind of season Auston Matthews has had. He's going to win the Rocket Richard Award for most goals. He might win the Lady Byng. He should be a strong candidate for the Hart Trophy and the Selke as best defensive forward in the NHL. And heading into Sunday night he was 12 goals away from 70, all of which still seems rather unbelievable . ...
Can't remember a season with so many most valuable player candidates of quality. Nathan Mackinnon remains the favourite, barely, to win the Hart but if this was debate class and I was given 15 minutes, I could make a very strong argument for Connor Mcdavid, Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrnak, Matthews, Artemi Panarin, Sebastian Aho, Connor Hellebuyck and Roman Josi. And that's leaving out Quinn Hughes, Sam Reinhart and Sidney Crosby. The field is that deep this year . ...
William Nylander is closing in on 100 points, which would make him the first Leafs winger in the 107 years of the franchise to hit the century mark. Mitch Marner got to 99 and
97 in recent seasons. Great as Nylander has played, he won't be a first- or second-team all-star. If the voting is done properly, Kucherov and Pastrnak will be the all-stars. That means great seasons from Nylander, Zach Hyman, Mikko Rantanen and Reinhart won't get all-star recognition . ...
Heading to 50 goals, which seems all but impossible, Hyman is a product of his own effort, the work he's done to make his hands better, and the factor of playing with Mcdavid. Hyman never scored more than 21 goals as a Leaf, though he scored at a 29-goal pace in his final season as a Leaf.
Hyman scored 27 goals and 36 in his first two Edmonton seasons. Anyone who said they saw him as a future 50-goal scorer isn't telling the truth . ...
Consider this: Warren Young once scored 40 goals playing alongside Mario Lemieux. His career goal total: 72. Greatness rubs off on linemates . ... The 70 number for Matthews is hard to put into any kind of perspective. Before he joined the Leafs, no Toronto centre had scored more than 45 goals in a season and that was Darryl Sittler. John Tavares has since hit the 47-goal mark. That's a half of season of goal scoring away from where Matthews is seemingly headed.
HEAR AND THERE
The Blue Jays won 89 games last year with a pitching staff that barely had a nick on them for 162 games. Now they begin this season with their ace Kevin Gausman hurt, with former ace Alek Manoah who knows where, with closer Jordan Romano having elbow trouble and with an offence that hasn't been improved in any way from the one that wasn't good enough a year ago. When the season ended, Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins insisted in separate post-season news conferences they would identify their issues and fix what was wrong with the team. They haven't done that. They haven't come close to doing that. The only advantage the Jays seem to have — and remember they start the season with 10 road games in tough places to win — is that the Red Sox and the Yankees are lousy in the American League East, Tampa Bay is thinner than it has been and the Baltimore Orioles are coming off a magical season. Not sure how the Jays can win 90 or 90-plus games with that roster . ...
Baseball is now investigating the gambling mess around Shohei Ohtani because it has to. It really didn't want to. It really wanted no part of getting involved in the messy business of its most famous player. The Ohtani-translator gambling story that is being sold by the Los Angeles Dodgers and what constitutes the Ohtani camp is little more than fiction. It's a Netflix series waiting to happen. Somehow the translator was able to make nine bank transfers out of Ohtani's account without the player knowing US$4.5 million was missing. Yeah, I believe that. Major League Baseball hopes you do, too.
SCENE AND HEARD
The more you watch Ryan O'reilly centring the very strong first line with the Nashville Predators, the more you realize how much the Maple Leafs wasted their opportunity with him last season. The line of O'reilly, Filip Forsberg and Gus Nyquist is one of the NHL'S best. The Predators are 15-0-2 in their last 17 games after beating Detroit on Saturday . ... Right now, Roman Josi is the best defenceman in the NHL. First half of the season, it was all Hughes in Vancouver, followed by Cale Makar in Colorado. Second half, Josi leads all blueliners in scoring with 39 points in 29 games. Hughes has just 28 after scoring 51 in the first half . ... Mcdavid needs 14 assists in 15 games to hit the 100-assist mark. The only other players to have 100 assists in a season: Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Lemieux . ... Never mind all the noise surrounding John Tortorella and who he sits out. If the Philadelphia Flyers hang on to make the playoffs, he's the NHL coach of the year.
Unless Washington somehow sneaks in the East, then he's battling Spencer Carbery for the award. And if not them, how about Andrew Brunette in Nashville, or Jim Montgomery in Boston, or Paul Maurice in Florida, or Rod Brind'amour in Carolina, or Rick Tocchet in Vancouver, or Rick Bowness in Winnipeg. Like the MVP, the field is deep for great coaches this season.