Weekly Takes - Monday, February 16th Edition
- RyanEakin
- Feb 16
- 3 min read
Weekly Takes - Monday, February 16th Edition
My three stars from Canada’s dominant win over Czechia on Thursday…
Connor McDavid
Nathan MacKinnon
Cale Makar
Canada’s best players were utterly dominant. A perfect performance, outside of a little push by the Czechs late in the first period.
2. My three stars from Canada’s convincing win over the Swiss on Friday…
McDavid
Macklin Celebrini
Logan Thompson
Through two games, Canada’s top players and goaltending have been perfect.
I need to see a bit more from Sam Reinhart at some point. Between the Four Nations and the first two games here, he has been a ghost.
A massive shoutout to Thomas Harley, however. I get concerned when a good player struggles on a good team. That is why I left him off my team. But he is so, so good. He will be a staple on the national team for the next decade.
3. My three stars from Canada’s blowout win over France on Sunday…
Celebrini
McDavid
Mark Stone
It is wild to think about, but Celebrini may already be Canada’s third best forward, behind only McDavid and MacKinnon.
As for the team itself, I loved the pushback after MacKinnon got hit in the head, from both MacKinnon himself and Tom Wilson.
It is tough to beat up on a Canadian team that has Wilson, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchand on it.
For the quarterfinals, I would go…
Celebrini-McDavid-Wilson
Mitch Marner-Sidney Crosby-Stone
Brandon Hagel-MacKinnon-Reinhart
Marchand-Bo Horvat-Nick Suzuki
Bennett
You can always put MacKinnon on the first line in certain moments, but I like the idea of a three-line attack. Celebrini and McDavid do not need MacKinnon, while Wilson has held his own anyways. The second line has been perfect, while I would flip Reinhart and Suzuki.
5. The Blue Jays are a better team today than they were a week ago, before we knew Anthony Santander would all but miss the entire 2026 season. The reason? Jesus Sanchez represents a defensive and baserunning upgrade, to go along with being every bit as good – if not better – against right-handed pitching.
Toronto had a great offseason as it relates to their pitching staff. Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce are significant upgrades on Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer, while a full season of Trey Yesavage is a massive upgrade over the likes of Bowden Francis, who started big league games a season ago. They have protected themselves – and then some – from some sort of decline from Kevin Gausman. More so if Shane Bieber can eat enough Jose Berrios starts.
Ditto with the bullpen, adding Tyler Rogers to a full season of Louis Varland, Braydon Fisher, Mason Fluharty, and Eric Lauer, all of whom did not begin with the team a season ago. I would argue positive regression is in store for Jeff Hoffman, too.
The key is not being better than the team they had in game seven against the Dodgers. It is being better through 162 games in the regular season, given they barely won the AL East and the division has greatly improved. They have hit that out of the park on the pitching side.
My concern has been the lineup, as it is asking a lot from Kazuma Okamoto to replace Bo Bichette’s production, for Addison Barger and Ernie Clement to hit their weak sides consistently, and for George Springer to have little to no decline. That is why the Sanchez addition is so important. He is a significant upgrade on Nathan Lukes and creates a great platoon in left field with Davis Schneider.
(For context, I think some positive regression can be in store for the Jays’ lineup too: A better regular season from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., a more healthy Daulton Varsho, and a slightly improved Andreas Gimenez.)
6. What the Jazz are doing is incredibly bad for the sport of basketball.
It is one thing to tank in April – sitting out your best players. It is another to do so in early February and all but admitting it publicly. The NBA needs to address this in a more systematic way this summer. If that means creating a tournament for teams outside of a playoff spot post-deadline, so be it.
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