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The Blue Bombers kicked off their cleats and hit the bye-week beach, while the Jets are regrouping after a few dives into the NHL free-agent pool.
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So what’s a Winnipeg sportswriter to do?
Pick apart what our two major sports franchises have done recently, of course.
Let’s start with the Jets, who last week lost an all-around good human and exceptional talent in Nik Ehlers, while picking up an all-around good human and exceptional talent in Jonathan Toews.
They made a few other moves, too, but none carried the splash of those two. Was it a complete wash, though?
Not necessarily.
At 29, Ehlers is still in his prime, capable of changing a game with a single shift. The man’s speed and ability with the puck can’t be replaced.
The only thing the Jets won’t miss about Ehlers is the occasional high-risk pass he makes, albeit on a much less frequent basis than he used to.
Toews won’t make those, but at 37 he might get lapped by Ehlers if the two staged a race around the rink. That said, you don’t measure hockey pedigree with a stopwatch alone.
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Toews oozes winning from his pores, and has done so since he was a teenager helping Canada win back-to-back world junior titles.
Since then: Three Stanley Cups, two Olympic gold medals, a world championship and a World Cup of Hockey gold.
You get the picture. It’s one that usually has the Winnipegger in the centre, surrounded by celebrating teammates.
But how much is left in the Toews tank?
After a two-year absence and bouts with illness, not even he knows the answer to that.
How his body responds to the layoff – and whether or not it’s as fully recovered as he believes it is – only the long grind of an NHL season will reveal.
One thing the Jets shouldn’t have to worry about: Bruising his ego.
Despite his gold-plated resume and an individual trophy case that includes the Conn Smythe as the playoff MVP and the Selke as the NHL’s top defensive forward, Toews knows when he needs to take a step back.
He knows he won’t be the Jets’ captain or their No. 1 centre or even be on the top power play unit, just like he knew in 2010 that he wouldn’t be the leader of the Canadian Olympic team for the Vancouver Winter Games.
Already the captain of the Chicago Blackhawks and coming off a 34-goal season at the time, Toews took on a checking-line role for his first Olympics.
Going into the medal round in Vancouver, we had a one-on-one chat in which I asked him about his place on that star-studded team.
“Tons of guys have chipped in,” he said that day. “I can be part of that as well. There’s not just one guy who’s taking control. It’s going to take an effort from every single guy to win the next games we need. Everyone has to step up in their own way.”
Toews was just 21 when he said that.
At 37, he sounded the same when he talked last week about what he can offer the Jets.
The only bold proclamation came from a politician: Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew.
“We have the hometown champ sign with the hometown team to push them over the top,” Kinew said. “It’s such a great story. And it’ll be really good for the documentary that they make about the Winnipeg Jets winning the Stanley Cup.”
We can only imagine the effort it took for Jets owner Mark Chipman, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and head coach Scott Arniel to suppress a wince.
When’s the last time we saw the premier of the province and the mayor of Winnipeg show up for a news conference with a newly-signed player, anyway?
I can’t think of one.
Yeah, Toews is a big deal. A Hall of Famer in waiting, with a resume I’d stack up against any athlete this province has ever produced.
The sentimental aspect of his coming home is the great story Kinew says it is, and when Toews said his decision came strictly from his heart and had nothing to do with being rational or him writing down a list of pros and cons, you could tell he meant it.
“It just felt right,” he told reporters in his first Winnipeg media scrum. “I knew in my heart that this is what I wanted to do.”
He’ll probably sell some tickets, too, which never hurts.
But when the rubber meets the ice, will the hockey match the hype?
The documentary filmmaker awaits their script.
Down on the south side of town, our CFL squad is still licking its wounds after its worst loss in a couple of years, 37-16 to Calgary.
A three-touchdown spread against the Stampeders?
The return of star running back Brady Oliveira was supposed to add to a team that was 3-0, not take away from it.
When your defence springs major leaks and your quarterback gifts the opposition a pair of touchdowns, though, Walter Payton could be your tailback and it wouldn’t make a difference.
Coach Mike O’Shea said it best after the dust had settled in Cowtown: “We got our asses kicked.”
Seven days after Zach Collaros turned in one of his best games of late, he played one of his worst. And don’t be fooled by his final stats.
The Stamps got so far ahead so early, they could sit back and let Collaros complete all kinds of short stuff.
It’s the deep ball the Calgary defence took away, a week after the deep ball killed Edmonton. Somebody did their homework.
A CFL season is always an evolution. Teams that start fast can fade, others start slow and find themselves.
The Bombers were in the latter category last season.
The cream usually rises to the top by October.
Getting creamed in July doesn’t really mean a thing. This team has always bounced back.
If the 21-point whupping stings right through the bye week, that’s not a bad thing, either.
Sometimes a team needs a wakeup call. Even one coached by Mike O’Shea.
paul.friesen@kleinmedia.ca
X: @friesensunmedia
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