It’s my Parting Shot for some Weekend Short Shots, essentially a sports injury edition…..

By now you should know that my T-V sports-watching preferences are Rogers Sportsnet for games only and T-S-N for everything else! I don’t dispute that Sportsnet does a very good job with their SportsNet Central recaps of the days events – my issue is that it’s only a half-hour long while T-S-N Sports Centre is the full hour. A lot more analysis than just highlights, which is what I like!!

Having said that, I rolled my eyes at the 78-second piece that was run this morning regarding Auston Matthews undergoing successful M-C-L knee surgery. Since he’s the captain of the Maple Leafs and T-S-N is based in Toronto, hence the facetious Toronto Sports Network moniker hung on them by many, I guess we’re going to get regular updates on Matthews’ recovery time-line – like it or not!!

To me, the biggest sports injury in the N-H-L right now is the Lower Body ailment suffered by Edmonton superstar Leon Draisaitl! While Matthews is done for this season, Draisaitl is tabbed to miss the Oilers’ final 12 games. Last night, the Oil appeared to miss the German star in losing 4-0 to Florida. Edmonton has played the most games of any team in contention for the top three standings places in the Pacific Division – or in contention to make the playoffs, period! It has some folks worried but, as much as I would love to see the Oilers slide right out of being in the Stanley Cup tournament, I see Connor McDavid being able to hoist the team on his back and maybe even get them a first place finish in the Pacific and definitely in the playoffs!!

Trey Yesavage is starting the Major League Baseball season on the injured list for the Toronto Blue Jays. The 22-year-old was the story of the playoffs and World Series as the Jays almost won the title. Now, he joins Jose Berrios and Shane Bieber on the I-L, stretching thin Toronto’s starting pitching staff to open the year come a week from today. It’ll be interesting to see how the Blue Jays handle the target on their backs this season following last year’s success!!

And, surprise, surprise, Alphonso Davies is injured again going into an international window and not available to suit up for the Canadian men’s soccer team less than three months away from the home World Cup! Either Davies is a band-aid or there’s a lot more to the supposed bad blood between him and Canadian coach Jesse Marsch – or it’s a little from Column A and a little from Column B as I suspect! Either way, not a good look for Canada!!

That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!