Article content continued

• Another factor to consider: The Eskimos need a top-flight receiver to replace Derel Walker, now of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

• Word seeped out on Friday that the Roughriders had agreed to terms with linebacker/special-teamer Glenn Love. The deal was finally announced on Tuesday. It just goes to show that you can’t hurry Love.

• So what can Roughriders fans expect when Love comes to town? A special-teams dynamo, for starters. Love registered 21 special-teams tackles — the third-best total in the league —in 2016 despite playing in only 10 of a possible 18 regular-season games with the Calgary Stampeders.

• Legendary Regina Pats goaltender Ed Staniowski is one of those rare people who can make your day simply by being himself.

• Pats head coach/GM John Paddock is a total pro. Too many hockey coaches — not to mention football coaches — are paranoiacs. Paddock, by contrast, gets it. He doesn’t play any games or robotically dispense eye-glazing cliches. Instead, he tells it like it is and treats the media (a conduit to the fans) with respect.

• Many members of the national hockey media need to lighten up, the alternative being to render their audiences unconscious. Very few of these learned hockey insiders look like they are having any fun at all while engaging in earnest discussions about “compete level.” The funereal, in-groupish yakking about which third-line left winger might be traded for which dump-the-puck-off-the-Plexiglas defenceman is excruciating. (Thank goodness for the levity that is provided by the incomparable James Duthie.)

• The world needs more hockey outsiders.

• Nice people who deserve a plug: Kelly Peterson, Celine Peterson, Ed Staniowski, Joy Becker, Jane Kish, Brent Sjoberg, Gareth Dillistone, Brad Burlock, Brett Burlock, Randa Burdeniuk, Dr. Kobus de Witt, Alan Millar, Henry Burris, Murray Pituley, Jack McNeill, Jay Dufour, Margo and Larry Huber, Sally Elliott and pianist/sportscaster Bianca Millions.

rvanstone@postmedia.com

twitter.com/robvanstone