Landon Schmidt

[Pat Steinberg @Fan960Steinberg]

Rambled so much I needed a Word document. Perhaps through some blurry eyes.

The support this week has been overwhelming.

Thanks for everything, friends. 🖤🩶❤️

[NHL Trade Alert @NHLTradeAlert]

https://t.co/Jn4ah1gC8L

[Frank Seravalli @frank_seravalli]

#Sabres select Daxon Rudolph with the No. 4 overall pick in 2026 #NHLDraft.

Rudolph (!) is the first defenseman off the board.

[Topher Scott @HockeyThinkTank]

Thoughts on Team Canada at World Juniors:

There's been a lot of discourse today about Canada's performance after bowing out to Czechia again. I've read a lot about roster construction, team toughness, how players were used during the tournament, and other things related to the team's inability to get the job done.

These things may have been an issue, but reality is the problem runs way deeper.

Here is the biggest thing that people aren't talking about:

Canada has WAY fewer youth boys playing hockey than it did a decade ago.

Looking at Hockey Canada registration and membership data, it's mind-boggling to see the numbers.

And the numbers in the biggest provinces (Ontario and Quebec) are especially egregious.

So why is this happening? Hockey is Canada's sport. It shouldn't be like this.

It's what we hear every day from families all over North America:

Costs are too high. It's professionalized at too young of an age. The stress of the youth hockey experience is too much for kids and families.

Community programs have been replaced by for-profit entities leading to higher costs and more pressure. Development has been replaced by super teams and rogue/outlaw leagues outside of Hockey Canada even before kids are 8 years old. At the older ages, hockey academies have become what families believe is the only way their kids will make it - shelling out INSANE amounts of money to send their kids to do so.

Ontario just got rid of residency rules which will only lead to less accountability and more club-hopping than there already was in the nation's craziest and biggest youth hockey market.

The reason why Canada was the hockey superpower for so long is because it was part of the fabric of the country. There was such a pride and passion for the game and what the game meant to the flag. There was such a sense of playing the game for something bigger than yourself.

Now rather than playing for the love of the game, hockey in Canada is like a job for many of these kids in the environment they're being put in. It's less about pride and passion and more about the path to making it. When in all honesty, it's the pride and passion for the game that is the biggest consistency in the kids that do end up making it.

If Canada wants to restore its hockey dominance, it better take a long look in the mirror at the grassroots and what is going on in youth hockey. If you have tens of thousands of fewer boys playing the game, you should probably look at that first. The bigger your pool of athletes, the more elite athletes you can develop.

"As many as possible, for as long as possible, in the best environment possible". That has to be the guiding principle.

There's a lot of great people in Canada doing incredible things for the game, but the system itself is fundamentally broken. If Hockey Canada is serious about getting back to the top, it has to start at the bottom.

[Rear Admiral @RearAdBsBlog]

Standing there in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 6 of the World Series staring at the baseball, waiting for the umpires to bail your ass out.

Pathetic.

[Toronto Blue Jays @BlueJays]

SUNDAY. #WANTITALL

[University of Alberta @UAlberta]

The University of Alberta ranks among the top six per cent of the world's universities and 5th in Canada in the 2026 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. The university also ties for first place worldwide in the Industry category, recognizing its performance in patents and industry partnerships.

https://t.co/lAl64srmIA

[Bob McKenzie @TSNBobMcKenzie]

The trade is one for none.

Which is to say I’m exchanging my semi-retired TSN life of the last five years — doing the World Junior Championships, NHL Draft Rankings, a handful of Toronto Maple Leaf broadcasts, TradeCentre and Free Agent Frenzy — for a fully-retired life of doing absolutely nothing.

Well, nothing work related anyway.

Today’s Free Agent Frenzy is the last working day in a 48-year professional career that included stops at The Sault Star, The Globe and Mail, The Hockey News (twice), The Toronto Star, TSN, ESPN and NBC, amongst others.

It’s been quite a ride.

I’ll be 69 years old in August. I decided a few months ago it’s as nice a time as any to call it a career with the expiry of my current contract. If I had been so inclined to continue doing the World Juniors and draft rankings etc. at TSN, the opportunity was certainly there for me to do so. And I’m so grateful to TSN for that.

Honestly, though, I am looking forward to waking up on Christmas morning this year and NOT flying to Minneapolis-St. Paul for the World Juniors.

I’m also looking forward to doing more travelling with my wife Cindy; having more time to give my sons Mike and Shawn unwanted (and unneeded) advice; playing even more golf than I am now; and having my two wonderful grandchildren Blake and Gunnar running my show on a full-time basis.

After almost 50 years in the business, there are far too many people to thank individually, so I won’t even try to name any lest I leave some out.

Just know that I’ve been blessed to work for, work with and work against so many great people who gave me boundless opportunity, incredible support and intense motivation. The nearly five decades have gone by in the blink of an eye.

I certainly never set out to be the TSN Hockey Insider. It never occurred to me that I would work in television. All I wanted to be when I grew up was a hockey writer, to have a “job” to watch, write and talk about the game. You know, tell a few stories and try to capture the spirit of the thing.

Mission accomplished, I guess.

I couldn’t say goodbye now without a special thanks to everyone at TSN, past and present.

I first started showing up on the network in or around 1986-87. In the 1990s, I was working full-time hours at TSN but still had a full time newspaper job, too. Since 2000, 25 years ago, TSN has been my primary professional home.

It’s been a very special place on so many levels. The best part of TSN has always been the people. The best people doing the best work. What an honour to be one small part of the unsurpassed excellence that is TSN. Every time I’ve walked out of Studio Six at the end of Free Agent Frenzy on July 1, I’ve said to myself: “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

And it doesn’t. That’s especially true on this Canada Day because I’m so very proud to be a Canadian. 🇨🇦

I’m a very lucky guy. I owe the game of hockey, and all the people within it — the players, coaches, managers, executives, scouts, agents et al — so much; I owe my family and friends even more. 

Finally, thank you to anyone who has ever read, watched or listened to any of my work in any form at any outlet over the last 48 years. It’s been a privilege to share some information with you all, and try to have a few laughs along the way on social media or whatever they’re calling it these days.

I’ve cherished it all.

Fully Completely.

✌️and 💕 

-30-

[Landon Schmidt @Schmidty3235]

@Pete___Hughes Mason McDonald, two picks before Demko

[GOLF.com @GOLF_com]

Are PGA Tour courses too easy?

Scottie Scheffler explains what a “fair test” looks like in the eyes of Tour players and why he thinks it’s weird golf is looked at differently than other pro sports.

[Landon Schmidt @Schmidty3235]

@EPatGolf There are still people under par Eric

[Edmonton Journal @edmontonjournal]

Bell: Danielle Smith and Alberta give Mark Carney an offer he shouldn't refuse https://t.co/Zj5ZRCRSZx

[Landon Schmidt @Schmidty3235]

@BarstoolBigCat @AustinElgie

[Eric Hosmer @TheRealHoz35]

Good morning to everyone except the one guy who didn’t vote for Ichiro ❗️

[Landon Schmidt @Schmidty3235]

@Sid_Seixeiro Until Ross is no longer with the organization, you will continue to see us this way #BringBacktheExpos

[Landon Schmidt @Schmidty3235]

Thank you ⁦@JustinThomas34⁩ !!!

“Fans want to see golf shots, not commercials”

We also want full coverage. Not miss half the morning wave cause the coverage doesn’t start till 1pm ET

Start there ⁦@CBS⁩ ⁦⁦⁦@espn⁩ ⁦@FOXSports⁩ https://t.co/BG1FzK4owr

[Landon Schmidt @Schmidty3235]

@NUCLRGOLF Mauna Lani and Mauna Kea on the Big Island in Hawaii

[Blue Jays Dad @BlueJaysDad]

My message to Shapiro & Atkins:

[Landon Schmidt @Schmidty3235]

@thejaysnation Bring back the Expos

[Elliotte Friedman @FriedgeHNIC]

Nedeljkovic becomes first goalie ever to have 1 goal & 1 assist in an NHL game.

Awesome accomplishment