Jim Barker joining Argonauts in player personnel role

The Toronto Argonauts continue to revamp their management staff in an off-season makeover.

Jim Barker said during an appearance on the Rod Pedersen Show that he is rejoining the Argos in a player personnel role.

The 69-year-old has had multiple stints with Toronto in different roles, including senior advisor, head coach, general manager and offensive co-ordinator. During his time, he has helped the team win three Grey Cups and has two more with the Calgary Stampeders and Montreal Alouettes.

Barker’s addition to Toronto’s front office comes after longtime Stampeders coach and executive John Hufnagel joined the team as a senior adviser on Tuesday. Hufnagel and Barker have worked together in the past, winning a Grey Cup together in Calgary back in 2008.

The Argos are looking to rebound from a down season, going 5-13 and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2019.

Toronto also hired Mike Miller as their 46th head coach in franchise history following Ryan Dinwiddie’s departure to the Ottawa Redblacks to become their general manager and head coach.

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Max Verstappen takes pole position for F1 title-deciding Abu Dhabi GP

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Max Verstappen took a brilliant pole position for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ahead of Formula 1 title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on Saturday.

The thrilling three-way battle will be decided on Sunday at the Yas Marina Circuit. The McLaren driver Norris is 12 points ahead of Red Bull’s Verstappen and 16 ahead of McLaren teammate Piastri.

Verstappen is aiming for his fifth straight F1 title — Norris and Piastri are chasing their first. All three drivers have won seven races.

The Dutchman is ready to fight for another title battle on the final day — just like in 2021, when he beat seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton on the last lap to clinch his first championship.

“We find out tomorrow don’t we?” Verstappen said. “I will try and win the race.”

Pole position is crucial on the 58-lap circuit in Abu Dhabi, where overtaking is hard. Every driver has won from pole since 2015. The last driver not to win from pole was Nico Rosberg in 2014, when he was beaten by his then-Mercedes teammate Hamilton.

Verstappen had already set the fastest lap on his first go but went even quicker on his second attempt and clocked 1 minute, 22.207 seconds, making him .201 faster than Norris and .230 quicker than Piastri.

“That was insane,” Verstappen said over team radio after his eighth pole of the season and 48th overall. “Yes. Lovely.”

Verstappen kissed his girlfriend, Kelly Piquet, and shook hands with McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

Norris will win the title if he’s on the podium in Abu Dhabi. Even if Verstappen wins, the Dutchman needs Norris to be fourth or lower. If Piastri wins, he requires Norris to finish outside the top five.

Norris will start from the front row but was disappointed not to be on pole.

“We just weren’t fast enough today. We’ll have to try and do it tomorrow,” he said. “I still want to try and win tomorrow, so that’s going to be the goal.”

Piastri was content with his performance.

“Nicely done,” he said. “Wasn’t much left.”

Hamilton was eliminated from Q1, the first section of qualifying, for the third straight race. He also crashed in third practice due to a driver error earlier Saturday, and has not qualified inside the top 10 for four consecutive races.

“I’m so sorry,” Hamilton said over team radio. “There are no words to express how I feel.”

Asked about 2026, a dejected-sounding Hamilton said “I’m not looking that far ahead.”

Mercedes driver George Russell qualified fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who fared much better than his more illustrious teammate.

Hamilton struggles again

Russell led third practice ahead of Norris and Verstappen.

But Hamilton lost the rear of the Ferrari coming out of Turn 9 and spun full circle before sliding into the barriers, bringing out the red flag. He stepped out of the car and picked up some of the debris himself.

Hamilton owns F1 records for most wins (104) and pole positions (104) but called his own performance “ terrible ” this season.

The 40-year-old Briton won a sprint race in China in March, but nothing else this season. He has not even been on the podium in a main race this campaign.

Norris showed good pace to lead Friday’s first two practice sessions ahead of Verstappen.

McLaren rues errors

Norris had the chance to wrap up the title at last week’s Qatar Grand Prix but a botched strategy call by McLaren handed Verstappen the win, boosting his chances of a fifth straight title to equal Michael Schumacher’s feat with Ferrari from 2000-04.

Verstappen’s victory in Qatar was his 70th overall. His title chances improved after Norris and Piastri were disqualified in Las Vegas.

Tense title race

After winning the Dutch GP on Aug. 31, Piastri led by Norris by 34 points and was 104 ahead of Verstappen, who had won just two races.

Piastri, who is looking to become the first Australian champion in 45 years, hasn’t won in eight races since his Zandvoort win.

When Norris won the Brazil GP sprint race in early November, he moved 39 ahead of Verstappen with four races to go.

Verstappen also qualified in 16th for the main race in Sao Paulo and said he could “ forget about ” winning the title at that point.

Now, it’s a different feeling.

After taking yet another superb pole, Verstappen stood proudly on his car and did a “No. 1” gesture with his finger.

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Canada coach Marsch claims he has ‘gut feeling’ on group ahead of World Cup draw

Like everyone else, Jesse Marsch is eager to learn Canada’s World Cup path at Friday’s draw in Washington, D.C.

But the Canadian coach has an idea of what his 27th-ranked side can expect in Group B, which has already been decided as its landing spot as co-host.

“I have the gut feeling that we’re going to see an opponent that we’ve already played since I’ve been here,” Marsch said.

The draw procedure is simple with the 12 groups populated from four pots, which are sorted by world ranking, other than the co-hosts.

Marsch is expecting a European team with 16 UEFA entries in the expanded 48-country field (12 European teams have already been decided, with the remaining four coming from a 16-team playoff). And he says Canada has an excellent chance of getting an African side.

Qualified teams that Canada has already played under Marsch, who was named coach in May 2024, include No. 13 Colombia, No. 16 Uruguay, No. 23 Ecuador, No. 26 Australia and No. 42 Ivory Coast.

Canada, the 14th-ranked U.S. and No. 15 Mexico have been placed in Pot 1, along with nine top seeds — No. 1 Argentina, No. 2 Spain, No. 3 France, No. 4 England, No. 5 Brazil, No. 6 Portugal, No. 7 Netherlands, No. 8 Belgium and No. 9 Germany.

Teams cannot face countries from the same confederation in the round-robin stage, with Europe the exception because of the number of teams entered. No group can have more than two UEFA teams in it.

The 12 group winners, 12 runners-up and eight best third-place teams advance to the knockout rounds.

Under the draw procedures, Canada will open Group B play against the team drawn from Pot 4 before heading west to Vancouver, where it will face the team first from Pot 3 and then from Pot 2.

So Canada could kick off its campaign against No. 66 Jordan, No. 68 Cabo Verde, No. 72 Ghana or No. 86 New Zealand. But the Canadian men could also face No. 12 Italy, assuming it survives the final European qualifying.

A worst-case scenario could see Canada face No. 10 Croatia, No. 11 Morocco or No. 13 Colombia from Pot 2, No. 29 Norway or No. 34 Egypt from Pot 3 and Italy or No. 21 Denmark from Pot 4, assuming they advance via the European playoffs.

Canada would face co-host Mexico in the Round of 32 if both teams finish runner-up in their groups.

Mexico will play out of Group A, and the U.S. in Group D.

By being placed in Pot 1 with the top seeds, the co-hosts avoid the top nine countries — which should increase their chances of advancing. But that also means that Canada’s Group B will be a desirable landing spot.

“You become the team that everyone hopes to get,” said former Canada coach John Herdman. “I’m talking about the Croatias, the Moroccos (both in Pot 2), those teams that are fantastic international teams. They’re all hoping to drop into your group and then therefore you become the team that everyone’s looking to beat.”

Forty-two of the 48 qualified teams have already been decided. Six more, all to be placed in Pot 4, will come from qualifying playoffs in March

The 16-country European playoff field also includes No. 25 Turkey, No. 28 Ukraine, No. 31 Poland, No. 32 Wales, No. 43 Sweden, No. 44 Czechia, No. 45 Slovakia, No. 47 Romania, No. 59 Ireland, No. 63 Albania, No. 65 North Macedonia, No. 69 Northern Ireland, No. 71 Bosnia-Herzegovina and No. 80 Kosovo.

Two more will come from a separate six-country playoff tournament, featuring No. 56 Congo DR, No. 58 Iraq, No. 70 Jamaica, No. 76 Bolivia, No. 123 Suriname and No. 149 New Caledonia.

FIFA says the decision to put the playoff winners in Pot 4, which also includes No. 82 Curaçao and No. 84 Haiti, was made to avoid disadvantaging teams that had already qualified in favour of sides that had to go the additional step of making the field.

The winner of Canada’s Group B will face a third-place team from Group E, F, G, I or J in the round of 32. The Group B runner-up will meet the second-place team in Mexico’s Group A.

The highest-ranked teams, No. 1 Spain and No. 2 Argentina, will be placed on different sides of the draw, as will No. 3 France and No. 4 England.

With just two international windows — March 23-31 and June 1-9 — before the World Cup kicks off June 11, there are limited tune-up opportunities left. Canada has been lining up opponents, yet to be announced, based on what it expects to see at the draw.

Canada, ranked 41st in the world at the time, was grouped with No. 2 Belgium, No. 12 Croatia and No. 22 Morocco at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The Canadians lost all three matches, outscored 7-2, and will be looking for their first win in their third trip to the tournament.

The Canadian men went 0-3-0 in their first tournament appearance in 1986 in Mexico, outscored 5-0 in losses to France, Hungary and the Soviet Union.

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Revisiting the Canucks’ early-season moves under Rutherford and Allvin

Ahead of the 2024-25 season, the consensus around the Vancouver Canucks was that there was positivity and potential — two things that weren’t exactly present by the end of the previous campaign. The team’s health and tone had improved from just months earlier, and while no one was necessarily projecting it to win a Presidents’ Trophy or Stanley Cup, there was realistic hope and belief it could improve upon its last result — a 90-point finish that left the Canucks two spots out of a wild card — and get back into the playoffs.

But 27 games into the season, the Canucks are not on track to get where they want to be. A lacklustre first quarter (and a bit) has seen the club go 10-14-3 for a .426 points percentage, sitting second last in the Pacific Division and 30^th overall. Vancouver is also dead last in goals allowed and hasn’t strung together two consecutive wins since the middle of October.

Although a plethora of injuries taking out chunks of the lineup at times and the adjustment to a new head coach’s system could be considered factors in their poor results, it’s still just not good enough. Especially when the Canucks find themselves at a critical juncture in their history, with generational star defenceman Quinn Hughes becoming extension-eligible in the summer of 2026, all while speculation persists surrounding his desire to play with his brothers in New Jersey.

The Canucks have repeatedly dismissed the notion of a tear-it-all-down rebuild, including recently when team president Jim Rutherford told Sportsnet it’s “not something that we’re going to look at doing,” even if Hughes were to leave, instead referring to the team as being “in transition.”

And while they may be averse to the idea of taking the time and patience required for a rebuild, Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin have shown they don’t shy away from making big moves when needed. Rutherford, in particular, has built a reputation over his 30-year career of jumping the market and completing blockbuster deals. That was reaffirmed last week when Elliotte Friedman reported the Canucks have made it known they are willing to listen to offers on veteran players, excluding Hughes, and that their goal is to get younger. 

Since then, a handful of names have been speculated upon as possible trade pieces, with Kiefer Sherwood and Conor Garland emerging as the leading rumoured candidates. During his Saturday Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada this past weekend, Friedman noted that “there’s nothing imminent in Vancouver” but added that “there’s some teams who are very interested — like Minnesota, Boston, potentially Philadelphia (and) others.” He also said the Canucks appear content to let the market come to them and are “more than comfortable to take their time.”

So, while we’re in watch-and-see mode for what Rutherford and Allvin might have up their sleeves in the near future, let’s take this opportunity to review the most notable early-season deals the duo has orchestrated ahead of the NHL trade deadline during their tenure in Vancouver.

Jan. 30, 2023
To Vancouver: Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty and a 2023 conditional first-round pick
To NY Islanders: Bo Horvat

Why it happened: Bo Horvat, the Canucks’ former captain, and J.T. Miller were due to become UFAs at the same time (2023 off-season). With both due major extensions, it was believed one would have to be re-signed at the expense of the other. While the initial consensus was that it would be Horvat who re-signed, J.T. Miller signed first and entered the 2022-23 season with an extension signed that would start the following year. Horvat’s future remained uncertain and a career year further priced him out, so the Canucks opted to trade him to secure something in return rather than letting him walk in the summer for nothing.

How it’s turned out: Beauvillier spent parts of two seasons in Vancouver before being sent to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2024 conditional fifth-round pick in another early-season move in November 2023. Raty remains in the organization and has had stints in both the AHL and NHL, winning a Calder Cup with Abbotsford in 2024-25, but has emerged as a full-time NHLer this season. The pick Vancouver acquired in the Horvat trade was later flipped, when the Canucks acquired defenceman Filip Hronek from the Detroit Red Wings in March, just days ahead of the 2023 trade deadline, an elite-level defenceman to partner with Hughes on the top pairing.

Nov. 30, 2023
To Vancouver: Nikita Zadorov from the
To Calgary: 2024 fifth-round pick and a 2026 third-round pick

Why it happened: At the time of the trade, Vancouver was sitting second in the Pacific, primed for a playoff push, and injuries to defencemen Carson Soucy and Guillaume Brisebois (their fifth and sixth options) made blue-line depth an area of need. As Allvin described him then, “Nikita is a big, strong and mobile two-way defenceman who will bring more physicality to our backend.” After shedding Beauvillier’s $4-million cap hit, the Canucks had the means to acquire Zadorov, who had publicly requested a trade from the Flames. 

How it’s turned out: In the 54 games Zadorov played for Vancouver, he recorded 14 points, was a plus-six, posted 102 penalty minutes and 124 hits. In 13 playoff games as the Canucks advanced to Game 7 of the second round, he added another eight points, was plus-three, and chipped in 26 penalty minutes and 45 hits. His shooting percentage jumped from 8.2 per cent in the regular season to 19 per cent in the post-season, and his average ice time climbed from 17:04 to 20:09. Zadorov’s combination of performance and personality quickly made him a fan favourite, but it also raised his value as a pending UFA. Unable to reach a contract agreement with the Canucks, he signed a six-year, $30-million deal with the Boston Bruins that summer.

Jan. 31, 2024
To Vancouver: Elias Lindholm
To Calgary: Andrei Kuzmenko, Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, a 2024 first-round pick and a 2024 conditional fourth-round pick

Why it happened: The Canucks had climbed to first in their division and were tied with the Bruins for top spot in the league. Looking to bolster a roster that was now all but assured a playoff berth, Vancouver completed another trade with Calgary — this time acquiring forward Lindholm for a much larger package than the Zadorov trade, headlined by Kuzmenko, who had fallen out of favour with former head coach Rick Tocchet, and the 2024 first-round pick. At the time, Allvin described Lindholm as “a really solid 200-foot player, makes us harder to play against and gives our coaching staff options in the top six.” 

How it’s turned out: Lindholm began his tenure in Vancouver as a top-six winger but was eventually moved into a third-line centre role. He missed seven games due to injury, and overall his regular-season performance — just 12 points with a minus-six rating in 26 games — was underwhelming. In the playoffs, he redeemed himself, playing the hero at times and taking on a pivotal shutdown role in others, finishing with 10 points in 13 post-season games. His most valuable contribution was in the faceoff circle, posting a team-leading 58.7 per cent in the regular season and 51.2 per cent in the playoffs. Like Zadorov, Lindholm became a UFA on July 1 and did not re-sign with the Canucks, instead inking a seven-year, $54.25-million contract with the Bruins.

Jan 31, 2025
To NY Rangers: J.T. Miller, Erik Brannstrom and Jackson Dorrington
To Vancouver: Victor Mancini, Filip Chytil and a 2025 conditional first-round pick

Why it happened: Does this one really need an explanation? The Canucks’ 2024-25 season was a rough one, marked by a lot of drama that culminated in the club moving on from Miller amid off-ice issues and subpar on-ice production. It ended a months-long narrative about Miller and Elias Pettersson, in which there was a rumoured rift between the top two centremen that was impacting the team. Friedman reported at one point that all solutions were on the table — trading one, both, or neither — and Rutherford added fuel to the fire when he interviewed with The Globe and Mail, saying, “It certainly appears like there’s not a good solution that would keep this group together.” The solution they ultimately chose was to send Miller to the Rangers and keep Pettersson.

How it’s turned out: Though the trade put an end to the negative attention and drama surrounding the team, Vancouver — almost a full year later — has still not managed to find a reliable replacement down the middle, and the absence of a true second-line centre remains a noticeable weakness as the team struggles this season. As for the players acquired from New York, Mancini has split his time between the AHL and NHL. Chytil, who had a history of head injuries before arriving, has continued to deal with them in Vancouver as well, including what is presumed to be a concussion at present. Since January of last year, he has appeared in only 21 games for the Canucks because of injuries.

Jan 31, 2025
To Vancouver: Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor
To Pittsburgh: Melvin Fernstrom, Vincent Desharnais, Danton Heinen and a 2025 conditional first-round pick

Why it happened: Just hours after trading Miller, the Canucks opted to use their newly acquired first-round pick as trade capital, immediately sending it to the Penguins, along with a trio of players, in exchange for defenceman Marcus Pettersson and forward Drew O’Connor. Pettersson’s name had been linked to Vancouver for some time leading up to the deal, and he fit the profile of the solid second-pairing blue-liner the Canucks had been seeking. Of Pettersson, Rutherford told The Athletic, “He’s just what we need, in my opinion… He’s just a very, very steady defensive defenceman. You need to have guys like that if you want to win in this league.” And with Heinen and Desharnais moving the other way, the Canucks were also able to part with two players who never quite found a fit within the organization.

How it’s turned out: Both Pettersson and O’Connor were pending UFAs when they arrived in Vancouver, and each was quickly re-signed — Pettersson to a six-year, $33-million contract and O’Connor to a two-year, $5-million deal — a sign of how strongly management felt about their fit moving forward. In 58 games between this season and last with the Canucks, Pettersson has recorded 16 points, is a plus-11 and averages over 20 minutes of ice time, and he’s become a regular on the penalty kill. O’Connor, meanwhile, has also appeared in 58 games, putting up 21 points, and this season he’s operating at a 21.9 shooting percentage and a 64.3 faceoff percentage while taking on PK duties of his own.

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Brock Boeser adjusting to Canucks’ centre woes: ‘It’s hard’

LOS ANGELES — Brock Boeser has seven primary assists this season, and the five centres he has played with on the Vancouver Canucks’ second line have none.

Without a National Hockey League playmaker down the middle, winger Conor Garland had been creating scoring chances for Boeser from the opposite side of the line, but now Garland is hurt, too.

“That’s the definition of this year,” Boeser lamented after Monday’s practice in El Segundo, Calif. “I mean, it’s hasn’t been the greatest of luck. And finally, when you start to get some confidence, something like this happens.”

After missing Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings with an undisclosed injury, Garland was scheduled to fly home to Vancouver Monday afternoon for further medical evaluation while the Canucks travelled to Denver to take on the force of nature that is the Colorado Avalanche.

At 10-13-3, the Canucks are not yet through the first third of their season, and Garland is already out of the lineup for the third time after missing only two games the last three years.

With Boeser now playing left wing for the first time in his career, Kiefer Sherwood is the new second-line right winger alongside centre David Kampf, who does not yet have a point in six games since joining the Canucks following his contract termination in Toronto.

An experienced, respected fourth-line NHL centre, Kampf has spent the last five games in the middle of the Canucks’ second line.

Filip Chytil started the season as the second-line centre and scored three goals before suffering another serious concussion in Game 6. Bottom-six centre Teddy Blueger was injured the same game. Neither has played since.

Between Chytil and Kampf, inexpensive pickup Lukas Reichel had 12 games at second-line centre before playing himself right out of coach Adam Foote’s lineup. There was also one game for Aatu Raty and two for Max Sasson, both recent graduates of the American Hockey League.

As CanucksArmy.com reported, in 26 games, the Canucks’ various second-line centres have contributed one secondary assist — a defensive-zone point for Reichel in a Nov. 8 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Say what you want about Canucks president Jim Rutherford, but the Hall-of-Fame manager was excruciatingly accurate when he said after last season that Vancouver needed to add a top-six centre and that it would be expensive, “but it’ll also be very expensive not to get one.”

The team never acquired one, and here it is three points from the bottom of the NHL.

It’s hard for the Canucks to feel positive these days, although the energy and enthusiasm of Nils Hoglander in his first practice since pre-season ankle surgery helped the mood on Monday.

“It is hard,” Boeser said. “Like, it’s hard. But we’re coming to the rink. . . I think we’ve played some good games. Guys show up and work hard, and we’re following our structure, and then we’ll lose a tight game. I feel like that’s happened a lot. And after it happens to you a few times, it gets frustrating.

“When I was playing with a guy like Gar, you know, he’s really good at creating space for himself and for others. He’s such a good playmaker. That’s kind of where I think we’ve gotten a lot of those (scoring) chances, but obviously he’s hurt now.

“I do feel like I’ve been making a lot of plays — more so than in past years when I was playing with J.T. (Miller) all the time. That was a little different. I do feel like I’ve created a lot of stuff, but I don’t think I have a secondary assist yet. They’re all primary, which is crazy. But, I mean, it doesn’t really change anything. Like, I’ve got to shoot the puck. I know I need to score goals for our team. . . and it doesn’t matter who’s in the middle. I’ve got to show up and try to have a good game and try to produce and not get scored on.”

Considering who has been available as Boeser’s centre, the longest-tenured Canuck is actually having a decent season with nine goals and seven assists in the 24 games he has played.

But the Canucks have just two wins in their last 10 games (2-5-3), and in the last eight, Boeser has one goal. The 28-year-old, however, has had a pile of scoring chances among his 21 shots on target during this time.

He looked dangerous in all three games in California, where the Canucks went 1-1-1.

“I’ve been right there,” Boeser said. “When you’re getting chances, that means you’re close. When you’re not getting chances, that’s when I know I’ve got problems.”

Minus a major move by Allvin for centre, Boeser making a U-turn in the hour before free agency opened on July 1 and re-signing in Vancouver for seven years and $50.75 million was the biggest hockey news of the summer on the West Coast.

But things haven’t quite gone as Boeser and Canucks had hoped.

The critical mass of injuries, headlined by starting goalie Thatcher Demko and two of the team’s three NHL-proven centres, contributed to inconsistency in systems play. And since general manager Patrik Allvin informed other teams that the Canucks are willing to move their UFA-eligible players, trade conjecture is becoming deafening. Sherwood, the team’s leading goal-scorer with 12, has been at the epicentre of rumours whirlwind.

“To be honest, I haven’t really heard much because I’m not really on social media,” Boeser said. “I’ve overheard some of it. I know it can be tough. I’ve gone through (trade rumours) and I’ve had a lot of noise around me, and it can be hard. As much as you don’t want to think about it, it’s definitely in the back of your head and might affect you a little bit. But at the end of the day, it’s part of the business, and you’ve got to push forward and push through.”

Two months into his seven-year extension, is Boeser worried where the Canucks might be headed?

“If my brain tries to go there. . . I try not to go there just because we’ve been dealt with some tough luck,” he said. “You know, look at our centres. We’ve had Heats and Teddy out pretty much the entire year. That hurts. Those guys are important pieces to our team, and I thought we were playing some good hockey when we did have those guys in the lineup. You know, I think everyone’s trying hard. Even last game, I thought we worked hard and we were right there. We just ended up on the wrong side of it.”

• With minor-league callup Nikita Tolopilo summoned home for the birth of his child, the Canucks recalled goalie Jiri Patera to join them in Colorado and back up Kevin Lankinen.

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HOW THE CANUCKS PRACTISED

Forwards

Kane-Pettersson-Lekkerimaki
Boeser-Kampf-Sherwood
O’Connor-Sasson-DeBrusk
Bains-Raty-Karlsson

Defencemen

Hughes-Hronek
M. Pettersson-Myers
Pettersson Jr.-Willander

Goalie

Lankinen

Extras

Hoglander (non-contact)
Reichel
Joseph

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Raptors passing chemistry test on way to surprising early-season run

TORONTO — Does chemistry beget winning or does winning beget chemistry? 

It’s the chicken-or-egg argument of team sports. 

The Toronto Raptors have certainly enjoyed great chemistry through the quarter-point of their season — and great success, too. 

After 21 games, they are 14-7 and just 2.5 games out of first place in the Eastern Conference, in a virtual tie with the New York Knicks, who easily handled the Raptors — a fatigued and short-handed version — on Sunday night. Even the most optimistic prognosticators would not have anticipated the Raptors hitting those benchmarks at this stage, certainly not after they started the season 1-5. 

And while the additions of Brandon Ingram and Sandro Mamukelashvili, the availability of Immanuel Quickley after he played just 33 games last season and the internal improvement by the likes of Jamal Shead have given Toronto a significant boost of talent, the team seems to be over-indexing in the stuff that is harder to quantify but just as important over the course of a long NBA season. 

“Our team chemistry, I think that’s the most important part,” said Scottie Barnes the other day, when asked about what elements had contributed to the Raptors’ torrid November. “Our chemistry, no matter wins or losses, we’re all just super connected, laughing, smiling, just having fun. Our chemistry on this team is the best that I’ve been around in my five years in the league.

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“It keeps growing every single day. There’s a lot of laughing, a lot of great moments, making memories on and off the floor. We really enjoy each other’s presence. So, when we get on the floor, obviously, it’s gonna start clicking. We all trust each other. We’re all happy for each other when someone succeeds. That’s what it’s all about.”

Is that why the Raptors are fifth in the NBA in assist percentage, which is just one reason Toronto boasts the NBA’s sixth-best offensive rating, even after a four-game offensive mini-slump that coincides with RJ Barrett going down with a knee injury?

Is caring sharing?

Barnes was speaking on Friday, when the Raptors’ then nine-game winning streak and stretch of 13 wins in 14 games was still intact and before they blew a 12-point lead with just under six minutes to play against Charlotte on Saturday and ran out of gas against the Knicks the night after.

The test of any team bonds comes when the losses mount. And although it’s not like the Raptors are about to hit a wall by any stretch, the wins project to be a little more difficult to come by in the coming weeks.

Toronto returns home to host the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. Portland isn’t exactly a juggernaut (8-12) but is a big group that ranks No. 2 in offensive rebound rate, which has been a thread running through several of the Raptors’ losses this season. They lost the offensive rebound battle 25-14 against the Knicks, who rank sixth in offensive-rebound rate, and 17-12 against Charlotte, which is fifth. Five of the Raptors’ seven losses this season have come against teams in the top 12 in offensive-rebound rate. 

Next, Toronto hosts the surging Los Angeles Lakers (15-4), who now feature two players — Luka Doncic and LeBron James — the Raptors have never had an answer for, before matchups with Charlotte, Boston (11-9) and the Knicks (13-6) next Tuesday in an NBA Cup quarterfinal.

With the way the Raptors have performed this season, there is no reason not to expect them not to be able to rattle off three, four or five wins, especially since all five games are at home. But it presents a stiffer test than playing Brooklyn, Indiana, Charlotte and Washington (combined winning percentage of .194) seven times in a 10-game span.

However things turn out, the hope and expectation is the Raptors are built for it.

In the glow of the Raptors’ grinding win over Cleveland last week — their eighth straight at the time — I asked Shead how or why the Raptors were able to keep from getting carried away with their success, especially coming off a 30-win season in which the Raptors didn’t win their 14th game until the end of January.

“It’s the same way we didn’t get swept up in the losing last year,” the Raptors’ second-year guard said. “We stay one game at a time, stay positive with each other and keep the message the same: it’s about winning, it’s about playing hard, it’s about doing all the right things to put us in position to win.”

It hasn’t been accidental.

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic has been preaching a consistent, process-based approach since he arrived before the 2023-24 season. How effective it was or if it mattered was hard to measure when Toronto won just 55 games over two seasons.

But that didn’t prevent Rajakovic from emphasizing togetherness, accountability, incremental progress and sacrifice as themes. The message has been constant. It’s why he’s had the team gather for off-season mini-camps in Las Vegas, Spain and Miami the past two summers. Perhaps just as importantly, the Raptors have tried to identify players who are open to that kind of team experience and appreciate the approach.

“It’s not really (surprising), I feel like, just because of how much time we spent together over the summer,” said Quickley, who has been with the organization since being acquired from the Knicks in December 2023, when asked about the team’s family-like vibe. “We were together, probably, I’m sure, more than any other team, and I think that’s been big for us.”

And why have the Raptors been able to bring their team together during what is officially the off-season?

“A lot of our guys, they’re so young, they don’t know any better,” Quickley said. “Most of the teams, when they get older, like seven-to-10 years in the league, they’re like, ‘OK, I’m going to do my own thing,’ but our guys are still coming from college, so they believe everyone is supposed to be together all the time, but it’s pretty cool to have everyone together and everyone enjoys each other’s company, on and off the floor.”

But it’s not just a group dynamic. There aren’t many practices or shootarounds that go by where Rajakovic doesn’t seek out one or two of his players for some one-on-one conversations. He routinely goes over video with Ingram, and meets with Barnes and everyone else on his roster regularly. It means that when he’s challenging the group, everyone knows where he’s coming from.

“He brings the energy every single day,” said Ingram, who is enjoying peak production in his 10th NBA season after being acquired from New Orleans in February. “He’s the leader of our team. He makes sure we bring the energy to practice, games, shootarounds. He makes sure that we have it every single time we step on the basketball floor. For me, that’s the best part about being here.”

It’s level of buy-in that Rajakovic has worked hard to foster but won’t take credit for.

“You know, guys, their character is the baseline for everything, and our front office did really good job of identifying (the) right people,” Rajakovic said. “And now our job as leaders, as adults, is to put them in situations that they’re gonna thrive and learn each other, and then they can build that camaraderie, on the court and off the court. That’s a process, and that process never ends. It’s always evolving, it’s always changing, and it’s always, for all of us, learning.”

Coming off two losses in two games and a schedule that will only demand more of them as the season unfolds and expectations rise, the Raptors head into the next stage of the calendar with plenty of lessons learned but doubtless more to come.

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