Perry Lefko

Perry Lefko keeps you connected to all the news in the CFL on Sportsnet.ca.

Some times, CFL teams aren't prepared to fill in holes left by surprise retirements.

Retirements are part of professional sports, whether an athlete decides on his own or the team does it for him.

Within the past couple of days, there have been a stream of Canadian Football League players hanging up their cleats, including two of note. Bryan Chiu, one of the dominant CFL centres of the past decade, retired after 12 seasons with the Montreal Alouettes. He determined after taking a physical his body couldn't handle another season. The retirement could hardly be described as surprising, given that it had been an annual question in recent years whether or not Chiu would be hanging them up. That said, this is a player who will likely be a first-ballot inductee into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Then there is Jesse Newman, a second-year guard with the Calgary Stampeders. He retired quite surprisingly, catching even his own coach, John Hufnagel, off guard, so to speak. Newman cited "personal reasons" as the basis for his decision.

The Alouettes have a plethora of offensive linemen, including one who can step into Chiu's spot, so the retirement isn't quite as monumental.

For the Stamps, the loss of Newman will be far more impactful. This is the third offensive linemen from last year's Stamps' final roster that is not back with the team. Tackle Jeff Pilon retired, while Dimitri Tsoumpas is trying out with the Miami Dolphins.

Tsoumpas and Newman were first-round draft selections in 2008, and not only cracked the Stamps' roster, but became starters and impressed by playing meaningful roles in the team's Grey Cup win.

Tsoumpas and Newman represented two Canadian offensive linemen who, similar to Chiu, could have played 10 years or more. The cornerstone of every CFL team is its young Canadian talent, and many teams try to play with at least three homebrews on the offensive line. Overall, teams are required to start at least seven Canadians.

So the Stamps could be the hardest hit of any CFL team in terms of trying to find replacements for quality Canadian starters. Tsoumpas, snapped up by Miami in January, may not be back until September at the earliest following the final NFL cuts -- unless he's dropped before that -- so now the Stamps are forced to either revamp their plans, both in terms of finding replacements or dramatically altering their import/non-import plans.

With the off-season retirement of Pilon and Tsoumpas' departure, the Stamps had time to prepare. With the sudden defection of Newman, it's not that simple, both in the short-term and, perhaps of more importance, in the long term.

"For the immediate time, we'll be filling (Newman's spot) internally," Hufnagel told the Calgary Herald. "Obviously, we're working to get someone in here to help us out on the offensive line during training camp, with the possibility of winning a job. We had a couple discussions today, but nothing was worked out. I'm looking for depth. I'm still comfortable with our young guys and the veterans we've brought in. If you recall, two years ago, our offensive line was decimated in training camp. I was lucky to have a complete line. I mean, it was bad. We survived that. And we'll survive this. We just have to move forward and make the players we have better."

In Montreal, general manager Jim Popp viewed Chiu's decision as part of the game.

"Retirements are no different than having an injury week to week. All you can do is try to have answers if a player is not able to play or decides to call it a career," Popp told sportsnet.ca. "

"Calculating the odds that a player may retire or may not be able to finish a season gives you a head start for having answers. When doing personnel, you should be working two to three years ahead of time for possible replacements."

But Popp qualified his comment specifically as it applied to an unexpected retirement, which he said is the toughest to be prepared for, especially if the team is expecting a few more years of service.

"It is also the element of surprise," he said. "If a player is in an early part of their career or in the prime of their career and there has been no talk of retirement, then that is the toughest to be prepared for, especially before camp. If a player is an older guy, who is probably year-to-year, or game-to-game, then your team is probably better prepared for the situation.

"If a team has knowledge of a possible retirement earlier in the off-season (especially non-Imports), then you have a better chance of signing a player to replace or drafting a future player to develop. But again, a team should be preparing for replacement without talk of retirement, depending on the age of the player, the evaluation of play of the player and the odds of replacement by the development of younger players."

EXPLAINING THE TRADE: The Saskatchewan Roughriders began training camp with a whopping 11 non-import offensive linemen, but it whittled it by one by dealing Jonathan St. Pierre to Toronto for non-import receiver Obed Cetoute. From an outsider's perspective, it seemed to make no sense for the Riders, who are stocked with Canadian receivers. Last year, they had as many as four Canadian receivers starting. Backups Rob Bagg and Chris Getzlaf stepped up and played big roles.

In the off-season, the Riders traded Adam Nicolson, another one of their young Canadian receivers who stepped into a starting role from a backup position, for import receiver Prechae Rodriguez. Again, because of their depth at the non-import receiver position, the Riders could make the deal.

They drafted receiver Jordan Sisco eighth overall out of the University of Regina, but he signed shortly afterward with the Indianapolis Colts.

Another Canadian receiver, David McKoy, flunked his physical and was subsequently released.

With Cetoute, who has shown flashes of talent with the Argos in limited play but was entering this season after missing last season with an Achilles injury, the Riders found a Canadian receiver and didn't dent their personnel too badly.

BOREHAM'S INJURY: Punter Jamie Boreham, acquired by the Toronto Argonauts from Saskatchewan, flunked his physical because of a lingering neck injury and has retired. This allows the Argos to free up another roster spot for training camp, while giving Boreham time to heal.

The Argos lost a talented punter/place kicker when Justin Medlock signed with Kansas City in the off-season, which prompted the acquisition of Boreham.

In the short term, the Argos are thin at both kicking positions, which is of critical importance in the CFL.