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Paul D. Grant — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 10:34:53 EDT

Auston Matthews leaves Maple Leafs guessing about his future

Luke Fox — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:35:01 EDT

TORONTO — What Auston Matthews did not say is as important as what he did say.

Upon conclusion of a season blessed with national triumph and cursed with local embarrassment, the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs was offered multiple opportunities to assure the city’s fans that he was down for the long haul, that he only envisions himself playing hockey in one NHL sweater.

Instead, Matthews pled the fifth.

“I can’t predict the future. There are steps that have to take place. They’ve got to hire new leadership in management. I don’t really know. I can’t really predict the future,” Matthews told reporters Thursday morning, the earliest locker cleanout day of his 10-year career.

Matthews was asked directly if he would reject the notion that he might not fulfill the final two seasons of his current contract in Toronto.

“There is always noise and chatter. Personally, I really don’t pay attention to all of that. I really just focus on myself, this team, and trying to be a part of the solution,” he replied.

No doubt, it’s unusual for all this consternation over a superstar still under contract for two-plus years.

But Matthews and the Maple Leafs began preliminary discussions on his desire to re-sign two off-seasons prior to his first impending UFA summer. The 2026-27 campaign is Matthews’s critical “Quinn Hughes” year, the season before the contract season.

And with talents and salaries of this magnitude, franchises must be proactive.

Hughes’s exit from Vancouver is fresh. As is Toronto’s Mitch Marner masterclass in asset mismanagement. The Leafs want Matthews in the fold; the Leafs cannot let him walk for nothing.

So, the top priority for Keith Pelley’s hired head of hockey operations is to find out: Is our guy willing to stick here through thick and thin? Or does he have a wandering eye?

The irony here is that Matthews, armed with a full no-move clause, absolutely can predict his near future. He could orchestrate a move to a team he believes has a better shot at the team success he desires. Or he could dig in and lead the Leafs for two more seasons minimum.

Don’t underestimate the power of the star athlete in a top-heavy league.

What would the player like to hear from the next boss?

“I don’t know if there is anything specific. Those conversations are going to be personal and private. We aren’t even at that point yet,” Matthews said. “When the time comes, those conversations will just happen organically.”

Our take: Matthews struck a noncommittal tone because — after the Leafs fell to 28th place in the standings, 31st in goals against, and 32nd in immediately having their captain’s back — the man needs to know what, exactly, he’s committing to.

Does training camp open with Craig Berube trying, once again, to get the troops to buy in to a chip-and-charge, clutter-the-crease attack? Does GM TBD find that elusive playmaking winger missing from Toronto’s top six? Is everyone healthy? Is the vision inspiring?

Those things, to be fair, Matthews cannot predict.

To a man, everyone wearing a Maple Leafs logo on the last day of school asserted their belief that 2025-26 could merely be a hiccup, that they have the personnel and conviction to summon a Bruins-esque bounce-back to the 2027 post-season.

“Absolutely,” Berube asserted, the Maple Leafs can win a Stanley Cup with Matthews and William Nylander. “’Cause I watch them play, and I know what kind of people they are.”

Stay with that a moment, though.

Watching Matthews play this season was underwhelming, to be kind.

The centreman carried the second-highest cap hit in the sport ($13.25 million) yet finished 67th in points per game (0.88) among skaters who played 20 games minimum.

His 27 goals and 53 points are both career lows. And while his defensive commitment and matchup game is strong, Matthews finished a dash-4.

Matthews will be 29 when the puck drops next, and now he has a surgically repaired left knee (“I think you know how I feel about the hit,” he said) to add to an injury history that includes a concussion, a separated shoulder, a twice-repaired wrist, and a wonky back.

Still, outside of some admitted Olympic-celebration jetlag, Matthews maintained that until Radko Gudas forced him into the brace he’s wearing, he had felt fine physically this season and will be raring to go come training camp.

Matthews stated that he loves being a Leaf and that he shares fans’ frustration and that he and his teammates must own this failure.

Less than 12 hours after the Maple Leafs’ 50th loss of the season, Matthews still believes he can win in this town.

“I believe in the guys in this room and the people we have here,” he said. “We are going to hire new leadership and management. There will be changes. That is just the way things go.”

But if we peer into the future, and the winning doesn’t come — or doesn’t come quick enough — Matthews cracked a door into a world where he could be part of those changes.

That’s just the way things go.

32 Thoughts: The Podcast

Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.

Latest episode

Fox’s Fast Five

• Does Berube expect to coach the Maple Leafs in 2026-27?

“Yes,” he replied.

While he has been no indication otherwise from up top, Berube did acknowledge that new management would make that call.

• When Brad Treliving dangled Matthew Knies at the trade deadline, his ask was for one of three packages in a return, according to Nick Kypreos: two first-round picks and a high-end prospect; or one first-round pick and two high-end prospects; or three high-end prospects.

Did Knies take such a hefty ask as a compliment?

“I wouldn’t want to look at it as a compliment. I’d look at it as a crappy thing. I don’t want to leave this group of guys,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter what it was. I wouldn’t want to leave here.

“I want to stay here. I want to play here.”

• John Tavares intends to play for Team Canada at next month’s world championships in Switzerland. He loves the game, especially in winner-take-all intensity, and finds he always learns and improves playing with different teammates under different coaches in different settings.

“It can only benefit me,” Tavares said.

• Chris Tanev, beauty that he is, said he feels he “let a lot of people down” by only suiting up for 11 games.

Every doctor he visited suggested season-ending groin surgery, but Tanev wanted to try to rehab without going under the knife. Only once the Leafs played themselves out of contention did he relent.

The 36-year-old defenceman’s rehabilitation is on track, and he vows to come back on time and in return-to-form condition.

“I work harder than anybody,” Tanev said.

• Anthony Stolarz was the first to notice something was amiss this season, publicly calling out the team’s defensive and togetherness issues way back in October.

“I think most definitely could have been handled in the room. But I think sometimes that what we need is tough love,” Stolarz reflected. “The guys understood where I was coming from. There was no animosity.”

Corbin settles in vs. Brewers, but Blue Jays’ search for offence continues

Arden Zwelling — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:30:28 EDT

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — Unemployed and left to his own devices as pitchers and catchers reported to club facilities across MLB this spring, Patrick Corbin had to figure out his own training progression towards a regular season he was determined to pitch in. He wasn’t sure where or with whom, only that he needed to be ready.

So, the 36-year-old began building up pitch count at Cressy Sports Performance, a private training facility about 10 minutes from his home in Palm Beach, Fla. He turned up every morning after dropping his kids off at school and tried to mimic the typical day starters across the league were working through.

On Tuesdays, he threw long bullpens, regaining feel and refining the shapes of his five pitches. On Fridays, he faced hitters, progressively getting up to five innings and 85 pitches, which he repeated several times.

He never knew who’d be catching him or who he’d be pitching against. Some days, he got big-leaguers such as Jordan Walker and Tommy Pham. Others, he faced college kids. During one session, he spotted Jacoby Brissett working out and asked the Arizona Cardinals quarterback if he’d be willing to step into the box against him.

“I actually tried to talk him into it a couple times,” Corbin said. “But he never agreed to it.”

Hey, any port in a storm. Corbin had been facing the same hitters over and over again — sometimes the same batter 10 times within an hour. He was desperate for new looks and even more eager for the adrenaline of live competition under lights with a defence behind him and spectators looking on.

That’s why it was no issue for Corbin to throw 74 pitches over five innings in a minor-league game a day after he signed with the Blue Jays earlier this month, and 85 over four in the majors only a week later. Playing ball is all he’s wanted to do for months. And he did everything he could to be ready the moment an opportunity materialized.

“I felt pretty good about my season last year and knew I wanted to play a couple more years,” said Corbin, who threw 5.2 innings of one-run ball in a 2-1 Blue Jays loss Thursday afternoon. “There’s always thoughts of, ‘Man, if nobody wants me, I don’t know what the heck I’m supposed to do.’ But I just tried to throw as much as I could and get as prepared as I could possibly be.”

Despite Corbin’s strong outing, which followed Dylan Cease’s best of the season, the Blue Jays struggled to generate offence for a second time in 30 hours and left Milwaukee with a fifth consecutive series loss after sweeping the Athletics on opening weekend. And the only thing preventing this series from being a sweep in the opposite direction was a pair of desperate comebacks in a wild, 9-7 Blue Jays victory Tuesday night.

After scoring only once in a 2-1 defeat on Wednesday, the Blue Jays’ offence responded with a punchless performance against Brewers swingman Brandon Sproat, who entered the day with as many walks as strikeouts (10) over his first three outings.

The Blue Jays generated a run in the third, as Andres Gimenez led off with a double, advanced on an Ernie Clement single, and dashed home when Tyler Heineman pushed a sacrifice bunt up the first base line. But little came about from there.

A promising opportunity developed in the sixth, as Davis Schneider and Daulton Varsho both reached to begin the frame. But Vladimir Guerrero Jr. bounced the first pitch he saw — a sweeper away — into a routine double play. Two pitches later, Jesus Snachez flew out to left, erasing the threat just as quickly as it materialized.

A day after Blue Jays manager John Schneider described his team’s offensive approach as “quick” and in need of an adjustment against pitchers trying to use Toronto’s aggressiveness against itself, Blue Jays hitters made over half of their outs against Sproat on three pitches or fewer, allowing him to get through 6.2 innings while throwing only 75 pitches.

One of Toronto’s most lively moments came between innings, when Trevor Megill struck out Varsho to cap the top of the eighth and glared towards the Blue Jays bench as he walked off the mound. That brought Schneider and Heineman out onto the field, chirping back and forth with Megill as he continued to his dugout. From the on-deck circle, Guerrero motioned for the Brewers reliever to keep walking.

“As a person, you don’t appreciate when another grown man yells what he did in your face,” Schneider said. “So, you just kind of react in the moment. But we’ve got other stuff to worry about other than that. He’s got other stuff to worry about. I’ve got other stuff to worry about. Our team’s got other stuff to worry about. We’re kind of both in the same place right now, us and them. So, heat of the moment. No big deal.”

Tempers will run high when a season begins as lamentably as Toronto’s has, particularly as you’re getting beat on a walk followed by three consecutive bunts, which is how the Brewers scored the game-winning run against Tommy Nance and Joe Mantiply in the seventh.

Meanwhile, making his second start with the Blue Jays, Corbin looked far more comfortable than in his first, breezing through his opening three innings on 40 pitches. He allowed back-to-back hits to begin the fourth with runners on the corners and none out, but limited the damage to only a run on a sacrifice fly.

He erased a lead-off single in the fifth with a pickoff ahead of a couple strikeouts. And he even came back out for the sixth to face Milwaukee’s top two hitters a third time, retiring both.

In all, Corbin struck out six while allowing four hits and a walk over a 79-pitch outing. He worked front-door sinkers, elevated four-seamers, and diving sliders to lefties. He threw sinkers away, cutters up, and the odd slider to righties. The only pitch that wasn’t reliably working was his changeup, so he threw it just often enough to show hitters he had it.

“You try to locate early, you want to get ahead and then try to expand and get them to chase,” Corbin said. “But I think, overall, just kept the ball on the corners, stayed out of the middle for the most part, and got into better counts today. I felt in a little better rhythm out there, for sure.”

Corbin’s stuff is far from overwhelming, but on days like these when he’s moving around the zone and sequencing effectively, it can get him into middle innings. Which is all the Blue Jays are asking him to do from the back end of their rotation. At least five frames, a little more than two trips through the lineup, preferably with only two or three runs scoring. It won’t always go like that, but Corbin can be a stabilizing presence if it does more often than not.

Of course, Corbin’s season began similarly a year ago, as he went unsigned through most of spring training before the Texas Rangers offered him a contract on the eve of the regular season. The difference then was that Corbin and his wife, Jen, were imminently awaiting their third son, who was born only four days after he signed the deal.

That additional life stress added a degree of difficulty to his rushed preparation for major-league competition. Remember, the Rangers didn’t sign him as a long-term project. They signed him because they had a pressing rotation need, just as the Blue Jays did when they came calling this month. He at least got a minor-league tune-up this time around. Last season, he went straight from the delivery room to a big-league mound.

“I don’t know if doing it before was a little advantage or not,” Corbin said. “It almost helps to jump right into it and get going. Because it’ll never be perfect. You just try to make the best out of it.”

And you never know where opportunities will take you. Originally a rotation stopgap, Corbin went on to throw 155.1 innings over 30 starts and a relief appearance for the Rangers, working to a 4.40 ERA and 1.9 fWAR. That isn’t the dominant ceiling performance contending teams envision atop their rotations. But it is the serviceable floor production that those clubs need every five days to sustain competitiveness.

It remains to be seen if Corbin’s Blue Jays tenure lasts as long. But starts like Thursday’s aren’t going to hurt his chances now that he finally has one.

“My off-season’s not ideal for anybody,” Corbin says. “It’s just a little different facing big-league hitters in a different environment. It’s hard to simulate that for me, personally. So, it’s always good to go out there, try to keep us in the game, and pitch as deep as I can.”

2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs Series Preview: Lightning vs. Canadiens

Ryan Dixon — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:11:38 EDT

The first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs features a rematch from the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.

Weird, right?

Odd as it might be to recall, a pandemic-impacted, 56-game season concluded with the defending-champion Tampa Bay Lightning downing the Montreal Canadiens — the worst team, by record, to make the 2021 playoffs — in five games to claim a second straight title.

The two teams took drastically different routes to this next encounter, with Tampa remaining on Excellence Street, while the Canadiens — who ostensibly lost Shea Weber and Carey Price forever after that trip to the final — executed a full-scale rebuild that’s already producing a second straight playoff appearance.

As for Tampa, while the club has remained one of the league’s best, the Bolts haven’t won a playoff round since advancing to their third straight final in 2022. It’s unfair to say we’re at now-or-never time for this core, but some fingers and toes must be anxiously tapping in T-Bay as coach Jon Cooper and Co. try to find a way back to the top of the mountain.

Or, at least, to a much higher elevation than they’ve been scaling the past three springs.

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Broadcast schedule

While these two teams have been in wildly different spots the past handful of years, they put together similarly impressive campaigns in 2025-26. In fact, this clash — the 2-3 battle in the Atlantic, with Tampa holding home-ice advantage — is a meeting of clubs with the fifth- and sixth-best records in the entire NHL.

So, despite a wide gap in terms of playoff pedigree between the squads, the young Habs — coached by Bolts legend Martin St. Louis — and savvy Lightning could produce an extremely close first-round series.

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD

Tampa Bay: 2-2-0
Montreal: 2-1-1

Lighting X-factor: Health

Are they finally healthy, at just the right time? Key Bolts like Anthony Cirelli, Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel and Darren Raddysh all missed at least 10 games this year, while defenceman Ryan McDonagh missed close to half the schedule. Captain Victor Hemdan, who’s been on personal leave since late March, played well under half the season.

Even if Hedman is unable to return for Game 1, Tampa’s roster is in a much better spot than it has been for large chunks of the season.

Canadiens X-factor: Depth of scoring

How much offence can Montreal get from lines that aren’t the top one? The second line, in particular, has struggled to produce when Juraj Slafkovsky joins Nick Suzuki and 50-goal man Cole Caufield on the top trio. Really, the only guy who’s been on the second line all year is Ivan Demidov and, good as he is, Demidov is a rookie who needs support. If Alex Newhook — who missed a huge chunk of time with a fractured ankle — can continue his strong late-season play as a speedy 2C, maybe Montreal can hit on something that supports the big boys.

ADVANCED STATS
(5-on-5 totals from Natural Stat Trick)

TEAM	CF%	GF%	xGF%	SV%	SH%
Lightning	53.30 (3)	56.20 (2)	54.19 (4)	.908 (12)	11.09 (3)
Canadiens	48.64 (23)	53.49 (9)	48.59 (23)	.906 (14)	11.3 (1)

Regular Season Stats

TEAM	PP%	PK%	GF/G	GA/G
Lightning	20.7 (17)	82.6 (3)	3.49 (4)	2.79 (3)
Canadiens	23.1 (10)	78.2 (18)	3.40 (7)	3.06 (16)

TAMPA BAY STORYLINES

1. Tampa tough guys

Quick, which team led the league in penalty minutes this season? Certainly not the Lightning team which has built a winning legacy this century with skill and smarts, right?

As you’ve surely guessed by now, there’s more backstreet brawler to the Bolts than you might initially imagine, with Tampa racking up more PIMs than any team in the league this year. Hey, when you face — and lose to — the notoriously unpleasant Florida Panthers as the Lighting have in each of the past two first rounds, eventually you develop some pugilistic tendencies of your own.

If Tampa was already inclined to enter the post-season prepared to put their thumb in someone’s eye, playing the Canadiens might stoke the instinct to make this a street fight. Montreal, of course, is nobody’s idea of a mean team and the Lightning may think they can have their way with small stars like Caufield and Lane Hutson.

2. Vasi-level up-skiy

Andrei Vasilevskiy is a slam-dunk Hall-of-Famer. That said, he’s 4-12 in his past three series with an .882 save percentage. That’s a long way from the Conn Smythe performance “Vasy” threw down the year Tampa beat Montreal in the final, when he had a .937 SV% in 23 games. In fact, during the team’s three consecutive runs to the final from ’20 to ’22, Vasilevskiy had a .928 in 71 post-season contests. He doesn’t have to be that good, but the big Russian needs to improve on what we’ve seen in each of the past three springs.

3. Opportunity Knocks

This is a preview of a series between Tampa and Montreal, but we’re going to bring up the Panthers one more time. It’s hard to shake the feeling there’s a lane here for Tampa to make a run with Florida — almost sure to return, rested and mean as ever next spring — not in the mix this year. Again, it’s not as though the clock is about to strike midnight on this iteration of the Bolts, but they’ve got a kick at it here with Nikita Kucherov still at the sky-high top of his offensive game and a bunch of key players aged about 28 to 32. Put it this way; if the first-round exits at the hands of Florida the past two springs hurt, losing an opening-round series to a club that — good as it is — likely won’t peak for a couple years would be a severe gut punch.

MONTREAL STORYLINES

1. Untested tenders

The Canadiens rookie battery of Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler have roughly 145 minutes of career NHL playoff experience, with all of them belonging to Dobes from last year’s five-game loss to the Washington Capitals. Goaltending became a big subplot for Montreal this season when incumbent starter Sam Montembeault completely lost his game and never got it back.

However, since play resumed after the Olympic break, Dobes’ .916 save percentage is the third-best mark in the league among goalies with 15 appearances and he was especially stellar in March and early April, posting a .925 SV% in a dozen outings while the Canadiens solidified their playoff spot in a tough Eastern Conference fight. If Dobes, 24, falters, Fowler is the rare 21-year-old who might be able to handle the post-season heat. One of the top young goalies in hockey, Fowler has shown himself to be a capable, calm stopper when given the chance this season.

2. Lineup decisions

Coach Martin St. Louis has interesting decisions to make at forward and defence, albeit for different reasons. On the back end, the Canadiens were dealt a tough blow when Noah Dobson — a vital, right-shot defenceman for the team — got injured blocking a shot with his hand in Game No. 80. While there could be some gamesmanship given it’s playoff time, Montreal said last weekend that he’d be re-evaluated after two weeks, which basically takes the team through four playoff contests. Assuming another righty, Alexandre Carrier, can return for Game 1, that leaves St. Louis looking at the likes of Arber Xhekaj, recent AHL callup David Reinbacher and maybe even Adam Engstrom for a final spot on the blue line. Everyone brings something different, so the coach will have to decide which way to play it.

Up front, a handful of guys — Brendan Gallagher, Joe Veleno, Zach Bolduc and Alexandre Texier — have all taken turns being scratched from the lineup. Maybe the series will tell St. Louis how to fill out his lineup card, but the coach has some tough calls to make and could throw different looks at Tampa as the battle wages on.

3. What constitutes progress for Montreal?

As noted, the Canadiens have now made the post-season in two straight years and that fact alone could be seen as a win for a squad that still seemed elbow-deep in a rebuild about 15 months ago. Does Montreal, in its second spring fling, need to win a series to show progress? Alternatively, maybe a tight six- or seven-game loss to a heavyweight like Tampa would suffice as a sign this club continues to move in the right direction.

What it really might come down to for the Canadiens is evaluating if the team, as currently constructed, has what it takes to thrive when the physicality takes a leap. Win or lose, will management leave the series thinking the core has what it takes to eventually make it work at this time of year or will they be left contemplating debilitating holes in the blueprint?

2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs Series Preview: Hurricanes vs. Senators

Rory Boylen — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:31:02 EDT

If you were to poll a general collection of NHL fans a week ago, and ask them which team was most capable of pulling off a first-round playoff upset, the most popular answer would probably have been the Ottawa Senators.

If they could just get good goaltending, the Senators were effectively a wagon of a team for many weeks, with underlying numbers that would rival the best in the league. That goaltending did come around just in time to deliver a playoff appearance, but how does Ottawa feel as an upset candidate now that we know who their first-round opponent is?

While Buffalo is a great story, perhaps they play too loosely defensively and would have been ripe to be upset by the Senators. If it were Montreal, perhaps Ottawa was set up with the better four-line, three-defence pairs depth chart to run a smaller, less physical team out of the rink. Tampa Bay came with some injury questions, a star goalie who has had three consecutive “meh” playoff performances, and a missing No. 1 defenceman.

But Carolina? They’re basically the more experienced, more polished version of the Senators.

Watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sportsnet

The quest for the Stanley Cup begins with 16 teams and ends with one champion. Don’t miss a moment of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with every game on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Broadcast schedule

For as solid an upset bet as Ottawa looked to be (again, if they got the goaltending), the Hurricanes present the toughest potential matchup they could have drawn. The Canes are similar in style, slightly better by the numbers, and have had a relatively solid eight-year run under head coach Rod Brind’Amour, who has gotten them to multiple conference finals. Carolina hasn’t gotten over the hump yet and is in danger of becoming this generation’s San Jose Sharks, but their disappointment tends to come in the later rounds.

Still, this is a highly intriguing matchup, close on paper and similar in the areas of the roster that are concerning.

This will be the first time these two teams have ever met in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and it’s set up to be one heck of a series. Can Ottawa take last year’s playoff return, first-round elimination, and build off it? Can Carolina make its way through a wide-open Eastern Conference and finally make it to the Stanley Cup Final that’s eluded them?

Here’s a look at our Round 1 preview.

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD

Hurricanes: 1-1-0
Senators: 1-1-0

Hurricanes X-Factor: Bussi, or Andersen… or Kochetkov?

What a strange year it’s been in Carolina’s net, and after 82 games, the picture is murkier than ever. Brandon Bussi began the season as the No. 3, but when an injury befell Pyotr Kochetkov (suspected to be season-ending) and poor play caught up with Frederik Andersen, Bussi was given his shot, and by mid-February, he had run up a 23-3-1 record. He even earned a contract extension mid-way through the season and looked to be taking over as the No. 1.

However, Bussi’s play post-Olympics has cratered to an .865 save percentage, among the worst in the league. Andersen hadn’t been that much better, and, in a shocking development given the earlier indications of his injury, Kochetkov returned to practice with the team, got an AHL stint, and was even lined up to play Carolina’s final regular-season game before he was a late scratch due to a “roster technicality.” He may yet play himself into this equation.

All told, Carolina has a great depth of three goaltenders, but none of the healthy ones had been playing all that well down the stretch, and the other is coming off a major injury. For as strong as Carolina’s underlying numbers are and as much playoff experience as they have, will one of these goaltenders stand up and meet the moment?

Senators X-Factor: Do they have enough offensive finishers?

It’s funny when you compare the Senators and Hurricanes by the numbers to see how similar they are. They are both strong defensively and also create a lot of offence. You’ll see both teams among the best in the league in goals and expected goals in the 2026 portion of the season, as well as among the best in shots against and expected goals against.

But in just about every case, Carolina is just a little bit better than Ottawa. You could easily make the case that the Senators are the mini version of the Hurricanes, structurally strong on defence, and dangerous attacking on offence.

Over the years, as Carolina has had continued playoff success, in that they’ve won several rounds, ultimately, they’ve fallen short every time, often because they haven’t had the game breakers to lift them past other tight-checking teams. And that’s what we wonder about this year’s Senators. Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson were their top two scorers last season, but the two combined for three goals between them in last year’s six-game series loss to Toronto. Brady Tkachuk is the spiritual leader of the club and managed 22 goals in 60 games, but that total was far below his “expected” goals of 31.03. Dylan Cozens, Shane Pinto and Fabian Zetterlund round out Ottawa’s top six scorers from last season, and those three players also combined for only two playoff goals last spring.

So, against the tough-checking Canes, who can match and exceed what Ottawa throws at it, will the Senators be able to bury the puck enough to get through?

ADVANCED STATS
(5-on-5 totals from Natural Stat Trick)

TEAM	CF%	GF%	xGF%	SV%	SH%
Hurricanes	59.78 (1)	53.49 (8)	55.89 (2)	.895 (26)	8.89 (24)
Senators	52.85 (5)	53.49 (8)	54.54 (3)	.893 (27)	9.96 (12)

REGULAR SEASON STATS

TEAM	PP%	PK%	GF/G	GA/G
Hurricanes	24.9 (4)	80.5 (11)	3.55 (2)	2.88 (7)
Senators	24.0 (8)	75.7 (29)	3.35 (8)	2.99 (13)

CAROLINA STORYLINES

1. Can they keep their streak of first-round series wins going?

This will be Carolina’s eighth playoff appearance in a row, all under head coach Rod Brind’Amour, and they’ve gotten past the first round in each of the previous seven. They’ve made it to three of the past seven Eastern Conference finals, and so have been just on the verge of making it into the Stanley Cup Final. However, in reality, every time they’ve reached the third round, they’ve been blown away. In those three appearances, Carolina has won just a single game.

Of the 10 series the Hurricanes have won under Brind’Amour, eight came against Metropolitan Division teams, and just one was against an Atlantic team (the other was against Nashville in the re-aligned pandemic season). This year, they’re playing an Atlantic team right out of the gate, and despite finishing first in the conference, Carolina is not drawing a soft opponent. This will be their biggest test yet in the opening round.

2. Will enough offensive difference makers step up this year?

We labelled this as the X-Factor for Ottawa, and for Carolina, it’s just a yearly narrative now that tends to catch up to them. Can it be different this time? Usually, Carolina’s lack of a game breaker — a true superstar — nips them in the later rounds, but given how similar this opponent is to their own game, the Canes might be tested in this area of relative weakness earlier in this year’s playoffs.

One addition to this year’s team has a chance to make a huge difference. Nikolaj Ehlers was, for years, an underused, very productive player in Winnipeg, and he delivered them five goals in eight post-season games last year. With Carolina, Ehlers set new career-highs in assists and points and was used just about everywhere in the lineup, finally ending up on the third line with two of Carolina’s best checking forwards.

So, Carolina will be looking to the usual players on the top lines — Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Seth Jarvis — to carry the offence, but perhaps having their second-highest point getter on the third line can help with the spread. Yes, Carolina can create offence, but they had the worst shooting percentage (re: finishing) among all Eastern Conference playoff teams.

3. Will they be able to put up with, and fight through, Ottawa’s physical game?

The Senators had more recorded hits than any other playoff team this season, and so we know they will bring the physicality to Carolina. We know Tkachuk won’t be shy to lean into this style of game, and neither will Nick Cousins or Dylan Cozens, and Fabian Zetterlund isn’t afraid to get his body involved. The Senators will be looking to wear down Carolina, and while the Hurricanes have toppled “physical” teams in the past, again, this opponent is also the most skilled they’ve seen in the first round, so the combination will be unlike anything the Canes have gotten used to playing against so early in the tournament.

OTTAWA STORYLINES

1. Can Linus Ullmark deliver an upset?

The Senators spent a lot of money to bring in Vezina Trophy winner Ullmark to their team last year with the expectation he’d settle their crease and be the final piece of an emerging roster. In Year 1, he delivered on that promise in the regular season. And while Year 2 was certainly more bumpy — the goaltending was keeping Ottawa out of the playoffs for the longest time — he finished with a .926 save percentage in six April starts. Post-Olympics, Ullmark went 12-4-3 with a .902 SV% and 2.51 GAA, so perhaps he’s coming around at just the right time.

2. Will this be Jake Sanderson’s break out performance to a national audience?

You don’t need to tell Senators fans how great Sanderson is. Every night, Sanderson plays against top competition, leads Ottawa’s blue line in average minutes at even strength, on the power play, and on the penalty kill, and in 67 games played, he posted 54 points. That 0.81 points per game mark ranked 14th among all NHL defencemen.

He and partner Artem Zub have formed one of the best — perhaps underrated — top pairings in the NHL. With Sanderson on the ice at 5-on-5, the Sens control the run of play and earn nearly 57 per cent of all shots taken and outscore the competition by 12 goals. Zub, in fact, was Ottawa’s plus-minus leader this season.

But how aware is the rest of the league, and other teams’ fans, of Sanderson’s capabilities? Against Carolina, Sanderson will play opposite Jaccob Slavin, who was long one of the more underrated defensive defencemen and is now one of the most recognized for what he does well. If Sanderson can tip the scales in Ottawa’s favour when he’s sharing the ice with Slavin, the Senators will be in a great position.

3. The third line’s ability to stall Carolina’s attack

In such a tight series statistically, and against an opponent that on paper has a lot of lines that will attack you in waves, we have to wonder where the Senators could slow down the Hurricanes. And for that, we turn to the third line, specifically the Shane Pinto and Michael Amadio duo.

Pinto scored 20 goals for his third full season in a row, while Amadio was not far behind and put up a career-best 35 points at 29 years of age. But the real strength these two bring to the team is their defensive play, which drew a little attention for Selke consideration this season.

Often challenged in the shutdown role, when Amadio and Pinto shared the ice together at 5-on-5 this season, the Sens outshot opponents 319-266 and outscored them by three, an advantage that might be the difference in this opening-round series.

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Mike Koreen — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 14:12:57 EDT

How a driven Ja’Kobe Walter earned crucial role with Raptors

Michael Grange — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:24:40 EDT

Ja’Kobe Walter was taking driving lessons.

Sabrina Walter, his mother, was his driving instructor.

Not: She took her son driving so he could get some practice in.

But actually: She was a driving instructor, at Prosper Driving school in McKinney, Texas, and her then 16-year-old son was her student, practising for his license.

It was the ultimate test of coachability and the willingness to accept your role.

How did it go? Not bad, not bad at all. There were moments when Walter didn’t want to hear exactly what his instructor wanted to say. And moments when the instructor wished the student would nod more and talk less. But they got through it — no small thing as anyone who has experienced the new driver-parent dynamic from either perspective.

Even as a 16-year-old Walter recognized the situation, and made the right read:

“I did what I had to do because I didn’t want to be there any longer than I had to be. I felt like I could drive perfectly fine,” Walter said. “(But) I listened. I kept it simple; I did what I had to do to get out of there. She wasn’t going to let me go otherwise. Two hands on the wheel, speed limit, all that.”

His instructor’s version: “He was teachable. But he would listen sometimes, and then sometimes it was like he already knew everything,” said Sabrina Walter, who did a long list of jobs when her kids were growing up — driving instructor just one of them. “We would be on Lesson 3 out of 7 and it wasn’t going fast enough for him.”

But everyone persevered. Walter took his test with the owner of the school and his mom insisted that he not show any leniency.

And?

“I got 100 per cent on my driving test,” said Walter. “When your mom is your driving instructor, you can’t mess that up.”

The Raptors Show

Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy and two-time NBA champion Matt Bonner cover all things Raptors and the NBA. Airing every weekday live on Sportsnet 590 The FAN from 11 a.m.-noon ET.

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As the Toronto Raptors get ready to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in their first playoff action since 2022, there is good reason the Cavaliers are heavy favourites.

They have the highest payroll in the NBA; Donovan Mitchell is one of the most lethal scorers in all of basketball, with multiple 50-point playoff explosions to his name; James Harden remains as skilled a half-court operator as ever; Evan Mobley is one of the league’s best defenders; and on and on.

But in addition to having a 3-0 regular-season record against Cleveland to bolster their belief, the Raptors can gain confidence from the way their roster has developed over the course of the season. Sure, the Raptors’ fortunes will likely rise or fall on the performances of all-stars Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram, but the season-long progression of youngsters such as rookie Collin Murray-Boyles and Walter, the second-year wing from just outside of Dallas, has the Raptors entering the playoffs as the deepest and most versatile version of themselves seen this season.

It’s a welcome development, if a tad unexpected. Murray-Boyles was an unproven commodity out of training camp without a defined position as the No. 9 pick in the draft. And Walter? He was third — if not fourth — among a crowded collection of wings the Raptors had set up to compete for minutes off the bench. He didn’t even start in the Raptors’ intrasquad scrimmage at the end of training camp in Calgary, and was DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) in the second and third games of the season.

But coming into his first playoff series, Walter has very definitively figured it out. The 21-year-old who shot 34.1 per cent from the college three-point line during his one season at Baylor and 34.9 per cent from the three in his first NBA season has turned himself into a lethal threat from distance. He led all Raptors regulars in three-point percentage on the season at 40.9 per cent, and from the all-star break on, he shot a blistering 47.6 per cent from three, second in the NBA among all players with at least 100 makes.

He’s done it while establishing himself as a legitimately pesky on-ball defender, and a dangerous off-ball bandit. His 73 steals were fourth overall in the Raptors ball-hawking lineup, but when playing time is factored in, Walter led Raptors regulars in thefts with 1.8 per 36 minutes, well ahead of Barnes’ 1.5.

It’s all translated into Walter fulfilling a role the Raptors were desperately in need of filling going as the season got underway: A floor-stretching wing who could make threes and be a plus defensively. Every team needs them — the Raptors more than most, given they ranked 29th in three-pointers made a year ago. If form holds, the Raptors will count themselves lucky to find just such a contributor in Walter, who they took with the 19th pick in the 2024 draft, and the Cavaliers will be lucky when he’s not on the floor.

“We all know he’s been great defensively for us,” Barnes said, as the regular season was winding down and more of his assists were coming off Walter’s hand for three. “Being able to put pressure on the ball, turning guys, trapping guys, helping us get out and run, but his shooting is just something that we need on our team, and he’s been on fire. Each shot he takes, it feels like it’s going in and he’s been super important for our team. Sometimes, we get in these ruts where we’re not making shots. But we can count on him to play defence and make shots.”

The irony is that an off-ball, ‘3-and-D’ wing was never a role Walter had played before in his career. He led Baylor in scoring as a freshman, was a McDonald’s all-American coming out of high school and was the best player on his AAU team before that. Even last season with the Raptors very much rebuilding, Walter was getting more opportunities with the ball (his usage rate fell from 18.4 per cent to 14.0 this year) and taking more shots when he had it (from 7.6 per game compared to five) than he has in his second season.

But with the addition of Ingram and pushing for the playoffs an organizational goal, roles shifted this year. Walter adapted seamlessly. It’s a quality his teammates have noticed.

“He’s got this ability to just be a gamer, to have a certain level of competitiveness,” said Garrett Temple, the Raptors 17-year veteran and in-house mentor-at-large. “His ability to take coaching is very old school, and he’s very low maintenance. It’s, ‘Yes, sir.’ Whatever you tell him to do, it’s, ‘I’m on it.’”

Said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic: “He’s a such a great kid and such a competitor, he’s very, very easy to coach, you know? You tell him something one time, he takes that very seriously and he’s trying to apply it right away.”

It’s no small thing. One of the challenges for young players coming into the NBA is recognizing that the game they played with a full heart for all their years has instantly become a job. Which doesn’t mean that the love of the game automatically wanes, or the passion for personal development or goal chasing should stop. Quite the opposite: Standing still in the NBA is an invitation to get churned out of the league as fast as you arrived.

But the job part — which is probably the most relatable element of life in the most gilded league in sports — is that very few players get to play in the NBA the same way they did when they were striving to earn one of the 450 regular roster spots league-wide, or exactly how they want to play. That’s some of what is bundled into ‘figuring it out’ — the catch-all phrase that so often summarizes young players adapting, or not, to NBA requirements.

For Walter, it was baked in.

“It’s the way my parents raised me,” he said. “I’ve always respected people that have authority over you, and was kind of listening all the time, and I think that’s kind of made me the player I am now.”

Of all the skills that can get a player into the NBA, the one that can be make-or-break as far as them cracking a roster or staying on the floor, being coachable is near the top of the list. Walter has never not been an elite basketball prospect. He was AAU teammates with Bronny James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Ron Holland of the Detroit Pistons, among other big names. And like any teenager, he remembers the thrill of seeing his highlights coursing out across social media. But somehow as he made his way through the ego-driven gauntlet of elite youth basketball, Walter was able to recognize that a team game didn’t automatically revolve around him.

George Clay thought he was done with coaching summer basketball until he saw a pick-up run where a skinny Grade 9 kid was, in his words, “doing special things.” He introduced himself to Walter’s mom, Sabrina, and his father, Eddie Walter. They hit it off, and Clay ended up coaching Walter for three summers.

“Ja’Kobe was always a kid that could impact the game without having to score,” said Clay. “Now, he was a heck of a scorer, don’t get me wrong. But he knew he could do other things, whether it was shutting down the other team’s best player, and even as your best player, he’s the one diving on the floor for a loose ball, getting a steal or an extra possession. He took a lot of pride in all the areas of his game, versus feeling like — even though he was our best player — feeling like he had to act like that. He did all the little things that kind of mattered and helped us win.

“It’s very, very refreshing to have a guy that knows that there’s more to basketball than scoring a bucket, right?”

For Walter, there was never much of an option. His father, Eddie, played NAIA basketball at Birmingham-Southern, in his hometown of Birmingham, Ala., though judging by his shoulders, you might have guessed Division 1 football. Shake his hand and you’re thinking if rock-crushing was a sport, he’d be good at that.

“He a definitely no-nonsense guy, you know,” said Clay, who remains close with the Walter family. “Great guy, one of my close friends, but definitely no-nonsense.”

He was Walter’s first coach, and his first lessons weren’t that complicated: “I’m all about defence, that’s just me,” said Eddie, who set the school record for steals at Birmingham Southern, and works as a utility repairman since he moved to the Dallas area after university. “And be the best teammate you can be and always try to make the right passes. That was me growing up, and I wanted to instill that in Ja’Kobe.”

The other? “Don’t be complacent. Don’t just go the gym, stay in the gym and work on your craft.”

Message(s) received. One of Clay’s preferred memories of Walter came at the end of their AAU run together at the Adidas circuit championships. They were playing in a closed gym with no college coaches on hand and, in any case, Walter had long ago signed with Baylor. There was nothing at stake other than bragging rights. And yet Walter was throwing himself around, diving on the floor, drawing charges and imploring Clay to press to make up a 15-point deficit before he hit the game-winner.

“I mean, he’s just a competitor,” said Clay. “And I think that’s the one thing that everybody started seeing about him.”

Walter remembers the game, but to him it’s not that noteworthy. Why wouldn’t he play that way? It’s his way. It’s only now that he’s been able to see it how others do.

“You know, I’ve never understood until, probably — truly — this year,” he told me. “But I’ve always been a player that played hard no matter what the situation was, and I really don’t know how to play a different way. I feel like I play the game to win, regardless, so I don’t ever have to put myself in that mindset of playing hard. When there’s a loose ball, obviously you’re supposed to go get the ball. For me, there’s never been anything else. You put your body on the line, you take the charge, dive on the ball and play defence. So that has pretty much helped me to where I am right now. I feel like that mindset alone got me very far in my career.”

The beginning of this season was the first time Walter’s approach didn’t seem to be delivering the results he’d come to expect for himself. Even when he started getting some playing time, it was coming in dribs and drabs, fits and starts. Over a two-month stretch early in the season that included seven games starting in place of a then-injured RJ Barrett, Walter struggled to find a rhythm. He had company in that respect — Gradey Dick or Ochai Agbaji hadn’t exactly taken the job by storm either. Through Jan. 1, the trio was collectively shooting 30 per cent in 53 shared minutes per game.

It wasn’t exactly how Walter envisioned his second season unfolding. But he didn’t overreact. He stayed steadfast in his habits — Walter looks for opportunities for extra work in every crevice of the schedule, routinely staying late after practice or shootarounds on the road, or coming back later in the day or evenings when the Raptors are at home. He aims for 1,500 made threes per week. And his pre-game routine doesn’t vary: Sixty made threes off the catch and 90 off movement, with special attention paid to his balance and footwork. And he also took a step back to consider the context.

“I was talking with coach Jimbo (long-time Raptors assistant Jim Saan, who oversees the Raptors development program) and he was telling me about working with dudes like (former Raptor and now Miami Heat all-star) Norman Powell, and how (Powell) didn’t have everything given to him and he wasn’t the player then he is right now,” said Walter. “But that he would always stay consistent and keep working. And after hearing that, I did a little bit of research, looking at different players and how their careers went, and they weren’t always the players they are now, you feel me? And when you understand the league, you know it made sense in my head.

“When you come in as a young guy, you’re not always going to have that role (that you want), so you have to do the little things. And when I changed that mindset, I never really had that bad feeling about going to the games, or I never really got down on myself, because I just understood that this is part of it and it’s all going to come around.”

But Walter hedged his bets. A 21-year-old millionaire has a lot of options to consider with a week of vacation staring him in the face, but Walter wasn’t tempted by any of them. During the all-star break, he headed home to McKinney and put himself through full days of workouts at his old high school with Clay. Shooting, conditioning, weightlifting — no steps were skipped.

His efforts didn’t go in vain. Just before the all-star break, the Raptors had traded Agbaji and shortly after that, Dick fell out of what was becoming a tighter rotation after the all-star break.

Walter’s climb up the depth chart was complete.

Over the last 15 games of the season, Walter averaged 26.6 minutes per game of almost exclusively positive basketball. He shot 53.8 per cent on more than five threes a game, but just as important made only eight turnovers while accumulating 16 steals, and did it against the best competition.

The Raptors lost on the road against the surging Boston Celtics on April 5, but Walter — starting with Immanuel Quickley sidelined at the time with a foot injury — finished with 16 points, was 4-of-5 from three and had two steals, one each from Celtics stars Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum. Those who know him best suggest that Walter eventually emerging from the pack and earning his way into a crucial role for the Raptors wasn’t a matter of if, but when.

“Anytime there’s a competition, I’m putting my money on Ja’Kobe for those minutes,” said Clay. “So it doesn’t surprise me at all because I feel like if there’s fair competition, he’ll win.”

It’s all made for an exciting spring for the Walter family. Walter’s older sister, Nikira, will graduate from her Master’s program in statistics from Columbia on Sunday, May 17, so if the Raptors happen to have a playoff game that day, his mom and dad will have to miss it. A good problem to have. But they’ll be there this Saturday as their son makes his NBA playoff debut, eager as everyone else to see how the Raptors match-up against Cleveland.

It’s a special feeling seeing your child succeed in any context, carrying the values you tried to infuse them with on the brightest stages. The Walters are doubly blessed in that respect, and although they’ll acknowledge that while they can trace where their son’s basketball acumen comes from, having a daughter poised to pursue a PhD in math is something that falls more into the ‘your kids can surprise you’ category.

But having seen enough of both of their kids’ progress over the years, that their son has arrived in this place — succeeding in his role, even if it’s not the role he was accustomed to before stepping into the NBA — isn’t something he could have envisioned.

“That’s what he does, this is him,” said Sabrina of her son’s ability to adapt and thrive. “At some point or another, he’s going to excel like he wants to, and we want him to. But I don’t worry about it. For sure I don’t, because that’s just how he is.”

Take it from Mom, take it from his former driving instructor: the Raptors’ young wing is licensed to drive, and driven to succeed.

Maple Leafs notebook: Rielly, Knies reiterate desire to stay in Toronto

Sonny Sachdeva — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:13:23 EDT

The long, painful journey to the final game of this lost Toronto Maple Leafs season has come to an end. Now comes the truly difficult part — pinning down how exactly it all went off the rails, and finding a way to get the organization back on track.

Thursday marked the first step in that process, as the Maple Leafs spoke to the media at the club’s training facility in Etobicoke, Ont., reflecting on the first campaign in a decade that ended without playoff hockey. Much remains uncertain about the future of the club, about its front office and the players who don its sweater — the only thing that is clear is that changes are coming.

Morgan Rielly’s worn the Maple Leafs crest longer than any other player currently in the building, has seen the franchise at rock bottom and at dizzying heights. And as the team’s trajectory aims downward once again, he finds his name at the centre of chatter about the changes needed.

On Thursday, the 32-year-old was asked how he would feel if asked to waive the no-move clause granted to him when he inked his eight-year, $60-million extension in 2021.

“It’s a challenging thing to answer when those conversations haven’t happened yet,” Rielly said. “But after a year like this — after any year, but especially one that [was] very disappointing — change is bound to happen. So, I think as an athlete, you have to be prepared for that.

“It’s not the first time that it’s crossed my mind. It’s not something anyone believes that they’re not open to. So when that conversation happens, we’ll deal with it accordingly.”

The defender — who’s played 13 seasons for the Maple Leafs, including four that saw him top the 50-point plateau, and one that saw him put up a career-best 20 goals and 72 points back in 2018-19 — reiterated his affinity for the organization that drafted him fifth-overall back in 2012.

“I’ve always loved being in Toronto and being a part of this organization. It’s very meaningful to me, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to stay. I still want to stay. I love playing here, I love being a Maple Leaf, and this organization means a lot to me.”

That said, Rielly also made clear that the path back to post-season relevancy after this rollercoaster campaign will be a hard journey.

“In this league, I don’t think there are any easy fixes,” he said. “The work that this team will have to put in to get back to where we want to be is extensive. Being outshot or playing too much time in our D-zone are things that we need to improve on. But you know, it’s more than just that.”

Tanev ‘very confident’ he’ll be ready for training camp in September

The Maple Leafs’ blue line was a central topic of conversation all season, as the club’s struggles in their own zone started early and never went away. Key to those struggles was the loss of back-end stalwart Chris Tanev, who missed all but 11 games with injury in 2025-26 after establishing himself as a pivotal blue-line leader for Toronto a season prior.

Amid questions about whether the 36-year-old will be able to resume his career after his recent slate of injuries, the veteran said Thursday he believes he’ll be back on the ice for the Maple Leafs next season.

“I’m doing well,” Tanev said. “I was in New York Monday to see the doctor about my surgery and everything’s going great, everything’s on track.”

The defender said he doesn’t foresee any further surgeries being required following the core muscle procedure he underwent in March. Asked how confident he is in his ability to return to the ice next season, Tanev was adamant: “Very confident,” he said. “I feel like I work harder than anyone, and I will continue to do that to get to where I need to be.”

Originally injured in a late-December game against Detroit, Tanev said he delayed his surgery in the hopes of returning in the playoffs.

“Every doctor I saw said the exact same thing: ‘You need surgery.’ I chose to wait a little bit — I was hoping we were going to be in a playoff spot and I could try to come back and play in April,” he said. “That was the goal. If that was the case, I would’ve had surgery after that.

“But coming out of the Olympic break, we didn’t play as well as we wanted, so it gave me an opportunity to do it then, where I could have a bit of a runway to get ready for next season.”

Asked what he saw as the fundamental reason his club found themselves unable to claw their way back, Tanev said there are a number of issues that need to be ironed out before 2026-27.

“When you watch the game up there, everyone thinks they’re Wayne Gretzky. The game is so much slower from the press box than it is on the ice. So, it’s tough for me to really critique when I only played 11 games,” he said. “But I think we needed to execute our systems better, we needed to have some more pace. Depending on who you ask, there could be 20 different things.

“When things don’t go as well as planned, or as well as they need to go, there’s always issues that need to be addressed. I think whoever comes in at the top is going to have to look at that and see what the important issues that they see are, and then try to fix them.”

Knies on seeing his name in trade reports: ‘That’s not in my hands. I’d love to stay here.’

One approach considered by the club’s previous regime was moving out young power forward Matthew Knies, who found his name brought up in reported trade offers considered by former GM Brad Treliving and Co.

Signed to a six-year, $46.5-million deal prior to this season, the 23-year-old managed 23 goals and 66 points in 2025-26. However, injuries hampered his ability to truly take a step for the club.

“It came up earlier in the year, I honestly don’t even know what date — some time pretty early in the season,” Knies said of his lower-body injury. “I think it was kind of blown out of proportion, I don’t think it was as serious as it was [said to be]. It was obviously not comfortable to play with all year, but it didn’t really hinder me being out of the lineup.

“I’m happy now that I can let it heal up and rest it a little bit, and try to come back and be 100 per cent for next season.”

As for his name being considered in trade offers this season, and perhaps moving forward, Knies reiterated his desire to remain a Maple Leaf.

“It’s not in my control,” the winger said. “I can just focus on my attitude that I bring to the rink, the work ethic I bring to the rink. That’s for the guys upstairs, that’s not in my hands. I’d love to stay here. I want to play here. I think you’re going to hear that from everyone in this locker room.

“It doesn’t get to me, really, I’ve just got to focus on my game and trying to help the team win. That was my only thought this year.”

Maple Leafs point to lack of consistency, injuries as key reasons for lost season

As the dust settles on a disastrous campaign that saw Toronto finish in the league’s basement just one year after winning a division title, the Maple Leafs tried Thursday to sort through the wreckage of their disappointing season. The squad’s overall lack of consistency was brought up repeatedly by the dejected group.

“We never really seemed to get quite on track the way we needed to,” said John Tavares. “Our game obviously just didn’t build, get to the level that it needs to be consistently to have success, to put yourself in a spot to be in the playoffs. … We just didn’t do a good enough job. I think we all understand the roles we play as players, and certainly myself, the expectation and the standards that we want to uphold. We didn’t meet those.”

Asked why that consistency wasn’t there, despite the veteran experience in the group and the results they found last season, Tavares said the issues were plenty.

“It just didn’t really come together. You know, I think it’s always hard to pinpoint one thing. But certainly our level of execution, and just the challenge that it brings on a nightly basis in this league, the buy-in that everyone needs to have to be on the same page — and doing the things when they’re the most difficult, when they’re the most challenging, being able to sustain that. You know, having the fortitude needed to do what’s required on a nightly basis.

“As our game went throughout the season, it obviously was a real challenge — just spending a lot of time in our own zone, not having the puck very much, and then we just didn’t defend and execute, break out very well. That’s on everyone, starting with myself.”

Knies pointed to the club’s defensive performances.

“We can’t let in that many goals and expect to win games,” he said. “I think our defensive play, to be honest, was very subpar. We left our goalies out to dry a lot of the games. I think that was a part of it. I think towards the end of the season, our ability to generate offence wasn’t there. That kind of ties into consistency — not everything was there all the time.

“At parts I think we were good defensively, but the offence wasn’t there, and then vice versa. We’re going to have to put it together, all the pieces, next year, and completely buy into the system, show that it works.”

For Stolarz, it was the lack of bite and competitiveness that sunk them — the type of intensity he saw his former club, the Florida Panthers, bring routinely.

“You know, you look at the response that we had late in the season after the Auston injury. I think that’s something that, next year, starting at Game 1, that’s the way we have to play,” the netminder said. “We have to play like bastards. We have to play hard and we have to play heavy. There were times this year that we’ve shown it. We’ve played with some of the best teams in the league and were able to beat them. I think that was the toughest thing, was just the consistency. We hung with some of the best teams in the league, we beat some of the best teams in the league — it just wasn’t there night in, night out.”

William Nylander, who led the club with 79 points this season, chalked it up to the injury bug.

“I mean, a lot of injuries piled up,” the winger said during a brief availability Thursday. “I think that maybe was a big factor, looking back at it.”

Much was made of head coach Craig Berube’s system, and what seemed to be a lack of buy-in from his players this season, an issue that appeared to snowball as the tumultuous campaign wore on. Asked Thursday for his thoughts on that critique, Berube said he and his staff did try to tweak the system throughout the season to find a solution.

“You know, we did modify it this year at times. And it ended up being the same result,” the coach said. “It’s not like we’re not trying to work and help the players and try to get them to a different level. Systems are systems. They have to be executed to be successful.”

Berube — who said he hasn’t heard anything yet about whether he’ll be back next season — pointed to one area specifically when asked why his team fell off in 2025-26 after a successful 2024-25.

“Goals-against,” the coach said, point blank. Still, Berube said he believes the club’s current goalie tandem of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz can find success again in Toronto.

“We did last year,” Berube said Thursday when asked if he could live with the duo returning. “And they were solid. We had a nice tandem, and I believe that we can have that tandem again. You know, this year, whether it’s a one-off or whatever, there was a lot of circumstances, with injuries and different things, that went on.

“It was a little chaotic in the goaltending department. But I do believe Stolarz and Woll are very good goalies, when they’re healthy and ready to go. I believe they can come back next year and do the job again.”

Tavares on belief Maple Leafs can bounce back next year: ‘We have to earn that’

The crucial question for the Maple Leafs faithful is where things go from here — was this campaign a one-off, undone by injuries and a mismanaged roster? Or was it a sign that the Maple Leafs’ window for contention has now slammed shut, and a new path must be charted?

Asked if they believe they can return to the playoffs Thursday, the Maple Leafs expectedly affirmed their belief in their group — but also noted it won’t be a simple process.

“I think in moments you have doubt. If you look at the record and after games, you have feelings of doubt,” admitted Rielly. “But ultimately I think that there’s a strong belief in here with this team, in the big picture and over the long run, that this team will be able to get back to a position of strength and a chance to win.”

“I think we have a ton of good players in here,” added Tanev. “Obviously we didn’t have a very good season at all. But we had — I’m not going to give excuses on injuries — but we had some guys that didn’t play a lot of the year. I think we can learn a lot from this year, and the importance of having a really good start to the season. Falling behind the eight ball and learning and adapting to how we can get better. There’s some amazing players in here, and I do believe that we can be a playoff team next year.”

“With the talent and the personnel in this locker room, I think that that’s definitely going to happen,” said Knies, doubling down. “It sucks to say, but with a summer like this, there’s time for guys to heal up and get prepared, just get as ready as possible for next season.”

“We have some good players here — we have to make some adjustments, we have to make some moves to bring in maybe some different players or different people,” said Berube. “But there’s a good core here, good players, and good people. So I do believe we can bounce back.”

Asked if he’s confident this group can return to the post-season after what just transpired in 2025-26, Tavares was more cautious with his optimism.

“Very. But we have to go out there and prove that and earn that,” the former captain said. “Just like, you know, we had high expectations for this year, and we didn’t come close. So, the challenge going forward for the group is to regroup, continue to work together to find the areas we have to be better. And then our level of play just has to be much, much higher.”

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NHL announces Game 1 dates for Stanley Cup Playoffs

Sportsnet Staff — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:05:35 EDT

With the NHL regular season nearly wrapped up, it’s time to look ahead to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The NHL has announced the Game 1 schedule for all eight first-round matchups.

Here is a look at the schedule:

Eastern Conference Game 1 times

Ottawa Senators at Carolina Hurricanes
Saturday, April 18, at 3 p.m. ET on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+

Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins
Saturday, April 18, at 8 p.m. ET on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+

Montreal Canadiens at Tampa Bay Lightning
Sunday, April 19. Time TBD

Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres
Sunday, April 19. Time TBD

Western Conference Game 1 times

Minnesota Wild at Dallas Stars
Saturday, April 18, at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+

Wild Card No. 2 at Colorado Avalanche
Sunday, April 19. Time TBD

Utah Mammoth at Vegas Golden Knights
Sunday, April 19. Time TBD

Pacific Division No. 2 at Pacific Division No. 1
Monday, April 29. Time TBD

Blue Jays provide injury updates on George Springer, Addison Barger

Sportsnet Staff — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:05:33 EDT

The start of the 2026 season hasn’t been ideal for the Toronto Blue Jays, but they might be getting some much-needed reinforcements in the near future.

Injured slugger George Springer took to the visitor’s batting cage in Milwaukee for the first time since fracturing his big toe, per Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling.

Though Springer has yet to resume running, it’s possible he can come off the injured list next Friday ahead of the Blue Jays’ homestand.

“It looked pretty normal, which is good. He’s feeing better,” manager John Schneider said. “The swing looked like George.”

Springer was injured in the third inning against the Minnesota Twins on April 11 after fouling a ball off his foot. He was able to finish his at-bat, but exited the game shortly thereafter.

In 54 at-bats this season, Springer is batting .185 with two home runs and six RBIs.

Schneider also provided an update on Addison Barger, who has been sidelined since April 5 with bilateral ankle discomfort.

The 26-year-old resumed baseball activity at the Blue Jays’ complex in Florida and is expected to begin swinging on Friday or Saturday with the goal of ramping up to running early next week.

Prior to his injury, Barger had been dealing with a slow start to the season, batting .053 with just one hit in 19 at-bats.

The Blue Jays are navigating several injuries to begin the season, which include pitchers Trey Yesavage (shoulder), Shane Bieber (elbow), Jose Berrios (elbow), Yimi Garcia (elbow), Cody Ponce (knee), Bowden Francis (elbow), catcher Alejandro Kirk (thumb) and outfielder Anthony Santander (shoulder).

The Blue Jays are in action Thursday as they look to win the series tiebreaker against the Milwaukee Brewers. Catch all the action on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ beginning at 1:40 p.m. ET / 10:40 a.m. PT.

Western Conference first-round matchup scenarios for Stanley Cup Playoffs

Sportsnet Staff — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:25:12 EDT

With the final day of the NHL regular season here, all 16 playoff spots have now been locked up.

All matchups in the Eastern Conference have been set, but some first-round opponents in the West are yet to be known due to the unresolved Pacific Division.

The Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks are all in action on Thursday, providing the final seedings for the Western Conference ahead of the playoffs starting on Saturday. Here are the potential outcomes:

Pacific Division No. 2 Edmonton Oilers vs. Pacific Division No. 3 Anaheim Ducks and Central Division No. 1 Colorado Avalanche vs. Wild Card No. 2 L.A. Kings

Oilers record one point vs. Canucks AND Ducks win vs. Predators
OR
Predators win vs. Ducks in OT/SO AND Flames win vs. Kings
OR
Predators win vs. Ducks AND Flames win vs. Kings in regulation

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P2 Edmonton Oilers vs. P3 Los Angeles Kings; C1 Colorado Avalanche vs. WC 2 Anaheim Ducks

Oilers record one point vs. Canucks AND Kings win vs. Flames AND Predators win vs. Ducks
OR
Oilers record one point vs. Canucks AND Kings record one point vs. Flames AND Predators win vs. Ducks in regulation
OR
Flames win vs. Kings in OT/SO AND Predators win vs. Ducks in regulation

P2 Anaheim Ducks vs. P3 Edmonton Oilers; C1 Colorado Avalanche vs. WC 2 Los Angles Kings

Ducks win vs. Predators AND Canucks win vs. Oilers in regulation AND Flames win vs. Kings

P2 Anaheim Ducks vs. P3 Los Angeles Kings; C1 Colorado Avalanche vs. WC 2 Edmonton Oilers

Ducks win vs. Predators AND Canucks win vs. Oilers in regulation AND Kings win vs. Flames

P2 Los Angeles Kings vs. P3 Edmonton Oilers; C1 Colorado Avalanche vs. WC 2 Anaheim Ducks

Kings win vs. Flames AND Canucks win vs. Oilers in regulation AND Predators win vs. Ducks

Raposo vs. Nascimento moved off UFC Winnipeg card

Sportsnet Staff — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:32:11 EDT

There’s been a slight change to the UFC Winnipeg card.

The flyweight bout between Mitch Raposo and Allan Nascimento has been removed from Saturday’s Fight Night card as Raposo deals with an illness, the UFC announced Thursday.

Their fight will now take place on a June 20 Fight Night card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. That event is headlined by a flyweight fight between Manel Kape and Kyoji Horiguchi.

Raposo, 27, is 1-2 in the UFC since joining the promotion in June 2024. His last fight was a unanimous decision win over Azat Maksum at UFC 321: Aspinall vs. Gane in October of 2025.

Nascimento, 34, is a veteran of five UFC fights and is 4-1 since joining in October 2021. He’s currently on a four-fight win streak, with his most recent win coming against Cody Durden. He earned a Performance of the Night bonus after finishing Durden with an anaconda choke in the second round.

The upcoming UFC Winnipeg card is headlined by a bout between Ontario welterweight Mike Malott and one-time title challenger Gilbert Burns of Brazil.

Nine Canadians are scheduled to fight on the card, the first in Winnipeg since 2017.

Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov eyes chance to play for Finland at hockey worlds

Associated Press — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:15:25 EDT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Aleksander Barkov intends to play hockey sooner rather than later.

The Florida captain, who missed the entirety of the Panthers’ season because of a major knee injury suffered 20 minutes into his first practice of training camp, plans to accept an invitation to play for his native Finland at the world championships next month.

It would be his first time in competitive games since the Panthers won their second consecutive Stanley Cup last June.

“It’s a big honour to represent Finland for me,” said Barkov, who would have been Finland’s captain at the Milan Cortina Olympics in February if not for the knee injury. “One of those childhood dreams — to win world championships — is a big goal for me, too. So, I’m really excited about that. I’ve been working really hard to get in shape.”

If the Panthers were in the playoffs, Barkov’s comeback would probably have already happened. He’s been skating for months, but Florida knew all along that it would likely take most, if not all, of the regular season for him to be cleared for actual contact.

The Panthers — who had more than half of their regular lineup sidelined by injuries this season and currently have eight players on the roster with a fracture of some sort — fell out of playoff contention weeks ago, and that doomed any chance of a Barkov comeback this season.

“For him, I think it’s really special,” Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito said. “He missed so much hockey, he wants to play hockey. It’s great.”

There are a few other Panthers who may play in the world championships, including Olympic gold medalist Matthew Tkachuk for the U.S. Tkachuk said Wednesday that nothing is finalized, but he would like to play — if healthy and if it makes sense for his family.

The worlds will be held in Switzerland starting May 15.

Tiger Woods’ lawyer vows to fight subpoena for prescription records in DUI case

Associated Press — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:29:58 EDT

ORLANDO, Fla. — Tiger Woods’ attorney intends to fight an attempt by prosecutors to subpoena the golfer’s prescription drug records following his arrest last month in Florida on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Attorney Doug Duncan said this week in a court filing that Woods has a constitutional right to privacy when it comes to his prescription medications. The attorney asked a judge overseeing the case in Martin County, Florida to hold a hearing to determine if the drug records are necessary for the criminal investigation.

If the judge determines the drug records are necessary, Duncan asked for a protective order limiting their release only to prosecutors, law enforcement officers, state experts and Woods’ defense team.

Woods has pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence. A sheriff’s office report said deputies found two pain pills in his pocket and he showed signs of impairment after his SUV clipped a truck’s trailer and rolled over on its side.

Woods was travelling at high speeds on a beachside, residential road on Jupiter Island with a 30 mph (nearly 50 kph) speed limit when his Land Rover caused $5,000 in damage to the truck, according to an incident report. Woods agreed to a Breathalyzer test that showed no signs of alcohol, but refused a urine test, authorities said.

Prosecutors told the court they would issue a subpoena seeking copies of all prescription medication records for the legendary golfer on file at Lewis Pharmacy in Palm Beach, Florida from the start of the year through the end of last month.

Prosecutors also demanded in court papers on Wednesday that Woods reveal the names and locations of any witnesses he plans to present in his defense.

Ajou Ajou suspended, released after violating CFL’s gender-based violence policy

Canadian Press — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:19:05 EDT

The CFL suspended Canadian receiver Ajou Ajou for the 2026 pre-season and at least six regular-season games for violating its gender-based violence and harassment policy.

The league said Thursday it was made aware of multiple allegations in late January. It immediately initiated a third-party investigation, which included interviews with Ajou, multiple witnesses and complainants.

Ajou spent last season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, registering 22 catches for 212 yards in eight regular-season games. He was with the CFL club when it defeated the Montreal Alouettes 25-17 to capture the Grey Cup, registering two catches for 13 yards.

Ajou rejoined the Riders after being released by the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts on Aug. 26.

The investigation revealed that on Nov. 18, 2025 — the same day as the team’s Grey Cup parade — Ajou engaged in aggressive and unwelcome physical contact with multiple women at a restaurant in Regina, conduct that breaches the CFL’s gender-based violence and harassment policy, the league said.

On Thursday, the Riders said Ajou is no longer with the club.

“The Saskatchewan Roughriders do not tolerate gender-based violence or harassment, and Ajou Ajou’s actions go directly against the values we hold as an organization,” Jeremy O’Day, Saskatchewan’s vice-president of football operations/GM, said in a statement. “We hold our players to a high standard, one that focuses on integrity and treating people with respect.

“He failed to meet that standard and is no longer a Roughrider.”

The CFL added that there are no criminal charges currently pending against Ajou.

The six-foot-three, 218-pound Ajou, 24, of Brooks, Alta., becomes the second player suspended by the league for violating the policy.

In 2024, Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly was suspended for the entire pre-season and at least half of the club’s regular-season contests. The move came after a lawsuit and independent investigation into harassment allegations involving the league’s 2023 outstanding player.

Kelly was reinstated in August 2024 by the league on a last-chance agreement after undergoing mandatory counselling and meeting with then commissioner Randy Ambrosie.

The CFL said Ajou’s reinstatement process will consist of three parts. He’ll undergo at least 15 mandatory counselling sessions conducted by a gender-based violence expert, as well as a psychological assessment by another independent expert.

The final requirement will be to meet with league commissioner Stewart Johnston. Upon satisfactory completion of all three steps, Ajou will be eligible for reinstatement, although the league also said it reserves the right to modify the discipline.

“Protecting the safety and well-being of our communities is non‑negotiable,” said Johnston. “Our players are expected to lead with integrity and serve as role models.

“When improper conduct occurs, our policy is clear, and we will enforce it without exception. It is my hope that Mr. Ajou learns from this experience, and that other players take this unfortunate situation as a reminder of the standards we uphold.”

Blue Jackets sign coach Rick Bowness to extension

Associated Press — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:59:23 EDT

It didn’t take long for the Columbus Blue Jackets to decide if Rick Bowness would return as coach.

The team announced Thursday that Bowness agreed to a deal to be behind the bench for the 2026-27 season.

Bowness led Columbus to a 21-11-5 record after taking over for Dean Evason on Jan. 12.

“If you look at the body of work that happened here over the last 37 games, I’m very pleased with Rick’s work. I’ve said all along that the strengths of this organization from a coaching standpoint has been the communication he’s had with the players and getting them ready to play on a regular basis,” President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Don Waddell said during a news conference. “It’s always interesting when you do make changes how players are going to respond. Through all the exit meetings that have happened so far, every player to a man said they love playing for Rick, they respect Rick and they’re all hoping he’d come back for another year.”

The Blue Jackets were in last place in the Eastern Conference when Bowness arrived. They went 18-2-4 in Bowness’ first 24 games and moved into a playoff spot after collecting a point in 12 straight games.

But Columbus struggled down the stretch, going 3-9-1 to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth straight season.

Bowness gave his players a lot to think about after a 2-1 season-ending loss to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. He launched into a 3-minute rant on the team’s effort and that “losing is not important enough to them. It doesn’t bother them.”

He also said that if he was back “we’re changing this freaking culture. I’ve been around long enough to know. I’ll find ways. I’ve got enough experience. I’ve dealt with this. I’ve dealt with it before. If we’re back, we’ll straighten it out.”

Bowness and Waddell said the comments were not a surprise to the players, since they heard the same thing before he addressed the media.

“Rick speaks from his heart. It was very passionate what he said and he cares and from a general manager standpoint, that’s what he asked for,” Waddell said. “Since Rick’s been here, I knew that he was all in on this. I give players the opportunity (to discuss the comments during end-of-season meetings) and to a man I heard only positive things, so I’m good with everything that’s happened.”

Bowness added on Thursday that he might have pushed things a little too far, and that he held himself as much accountable for the late-season struggles as he did the players.

“Now I have a reference point to them, and I can go to them in October and I can go to them in November; that’s the stuff that hurts us in March and April that you will not get away with then and you will not get away with in the playoffs.’ So that helps. That seed has been planted,” he said.

Bowness is expected to be the league’s oldest coach at 71 when next season begins. He has a 331-419-48-42 record in stints with the Blue Jackets, Winnipeg Jets (twice), Dallas Stars, Phoenix Coyotes, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins.

Columbus went 40-30-12 this season, the first time it has posted 40 games two straight seasons since 2018-19. The 92 points this season are the fifth-highest point total in club history, but the first time the team had at least 90 points and didn’t make the playoffs.

The Blue Jackets have Zach Werenski, who led the team with 81 points and is among the favourites for the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman.

Center Charlie Coyle and left wing Mason Marchment, along with captain Boone Jenner, will be unrestricted free agents. Adam Fantilli, the third pick in the 2023 draft, is a restricted free agent in line for a lucrative extension.

Time for seasoned Oilers to hit playoff gear against hapless Canucks

Mark Spector — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:55:11 EDT

EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers’ second season as a recovering Stanley Cup finalist has been … well, let’s just say they’ve taken it one day at a time.

They’ve learned how to get to April 15 in a comfortable playoff position, without expending too much energy along the way. How to maintain the level in everyone’s personal game to stay at or near the top of the Pacific, then find a team game when needed after the Olympic break — but not necessarily before.

How to be good enough, while saving your best for last.

Because if there’s one thing they know, it’s that you can’t play playoff hockey in December. Not if you plan on playing it in June.

“The expectations are to win the Stanley Cup,” Zach Hyman said Wednesday. “We lose in the final, we lose in the first round — we’re going to be pissed.”

When you’re in the middle of a Stanley Cup window, it’s all about the 16 wins from April to June. The 82 games before that, they’re crab cakes: the appetizer before the main course.

And the more playoff hockey you’ve played, the more that becomes ingrained in the DNA of an NHL team.

“Playoff experience,” began Hyman. “When you don’t have it, you don’t really think it’s that important. And when you do, you realize it is important.”

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Expound on that, could you?

“When you’re a young kid and it’s your first playoff game, you’re taken aback. Everything’s different,” Hyman, who will be in the lineup Thursday against the Canucks (Sportnet and Sportsnet+, 7 p.m. MT), explained. “Players play differently. Everything’s faster. Every play matters. It’s just a different, different game.

“That’s why you see teams like Florida, who had 98 points last year, and then they turned it on. They were the best team by quite a (distance) in the East.”

And, in the end, two games better than these Oilers.

Edmonton has been a 100-plus point team for four straight seasons. As we arrive at Game 82 Thursday in Edmonton, a point earned against the hapless Vancouver Canucks — and with playoff seeding at stake, can you envisage a world in which Edmonton doesn’t win by two or three? — the Oilers will close out the 2025-26 season with 92 or 93 points, good for (at least) second place in the pillow-fight Pacific.

Frankly, had Leon Draisaitl and then Hyman not been injured late in the season, the Oilers would likely have two or three more points and be home and cooled atop the division. But really, who cares?

“You want to put yourself in a position that you can be comfortable going into the playoffs, and obviously we’re not,” Hyman said. “We’ve got to win a game here. But at the same time, you still have the confidence that when you get in you can beat anybody.”

I know this: from about 2008 to 2011, if those Canucks teams needed a late season victory over Edmonton to feather their playoff nest, we all would have bet the house that the Sedins et al would take both points from those inferior Oilers teams.

Today, the skate is on the other foot.

“We’re pretty confident,” Hyman said. “I mean, it’s kind of how we’ve been the whole time. It’s a big game for us. Every game we go into we’re confident that we can win.”

Thursday’s game is, in fact, a chance to kick in a little muscle memory before the games start for real.

There is a chance, should Vegas somehow lose in regulation Wednesday, that a win could give Edmonton first place. More importantly, if the tumblers fall the right way, there’s a chance a regulation loss could send Edmonton down to Colorado for Game 1, with a slog through the Central ahead even if they pull off an improbable upset over the Avalanche.

Simply winning and playing either Anaheim or Los Angeles makes the stakes high in Game 82, a nice rehearsal for the gut-wrenching games that lie ahead.

“For a lot of us, these last few years, we’ve played a lot of hockey,” said veteran Darnell Nurse. “I wouldn’t say (playoff hockey) is the same feeling as a regular-season game — it’s more amplified, the context of the game. But there’s a familiarity and comfort to it.”

And they’re closing in on that game, just in time for the games they’ve been waiting for all season.

“This last week, we haven’t gotten all the results we wanted. But we played really well,” assessed Nurse. “It’s on us to bring that again against Vancouver — the full package. Be able to create some more offence for our team, but not at the expense of our defence.”

If your game isn’t at a point that makes a speed bump out of Vancouver — with this much on the line — then what’s next doesn’t really matter, does it?

Maple Leafs face the music (April 16)

Paul D. Grant — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:53:09 EDT

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Sportsnet Video — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:58:15 EDT

With gesture to 10-year-old fan, Dustin Wolf proves that small goalies can make big impact

Eric Francis — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:34:25 EDT

CALGARY — Ten-year-old Kade Heisler walked into the Calgary Flames dressing room to meet his idol, handed him a birthday balloon, and apologized.

“Sorry for what?” asked Dustin Wolf, beaming at the sight of the young viral-video sensation.

“For losing your focus,” responded Heisler, alluding to the two goals scored on Wolf after Tuesday’s stick exchange melted hearts around the globe.

“Not at all,” said Wolf, inviting him to sit next to him in his stall before signing the stick.

“I’m glad it worked out the way it did. The smile on your face means the world to me. That’s what it’s all about.”

By now, you’ve seen Heisler’s beautiful reaction to having his sign recognized in the stands by Wolf during a TV timeout, and bursting into unabashed tears of pure joy as he cradled a game-used stick sent to him by Flames trainer Mark DePasquale.

Wolf didn’t see the priceless reaction in real time, but melted after the game when shown the video that has circled the globe for its purity.

It prompted the team to invite Heisler and his family — parents and four siblings — to the Dome to meet Wolf after Thursday morning’s skate.

“I saw the video afterward and just the pure emotion, love and the happiness… it goes a long way,” said Wolf, whose status as one of the most beloved players is getting a well-earned boost.

“To take a couple seconds out of your day to make someone else’s better is what we want to do.”

After all, he knows what it feels like.

“I was in the same position with Quickie (Jonathan Quick),” said Wolf of his childhood idol growing up in Los Angeles.

“I was very fortunate to get a couple pictures of him over a few different years, and it’s sad to see him hang ’em up, but to get to play against him and see him across the ice a few times is certainly a dream come true. That’s the stuff you dream about as a kid.

“We’re very privileged. We’re in an unbelievable position to support others, to make other kids’ days, make families’ days, and try to go above and beyond when you get the chance. It doesn’t seem like it’s a whole lot to you when you’re doing it, but it means so much to them.”

More than Wolf could ever have known.

This hasn’t been an easy year for Heisler.

Just before Christmas, the resident of nearby Carstairs, Alta., quit hockey because he was bullied by a teammate.

The young man walked away from the game he loves.

“It started out with names and stuff, and then it turned into physical,” he told Sportsnet. “It wasn’t fun anymore.”

Looking on with pride as her son was interviewed by several local TV stations Thursday, his mother, Kimberly Komarniski, said the sign he made declaring Wolf his idol has plenty to do with the fact the Flames goalie is the smallest in the NHL.

“He gets picked on for his size a lot and that’s where his admiration comes from for Wolf,” she said. “We were just hoping for eye contact, or for him to see the sign. To get a thumbs up from Dustin was above and beyond, then the stick was mind blowing.”

As has been the fallout — something the young man has taken in stride as he started being hounded for interviews TV and radio stations around North America early the next morning.

“I like Wolf because he proves that size doesn’t matter,” said the pint-sized goalie, who will be the shortest player on the ice when he starts skating with his new team, the U-13 Renegades, this fall.

“If you’re short or tall, you can still cover the same amount of net. Wolf doesn’t let his size hold him back. He turns it into motivation.”

The day was also a big one for Kade’s 12-year-old brother, Jayden, who has battled cystic fibrosis since birth.

“When the day comes for his Make-a-Wish, it’ll definitely have something to do with the Flames,” said Kimberly, who added that daily treatment and a new drug has helped with their outlook on the disease, which causes severe respiratory and digestive issues.

“He eats and breathes the Flames. He is an encyclopedia for the Flames, and he’s a huge Dustin Wolf fan too.

“This means the world not just to Kade, but all of us. It’s like a dream come true.”

That’s the thing about being kind — you never know how much it can mean, and to how many.

Small gestures — no pun intended — can have big impacts.

And while most players understand their power, and wield it appropriately with acts like these every day, it was Kade’s reaction that made the moment so powerful.

“Those tears of Kade’s the other night, those were just pure gratefulness,” said mom.

And that’s why it hit home with the millions and millions who’ve seen it.

2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs Series Preview: Sabres vs. Bruins

Ryan Dixon — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:39:46 EDT

For the past 15 years, the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins have lived completely opposite experiences.

From 2012 through 2025, when the Sabres played a grand total of zero playoff games, the Bruins posted the second-most post-season victories (69) of any team in the NHL.

But as any hockey fan in Western New York can tell you, not only is the drought over, but the Sabres have also won their division for the first time since 2010.

The team that knocked them out of the playoffs in Round 1 as a lower seed that year? Yep, these same Bruins.

From Rick Jeanneret’s famous “May Day” call 33 years ago — celebrating Buffalo’s shocking four-game sweep of the favoured Bruins that concluded with an all-time OT marker by Brad May — to another series-ending strike 10 years before that, when Boston’s Brad Park sent the Sabres packing with a Game 7, overtime goal in 1983, these clubs have combined for some memorable playoff moments.

Of course, the Sabres are creating a meaningful memory for a new generation of fans simply by making the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs after a 14-year absence.

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The quest for the Stanley Cup begins with 16 teams and ends with one champion. Don’t miss a moment of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with every game on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Broadcast schedule

And, really, saying Buffalo has “made” the post-season is underselling it; the Sabres are charging into the derby as one of the best teams in the league. In fact, since the calendar flipped to 2026, Buffalo’s .733 points percentage is the top number in the NHL.

Less celebrated, though, is the fact the third-best mark belongs to Boston (.683).

The Bruins were never going to win a narrative battle with Buffalo given the protracted heartache there, but Boston’s quick turnaround from a team that finished 28th overall last year to one that immediately returned to the playoffs — on 100 points, no less — is very impressive.

Now, whether you’re a young Sabres fan who’s never seen your team in the playoffs or a spoiled Bruins backer who thinks one spring away was too long, you can look forward to a Boston-Buffalo series with the potential to create another classic moment.

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD

Sabres: 1-1-2
Bruins: 3-1-0

Sabres X-Factor: Home-ice advantage

The atmosphere at KeyBank Center for Game 1 is going to be unhinged and the Sabres have to hope they can ride the wave of a crowd that will be going out of its mind. If ever there was a time to put stock in something as unquantifiable as “vibes,” this is it.

Bruins X-Factor: The newest young player

James Hagens may not even draw into the Bruins lineup for Game 1 of the series, but the seventh-overall pick from 2025 is an interesting new toy for coach Marco Sturm to consider. Hagens, once projected to be the top pick in his draft class, could provide a spark of offence on the third line if the B’s need it. He’s looked capable in the two games he suited up for after jumping to the NHL following his sophomore year at Boston College.

ADVANCED STATS
(5-on-5 totals from Natural Stat Trick)

TEAM	CF%	GF%	xGF%	SV%	SH%
Sabres	49.28 (17)	55.30 (3)	49.95 (18)	.914 (8)	10.65 (5)
Bruins	48.92 (19)	54.98 (5)	46.66 (27)	.917 (4)	10.62 (6)

REGULAR SEASON STATS

TEAM	PP%	PK%	GF/G	GA/G
Sabres	19.5 (21)	81.9 (4)	3.45 (5)	2.93 (11)
Bruins	23.4 (9)	77.0 (24)	3.27 (11)	3.01 (14)

BUFFALO STORYLINES

1. Playoff newbies

As exciting as all this is for the Sabres, it goes without saying that this team is not long on playoff experience. From Tage Thompson to Rasmus Dahlin to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, just about all the key players on Buffalo will be making their NHL playoff debut. Of course, the counter to that is the steady hand at the rudder, Lindy Ruff. The veteran has been behind the bench for 132 career post-season contests, more than every coach in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs save Anaheim’s Joel Quenneville (225) and Tampa’s Jon Cooper (155).

The Sabres play a go-for-it brand of hockey and it will be interesting to see how that translates to the second season, when things tend to clamp up a bit. That said, where Buffalo does profile as a team that’s built for spring is on the scale. The Sabres are a heavy squad that can lean on opponents and the defence corps, in particular, is loaded with tall bodies gripping long sticks that can make it seem like there’s nowhere for attackers to maneuver.

Expect Boston’s bruising fourth line of Sean Kuraly between Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic to try and soften up the big Buffalo blue line.

2. Power outage

The Sabres are one of the higher-scoring clubs in the league, but Buffalo’s power play really struggled down the stretch. Since March 10, the Sabres rank 30^th in the NHL with a PP conversion rate of just 14 per cent. Much of that is driven by an awful end to the season, which saw Buffalo go 0-for-22 in its final seven outings. Goals can obviously be harder to come by in the post-season and this squad is going to have to generate a timely PPG here and there to keep pace.

3. Local boy done good

Alex Tuch is a unique presence on the team, not only because he’s a Western New York native who grew up cheering for the Sabres, but because he’s the rare player on the club who brings a host of experience to the table thanks to his time with the Vegas Golden Knights. Combine playoff know-how with his big frame and soft touch, and it’s easy to see why Tuch could be a vital player for the squad. Of course, all this comes against the backdrop of the reality that, as a pending-UFA, his future with the Sabres is up in the air. Nobody is going to be more hyped for the return of playoff hockey to Buffalo than Tuch.

BOSTON STORYLINES

1. Sway the series

Jeremy Swayman was one of the top stoppers in hockey this year. Among goalies with at least 35 appearances, Swayman had the highest goals saved above expected/60 of any goalie in the league. Two years ago, Swayman was a huge reason Boston ousted Toronto in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, posting a .950 SV% in six games versus the Leafs and finishing that post-season with a .933 mark in a dozen contests. If Boston wins this series, it’s easy to imagine Swayman being the No. 1 difference-maker.

2. Scoring balance

David Pastrnak is the 100-point megastar and fellow top-liner Morgan Geekie validated a breakout from last year with a monster 39-goal season this time out. But for the Bruins to do anything against Buffalo, the B’s need the second line of Pavel Zacha between former Sabre Casey Mittelstadt and Viktor Arvidsson to keep firing. Zacha’s 15 goals since March 1 are more than everyone in the league except Montreal’s Cole Caufield (16), and Arvidsson — acquired from the Oilers in a salary dump for a fifth-rounder — has 24 points in 22 outings during that span.

On the back end, Charlie McAvoy is producing at a higher rate than at any other point in his career, averaging a point-per-game in the back half of the season. Overall, where Buffalo lacks experience, the likes of McAvoy, Pastrnak and, to a lesser degree, Swayman — Boston’s most important players — have tons of playoff experience to draw on.

3. Home cookin’

Every team that starts the playoffs on the road is happy to return home with a split, but if the Bruins can make it back to Boston with a win from the first two games in Buffalo, the B’s will be feeling extra confident about their chances. The Bruins were extremely tough to beat at TD Garden this season, finishing the year with a .720 points percentage on home ice that was second only to the Carolina Hurricanes (.732). Boston was the stingiest team in the league playing in friendly confines, surrendering just 2.54 goals per game. If they can grind out one road victory, the B’s may feel as though they can take care of the rest at home.

However, it should be noted that the Sabres were also tough to beat in their own building, posting the fourth-best home-ice points percentage at .695.

2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs Series Preview: Penguins vs. Flyers

Sonny Sachdeva — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:48:06 EDT

It was worth the wait.

For the two clubs on either side of Pennsylvania, it’s been a rough few years. The Pittsburgh Penguins have waded through three seasons without playoff hockey. For the Philadelphia Flyers, it’s been a half-decade. But here, in 2026, the longtime rivals have made it back, have clawed their way to the post-season spotlight once more, and will renew hostilities in the first Battle of Pennsylvania since 2018.

Pens-Flyers. The vets versus the kids. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and a Penguins club that awoke like a hand shooting out of a grave; Trevor Zegras, Owen Tippett, and a young, hungry Flyers squad forging a new identity on Broad Street. What more could we ask for?

For both of these clubs, it will be a pivotal series.

The Pens arrive at Game 1 in the twilight of the Crosby-Malkin era, the franchise’s legends nearing the end of their illustrious careers. For a spell there, it seemed like we might never get to see them play post-season hockey again. We’ve been given one more chance. Whether we get another is anyone’s guess. But you can be certain Nos. 87 and 71 understand just how fleeting this opportunity is, and will be looking to make the most of it.

Watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sportsnet

The quest for the Stanley Cup begins with 16 teams and ends with one champion. Don’t miss a moment of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with every game on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Broadcast schedule

The Flyers’ core finds itself at the opposite end of that timeline. Though a few veterans with playoff experience remain, for the club’s new blood, the 2026 post-season will be their introduction to playoff hockey. It will mark a clear step forward for a Philly side that’s been wallowing in the division’s basement of late, their future uncertain. And it will give the likes of Zegras, Tippett and Matvei Michkov a chance to begin building their legacies on the game’s biggest stage.

But it won’t come easy. The man leading the Flyers into this battle knows it, having been on the other side back when the Penguins were at their best.

“You know, I’ve won a couple Cups with Crosby, Malkin and Letang. These guys, they don’t die,” head coach Rick Tocchet said earlier this week. “These guys are just warriors. We’re going to have our hands full. We’re going to have to have some game-planning here this week. But those guys don’t die.

“It’s going to be a tough series. And we’re going to have to go after those guys.”

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD

Penguins: 2-0-2
Flyers: 2-2-0

Penguins X-Factor: Anthony Mantha and the Pens’ third line

Among all the shrewd swings taken by Kyle Dubas as he’s retooled the Pens over the past few years, Anthony Mantha no doubt sits among the clearest wins for the Penguins president and GM. The 31-year-old arrived in Pittsburgh fresh off a couple tumultuous seasons split between Washington, Vegas and Calgary, and caught fire in black and gold. A career year from the winger saw Mantha finish the campaign with a team-leading 33 goals and a personal-best 64 points. But the key is where in the lineup those contributions are coming from.

The last time the Penguins truly made waves in the playoffs — during their back-to-back Cup runs in 2016 and 2017 — they found success on the back of their offensive depth. Most notably, the first of those two runs saw the fan-favourite ‘HBK line’ dominate the post-season, the Pens’ third-line trio of Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino, and Phil Kessel all finishing among the club’s top five playoff scorers. Now, for the first time in years — and with Bonino coincidentally back in Pittsburgh as an assistant coach — the Pens’ third line has some juice once again, led by Mantha, fellow big man Justin Brazeau, and teenage wunderkind Ben Kindel.

The three newcomers, who all arrived this past summer, combined for 67 goals in the regular season. While much will still rest on the performances of veterans Crosby, Malkin and Erik Karlsson — and there are other new arrivals who will be pivotal too, like Egor Chinakhov — all eyes will be on Pittsburgh’s new third line making waves in Round 1.

Flyers X-Factor: Late-addition rookie Porter Martone

Philly’s youth movement has been a crucial part of their success of late. There’s 2023 No. 1 pick Matvei Michkov, who found his game in the latter half of his sophomore campaign, leading the Flyers in scoring since the Olympic break. There’s Zegras, who’s turned in a career year since joining the club in June, and others like Jamie Drysdale and Tyson Foerster continuing to progress, too. But the Flyers might not be in the playoffs in 2026 without the late addition of 19-year-old Porter Martone.

Drafted sixth overall by the Flyers last June, Martone joined the big club in late March after a sterling season at Michigan State that saw him stack 25 goals and 50 points over 35 games. In the two weeks since, Martone’s been a revelation for Philly, emerging as one of the club’s most dangerous offensive weapons. The winger put up four goals and 10 points over his nine regular-season games down the stretch — the highest and second-highest sums on the team since he joined, respectively — while pacing the club with 32 shots in that span. It’s not just the production though, it’s the approach. The six-foot-three, 210-pound winger has looked quintessentially Flyer-like since he donned those Philly threads, establishing himself in the top six alongside veterans Christian Dvorak and Travis Konecny.

The Pens need no reminder of just how crucial young, hungry talent can be in the post-season. The club hung Stanley Cup banners with some key performances from rookies like Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust a decade ago. Philly won’t be dreaming that big just yet, but there’s little doubt Martone will be a key part of whatever the post-season future brings for the Flyers.

ADVANCED STATS
(5-on-5 totals from Natural Stat Trick)

TEAM	CF%	GF%	xGF%	SV%	SH%
Penguins	50.17 (13)	53.74 (7)	51.52 (7)	.901 (21)	11.13 (2)
Flyers	47.74 (26)	51.94 (13)	50.71 (13)	.905 (18)	10.24 (10)

REGULAR SEASON STATS

TEAM	PP%	PK%	GF/G	GA/G
Penguins	24.1 (7)	81.4 (6)	3.54 (3)	3.15 (22)
Flyers	15.7 (32)	77.6 (22)	2.93 (21)	2.91 (10)

PITTSBURGH STORYLINES

1. Another chapter for Sidney Crosby’s legacy against Philly

There are few clubs No. 87 seems to enjoy tormenting more than the Philadelphia Flyers. The captain’s battles with the Pens’ longtime rival have been a key part of his lore in Pittsburgh. Over the past two decades, he’s potted more goals against Philly than any other NHL club — an absurd 60 over 93 regular-season games. His 139 points against the club rank as the most any single NHL player has posted against the franchise. In the post-season, he’s been no less lethal. Crosby’s suited up for four playoff series against Philly over the years, in 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2018 — in that span, the future Hall of Famer’s amassed 15 goals and 36 points, and emerged with three series wins.

You can run down the list of reasons the Penguins’ leader is certain to be motivated come Game 1. His first taste of playoff hockey in four years. The uncertainty of how many more chances he’ll get on the post-season stage. The fresh memory of a disappointing Olympic tournament, cut short by injury. If it were possible for anything to add more fuel to that fire, Game 1 with the Flyers on the other side of the sheet might just be it.

2. Vintage Karlsson, Malkin return to playoff stage

For all the new blood driving Pittsburgh’s success this season, the resurgence of the club’s vets has been just as pivotal to their revival — two vets in particular. A glance at Malkin’s numbers might not make clear just how dominant the future Hall of Famer has been in 2025-26. Limited by injuries once again, Malkin put up 19 goals and 61 points over 56 games for the Pens. But go back through the film and you’ll see a clear difference in No. 71’s play this season compared to last year. Amid reports that the Pens were planning to part ways with the franchise legend after his contract concludes this season, the 39-year-old has seemed a man on a mission all year, attacking with the type of all-world dynamism that defined his best campaigns in Pittsburgh.

And then there’s Karlsson. The veteran rearguard hasn’t just improved his play in 2025-26, he’s become the crucial cog the Penguins expected him to be when they brought him to town in 2023. The 35-year-old approaches Game 1 playing undoubtedly his best hockey in a Penguins sweater — over the final two months of the campaign, he was not only Pittsburgh’s leading scorer, but among the top 10 scorers league-wide, putting up 31 points in 24 games since mid-February. Game 1 against Philly will mark Karlsson’s first taste of playoff hockey since 2019 — a run that saw him help lead San Jose to the conference finals. A meaningful run for the black-and-gold in 2026 will require a similar level from No. 65, and continued vintage performances from No. 71, too.

3. Time for the new-look goalie tandem to shine

The last three playoff series Pittsburgh played ended with Tristan Jarry in the cage for the deciding game. That won’t be the case this time around, as the Penguins arrive at the 2026 post-season with a new-look tandem built over the past year. Since Stuart Skinner landed in Pittsburgh in December, he and Arturs Silovs have split goaltending duties, starting 27 and 25 games, respectively. They’ve performed relatively equally too, neither looking lights out in the cage, but both coming up with key moments en route to the Pens’ post-season return.

If there’s reason for the Penguins faithful to have hope in the pair, it’s what they’ve managed to do past Game 82. Skinner returns to the playoffs fresh off back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final in Edmonton. Silovs has a promising stretch under his own belt from the 2024 playoffs with Vancouver, and is a season removed from leading the Canucks’ AHL affiliate to a championship — a run that saw him named Calder Cup MVP. That in mind, all eyes will be on who gets the cage in Game 1, whether they hold on to it for the series, and whether it’s enough to send the black-and-gold on to Round 2.

PHILADELPHIA STORYLINES

1. Momentum carrying red-hot Flyers into post-season

There are few truths that hold in the chaos of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, except this one: momentum is crucial. And while much will depend on the game-to-game swings that come once the series is underway, the Flyers arrive with some positive momentum already in their corner — since the league returned from the Olympic break, the Broad Street squad has been among the most unbeatable outfits in the league. Philly sat tied for third-last in the East before that February break in play — after the regular season resumed, no team won more games than the Flyers, who tied Buffalo with 18 wins in their final 26 games.

Perhaps most promising in terms of the chances of that success carrying over into the post-season is the way in which they won those games. Joining the club this past off-season himself, Tocchet has worked to instil a stronger defensive identity in this young Flyers group, an approach that proved crucial over the home stretch as the club clinched their post-season ticket. Over the final months of the campaign, post-Olympics, Philly’s 2.38 goals-against per game ranked as the second-best mark in the league, while the club’s 25 shots-against per game ranked top five. Against a Penguins squad that’s been among the most prolific offensive outfits in the league all season, that defensive prowess will be pivotal.

2. Vladar looks to continue career year with stiff playoff test

The under-the-radar addition of netminder Dan Vladar this past summer played no small role in that late-season success. The 28-year-old was brought to Philly after four years as a steady backup in Calgary, with Sam Ersson returning as the Flyers’ presumed starter. But Vladar upended those plans, wrestling away the No. 1 role, turning in a career year, and emerging as perhaps the Flyers’ most important player. Through 52 games in his first season in a starting role, the Czech netminder posted a .906 save percentage and a 2.42 goals-against average. But a deeper look at his performance makes clear just how crucial he’s been to the Flyers’ cause.

Per Natural Stat Trick, at 5-on-5, Vladar’s .926 save percentage ranks tied for tops among regular starters. His 20.98 goals saved above average at 5-on-5 ranks fourth-best among all NHL netminders, and his .850 high-danger save percentage at 5-on-5 ranks top 10 among those who’ve started more than a handful of games. There’s no doubt he’s been an essential piece for Philly to this point. But he’ll face a stiff test against Pittsburgh, who have no shortage of elite offensive options to throw at the Flyers. How well Vladar holds up against the barrage likely determines how far the Flyers go in their return to the dance.

3. First taste of playoff hockey for hungry, revitalized Zegras

There’s plenty of promise dotted among this young Flyers lineup. And after building throughout the 2025-26 campaign, fighting to earn their place in the playoffs, and finally cementing their return, the kids now have their first shot at building their post-season legacies. Perhaps the most interesting among that group is Zegras. Once heralded as a foundational piece in Anaheim, and the leader of a wave of highly-skilled young stars, Zegras arrived in Philadelphia last June after a rollercoaster two-year stretch with the Ducks. Injuries and inconsistent play soured his relationship with the club that drafted him ninth overall back in 2019. GM Daniel Briere capitalized, and took a swing — nearly a year later, Zegras has found his top form, putting up a career-best 26 goals and 67 points for the Flyers this season.

But it’s the bigger picture that’s the true key here. Zegras’s raw skill has never been questioned. It was the application of that skill over a full campaign. It was how it might hold up when the pressure and the stakes increase. Now comes the young pivot’s chance to prove his doubters wrong. The former Duck has been vocal about the fact that he’s playing with a chip on his shoulder, that he’s intent on proving his worth after being traded away. A return to the post-season, with Crosby and Co. on the other side of the sheet, brings a chance to prove just how valuable he can be for a franchise with playoff dreams.

Blue Jays’ Heineman doing it with bat and glove in series finale vs. Brewers

Sportsnet Video — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:32:42 EDT

Olympic medallist Sydney Pickrem retires after decade with Canada’s swim team

Canadian Press — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:01:23 EDT

Sydney Pickrem never saw herself as the star.

Her medal haul tells a different story.

The Canadian swimmer, who announced her retirement Thursday, built a career on consistency and longevity, staying in the national program long enough to become one of its most decorated athletes.

“On paper, it isn’t success to write home about,” Pickrem said. “The biggest thing I’ve been able to do with my career is my consistency and my longevity.”

The 28-year-old competed at three Olympic Games. She won a bronze medal in the women’s medley relay at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

She also collected seven medals at long-course world championships and six at short-course worlds, including gold in the 200-metre individual medley and the 4×200-metre freestyle relay in 2021 in Abu Dhabi.

Pickrem, born in Florida to Canadian parents from Halifax, joined the senior team in 2014 at age 17. She remained a fixture during the most successful period in Canadian swimming alongside teammates Maggie Mac Neil, Penny Oleksiak, Kylie Masse and Summer McIntosh.

“She was so brazen and confident,” said national team coach Ryan Mallette. “She was so talented and always pushing to do everything she possibly could to maximize her potential.”

At the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, she won bronze in the 200-metre individual medley and silver in the 400, her first major senior medals. The next year in Rio, she reached the final of the 200-metre individual medley at the Olympics.

In Tokyo, she was not at her best individually and, despite not specializing in breaststroke, swam that leg on the relay alongside Mac Neil, Masse and Oleksiak as Canada reached the podium.

“I had to have the confidence to back those girls,” Pickrem said. “Those three girls were having a great meet in their own rights, and I wasn’t having my best meet.

“Being able to stand on the Olympic podium, I didn’t know if that was going to be in the cards for me ever, especially (because) I was not (known as) a relay swimmer. To be able to fight for that opportunity, get that opportunity and make the most of it definitely sticks out.”

Another defining moment came at the 2021 short-course worlds, where she arrived unsure of her form before winning individual gold in the 200 IM.

“Becoming a world champion with the state of mind going through that week in Abu Dhabi — to actually win was definitely one that sticks out,” she said.

She has spent the past two seasons balancing training with a coaching role at West Virginia University and plans to continue in the sport as a coach.

Slafkovsky, young Canadiens steeled by last year’s playoff experience

Eric Engels — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:13:12 EDT

BROSSARD, Que. — Juraj Slafkovsky stood stunned, with his voice tremoring and his eyes locked in a 1000-yard stare.

“We just have to play better, and we will,” Slafkovsky kept saying after sobering losses to the Washington Capitals last April.

His demeanour betrayed the confidence he wanted to portray following the first two games of his Stanley Cup Playoff career.

It was clear the experience shook Slafkovsky.

But by the time five games were played and a promising season had come to its abrupt end, it also became clear it had transformed him.

Countryman Eric Cernak saw that transformation as soon as Slafkovsky returned to Slovakia and joined him for their summer routine.

The Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman, who will face a much more hardened Slafkovsky than the one who got tenderized by the Capitals last spring, said the change was unmistakable.

“We have the same strength coach, so we work out and skate together, and I could see the difference right away when he was working hard and going for every single workout and skate with a different intensity,” Cernak told us prior to a 4-1 win for the Canadiens over his Lightning on Mar. 31.

“He clearly came prepared,” Cernak continued. “The way he’s played, the confidence he’s played with, it’s been amazing.”

It led Slafkovsky through the best of his four NHL seasons. He set career highs with 31 goals and 74 points, emerging as a dominant power forward three years ahead of schedule—in his 22^nd year on the planet—and carrying himself with the swagger he had only hoped to have but couldn’t find with the Canadiens’ backs pinned to the wall in that Washington series.

An all-star performance at the Olympics in between prepared the 2022 No.1 overall pick for what’s coming next.

It was in Milan that Slafkovsky started every game as a marked man and finished it as an assassin. He posted four goals and eight points in six games and willed Slovakia to the semifinals.

In the process, he proved to himself what he wasn’t able to prove to himself last spring.

“I was able to see that I can actually go out there and do what I want and need to do in meaningful games against the world’s best players,” Slafkovsky said, “and now I know I can bring the same energy to playoff games.”

His voice was steady as he said it. His demeanour was confident, relaxed, and revealed the value of experience gained.

Seeing that from Slafkovsky and other members of this Canadiens team—ahead of a matchup with the most playoff-hardened team of the 16 challenging for this year’s Cup—made it easier to believe they can rise to the challenge in front of them.

You think of Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov, among other young players who went green into last year’s playoffs and emerged from them black and blue, and you know they’ll also be much more ready for Sunday’s Game 1 in Tampa.

The lessons have sunk in.

“I was maybe a little less assertive as I wanted to be as a player,” Hutson said. “I feel more assertive in trying to help any way I can.”

Demidov came over from Russia last April and arguably would’ve gotten enough out of the two regular-season games he played while the Canadiens were trying to clinch a playoff berth if that was all he was exposed to before this season.

But getting in the five games he played against Washington had a massive influence on how he trained over the summer to author the most productive rookie campaign of any first-year player in the league.

To see Demidov score 19 goals and post 62 points was one thing, but Hutson feels he also offered evidence he can level up when it matters most—now.

“You can tell down the stretch, these last couple games, he’s hungry,” Hutson said. “We talk about the playoffs all the time, how exciting it is here and what we want to do to help us win, and he’s so hungry to do whatever it takes to win, and it’s definitely fun to see.”

The Canadiens are hoping that what they’ll get from Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble and Kaiden Guhle will be anything but fun for the Lightning to see.

The bruising back-enders also had their first experiences in the playoffs last spring, and they also took their hits like the rest of the Canadiens.

But Struble was more assertive down the stretch of this season than he was at any point last season—he was at his most aggressive in last week’s 2-1 win over the Lightning at the Bell Centre—and Xhekaj has recently found a better balance between asserting himself physically and managing the other key elements of play.

“I find he’s playing good hockey,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. “He’s playing physical, playing to his identity, and he got some good reps down the stretch… I like what I saw.”

Results for Guhle were just as reassuring. Especially to his teammates.

“Guhles is going to be awesome for us,” said Kirby Dach. “Big, rangy defenceman who plays hard and physical in front of his own net. He can eat big minutes, he’s a bit of a pain in the ass to play against, so we’re definitely lucky to have him.”

Experience has brought Guhle and the rest of the Canadiens to another level, and that showed during this 106-point season.

“There’s ups and downs through a playoff series, there’s ups and downs through a game, there’s emotion that comes with it,” said St. Louis, “so having gone through it, I think it helps you.”

It may not have felt that way to Slafkovsky in the moment, but it certainly feels that way to him now in hindsight.

“Honestly, I grew a lot from that,” he said. “It was really hard. On TV, you can just watch and see all the plays developing, and everyone can figure it out on TV. Me too. I see what should happen. But on the ice, it’s way different. There’s a lot of physicality, and it’s way faster.

“But I realized it’s the type of game I love. It’s what I play for.”

Cernak knows that.

He saw it first-hand at the Olympics, and he knows Slafkovsky is just one of the young Canadiens more prepared for this year’s playoffs.

“Even if they have a young team, those guys have been there for a few years and have gone through stuff together,” he said. “It was only a matter of time before it started clicking, and everybody was playing winning hockey. That’s what they’ve done. Marty, as the head coach, has experience. Even if they’re young, they know how to manage winning those hard games, and I think that’s important.”

Beers, dinners and wins: How surging Sabres have become ‘close-knit’ group

Mike Koreen — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:39:55 EDT

BUFFALO — Less than two weeks after joining the Buffalo Sabres following a trade-deadline deal from the Winnipeg Jets, Luke Schenn quickly discovered there was a good feeling in the dressing room of his 11th NHL team.

On a trip through Las Vegas and California last month, the Sabres went for two team dinners — a telltale sign of a connected group in the veteran blue-liner’s eyes.

“There were two team dinners in four games, and then guys were hanging out back in the hotel, playing poker, cards, watching more hockey,” Schenn said before a recent home game. “Doing all sorts of stuff which teams do in the playoffs, and these guys are doing it during the regular season, which means you can’t get enough of one another.”

Schenn has been in his share of strong and, well, not-so-strong rooms after 1,100-plus NHL games

The Saskatoon native won Stanley Cups in 2020 and ’21 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but also waited until the sixth season of his NHL career to play a playoff game after four misses with the Toronto Maple Leafs and one with the Philadelphia Flyers.

So, Schenn also has a good idea of what it means to end a playoff drought — which the Sabres will do this weekend after a painful 14-season run of absences. His experience could come in handy for a team without any recent post-season history heading into a first-round series with the Boston Bruins.

“I think guys really care for one another. That’s one of the things I experienced when I was in Tampa — how close the guys were off the ice,” Schenn explained. “Guys wanted to be around each other, you’re doing massive dinners instead of little groups and cliques. When you get back from dinner, guys are still wanting to hang out. Families are tight, wives and girlfriends are tight — which is a big part of it.

“Just the closer group you have, the easier it is to be in sync on the ice. That’s something I sensed when I got here, was how close the group was. Guys truly love being around one another and there’s lots of energy, lots of laughs … I’ve been around some rooms where you don’t have that and you don’t really have a chance to have success on the ice. I think it starts with a close group, which we have.”

Captain Rasmus Dahlin, preparing for his first career NHL playoff game, leads the Atlantic Division champs on and off the ice.

The Swedish defenceman has been through a gruelling year. His fiancée, Carolina, underwent an emergency heart transplant last summer while vacationing in France. Dahlin left the team in November, with permission, to spend time with her back home.

Since returning, Dahlin has excelled, along with the rest of the team. The Sabres made a huge push to the top of the Atlantic Division following the firing of general manager Kevyn Adams.

Carolina is now back in Buffalo, which has given the room a big boost.

“She’s a big reason why the culture is so tight here, and the foundation of the team is so solid,” Sabres forward Tage Thompson told Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic.

Dahlin’s sense of humour also seems to have galvanized the team.

The 2018 first-overall pick told reporters last month the team had been working on “team chemistry and the brotherhood” all season.

The natural follow-up was how do you work on brotherhood.

“Drink beer,” Dahlin said, smiling.

The simple answer was a hit. On a recent trip to a local tavern close to KeyBank Center for lunch, before Buffalo’s grudge match against the Tampa Bay Lightning, a patron at the bar was spotted wearing a cap with the words ‘Drink Beer’ along with a Dominik Hasek Sabres jersey.

“Right from the beginning of the year, we set out to become a close-knit team and it’s kind of been a focal point for us all year,” rugged winger Jordan Greenway said. “It includes a lot of different things, … whatever Dahls (Dahlin) said included. Everybody’s willing to stick up for anyone else. The winning helps, a lot of things help. But I would definitely say we’re a close-knit group.”

Schenn understands the power of raising a glass with teammates at the right time.

“Go ask Pat Maroon over there how many beers we had together,” Schenn chuckled prior to the game against Tampa. “I would agree with that. It started for us when we were in Tampa, Patty was good at getting the whole group together at the Global Series in Stockholm. That’s when we became a team. You’re in Stockholm for a week, you’re having a few drinks together, getting to know one another.”

The reaction of the fanbase has also added to the good vibes.

The Sabres sold out their last 18 games and had 24 full houses overall after just four last season, per the Buffalo News. They’re up to 11,000 season tickets for next season after approximately 9,000 this year.

Buffalo may be a small market, but the town tends to go hockey crazy when the team puts a good product on the ice.

The Sabres’ rise brings back memories of when the Buffalo Bills ended a 17-year playoff drought in 2017. Since then, the Bills have been one of the NFL’s top teams, playing in front of rabid home fans craving a first title.

Maybe something similar is happening for the Sabres. Or maybe they can even overtake the Bills and give Buffalo an elusive big-four-sport title.

“(The fans) love it. It’s been great to say. I’m excited for them,” Greenway said. “It definitely helps when you’ve got the fans behind us, we’re all feeling good. It makes things a lot easier.”

How Travis Green transformed the Senators into a contender

Alex Adams — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:18:09 EDT

OTTAWA — Being an NHL head coach can be a thankless job, getting blamed for every loss and rarely given any credit for the wins.

There are exceptions to the rule, and that’s when you know a head coach is coaching.

As Travis Green told his Ottawa Senators recently after a game, “work your balls off.”

Maybe he was speaking about himself.

In January, the smart money said the Senators were going nowhere as they sat at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They were analytics darlings, outshooting and out-chancing opponents with one of the best defensive structures in the league but weren’t getting saves or killing penalties.

That’s when you need your coach to rally the troops, which happened as the Senators brushed off the outside noise to make the playoffs. In fact, the team’s turnaround has rightfully put Green in the conversation for the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year. And he has his sights set on a Stanley Cup, no less.

Green’s story — and not just for this season — is one of perseverance, learning from his mistakes and growing as a coach.

It started with the Vancouver Canucks, where Green was coach from 2017 to 2021. His record was 133-147-34. It wasn’t sparkling, so when the Senators hired Green in May 2024, it raised eyebrows. But general manager Steve Staios saw something.

“That was that deep dive,” Staios told Sportsnet.ca. “We went through their roster, wins and losses, but also how they performed. … The easy way to do it would be wins and losses and Stanley Cups.”

Interestingly, the Old Boys club played no part in Staios hiring Green: the two had met just once before the interview process.

At the time, a lot of Sens fans wanted to see Staios pick Craig Berube, a Cup winner in St. Louis. “One of the guys out there was a Stanley Cup champ, and what I really dug into was where my team was at and who’s the right fit,” said Staios.

“I’ll never make a decision to win a headline.

“There’s been a number of times where it would have been easy for me to make decisions that our fans would have been excited about, but I wouldn’t be doing the right thing by the team.”

Well, Green has become a positive headline this season, while Berube has not in Toronto.

When Staios looked under the hood, he saw that Green consistently outperformed with a poorly constructed and rebuilding Vancouver team. Green managed to get the Canucks to Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs with a young Quinn Hughes, Bo Horvat, Elias Petterson and J.T. Miller.

”We started to dig into the numbers,” Staios said. “We went real in depth to try and figure out exactly (how) he got more out of teams on the defensive side. … We talked about it a lot in Year 1, where we wanted to establish that foundational defensive game, and then build off of that.”

Green told Sportsnet.ca that it was a learning experience coaching the Canucks.

“Head coaches have a lot of confidence in themselves, and when I went to Vancouver, I felt like I had a lot of things figured out. But you definitely learn a lot the more you do it,” Green said.

“I would expect a guy that’s a doctor or a lawyer is a much better lawyer after seven or eight years than he was his first year. And I think that’s definitely the case right now. Even system-wise, I’ve changed a lot of my systems that I originally came into league with. I’d like to think I’m a little bit of a hockey nerd, as far as studying and listening and watching hockey, but also just handling players and going through different scenarios, different situations. When to push, when to have patience.”

“Coaches are always better after their first job,” said Staios.

Green’s transformation of the Senators began with its defensive structure. From 2018 to 2024, the Senators were in the bottom half every season in goals against. Some of that was goaltending, but a lot of that was a mix of great talent but lack of structure in their game under coach D.J. Smith. Staios wanted a level of accountability for the team’s youthful stars, namely Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson, which they may not have had under Smith, the coach they had been weaned on. Don’t forget Elias Petterson’s best years were under Green.

From Day 1, in 2024, Green sought to suffocate opponents’ transition games by dumping the puck in, which allowed Ottawa to be great defensively. And he got Stutzle, Tkachuk and Thomas Chabot — all poor defensive players at the time — to become good defensively, even great in Stutzle’s case. The Senators are now second in expected goals allowed per game.

“They want coaching, they accept coaching, and it’s not always rainbows and butterflies. Coaching is being honest, and the players aren’t always hearing things that they want to hear,” said Green.

For years, the young core played exciting but not winning hockey. They needed structure and a kick in the butt.

“Honestly, ever since Travis came, he just taught us the right way how to play hockey, the winning way,” said Sanderson. “It’s not fancy. May not be fun all the time. It’s tiring, but he understands that. He gives us the rest when we need it, so we have the energy to go out and play that way every single time.

“Honestly, not enough nice things I can say. He’s honest, but he’s fair,” Sanderson told Sportsnet.ca.

“I’ve tried to promise myself to never forget what it’s like to be the player,” said Green, who played 14 years in the NHL. “That’s important for coaches.”

Nick Cousins said the fact that Green puts himself in “our shoes” is a major reason the team has rallied and tuned into Green’s voice. When they “need that video session or to come in and scream and yell at us …. (he) knows what buttons to push.”

In many ways, being a coach is as much about the human element as it is the Xs and Os.

“Sometimes, as a coach, you’re like a father figure, you’re a brother and you’re a friend, and that changes from day to day,” Green said “And I think if you can build a relationship with your team … but also have authority on how they’re going to play and when they’re going to play.

“How I treat Shane Pinto is different than how I treat Ridly Greig.”

Good coaches also learn from their mistakes.

Before the Senators went on a run at the end of January, their penalty kill was second worst in the league. Green switched out assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner for Mike Yeo to run the penalty kill. Since then, they’ve had the sixth-best unit.

“There’s times where you look back and (think), ‘Ah, maybe I should have handled that a little differently’, and that only helps you the next time it comes up,” said Green.

Green also realized his team could not play run-and-gun like others, so looked for a pragmatic defensive approach while growing the offensive side of the game. Ottawa now sits eighth in goals for this season.

“We don’t have a team that has 50-goal scorers, 100-point guys, but we have a real team that has a lot of good players. And they’re committed on both sides of the puck,” said Green.

But maybe the hardest channel Green navigated this season was the so-called outside noise: the drama that surrounded Senators on Team USA, Tkachuk’s dad’s comments, Linus Ullmark’s leave of absence and subsequent viral rumours about his personal life.

It was a lot.

But in December, with the team losing and with a ton of drama ahead, someone sent Green a note that became the mantra of the 2025-26 Senators.

“When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras, and I actually wrote it up on my board,” said Green. “It just meant don’t look for something that’s not there.”

A few weeks later, in January, when the team was in the basement of the Eastern Conference, Green made his famous speech caught on video following a 7-1 win over Vegas.

“Don’t listen to the (expletive) white noise. Don’t listen to people outside this (expletive) rink. Zero negativity,” said Green. “Let’s go on a (expletive) run.”

We asked Green about his speech.

“That was around a time where there was a lot of noise around our team. Why were we not winning?” Green said.

“Especially in today’s world with social media … there’s a lot of noise around the team … (so it was about) not letting someone else’s opinion get in the way of what we want to do.”

It worked. The team launched into an impeccable 20-6-4 run all the way to the playoffs.

But Green isn’t satisfied.

“My goal is to win the Stanley Cup,” he said. “Plain simple, that’s what I want to do. I never got to do it as a player. And I want to win a Cup as a coach. … I firmly believe that this team has a chance.”

The best time of the year starts for Green against Carolina in Round 1.

Capitals’ Ovechkin hopes he hasn’t played final NHL game, uncertain on timeline

Sportsnet Staff — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:17:33 EDT

For the first time in his NHL career, Alex Ovechkin doesn’t have a clear next step.

After a season that sees the Washington Capitals and the NHL’s all-time leading goalscorer at a crossroads, Ovechkin isn’t ready to give a definitive answer on his playing future.

“I don’t know,” Ovechkin said when asked during the Capitals’ end-of-season availability Thursday about a timeline for his decision. “I’m not going to tell you how I’m going to feel in the next two weeks … after two weeks, yeah, I’ll figure out timeline-wise.”

The 40-year-old winger is coming off another productive campaign, scoring 30 goals while playing all 82 games, but the season was marked by inconsistency for both him and the Capitals.

Despite the uncertainty about whether he will return with the Capitals, Ovechkin pushed back on the idea that his NHL career is nearing a definitive end.

“I’m pretty sure it’s not my last game,” he said. “I hope it’s not my last game against Columbus. And like, how I said, like, I have to make a decision, to see where we’re at.”

Washington ultimately fell short of the playoffs, leaving Ovechkin to balance competitive ambitions with personal considerations.

“If I want to come back… first of all, we’re going to make the playoffs, and we have to fight for (the Cup),” he said.

That desire to contend appears central to his decision. Ovechkin made it clear that any return would hinge not just on his own readiness, but on the direction of the roster — something he has yet to discuss with management.

At the same time, factors beyond hockey are also in play.

“Family-wise, health-wise… but team-wise, I think this is the most important thing for me,” he said.

Ovechkin acknowledged that conversations with his family will weigh heavily. His children, he said, are already asking whether he’ll return — and hoping the answer is yes.

“My wife and kids, they want me to come back because they love the city, they love the team, they love the boys,” Ovechkin said.

Still, all options appear to be on the table — including the possibility of playing in Russia — though he emphasized any decision abroad would come only after determining his NHL future.

Physically, Ovechkin admitted the grind is only getting tougher. While he managed to suit up for a full season, he dealt with injuries and acknowledged the increasing challenge of maintaining elite form at his age.

“When you’re 20, it’s a normal thing. When you’re 40, it’s harder and harder every year,” he said.

Even so, he believes he can still contribute — provided he commits to the work required in the offseason.

“It’s up to me how I’m going to handle my body, how I’m going to train,” he said.

If this does turn out to be the beginning of the end, Ovechkin made sure to highlight one lasting memory from the season: reaching the 900-goal milestone — a mark no player in NHL history has hit before.

“Probably 900 goal… no one in history did it,” he said.

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar returns to bench after taking puck to face

Associated Press — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:57:47 EDT

DENVER — The bruise and redness under his right eye taught Jared Bednar an important lesson: Keep your hands out of your suit pockets while on the bench.

The Colorado Avalanche coach is off the injured list and back with the team for the regular-season finale Thursday against Seattle after taking a puck to the face last weekend. Bednar missed the Avalanche’s two-game trip to undergo further evaluation. He was diagnosed with facial fractures and a corneal abrasion.

“That’s why you’ve got to keep your head on a swivel and your hands out of your pocket,” said Bednar, whose squad has the top record in the NHL this season.

Bednar was standing behind the Colorado bench when the puck flew off the stick of Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar, caromed over the boards and hit Bednar in the right cheek early in the third period. Bednar was helped to the locker room by a trainer.

“I would have had to have been Derek Jeter to not get hit with that one,” Bednar said in reference to the New York Yankees Hall of Fame shortstop. “Whenever you get hit the face or the head, it always stinks.”

Bednar underwent a series of tests and “got good news right away on the scans,” he said. “Then it was just waiting for a couple days to make sure my eye was OK. … It seems to be all good.”

Any chance he will wear a helmet while coaching from behind the bench?

“No,” said Bednar, the winningest coach in franchise history. “It’s just part of the game. There’s a lot of close calls, and when they don’t make contact, you’re like, ‘Oh, that was close.’”

With Bednar away, Avalanche assistant coaches Nolan Pratt and Dave Hakstol helped lead the squad. Colorado went 2-0 on the road swing, beating Edmonton 2-1 in a shootout and then Calgary 3-1. Bednar tuned in to watch.

“It was interesting to listen to the opposing teams’ broadcast talk about our team and talk about their teams as well, which I don’t really get to do very often,” Bednar said.

While Bednar is back, the Avalanche remain without defenseman Josh Manson (upper body) and forward Nazem Kadri (finger). Any concern with the playoffs starting for Colorado on Sunday?

“I expect our whole roster to be options for Game 1 of the playoffs,” Bednar said.

Brewers manufacture go-ahead run vs. Blue Jays with three straight bunts

Sportsnet Video — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:49:56 EDT

UEFA Champions League preview: Biggest questions for final four teams

John Molinaro — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:03:55 EDT

This week’s second legs of the quarterfinals separated the wheat from the chaff in the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League.

We’re now down to four teams is club soccer’s most prestigious competition, with all four teams having an equal chance of hoisting the European Champion Clubs’ Cup.

Real Madrid won three consecutive titles from 2016-18, but no other team has won back-to-back tournaments since the European Cup was rebranded the Champions League in 1992. Paris Saint-German’s quarterfinal win over Liverpool means it remains on course to become only the second club to repeat as champions in the modern era of the tournament.

Here are the big questions facing the remaining four clubs who remain in contention for a spot in the final on May 30 at Puskás Aréna in Budapest.

ARSENAL

Quarterfinals: vs. Sporting CP (1-0 aggregate win)

Semifinals: vs. Atlético Madrid

Interesting stat: With 10 wins and two draws, Arsenal is the only team to have gone unbeaten in this year’s tournament.

Past meetings: Arsenal has a record of one win, one loss and one draw in three meetings vs. Atlético Madrid in UEFA competitions.

Is the pressure getting to the Gunners? Arsenal went a perfect 8-0 in the initial phase of the competition, but it has looked far from impressive in recent weeks. A surprising 2-1 loss to second-tier Southampton earlier this month knocked them out of the FA Cup in the quarterfinals. They followed that up with a shocking 2-1 loss to Bournemouth last weekend, a result that loosened their grip on first place in the Premier League; Manchester City is just six points adrift, with a game in hand. And the Gunners looked far from impressive against Sporting, as they just managed to hold on for a 1-0 aggregate win over the Lisbon-based club. Mikel Arteta’s side seem to be coming a bit undone during the worst possible time, and now they have a tough semifinal series against a pesky Atlético Madrid.

BAYERN MUNICH

Quarterfinals: vs. Real Madrid (6-4 aggregate win)

Semifinals: vs. Paris Saint-Germain

Interesting stat: Bayern Munich has won 11 of its 12 games in this season’s Champions League.

Past meetings: Bayern Munich has a record of nine wins and six losses in 15 meetings vs. Paris Saint-Germain in UEFA competitions.

Is there any stopping Harry Kane? With 12 goals to his credit, Kane ranks second in this year’s scoring race, but he’ll surely surpass leader Kylian Mbappe’s 15 now that Real Madrid has been eliminated. Kane has been a model of consistency for Bayern in this competition — he’s scored in each of the German giants’ last three matches and has a goal in eight of their 12 games. Incredibly, he’s recorded four braces and is averaging a goal every 71 minutes in this year’s competition. However, he failed to score in Bayern’s 2-1 road win over Paris Saint-Germain in November during the initial phase of the tournament. Kane was limited to one shot on target and was subbed out in the 88th minute after a frustrating night in Paris. So, it’ll be interesting to see if the French club can contain the English striker over two legs in the semifinals.

ATLETICO MADRID

Quarterfinals: vs. FC Barcelona (3-2 aggregate win)

Semifinals: vs. Arsenal

Interesting stat: This is just Atlético Madrid’s sixth appearance in the final four, and first since 2017, when it lost to eventual winners Real Madrid.

Past meetings: Atlético Madrid has a record of one win, one loss and one draw in three meetings against Arsenal in UEFA competitions.

Can Atlético’s defence hold firm? Diego Simeone’s side has done well to get this far, securing its spot in the knockout stage following a playoff win over Club Brugge and then getting the better of Tottenham and FC Barcelona. But Atlético’s defence has looked anything but solid — the Spaniards coughed up 15 goals in the initial phase of the tournament and conceded another seven goals across their four matches in the knockout round. In total, they’ve recorded just one clean sheet in their 14 Champions League matches this season, and now they’re getting ready to play Arsenal, which scored a tournament high 23 goals in the first phase of the tournament. What’s more, Atlético has lost five of their last six matches in all competitions.

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN

Quarterfinals: vs. Liverpool (4-0 aggregate win)

Semifinals: vs. Bayern Munich

Interesting stat: Paris Saint-Germain is unbeaten in six games (five wins) vs. English teams in this year’s competition.

Past meetings: Paris Saint-Germain has a record of six wins and nine losses in 15 meetings against Bayern Munich in UEFA competitions.

Is Ousmane Dembélé peaking at the right time? The current holder of the Ballon d’Or was pretty quiet through Paris Saint-Germain’s first 10 games of the competition, with just one goal in six appearances to show for his efforts (injuries forced him to miss the other four games). But the French forward has come good during the knockout round, with three goals across PSG’s last four outings, including a brace in the club’s 2-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield this week. Dembélé was rather wasteful in the first leg against Liverpool, but he buried both of his second-half scoring chances in the return match, and he’ll have to continue to be in top form, when PSG clashes with Bayern Munich in the semifinals after losing to the Germans at home in November the initial phase of the competition.

John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 27 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer.

Ludvig Aberg cleans up game, leads in RBC Heritage with a 63

Associated Press — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:48:04 EDT

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Ludvig Aberg swapped out some sloppy mistakes at the Masters with pure iron play at Harbour Town in warm, swirling wind that produced an 8-under 63 for an early one-shot lead Thursday in the RBC Heritage.

Aberg moved ahead of Harris English and Viktor Hovland with an 8-iron to about 15 feet on the back corner of the green on the par-3 17th and made the birdie. He closed with a par, pleasing because he felt that 8-iron confirmed how well he was swinging the club.

Houston Open champion Gary Woodland and Rickie Fowler were in the group of players at 65.

Masters champion Rory McIlroy skipped this $20 million signature event for the second straight year, having said Harbour Town doesn’t suit him. Scottie Scheffler, the runner-up last week, was among those playing in the afternoon.

It was a wild start for Scheffler, who had to hit two off the tee on the first hole and made a 12-foot putt to escape with bogey.

Aberg had a disappointing week at Augusta National by his standards — a tie for 21st, his first time out of the top 10 in three appearances at the Masters.

“I felt like I was playing well but made some silly mistakes that prevented me from having a real chance,” Aberg said. “But I also felt like in the grand scheme of things, I was swinging it nice, I was moving it nice, so I didn’t have to prepare that much in terms of my golf swing on Monday through Wednesday, and I felt like good golf was in there.”

The challenge for Aberg and the other 52 players who were in the Masters was to stay sharp inside the ropes on an island that makes this tournament feel like a working vacation.

Hovland is feeling less stressed more because of his swing, instead of the week at the Masters when he made a big run up the leaderboard on Sunday, only to catch the wrong gust at the wrong time that led to a double bogey on the 15th hole. He still shot 67.

Hovland doesn’t feel he’s all the way back with his swing, but he found enough signs of progress to believe he is getting close. He played bogey-free for a 64 that featured no birdies on the three par 5s.

“The whole year I’ve been working really hard, and I think now that I’m seeing my game progress and get closer to where I want it to be, I can start to relax a little bit more and focus on kind of the recovery aspect of things,” Hovland said.

English also played bogey-free for his 64, finishing with a birdie to a front pin over the bunker.

The toughest day belonged to someone who didn’t even play. Brooks Koepka was the first alternate and showed up at Hilton Head in case someone withdrew. That typically means a two-hour wait in the morning, taking a break, and waiting some two hours during the afternoon wave.

Bad news for Brooks — this signature event has players in twosomes off the first tee, one right after the other. He was at the course about 6:45 a.m. (the first tee time was 7 a.m.) and could not leave until the last group teed off at 2:10 p.m.

Five Raptors stat trends to watch going into the playoffs

Ian Finlayson — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:17:06 EDT

An on-the-rise Toronto Raptors team appears to be up against it going into a playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sound familiar?

There’s no need to fear – LeBron James isn’t standing behind that door ready to ball spin and break a collective basketball nation’s heart. It’s nearly one decade later, and a great deal has changed. The Raptors won a championship, James is catching lobs from his son, and about a dozen new catch-all metrics dropped that dubiously distill a player’s worth into a single number.

Fast forward to 2025-26 and the burgeoning Raptors have taken serious strides, discovering strengths and limitations along the way to securing their first playoff berth in four years. And there’s plenty of data to analyze, as Toronto has achieved success in new and intriguing ways.

Unlike the Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan-led squads of the mid-2010s, the Raptors are now a defence-first group that thrives off turning opponents’ misses and turnovers into easy points. They were able to play their game against the Cavaliers in the regular season, sweeping that series 3-0. But those results come with plenty of caveats.

Donovan Mitchell missed one game, Jarrett Allen missed two and Darius Garland missed all three. And of course, Garland’s replacement, James Harden, wasn’t a member of the team yet. Acquiring the former MVP for Garland at the deadline has supercharged Cleveland’s already strong offence. With that in mind, let’s dig deep into five stat trends to watch for the Raptors in the first round, and potentially beyond.

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1. The Raptors want to play fast

Toronto’s ability to dictate the pace of play and win the possession battle could define its success in the first round.

The Raptors led in the NBA in fast-break points this season. They ranked third in overall transition scoring. And they did it while ranking in the bottom 10 in transition efficiency over the first five months of the schedule. The Raptors didn’t score well when defences weren’t set; they just faced scrambled defences a lot – the third-most in the NBA.

Toronto fans will know well, but for anyone unfamiliar, the Raptors’ trying to finish odd-man breaks and easy runouts often resulted in a comedy of errors.

Still, they ran the fourth-most frequently off steals and the most frequently off rebounds (according to Cleaning the Glass, which filters out garbage time). Transition chances materialize much more easily off steals than live rebounds – 67 per cent of the time vs. 29 per cent of the time – so this demonstrates their commitment to getting out in transition at every opportunity.

One way they accomplished this was by using a philosophy Darko Rajaković described as “first touch,” meaning that the rebounder immediately looks up court to make a hit-ahead pass to a player leaking out as an outlet. They also have big wings in Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram, who are capable of both rebounding the ball and pushing. Collin Murray-Boyles and Sandro Mamukelashvili also fit this mould to a lesser degree.

Basically, the Raptors want to play fast.

It’s easy to understand why. Even when the Raptors were finishing at a below-average clip in transition, it was still far more efficient than in the halfcourt. The league average points per 100 transition plays is 125.8. Against a set defence, that number drops to 98.1. Running against a still-recovering defence is always going to be more effective than the alternative, and the Raptors have been among the best teams at creating those opportunities.

The same logic can also be applied going the other way, and the Raptors have been successful here too. They have limited opponents to the second-lowest transition frequency through a mix of curbing turnovers and being extra intentional about tagging up with their man when the shot goes up, as Raptors assistant coach Jama Mahlalela explains.

Moreover, this important element is trending in the right direction for the Raptors on a couple of fronts.

First, their transition finishing greatly improved over the final month of the season, bumping them up to 15th (just above league average at 126.5 points per 100). And while they didn’t convert consistently in their first win over Cleveland, they put up monster numbers of 142.9 and 144.4 in their next two matchups, respectively.

The Cavaliers were also below average at preventing teams from getting out in transition, ranking 18th. They also ranked 18th in opponents’ fast-break points, but have been seventh since adding Harden, mostly due to his ability to limit turnovers as a lead ball handler.

The Raptors’ success here, both recently in finishing and on the season against Cleveland, seemingly bodes well for them. But once again, the Harden caveat looms large.

2. Change of the guard

Even before Immanuel Quickley was plagued by plantar fasciitis and missed eight games down the stretch, the Toronto Raptors had already begun to initiate offence differently.

The most notable example came against the Detroit Pistons on March 15, when the Raptors shook out of their funk of habitually pounding the chalk – Toronto was 4-18 against teams with top-10 records in the NBA to that point, with three of those wins coming over the Cavs – by also breaking a pattern of play and taking down the No. 1 seed.

The Raptors’ crunch-time offence had grown stagnant to that point. Their go-to action was Quickley entering the ball to Ingram in the post after he shook free off a cross-screen. That bore fruit in earlier clutch wins over the Charlotte Hornets and Philadelphia 76ers, but opponents started to sit on it, gum it up, and the Raptors were eventually eating the majority of the shot clock just to get it off.

These forced possessions aside, Ingram’s natural pace is that of molasses. The Raptors’ average possession was nearly a full second longer with the languid wing on the floor (per PBP Stats), the highest mark on the team and nearly four times that of Poeltl, who was second.

Toronto will still rely on Ingram to create plenty of offence, but they seem to be leaning towards having him start with the ball more often, instead of burning clock working to get open. The all-star usually ended up taking on his defender one-on-one either way. In that aforementioned Pistons game, every Raptors starter except for Jakob Poeltl initiated a possession in the final five minutes, with all of them doing it multiple times except for Quickley.

With Quickley’s status now in question due to a mild hamstring strain sustained in the final game of the regular season, it might not matter. And the Raptors did already get practice filling the void at point guard. Barnes averaged 10.6 assists over Quickley’s eight-game absence as the Raptors’ pace shot up by 1.5 possessions per 48 minutes (an eight-spot leap in the leaderboard), and teammates were delivered the ball in more optimal positions to score.

After the Raptors’ second win over the Cavaliers, Ingram told me that Quickley is “able to be at his normal position scoring the basketball, getting into the lane. Still seeing passes, but he’s able to be more of a scorer than (a) facilitator when Jamal (Shead) is out there.”

It was telling that Quickley’s teammate saw him playing a more suitable role when Shead was handling point guard duties. Still, Quickley is Toronto’s most talented three-point shooter; he’s the only player on the team who attempts a high volume of more difficult pull-up triples, accounting for nearly 40 per cent the team’s attempts. Without Quickley, the Raptors have almost no pull-up shooting – eight players averaged more pull-up threes per game than the Raptors did as a team this season.

3. The Raptors have started shooting it

The Raptors have recently spent time without their best shooter, and counterintuitively, their poor three-point shooting has started to turn around.

While they rank among the lowest-volume distance shooting teams in the league, both on pull-ups (4.9 attempts per game, last) and overall (32.1 attempts per game, 26th), Toronto’s efficiency has improved. Pre all-star break, it ranked 25th at 34.4 per cent, and since then, it’s been sixth at 37.7.

The bulk of this can be attributed to Ja’Kobe Walter, who’s been pumping heat to the tune of 47.6 per cent from three on 4.7 attempts per game after the mid-February festivities – over a 12 per cent increase on an additional 1.5 shots. The 21-year-old sophomore has always had quiet and repeatable shooting mechanics, and it appears he’s put it together, while also serving as the Raptors’ best on-ball defender at the point of attack. He stands to play an important role in the series as a hot shooting night, or shutdown defence on Mitchell, could go a long way in swinging a game. If Quickley is unable to go, it’s probable Walter enters the starting five in his place – as he did for seven of the eight-straight games Quickley sat.

Ingram, Mamukelashvili, and even AJ Lawson have also had notable upticks in three-point efficiency post all-star break, albeit on less volume. Outside of his threes, Ingram had one of the most difficult shot diets in the league. In contrast, the Raptors’ role players are given the ball in very specific spots. The vast majority of Walter, Mamukelashvili, and Lawson’s usage came on cuts and spot-ups, which are among the most efficient play types. To their credit, they’ve executed, all posting above-average true shooting percentages. Walter and Mamukelashvili’s were 61 per cent and 63.7 per cent, respectively. Huge numbers.

The Raptors’ role players maintaining this level of shooting efficiency will be important if they’re going to have a chance against the Cavs.

4. Unique success in the clutch

During the regular season, the ability to navigate clutch basketball can swing a team’s record by a few wins. In the playoffs, it could save the season. The 2025-26 Raptors excelled in clutch scenarios, finishing with the seventh-best record (21-14) in games that were within five points in the final five minutes.

They didn’t achieve this result through offence. The poor shooting and static hoops we went over reared its ugly head in these situations more than any other. The Raptors were an average offence all-around (they finished 15th in offensive rating), but ranked 22nd in clutch offence and 23rd in the fourth quarter. Ingram took more shots in crunch time than any other Raptor and had the worst true shooting in these spots of any starter on the team at 46 per cent.

Teams tend to slow down late in close games, playing to avoid turnovers and maximize every possession. Flying directly in the face of the Raptors’ run-and-gun tendencies. Yet part of their successful formula was taking care of the ball, as they ranked in the top 10 in clutch turnover percentage (11.3 per cent). One way Toronto accomplished this was by frequently closing out games with two-point guard lineups featuring Quickley and Shead. The team had a 92nd percentile turnover rate when this pair shared the floor.

The other aspect of the Raptors’ late-game heroics was their outstanding defence, anchored by a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in Barnes. Toronto already ranked fifth in defensive rating (112.1), but in the clutch, they leapt up to second (99.1). Barnes has had a tremendous defensive season in general, finishing second to Victor Wembanyama in stocks (steal+blocks) with 230, was the only player with more than 100 steals and blocks, and forced teams to shoot 5.6 per cent worse at the rim when he was on the floor, a 94th percentile mark. This was all punctuated with a league-leading nine blocks in clutch time, including a couple of game-savers.

5. Could they see zone in the playoffs?

The Raptors faced the most zone defence in the NBA this season (h/t Blake Murphy). And for an extended stretch, it was for good reason, as they struggled to solve it.

That was until they had a breakthrough against the Sacramento Kings on Jan. 21, using Scottie Barnes to get middle and pick apart the zone with his surgically precise passing. Toronto most recently saw a significant zone in their two-game set against the Miami Heat – the NBA’s zone leaders – and diced them up. The Raptors scored against the Heat’s zone at 1.13 points per possession, well above league average, eventually dissuading them from using it altogether.

The Cavaliers ranked third in zone usage during the 2024-25 season at 8.6 per cent (per Basketball Poetry), but that number’s been cut in half this season. Considering that Toronto’s had plenty of practice against zones, showed an adjustment and Cleveland’s waning usage, it stands to reason the Raptors won’t be facing zone in the first round as they did in the regular season. But if Quickley’s unable to play and the Raptors’ bench shooters get cold, it could be lurking in the background as a curveball.

One other note on the topic of defensive coverages, it will be interesting to see if the Cavaliers opt to double Ingram. They didn’t during the regular season, instead playing him straight up one-on-one and living with the results of his shot-making abilities. If this continues, a hot shooting series from Ingram could be a big swing for the Raptors.

Doncic, Cunningham win appeals, eligible for end-of-season NBA awards

Associated Press — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:00:58 EDT

The Los Angeles Lakers ‘ Luka Dončić and Detroit Pistons ‘ Cade Cunningham will be eligible for awards such as MVP and All-NBA this season despite falling short of the 65-game minimum, the league and the National Basketball Players Association said Thursday.

Dončić played in 64 games and Cunningham played in 63. But the league and the union both agreed that each should be on the ballot based on the “extraordinary circumstances provision” in the collective bargaining agreement.

Dončić — who is one of the favourites to contend for MVP honours after winning the league’s scoring title — missed two games to attend the birth of his daughter in Slovenia. Cunningham missed 12 games as a result of a collapsed lung that was diagnosed on March 17.

“The NBA and NBPA agreed that, taking into account the totality of the circumstances for Cunningham and Dončić, each player qualified for awards,” the league and the union said in a statement.

Dončić, in a statement posted to social media, said he is “grateful to the NBPA for advocating on my behalf and to the NBA for their fair decision,” adding that it was important to him “to be present for the birth of my daughter in December.”

“This season has been so special to me because of what my teammates and I have been able to accomplish, and I am honoured to have the opportunity to be considered for the league’s end-of-season awards,” the statement said.

Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, who played in 60 qualified games, also tried to get on the awards ballot through the extraordinary circumstances challenge — but sought his approval before an independent arbitrator. His challenge was denied.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch — noting that Edwards doesn’t get held out to rest — was not pleased about that and said he’d like an explanation.

“I’m not sure why we have a rule if we have an appeal process that is overturned in two-thirds of the cases that were held before,” Finch said. “Feels more like a suggestion than a rule.”

The statuses of Dončić and Cunningham were a major topic toward the end of the season. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama — an MVP candidate and the likely defensive player of the year — got to the 65-game mark in the Spurs’ next-to-last game, and Denver’s three-time MVP Nikola Jokic became qualified for this year’s awards on the final day of the regular season. Jokic has been first or second in MVP balloting in each of the last five seasons and won the league’s rebounding and assist titles this season.

And the union — which worked with the league to come up with the 65-game policy — has said it wants the rule changed, saying it was put into place to address load management and not to keep deserving players from awards. That said, many players have spoken out in favour of the rule.

“I would say it’s an opportunity for us to reevaluate the rule in itself,” NBPA President Fred VanVleet of the Houston Rockets said.

VanVleet — speaking in a video posted by the union and filmed ahead of Thursday’s news — said he thinks voters should be able to make decisions for All-NBA and other awards on a case-by-case basis.

Nuggets coach David Adelman said last week that he hopes the 65-game rule is changed, somehow, this summer. He said if players like Jokic can play 64 games, never wanting to come out, and not be award-eligible, then something is wrong.

“That’s not the spirit of what that rule is,” Adelman said.

A number of players will be ineligible for most major individual awards this season because of the 65-game rule, including the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James — whose 21-year streak of making an All-NBA team will end. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Golden State’s Stephen Curry have also missed too many games to be eligible.

With the decisions on Dončić, Cunningham and Edwards now complete, the NBA sent ballots to the panel of reporters and broadcasters who cover the league on Thursday — a few days behind the typical schedule from recent years.

It’s unclear when the announcement of award winners will begin.

Ex-NBA player Damon Jones expected to become first person to plead guilty in gambling sweep

Associated Press — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:16:12 EDT

NEW YORK — Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones is expected to become the first person to plead guilty in a gambling sweep that led to the arrests of more than 30 people, including reputed mobsters and other basketball figures.

A change-of-plea hearing for Jones is scheduled for May 6 in Brooklyn federal court, according to a court filing Thursday.

Jones, 49, had previously pleaded not guilty to separate indictments charging him with profiting from rigged poker games and providing sports bettors with non-public information about injuries to stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Jones is charged in both cases with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.

A message seeking comment was left for his lawyer, Kenneth Montgomery. He told a judge at Jones’ arraignments in November that they “may be engaging in plea negotiations.”

Jones, a onetime teammate of James, was arrested last October along with Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and others, including a sports bettor accused of cashing in on injury information.

Jones was one of three people charged in both the poker and sports betting schemes. He remains free on bail.

Yankees’ Gerrit Cole to throw around 45 pitches in first rehab start

Associated Press — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:08:50 EDT

NEW YORK — Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole will throw around 45 pitches in his first minor league injury rehabilitation start as he inches closer to his return to the mound.

Cole will pitch Friday night for Double-A Somerset in the same game shortstop Anthony Volpe is rehabbing a torn labrum in his shoulder.

Cole, a six-time All-Star and the 2023 AL Cy Young award winner, is returning from last year’s reconstructive elbow surgery. He made a pair of one-inning spring training starts on March 18 and 24, and has been facing hitters since.

In his latest session, Cole threw 42 pitches over three simulated innings on Sunday against batters from High-A Hudson Valley.

“I think we’ll get him to a higher threshold initially, but it’s one step at a time,” manager Aaron Boone said before the Yankees concluded a four-game series with the Angels on Thursday afternoon. “Looking forward to him starting on Friday and we’ll build him from there and then even when he gets back to us we’ll probably be conservative with him but we’ll probably get him to a higher threshold initially.”

The Yankees anticipate Cole will return in June but will gradually build him up and take advantage of rules about the length of minor league rehab assignments for pitchers coming back from injury.

While position players’ minor league rehab assignments are limited to 20 days, pitchers have 30 days and those recovering from Tommy John surgery may receive three consecutive 10-day extensions.

Cole’s last official outing was in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series. He made a pair of spring training starts before undergoing the surgery with Los Angeles Dodgers team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

Cole’s 2024 season debut was delayed until June 19 because of nerve irritation and edema in his right elbow. He went 8-5 with a 3.41 ERA in 17 starts for New York and was 1-0 with a 2.17 ERA in five postseason starts.

Cole is signed to a $324 million, nine-year contract through 2028. He has a 153-80 career record and 3.18 ERA over 317 starts with Pittsburgh (2013-17), Houston (2018-19) and the Yankees (starting in 2020).

Besides Cole, Carlos Rodón will face hitters again on Saturday and will likely start a rehab assignment next week. Boone said the left-hander will need three rehab games.

Rodón threw 50 pitches to batters over three simulated innings before Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels. Rodón is recovering from surgery on Oct. 15 to remove loose bodies in his left elbow and shave a bone spur, and his rehab was slowed by right hamstring tightness.

Tigers’ McGonigle shows off his arm with laser throw from 3rd base

Sportsnet Video — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:50:10 EDT

Why Mandel Nallo embraced ‘Rat Garbage’ nickname on journey to UFC

Zulfi Sheikh — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:55:27 EDT

It’s not often that a fighter who’s described as the best striker at their gym or as creative in the cage as Jon Jones gets a nickname as conventionally unflattering as “Rat Garbage.”

Yet it’s fitting, considering nothing about Mandel Nallo’s winding journey in mixed martial arts has followed a standard path.

From hiding ankle weights under his jeans in high school to gain strength to spending over a decade grinding through pro circuits, it’s all been part of Nallo’s “odd” story as he described. But now, it’s that very same unorthodox trek that has led the Canadian toward his UFC debut on Saturday.

And make no mistake, when he steps into the Octagon at Winnipeg’s Canada Life Centre, the Vancouver-born fighter understands the task at hand. Not only to defeat his lightweight opponent, Jai Herbert, but to make sure fight fans understand exactly what “Rat Garbage” is all about.

“You have to set the tone,” Nallo told Sportsnet. “In your first fight in the UFC you have to set the tone of how you’re going to be viewed by the company and by the fanbase. … A lot of guys who come into the UFC, they make a big splash initially and then they are allowed some grace in their subsequent fights.

“But if you have a stinker of a fight in your debut, that stain stays on you for a very long time. So, it’s important to show your best stuff out there — that’s the goal.”

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Getting his hand raised certainly won’t be easy to accomplish against Herbert, who’s not only 13-6-1 as a pro, but who “never has an off night” according Nallo.

Still, the Canadian has an abundance of faith in his “creative striking style” that he believes separates him in MMA and will also be what he leans on against a fighter as “sharp” as Herbert.

“I think that where I shine against everybody is in my ability to do things that their training partners don’t do,” the Tristar Gym product explained. “And it’s very difficult to find somebody similar to me who picks the spots to attack that I do.”

Words that are easy to believe for those who saw Nallo’s contract-earning performance on the Dana White Contender Series last year when he knocked out Samuel Silva in under four minutes. The 36-year-old showed off his striking chops when a subtle-but-lethal straight right connected on his Brazilian opponent’s chin, crumpling Silva to the floor and unloading a barrage of ground-and-pound shots.

The TKO win improved Nallo’s record to 14-3 in the sport, he maintained his 100 per cent finishing rate, and it marked his fifth consecutive first-round stoppage victory since 2023. It also made him the oldest contract winner in Contender Series history.

Signing fighters in their mid-to-late thirties has rarely been a habit of UFC brass, which president Dana White reminded Nallo of right after his DWCS win, saying: “I do not love your age but I love your style. … I’m going to give you a shot.”

Nallo wasn’t phased and let it be known immediately that he’s “not a prospect. I’m a finished product. You can plug me in anywhere.”

Although, it’s hard to ignore that his path to “finished product” was undoubtedly a long one.

He made his pro debut in 2012 after three years of amateur bouts. Nallo soared as high as the Bellator MMA ranks thanks to a 7-0 start his pro career, before adversity inevitably struck. He went 2-3-1 over his next six fights with all those losses by stoppage — a slump that fortunately prompted wisdom from a MMA legend and Tristar teammate, Georges St-Pierre.

Following a submission loss to Adam Piccolotti in Bellator in 2023, the UFC Hall of Famer called Nallo and provided “advice on how I should be competing, and maybe help myself not get in my own head,” according to an interview with the Canadian Press.

And while they haven’t chatted much heading into Satuday, Nallo said that St-Pierre is “always around and giving out nuggets of gold.”

Someone who has been around Nallo plenty is UFC bantamweight contender Aiemann Zahabi, a Tristar teammate, friend since their teens and someone “cut from the same cloth” as the 38-year-old described.

“He really wants his work to do the talking and we’re very similar in that sense,” Zahabi told Sportsnet, as the Montreal native took a break from prepping for his own big fight against former champ Sean O’Malley at the upcoming UFC Freedom 250 card. “He’s done all the work and like he said on the Contender Series ‘I’m a finished product.’ He doesn’t need tune-up fights or growth fights. … I feel like the opportunity they gave him is good. (Herbet is) someone who’s really in the middle of the pack.

“They didn’t give him another guy who’s debuting, right? They didn’t give him someone too far up in the rankings or too big of a name to kind of snuff Mandel’s career out. I really feel (the UFC is) giving him his fair shake and I think he’s gonna really seize the opportunity.”

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Canada’s Mike Malott and Brazil’s Gilbert Burns headline a Fight Night in Winnipeg. Watch all the UFC action on Saturday, April 18 on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+ with coverage beginning at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT.

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But how exactly did Nallo go from his cold streak of two wins in six fights to five straight victories, shaking hands with the UFC’s big boss and signing a deal to debut on home soil?

According to Zahabi, it was exactly those lows that helped Nallo turn a corner and develop into a more “seasoned” pro.

“Some fighters, they need a couple of losses,” the No. 6-ranked bantamnweight explained. “And I feel like now Mandel he’s ready to really make this run. … He always gives every inch of himself in all his fights, that’s why he’s never been to a decision, but I feel like now he’s also managing and making better choices earlier in the fight and picking his moments a little better than he used to.”

Undoubtedly, that’s an informed opinion from Zahabi, not just as a teammate who observes Nallo in the gym but also as a training partner that works with him directly. In fact, with their upcoming fights separated by two months, the gap has lended itself for the pair to prepare in the cage together.

“It’s been perfect because there’s just enough space between our fights for us to focus on each other,” Nallo said. “And towards the beginning of this camp when the fight was announced — I would say I’m the most similar to O’Malley in the gym — we got to do some moving around, and moving around with Aiemann is always fun and it’s a special experience.”

So, how has Zahabi shown his appreciation for his longtime friend’s kind words and shared time in the cage? Well, aside from being in Winnipeg to support Nallo and the eight other Canadians competing on Saturday, he did it by being an originator of “Rat Garbage.”

Zahabi and fellow Tristar teammate Louie Sanoudakis brainstormed the title when helping Nallo think of a social media handle to garner sponsors, which is an important footnote on the moniker’s origins because “you can never choose your nickname” according to Mr. Rat Garbage himself.

Nallo embraced the nickname once it was reinforced by his colleagues, including Zahabi, who belives “it fits who he is because he didn’t necessarily want to be (a social media personality), so it’s kind of a joke in itself that all these guys want to take themselves so seriously … (using) whatever generic nicknames to sound cool and to sound tough, and I think it represents that Mandel doesn’t need anything to do the promoting for him other than his fighting. So he went with something so obscure — and maybe also to humble himself — if he calls himself Rat Garbage, he doesn’t want the fame to get to his head.”

Zahabi made sure to mention that Nallo’s stardom is indeed “coming” because he’s not only an exciting fighter, but he’s a “very intelligent man and puts a lot of thought into these things. (His success) is no accident, and he carries himself with a lot of style … he’s a very cool guy.”

Which checks out, because when asked about his honest thoughts on the nickname, Nallo’s response was cucumber-levels of cool.

“It’s about going with the flow. I’m not getting my hackles up about being called something as outlandish as Rat Garbage,” he explained. “When it started to stick, I’ve embraced it and it’s become somewhat of a brand … it’s fitting because I am a bit of an odd guy. I make decisions purely based on what I think is the best thing, and that’s not usually what the standard thing is.”

Nallo’s taken to the nickname so much that he’s been designing a t-shirt during fight week for the Rat Garbage brand to commemorate his UFC debut.

An added level of effort he’s willing to committ to because Nallo is aware how much he’ll be embraced by the local crowd when he steps into the cage on Saturday.

“The main thing for Canadian fans to understand about me is that I really love Canada. Born in Vancouver, raised in small town BC, later lived in Ottawa, Montreal and now settled in Toronto,” Nallo added. “I really do appreciate Canadian culture. I’m proud to be representing us and fighting in Winnipeg … it really doesn’t get better than this.”

So, when Nallo walks out to what’s sure to be a roaring ovation, he’ll do so with immense pride, both for his country and a milestone nearly two decades in the making.

A journey of many ups and downs that includes a nickname that, like his fight game, set quite the tone.

Messi purchases lower-division soccer club in Barcelona

Associated Press — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:31:41 EDT

BARCELONA, Spain — Lionel Messi is the owner of a fifth-division soccer club in Spain after the Argentine superstar acquired Barcelona-based UE Cornellà.

Messi was the best player of his generation during his two decades at FC Barcelona, where he won multiple titles and Ballon d’Or awards before leaving in 2021.

Cornellà is a modest club in a working-class neighborhood. The club announced the deal on Thursday without giving details of the purchase.

“Leo Messi’s arrival marks the beginning of a new chapter in the club’s history,” the club said in a statement. “The project is guided by a long-term vision and a strategic plan that combines ambition, sustainability, and a strong connection to its local roots.”

Cornellà was founded in 1951 and has helped produce players such as Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya and former Barcelona defender Jordi Alba, who also played with Messi at Inter Miami.

At age 38, Messi is aiming to compete in the World Cup this summer in North America where Argentina will defend the title.

What is the wildest storyline we could see in NHL playoffs?

Sportsnet Video — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 19:37:50 EDT

What would Stanley Cup Playoffs bracket be if season ended today?

Sportsnet Staff — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 10:53:01 EDT

Here’s a look at how the NHL post-season shapes up.

Two sentences about every Stanley Cup Playoff team

Justin Bourne — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:22:57 EDT

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been writing wrap-up articles on NHL free agency and trade deadline with my trademark “two sentences” pieces. It’s a useful model when there’s a volume of action, and people don’t have the time to read a “War and Peace”-length breakdown.

Well, 16 teams are set to embark on a two-month battle for the Stanley Cup, and I’ve got thoughts. Let’s get through every team’s forecast, just days before the best round of playoffs of the best sport in the world gets underway.

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EASTERN CONFERENCE

Carolina Hurricanes

The Eastern Conference champs are perennially disrespected, and this year they’re as fast and deep as they’ve ever been, with a D-corps that can skate and make plays just like the rest of the team. The questions are “Can the goaltending hold up?” and “Are they big enough?” but when your smaller lines drive people crazy like Taylor Hall-Logan Stankoven-Jackson Blake can, you’re gonna be a handful.

Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres have perhaps the best D-corps in the NHL, and in a world where we’ve accepted “defence wins championships,” that’s probably a good thing. When Josh Norris is healthy, it feels like they’ve got enough up front too, so if their inexperienced goaltending can hold up (something they share with many teams), they’ll have a shot against anyone.

Montreal Canadiens

I’ve been working on my NHL awards ballot, and the Canadiens have viable contenders for the Selke, Norris and Calder, and even Cole Caufield should get slotted in on one of the NHL end-of-year all-star teams at his position (and while I don’t vote for Jack Adams, Martin St. Louis deserves love, too). I think they’re fast and dangerous, with young goalies who can be great, and have as good a chance as any team in the East to go to the Cup Final.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa will provide us the answer to “How much does experience matter?” because with Florida out of the picture, the Lightning seem to represent the greatness of this past decade’s memorable playoff runs. With proven players Andrei Vasilevskiy, Victor Hedman, Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel, Jake Guentzel, Anthony Cirelli and Ryan McDonagh, it’s just really hard to bet against them.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Can Stuart Skinner be the guy they need after so many playoff runs with the Oilers? The Penguins will still be relying on proven superstar names, but they’re going to need young guns Egor Chinakhov and Ben Kindel to surprise if they want to make any post-season noise.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers are a couple things to me, including being headed in the right direction (which makes them dangerous), and they’re annoying to play. Travis Sanheim and Rasmus Ristolainen have poke-check length on the back end, Travis Konecny is scrappy, Noah Cates is going to get Selke votes, Dan Vladar is solid in net, they’re well-coached … so, overall, it just feels like they’re not going to go away easy.

Boston Bruins

The Bruins highlight the extreme parity in the NHL, because they’re not awesome, but they’ve got an awesome player on forward (David Pastrnak), on D (Charlie McAvoy) and in net (Jeremy Swayman), which is often enough to beat anyone on any night. Not to mention that they’re tough with Nikita Zadorov, Sean Kuraly and Tanner Jeannot, so they’re going to make life hard on the Sabres in Round 1.

Ottawa Senators

The Sens have been very good all season but have had to fight tooth and nail to get into the post-season (because of bad goaltending), so we’ve got a No. 8 seed that’s as good as any team in the conference, which also has a Vezina-winning goaltender, but again, they’re somehow the No. 8 seed. But all their injuries seem to be clearing up at the right time, which gives them an elite D-corps with which to protect their goalie, and a scrappy, physical group up front.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Colorado Avalanche

It’s crazy how much of this excellent team has been built via trade up front, from Marty Necas to Brock Nelson, Nazem Kadri and Nick Roy, Artturi Lehkonen and Ross Colton, and Jack Drury and on and on. They’ve got them loaded for another run, so as long as they’re healthy, it’s hard to see anyone taking them down.

Dallas Stars

The Stars are the same team they’ve always been to me, with a few elite talents, as they graduate from their old core to the new, and a good chance to beat 25 teams in the league pretty handily. But we’ll see how they hold up in series against back-to-back elite teams, where Jake Oettinger will be tested and the depth of their D-corp really put to the test.

Minnesota Wild

The Wild are, for the first year in a long time, truly fun to watch. They create offence like crazy, have stars who can score, they’ve got grit and edge throughout the lineup, and all put together, are going to give the Stars all they can handle — they’ve just got a tough make it out of the Central.

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers seem like one of the few teams who genuinely don’t care about the regular season, but that mindset has worked great for the Florida Panthers and the 2012/2014 L.A. Kings. They know it’s about the grind that’s about to start, and they’re as loaded as ever, so if they can get average goaltending, it’s hard for me to believe they won’t find themselves back in a conference final.

Vegas Golden Knights

Vegas is the only team that makes me doubt the “Oilers back in the conference final” prediction, as they seem to be figuring it out at the right time. If Carter Hart takes over and suddenly finds his form in net, there’s too much talent up front to believe they couldn’t put together a deep playoff run of their own.

Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks are a bright-future team with lots of young talent that I love, all of Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke are legit-legit. I just think they give up way too many goals against to hold up in long playoff series against deeper teams.

Real Kyper and Bourne

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne talk all things hockey with some of the biggest names in the game. Watch live every weekday on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ — or listen live on Sportsnet 590 The FAN — from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET.

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Utah Mammoth

The Mammoth have underlying metrics (expected goals) that have them in a cluster of teams that include the Hurricanes and Lightning. They create a lot and limit chances against, meaning with some goaltending and a little shooting luck, they’re a potential first-round upset candidate.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings made the playoffs on the back of winning a whopping 22 games in regulation, and for their trouble, they’ve drawn Colorado in Round 1. I don’t think they’re as bad as their record (and they got hot at the end!), but they’re certainly the leading candidate for “mostly likely to be eliminated first,” given their first opponent.

Raptors vs. Cavaliers: Sportsnet announces first-round NBA playoff schedule

Sportsnet Staff — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:08:26 EDT

The Toronto Raptors are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2022, and you can follow the action on Sportsnet.

Canada’s basketball team will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in Round 1 of the NBA playoffs in a No. 4-seed versus No. 5-seed matchup.

First-round action begins on Saturday, and fans can watch Game 1 between Toronto and Cleveland on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+ starting at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Game 3 will also be on Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet+ starting at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. Games 5 and 7 would also be on Sportsnet.

It’ll be the fourth series all-time — and fourth since 2016 — between the Eastern Conference rivals. The Raptors will hope to change their fortunes against the Cavaliers, however, as Toronto enters the series with a 2-12 playoff record against Cleveland all-time, including back-to-back sweeps in 2017 and ‘18.

Thankfully, there’ll be no LeBron James to deal with this time around, but there will be James Harden, who the Raptors faced when they last made the playoffs four years ago, losing to the Philadelphia 76ers, also in a four-five matchup.

This go around, it’ll be a battle between Toronto’s No. 5-ranked defence and Cleveland’s No. 6 offence.

The full schedule for the Raptors vs. Cavaliers first-round series is below:

Game 1: Saturday, April 18 at Cleveland, 1 p.m.
Game 2: Monday, April 20 at Cleveland, 7 p.m.
Game 3: Thursday, April 23 at Toronto, 8 p.m.
Game 4: Sunday, April 26 at Toronto, 1 p.m.
* Game 5:Wednesday, April 29 at Cleveland, time TBD
* Game 6: Friday, May 1 at Toronto, time TBD
* Game 7: Sunday, May 3 at Cleveland, time TBD

* if necessary
All Times Eastern

Sportsnet.ca

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