nhl Page 20 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
The Maple Leafs are going to try again with Matt Murray and that’s great for the rest of us
The NHL season kicks off for real tomorrow night (the two appetizer games in Prague don’t count, especially because they involved the Sharks), or as it’s known for most of the hockey covering world, “Six months of how does this affect the Leafs?” Yep, the sport’s biggest soap opera, the question of ...
Tampa Bay Lightning’s Ian Cole accused of sexually abusing minor
Another banner day for hockey, as Tampa Bay’s Ian Cole was accused of grooming a minor and sexual assault by an anonymous person on Twitter. The Lightning have suspended Cole pending their own investigation and one conducted by the NHL....
Are you actually going to have to put up with Red Wings fans this year?
Well yes, because they never shut up, no matter the team’s fortunes on the ice. They’re always around, screaming about the “Yzer-plan!,” and assuring you that the Red Wings dynasty will continue because in their minds whatever comes in 2025 is still connected to what happened in 2002. This is the wa...
If expanding MLB playoffs was about keeping people interested, why does no one care?
The concepts of “parity” and “fairness” in sports were exposed as fig leaves long ago. The idea that fans would care more, i.e. buy more tickets and watch more games on TV, if more teams had a chance at playoff berths and championships was never as important to owners. What was important was not bei...
P.K. Subban was just a little ahead of his time
Hockey still can’t seem to recognize its need for a rockstar. While not the biggest problem with hockey’s culture at the moment (hi there Hockey Canada), the ethos that no player can stand out or be above the team keeps the game from having vibrancy or personality. And vibrancy and personality are w...
Amazon came to football and no one died
It’s not much of a leap now that a sports broadcast is completely on streaming. The NFL was the last to jump the River Styx (though I guess no one really jumps The Styx), though plenty of people have been watching Monday Night through the ESPN app and the like. But Amazon bought the Thursday Night p...
Do Americans really care about soccer? We’ll find out
The unbearable heat of Qatar pushed the FIFA World Cup out of the summer months for the first time in the tournament’s history. In 2022, the quadrennial footballing soccer showcase won’t crown a new champion before jackets come out of closets across America. The upcoming global event will run from N...
It’s also the start of NFL propaganda season
You always have to hope that the Sunday night game, or really any primetime NFL game, is a good one. Because when it’s bad, there’s just far too much dead time for Cris Collinsworth’s brain to drip out of his ear. I don’t mind Collinsworth as much as other people. He can be a little too “Everything ...
What the new MLB schedule could mean for MLB’s future
Yesterday, Major League Baseball released its 2023 schedule. The biggest news to come from the release is that for the first time ever, all 30 teams will play one another in a single season....
The sports figures we've lost in 2022
Here’s a look at the athletes and sports figures we’ve lost in 2022....
No surrender in Calgary
One of the familiar tropes in the NHL is the “poor ol’ Canadian team.” Lord Stanley’s chalice hasn’t been parked north of the border in 29 years, and there must be a reason for it. After all, the first two Great Bettman Lockouts were somewhat based on the fact that Canadian teams couldn’t have their...
Looking at possible numbers for the NFL to retire league-wide
The NFL is now the only big-four pro sports league in North America to not have a number retired throughout the league. The NBA retired Bill Russell’s No. 6 earlier this month after his death. Major League Baseball gave that honor to Jackie Robinson’s No. 42, while the NHL has barred anyone from don...
Don’t do it, Christian
The transfer window is closing soon, and that would normally mean a pretty furious avalanche of rumors, requests, bids, and stories. Deadline day has become the sport’s free agency day in the NHL or NBA (or even election night), with masses of reporters spread out across the European continent breat...
Retiring Russell’s jersey number should have happened a long time ago
Shame on the NBA....
Mariners make splash in hopes of ending lengthy postseason drought
The Seattle Mariners are looking to make the playoffs for the first time in over 20 years. Ichiro’s rookie season was the last time they played past 162 games. Heading into Saturday’s games, Seattle is only a half-game ahead of Tampa Bay in the Wild Card standings, and it’s far from a guarantee the ...
The Calgary Flames will not go quietly into that good night
It’s the kind of trade that’s only cooked up at the bar, and almost certainly not before midnight. It’s only then and there that the right kind of desperation can be tuned into, as fans of whatever team it may be, try and live in denial for just a little while longer that their window of contending ...
Duncan Keith, a shutdown corner on ice
The popular thesis on Duncan Keith, who reportedly is retiring after 16 seasons, was that he was a product of the “new” NHL, after the Great Bettman Lockout II in 2005. The thought was that someone his size would never have survived in the clutch n’ grab n’ hogtie era that came before, given that he...
Demaryius Thomas’ CTE case a stark reminder that all football players, regardless of position, are at risk
No one is shielded from CTE exposure once they first put on the pads and a football helmet....
The Griers aren’t the First Black Family of pro sports C-Suites, they’re really the Only Family
During the NBA Draft, the number of prospects who were the children of former WNBA or NBA stars highlighted an extremely conspicuous trend. An increasing number of professional athletes are the progeny of professional athletes who possess the resources and insider knowledge to pass down what and who...
Don’t congratulate the San Jose Sharks and the NHL for being last to hire a Black general manager
Progress shouldn’t take this long....