pacific-division Page 3 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Does the NHL vet its owners?
I wish I could write stuff like this as fiction. But unless you wrote it as Mel Brooks-ian farce, I don’t know how you’d make it believable. And I have to say that I really want to see the city of Glendale actually chain up the doors to Gila River Arena when Coyotes players attempt to show up for a ...

Who wants the Arizona Coyotes?
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but rumors have started that the Arizona Coyotes could be sold and moved to Houston. I know, it’s been a whole 12 minutes since the last one:...

Are the Golden Knights too hurt to trade for Jack Eichel?
The NHL’s biggest on-ice soap opera, the Jack Eichel trade derby, appears to have rounded the final turn. Last night, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan said that the Calgary Flames and Vegas Golden Knights are the finalists. Both teams are fine with the neck procedure Eichel wants but that the Sabres wouldn’t all...

Someone please explain San Jose’s hot start for me
I know it’s early, but how in the world are the San Jose Sharks 4-0? There is nothing about this team that jumps off the page when you look at their roster. In fact, their roster looks filled to the brim with huge, unfulfilling contracts attached to players way past their prime, unproven youngsters,...

If anybody in the Pacific is going to disappoint, it’s Golden State
We here at Deadspin sometimes have differing opinions. That might be hard to believe, but it’s true, and as we get closer to the start of the NBA season, many of us have conflicting ideas on how the season will play out. For example, my co-worker Criss Partee believes that with a healthy Klay Thomps...

Someone get the Canucks an editor stet… err, stat!
When Alex Chiasson played for the Vancouver Canucks in their season opener on Wednesday night in Edmonton, his name was spelled correctly on the back of his jersey....

Catching up with the NHL (We hardly had time to miss ya!)
The NHL is back on its regular schedule after two straight pandemic-curtailed seasons, and that means it kicks off right now, even though it still doesn’t feel like hockey season outside in most of North America....

Glendale says 'Adios, 'Yotes!'
The Coyotes will not play their 2023 home games in the Gila River Arena, after the city of Glendale announced that it would be opting out of the team’s lease agreement — meaning the team will be forced out of their current home on June 30, 2022....

Seattle Kraken put on a great show, but will they win?
Tonight was the expansion draft, and yeah, I know like 80% of it was leaked online. Still. We saw Mt. Rainier, Pike’s Place Market with a thrown fish, the Space Needle, local sports icons, Macklemore, a whole lot of sea life, and everything about it felt incredibly, and perfectly, Seattle....

The Kraken are preserving cap space apparently, but for who? For what?
We’re still only in the leaked stage, and leave it to the NHL to not think that the Seattle Kraken’s expansion draft would get out before the big show tonight thus rendering it moot, but it appears that GM Ron Francis has gone the pretty boring route. No Carey Price, no side deals that actually pilf...

Unleash the Kraken
They won’t admit it, but there is a decent amount of pressure facing the Seattle Kraken ahead of their first year as an NHL franchise. ...

The Oilers continue to fail McDavid and Draisaitl
The Edmonton Oilers have arguably the two best hockey players on the planet in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Together, the two of them have combined for the last two Hart Trophies and three of the last five. Yet despite incredible efforts from the dynamic duo, the Oilers have never lived up to ...

Maybe it’s about Connor Hellebuyck, not Connor McDavid
The reflex is to point and laugh at the Edmonton Oilers once again. It’s combined with frustration that the game’s best player is leashed to such a clown car of an organization, one of the most brilliant individual seasons going completely to waste. And if you’re a long-term hockey writer or analyst...

The obvious case for Connor McDavid as unanimous MVP
The Stanley Cup playoffs started on Saturday, which is weird because the NHL regular season continued on Saturday, as the Canucks handed the Oilers a 4-1 loss that was notable only because Connor McDavid picked up his league-best 72nd assist, which also wrapped up the scoring title for the presumpti...

Blazers welcome back fans just in time to stick it to L.A.
I don’t think anyone will argue that the NBA playoff intensity was alive and well in the bubble last year. There were fantastic games that came down to clutch moments, and there were underdog teams like Miami making a run all the way to the Finals. It was everything on the court you could hope for. ...

Canucks won last night, but that’s not worth celebrating
The Canucks returned to the ice last night, beating the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime, 4-3. Which resulted in a predictable reaction from the hockey press:...

J.T. Miller and the Canucks think this is as stupid and unfair as we do
Last week, I laid out all the obstacles the Vancouver Canucks would face returning to action after nearly three weeks out thanks to a swath of positive COVID tests, with some players seriously ill with the virus, as well as some of their families being at risk. I argued that their season should just...

Canucks finally set to return after teamwide COVID nightmare, but why?
The Vancouver Canucks will return to practice on Sunday, and resume their season on Friday against the Oilers, the NHL announced. What’s more, the eight games the Canucks have missed, or will miss, have been rescheduled, extending their season to May 16....

With 25 COVID-19 cases, just cancel the Canucks' season already
The news out of Vancouver isn’t getting any better....

Vancouver Canucks in full-blown COVID crisis with more than 20 players, coaches on protocol list (Updated)
UPDATE (4/4/21, 12:24 E.T.): Initial reports of 14 positive tests within the Canucks organization have swelled to more than 20 confirmed infections among the team’s roster and coaching staff, according to TSN’s Darren Dredger:...