the-nhl Page 8 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Calgary Flames were undone by a gimmick

While sneaking into the bottom rung of the playoffs is something to be eschewed in the NBA given that it rarely leads anywhere, there’s still a perception in the NHL that all you have to do is “get in.” The NHL has dined out for decades on the idea that the playoffs set everything anew, and that one...

American hero T.J. Oshie’s time in the nation’s capital should come to an end

As the Washington Capitals exited last year’s playoffs in the first round against an upstart Florida Panthers squad, it felt like the end of an era. The core of the team stayed together from their 2018 Stanley Cup victory but hadn’t won a playoff game since and was only growing grayer. And if being ...

The Mavericks give away the game

Well now it’s pretty obvious what NBA teams really think of the play-in tournament. The Dallas Mavericks spent the weekend doing everything they could to drop right out of the 10th seed and into the draft lottery, which they successfully did. Mavericks fans are probably most excited about the season...

The 10 Plagues of Egypt for sports fans

Have you seen The Prince of Egypt? It’s the animated movie that features the Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey song “When You Believe” and tells the story of Moses. I don’t need to get into the ins and outs of religion, but the movie ends with the Israelites escaping slavery and Moses leading his pe...

The Pittsburgh Penguins might be toast

I could stop a comet. ...

Wanna raise a future NHL star? Name him Connor

Connor McDavid has recently surpassed his career high for points in a season and has continued to climb, with over 140 points (60+ goals, 80+ assists) on the season. Many in the hockey world already regard the 26-year-old center as one of the best to ever play the game. He is explosive, deceptive wi...

Connor McDavid isn’t going to get a better chance

Every generationally great player, or every player that can safely say they’re one of the five best of all time, eventually bores the public with their greatness. Or at least fails to spike the EKG when news of their latest heroics crosses the wires. Connor McDavid is there. ...

What can make the NHL more exciting?

The NHL’s Pride jersey problem slips into the comedic

The NHL got more Pride Night bullshit last night courtesy of the Staal brothers on the Panthers, Eric and Marc. I’d try and provide some commentary, but sometimes, you just can’t beat reality:...

Carson Brière and James Reimer make it clear hockey is not for everyone

When millions watched a video of NCAA hockey player Carson Brière pushing a wheelchair down a flight of stairs, it revealed something. The same can be said for James Reimer’s overt decision to not wear a Pride jersey with his San Jose Sharks teammates. For decades, hockey’s toxic culture has been li...

If only the NHL had a leader

It is yelling at the rain to lament that commissioners in any league aren’t stewards of the sport anymore. Look at Roger Goodell’s face and wonder if you’d trust that man to steer a fucking tricycle. But there comes a point where the commissioner is the only one who can steer a league out of a skid ...

Let’s find a way the Boston Bruins might lose in the playoffs, if there is one

While Gary Bettman might not think there’s anything wrong with the current playoff system (he’s wrong!), it is pretty clear that this set-up has robbed March and the first half of April of most of its drama. We’re basically down to seeing whether a wheezing Penguins team (whoops!) can keep their lun...

Fighting in hockey is taking its last breath

The debate about fighting in hockey has always been overly loud for what was actually being debated, if debate ever even took place. One side of it always tended to be pretty shrill. The natural evolution of the game to a speed and skill one has lessened fighting to a rarer and rarer occurrence on i...

The most Mets thing ever? [Updated]

If I asked you, before the WBC, which team might have a player seriously injured not just during the World Baseball Classic, but doing something non-play involved during the WBC that feels like the baseball gods got loaded and said, “Hey watch this!”, there would only be one answer, right? You could...

Tony DeAngelo continues to be just awful

Update: DeAngelo was suspended two games by the NHL without pay on Wednesday for spearing Corey Perry. He’ll forfeit nearly $55,000 in salary for taking a shot at the Lightning forward’s manhood....

Patrick Kane made me love and hate the Blackhawks

Everything just slowed down....

The NBA is trying to jam the Elam Ending into a square hole

The Elam Ending has become NBA corporate jargon to throw out there as a salve for everything. All-Star Game lost its appeal? Elam Ending fixes that. Low ratings? ELAM ENDING! Superstars sitting out games? E-LAM END-ING!!! The latest rumored implementation of “Playing to a number” comes as a fix for ...

MLS doesn’t know what fans want

It tells you pretty much everything you need to know about Major League Soccer that A) the season starts in five days and you likely didn’t know that, and B) with only five days to go is when the league actually finalized what the playoff system for this season will be. That’s right, teams didn’t kn...

The Toronto Maple Leafs load up for their first-round exit

The Atlantic Division in the NHL was already a hell gauntlet. With the Boston Bruins suddenly turning into a team of frost giants that can skate (then again, it’s probably likely frost giants could always skate, given the conditions in the Jotunheim), it’s only become more so. It’s just three teams ...

Alex Ovechkin’s leave of absence does little to change his chase of Gretzky [Updated]

Alex Ovechkin has transcended hockey since he entered the league officially in 2005. He had to wait an extra year because of that pesky canceled season after he was drafted the year prior. He also missed three months due to another lockout in 2012. Not to mention the coronavirus pandemic disrupting ...