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Can Toronto Maple Leafs turn the 2022/23 NHL season around?

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With no fewer than 13 NHL Stanley Cups to their name, the Toronto Maple Leafs remain one of the most successful franchises in the ice hockey fraternity.

However, that statistic doesn’t tell the whole story, with the Maple Leafs having last won the Stanley Cup in 1967, with the subsequent 55 years of waiting getting increasingly painful for Toronto Maple Leafs fans.

The beginning of the 2022/23 NHL season looked set to be a new dawn for the Maple Leafs, with some strong off-season acquisitions giving Sheldon Keefe’s side a steely look to them.

However, in the early stages of the campaign, it appears that once again the Toronto Maple Leafs are set to be out of the playoff picture once more.

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Optimistic Maple Leafs fans however will be confident that they can turn the season around and with time on their side, stranger things have certainly happened in the NHL.

At +1000 to win the Eastern Conference, New York-based betting experts clearly haven’t ruled out a Toronto Maple Leafs resurgence this term. In a similar vein, the Maple Leafs are +1400 to clinch their first Stanley Cup in nearly 60 years, which would be a seismic event in Canadian sporting folklore if it came to fruition.

There are plenty of sides in contention to lift the Stanley Cup once more in 2022/23 but perhaps no side carries the level of threat that Colorado Avalanche do.

The defending Stanley Cup champions, Avalanche came good when it mattered last year and are expected to be the team to beat again this term.

Coming in at +500 with only a handful of games played, Avalanche look to be the early season pace setters.

Identifying a side that has both the playing credentials and the squad depth to be in Stanley Cup contention is always tough but the Calgary Flames have the look of a potent side this term.

Coming so close to lifting the Stanley Cup last year, looks to have inspired the Flames so far this term, with plenty of attacking threats combining well with a mean defensive record.

The Calgary Flames are currently +750 to win the Stanley Cup, as they chase just the second Stanley Cup in the franchise’s history.

Elsewhere, the Eastern Conference will be eager to put down a marker this season with the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers likely to lead the charge.

Making it through the regional division will be the priority for both the Hurricanes and the Panthers but both teams look to have playoff credentials.

Coming in at +900 and +1100 respectively to win the NHL Stanley Cup this season, both the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers look set to be in contention this term.

 

 

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Vasilevskiy stops 23 as surging Lightning beat Bruins – Sportsnet.ca

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Shane Pinto has a goal, three assists as the Senators roll over the Sabres – Sportsnet.ca

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Here’s what we know about the allegations against Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara

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LOS ANGELES –

Only a week has passed since the Los Angeles Dodgers abruptly fired Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter and constant companion of their new $700 million slugger, Shohei Ohtani.

But the biggest story of baseball’s spring is still murky — and shocking — as the regular season begins in earnest Thursday.

The scandal encompasses gambling, alleged theft, extensive deceit and the breakup of an enduring partnership between the majors’ biggest star and his right-hand man. Investigations are underway by the IRS and Major League Baseball, and Ohtani publicly laid out a version of events Monday that placed the responsibility entirely on Mizuhara.

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Here are the basics as Ohtani and the Dodgers prepare for their home opener against St. Louis on Thursday:

Why was Ippei Mizuhara fired by the Dodgers?

Ohtani claims his close friend repeatedly took money from his accounts to fund his illegal sports gambling habit. Ohtani also says he was completely unaware of the “massive theft,” as his lawyers termed it, until Mizuhara confessed to him and the Dodgers last week in South Korea, where the team opened its regular season against the San Diego Padres.

Mizuhara has given more than one version of his path to this trouble, which was catalyzed by the IRS’ investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an alleged illegal bookmaker. Mizuhara has consistently said he has a gambling addiction, and he abused his close friendship with the Dodgers superstar to feed it.

Did Shohei Ohtani ever bet on sports?

That’s the biggest question to be answered in Major League Baseball’s investigation, and the two-time AL MVP emphatically says he has never gambled on sports or asked anybody to bet on sports for him.

Further, Ohtani said Monday he has never knowingly paid a bookie to cover somebody else’s bets. Mizuhara also said Ohtani does not bet, and Bowyer’s attorney said the same.

Mizuhara told ESPN on March 19 that Ohtani paid his gambling debts at the interpreter’s request, saying the bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. If that were true, Ohtani could face trouble even if he didn’t make the bets himself — but ESPN said Mizuhara dramatically changed his story the following day, claiming Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.

MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball. They also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.

What’s next for Ohtani?

Ohtani has played in every Dodgers game since the story broke, and he is expected to be their designated hitter in most regular-season games this season while baseball’s investigation continues.

Ohtani says his legal team has alerted authorities to the theft by Mizuhara, although his team has repeatedly declined to say which authorities have been told, according to ESPN.

Ohtani’s new interpreter is Will Ireton, a longtime Dodgers employee and fluent Japanese speaker who has filled several jobs with the team in everything from game preparation and analytics to recruiting free-agent pitches. But Ireton won’t be Ohtani’s constant companion, and manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday he’s optimistic that Ohtani will become closer to his teammates without the “buffer” provided for years by Mizuhara.

What don’t we know?

MLB’s investigation of Ohtani’s role in the events could last weeks or months, and it’s unlikely to be publicized until it’s complete. No one outside of Ohtani’s inner circle knows what it will find or how serious any repercussions could be, and nobody outside the circle is making informed speculation about the process.

One major question looms: How did Mizuhara have enough access to Ohtani’s bank accounts to get the alleged millions without Ohtani knowing? Is the slugger overly trusting, or is he wildly negligent in managing his vast fortune, which includes years of lavish endorsement deals in addition to his baseball salaries? Why didn’t the team around him, including his agent, do more to prevent the possibility of the theft he claims?

Finally, where is Mizuhara? Anybody who knows isn’t saying. He was fired in South Korea and apparently didn’t travel home with the Dodgers. Japanese media have visited his home in Southern California to look for him. Although he was born in Japan, Mizuhara’s life is in the U.S. — but his life will never be the same.

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