Jay Beagle’s violent response to Trevor Zegras’s latest incredible goal reflects poorly — and accurately — on a franchise simply lagging behind the others.
Video Transcript
JUSTIN CUTHBERT: There are a lot of great standout rookie performances. But the one that stands out the most, because of the highlights, is Trevor Zegras, who scored another sensational lacrosse goal earlier this week, and then added to that by one of the– by providing one of the most candid, interesting, I’m not going to say eloquent, but raw post-game interviews that we’ve seen in a long time. Basically all over Beagle, calling him out for what he did. So I guess I should run it down, what exactly happened. Trevor Zegras scored that goal, lacrosse style. Again, I think it’s even better than the first one, because he did it around his teammate, fittingly, Sonny Milano. Unbelievable. He scores another lacrosse goal. It’s a blowout game for Anaheim. And Jay Beagle, of the Arizona Coyotes, playing out the string in his career, an angry old man, at least it seems, takes exception, cross-checks Zegras to the chance that he gets. Troy Terry steps in for Trevor Zegras, eats about five or six punches to the face, looks like an absolute mess in the post game. He’s cut up. He’s bruised up. Awful. Jay Beagle just teeing off on a guy that shouldn’t be fighting anyway. And Trevor Zegras comes out in the post game, says he should be embarrassed for himself. He should be humiliated that he put himself in that position, Jay Beagle, that he did that, that he took exception to that. The Arizona Coyotes broadcast team is under fire for saying, if you want to skill it up, this is what– the price you’re going to have to pay, which is the most archaic thinking imaginable. And I’m glad everybody jumped on them, Tyson Nash in particular. So a lot that went into it. Basically, if you boil it down, it’s the most skilled player in the entire NHL, in terms of what he can do with the puck, scoring maybe his best goal of the season in a long line of extraordinary goals. And then an old guy, who got shipped out of Vancouver, because he was a problem, and probably doesn’t get a contract next year, probably has 10 games or 11 games left in his NHL career, if we are so fortunate, beating up another player who tried to stick up for the player who’s trying to take the game to another level. So what did you make of this whole situation? Zegras, Beagle, Tyson Nash, Troy Terry’s role, everything that went into this fracas. JULIAN MCKENZIE: Woo, you said a mouthful. First off, I think Trevor Zegras deserves so much credit for, not just hiding behind hockey cliches, and just not trying to talk about it, instead just putting himself out there, and calling out Jay Beagle for his stupid antics. I thought that, for me, was– like we were talking earlier about the league needing to be more and more personality driven. It’s stuff like that that needs to come out in order to help it get to that point. Because yes, the league is trying to have more skill embedded in its game. Like, I didn’t even watch the Trevor Zegras goal until like not too long ago. And I’m like well, of course, this should just be part of the game. This should just be natural. Like, we have to stop thinking of skill plays as a way for teams to just hot dog it, or whatever, and appreciate them for what they are, a skill play that helps make a goal happen and helps the team get to winning. The fact that Trevor Zegras is in a position where he could do that, that should be just an accepted part of this game. And if you are going to try to stop it, why are you going to put yourself in a position where you’re going to try to clock them after some random play that doesn’t matter, when you could, I don’t know, defend the play, defend the front of the net? The fact that the only– his only obstacle is Sonny Milano, and otherwise there’s an open cage there, the Arizona Coyotes should be ashamed of themselves and humiliated, why don’t you say that, for not defending that play properly. If anyone wants to feel embarrassed for that, the whole team should be, for letting that play happen, because they couldn’t defend well, not because they should be– not because of the fact someone has more skill than them. And maybe Jay Beagle just feels that way. He’d just be like, oh, well Trevor Zegras thinks he’s some hotshot. Yeah, there’s a reason why people are looking at Trevor Zegras as one of the most fun and exciting players in this league, and why Jay Beagle’s contract was shipped off to Arizona from Vancouver and he is where he is. No disrespect, but all due respect, there’s a reason why where you’re at, and why Trevor Zegras is where he is. And fighting him, and getting off on hurt feelings, and trying to one up him for that, is absolutely ridiculous. So the fact that Trevor Zegras actually went to the media and called them out for it, maybe it’s the media person to me talking, I loved it. And I hope that more people take that stand going forward, because we don’t need Neanderthals like that trying to stuff the game. If Jay Beagle and people like him really want to get on– if they really want to stop a play like that from happening, play some damn defense. JUSTIN CUTHBERT: Yeah, I mean, if Trevor Zegras quote, unquote, “embarrassed them,” it pales into in comparison to how they embarrassed themselves, both Jay Beagle and Tyson Nash for acting the way that they did. And I get it. You know, it’s Nash’s thing, it’s the entertainment thing. It is insanely biased, obviously, but there’s some entertainment. You’re trying to entertain the viewers. I guess that’s the excuse. But if that is the way you look at the game, and if that is the way that the Arizona Coyotes look at the game, well then it’s perfectly emblematic of who they are and what they are as a franchise. They are behind, in every sense of the word. They are behind in the way that they look at the game. They are behind in the way that they create a fan experience. 3,200 fans, potentially, for the next couple of years. They are behind in all facets of the game. And this was a perfect example of it, with a aging player, who has no other answer for a play and a situation like that, than to drop his gloves and try to beat the tar out of someone who shouldn’t be in that situation. So it’s perfectly Arizona Coyotes for me. It’s perfectly Arizona Coyotes. They are behind, and this showed it, in so many ways. And if you want to skill it up, maybe the Arizona Coyotes should think about skilling it up– JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah. You know? JUSTIN CUTHBERT: –in some degree. Because the only way they’re going to be not in this situation is by getting more skill into their roster, and just trying to win hockey games. Maybe they’ll get a rink if that happens. JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, at this point, they have to worry about filling up their arena at ASU, while everyone else gets to enjoy Trevor Zegras, and Jack Hughes, and Cole Caufield, and a wave of young talent trying to just use their skill to their advantage and help the game actually be better, as opposed to just being some– I don’t know, just being an idiot, just trying to get a guy on a play that happened well after the lacrosse play. Like, I just think it’s just absolutely ridiculous to get to that point. Again, if you want that stuff to stop happening, you don’t want to feel embarrassed, actually defend the damn play, and don’t put your team in a position where you’re going to allow stuff like that. Just getting to a fight well after the fact doesn’t solve anything for anybody. It’s absolutely abhorrent. And for Tyson Nash to go up and try to uplift that viewpoint that he was saying, I mean, come on. I think everyone else has dunked on it enough. We all know people should not be thinking this way. I think for– you got to give your head a shake when it comes to the Arizona Coyotes, as far as I’m concerned. They do not look good in this. If we had the opposite of tire pumps, you give them like the L of the week or something. You got to give them that, as far as I’m concerned. Because the way that, pretty much on down, from the organization, to the broadcast team, they took a big L for how they handled the Trevor Zegras experience. It’s one thing to have that goal scored upon you. It’s going to happen. You’re going to get embarrassed. But to just kind of act as outwardly as they did, like come on, dude. Like, get over yourselves. This has me really heated, if you can’t tell. This is absolutely, absolutely ridiculous. And again, I give Trevor Zegras a lot of– a lot of points for stepping up and saying something about it, and calling out the BS that it is. JUSTIN CUTHBERT: The opposite of the tire pump has to be the whoopee cushion. It’s air coming out of something and making a noise that– you know– you know what happens with a whoopee cushion. JULIAN MCKENZIE: You should workshop that idea. That’s a good idea. JUSTIN CUTHBERT: There you go. Trevor Zegras, it was interesting. What do you think he was looking around? Like my buddy said the other day that, you know– is he looking for– was Jay Beagle going to pop up? I thought it was like [INAUDIBLE]. Like, I think he went rogue there a little bit, because it was like in the hallway. It was like, is the PR guy coming? Like what’s going on here? I think I actually respect him more that he’s cognizant that he probably shouldn’t be doing this. And he probably wouldn’t have done it around the PR guy, but he was– he slipped out the back door and was talking to just one or two reporters and provided that sound clip. There is one– JULIAN MCKENZIE: Shout out to the reporter. There was like one reporter, like after that edit. He’s like, that’s good for me. JUSTIN CUTHBERT: Yeah, yeah. That was good. JULIAN MCKENZIE: He was saying what everyone else is saying in that moment. We all would have said the same thing. Like, I don’t need him to say anything else. He said, what we needed. JUSTIN CUTHBERT: Yeah. It was like– and he had the clip too. Like he could have probably cut that, like, little end off, but he doesn’t have to. It’s funny that way. A little comic relief on what was, obviously, a bit of an intense situation. I will say, though, this is an example– a lot of people want fighting out of the game, want fighters out of the game. Does this happen if the Ducks don’t trade Nick Deslauriers to the Minnesota Wild? Nick Deslauriers one of the tougher guys in the league. Nick Deslauriers, one of the league leaders in fights. Is Jay Beagle going out there and throwing punches at Troy Terry if Nick Deslauriers is still on the team? I am not sure, but it’s more evidence to suggest that maybe having those players could prevent a guy like Troy Terry from getting beat the way he did. So again, I like functional toughness, personally. I think like Nick Deslauriers is actually functionally tough. I think he can play a little bit. But you know, that was the situation that would call it Deslauriers, for sure, and he wasn’t there because they traded him. And they should have. You get something for Deslauriers, you should do that. But another example of like, that’s just something to consider. JUSTIN CUTHBERT: Yeah, like functional– I like the way you put it, functional toughness. Like fine, you’re in the lineup to be tough, but you’re able to contribute to the actual aspect of the game that matters, which is scoring. And I also think, with fighting, while I’m not the biggest fan of like, OK, two guys just like doing some kind of premeditated fight, when scrums, like, break out, and chaos breaks loose, like, there’s a part of me that looks at it and is like, OK, there’s chaos. And like, I think that’s ultimately going to be a part of the game regardless of whatever happens with fighting. Like scrums are not going to stop, and people aren’t going to try to get out of the scrum and do a one-on-one thing. Like, that’s just going to happen. I’ve just kind of accepted that as a thing. But yeah, I’m not, like, the biggest fan of fighting, so to speak. But yeah, I think if, at the very least, if Nick Deslauriers was there, maybe if Jay Beagle was going to pick on– was going to pick on him, maybe if he’s on the ice, he tries to break that up and tries to make that happen. But like, I don’t know. He can’t be on the ice all the time. And you certainly can’t– you can’t have a guy, your enforcer, come off the bench and try to fight. That’s not something that can happen. That’s just– it’s unfortunately things that are going to happen. What has to happen, though, is that the league has to spot stuff like that and have the wherewithal to say, OK, we can’t have stuff like this happen. Jay Beagle currently was clearly making an ass of himself, and he should be disciplined as such. That’s what I think should have to happen. That’s a way to try to curb some of that. But is the NHL going to do that? That remains to be seen. It’s been a couple of days we haven’t heard anything from the DOPS. So I’m led to believe nothing’s going to to Jay Beagle. JUSTIN CUTHBERT: Yeah, I don’t think anything’s happening. Yeah I mean, I think Jay Beagle, I guess I don’t think he– I think he thought he was the toughest guy on the ice, and I don’t think he would have thought that if Nick Deslauriers was on the other bench. But, you know– JULIAN MCKENZIE: I agree. JUSTIN CUTHBERT: You’re right, it’s more on the Department of Player Safety to try and curb this sort of behavior. But you know, sometimes it has to happen within, because Jay Beagle can find himself on the ice with two star players and think he’s basically untouchable. And I think in that moment, he did believe that. And that’s– as we mentioned, that’s about all he can say for the rest of his career here, because there’s not much of a spot for him, I don’t think, in the NHL anymore, with how this game is going. As we mentioned off the top, with all this skill, and everything that’s happening, I mean, that’s not what’s being prioritized, what Jay Beagle provides, and that’s clearly evident with what we saw this week.
Christine Sinclair scored one final goal at B.C. Place, helping the Portland Thorns to a 6-0 victory over the Whitecaps Girls Elite team. The soccer legend has announced she’ll retire from professional soccer at the end of the National Women’s Soccer League season. (Oct. 16, 2024)
At his first news conference as England’s newly appointed head coach, Thomas Tuchel – a German – was asked on Wednesday what message he had for fans who would have preferred an Englishman in charge of their beloved national team.
“I’m sorry, I just have a German passport,” he said, laughing, and went on to profess his love for English football and the country itself. “I will do everything to show respect to this role and to this country.”
The soccer rivalry between England and Germany runs deep and it’s likely Tuchel’s passport will be used against him if he doesn’t deliver results for a nation that hasn’t lifted a men’s trophy since 1966. But his appointment as England’s third foreign coach shows that, increasingly, even the top countries in the sport are abandoning the long-held belief that the national team must be led by one of their own.
Four of the top nine teams in the FIFA world rankings now have foreign coaches. Even in Germany, a four-time World Cup winner which has never had a foreign coach, candidates such as Dutchman Louis van Gaal and Austrian Oliver Glasner were considered serious contenders for the top job before the country’s soccer federation last year settled on Julian Nagelsmann, who is German.
“The coaching methods are universal and there for everyone to apply,” said German soccer researcher and authorChristoph Wagner, whose recent book “Crossing the Line?” historically addresses Anglo-German rivalry. “It’s more the personality that counts and not the nationality. You could be a great coach, and work with a group of players who aren’t perceptive enough to get your methods.”
Not everyone agrees.
English soccer author and journalist Jonathan Wilson said it was “an admission of failure” for a major soccer nation to have a coach from a different country.
“Personally, I think it should be the best of one country versus the best of another country, and that would probably extend to coaches as well as players,” said Wilson, whose books include “Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics.”
“To say we can’t find anyone in our country who is good enough to coach our players,” he said, “I think there is something slightly embarrassing, slightly distasteful about that.”
That sentiment was echoed by British tabloid The Daily Mail, which reported on Tuchel’s appointment with the provocative headline “A Dark Day for England.”
While foreign coaches are often found in smaller countries and those further down the world rankings, they are still a rarity among the traditional powers of the game. Italy, another four-time world champion, has only had Italians in charge. All of Spain’s coaches in its modern-day history have been Spanish nationals. Five-time World Cup winner Brazil has had only Brazilians in charge since 1965, and two-time world champion France only Frenchmen since 1975.
And it remains the case that every World Cup-winning team, since the first tournament in 1930, has been coached by a native of that country. The situation is similar for the women’s World Cup, which has never been won by a team with a foreign coach, though Jill Ellis, who led the U.S. to two trophies, is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in England.
Some coaches have made a career out of jumping from one national team to the next. Lars Lagerbäck, 76, coached his native Sweden between 2000-09 and went on to lead the national teams of Nigeria, Iceland and Norway.
“I couldn’t say I felt any big difference,” Lagerbäck told The Associated Press. “I felt they were my teams and the people’s teams.”
For Lagerbäck, the obvious disadvantages of coaching a foreign country were any language difficulties and having to adapt to a new culture, which he particularly felt during his brief time with Nigeria in 2010 when he led the African country at the World Cup.
Otherwise, he said, “it depends on the results” — and Lagerbäck is remembered with fondness in Iceland, especially, after leading the country to Euro 2016 for its first ever international tournament, where it knocked out England in the round of 16.
Lagerbäck pointed to the strong education and sheer number of coaches available in soccer powers like Spain and Italy to explain why they haven’t needed to turn to an overseas coach. At this year’s European Championship, five of the coaches were from Italy and the winning coach was Luis de la Fuente, who was promoted to Spain’s senior team after being in charge of the youth teams.
Portugal for the first time looked outside its own borders or Brazil, with which it has historical ties, when it appointed Spaniard Roberto Martinez as national team coach last year. Also last year, Brazil tried — and ultimately failed — to court Real Madrid’s Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti, with Brazilian soccer federation president Ednaldo Rodrigues saying: “It doesn’t matter if it’s a foreigner or a Brazilian, there’s no prejudice about the nationality.”
The United States has had a long list of foreign coaches before Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentine former Chelsea manager who took over as the men’s head coach this year.
The English Football Association certainly had no qualms making Tuchel the national team’s third foreign-born coach, after Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson (2001-06) and Italian Fabio Capello (2008-12), simply believing he was the best available coach on the market.
Unlike Eriksson and Capello, Tuchel at least had previous experience of working in English soccer — he won the Champions League in an 18-month spell with Chelsea — and he also speaks better English.
That won’t satisfy all the nay-sayers, though.
“Hopefully I can convince them and show them and prove to them that I’m proud to be the English manager,” Tuchel said.
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AP Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire in Paris contributed to this story.
TORONTO – Bobby McMann watched from the press box on opening night.
Just over a week later, the Maple Leafs winger took a twirl as the first star.
McMann went from healthy scratch to unlikely offensive focal point in just eight days, putting up two goals in Toronto’s 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday.
The odd man out at the Bell Centre against the Montreal Canadiens, he’s slowly earning the trust of first-year head coach Craig Berube.
“There’s a lot of good players on this team,” McMann said of his reaction to sitting out Game 1. “Maybe some guys fit better in certain scenarios than others … just knowing that my opportunity would come.”
The Wainwright, Alta., product skated on the second line with William Nylander and Max Domi against Los Angeles, finishing with those two goals, three hits and a plus-3 rating in just over 14 minutes of work.
“He’s been unbelievable,” said Nylander, who’s tied with McMann for the team lead with three goals. “It’s great when a player like that comes in.”
The 28-year-old burst onto the scene last February when he went from projected scratch to hat-trick hero in a single day after then-captain John Tavares fell ill.
McMann would finish 2023-24 with 15 goals and 24 points in 56 games before a knee injury ruled him out of Toronto’s first-round playoff loss to the Boston Bruins.
“Any time you have success, it helps the confidence,” he said. “But I always trust the abilities and trust that they’re there whether things are going in or (I’m not) getting points. Just trying to play my game and trust that doing the little things right will pay off.”
McMann was among the Leafs’ best players against the Kings — and not just because of what he did on the scoresheet. The forward got into a scuffle with Phillip Danault in the second period before crushing Mikey Anderson with a clean hit in the third.
“He’s a power forward,” Berube said. “That’s how he should think the game, night in and night out, as being a power forward with his skating and his size. He doesn’t have to complicate the game.”
Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz knew nothing about McMann before joining Toronto in free agency over the summer.
“Great two-way player,” said the netminder. “Extremely physical and moves really well, has a good shot. He’s a key player for us in our depth. I was really happy for him to get those two goals.
“Works his butt off.”
ON TARGET
Leafs captain Auston Matthews, who scored 69 times last season, ripped his first goal of 2024-25 after going without a point through the first three games.
“It’s not going to go in every night,” said Matthews, who added two assists against the Kings. “It’s good to see one fall … a little bit of the weight lifted off your shoulders.”
WAKE-UP CALL
Berube was animated on the bench during a third-period timeout after the Kings cut a 5-0 deficit to 5-2.
“Taking care of the puck, being harder in our zone,” Matthews said of the message. “There were times in the game, early in the second, in the third period, where the momentum shifted and we needed to grab it back.”
PATCHES SITS
Toronto winger Max Pacioretty was a healthy scratch after dressing the first three games.
“There’s no message,” Berube said of the 35-year-old’s omission. “We have extra players and not everybody can play every night. That’s the bottom line. He’s been fine when he’s played, but I’ve got to make decisions as a coach, and I’m going to make those decisions — what I think is best for the team.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
