adplus-dvertising
Connect with us

Sports

Flames’ Gaudreau a likely trade candidate after most recent playoff stumble – Sportsnet.ca

Published

 on


EDMONTON – They promised this time it would be different.

They were right.

This time, instead of going out with a whimper the Calgary Flames exited the bubble with a thud – a final game collapse so monumental the reverberations are sure to be felt until the league drops the puck again who-knows-when.

300x250x1

Until then GM Brad Treliving will have no choice but to put in motion significant personnel changes.

And that starts with Johnny Gaudreau.

He’s likely played his last game as a Calgary Flame.

From the Stanley Cup Qualifiers to the Stanley Cup Final, livestream every game of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, blackout-free, on Sportsnet NOW.

Predictably, the core just couldn’t get it done, but no man was more of an enigma than No. 13.

Gaudreau’s annual disappearance can best be explained by the simple fact his style of game doesn’t mesh with playoff hockey.

When time and space get taken away, and when teams collapse their defence and the intensity gets ramped up, the 5-foot-7, 165-pound Jersey native has been neutralized year after year.

Gaudreau’s best showing in the Dallas series came in the first period of Thursday’s 7-3 humiliation when his power play goal was one of three Flames tallies in the opening six minutes. Exhibiting noticeable jump in his step in their do-or-die moment, he was thwarted on two great wraparound chances and would later turn on the jets to catch and stop Corey Perry’s breakaway.

Too little, too late.

When the final horn sounded on the six-game series, Gaudreau didn’t have a single even-strength point.

His only contributions all playoff long came on the power play, where six of his seven points came. (The other point came on an empty-net goal).

Five-on-five, he might as well have been on the fourth line, which is the latest in a series of indictments on a former 99-point regular season player who makes $6.75 million a year.

Although he has two years left at a price tag considered team-friendly when he was a Hart Trophy candidate two years ago, it’s not going to be easy to move him now.

Every GM in the league saw his latest playoff disappearance, and while there’s merit for some teams to acquire marketable players like Gaudreau who can sell plenty of jerseys during the season, most teams try building for playoff success.

Sign up for NHL newsletters

Get the best of our NHL coverage and exclusives delivered directly to your inbox!

NHL Newsletter

He can’t help there in a leading role.

One playoff assist last year.

Two years earlier he had just two helpers.

He’s not an emotional leader, nor can he contribute defensively or kill penalties.

He’s an offensively dynamic player who has shown an enraging inability to have a positive impact when it matters most.

Healthy debate has raged since the team’s last playoff faceplant around whether his linemate and best pal, Sean Monahan, should also be shopped as part of the necessary altering of the team’s core.

Perhaps he should, but in a flat cap world it’s going to be hard enough to swap out Gaudreau for any meaningful return, let alone a man making $6.375 million.

Potentially, a perennial 30-goal scorer like Monahan needs to be included in any deal involving Gaudreau to sweeten the take.

That would be a blockbuster in a cap era where moves of that significance rarely occur.

They really are the two most obvious candidates to go, but surely Treliving would rather keep the 25-year-old centre here to see if he can build chemistry with someone other than Gaudreau.

Other core pieces seem far less apt to be moving, like soon-to-be 37-year-old captain Mark Giordano or Mikael Backlund, who is an integral player still in his prime.

TJ Brodie remerged as a solid, top-pairing defenceman this year, which may have priced him out of Calgary as an unrestricted free agent.

Bennett’s stock and popularity just rose to a point where trading him would prompt pitchfork-toting mobs outside the Dome. Not happening.

Youngsters like Dillon Dube and Andrew Mangiapane are clearly destined to be big parts of the future here, alongside Matthew Tkachuk and Lindholm, who also has plenty to atone for after coming up empty offensively this summer.

Which brings us back to Gaudreau, who turned 27 during the team’s 10-game bubble run.

It wasn’t all that long ago the Flames organization learned a valuable lesson about waiting too long to trade a star like Jarome Iginla.

Shortly afterward they had nothing to show for it.

There is no chance Gaudreau would re-sign in Calgary when his contract expires in the summer of 2022, which means he needs to be dealt well before then.

Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what they think about it.

Now is the time.

If the Flames wait another year, Gaudreau has a modified no-trade clause that allows him to limit the Flames options by submitting a list of five teams he would agree to go to.

Iginla all over again.

And while the return almost certainly won’t include anyone with the type of gaudy numbers Gaudreau has posted in recent regular seasons, the goal would almost certainly be to acquire character, moxie and leadership.

Gaudreau has been a top-line player and regular season offensive leader on this team for six years, but he’s too often been a passenger in the playoffs. After 30 playoff games with Calgary amounting to just 19 points, it’s time for him to get off the bus.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

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

Published

 on


* public_profileBlurb *

* public_displayName *

300x250x1

* public_name *
* public_gender *
* public_birthdate *
* public_emailAddress *
* public_address *
* public_phoneNumber *

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

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

Published

 on


* public_profileBlurb *

* public_displayName *

300x250x1

* public_name *
* public_gender *
* public_birthdate *
* public_emailAddress *
* public_address *
* public_phoneNumber *

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Sports

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

Published

 on

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.

300x250x1

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.

Adblock test (Why?)

728x90x4

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending