As we inch closer to the eventual resumption of the NHL season (pending an agreement between the league and players’ association), Friday night will give hockey fans a little theatre when Phase 1 of the Draft Lottery is conducted.
Like everything else right now, this year’s version is going to operate a little differently.
Fifteen teams will still be involved in the lottery and the overall odds will not change from recent years. The bottom-seven teams, those not returning to play this season, will be directly involved in the lottery, though remember, Ottawa holds San Jose’s pick.
There will also be eight “placeholder” teams to represent those who get eliminated in the best-of-five play-in series to come at a later date. So there’s a chance we won’t know which team picks first, second or third after Friday.
Due to the unusual circumstances, this year’s potentially two-phase lottery could result in a wild order at the top of the draft. Teams that otherwise wouldn’t have sniffed the lottery now have a small chance to end up with the first-overall pick.
So, with that in mind, in this week’s Sportsnet NHL newsletter we wanted to note a few of the wilder possibilities that could result from this year’s lottery.
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1. Edmonton Oilers win another one
Oilers fans would prefer that “winning another one” would refer to Stanley Cups and not No. 1 picks, but here we are. Edmonton famously held the first-overall selection three years in a row and then won the Connor McDavid lottery in 2015 to give them the top selection in four of six drafts from 2010 to 2015. If that’s all you knew about the situation, you’d probably assume the Oilers were a multi-championship powerhouse by now.
They’re not there yet, though Edmonton did take a big step this year. By standings points, they were the fourth-best team in the Western Conference at the pause, but did not get a top-four bye since those were measured by points percentage (the Oilers had played two more games than Dallas).
So now Edmonton will meet Chicago in the play-in round. If a placeholder team wins the No. 1–overall selection on Friday and Edmonton loses to the Blackhawks, they would then have a 12.5 per cent chance to pick first, and what a game-changer that’d be. Leon Draisaitl has two comfortable, supremely skilled wingers alongside him right now, but the Oilers are still searching for a permanent fit next to McDavid. If Alexis Lafreniere were to fall into their laps, it would be easier to swallow a defeat and make the team that much stronger going forward.
2. How about the Penguins?
Pittsburgh was even better than Edmonton this season and had the seventh-best points percentage in the league at the pause, but were fifth-best in the East so they narrowly missed out on the bye as well.
Already with multiple Cups from this core, the Penguins will remain all in so long as Evgeni Malkin and/or Sidney Crosby are on the roster. We’re not counting down an imminent end to their days of contention, but all of the key players here are over 30 now. How much could a window be extended by adding Lafreniere to Crosby or Malkin’s wing?
Lafreniere became just the second player to ever win back-to-back CHL Player of the Year honours this season, joining — you guessed it — Crosby. The 18-year-old prospect is also coming out of the same Rimouski Oceanic organization that Crosby did. The odds of this happening may be extremely long (the Pens would need to lose to the Canadiens first), but it might be worth it for the reaction gifs alone.
3. The Rangers could win the Cup and the first pick
There’s only one team this could possibly happen to, and it would take nothing short of a miracle. But here goes…
The Carolina Hurricanes technically hold two first-round picks — their own and Toronto’s. They sent one of those conditionally to the Rangers in a trade earlier this season, in which New York will get the lower of the two picks. However, the Leafs’ pick is top-10 protected, so if it does end up inside that top three, Toronto will keep it and send next year’s to Carolina instead.
Here’s where it gets interesting: If two placeholder teams win a top-three spot in Friday’s lottery, and if in the second lottery phase Carolina’s pick ends up being first overall and Toronto’s follows (they’d need to lose to Columbus to be in it), then New York would get No. 1, Toronto would retain theirs, and Carolina would be left out of it.
Adding another wrinkle to this is that New York faces Carolina in the play-in round and would need to eliminate them for this to be at all possible. From there, New York could go on a miraculous Cinderella run, win the Stanley Cup against great odds, and still pick first overall.
4. Ottawa wins or loses big
Though Detroit has the best individual shot at winning the first-overall pick as the last-placed team, Ottawa has the best chance to pick first overall. That’s because not only do they hold their own pick (which comes with the second-best odds) but also San Jose’s, which comes with the third-best odds. Ottawa has a 25 per cent chance of ending up with Alexis Lafreniere and are very much in the running to land both of the top two spots.
If that happens, the Senators would instantly speed up their rebuild.
This could go another way, though. What if Ottawa doesn’t win any of those top three picks? Heck, what if each of the top three picks are won by placeholder teams?
In the latter scenario, Ottawa would be left with picks five and six — that’s still not a bad spot to be, but certainly not a preferred outcome.
NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
