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NHL Rumors: Canadiens, Flyers, Rangers, Oilers – The Hockey Writers

Published

2 years ago

July 17, 2022

In today’s NHL rumors rundown, are the Montreal Canadiens actively acquiring players that have underperformed in other cities? Meanwhile, did the Philadelphia Flyers try to move James van Riemsdyk to get into the Johnny Gaudreau conversation? The New York Rangers are making a plan for this year’s trade deadline and the Edmonton Oilers have some interesting arbitration news upcoming.

Canadiens Believe They Can Turn Around Careers

Apron Basu takes an interesting look at the Canadiens’ offseason strategy and seems to think the Canadiens are open to adding players from other teams that have underperformed with the expectation they can help get them on the right path. He writes in a tweet, “It’s a bit wild to see the Canadiens continue to acquire players with the belief they can get more out of them than other teams have. First it was Kirby Dach, now it’s Mike Matheson. And at the root of it all is Martin St. Louis.”

Mike Matheson, Pittsburgh Penguins (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Basu adds:

Five months ago, this would have been unthinkable, the Canadiens making two trades that banked on their ability to properly develop players. But today, that is exactly what they are doing, and we saw another example in the acquisition of Matheson, even though he is 28 years old. St. Louis is a firm believer that a player can never stop learning, never stop improving, and Matheson will provide an excellent test case for that theory.

source – ‘Canadiens double down on their developmental model by trading for Mike Matheson’ – Apron Basu – The Athletic – 07/16/2022

Could this mean there are more deals like this coming for the Canadiens? Basu also noted that “Kent Hughes says the Canadiens insisted that Mike Matheson be included in the trade, that Pittsburgh did not want to include him” and that Hughes spoke at great length to Kris Letang about Matheson before making the trade.

Flyers Tried to Trade van Riemsdyk

According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli (as cited by WGR 550), the Flyers attempted to shed salary last week by shopping James van Riemsdyk. The 33-year-old winger has a year remaining on his contract with an annual cap hit of $7 million. There’s a lot of talk that the Flyers were interested in Johnny Gaudreau but only if the move made sense from a salary cap perspective.

James van Riemsdyk, Philadelphia Flyers, September 17, 2018 (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Elliotte Friedman noted during this 32 Thoughts podcast that he thinks the Flyers thought about Gaudreau — he adds that Gaudreau would like be a Flyer now if Philadelphia showed more urgency to get the deal done — but the Flyers knew they were 40 points out of a playoff spot and have a lot bigger concerns than one signing of Gaudreau could fix. They didn’t believe that allocating that much cap space to one player in a year where the team needs fixing was wise. Trading van Riemsdyk would have made this feasible. Without the trade, the Flyers pulled out of Gaudreau discussions.

Rangers Big Play May Come at Trade Deadline

Larry Brooks of the New York Post believes the Rangers haven’t gone all in during this free agency period because GM Chris Drury wants to ensure he has sufficient cap space over the course of 2022-23 to get into the playoff rental market at the 2023 trade deadline.

Even though the Rangers are projected to have just over $2 million in cap space when the season opens, Brooks projected they would have around $9 million in accrued cap room at the trade deadline in February. This would allow the team to go after a high-ticket player like Patrick Kane out of the Chicago Blackhawks’ organization, or perhaps get into the discussions to acquire J.T. Miller.

Oilers Will Lose One of Puljujarvi or Yamamoto

Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now suggests the Oilers can’t keep both Jesse Puljujarvi and Kailer Yamamoto based on their arbitration cases and the reality that Puljujarvi has a pretty good one. Stauffer doesn’t believe the Oilers will have an issue locking up Ryan McLeod, but it may come down to choosing one of Yamamoto or Puljujarvi and that could be what is putting an emphasis on the Puljujarvi trade.

Today is the deadline for both players to file for their arbitration cases and if that doesn’t happen, that means either an extension is close or a trade is. Part of the reason a trade hasn’t happened for Puljujarvi is that teams are worried about the cost of his arbitration case and have insisted the Oilers take back cap space in any deal.

Jim Parsons is a senior THW freelance writer, part-time journalist and audio/video host who lives, eats, sleeps and breathes NHL news and rumors, while also writing features on the Edmonton Oilers. He’s been a trusted source for five-plus years at The Hockey Writers, but more than that, he’s on a mission to keep readers up to date with the latest NHL rumors and trade talk. Jim is a daily must for readers who want to be “in the know.”

Other content contributions include: NHLtradetalk.com, The Sportster and hosting weekly video casts, THW News and Rumors Rundown, plus Oilers Overtime.

For interview requests or to provide content info, follow Jim on Twitter or his social media accounts. They appear under his photo on articles like this one.

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Sports

Canada’s Marina Stakusic falls in Guadalajara Open quarterfinals

Published

2 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.

The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.

Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.

In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.

The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Kirk’s walk-off single in 11th inning lifts Blue Jays past Cardinals 4-3

Published

2 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.

Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.

Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.

He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.

The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.

Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.

He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.

George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.

Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.

In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.

St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

ON DECK

Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.

The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Another player from top-ranked Georgia arrested for reckless driving

Published

8 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Georgia cornerback Daniel Harris was arrested on a reckless driving charge after police said he was driving 106 mph, the latest player on the top-ranked Bulldogs to run afoul of the law behind the wheel.

The sophomore from Miami was stopped by Athens-Clarke County police and booked into jail on five misdemeanor charges at 10:40 p.m. Thursday, according to an online report. He was released about an hour later on a total of $50 in bonds.

In addition to reckless driving, Harris was charged with no proof of insurance, driving an unregistered vehicle, failing to use safety belts and illegal tinting of the windows.

According to an incident report obtained by the Athens Banner-Herald, Harris was stopped near the Georgia campus after passing two other vehicles on a rainy evening in a 2018 Jeep Cherokee. He was clocked doing 41 mph over the speed limit of 65 mph.

The arrest came less than 48 hours before Georgia (2-0) played its first Southeastern Conference game at Kentucky.

Coach Kirby Smart has acknowledged struggling to get his players to drive safely — an issue that took on heightened importance since a crash that killed a player and a recruiting staffer in January 2023, shortly after the team celebrated its second straight national championship.

Football players at the school have been involved in at least two dozen driving-related violations such as DUI, reckless driving or speeding, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has reported. Offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy were killed in the crash that occurred while LeCroy and defensive tackle Jalen Carter were racing.

Smart has steadfastly declined to comment on any punishment that his players receive, though past history would indicate that Harris will be suspended for the game Saturday in Lexington, Kentucky.

Running back Trevor Etienne did not play in a season-opening victory over Clemson after an offseason arrest. He did play this past Saturday against Tennessee Tech.

Without providing specifics, Smart has said that players are disciplined with suspensions and fines through the collective that provides name, image and likeness payments to the school’s athletes.

“The incidents that have been happening off the field are not something we condone,” Smart said this summer before taking the stage at SEC Media Days in Dallas. “It’s very unfortunate, disappointing, I guess is the best word.”

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