Hockey Hall Makes Call

Hall of Famer. That's a phrase that can be handed out to a select few athletes. What that means, in simplistic terms, is that you're the best in the world at whatever you do. It means that your skill set is a step above everybody else. This year, we get six new names to enshrine in immortality in Toronto at the Hockey Hall of Fame. Martin Brodeur, Martin St. Louis, Willie O'Ree, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Alexander Yakushev and Jayna Hefford were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. O'Ree, the NHL's first black player, and Bettman, who's been Commissioner since February of 1993, are going into the Hall in the builders category.

Willie O'Ree
Even though he didn't have quite as much of an impact on Hockey as Jackie Robinson did for Baseball, Willie O'Ree still had a lot of hardship to go through to get to the worlds best league. To make things more impressive, he kept pushing to try and play in the world's best league while being blind in one eye, which makes this all the more impressive. His playing career never really took off, as O'Ree scored four goals and added ten assists for fourteen points in 45 career NHL games. What O'Ree did off the ice is what's getting him inducted. O'Ree was hired by the NHL in 1998 as director of youth development and an ambassador for NHL diversity. He has championed the NHL's Hockey Is For Everyone initiative, which has introduced more than 120,000 boys and girls of diverse backgrounds to the game and established 36 local grassroots hockey programs, all geared toward serving economically disadvantaged youth. His charity work and involvement in the community have really been a positive impact for the youth around the country in both the US and Canada.

Garry Bettman
Bettman, who is the current Commissioner of the National Hockey League, has held the position since being given the title in 1993. He took the job over from then league president Gil Stein in February of that year. In his 25 year career as Commissioner of the league, there has been massive growth of the game under his watch. The league has gone over some big changes, including the expansion of the game from a 24 team circuit to the 31 team league we have right now. Annual revenue for the NHL right now is somewhere around the $4 billion mark, which is way up from about $400 million when Bettman began running the show. During his leadership, the game has also expanded on a more international level, with regular-season games played over in Europe and Japan, as well as preseason games in China. The League has participated in four Winter Olympics and held three World Cup of Hockey tournaments under Commissioner Bettman. Sure, there have been some downsides to Bettman running things, like the three work stoppages we've had due to labor disputes. One of which wiped out an entire season, something that had never happened before in hockey. All that aside, the game of hockey has grown leaps and bounds in the guidance of Gary Bettman, and for that, he is getting his just due and getting inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in November.

Jayna Hefford
The only Woman to be inducted into the Hall this year Jayna set a blazing trail for women in the sport of hockey. Hefford played for Canada at five Winter Olympics and was a part of four gold medal-winning teams (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014). She scored the gold medal-winning goal against the United States at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and is one of five athletes to win gold at four consecutive Wi He's got a pretty long list of career acomplishments nter Olympics. Besides her Olympic success, Hefford spent most of her career in the National Women's Hockey League. She is the NWHL's all-time leading goal-scorer with 252 of them for the Brampton Thunder. She was one of the great female players to ever step foot on the ice, and helped take the game to another level for female athletes. She was one of the pioneers to help put Women's Hockey really on the map.

Alexander Yakushev
He may not be one of the more famous names to come out of the Russian hockey system, but he was one of the best players to ever come from that country. Yakushev really came to the concuss of North American hockey fans during the 1972 Summit Series. Yakushev led the Russians with seven goals during that famed eight game series against Canada. He later coached both the Kontinental Hockey League's Spartak Moscow and the Soviet national team. He's a former referee who worked prestigious events like the 1991 Canada Cup, he's considered among Russia's top historic hockey figures, taking the title of Soviet scoring champion in 1969. He was one of the key cogs in the Russian hockey system which helped turned the tide in the way the game was viewed and how hockey was played. His style of play was considered revolutionary and is viewed by a lot of younger Russian hockey players as a reason why they got into the game and a style of play that they tried to copy.

Martin St. Louis
For a guy who was never drafted, he turned out to have a pretty damn good career for himself. After spending four years playing for the University of Vermont, St Louis was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Calgary Flames. After spending parts of three uninspired years in Calgary , Marty left as a free agent and went to Tampa Bay, where his career really took off. After 13 very successful years as a Bolt, St Louis wrapped up his career over the final year and a half with the New York Rangers. He's got a pretty long list of career acomplishments. He won the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2004, and picked up the Hart Trophy as League MVP and Art Ross as scoring champion in 2004. He won another scoring title in 2013, and won the Lady Byng Trophy for his skill and sportsmanship in 2010, 2011 and 2013. St. Louis finished his NHL career with 1,033 points (391 goals, 642 assists) in 1,134 games and is the Lightning's all-time leader in assists (588), points (953), power-play points (300), shorthanded goals (28), shorthanded points (44), game-winning goals (64), overtime goals (10), Stanley Cup Playoff goals (33) and postseason points (68). St Louis is the perfect example of how a great career can really take off once its put in the right situation. He was proof that little guys could still play, and play at a very high level, in the modern game. Good things really do come in small packages.

Martin Brodeur
First year on the ballot, its no surprise that the career wins leader and, some will argue, greatest goalie to ever play the game, gets into the Hall. Martin Broduer played all but seven games of his pro career with the Devils, finishing up the final seven games of his career with the St Louis Blues. He won three Cups with the Devils (1995, 2000, 2003), he was a five time winner of the Jennings trophy for lowest goals against in the league and a four time winner of the Vezina trophy as the leagues top netminder, and won the Calder Trophy as top rookie in 1994.. He also holds almost every possible record for a goalie. Brodeur holds the NHL records for wins (688), shutouts (124), games played by a goaltender (1,266), saves (28,928), minutes played (74,438), 30-win seasons (14), consecutive 30-win seasons (12), consecutive 35-win seasons (11), 40-win seasons (eight) and consecutive 40-win seasons (three). Some are critical of Brodeur because of the system he played in with the Devils. That maybe a deterrent sure, but you still have to be able to stop the puck and make saves. Brodeur could do that and he did with regularity. He was very good at what he did. He was criticized for his style sure, but he did the job, and did it better then anybody else.

NBA Hands Out Hardware

The 2017-18 season for the National Basketball Association has been put to bed last night. The league handed out the hardware for their season ending awards, honoring the best of the best of solo efforts in a great team game. They gave out the hardware for everything from most improved, to defensive player of they year, to coach of the year, to rookie of the year, to MVP and everything in between. So enough of the fluff. Here's who walked away with the major awards for the NBA.

All-NBA First Team 
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors
James Harden, Houston Rockets
LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers

NBA All-Rookie Team
Kyle Kuzma, Los Angeles Lakers
Lauri Markkanen, Chicago Bulls
Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz
Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics

NBA All-Defensive Team 
Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
Victor Oladipo, Indiana Pacers
Jrue Holiday, New Orleans Pelicans
Robert Covington, Philadelphia 76ers

NBA Cares Community Assist Award: Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors
Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award: Jamal Crawford, Minnesota Timberwolves
Lifetime Achievement Award: Oscar Robertson
Sager Strong Award: Dikembe Mutombo
NBA Sportsmanship Award: Kemba Walker, Charlotte Hornets
NBA Basketball Executive of the Year: Daryl Morey, Houston Rockets

Kia NBA Most Improved Player: Victor Oladipo, Indiana Pacers
There were a few names who could have walked away with the most improved this season. Could have gone to Clint Capela in Houston, it also could have gone to Spencer Dinwiddie in Brooklyn. Both guys had great years, Capela put up career highs in all the major offensive catagoires. Same thing with Dinwiddie, who played in almost every game for Brooklyn and was able to start to establish himself at this level. The reason, though, the award went to Oladipo was because of how much his game was raised in Indiana. He made the all star team for the first time. His points per game average went over 20 for the first time in his career (he averaged 23.1 ppg a new career high). He really came into his own as a threat in this game and was one of the key pieces for the Pacers all season long.

Kia NBA Sixth Man Award: Lou Williams, LA Clippers
To be fair, Fred VanVleet did a fine job as one of the "Bench Mob" in Toronto. He was a solid reason why the Raptors were the best team in the East during the regular season. At the end of the day, it came down to two guys, Eric Gordon of Houston, who won the award last year, and Lou Williams, who's now won it for a second time. Gordon averaged 18 points a game and was a pretty big cog in the machine known as the Houston Rockets. This was Williams award to lose though, because of the type of year he had. Williams had already won the award with Toronto in 2015 and was just as good off the bench for Clippers this year as he was for Toronto three years ago. He played just over 32 minutes a night coming off the bench and put up a career high 22.6 points a game. When your that productive coming off the bench almost every night, it shows just how good a ball player you are. It was also a strong bounce back year for Williams, who struggled through a rough year in Houston last year.

Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
The three guys that were finalists for defensive player of the year, Rudy Gobert, Anthony Davis and Joel Embiid, are all big men. Sure it was a good year for Davis, who was not only up for this award, but was also a finalist for league MVP as well, and rightfully so with the year he had for the Pelicans. The reason though he fell short in this award was because the other two guys put up slightly better defensive numbers. Embiid had a good year protecting the paint for the 76ers, but again wasn't as great on the defensive side of the floor as Gobert. Utah had the best defensive team in the league. When Gobert came back from injury, Utah allowed a league low 97.5 PPG. He ranked second in the league in blocks with 129, and was able to put up those numbers with missing 28 games. Those two numbers are the reason why Rudy walked away with the award.

NBA Coach of the Year: Dwane Casey, Toronto Raptors
Talk about awkward. Dwane Casey became the first ever fired coach to win coach of the year. Toronto had the best record in the East and yet got swept in the second round of the playoffs by LeBron and the Cavs. But what he did do was lead the Raptors to the best record in the East and helped the Raptors to a franchise record 59 win regular season. What Brad Stevens was able to pull off in Boston and what Quin Snyder did in Utah were both amazing, but Casey pulling off the record setting year in Toronto says a lot for how good a coach he is. It sucks that things ended the way they did in Toronto, but over the course of the five years he spent North of the Boarder, says a lot for how good a coach he is and how we was able to get the most out of his players. Here's hoping he lands on his feet quick with his new job in Detroit

Kia NBA Rookie Of The Year: Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers
Donovan Mitchell of Utah and Jayson Taytum of Boston both had good years and Taytum was outstanding for the Celtics in the playoffs. But this award goes to the best of the best during the regular season. Simmons missed all of last year with a foot injury, so he came back this year and started his career with a bang. He joined Oscar Robertson as the only other rookie in NBA history to average 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists per game. Some are arguing that it should have gone to Mitchell because he had a good year and was a true rookie, as compared to Simmons, who missed all of last season with that injury.

Kia NBA Most Valuable Player: James Harden Houston Rockets
Some argued that Harden should have won it last year over Russell Westbrook. Well he didn't but he was able to pull it off and pick up the award this year. Harden was the highest scoring player in the league, averaging 30.4 a game all season long and helped power the Rockets to the best record in all of basketball. Not only did Harden lead the league in points per game average, he also lead the league in three-pointers made (265) and 50-point games (four). Harden received 86 out of 101 possible first-place votes. Harden had the kind of year that basketball players only dream about. It would have been better for him, and the Rockets, had he been able to lead them past Golden State and Cleveland to win a title. Take that stinging factor out of the equation, and just look at the numbers he put up during the regular season, and you realize just how great a year Harden had and why he should be named MVP of the worlds best league.

NBA Draft Winners And Losers

Sixty picks are in the books. Sixty young men's lives changed by being selected in the NBA draft. The first two picks in the draft went exactly as expected, with Deandre Ayton getting picked by the worst team in the league in the Suns, followed by Marvin Bagley getting selected by the Kings at two. After that, things got turned around a little bit, with trades and some screwy picks. It's way too early to really determine if these picks will pan out as expected, but its fun to try and gouge that now. We take a look back at some of the best, and worst, from this year's NBA Draft.

Winner:
Phoenix Suns
This was kind of a clear cut choice with the way things played out. Picking Deandre Ayton with the first overall pick was kind of a no brainer. He was the consensus top pick on almost every big board and there a good reason for that. He a big man with a tremendous amount of talent on both ends of the floor and is one of the better big men to come into the draft in quite some time, according to a lot of experts. And he's only going to get better from here. But wait, there's more. The Suns, who also had the 16th overall pick, selected Zhaire Smith, who they then traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Mikal Bridges, who was the 10th pick in the draft. Bridges is already ready to play in the NBA, according to some sources. So they got a guy who has a very high ceiling and a guy who's really ready to make a huge impact in the league right now. Things are looking really good right now for the Suns to improve on their 21 wins from last season.

Loser:
Toronto Raptors
This was a team that won the Eastern Conference this past season. It looked like the Raptors were one or two players away, possibly, from taking that next step and really taking off as the top team in the conference. It all starts with the draft. Toronto didn't do anything at the draft. Toronto didn't have a pick in this draft, and to be fair neither did Miami, but Toronto is at least expected to be a major threat in the conference and the league. You'd like to think that the Raptors would be able to try and make a trade to get a pick, which could have been of major benefit to this team. They are leaving themselves in the same spot they did at the start of the playoffs, at least with the roster they have, and you saw what happened to them when they met with the Cavs a couple of months ago. Toronto needed to try and get better, and at least at the draft, they haven't appeared to make a step in the right direction yet.

Winner:
Atlanta Hawks
It may be too early to tell who really came out the winner of the deal between the Hawks and Dallas, but it looks like both could come out as a winner. It started out with the Hawks, who originally picked Luka Dončić 3rd overall. They then flipped him to Dallas for the 5th overall pick Trae Young. Young was a guy who Atlanta really had their eyes on all along, so they got their man. He wasn't the only one Atlanta picked up, grabbing Kevin Huerter with the 19th pick and Omari Spellman, who they selected at 30. Getting Huerter was a solid move because he one of the better shooters to come out of the draft from what I've heard and Spellman is a decent shooter for a big man. The trade could possibly haunt the Hawks, but way too early to tell that. Still a solid overall draft for Atlanta

Loser:
Philadelphia 76ers
Philly had a good move made with the 10th overall pick, picking up Mikal Bridges. To make that story even better, Bridges mom works for the 76ers. Then, for whatever reason, the Sixers decide to pull a fast one. They send Bridges to the Suns for guard Zhaire Smith, who's a solid player but isn't as good a defender or three point shooter. Having Bridges would have made perfect sense for the Sixers but they gt rid of him for somebody who's a step down from him. And to make matters more interesting for the club, they took Landry Shamet, another point guard, with the 26th pick. Having all of these point guards on this team makes one wonder what exactly does this mean for Markelle Fultz as a Sixer? It makes one wonder what exactly might be happening in Philly? Maybe its reading too much into it. Maybe things will work out in the end for the better for Philly.

Winner:
Dallas Mavricks
Gotta give Dallas credit for having the guts to go out and make the move they did. Facts are, Dirk Nowitzki might not a whole lot left in the tank. His age for one thing, he is 40 years old, might work against him as time catches up to everybody in this game. So they go out and make a trade with Atlanta, sending Trae Young to the Hawks (see above) to get Luka Doncic, who is now possibly going to be a replacement in Dallas for when Dirk retires. Luka is considered by some to be the best player in this draft class so good on Dallas for being able to land him. Mavs also had three other picks in the draft and were able to land Jalen Brunson (33rd), Ray Spalding (56th) and Kostas Antetokounmpo (Giannis’ little brother at 60). All in all, I'd say it was a sound draft for Dallas, they got the player they wanted and added good depth pieces. Good on the Mavs.

Loser:
Washington Wizards
Taking Troy Brown with the 15th overall pick was a good selection. Brown is a decent shooter and could make an impact for this Washington basketball team. However its where they picked him that has me a little puzzled. He went at 15, which means that Zhaire Smith, Donte DiVincenzo, and Lonnie Walker IV all got taken after him. All three guys could easily have gone in that spot or possibly higher. They passed up for a guy who isn't that great of a shooter in Brown. Sure, he maybe a solid defender and ball handler but not being a good shooter is a receipt for disaster in the world's best league. Plus, the pick made at 44 in Issuf Sanon, a kid who's going to be a work in progress at point guard.

NHL Schedule Announced

Start marking your calenders now, my fellow hockey fans. The National Hockey League has announced its schedule for the 2018-19 season. Opening night for the league is Wednesday, October 3rd, with the regular season concluding on Saturday, April 6th. We get into the locals in a moment, but first things first. There's some big games around the league to look at this season. Washington raises their first ever Stanley Cup Banner against Boston on opening night, October 3rd. We got our first finals rematch between the Capitals and Golden Knights in Washington on October 10th. The league goes international this year, with Edmonton taking on New Jersey in Gothenburg, Sweden (October 6th), Florida will play Winnipeg in a pair of games at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland (November 1st and 2nd). The Winter Classic takes place on New Years day at Nortre Dame Stadium between the Blackhawks and Bruins, while the Stadium Series will be played on February 23rd at Lincoln Financial Field as the Flyers host the Penguins. Finally the All Star Game takes place on January 26th in San Jose.

That's just some of the stuff going on around the league. Here's the full 82 game schedules for the local teams.

OCTOBER
Thu, Oct 4 vs Nashville 7:00 PM
Sat, Oct 6 @ Buffalo 7:00 PM
Sun, Oct 7 @ Carolina 5:00 PM
Thu, Oct 11 vs San Jose 7:00 PM
Sat, Oct 13 vs Edmonton 1:00 PM
Tue, Oct 16 vs Colorado 7:00 PM
Wed, Oct 17 @ Washington 7:00 PM
Sun, Oct 21 vs Calgary 7:00 PM
Tue, Oct 23 vs Florida 7:00 PM
Thu, Oct 25 @ Chicago 8:30 PM
Sun, Oct 28 @ Los Angeles 3:30 PM
Tue, Oct 30 @ San Jose 10:30 PM

NOVEMBER
Thu, Nov 1 @ Anaheim 10:00 PM
Sun, Nov 4 vs Buffalo 7:00 PM
Tue, Nov 6 vs Montreal 7:00 PM
Fri, Nov 9 @ Detroit 7:30 PM
Sat, Nov 10 @ Columbus 7:00 PM
Mon, Nov 12 vs Vancouver 7:00 PM 300
Thu, Nov 15 @ NY Islanders 7:00 PM
Sat, Nov 17 vs Florida 7:00 PM
Mon, Nov 19 vs Dallas 7:00 PM
Wed, Nov 21 vs NY Islanders 7:00 PM
Fri, Nov 23 @ Philadelphia 1:00 PM
Sat, Nov 24 vs Washington 2:00 PM
Mon, Nov 26 vs Ottawa 7:00 PM
Thu, Nov 29 @ Ottawa 7:30 PM

DECEMBER
Sat, Dec 1 @ Montreal 7:00 PM
Sun, Dec 2 vs Winnipeg 6:00 PM
Sat, Dec 8 @ Florida 7:00 PM
Mon, Dec 10 @ Tampa Bay 7:30 PM
Fri, Dec 14 vs Arizona 7:00 PM
Sun, Dec 16 vs Vegas 1:00 PM
Tue, Dec 18 vs Anaheim 7:00 PM
Sat, Dec 22 @ Toronto 7:00 PM
Sun, Dec 23 vs Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Thu, Dec 27 vs Columbus 7:00 PM
Sat, Dec 29 @ Nashville 8:00 PM
Mon, Dec 31 @ St. Louis 7:00 PM

JANUARY
Wed, Jan 2 vs Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Fri, Jan 4 @ Colorado 9:00 PM
Sun, Jan 6 @ Arizona 4:00 PM
Tue, Jan 8 @ Vegas 10:00 PM
Thu, Jan 10 vs NY Islanders 7:00 PM
Sat, Jan 12 @ NY Islanders 1:00 PM
Sun, Jan 13 @ Columbus 6:00 PM
Tue, Jan 15 vs Carolina 7:00 PM
Thu, Jan 17 vs Chicago 7:00 PM
Sat, Jan 19 @ Boston 7:00 PM
Tue, Jan 29 vs Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Thu, Jan 31 @ New Jersey 7:00 PM

FEBRUARY
Sat, Feb 2 vs Tampa Bay 7:00 PM
Mon, Feb 4 vs Los Angeles 7:00 PM
Wed, Feb 6 vs Boston 8:00 PM
Fri, Feb 8 vs Carolina 7:00 PM
Sun, Feb 10 vs Toronto 7:00 PM
Tue, Feb 12 @ Winnipeg 8:00 PM
Fri, Feb 15 @ Buffalo 7:00 PM
Sun, Feb 17 @ Pittsburgh 12:30 PM
Tue, Feb 19 @ Carolina 7:00 PM
Thu, Feb 21 vs Minnesota 7:00 PM
Sat, Feb 23 vs New Jersey 1:00 PM
Sun, Feb 24 @ Washington 12:30 PM
Wed, Feb 27 vs Tampa Bay 7:30 PM

MARCH
Fri, Mar 1 vs Montreal 7:00 PM
Sun, Mar 3 vs Washington 12:30 PM
Tue, Mar 5 @ Dallas 8:30 PM
Thu, Mar 7 @ Detroit 7:30 PM
Sat, Mar 9 vs New Jersey 7:00 PM
Mon, Mar 11 @ Edmonton 9:00 PM
Wed, Mar 13 @ Vancouver 10:00 PM
Fri, Mar 15 @ Calgary 9:00 PM
Sat, Mar 16 @ Minnesota 8:00 PM
Tue, Mar 19 vs Detroit 7:00 PM
Sat, Mar 23 @ Toronto 7:00 PM
Mon, Mar 25 vs Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Wed, Mar 27 @ Boston 7:30 PM
Fri, Mar 29 vs St. Louis 7:00 PM
Sun, Mar 31 @ Philadelphia 12:30 PM

APRIL
Mon, Apr 1 @ New Jersey 7:00 PM
Wed, Apr 3 vs Ottawa 7:30 PM
Fri, Apr 5 vs Columbus 7:00 PM
Sat, Apr 6 @ Pittsburgh 7:00 PM

OCTOBER
Thu, Oct 4 @ Carolina 7:00 PM
Sat, Oct 6 vs Nashville 7:00 PM
Mon, Oct 8 vs San Jose 1:00 PM
Sat, Oct 13 @ Nashville 8:00 PM
Wed, Oct 17 @ Anaheim 10:00 PM
Thu, Oct 18 @ Los Angeles 10:30 PM
Sat, Oct 20 @ San Jose 10:30 PM
Wed, Oct 24 vs Florida 7:00 PM
Sat, Oct 27 @ Philadelphia 1:00 PM
Sun, Oct 28 @ Carolina 5:00 PM
Tue, Oct 30 @ Pittsburgh 7:00 PM

NOVEMBER
Thu, Nov 1 vs Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Sat, Nov 3 vs New Jersey 7:00 PM
Mon, Nov 5 vs Montreal 7:00 PM
Thu, Nov 8 @ Tampa Bay 7:30 PM
Sat, Nov 10 @ Florida 7:00 PM
Tue, Nov 13 vs Vancouver 7:00 PM
Thu, Nov 15 vs NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Sun, Nov 18 vs Dallas 1:00 PM
Wed, Nov 21 @ NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Fri, Nov 23 @ New Jersey 4:00 PM
Sat, Nov 24 vs Carolina 7:00 PM
Mon, Nov 26 vs Washington 7:00 PM
Thu, Nov 29 @ Boston 7:00 PM

DECEMBER
Sat, Dec 1 vs Columbus 7:00 PM
Tue, Dec 4 vs Winnipeg 7:00 PM
Thu, Dec 6 @ Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Sat, Dec 8 @ Detroit 7:00 PM\
Mon, Dec 10 vs Pittsburgh 7:00 PM
Wed, Dec 12 vs Vegas 7:00 PM
Sat, Dec 15 vs Detroit 7:00 P
Mon, Dec 17 @ Colorado 9:00 PM
Tue, Dec 18 @ Arizona 9:00 PM
Thu, Dec 20 @ Vegas 10:00 PM
Sun, Dec 23 @ Dallas 8:00 PM
Fri, Dec 28 vs Ottawa 7:00 PM
Sat, Dec 29 @ Toronto 7:00 PM
Mon, Dec 31 @ Buffalo 6:00 PM

JANUARY
Thu, Jan 3 vs Chicago 7:00 PM
Sat, Jan 5 @ St. Louis 8:00 PM
Tue, Jan 8 vs Carolina 7:00 PM
Thu, Jan 10 @ NY Rangers 7:00 PM
Sat, Jan 12 vs NY Rangers 1:00 PM
Sun, Jan 13 vs Tampa Bay 7:00 PM
Tue, Jan 15 vs St. Louis 7:00 PM
Thu, Jan 17 vs New Jersey 7:00 PM
Fri, Jan 18 @ Washington 7:30 PM
Sun, Jan 20 vs Anaheim 3:00 PM
Tue, Jan 22 @ Chicago 8:30 PM

FEBRUARY
Fri, Feb 1 vs Tampa Bay 7:00 PM
Sat, Feb 2 vs Los Angeles 7:00 PM
Tue, Feb 5 @ Boston 7:00 PM
Thu, Feb 7 @ New Jersey 7:00 PM
Sat, Feb 9 vs Colorado 1:00 PM
Feb 10 vs Minnesota 3:00 PM
Tue, Feb 12 @ Buffalo 7:00 PM
Thu, Feb 14 @ Columbus 7:00 PM
Sat, Feb 16 vs Edmonton 7:00 PM
Wed, Feb 20 @ Calgary 9:30 PM
Thu, Feb 21 @ Edmonton 9:00 PM
Sat, Feb 23 @ Vancouver 10:00 PM
Tue, Feb 26 vs Calgary 7:00 PM
Thu, Feb 28 vs Toronto 7:00 PM

MARCH
Fri, Mar 1 vs Washington 7:00 PM
Sun, Mar 3 vs Philadelphia 3:00 PM
Tue, Mar 5 vs Ottawa 7:00 PM
Thu, Mar 7 @ Ottawa 7:30 PM
Sat, Mar 9 vs Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Mon, Mar 11 vs Columbus 7:00 PM
Thu, Mar 14 vs Montreal 7:00 PM
Sat, Mar 16 @ Detroit 2:00 PM
Sun, Mar 17 @ Minnesota 6:00 PM
Tue, Mar 19 vs Boston 7:00 PM
Thu, Mar 21 @ Montreal 7:30 PM
Sat, Mar 23 @ Philadelphia 1:00 PM
Sun, Mar 24 vs Arizona 3:00 PM
Tue, Mar 26 @ Columbus 7:00 PM
Thu, Mar 28 @ Winnipeg 8:00 PM
\Sat, Mar 30 vs Buffalo 7:00 PM

APRIL
Mon, Apr 1 vs Toronto 7:00 PM
Thu, Apr 4 @ Florida 7:00 PM
Sat, Apr 6 @ Washington 7:00 PM

Lets drop that puck!

And The Award Goes To......

At the conclusion of the hockey year, the best of the best gather in Las Vegas. Every year in late June the National Hockey League hands out the hardware for the highest individual honors in this great team game. The 2017-18 season was no different, providing fans with high energy hockey, a different look to the game with new superstars stepping into the forefront and helping move along the coolest game on earth. This was, and is, the proper way to close out the year that was and get everybody ready for what's to come with the draft and free agency period looming. So here now is a look at this year's award winners in the NHL for the 2017-18 season.

All Star Teams
First Team
Goalie: Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
Defense: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings
Defense: Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
Center: Conor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Right Wing: Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Left Wing: Taylor Hall, New Jersey Devils

Second Team
Goalie: Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Defense: Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
Defense: P.K. Subban, Nashville Predators
Center: Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Right Wing: Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets
Left Wing: Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers

All Rookie
Goalie: Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators
Defense: Will Butcher, New Jersey Devils, Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins
Forwards: Matthew Barzal, New York Islanders, Brock Boeser, Vancouver Canucks, Clayton Keller, Arizona

Here's some of the other awards given out in Vegas.

Art Ross Trophy (Leading Scorer): Conor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers - 108 Points
"Rocket" Richard Trophy (Leading Goal Scorer): Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals - 49 Goals
William M. Jennings Trophy (Fewest Goals Against): Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings - 203 Goals Against
Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoff MVP): Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Mark Messier Leadership Award (Awarded to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season): Deryk Engelland, Vegas Golden Knights
King Clancy Memorial Trophy (Awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community): Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
General Manager Of the Year: George McPhee, Vegas Golden Knights
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy (Awarded to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey): Bryan Boyle, New Jersey Devils
Frank J. Selke Trophy (Best Defensive Forward): Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
Ted Lindsay Award (MVP voted on By Players): Conor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

Jack Adams Award (Coach Of The Year): Gerard Gallant, Vegas Golden Knights
Bruce Cassidy of the Bruins had a good year in Boston, as did Jared Bednar, who lead the Avalanche to a fantastic year in Denver. But what Gallant was able to do in Vegas with the Golden Knights is the stuff of legend. He was able to take a bunch of guys who were viewed, to a degree, as castoffs from the rest of the league, and turn them into a team that came three wins shy of winning hockey's ultimate prize. Gallant lead the Golden Knights to one of the greatest inaugural seasons, not only in the history of hockey, but in possibly all of sports. Gallant was let go after a slow start with the Panthers a season ago, now stands on top of the hockey world as the best coach in the game this year.

Calder Memorial Trophy (Rookie Of The Year): Matthew Barzal, New York Islanders
Barzal ran away with the Calder as top rookie and it was a pretty obvious choice that he was going to win the award. He finished with 85 points, which not only lead the league among the rookies, but it was also good enough to top the Islanders in scoring, one point better then team captain John Tavares. He's also the fifth Islanders player to win the award, joining Denis Potvin (1974), Bryan Trottier (1976), Mike Bossy (1977) and Bryan Berard (1997). With Barzal, he was at the top of his game most of the year and was one of the fastest skaters in all of hockey. The only rookie who came close to putting up the numbers Barzal did was Brock Boeser, who got hurt with a back injury in late March and missed the rest of the season. If Boeser had been able to stay healthy, he may have made this a closer race for the Calder. Barzal was still top of the heap for the rookie class this year.

James Norris Memorial Trophy (Best Defenseman): Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
This was a close decision to make between Hedman, PK Subban of Nashville and Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings. Hedman is the first Lightning player to ever win the award. Hedman is also the third Swedish to win the Norris Trophy, joining Erik Karlsson (twice) and Nicklas Lidstrom (seven times). This year's voting was close as both Subban and Doughty had fantastic seasons, but Hedman put up something that was different. Both Subban and Doughty had played on good teams, as did Hedman, but those two have been playing at a level that are expected of them. Hedman is too but he took his game to another level this season and was viewed as the total anchor of this Tampa team that was one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. I just feel that if you take all three guys out of their respective lineups, Tampa's blue line would have been a little more effected by the loss of Hedman then Nashville without Subban and LA without Doughty.

Vezina Trophy (Best Goaltender): Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators
After being nominated for the award four times prior, and playing brides maid twice, Rinne finally waked away with the award for the best goalie in the game. Its the first time a Nashville goalie has walked away with the award. The other two finalists for the award, Connor Hellebuyck and Andrei Vasilevskiy, had outstanding years in their own rights. Vasilevskiy lead the league with 44 wins and Hellebuyck broke the record for most wins in a single season by an American born netminder. But Rinne also put up numbers that seperated himself from the rest of his netminding brothers. Rinne ranked fifth in goals-against average (2.31) and tied for sixth in save percentage (927). He also tied with Vasilevskiy for the league lead with eight shutouts on the year. What also helped separate him from the rest of the pack is where the Predators finished in the regular season standings. The fact that Nashville finished the year with the best record in all of hockey say something. Rinne was a huge reason for that and is fully deserving of being the best goalie in the league this year.

Hart Memorial Trophy (League MVP): Taylor Hall, new Jersey Devils
Taylor Hall becomes the first New Jersey Devils player to win the Hart as league MVP. He just edged out Nathan MacKinnon of Colorado and Anze Kopitar of the Kings. MacKinnon did a lot to be able to help carry the Avs to a playoff spot after being one of the worst teams in the league the year before. There's no denying he had a fantastic year. But he wasn't able to do what Hall did for the Devils. Hall finished this season with 39 goals and 94 points, both of which were career highs. Those numbers are good, but what makes Hall's season even more impressive is that the next highest point producer on the Devils was Nico Hischier, who had 52 points. Hall nearly doubled the point production of the next best player on the Devils this year. He also had a 21 game point streak during the season. Hall's performance helped power the Devils from the bottom of the Eastern Conference to their first playoff berth since 2012. Just imagine how bad the Devils would have been had they not had Taylor Hall in the lineup. He was the best player in the best league in the world in 2018.

New Coach On Markets

There's no better way to start a summer if your a hockey coach. Winning the Stanley Cup as a coach is just as exciting for the coaches as it is the players. Winning the Cup can be the crowning achievement for a bench boss the same as it could be for his players. Well Barry Trotz is going out on a high note. Just weeks after winning Hockey's Holy Grail, Trotz has announced that he's stepping down as the head coach of the Washington Capitals.

It was announced earlier today by TSN and hockey insider Pierre LeBrun. According to a tweet from LeBrun: Barry Trotz had a clause in his contract where if he won the Stanley Cup he could accept a two-year extension with a $300k bump in salary. Obviously since he was only making $1.5M, low by today's NHL coach's standards, a $1.8-million salary doesn't cut it. So Trotz stepped down.

Here's the statement made by the Washington Capitals earlier today:

"Barry Trotz informed the organization today of his decision to resign as head coach of the Washington Capitals. We are obviously disappointed by Barry's decision, but would like to thank Barry for all his efforts the past four years and for helping bring the Stanley Cup to Washington. Barry is a man of high character and integrity and we are grateful for his leadership and for all that he has done for our franchise."

With the bump up in pay, Trotz was slated to make about $1.8 Million each of the next two years, which is a low ball offer by a lot of coaching standards these days. For a guy who just won the Cup, that's way below par. Perfect example is the salary of some of the other coaches around the NHL right now. Toronto coach Mike Babcock makes $6.25 million a year, while Joel Quenneville in Chicago is making $6 million a year, Claude Julien makes $5 million a year up in Montreal. Trotz now joins a list of four other coaches who have left their teams after winning a title. He joins Scotty Bowman (1979 Montreal for Buffalo GM and Detroit 2002 retired), Bob Johnson (1991 Penguins dude to illness) and Mike Keenan (1994 Rangers to coach Blues).

Here's the surprise factor. With the numbers that Trotz put up behind the Caps bench, I'm still surprised he got the low offer. During his four year run at the helm of the Capitals, Trotz lead the Capitals to a 205-89-34 record, which was the best in the league during that stretch. Which makes little sense that the Caps would let him go, after all he did just guide you to you're first Cup title in the 43 year history of the franchise. That has to speak volumes right there right?

Not by the Caps logic, who weren't going to really pay up for his services. Hey those win totals speak pretty well to how good the guy did. It doesn't hurt that you have one of the best players on the planet in Alex Ovechkin but still you have to know how to push the right buttons. You don't win over 200 games as a coach in four years if you don't know how to push those buttons. As it sits right now, the only other opening for a head coach around the league that's not the Capitals would be the New York Islanders. If, somehow, Lou could pull off resigning John Tavares and higher Barry Trotz as the head coach, that would speak volumes for the direction that the Islanders are heading in.

We shall see how things shape up over the next week or two, but there's a new coach on the market.

How Much Can OBJ Fetch?

There's no denying true greatness when it arrives. For the New York Giants, they currently have that in the form of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. After being drafted 12th overall by the Giants in the 2014 NFL Draft, Beckahm has put up some solid numbers over his short NFL Career. There are a few big questions that still remain around him. Is he worth the bigtime money that he's asking for? Is he going to get that money with the Giants? If not, then who else is going to be willing to pay him? Lets take a look at some of that right now.

He's been in the NFL for four years now, last year being the shortest one of his career due to injuries. In the first three years of his career, he hauled in 1,305, 1,450 and 1,367 yards respectively.  That goes along with 13, 12 and 10 touchdown seasons. Last year, was a short one for Beckham who was dealing with ankle and leg injuries all year. The numbers should be able to prove that, when he's healthy, he can be a dangerous threat. The numbers don't lie. He's coming off the leg injury last year and he enters this season in the final year of his contract. What he does on the field this year will go a long way to determine what he gets as far as a contract goes.

He's got two things against him right now, one physical and one mental. The physical aspect is pretty easy to figure out. How can his legs hold out during the course of a long season? If he can play a full year healthy and put up numbers close to what he did before his injury, then I see no problem with Odell getting a good deal. It's the mental aspect that has people worried, and for good reason. His antics during play with the kicking net and his touchdown celebrations have been well documented. Once he starts cutting out that stupid stuff and gets his head screwed on straight then I think that will take care of his problems and make his game just that much better.

He's got the numbers that can rank among the best in the game. He had better receiving yards over his first three years then Jerry Rice, almost similar to Randy Moss, better then Isaac Bruce. Which is pretty good company to keep. He got the talent level to make it with the greatest to ever play the game, which is still a long way away. He got the talent to be productive and under new GM Dave Gettleman and new Head coach Pat Shurmur, he can really take it to another level. More on them in a moment.

The argument can be made that he will be one of the top wage earners among wide outs in the league. Mike Evans is making $82 million over the next five years, Antonio Brown is entering the 2nd year of a four year deal with him making $68 Million. DeAndre Hopkins is in year two of a five year deal with $81 million. Larry Fitzgerald is coming into the last year of his seven year deal he signed in 2011 that was worth $110 million. All of them are great receivers who are making a lot of money. OBJ has the skillset to get there, if he can stay healthy. If he stays with the Giants its up to Gettleman and Shurmur.

The Giants new GM and coach will have to determine if he fits into their plans after this season, which I would assume yes, because of how good he is. New York would be so foolish to just let a guy of this talent walk away. One of two things is going to happen, if for some reason he isn't hanging around. He's either going to walk with the Giants, or they're going to trade him and get something in return, which I can't really see happening, but it is a possibility.

At the end of the day, I have this gut feeling that Beckham is going to stay here in New York by season's end and stick with the Giants. He's the best weapon this team has had at receiver since all time leader Amani Toomer retired in 2008. He has the chance to shatter the receiving records for this team and he has stated that he wants to stay put here in New York. He wants to be the highest paid player in the game, and I really don't think that's going to happen, not with his attitude. However I do feel he's going to get quite a nice chunk of change when he does hit the market. There's no real way I can see the Giants just up and letting him leave, they won't let their new face of the franchise go. In order for him to really get a max contract that he's going to be happy with, he's going to have to perform again on the field and have a sever attitude change in order to get the money he wants.

Trading Aces Isn't An Answer

In order to win in Baseball, having a good pitching staff can go a long way. When it comes to the New York Mets, they have two pitchers who can do that in Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. Just three years ago, those two guys, along with the rest of their teammates, were the toast of the town having made it to the World Series. Now, they Mets seam to have come close to hitting bottom, with the worst record in baseball over the last two months. So the question now sits at, would trading the two aces be the right move?

Looking at the way things are going right now for the Mets, its a tempting offer. Rumors had been swirling around that the two aces could be shipped off to the Yankees, which makes no sense what so ever. I mean, sure, if the right package of players came back the other way, it would be worth consideration. At the same time a deal to the Yankees for those guys wouldn't exactly deal back those mega top prospects like the Mets are hoping for. Besides, at least from where I sit, trading those two guys to the Yanks would be like the Bombers considering trading Judge to the Red Sox.

Yanks have the best record in baseball, while the Mets have one of the worst. So it makes no sense what so ever for the Mets to consider getting rid of their two best pitchers to the best team in the game. Now would it be a solution for the problem to help get the Mets back on track? Not exactly. Yes it might bring back some good young crop of talent, kind of along the lines of what the Yankees got back in dealing their players at the deadline a few years ago, most notably pitchers Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman in separate deals. At this moment, trading away their best pitchers makes no sense.

I do, however, agree that something big does need to be done to get the Mets back on track. They've already taken a step in the right direction by cutting ties with Adrian Gonzales, who  was hitting .237 with six homers and twenty six driven in, but in his final game against the Yanks on Sunday struck out three times. I'm actually surprised he hung around as long as he did. Next up on the chopping block,. or should be at least, is Jose Reyes. Don't get me wrong, Reyes was great. Key word there is was. Reyes is hitting .149 with one home run and three runs driven in. He is nowhere near as good as he was in his last stint with the Mets. Remember after he won his batting title, Reyes bolted town for a big contract, which he got in Miami. He hasn't been anywhere near the same since coming back to the team. Look at the play he failed to make Sunday night. He wasn't on the bag when trying to turn a double play and then made a horrible throw onto first. He can't hang in this league anymore and its sad to see what's happened to a guy of his talent level and all the hype that surrounded him when he came up;. So Reyes needs to go.

Its not just on the guys who are here, its also on the guys who aren't. Look at the lineup that's not even here due to injuries. The biggest one not being here is Yoenis Cespedes. He even said he may not really be in a rush to come back with the way things are looking in Queens. Right now I can't blame him. At the same time, he's still getting paid a lot of money to play this game and he still isn't back on the field yet, which to us Mets fans is maddening. He needs to be playing through the pain. Which I'm guessing Jay Bruce might be doing, because his numbers are way down for a guy of his talent level. So you can make the argument all you want about the pitching, that's not the problem. Just imagine how bad this team would be if it wasn't for the starting pitching, which has kept them in a lot of these baseball games. They just never get any offensive support, which is the biggest hole on this team right now.

Championship to Washington

There was a lot of buzz going around T-Mobile Arena heading into game five of the Stanley Cup Finals. One of two things was going to happen. Either the series would shift back to Washington for game six or the Cup was going to be presented. There was no need to head back to DC for another game. Thanks to the late game heroics of Lars Eller, the Washington Capitals claimed their first ever Stanley Cup in franchise history!

There was nothing in the goal department in the opening period, but both teams had quality chances. Players were hitting goal posts and ringing shots off the glass that had everybody on edge. Once the second period got rolling, Tom Wilson set the tone early in the frame. He sent a pass to Jakub Vrana, who beat a defender to the outside and set one past Marc Andre Fleury to open the scoring on the night. Teams traded goals for the rest of the Reilly Smith scored on the power play with less then 30 seconds left in the middle frame.

Once the 3rd period started, Vegas looked to be back on their heels, with Washington starting to press the attack. About halfway through the period, Washington got even on a huge goal from Devante Smith-Pelly, his 7th goal of the post season. Then, with a little over seven and a half minutes left in regulation, this happened:


Talk about being in the right place at the right time. For Eller, it was his 7th goal of the playoffs, and none will be bigger then this goal. Washington managed to hold on and walk away with the franchises first Stanley Cup title in their 43 year history.

Alex Ovechkin was named the Conn Smyth Trophy winner as MVP of the playoffs. He lead the playoffs with 15 goals and was second in scoring with 27 points. Ovie is the first left winger to win the award since Bob Gainey did it for Montreal in 1979. This means more to Ovechkin than any other forward on this team, because he's taken all the criticism for Washington's faults and shortcomings in the post season during his tenure in DC. He had to take on so much public opinion that I'm surprised he didn't fault under the pressure. He stuck with it, and now has a title to show for it. He's still two behind Sidney Crosby, the man he's always compared to, but he finally has a ring and can now put to resat the questioning of if he can lead his team to the promise land. He's done it and silenced his critics.

So congratulations to the Washington Capitals, your 2018 Stanley Cup Champions!

2018 Subway Series Preview

Ah yes the time has arrived for New York baseball. The battle for bragging rights is about to begin! Since the first meeting between the two teams back in 1997, they have met a total of 112 times. In that time frame, the Yankees have the upper hand, holding a 66-46 advantage in the head to head meetings. The boys from the Bronx have won each of the last four meetings between the teams. Heading into the first meeting of the year between the two baseball clubs, they seem to be heading in totally different directions.

First, there's the AL East leading Yankees, who sit at 40-18, best record in the AL East and one of only two teams in the Majors with 40 or more wins on the year. From an offensive standpoint, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have been killing the ball all season long. Judge leads the team with 43 RBI's and 17 home runs. He's one of five guys in the Yankees lineup who's already hit more than ten home runs on the year, along with Ginacarlo Stanton (14), Gary Sanchez (12), Didi Gregorius (11) and Gleyber Torres (10). Four of those guys have driven in more then 30 runs as well, so it shows that this is a balanced attack. pitching has been pretty good for the Yankees too. Louis Severino has turned into a bonifide ace this year. He sits at 9-1 with a 2.20 ERA and 102 strikeouts.

This is a Yankees team that's coming in having won five of their last six games and two in a row. Everybody seems to be hitting their stride at the right time. Yes Bird and Judge and Torres are sliding a little over the last week. To help make up for that, Miguel Andújar and Aaron Hicks are both hitting over .400 over the last week, Giancarlo Stanton has been delivering more over the last week with three long balls and eight driven in. The Bronx Bombers are starting to heat up at the right time.

Something that can't be said about the Boys from Queens. The Mets sit at 27-32, good for 4th in the NL East. After starting the year off at 12-2, New York has managed to win only 16 times since then, to put them in a really bad spot to be in right now. New York's best hitter at the moment is Asdrúbal Cabrera, who's hitting .286 with ten homers and 34 RBI's leading the team in all three offensive catagories. Hell, over the last week, the only Mets starter who's hitting over .200 is Jose Bautista, who's hitting .222. There's not much positive to write about with the Mets who've lost six straight and 11 of their last 13 games. In that six game streak the Mets are on, they've only scored a total of seven runs during this six game streak.

Its a battle of two teams going in the opposite direction heading into this weekend. Its a team in the Yankees who are starting to get on a roll against a team in the Mets who are slumping badly right now. Here's a look at the start times and pitching matchups for the weekend.

Friday: 7:10 p.m. (YES, SNY) Masahiro Tanaka (7-2, 4.79) vs. Jacob deGrom (4-0, 1.49)
Saturday: 7:15 p.m. (FOX) Domingo German (0-4, 5.44) vs. Steven Matz (2-4, 3.42)
Sunday: 8 p.m. (ESPN) Luis Severino (9-1, 2.20) vs. Noah Syndergaard (4-1, 3.06)

Just looking at the pitching matchups, the two best chances for the Mets to win in this series are Friday and Saturday. Tanaka is good, but deGrom has been pitching great this year. The only reason deGrom has four wins is because his offense or his defense has let him down. He either has faulty defense or no offensive support. Anytime deGrom gets a start, no matter what, the Mets still have a chance to win a game. Saturday's game features a guy who's looking for his first career win in Domingo German. He's going against a guy who's actually managed to pitch pretty well as of late in Steven Matz. So Saturday is another good chance for the Mets to get a win. Sunday, they might not get so lucky. Severino has been the Yankees equivalent of deGrom, if not better at times. Syndergaard is just coming off the DL and at times has seemed off this season, so I almost have that game as a penciled in win for Sunday for the Yankees.

No matter what the result and no matter where the teams sit in the standings, this series is always fun to watch. It won't really mean a whole lot other then temporary bragging rights for the city, but that's more about team pride than anything. I really just hope for good baseball games to watch this weekend, and maybe a little offensive life from the Mets.

Changing Of Guard For Islanders

Its been a long time coming for Islanders fans but the impossible has finally happened. Garth Snow has been relieved of his duties as General manager and Doug Weight has been relieved as Coach. Both men will stay with the organization, but their new roles have been undefined as of now. Lou Lamoriello will take over as General Manager and a new search has begun for the teams next head coach. The explination was made by Lamoriello this afternoon is as follows:

"We've had meetings and conversations certainly throughout the past two weeks since I've been here, it is my opinion at this point that there is a coaching change that's needed and there's new voices needed in different areas, and because of that the change is made."

So what does this mean now for the Islanders?

It's something that's been a long time coming, at least as far as Snow goes. The only reason he was even hired back in 2006, at least I feel, is that he was the only one dumb enough to hire Rick DiPietro to the 15 year contract. The team had a proven GM in Neil Smith running the ship for 40 days, but Smith didn't want to sign Ricky to that long a deal, Wang fired him and brought in Snow. At least that's how I read the whole situation. They've made the playoffs four times in that time span and won one series, beating the Panthers. The last two years have been rough for the Islanders, missing the playoffs in both seasons.

Last season was a big step backwards for the Isles, as they went 35-37-10 and finishing 17 points behind the New Jersey Devils for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. A lot of the blame should fall on upper management I feel, for not getting the right levels of talent in here to help this team out. Now don't get me wrong, Snow has made a couple of sound moves. Bringing in Jaroslav Halak, Johnny Boychuck and Nick Leddy a few years ago was a smart move. So was fleecing the Oilers in the deal that landed Matthew Barazl in a deal that sent Griffin Reinhart to Edmonton for the 15th pick, which was used to nab Barzal.

Other then that, Snow hasn't done much to really improve the team. He let Frans Nielsen walk, same thing with Kyle Okposo. He made Nielsen a low ball offer before he signed with Detroit, and didn't even bother to offer Okposo a contract at all before he signed with Buffalo. He bumbled the whole trade with matt Moulson to buffalo for Thomas Vanek, then later traded Vanek away in another deal later in that season. He hasn't really found the right mix on offense to build around his best player in John Tavares. Sure, getting Barzal was a steal and Josh Bailey has really developed into his own as of late, and has a new contract in his back pocket. At the same time, they still haven't been able to get John Tavares signed. So you mean to tell me you can get a contract done with Josh Bailey, who's a solid hockey player, but you running the very high risk of losing your franchise player in Tavares to free agency?

Yeah, that's not good. That's possibly why, among other reasons, why Garth was relieved of his duties as General Manager. As for Doug Weight, I can't really blame him for what he did as coach. I mean he can only do so much with what he was given on the ice. During his time as the Isles bench boss, in 122 games coached, he finished with a record of 59-49-14. The first go around., he got the Islanders to within a point of the playoffs before falling just short. Last year, well didn't go so hot. He was a solid leader behind the bench for this team but you kind of had to figure there was going to be a change of the guard if the GM was let go.

One Win Away For Washington

Forty three years is a long time to wait for a championship. That's how long the Washington Capitals have been in the National Hockey League. They are in the finals for the second time in franchise history, and now sit one win away from their first ever Stanley Cup Championship following a 6-1 win in game four. Playing the roles of hero in game four were Evgeny Kuznetsov, who had four assists, and Nicklas Backstrom, who had three.

Washington got a jump early, scoring three times in the opening period. About halfway through the first, TJ Oshie got Washington on the board with a powerplay goal, set up by Kuznetsov and Backstrom. That would be a recurring theme on the night, both guys setting up a goal and Washington converting on the man advantage. Washington kept their offense rolling, when Tom Wilson got on the board with about four minutes left in the first. To put the icing on the cake for the Caps scoring in the opening frame, Devante Smith-Pelly pulled off this:


For Smith-Pelly, it was his 6th of the post season and none bigger, or prettier, then that one.Washington scored the only goal in the middle frame, with about five minutes left in the period. John Carlson scored on the man advantage, his 5th of the playoffs. What made the shot by Carlson even more impressive was the fact that he scored it from Ovechkin's office, at the top of the left wing circle. Carlson proved that it's not just Ovechkin who can hit the mark from that spot. Vegas made it 4-2 in the third period on goals from James Neal, and Reilly Smith. Vegas momentum didn't last long in the period, as Michal Kempny scored to put Washington ahead 5-2. Brett Connolly sealed the deal with a 5 on 3 powerplay goal with under two minutes left in regulation to put Washington up 6-2.

Again, the big story of the night was Evgeny Kuznetsov, who became just the 12 player in history to have four assists in a Stanley Cup Finals game, becoming the first player to do it since Joe Sakic did it in game two of the 1996 Finals. He's now got 31 points in the playoffs, on 12 goals and 19 assists, and is making a strong argument for being named the Conn Smyth Trophy winner as MVP of the playoffs. It's interesting to note that even though Vegas outshot Washington in game four by a 30-23 count, they still couldn't find a way to pull even in this series. It was a combination of fine goaltending by Brayden Holtby and the inability to kill off penalties. Vegas came up empty on the man advantage, going 0 for 4, while getting burned for three powerplay goals. Vegas needs to get their speed game going again and try and find a way to stay composed in game five if they want to have any chance to extend this series to at least a sixth game. Go back and watch tape of what happened in game one if Vegas wants to try and figure out what to do to get this thing to work.

By the time all was said and done at Capital One Arena, fans were screaming We Want The Cup. They have a chance to have that happen Thursday night in Vegas.

Cause For Concern In Queens

When the 2018 Major League Baseball season got underway, things looked up for the New York Mets. They got off to a 12-2 start and looked great over the first couple of weeks of the season. Now here we sit on June 4th, and those pleasant feelings from the start of the season seem a distant memory. Mets fans had hope going into the year, with that 12-2 start making things feel even better. Since then, those wheels have fallen off and some don't feel that the Mets can really get that mojo back.

They go into the off day today after getting swept in a four game series, at home no less, by the Chicago Cubs. With that, the Mets have now lost 11 of their last 14. One guy I feel bad for more than anybody else is Jacob deGrom. He's 4-0 on the year, with a 1.49 ERA, second lowest in baseball. Over his past eight starts, he's allowed one run or fewer in each, with a 0.57 ERA over that span. Yet the team is 2-6 in those games. It makes me feel bad that he's hands down this teams best pitcher and the team is totally wasting him and his talents this year. Steven Matz also pitched pretty well against the Cubs yesterday, going seven strong innings. Syndergaard, too, when he's really on his game, can be great if he can live up to his potential. That's really about it.

Injuries have piled up for the Mets right now. Jay Bruce is trying to play through an injury. Just look at the guys on the disabled list. Yoenis Cespedes, Wilmer Flores, Todd Frazier, AJ Ramos, Noah Syndergaard, Travis d'Arnaud, Juan Lagares, T.J. Rivera and Anthony Swarzak are all out of the lineup due to various injuries. There's nothing on this team that makes you really think that they have a shot at making it into the playoffs. Outside of the young pitchers and maybe Ahmed Rosario, there's no real depth and youth in this organization.

It makes you want to pull your hair out as a Mets fan because you know that the 12-2 start they got off to was a glimmer of hope. What really happened at the beginning of the year was  just a bandage to mask what the real problems are with this team. How much they rely on Yoenis Cespedes, the lack of youth and depth, the fact that this team is getting older. Jose Bautista is 37, Adrian Gonzales is 36. They do have young talent on this team, guys like Brandon Nimmp and Michael Conforto. Both of whom have struggled as of late. They have a few young horses, which isn't really helping at the moment because nothing is really clicking. Nobody on this team is hitting over .300, the highest batting average is Asdrúbal Cabrera who's hitting .292. Its been a rough go of it for the Mets, with nobody really finding a mojo to be able to hit and support their pitching staff. When you score only six runs in a four game series against Chicago, you know there's a problem.

If things don't start getting better for the Mets soon, this could be a very long summer.

LeBron Brilliance Spoiled In Game One

In big games, a team's best player will step their game to an even higher level. It happens in any sport. That's what happened in game one of the NBA Finals, as  LeBron was, once again, brilliant in the opener of the series. He dropped 51 points to lead all scorers on both sides. Nobody else, on either team, scored more then 30 points. Kevin Love was the only other Cavs player to break 20 points, as he finished with 21. You'd like to think that a performance like the one LeBron put on in this one would be the headline story. Nope. It all went for nothing thanks to one boneheaded play from J.R. Smith. Golden State walked away with a 124-114 victory to open up the NBA finals, and the mistake by Smith cost Cleveland the game.

With the score tied at 107-107 after George Hill made the first of two free throws, Smith grabbed the rebound off a would-be go-ahead shot in the paint when Hill missed the second one. With 4.5 seconds on the clock, Smith immediately put the ball on the floor and dribbled out beyond the 3-point line. This caused LeBron James to change positions from expecting to receive a pass from Smith out beyond the arc, to demonstratively pointing his arm toward the basket and gesturing to Smith to make an offensive move back toward the hoop. After gesturing to Smith, James made the timeout motion toward the scorer's table. Cleveland did have one timeout remaining at the time. With no timeout awarded to Cleveland, Smith made one more dribble toward half court before stopping to pivot and fire a two-handed chest pass to George Hill, who was standing in the corner. Hill caught the pass with 0.5 seconds remaining, and his desperation heave, which was blocked by Draymond Green, would not have counted anyway as it left his hands after the buzzer.

Here's what the play looked like:


In the post game interviews, Smith said he thought the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to call timeout after he corralled an offensive rebound. LeBron even tried to call the timeout when he realized what was going on. That's the reason Smith gave for not taking a potential game winning heave at the end of regulation. He even said he thought that the Cavs were up a point when he corralled the rebound.

Lets not take anything away from what the Warriors managed to do as this game went on. They not only smoked Cleveland in overtime, outscoring the Cavs 17-7 in the extra session, but they also got a balanced attack throughout the entire game. Kevin Durant had 26 points, Draymond Green had 13 points, Stephen Curry finished with 29 points and Klay Thompson finished with 24. it was a balanced attack from the Warriors that helped propel them to the win in the opener, which is something that Cleveland is going to have to try and contend with as this series moves along.

What everybody is going to be talking about is how LeBron dropped 51 freaking points in this game and it was totally wasted because J.R Smith pulled a J.R Smith. It was boneheaded mistakes like this that drew the ire of most Knicks fans when he played here in New York. He's got plenty of talent, but doesn't at times have the mental attitude to match the skills, which drives a lot of basketball people nuts, because Smith is a good player when he's in the right frame of mind. He wasn't in the right frame of mind last night in game one and it showed with that mental mistake.

If Cleveland wants to have ANY hope at all of even making this a close series, meaning one that doesn't result in a sweep, they need to get their game together. Cleveland can't make any mistakes of this magnitude and need to get more offensive help for LeBron if they want to even sniff a possible win in this series.