Jordan Beck's first-pitch home run (7)
It Took Some Time, But Jets' Cole Perfetti's Shooting Luck Has Finally Arrived
Through the first five games of the opening round series against the St. Louis Blues, Cole Perfetti could not buy a goal, robbed by Jordan Binnington on multiple occasions, but as things tend to balance out, the Winnipeg Jets forward was finally rewarded for his hard work.
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New York Times
30 minutes ago
- New York Times
Are Canadiens buying or selling? Plus, ranking the defence and Kirby Dach's future: Mailbag
It's been a very long time since I've done one of these, and there was a flood of questions in the mailbag as a result. So, I'll break this into two parts and address some more questions later this week. This is a big week for the Montreal Canadiens, with the NHL Draft on Friday night and Saturday and the expectation that there could be some movement, even if those expectations don't appear to be rooted in reality right now. Advertisement The trade market is challenging for Montreal because many other teams are seeking exactly what they are looking for, and because the teams that might be willing to move players are looking for NHL players in return, rather than magic beans. But one thing is certain: Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes are working hard in this less-than-ideal market. The Canadiens' decision-makers are leaving no stone unturned and are aggressively trying to work this market, a league source said. But there's a difference between being aggressive and being stupid, and the Canadiens are not willing to be stupid. So, we'll see what happens this week. But while we wait, let's get to the first batch of your questions. With the recent trend of teams all trying to get better at the same time, how much do you think HuGo are taking this broader picture into account? Should the Canadiens stay put this year, sell future UFAs this summer and aim for another high pick? Lots of championship teams had bumps on the road while rebuilding, and all those teams trending up is an opportunity to bank on? – Carl P. This is not a bad way of looking at it, Carl. Zigging when everyone else is zagging, yes? Especially with the potential prize of Gavin McKenna staring you right in the face if you can put together one more terrible season. But my sense is the Canadiens are not thinking in these terms. They don't want to take a step back right now, much like almost the entire rest of the NHL. In terms of future UFAs they could sell, you're only really looking at Patrik Laine and Mike Matheson. I have no doubt they would listen if a team wanted to take a run at Laine, but Matheson is more complicated. Matheson is an important part of the team's defence right now. He plays on both special teams and logs a ton of difficult minutes. Trading Matheson would change the short-term dynamic on the blue line drastically, and I'm not sure the Canadiens would entertain that thought. Advertisement As Marc Antoine Godin reported, there was a long meeting between Matheson, Gorton and Hughes in Buffalo at the NHL scouting combine, and I believe both sides are at least starting to consider a contract extension, what that might look like and what both sides would be comfortable with. So, no, I don't think the Canadiens will go into sell mode to take advantage of this seller's market, largely because the players other teams would be interested in buying are largely not for sale. However, there is also a bit of a longer game that might be in play this year, and McKenna has something to do with it. If some teams get off to a bad start, the idea of an impromptu tank becomes that much more appealing with a potentially franchise-altering talent such as McKenna available. So, it's at least possible that some teams could pull the plug on the season a little earlier than usual, and teams that conserve cap space and trade assets could pounce at that time and add talent that will suddenly be available for trade that's not necessarily available right now. I don't know if Montreal will do this, but it's something I could see several teams monitoring. It serves as some incentive to be patient and not jump into a stagnant market too hastily this offseason. How would you rank the Habs defencemen in terms of how untouchable they are? Prospects included. With some of the buzz surrounding the Habs interest in Nic Hague, it got me thinking about how they view some of the depth they have on the blue line. Curious to see how you view their core on defence moving forward and which players you might think the team views as expendable. – Zachary C. Let's make one thing clear: Zachary is asking for my opinion and not necessarily how the Canadiens view things. Which is a good thing, because I have no idea how the Canadiens view it. Advertisement But what's obvious to me, and probably the Canadiens as well, is they have a surplus of young defencemen and a shortage of forwards. So, the question is extremely valid. If the Canadiens do make a trade for some immediate help in the top six (again, a very unlikely turn of events but one they are actively pursuing), it would likely mean there would be a young defenceman or two heading out. As far as I'm concerned, I would not trade Lane Hutson, barring some sort of exceptionally talented return coming back. He is my most untouchable Canadiens defenceman because the possibilities are so great and we have no real idea what his ceiling can be. But if his rookie season set his floor, that's a keeper for me. One rung (slightly) lower, I'd put Kaiden Guhle and David Reinbacher because they are the types of defencemen teams win with. In Reinbacher's case, of course, we still have no idea what he can be in the NHL, but he's here because of everything he's done in Laval, despite awful luck with injuries since being taken with the No. 5 pick in the 2023 draft. The unknown and the potential make him so appealing. Guhle, on the other hand, has already shown what he can become in the NHL. The only question that remains with him is whether he can stay healthy. In both cases, it would take a lot for me to even consider moving them. Alexandre Carrier is in a tier of his own because he is extremely valuable to the Canadiens and has another year left on his contract. He's pretty far from untouchable, but Carrier being traded for a forward would leave a hole that would be near impossible to fill on the blue line, perhaps even more impossible than the hole Matheson would leave behind in a hypothetical trade for a forward. The next tier is Matheson because of his contract and his relative potential value on the trade market. A lot of teams would love to add his skating and versatility, even if it comes with some brain cramps. Everyone else in the organization, to me at least, is very tradeable. Now, would I jump into an Arber Xhekaj trade for the sake of it? Absolutely not. I think he is part of the Canadiens' future, and I think that's how they see him. But he is a rare commodity, and that makes his trade value perhaps higher than his actual value. Jayden Struble, Logan Mailloux, Adam Engström — these are guys who could just as easily represent a part of the future in Montreal or elsewhere because it is difficult to see a future with all these guys playing together for the Canadiens, especially with Guhle, Hutson and Reinbacher seemingly around for the long-term. How's Kirby Dach's rehab and preparation going? I see him as the ultimate bird in the hand at 2C. In this playoff we've seen Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Pierre-Luc Dubois all being celebrated as reclamation projects. Bennett's PPG in his first six seasons was .35. Kirby's is .45. Why wouldn't the Habs platoon Dach and Alex Newhook next year at 2C until at least the trade deadline? – Andrew G. Arpon, everyone seems convinced that Kirby Dach can't be the No. 2 centre for the Canadiens. I agree his injury problems and disappointing start to the season last year put that in question. However, it would seem wise to me to not overspend in free agency, or in a trade, to fill that need until he has another chance to play a full season. Don't you think that between Newhook, Oliver Kapanen, Jake Evans, and potentially Owen Beck, the team has enough contingency to give him one more legitimate shot at it? Or, is it a matter of trying to take some pressure off him while he tries to reestablish himself? – Eric B. Do you think there's a parallel between the 'development' of Kirby Dach and that of Dylan Strome? – Gabriel Charlebois-Plante This, again, for a second consecutive offseason, is a critical question for the Canadiens. Advertisement The positive for the Canadiens is that, unlike several of the other teams looking for a No. 2 centre, they have a decent backup plan, as uncertain as that backup plan might be. I was told Dach's rehab is going very well. He is doing monthly health checkups with the team, and some of his conditioning metrics are at an all-time high. So, that's good news. The way Gorton and Hughes both talked about Dach at their end-of-season news conference appeared to put the onus on Dach to do everything he can to arrive at training camp ready to attack the upcoming season and put his best foot forward much earlier than he did last season. Some people behind the scenes questioned his conditioning early on last season, so hearing that he's doing his part early in this offseason should be encouraging. This is the last year of Dach's contract, and as Hughes said at the end of the season, there is still some belief in the organization that he will realize his enormous potential. But that potential will need to be realized, at least to some extent, by the end of this season for this relationship to continue. I liked Gabriel's question on Dylan Strome because I had a chance to talk about his journey and the success he's found with the Washington Capitals. Like Dach, Strome was a No. 3 pick (in the 2015 draft), and it took him joining his third team to find success and belief in himself as being worthy of that pick. Strome signed with the Capitals in 2022, coming off a season with the Chicago Blackhawks that did not exactly begin well. 'I got scratched a lot in that 2021-22 season, and then I finished the season on a good note — I played the last 60 games or something,' Strome said back in April. 'I was feeling confident, feeling good about my game. I felt like I knew what kind of player I was, just stringing a couple of good seasons in a row together. I felt like I solidified myself as a good NHL player, and luckily, I got that opportunity in Washington and just tried to run with it.' Advertisement Strome's draft position wasn't a burden, he said. But as he answered, he kind of admitted it was. 'I don't really think it's a burden. I think it gives you more opportunities later on in your career,' he said. 'When you're a high pick, the skill level and the talent's there, it's just about finding the right fit and executing at the NHL level. 'But of course, when you see everyone else that got drafted around you do really well, you want to be doing the same thing. I think it's human nature. I always believed in myself as an NHL player, but when it doesn't happen for a while, you start to wonder if it ever is going to happen.' Strome was drafted right after Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel and just ahead of Mitch Marner and Noah Hanifin in 2015. Dach was not surrounded by the same superstar talent in the 2019 draft – he was taken one pick after Kaapo Kakko and just before Bowen Byram and Alex Turcotte, but you have to imagine what Strome said about wondering if it would ever happen for him is starting to creep into Dach's mind at this point. The opportunity Strome got in Washington, however, can be seen somewhat similarly to the opportunity Dach might have ahead of him in Montreal. The Canadiens need a top-six centre. They hope to surround that top-six centre with strong talent that starts with Ivan Demidov playing his rookie season and perhaps another acquisition on the wing to significantly change the dynamic Dach played between this season. The Canadiens probably don't feel all that comfortable going into next season with Dach pencilled into the 2C slot. But it's not the disastrous situation a lot of fans probably look at it as. There is still a lot of potential in Dach, he should play with urgency because his contract expires at the end of next season, and Demidov's arrival could be a serious game-changer for how that second line works. We've seen what Dach looks like when he's at his best. It was brief, and it was a long time ago, but that version of Dach over the second half of the 2022-23 season showed enormous potential. Perhaps the confluence of urgent career circumstances next season will pull that version of Dach out of him. Advertisement And, as mentioned before, if it doesn't, there could be another trade window that opens up if some teams decide the 2025-26 season is not worth further investment and other options at centre suddenly become available. See you for Part 2 of this mailbag soon. (Photo of Kirby Dach: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Flamengo vs Chelsea: Club World Cup prediction, kick-off time, TV, live stream, team news, h2h, odds today
Chelsea go up against Flamengo in their second game of the Club World Cup (The Standard) Chelsea look to continue their perfect start to the Club World Cup as they face Flamengo in Philadelphia Goals from Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez on Monday evening helped the Blues kick off their campaign with a 2-0 victory against LAFC. Advertisement CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW FLAMENGO VS CHELSEA LIVE! New signing Liam Delap particularly impressed providing the assist for Chelsea's second goal, as it was his cross that was met by the head of Fernandez. Chelsea also gave a debut to Dario Essugo who impressed despite his limited game time. Depending on results, a win for Enzo Maresca's side could secure qualification to the round of 16, but Flamengo, who are managed by ex-Chelsea left back Filipe Luis will no doubt provide a stern test as they have kept seven clean sheets in their last eight games. Date, kick-off time and venue Flamengo vs Chelsea is scheduled for a 7pm BST kick-off today, Friday 20, June, 2025. Advertisement The match will take place at Lincoln Financial Field. Where to watch Flamengo vs Chelsea TV channel: In the UK, the game will not be shown live on TV. Live stream: Viewers can, however, watch the action live online via Meanwhile, will stream the game for free. Live blog: You can follow all the action this evening via Standard Sport's live blog! Flamengo vs Chelsea team news Liam Delap could feature from the start in place of Nicolas Jackson as Maresca is expected to make minimal changes against a tougher opponent. Trevoh Chalobah could also be in line to replace Tosin Adarabioyo in Chelsea's back line alongside Levi Colwill. Advertisement After scoring Chelsea's second goal against LAFC, Fernandez will be hopeful of regaining his starting berth in central midfield. Andrey Santos and Mamadou Sarr could also be in contention to get some minutes from the bench. Jorginho, who made 213 appearances for the Blues is set to feature after his recent move to Flamengo from Arsenal. Liam Delap could make his full Chelsea debut against Flamengo (AP) Flamengo vs Chelsea prediction The Brazilian side top their domestic league after 11 games and are in excellent form. Unbeaten in 15 of their last 16 matches across all competitions and are on a five-game winning streak. Chelsea have won their last four games in all competitions, including the Conference League final 4-1, and have the superior squad. Advertisement Chelsea to win, 2-1. Head to head (h2h) history and results This will be the first meeting between the two teams. Flamengo vs Chelsea match odds Flamengo to win: 11/4 Chelsea to win: 8/11 Draw: 21/10 Odds via Betfair (subject to change).
New York Times
44 minutes ago
- New York Times
What should the Edmonton Oilers do with Evander Kane?
Edmonton Oilers winger Evander Kane led the team in goals per 60 (1.12) at five-on-five during the 2025 postseason. His six goals in the game state ranked him No. 5 among all NHL forwards in the playoffs this spring, via Natural Stat Trick. He also amassed 30 minutes in penalties in the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers, taking himself from a feature spot in the lineup to a marginal player at the end of the depth chart. Kane was in trouble with the officials as early as the first minute of Game 2, and the tight calls kept Kane from playing his natural style during the series. Advertisement Kane is a unique player, but there are factors that may make him expendable this summer. He's entering the final year of his contract, and his no-trade restrictions have eased. There's a window of opportunity to trade him. Kane didn't play a single regular-season game in 2024-25, and the idea of bringing him back isn't an easy decision. Here's a look at one of the most impactful players in the game and why keeping him might be the best play for the team. Kane has a substantial skill set that includes the ability to beat a goaltender clean from a distance. He's 33, but still possesses above-average foot speed, via NHL Edge. He uses that speed to produce offence and to hammer defencemen on the forecheck. Kane's hits land hard and have a cumulative impact on opposing players. Kane isn't an expert passer, but he can make plays, and his assist total in the playoffs (six) matched his goal total. His five-on-five on-ice goal share (55 percent, 54 percent expected) reflected a successful postseason run. He's a unique player in today's NHL. Although Kane doesn't fight much, he's an enormous physical presence and one of the league's most intimidating players. Injuries are the major issue regarding Kane's resume, and he's just coming off a campaign in which he missed the entire regular season. Added to the missed games are the periods where Kane isn't able to play with his normal abandon because he's playing through an injury. Beyond that, his rambunctious style can lead to too many penalties, and there was a cost in the series against the Panthers. Kane has been able to walk that fine line in the past, but the Florida series was awash early with penalty calls, and Kane was one of the players who paid a price. Here's a summary of his last three regular seasons. Key point: Kane has delivered as a five-on-five goal scorer, one of the toughest jobs in the league. All numbers five-on-five, via Natural Stat Trick The scoring rates were strong all three seasons, although outscoring faded when injuries hit the big winger. Over the three years of regular seasons, Kane's 1.01 goals per 60 trailed only Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid among regulars. The four playoff runs have seen similar success. All numbers five-on-five, via Natural Stat Trick Kane's scoring in these four seasons (1.20 goals per 60) trailed only Hyman among Oilers forwards. His injury issues in some of the playoff runs are also evident here. The bookend seasons, where Kane was healthy and effective, show an extraordinary enforcer who is still able to deliver on the biggest stage. That's the player Edmonton management may be hesitant to offload this summer. Advertisement With those playoff numbers fresh in everyone's memory, why not run it back with Kane for the final season of his deal? The $5.125 million AAV isn't out of line with the kind of season Kane might bring, so what's the problem? For Edmonton, it's threefold: injury, an aging roster and the need to make room under the cap. The Oilers didn't get any regular-season games out of Kane in 2024-25. The skill lines at left wing were occupied most often this year by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (440 minutes with the McDavid line five-on-five) and Vasily Podkolzin (498 minutes with the Leon Draisaitl trio). Some of those minutes would have gone to Kane, especially when Jeff Skinner didn't win the confidence of the coach in the first two months. Not having Kane available for long stretches has to be a consideration. The Oilers don't have an up-and-coming left winger to replace Kane, but Trent Frederic appears to be on his way to a new deal. They don't have identical playing styles, and Frederic was also hurt for a lengthy period last year, but he's a younger man who can be productive through the end of the decade. Edmonton is carrying plenty of age on the wings, with a pile of no-movement clauses attached. Kane's contract is one of the few on the roster (among forwards) that allows a trade this offseason. The cap is a major pressure point. Evan Bouchard's next contract, which will kick in this fall, could be $10 million or more. PuckPedia has the Oilers with $12 million in cap room with 19 of 23 players signed. Add Bouchard, and the team has $2 million left for three players, and heavy rumours surrounding Frederic (and others) returning. The question should be asked, because Kane is a more substantial offensive player than Frederic, and the reported gap in AAV next season might be just a little over $1 million. Advertisement If the Oilers sign Frederic and he does not deliver enough offence, the club is left with a bottom-six utility forward making between $3.5 and $4 million over multiple seasons. There's risk here. If the Oilers keep Kane, his final season will cost $5.125 million, and he could play on a skill line, on merit, when healthy. It would appear the die is cast. The Frederic signing rumours are heavy in the air, and the Kane contract is one of very few the Oilers can move (fairly) easily this summer. The Oilers have to make a tough call. Signing Bouchard for next season is the immediate goal, and after that, finding cap room becomes a priority. Some of the room to wheel may well come from dealing Kane. There are reasons to do it, but it isn't clear that it would be the right decision.
