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junker-town · 4 years

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Keep updated with the latest NFL coach firings right here

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Who’s staying? Who’s going? And wither Ron Rivera?

The 2019 offseason was a rough one for NFL head coaches. Eight teams — a quarter of the league — went looking for new playcallers to replace inexperienced and veteran coaches alike.

The 2020 offseason probably won’t see as much turnover, but the coaching wheel started turning midseason. Washington showed Jay Gruden the door in October, while Carolina waited another eight weeks before canning Ron Rivera despite his 76-63-1 career record. More big names will follow — but they won’t include Adam Gase, Matt Patricia, or Dan Quinn.

Who is on the move? Here are the coaches and general managers who’ll be searching for new jobs this winter.

Head coaches who are gone

Pat Shurmur, Giants

Giants record: 9-23

Playoff record: 0-0

How’d they get here: Perhaps the only stat you need to know about Shurmur’s tenure in New York is that it ended with the same exact 9-23 record that got him fired in Cleveland seven years earlier. The veteran assistant was hired by the Giants to oversee the team’s transition from the Eli Manning era. While 2019 top draft pick Daniel Jones showed flashes of brilliance behind center this fall — he’s one of three rookies in NFL history to have three games with four or more touchdown passes — it wasn’t enough to keep his club from a 4-12 campaign.

The Giants ranked just 23rd in offensive efficiency, per DVOA, and fell to 27th on the defensive side of the ball thanks to a unit that allowed more than 28 points per game. That left little help for Jones, whose growth may have been ultimately stunted by a shoddy offensive line, a perpetually-hurt receiving corps, and a subpar season from Saquon Barkley, who dealt with injuries of his own throughout the year.

The end result was a team that failed to beat anyone who finished 2019 with a winning record. That was all owner John Mara needed to see from Shurmur, who’ll likely return to the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach ranks after his latest failed stint at a top job.

What’s next: The Giants need a head coach who can enhance all of Jones’ positive attributes while sorting out the problems that ultimately doomed his freshman campaign — namely the 17 fumbles the marred his 2019. Jones and Barkley are a solid young duo around which a new coach could build, but there are plenty of other problems that need to be addressed in northern New Jersey before this club looks like a contender again.

New York will also have to make a decision regarding general manager Dave Gettleman. While his decision to swing for the fences and draft Jones (mostly) paid off, his other high profile acquisitions — namely left tackle/turnstile Nate Solder — have yet to provide ballast to the Giants’ sinking ship. Shurmur inherited a bad team in 2018. Whomever takes over for him in 2020 will take over a roster that isn’t much better.

Freddie Kitchens, Browns

Browns record: 6-10

Playoff record: 0-0

How’d they get here: Cleveland knew it was taking a risk when it hired Kitchens. He had never been more than an interim coordinator at any level of football in his two decades as an assistant, and that came over a successful eight-game stint that closed out the Browns’ 2018 season.

That was enough to convince owner Jimmy Haslam to roll the dice and promote from within, but Kitchens was unable to handle his new title. Despite lofty expectations, Cleveland got off to a worse start in 2019 (2-6) than it did in 2018 before Hue Jackson’s firing (2-5-1). Baker Mayfield regressed badly in the process, even with the addition of Odell Beckham Jr. Shoddy blocking, questionable decision-making, and undisciplined play doomed the Browns to mediocrity. The end result? Cleveland’s 12th straight losing season.

What’s next: On paper, the Browns have one of the most appealing rosters in football. Mayfield, Beckham, Jarvis Landry, Nick Chubb, and a healthy David Njoku give them one of the league’s strongest starting lineups of skill players. Myles Garrett was a Defensive Player of the Year candidate before whacking Mason Rudolph with his own helmet (his status for 2020 is still yet to be determined). Other players like Larry Ogunjobi, Joe Schobert, and Olivier Vernon could make up the backbone of an intimidating unit.

Alas, this is still the Browns. Anything that can go wrong does go wrong — and no coach has been able to escape that legacy since the franchise’s reintroduction to the NFL in 1999.

Ron Rivera, Panthers

Panthers record: 76-63-1

Playoff record: 3-4 (one Super Bowl appearance, 0 wins)

How’d they get here: David Tepper waited more than a year to rebuild the Panthers in his image after purchasing the franchise in 2017. That included firing Rivera following an uneven start that’s doomed Carolina to its first back-to-back losing seasons since 2012.

Rivera stuck around after injuries to Cam Newton derailed his 2018 season, only to see another injury to his former MVP quarterback sidetrack 2019. He groomed second-year passer Kyle Allen into an above-average passer, but that success was fleeting as Carolina went from 0-2 to 4-2 and then the 5-7 start that precipitated Rivera’s ouster.

What’s next: Tepper held an hour-long town hall meeting after Rivera’s firing to discuss his plans for the team going forward. It sounds like he’s interested in someone built from the Sean McVay mold:

The new Carolina Panthers head coach will likely be... - An offensive-minded coach - Who loves analytics - And is fine with an arranged marriage with GM/assistant GM - But may not have an answer on his QB when he takes the jobhttps://t.co/hTShURAevu

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) December 4, 2019

That new coach will have to figure out what to do at quarterback. That could mean with Newton — who’s suddenly become injury prone after turning 30 and could be released or traded with $2 million in dead cap behind — or a QB room otherwise built around Allen and Will Grier.

Rivera didn’t take long to land on his feet. He’s expected to become Washington’s next head coach.

Jay Gruden, Washington

Washington record: 35-49-1

Playoff record: 0-1 (0 Super Bowl appearances)

How’d they get here: Gruden managed to keep Washington mediocre despite years of roster mismanagement from his higher-ups. The former offensive coordinator followed Kirk Cousins out of the nation’s capital less than two years later after an 0-5 start in 2019. Gruden’s calling card was the ability to field an entirely forgettable team for the bulk of his Washington career; between 2015 and 2018 he never won more than nine games or lost more than seven.

What’s next: Washington is now in need of a nurturer who can turn Dwayne Haskins into the homegrown quarterback the franchise once hoped Cousins would be. While the rookie passer improved as the season went along, he was still the catalyst behind one of the league’s least efficient offenses, and it appears stalwart left tackle Trent Williams won’t be return to the team to keep him upright.

Washington’s head coach position may be the least appealing job in the NFL. It’s been 14 years since the team won a postseason game. Haskins and fellow 2019 draftee Terry McLaurin have made up a promising 1-2 punch to build from, but there’s not a lot of talent on this roster. More may be on the way — especially with a top-five pick looming — but keeping talented players both on the roster and healthy have never been a specialty under Dan Snyder.

The club’s top option, per reports, is Rivera.

General managers who are out

Bruce Allen, Washington

Washington record: 45-83

Playoff record: 0-1 (zero Super Bowl appearances)

How’d they get here: Gruden’s firing game way to Allen’s ouster months later. Although not yet official, reports about the longtime GM’s removal began to swirl in advance of his team’s final game of the season.

Allen’s inability to keep Washington stocked with talent played a major role in the team’s lack of playoff success in his eight years (2010-14, 2017-19) at the helm.

Allen was also the man in charge of the roster when Kirk Cousins played out his second year of the franchise tag and bolted to Minnesota. The former GM’s exit strategy was to trade for 34-year-old QB Alex Smith. Smith was merely average before a broken leg took him off the field (and continues to threaten his career), leaving Allen to rumble through a disappointing 2019 with Case Keenum, Colt McCoy, and rookie Dwayne Haskins in a 3-13 campaign.

What’s next: Owner Dan Snyder may be eager to promote from within.

Mentioned the internal candidates to replace Bruce yesterday in our story are Schaffer, Kyle Smith and Doug Williams. Could see a re-shuffle in responsibilities for all three. https://t.co/78G02pQFYz

— Craig Hoffman (@CraigHoffman) December 29, 2019

Anyone capable of transforming this club into a playoff team would be in consideration for executive of the year honors.

Declared safe for 2020

Adam Gase, Jets

Gase’s first season in New York saw flashes of potential amidst a backdrop of darkness. Sam Darnold made modest improvements in his second year as a pro, but while the Jets have improved in the standings, they’re still leaps and bounds from contention.

The Jets found a way to lose to both the Jets and Bengals this season, but that wasn’t enough to convince team owner Christopher Johnson to cut Gase loose after one season.

Matt Patricia, Lions

Patricia’s hopeful start fell to pieces following Matthew Stafford’s season-ending back injury (and the team’s curious decision to trade secondary linchpin Quandre Diggs to Seattle). A 2-0-1 start crumbled into a 1-12 finish to push Detroit out of the playoff race and toward the top of the 2020 NFL Draft order.

One of Detroit’s biggest problems under Patricia has been a deficient defense. He and general manager Bob Quinn will return for 2020, but they’ll have a short leash if they can’t show explicit improvement next fall.

Dan Quinn, Falcons

Quinn turned up the heat on his own position after getting Atlanta out to a 1-7 start. Then the Falcons put together a 6-2 stretch that included wins over the Saints and 49ers to convince team owner Arthur Blank to keep Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff in town.

Former Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris will take over defensive coordinator duties, a move Blank hopes will upgrade the league’s 22nd-ranked scoring defense.

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mitchbeck · 5 years

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CANTLON: WOLF PACK OFF-SEASON VOLUME 3

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Much is going on in the hockey world. You would think the hockey season is coming to a close with the playoffs in the conference finals, but the hockey world is not slowing down. The hockey hotbed of North America in May of 2019 is actually North Carolina. The red-hot Carolina Hurricanes knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champions Washington Capitals and followed by sweeping the New York Islanders, but have been derailed from their express to the Stanley Cup Finals by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference finals. The Bruins have won the first three games in the contemporary version of a Hartford Whaler - Bruins, Adams Division rivalry redux some 22 years later. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes AHL farm team, the Charlotte Checkers, who were the league's best team throughout the regular season, have been true to form in the playoffs. They took out the Boston affiliate, the Providence Bruins in four games, and then swept the red-hot Hershey Bears, who ironically enough are the Washington Capitals affiliates. Charlotte scored seven goals in Game 2. That was the first time Hershey has surrendered seven goals in a playoff game since 2012. They scored two late goals in the third period of Game 3 to take a 3-1 win. They won Game 4, 6-2, with Aleksi Saarela, a one time Rangers draft pick, scoring a hat trick. Ex-Pack defenseman, Bobby Sanguinetti picked up two assists. The seven wins in eight games came despite the Checkers losing their leading scorer, Andrew Poturlarksi, for two games to an undisclosed injury. They also had to deal with briefly losing their goalie, Alex Neidljkovic, who was recalled to the big club in Carolina. They lost top defenseman, Jake Bean, for the rest of the playoffs as a result of the Hurricanes Trevor Van Riemsdyk’s season-ending shoulder injury that required surgery on the Hurricanes. Bean got replaced by a sixth-round ‘Canes prospect, Jesper Sellegren, whose Swedish postseason was over. The Checkers will meet up with the Toronto Marlies, another scorching hot and unbeaten playoff team in the Eastern Conference Finals. Without disrespecting the other teams in the race for the Championship, the battle between Charlotte and Toronto is the real Calder Cup final. It will be played starting in Charlotte next Friday and they'll play in a 2-3-2 format. Should Carolina find a way back into the series with Boston, or Charlotte were to win it all, or both squads capture gold, there is one person to thank, former GM Ron Francis who was unceremoniously demoted and let relieved of his position by new Carolina owner, Tom Dundon, last year. Most of the players in Carolina and a vast majority of the Charlotte team became part of the organization under his watch. As if the franchise's success weren't enough with both the NHL and AHL teams in their respective conference finals, the Hurricanes ECHL team, the Florida Everblades, are playing the Newfoundland (St. John’s) Growlers in one of the ECHL semi-finals. In the other two series, each has a big Game 6 on Monday. The Chicago Wolves lead the Iowa Wild three games to two winning Game 5 on Friday 7-4 with a Curtis McKenzie scoring a hat trick. The balanced scoring saw three Wolves players register a goal and assist. The contributors were Stefan Matteau, Gabe Quinney and Daniel Carr. Iowa was led by Ryan Donato, the son of ex-Pack/Sound Tiger, Ted Donato, who tallied his first two AHL playoff goals. In Game 4, Iowa won as Gerald Mayhew scored his AHL playoff best 9th goal and was rewarded the next day with a new, two-year, two-way contract. It will pay him $700K-NHL/$100K-AHL in the first year, and $700K-NHL/$150K-AHL the second year. In the Pacific Division final, two of the AHL's higher scoring teams have been just that with the Gulls up three games to two on Bakersfield Condors. The Gulls newest addition paid off big dividends in the first two games. Maxime Comtois fresh off a seven-game QMJHL series with the Drummondville Voltigeurs scored the game-winner, his first AHL playoff goal in Game 1 ending the 5th longest playoff game in AHL history at 4:20 of the 4th overtime. He scored the game-winner in a 4-1 Game 2 victory the following day for San Diego. Bakersfield Joe Gambardella tallied five points (three goals and two assists) in a wild 7-6 OT win in which Bakersfield scored with 11 seconds left in regulation off the stick of the high scoring, Tyler Benson, who had his first playoff goal. It was also the first time the Condors scored a goal with an extra attacker all season! William Lagesson won it just 33 seconds into overtime for Bakersfield. The Condors won Game 5 in double-overtime 2-1 at 13:02 by Josh Currie. Big news from the top of the AHL mountain. Dave Andrews has informed the AHL Board of Governors that he will step down from his position after the 2019-20 season, his 26th season. Andrews has helped shepherd the AHL through some amazing growth and expansion from the 16-team league he inherited from the late Jake Butterfield. The timing of Andrews retirement It makes sense. It would come after the expected NHL work stoppage that will affect the AHL. The American League will see their respective rosters expand as they have during other labor intense times. They will be flooded with many top prospects and shine a very bright light on the AHL, especially if there is no NHL hockey for a potentially significant period of time. Andrews will be working with Seattle to plant the 32nd AHL flag in a North American city. He will have to help them resolve some team locations such as possible issues in Hartford and Bridgeport because of the unresolved XL Center issues and the expiration of the 20-year lease at the Webster Bank Arena which comes in two years with the building now run by OVG. When Seattle does make its choice it will likely initiate Vancouver switching from having their team in Utica move to out West as part of the final realignment of the AHL and North American minor pro hockey. It will also usher in a whole new era at the top and there will now be a significant search to find his replacement. This signals an end to one era for the AHL and the beginning of a new. It might even include a switch in league headquarters. Looking at the map since Andrews took over the AHL landscape, there is a greater concentration now in more Midwest and Western centered entities as money shifts to those parts of the US. The change in the center of the AHL axis is a potential byproduct in this tectonic plate change in the AHL hemisphere. With Ken Holland leaving the Detroit Red Wings for the Edmonton Oilers, it would seem that Ron Francis would be a perfect fit for the expansion franchise in Seattle with its current hockey advisor, also a former Whaler, Dave Tippett. With Holland’s departure, the newly named Detroit GM is Steve Yzerman, who was a playing legend in the Motor City. He brought in another former Whaler and Ranger great, Pat Verbeek with him from Tampa Bay. Verbeek will be the new assistant GM with the Red Wings, opening the door for Francis out West. In turn, the Lightning promoted former Wolf Pack, Jamie Pushor, to assistant GM/Director of Player Development. Pushor takes Verbeek’s spot and former Choate player and NHL’er, Mathieu Darche, was hired to be the Director of Hockey Operations after not being involved in the pro game at any level for eight years. The Flyers announced the new coaching staff for head coach, and former Ranger coach, Alain Vigneault. He will be assisted by Michel Therrien and Mike Yeo. The team returned former New Haven Nighthawk, Scott Gordon to be Head Coach for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for next season. To nobody’s surprise, well, except for maybe conspiracy theorists, the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins have signed a ten-year renewal of their lease at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. Their original twenty-year lease was set to expire at the end of June. Those conspiracy advocates who posted reports the team might move were, at best, ill-informed or at worst, just making stuff up. There is no way the AHL would ever let Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins leave the AHL orbit. It works out too well for its Northeast Pennsylvania corridor with Hershey and Allentown (Lehigh Valley) and the parent Pittsburgh Penguins and their ECHL affiliate the Wheeling Nailers in West Virginia all a perfect equal distance from each other for recalls. Former UCONN Husky, Max Letunov, might hold the unofficial pro record for being traded while not on a team. He just completed his first full pro season with the San Jose Barracuda, but his KHL rights in Russia were traded from Salavat Yulaev to Traktor Chelyabinsk. He signed a two-year deal initially with San Jose and on July 1st becomes a restricted free agent. While with the UConn Huskies, Letunov saw the St. Louis Blues, who first drafted him, send him, then in his sophomore year, to the Arizona Coyotes. The Coyotes then traded him to the San Jose Sharks at the 2016 NHL Draft just before his junior season. Salavat drafted him in the 1st round (26th overall) in the 2013 KHL Draft and have held his rights since. In addition, he was drafted by Swift Current (WHL) in the CHL Import Draft in 2015 but was drafted the year before by Youngstown (USHL) and he opted to play there to maintain his NCAA eligibility and go to UCONN after rescinding his commitment to the University of New Hampshire (Hockey East). Arizona State University, presently an NCAA Division I independent program, will become the first NCAA Division I school to play in China in July/August. Read the following story on this inaugural event HERE. WORLD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIPS The Worlds are officially underway in Slovakia. A few familiar names dot the lineups and benches of the ten participating teams in the final major international hockey tournament of the 2018-19 season. The US squad has ex-Pack and current Rangers, Chris Kreider, and Brady Skeij as well as the team's newest signee, Adam Fox. Hartford GM, Rangers Assistant GM and Trumbull native, Chris Drury, is the team's GM. Ranger GM Jeff Gorton is on the Team USA Advisory panel. Canada has ex-CT Whale, Jonathan Marchessault, as well as, Sean Couturier, the son of ex-Nighthawk Sylvain Couturier, who is currently the GM of Acadie-Bathurst (QMJHL). Also, there is a late addition in Pierre-Luc Dubois, the son of ex-Nighthawk Eric Dubois, and current Rangers assistant coach, Lindy Ruff. Russia has current Ranger/Wolf Pack goalie Alexander Georgiev and ex-Wolf Pack/Ranger Artem Anisimov. Sweden has current Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and William Nylander, the son of ex-Whaler/Ranger, Michael Nylander. Finland has Kaapo Kakko, who is expected to be the Rangers first pick, second overall behind the Devils, who will likely take, Jack Hughes (on the US squad) next month at the NHL Draft in Vancouver. The team also has AHL’er s from this season, Juho Lammikko (Springfield) and Niko Mikkola (San Antonio). The Czech Republic has ex-Pack and current Ranger, Filip Chytil, David Musil, nephew of ex-Whaler and Ranger Robert (Bobby) Holik, and the GM is former Ranger Petr Nedved. Ex-Pack defenseman, Petr Zamorsky, was among the last cuts for the Czech squad. Switzerland has ex-Pack, Andres Ambuhl, and Vincent Prapalan from this season’s Springfield Thunderbird (AHL) team. In a big surprise, ex-Pack, and Ranger, Raphael Diaz, was not on the final roster. One of Slovakia’s assistant coaches is ex-Whaler, Robert Petrovicky. Denmark has ex-Pack, Nicklas Jensen up front. Great Britain features goalie Jackson Whistle, the nephew of ex-Nighthawk, Rob Whistle. One of the best stories at the World Hockey Championships is France’s head coach and ex-NHL’er with St. Louis, Philippe Bozon, will be coaching his son, Tim Bozon, who played in Montreal and in the AHL for several before returning to play hockey in Switzerland. Tim Bozon’s only AHL penalty shot goal was scored in Hartford against his former junior teammate Mackenzie Skapski when he played for the St. John’s Ice Caps. MEMORIAL CUP The Memorial Cup Is set to begin on Friday in Halifax, Nova Scotia and the four teams are almost set to battle for the Canadian major junior hockey supremacy. The host team gets an automatic bye. In this case, that would be the Halifax Mooseheads, who lost to the QMHL President Cup Final to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in seven games. They have former New Haven Senator, Claude Savoie, on their scouting staff. The two teams will be the QMJHL representatives. The OHL representative will be the Guelph Storm who won the Robertson Cup in the OHL Final over the Ottawa 67’s in six games. Despite being down 2-0 in the series, they reeled off four straight wins and in Game 6 were down 2-0 after one period and ended up winning 8-3. Guelph features two assistant coaches with CT connections. Ex-Pack, Chad Wiseman, and ex-New Haven Senator, Jake Grimes. The WHL saw the Prince Albert Raiders and the Vancouver Giants go to a Game 7 on Monday night to win and become the WHL rep. The Raiders feature two former Springfield players as coaches in Marc Habscheid (Springfield Indians) and Jeff Truitt (head coach with the Springfield Falcons) and have former Whaler, Dalla Guame, as one of their senior scouts. Vancouver has another former Falcon in Assistant coach, Jamie Heward and Bowen Byram, the son of former Springfield Indians, Shawn Byram. The tourney can be seen on the NHL Network picking up the feed from TSN in Canada Game 1 on Friday is at 7 pm EST as Atlantic Canada is an hour ahead of the Eastern US and Quebec province will feature host Halifax playing with Prince Albert or Vancouver to kick off the tournament. PRO PLAYER MOVES No big surprise as we first reported now former Wolf Pack defenseman Julius Bergman’s move to Frolunda HC, the reigning Swedish Hockey League champions was announced officially on Wednesday as a two year deal with the Indians after five seasons in North America. Bergman played just eight games with the Wolf Pack he was traded first by Ottawa to Columbus in the Matt Duchesne deal on February 22nd, then three days later after being assigned to Cleveland, but never played there, He was sent to the Rangers in the Adam McQuaid deal and then assigned to Hartford. Joining him on the AHL Euro list as a member of HV 71 is Emil Johansson of Providence and so is John Ramage, the son of ex-NHL/WHA defenseman, Rob Ramage, goes from Binghamton to Eisbaren Berlin (Germany-DEL). That makes just 12 AHL players, a relatively low number at this point, that have left for Europe. Mathieu Sevigny, the son of former Wolf Pack Pierre Sevigny, after an injury-riddled last season of major junior with the Victoriaville Tigres (QMJHL), has signed with HC Cholet (France Division-2) for next year. Chris Rumble, the son of ex-New Haven, Darren Rumble, switches German DEL team going from Fischtown to Iserlohn. Alexander Tarnstrom, the nephew of ex-Sound Tiger, Dick Tarnstrom, goes from Trangsund IF (Sweden Division-1) to Segeltorps IF (Sweden Division-1). Another ex-Sound Tiger changes their address. Johan Sundstrom goes back home to Frolunda HC (Sweden-SHL) leaving Kunlun (China-KHL). Five more college players have signed for play in Europe in the fall. Mathias Israelsson from Minnesota State-Mankato (WCHA) heads back home to start his pro career with Hanhala IF (Sweden Division-1). Then a pair of UMASS-Amherst (HE) players, Connor Wilson and Avni Berisha both sign with Mulhouse (France-FREL) for next season plus Madison Dunn Alabama–Huntsville (WCHA) and Mark Logan R.I.T. (AHA) both sign with Nantes (France Division-1). That makes 13 college players that have signed in Europe, a total of 199 college players to have signed pro deals in North America and Europe. FHL HOCKEY RETURNS TO DANBURY The FHL (Federal Hockey League) makes a third try in Danbury with the return of the Danbury Hat Tricks its the fourth time Single-A hockey will call the Danbury Ice Arena home. The previous incarnations were the Danbury Titans, Danbury Whalers and the ill-fated gang of goons called the Danbury Trashers (UHL) run by convicted mobster James Galante. In between, the Trashers and Titans, they had two semi-pro teams in the Danbury Mad Hatters (EPHL) and the New England Stars (NEHL). The team also announced its first GM/Head coach in Bill McCreary, III. McCreary comes to Danbury to take on his first professional Head Coach/General Manager role. A native of Southampton, Ontario, McCreary is a nine-year (2006-2015) Minor League Hockey veteran as both a player and coach. McCreary’s playing resume includes time spent with the Trenton Titans (ECHL), Huntsville Havoc (SPHL), New Mexico Scorpions (CHL), and the New Jersey Outlaws (FHL). He was part of championship teams in both Hunstville (2010) and New Jersey (2012) where he served the dual role as player-coach. Collegiately, McCreary played for both Providence College (Hockey East) & Curry College (ECAC-NE). Most recently, Bill has served as the Hockey Director for the New Jersey Colonials youth program out of Mennen Arena. In addition, Bill’s other coaching stops include the Watertown Wolves (FHL), East Coast Selects-Q, Portland Junior Pirates (USPHL), North Jersey Avalanche, Seacoast Spartans and the ISS Kings. He was a scout with Victoriaville (QMJHL) in 2017-18. On the youth level, Bill won National, State and International Championships. He played for Shattuck-St. Mary’s Prep in Minnesota where he was linemates with current Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise. He played junior hockey for the Texas Tornado (NAHL) and amassed 45 goals and 71 assists in 98 games. For that season, he was named to the All-Rookie team and First Team All-Star. McCreary has a long family history of hockey players, coaches, and General Managers. His Grandfather Bill McCreary Sr., Great Uncle Keith McCreary, Father Bill McCreary Jr. plus cousins Ron and Bob Attwell played in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is also related to Bill McCreary, a Hall of Fame inductee as an on-ice official in the NHL and his son Mike McCreary who referees minor league hockey. As an added note, Bill has also been named Hockey & Coaching Director of the Western Colonials Youth Hockey program. (Parts of a team press release were used in this section) Read the full article

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rickhorrow · 4 years

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15+5+5 To Watch : 12020

15 TO WATCH/5 SPORTS TECH/POWER OF SPORTS 5: RICK HORROW’S TOP SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY 20

with Jacob Aere

Brands spent $4.48 billion on TV advertising during 2019 regular season NFL broadcasts, according to iSpot.tv data shared by Broadcasting & Cable. The figure is up nearly 14% on 2018, as the number of ad airings during NFL broadcasts climbed more than 7% to more than 32,000. According to the data, the ads scored 157.8 billion impressions, an uptick of 11% from the previous year. Verizon, also an NFL sponsor, was the top-spending company, shelling out an estimated $150.6 million to advertise during NFL games. Insurance firms Geico, Progressive, and State Farm also spent more than $100 million on ad spots. Most money came from the automotive industry, as Toyota, Hyundai, and others reportedly spent $605.2 million on commercials, while electronics and communication firms spent an estimated $351 million. The study comes ahead of Super Bowl LIV, which has seen brands pay FOX as much as $5.6 million for a single 30-second ad slot during the game. We assume that State Farm is disappointed to see spokesman Aaron Rodgers’ Packers fall to the 49ers and miss out on a “Super State Farm Bowl” against fellow pitchman Patrick Mahomes.

Pro Football Hall of Fame's latest round of inductees were announced last Wednesday, when the 13-man contingent joining coaches Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson in Canton, Ohio, were revealed. The so-called "Centennial Slate" comprises 15 members in total, with 10 slots reserved for members of the Seniors category—former NFL players who have been eligible for election for over 20 years but have not been voted in yet—three contributors (including former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue), and the two coaches. According to Newsweek, The Hall of Fame assembled a special 25-man strong Blue-Ribbon Panel to determine the 15 inductees. The panel included 13 members from the Hall of Fame's traditional pool of 48 voters, while the remaining 12 comprised Hall of Famers, coaches, football executives, and football historians. A list of almost 300 candidates was whittled down to 38 finalists last month, which was voted on by the Blue-Ribbon Panel. The 15 men on the Centennial Slate will be joined by the five modern-era enshrinees, who will be announced during the NFL Honors ceremony the weekend of Super Bowl LIV in Miami.

Lots of familiar ESPN faces, U.S. females populate the Australian Open. The Australian Open gets underway on Monday, replete with many very familiar faces reporting from Melbourne against the backdrop of bushfires that have commanded headlines, donations, and on-the-ground aid personnel from across the world. In the broadcast booths at Rod Laver Arena and around the vast tennis complex, James Blake has joined ESPN’s tennis team, with the company announcing a bevy of new contracts for its veterans as well. Longtime ESPN tennis stalwarts with new contracts include Darren Cahill (2007, the year he joined ESPN); Chris Evert (2011); Mary Joe Fernandez, marking 20 years (2000); Brad Gilbert (2004); John McEnroe (2009); Patrick McEnroe, celebrating 25 years (1995); Chris McKendry (1996); and Pam Shriver, marking her 30th year with the network (1990). Additionally, there are 22 American women in this year’s Australian Open main draw, the most at a Slam other than the U.S. Open since the 1999 Australian Open. The first round pitted the oldest, 39 year old Venus Williams, against the youngest, 15 year old Coco Gauff (the winner).

Family-friendly Gainbridge LPGA event offers something for everyone. Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio kicks off this week with 108 of the world’s best female golfers teeing it up in the four-day championship, January 23-26. Event officials have outlined additional family-friendly and affordable tournament week offerings for the whole community. The tournament kicks off on Monday with the Gainbridge Junior Golf Clinic at Osprey Point Golf Course. LPGA Players and certified golf instructors will be on hand to offer free golf instruction to kids ages 5 and up. On Tuesday, #GainbridgeLPGA is teaming up with Versant Health for a Women’s Leadership Summit that will feature a panel headlined by female business leaders, a fireside chat with a LPGA Tour pro, and presentations from pioneering female leaders. Next weekend, A.D. Henderson University School will offer free onsite STEM activities for kids of all ages. “Gainbridge is committed to making sure the week is affordable for the entire family and that there is something for everyone, beyond golf,” said Lesley Baker, Executive Director. “We are thrilled the tournament is able to offer several programs throughout the week in year one, and we invite everyone in the community to come out and experience the event.”

NHL All-Star Game takes the ice and the streets in St. Louis. The NHL has lined up its roster of activations for the 2020 NHL Fan Fair, the official fan festival of the2020 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend, running January 23-26 in St. Louis. Partners gearing up for the event include Enterprise, Honda, New Amsterdam Vodka, Truly, Discover, Dunkin’, Bud Light, GEICO, Great Clips, MassMutual, and SAP. Highlights of the four-day, family-friendly festival include autograph sessions featuring former and current NHL All-Stars; a Hockey Hall of Fame exhibit featuring the St. Louis Blues; NHL memorabilia and trophy displays, including the Stanley Cup; and the sixth annual NHL Mascot Showdown featuring all 29 NHL Mascots. Additionally, the NHL and Green Day will build on their multiyear partnership with the band’s headlining performance at the 2020 Honda NHL All-Star Game on January 25. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees will perform outside Enterprise Center shortly before they take the stage inside during the second intermission presented by Ticketmaster. The performance – as always, aimed at expanding hockey’s demographic reach – will be televised as part of the live All-Star Game broadcast on NBC and throughout Canada.

The WNBA and its players' union have come to terms on a new eight-year collective bargaining agreement that includes higher salaries, improved family benefits, and better travel accommodations. This represents a turning point for women's basketball and could ultimately lead to a substantial shift in how female athletes — across all sports — are compensated. The average WNBA cash compensation will reach nearly $130,000, and top players will be able to earn upwards of $500,000. Players will also receive a full salary while on maternity leave, and an annual child care stipend of $5,000. WNBA teams, which provide housing, will now guarantee two-bedroom apartments for players with children. And while players will still have to fly commercial, they'll finally get their own individual hotel rooms. "We believe it's a groundbreaking and historic deal. I'm proud of the players; they bargained hard, they unified, they brought attention to so many important topics," said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. The implications of this agreement reach beyond basketball into the larger workplace, at a time when women are demanding increased pay and benefits, on their merit and as a challenge to historically unequal pay.

The NBA players’ union has created an accelerator to aid athletes’ off court business ventures. NBA superstars LeBron James and Kevin Durant have become serial investors, lending their names, ideas, and money to multiple business ventures and startups. Now, their union wants to help its members with similar off-court aspirations follow suit. To that end, the NBPA is creating an accelerator program that’s open to current and former members. The program will operate in conjunction with Patricof Co., a highly specialized private investment platform designed to meet the unique needs and of pro athletes. The firm’s clients include Henrik Lundqvist, Venus Williams, J.J. Watt, and Todd Gurley. The union says the program will offer select player-led companies benefits including mentorship, exposure to like-minded entrepreneurs, and access to resources of the NBPA, Patricof Co., and undisclosed program sponsors. The new accelerator includes a three-day training camp to be held in June that culminates in a final pitch to a panel of professional investors. Just think of it as “Shark Tank” for hoops.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred came down hard on the Houston Astros last week for illegally stealing signs in 2017. Penalties Manfred imposed included a $5 million fine, the forfeitures of several top draft picks, and one-year suspensions from the game for manager A.J. Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow -- who were subsequently fired by Astros owner Jim Crane. While the Astros have suffered irrevocable damage as a result of this investigation, ripple effects extend far beyond Houston. Former Astros bench coach and Boston manager Alex Cora was also fired by the Red Sox for his involvement in the Houston sign-stealing, and former Astros player Carlos Beltran, whom the Mets hired as manager just days before the first sign-stealing story broke, was canned and thus had the shortest tenure in Mets history. The sign-stealing scandal also likely extends beyond Boston and Houston, and the league will have no choice but to pursue all future leads now that the precedent has been set. While MLB's strict punishment will likely help dissuade teams from breaking the rules, further action is still required to quell public concerns about cheating.

Looking beyond the Super Bowl, sports books nationwide are preparing for XFL bets. While sports fans have been focused on picking NFL playoff teams to bet on, or marshaling their cash for the Super Bowl, yet another opportunity to wager on football is right around the corner: the XFL. Several states have already authorized bets on the second incarnation of the upstart football league, which begins its season in February, shortly after the NFL season concludes with the Super Bowl. Others are considering doing so, and bookmakers say they have requested that regulators add the league to lists of approved betting events. On the sports betting front, helped by a surge in sports betting, Atlantic City's casinos won $3.29 billion from gamblers in 2019, an increase of over 15% from 2018 — and a huge boon for a city that's still recovering from a mid-decade meltdown that saw five casinos close.

The Super Bowl is two weeks away, but Pepsi is already making Miami Ground Zero. Pepsi has announced that Harry Styles will headline the Pepsi Zero Sugar Super Bowl party on January 31 at Meridian Island in Miami. Planet Pepsi Zero Sugar “will see an out-of-this world build out, transporting fans to a transcendent audio-visual experience unlike anything else at Super Bowl LIV,” according to the announcement. Pepsi also promises a free Pepsi Zero Sugar to everyone in the U.S. if either the San Francisco 49ers or the Kansas City Chiefs’ final score ends in zero. The company said that if such a score results, it will refund the price of the drink, up to $2.50, to anyone in the U.S. who purchases it from February 2-4. It said that in 25% of previous Super Bowl games, at least one team finished with a score ending in zero. Pepsi will also award the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year winner for the 17th straight year. This year’s winner will receive a custom matte black Pepsi Zero Sugar trophy as the highest fan-voted honor for NFL Rookies.

Fashion retailer H&M has announced a new partnership with NFL in a deal brokered by IMG. The arrangement will see a new line of NFL-branded products sold in more than 20 countries outside of the US, including China, Japan, and the UK. Akash Jain, the NFL’s vice president of commercial development, said, “By partnering with H&M, we are able to reach fans in markets across the world with a diverse selection of apparel and accessories for men, women and children.” Meanwhile, Matthew Primack, IMG’s senior vice president of licensing, added, “The NFL’s international appeal as a lifestyle and fashion brand continues to grow rapidly. “With its reputation for creative collaborations and thousands of stores around the world, H&M is the perfect partner to provide an accessible and stylish collection of NFL apparel and accessories that will be sought after by football fans and fashionistas.” The collaboration is designed as a response to the NFL’s growing international profile, with regular season games in London and Mexico having heightened the league’s exposure. The Super Bowl is now broadcast in over 180 countries and 24 languages.

In other football fashion news, ahead of Super Bowl LIV, Saks Fifth Avenue has created a Super Bowl-inspired collection for its Miami stores. After a successful collaboration in Atlanta last year, the upscale retailer is going even bigger in Miami. Last year, Saks Chief Men's Merchant Louis DiGiacomo told Women’s Wear Daily that the retailer is "not working with the NFL on this initiative but undertook it independently." He added, “Every year we work with the store in the city the Super Bowl is in.” For this year’s game, more than 100 items were created by fashion brands ranging from Heron Preston and John Elliott to Prada. The products "range from ready-to-wear and sneakers to accessories and were designed to celebrate the game." With NFL athletes increasingly as fashion-conscious as their NBA counterparts, it’s a safe bet that the Saks collection will be perused by visiting players as well as sartorially-savvy fans.

Nike begins the 2020s where it began the 2010s: as the number one sportswear brand on the planet. Nike’s Q4 earnings in 2019 grew to $10.2 billion; its income for the last completed financial year was $39.1 billion. All the same, the Portland-based giant faces significant change. It begins 2020 under only its fourth chief executive. John Donahoe, former eBay chief executive, joined Nike in January. Donahoe arrives after an awkward end to Mark Parker’s 13-year tenure. The high-profile Oregon Project closed amid reports that Parker had known uncomfortable details about the activities of banned distance-running coach Alberto Salazar. Strategically, Nike has other decisions to make that will be pertinent to the wider industry. Nike acquired consumer data analytics firm Zodiac in March 2018 and then bought Celect, a “predictive analytics and demand sensing” specialist, in August 2019. That same month it launched Adventure Club, a three-tier trainer subscription service for children. A full-scale version, perhaps based on the Nike+ membership and training scheme, could be a useful source of recurring revenue. Running a $143 billion corporation brings its rewards. Donahoe collects $45 million in cash and stock on arrival, then stands to earn up to $18.5 million a year.

Starting this season on golf’s European Tour, caddies — who are on camera almost as much as their players — will be able to earn money through endorsement deals. Allowing caddies to be paid to have logos on items like their hats, bag straps, and towels could significantly improve their financial stability, which is currently tied to player performance. “As it stands now, a player pays the caddie a weekly fee, mostly to cover expenses, and a percentage of his earnings,” notes the New York Times. “This is not for the guy who caddies for the seventh-ranked player in the world, since he does very nicely," Sean Russell, chairman of the European Tour Caddies Association, told the media outlet. "This is for the guy who caddies for the 157th-ranked player. If you do the math, that caddie probably earned 12,000 euros (about $13,000) in bonus payments over the fixed fee for the week that covers expenses. If you're earning a 12,000-euro bonus you'd be better off stacking shelves." Since 2014, Valspar has sponsored the PGA Tour's Caddie Hat Program, which pays caddies to wear the paint company's logo on their hats. The European Tour's approach expands on that.

Sad that the college football season has ended? A few more All-Star games remain. The Hula Bowl, the post-season all-star college football game held annually in Hawaii, named Newsweek as title sponsor of the 2020 event, which takes place January 26. “Newsweek is delighted to support the revival of a great American tradition," said Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad. "The Hula Bowl, with its deep American roots and its potential for global appeal, fits perfectly with our mission to build a loyal audience through highly engaging content on our multimedia platforms.” NFL Network also delivers live coverage of three collegiate all-star games this month starting this past Saturday, with the East-West Shrine Bowl and the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. On January 25, the network airs the Reese’s Senior Bowl. For college football diehards, that leaves mere weeks to fill with the pro game, including the debut of the XFL, before the NFL Combine gets underway in Indianapolis February 23.

Power of Sports Five

The NBA tipped off league-wide activities honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. NBA teams playing January 16–20 are wearing custom Nike MLK Day warmup shirts designed in collaboration with the NBPA, MLK Foundation, and Martin Luther King III. The Dri-FIT T-shirt features words from MLK’s timeless speech on August 28, 1963: “We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.” The NBA has long been a leader in race relations and community outreach activities centered on diversity, and its annual MLK Day celebrations – which lead into the league’s month-long celebration of Black History Month every February – serve as a tentpole moment for this activism each year.

A capacity crowd of more than 15,000 at Rod Laver Arena watched Roger Federer defeat Nick Kyrgios in a one-set finale to the Australian Open's Rally for Relief to aid wildfire charities last Wednesday. Tennis Australia said the night helped raise nearly 5 million Australian dollars ($3.5 million) for the victims of recent and ongoing fires in Australia that have killed 28 people and destroyed several thousand homes, most of them in New South Wales and Victoria states. Smoke haze from the continuing fires has played havoc with scheduling of the first two days of qualifying at Melbourne Park, delaying play by several hours and prompting complaints from players over the air quality. Other players who took part included Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, and Alexander Zverev. On several occasions, volunteer fire personnel were invited on the court to play against the tennis stars. Fundraising efforts, which include various amounts for aces served during the tournament and the sale of merchandise donated by players, continue as the Australian Open begin in earnest on Monday.

FOX honors Stoneman Douglas students during its Super Bowl LIV prep. The football team of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida was recently invited by FOX to serve as stand-ins for the Niners and the Chiefs as FOX technicians check camera angles for their broadcast ahead of the game. "They are really excited. It should be an awesome experience," Stoneman Douglas football coach Quentin Short, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Stoneman Douglas was the site of the tragic mass shooting in Parkland in February 2018. Its students, including student athletes, subsequently became high-profile international spokespeople for gun control, and were said to be an inspiration for Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg in her international quest to combat climate change.

The Fritz Pollard Alliance released a pointed statement decrying the last two NFL hiring seasons. The Athletic reports that the alliance, which was founded in 2003 to promote diversity hiring, “called on the league to...take tangible steps to develop plans to increase the hiring of people of color in leadership positions.” Of five NFL openings this offseason, only one was filled by a minority — Ron Rivera at Washington. In the last two hiring seasons, only one African-American was hired to fill the 13 openings (Brian Flores in Miami), with five African-Americans fired. Four of 32 NFL teams have a minority coach: Washington, Miami, Pittsburgh (Mike Tomlin), and the Chargers (Anthony Lynn). 70% of the NFL’s players are men of color compared with 12.5% of head coaches. The alliance points out that in 100 years the NFL has gone from Pollard as the first African-American coach in 1921 to four coaches of color in 2020; the league has only one African-American GM and no African-American team presidents. This despite the presence of the Rooney Rule, enacted in 2002, which requires that teams interview at least one minority candidate.

Dwayne Wade begins new career as Chief Culture Officer for CAA. Wade may have retired at the end of the 2018-2019 season, but there’s little downtime in his future. According to AdWeek, the 13-time All-Star is launching a new company with powerhouse talent agency CAA to help marketers connect with diverse audiences. Wade, who will soon celebrate his 38th birthday and have his Miami Heat jersey retired during a three-day ceremony, said he’s motivated in part by being “extremely competitive” with his wife, businesswoman and actor Gabrielle Union, and setting an example for his family. Wade’s role at CAA will have several facets. He’s launching CAA AMP, described as a brand-focused “cultural strategy agency,” and taking on the title of chief culture officer of CAA Basketball. There, Wade intends to help other athletes chart an entrepreneurial course for their post-playing lives. The new division is an extension of CAA’s diversity initiatives. In 2017, the agency launched CAA Amplify, highlighted by an invite-only conference featuring diverse artists and leaders from the sports, entertainment, media, and political worlds.

Top Five Tech

BASE:LINE is the new soundtrack to the NBA thanks to Apple, Ebro Darden, and Steve Stoute. According to The Undefeated, music industry entrepreneur Steve Stoute has combined the forces of Apple and the NBA to create a new weekly music playlist of 40 songs that will search the world for new hip-hop talent. The first weekly installment, which was released January 16, features Baby Keem, Dame D.O.L.L.A., Princess Nokia, Mozzy, Young M.A., Tobe Nwigwe, and more. Apple’s director of hip-hop and R&B, Ebro Darden, will curate the weekly playlists and the NBA will feature BASE:LINE in the soundtrack for its highlights and on social media. The new playlist offers artists a platform to get their music to a large worldwide audience while fans feel privileged to hear the up and coming artists before the rest of the world – it’s a win-win all centered around getting more eyeballs on the NBA.

Nike partners with esports giants T1 Entertainment and Sports and their League of Legends star Faker. According to SportsPro, Nike will design all T1 team uniforms while every athlete on the South Korean outfit’s roster will wear Nike footwear and sportswear during competition. The agreement also includes the development of a new esports training facility based in T1 headquarters in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, where Nike will devise training programs designed to improve the performance of T1’s professional gamers. Lee Sang-hyeok, T1’s star League of Legends player commonly known as “Faker,” will play a key role in promoting the partnership due to his iconic status and strong personal following. Founded in 2012, T1 becomes the latest esports company in which Nike has invested. The sportswear manufacturer signed its first esports apparel deal with China’s League of Legends Pro League last February and has since entered into a multi-year partnership with Furia Esports, a Brazilian gaming company. Nike is one of the few athletic brands diving headfirst into esports and is establishing itself early as a key player in the rapidly developing esports field.

BetMGM becomes the exclusive gaming partner of the National Lacrosse League. According to SportTechie, the deal represents the first gaming partnership for any lacrosse league in the United States. BetMGM is the mobile sports betting app developed by Roar Digital, a joint venture between MGM Resorts International and U.K.-based gambling firm GVC Holdings. BetMGM will create weekly betting lines distributed across all NLL platforms and social channels. Users will be able to wager on NLL games (where it’s legal), including placing in-game bets via the BetMGM mobile app or website. The BetMGM sportsbook is only currently available to users based in New Jersey. BetMGM also allows users to place bets on sports such as the NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, MMA, college sports, soccer, golf, and tennis. The brand will receive promotional opportunities throughout the NLL regular season and playoffs as part of its partnership with the league. In November, the NLL announced a multi-year agreement with sports analytics firm Sportlogiq and the league already secured a betting integrity deal with Genius Sports, so the BetMGM deal was the final puzzle piece to get fans betting and paying attention to professional lacrosse.

Under-Armour refocuses its global brand through podcasts and long-form content. According to The Drum, the sports company's latest campaign, “The Only Way is Through,” aims to realign the sports label as one that truly understands athletes’ drive to push limits – to break “through” pain and mental barriers. It features a wide array of star athletes, including basketball MVP Stephen Curry, swimming legend Michael Phelps, and volleyball world champion Zhu Ting, who star in a fast-cut hero film that places them all in their natural, blood-pumping environments. This new campaign led to an entirely new global platform of storytelling: podcasting. Alongside out-of-home and OTT streaming buys, the brand is trialing new formats in order to get consumers engaging deeper with its athletes and is launching its first podcast with iHeartRadio. The series, which will launch with eight episodes and be hosted by the famed interviewer Cal Fussman. Similarly, Under Armour has brokered a deal with The Players' Tribune, in which the brand’s stars will write about their experiences in sport.

Barstool Sports is close to selling to little-known casino company Penn National. According to Recode, the Chernin Group, which currently owns Barstool, is in advanced talks to sell a majority stake in the company to Penn National Gaming, a publicly traded, regional gambling company that operates 41 properties in 19 states. Barstool was last valued at more than $100 million, but a potential purchase price could be much higher, and might create the biggest media-gambling tie-up in the U.S. since the Supreme Court legalized sports betting in 2018. The deal would tie Barstool, a well-known company with a passionate audience, to a casino company you may have never heard of and use Barstool’s brand to transition into online sports betting. This potential move looks like a positive for Barstool, which can't find a home with sports leagues due to its brash approach to sports and pop culture coverage, and Penn National, which needs to compete in the move to online sports betting.

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hockeydraw3-blog · 5 years

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Poll: Which Is The Most Intriguing Managerial Job?

Six teams are currently on the hunt for new managers, leading to a flurry of rumors and reports about experienced skippers, and coaches/broadcasters/former players all linked to these jobs. If you’re being offered your first shot at managing a big league team, obviously, you perhaps can’t be afford to be too picky — the same could be said of veteran ex-managers who don’t know if they’ll ever get another chance at running a dugout.

So technically, the question of “which job would you prefer to take?” might not apply to many candidates, but it’s just fine for a hypothetical poll here on MLB Trade Rumors. All of these six openings have their pros and cons, and it really comes down to individual preference about what makes one job more attractive than another. Would you prefer to manage a team that has shown a willingness to spend? One with a proven organizational track record of success (and stability)? A rebuilding club with a bunch of promising minor leaguers on the way?

Here are the six teams currently conducting a manager search…

Orioles: Nowhere to go but up after 115 losses, right? Baltimore’s new manager will be entering an organization in a state of flux after a disastrous campaign, as the O’s are also looking for a new GM to replace Dan Duquette, as well as the Angelos brothers fully taking over the team’s operations from their father. With the rebuild just underway, however, a new skipper wouldn’t be expected to win for at least a few years, creating a low-pressure teaching environment to help bring along the Orioles’ younger talents (some of whom were acquired in the team’s deadline fire sale). There’s plenty of opportunity here for a manager to enter at day one and put their stamp on a new era of Orioles baseball.

Blue Jays: Another AL East team that is technically “starting” a rebuild, though the front office has unofficially been reloading the farm system over the last few years. Some of those young names made their debuts in 2018, though the biggest stars of Toronto’s highly-touted minor league ranks (including Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) are still to come in 2019 or 2020. Since GM Ross Atkins is targeting 2021 for the Jays’ return to contention, a new manager has two years of building and development ahead before expectations rise. With payrolls topping the $160MM mark in each of the last two seasons, a new manager can be confident that ownership and the front office will eventually spend to add talent.

Reds: Similar to the situation with the Jays, Cincinnati’s new skipper will step into a situation where some of the heavy lifting has already been done in terms of rebuilding. The Reds have built an interesting core of position players (Eugenio Suarez, Scooter Gennett, Jose Peraza, Jesse Winker, and franchise cornerstone Joey Votto) that should only improve once top prospect Nick Senzel cracks the big league roster. The problem, of course, is a dearth of starting pitching, though the club is prepared to spend this winter to address that and other needs.

Rangers: Here’s another team in sore need of pitching help, which GM Jon Daniels has said “is a priority” for the coming offseason. The Rangers are in an interesting, and perhaps unwelcome, spot compared to the other teams on this list, in that they’re not really clearly rebuilding or planning to contend in 2019. This is what happens when a team almost entirely en masse, as neither the established players (Elvis Andrus, Rougned Odor), the youngsters (Ronald Guzman, Willie Calhoun) or the former star prospects in between the two camps (Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara) particularly distinguished themselves last year. That said, a new voice in the dugout could help in unleashing the talent that this group clearly possesses, plus there’s organizational stability in the form of Daniels, who is the game’s second-longest tenured general manager.

Angels: What manager wouldn’t relish the opportunity to lead the game’s best player in Mike Trout, or the game’s most fascinating player in Shohei Ohtani? Combine those two with Justin Upton, Andrelton Simmons, Andrew Heaney, Tyler Skaggs and a host of young relievers, and there’s a lot to like about the Angels’ roster. Beyond the star names, however, the Halos are still trying to fully get through a stunning onslaught of pitching injuries that have thinned the pitching depth (including sidelining Ohtani from the mound in 2019 due to Tommy John surgery). The new Angels skipper will be expected to turn things around quickly, especially with Trout only under contract for two more seasons. There are some big shoes to fill in the wake of Mike Scioscia’s departure, and it’s fair to wonder how much rope owner Arte Moreno will give to a manager who didn’t have a World Series title on his resume or the organizational influence that Scioscia held in the club.

Twins: If the team continues its yo-yo performance of the last four seasons under Paul Molitor, then it should be due for another winning season in 2019 — do we have a bizarro Giants/#OddYear scenario here? In all seriousness, Minnesota might actually be in the best position of any of these six teams to contend next season, given the weakness of the AL Central. The better odds might be on a bit of a step backwards as baseball operations heads Derek Falvey and Thad Levine figure out which of their young talents are actual building blocks and which might be trade chips. A manager who can get Byron Buxton or Miguel Sano back on track, however, could make a quick impact.

(poll link for app users)

Take Our Poll

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/10/poll-which-is-the-most-intriguing-managerial-job.html

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flauntpage · 7 years

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Down Goes Brown Grab Bag: Crosby's Injury, Playoff Outrage, And The Draft Lottery

(Editor's note: Welcome to Sean McIndoe's weekly grab bag, where he writes on a variety of NHL topics. You can follow him on Twitter. Check out the Biscuits podcast with Sean and Dave Lozo as they discuss the events of the week.)

Three stars of comedy

The third star: This Predators fan—We'll get to the whole P.K. Subban dancing controversy in a bit, but let's just say that Nashville fans get it.

— Preds Warmup Signs (@PredsSigns) April 30, 2017

In related news, the Rangers can do stuff like this in the warmup and apparently nobody cares.

The second star: Chris Pratt—OK, technically, this is from three years ago. But Pratt just reposted it on Twitter recently, and it was the first time I'd ever seen it, so we're grandfathering it in.

Sudden Death really is just about the greatest movie ever made. We broke down the mascot fight in the YouTube section four years back, but that's not really enough. We should probably do another scene from that movie some time soon. Hmmm...

The first star: Taylor Hall—Apparently he listens to the podcast.

Officially adding

— Taylor Hall (@hallsy09) April 30, 2017

My favorite part of that joke is that it's still only the second funniest lottery-related tweet of Hall's career, trailing this one from two years ago.

Outrage of the week

We're three weeks into the playoffs, and you know what that means. We've reached outrage overflow mode, that inevitable point in the postseason where everyone is on edge and there's so much happening that our capacity to rationally discuss anything just disappears completely. We're going to have to break out the lightning round this week.

The issue: Sidney Crosby has another concussion after an ugly collision with Matt Niskanen, one that was helped along by a nasty Alexander Ovechkin slash.

The outrage: The play was dirty!

Is it justified: Seeing Crosby down and out like that was awful, just about the worst-case scenario for any hockey fan. It doesn't matter who you cheer for—hell, even if you're a Capitals fan—you don't want to see the league's most important player out with another head injury.

That said, the play itself was anything but black-and-white. I'm pretty sure I've watched it hundreds of times so far, and I'm still not sure if it was dirty. I didn't like the Ovechkin slash, which should have been at least two minutes. But Penguins fans just finished spending the last few weeks telling us that a hard slash on a puck-carrier is a hockey play, so that outrage only goes so far. The Niskanen half was the tough one, and I still see a player realizing that a falling opponent is about to crash into him and putting his hands up to protect himself.

Not everyone agrees. Maybe Niskanen really did sense an opportunity to target Crosby's head. But I'm still not sure, and I lean towards it ultimately being careless and maybe even reckless, but not dirty.

The issue: The Department of Player Safety didn't suspend Niskanen, or even hold a hearing.

The outrage: The DoPS never suspends anyone during the playoffs!

Is it justified: We've been over this before. If you want tougher sentences during the playoffs, have the GMs and owner instruct the DoPS to call it that way. But based on the standards that have been established over the years, it's no surprise that Niskanen didn't get anything beyond the game he'd already missed as a result of being ejected. It would have been unusual if he had.

The issue: Pittsburgh reporter Rob Rossi challenged Washington coach Barry Trotz about the play, wrote a column accusing the Capitals of intentionally targeting Crosby, and then made the media rounds to push the theory.

The outrage: That take is nuts. Let's spend the next two days talking about it!

Is it justified: The accusation about Capitals players planning Crosby's demise was out of bounds, especially in a post-Todd Bertuzzi league. He was widely criticized and mocked, and rightly so. Rossi's done some good work over the years, but there's no defending that take.

That said, as Elliotte Friedman pointed out this week, this seems to be the direction that a lot of sports journalism is headed. Lots of people wrote measured, thoughtful takes on the Crosby injury. If you ended up talking about Rossi instead, well, that tells you all you need to know. Attention is the currency of today's media, and now more than ever, you get what you pay for.

The issue: Nick Bonino drew a crucial penalty on Wednesday by embellishing a high-stick from T.J. Oshie.

The outrage: Hockey fans hate this stuff.

Is it justified: Sure, but the problem is that this is how the game works now, diving and embellishment works. There's a good chance you get the call. Every now and then, you'll get called for faking, but most of the time the ref will still take the other guy too. Unless you're completely obvious, they'll almost never take just the diver. Lots of players do this stuff, Oshie included.

Could the league fix it? Not totally, although encouraging refs to just take one guy more often would help. So suggest cranking up the post-game fines—drop five figures on someone who pulls a Bonino and at least a few guys might think twice. But you can never get rid of this stuff entirely, short of making everything open to review. And it's hard to think anyone wants even more reviews.

The issue: There aren't enough bathrooms in the new Edmonton arena and now their media want everyone to start peeing in the sinks.

The outrage: That's... wait, what?

Is it justified: Yeah, I don't get this one either. Let's just keep moving.

The issue: Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs says he doesn't think the NHL will go to the Olympics because it's not worth the effort for "the four people that watch it".

The outrage: The NHL really does hate its fans.

Is it justified: I'm sure the league's key television partner was thrilled to hear Jacobs trash-talking the viewership potential of an event it pays billions to broadcast. Just a thought, but the NHL might want to ease up on side-eying anyone else's ratings. But it was certainly interesting to see an owner as influential as Jacobs say "I don't think it's going to happen" about something we've already been told definitely won't happen. Gosh, it's almost as if the league is still posturing here.

The issue: P.K. Subban danced during a warmup and Mike Milbury called him a clown.

The outrage: Nobody likes Mike Milbury.

Is it justified: The clown take was terrible and pretty much everyone knows it, including Milbury, who backed off the comments fairly quickly. The NHL needs a lot of things, but more lectures from the fun police isn't on the list. Here's hoping Subban dances all the way to the Stanley Cup final.

The issue: This is too much outrage.

The outrage: Seriously, we're all exhausted.

Is it justified: Pace yourself, we still have five weeks of this stuff to go.

Obscure former player of the week

Earlier this week, Ottawa's Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored four goals in a game, becoming only the 12th player to do so in the last 30 years. So who's the most obscure player in that group? Well... it's probably Pageau, to be honest. But it seems a little early to hand him those honors, so let's go with Tony Hrkac.

Hrkac was taken in the second round of the 1984 entry draft when the Blues decided to show up for a change. He made his NHL debut in 1987, and played part of three seasons with St. Louis before being traded to the Nordiques. That would be the first of many moves over the course of his career; he'd go on to be traded six times, sign five free agent deals, get claimed on waivers once and be picked in the 1998 expansion draft.

All in all, he played for nine NHL teams over his career, despite spending several years in the IHL in the mid-90s. He appeared in his last NHL game for the Thrashers in 2003, although he continued playing off and on in the minors until 2010.

There are two things most fans of the era remember about Tony Hrkac. First, his last name was pronounced "hur-kuss", so everyone called him "the Hrkac Circus". And more importantly, he had one of the best playoff games ever as a rookie in 1988. That night, in game five of their first-round series, Hrkac lit up Chicago's Darren Pang for four goals including a short-handed winner in a 6-5 Blues win.

Hrkac's four-goal playoff game was the first that the NHL had seen in almost 24... hours. Buffalo's John Tucker had done it the night before against Boston. But the feat wouldn't be matched again for 12 whole days, when Mark Johnson pulled it off against the Capitals. What can I tell you, the late-80s were fun.

Be It Resolved

Saturday's draft lottery resulted in three longshots moving into the top three picks, including the Flyers, who had the 13th worst record but will pick second. Meanwhile, terrible teams like the Avalanche and Canucks and the expansion Golden Knights all dropped way down.

Is that fair? Not really. The lottery is kind of a mess. But if that's news to you, then you haven't been paying attention over the years. And you can't start complaining now just because your team was the one that got screwed.

First things first: We shouldn't even have a lottery. There's a far better system for determining draft order while still weighting everything in favor of the worst teams. It's called the Gold Plan, I've written about it a ton, and you're probably sick of me mentioning it. But it's roughly a million times fairer than random ping pong ball drawings, and a lot more exciting to boot. If you're not already on board, now's a good time to join us.

But let's assume that the league wants to keep a lottery system. After all, this is the NHL, the league where everything is fine and nothing should ever change. If you want to keep the ping pong balls and the weighted odds, then sometimes, the longshots will win. That's a feature, not a bug.

This whole thing is classic NHL. Design a system that we all know could result in a specific scenario; appear to be totally fine with that possibility; wait until that scenario inevitably plays out; then demand the system be changed because the thing you always knew might happen finally did.

We already did it with the Connor McDavid lottery a few years ago, when the Oilers won for a third time and everyone complained even though we knew Edmonton had decent odds going in. We did it with the skate-in-the-crease rule that everyone insisted was just fine right up until it showed up on a Cup-winning goal, at which point it was immediately scrapped. We're doing it right now with the offside review and puck-over-glass, badly implemented rules that won't be changed until they cost some team a playoff series. Which they absolutely will. We just need to wait long enough.

Should teams like the Avalanche have better odds? Maybe. Should teams like the Flyers have any odds at all? Maybe not. But these were all questions to be asking before Saturday's drawing. If you didn't have a problem with the system then but do now, you're either being disingenuous or you don't understand how probabilities work.

Either way, it would be nice for this league and its fans to want to solve a problem in advance for once, instead of slipping into knee-jerk reaction mode whenever the inevitable happens.

Classic YouTube clip breakdown

So the Washington Capitals are peppering the Penguins with shots, but can't score because Marc-Andre Fleury is playing like some sort of mid-90s action hero. You know what other Penguins' goalie played like a mid-90s action hero?

Oh hell yeah.

If you're not familiar with Sudden Death, you should a.) acknowledge that you have fundamentally failed as a person somewhere along the line and b.) head over to this excellent SB Nation tribute. But if you need the short version: The Blackhawks and Penguins are facing each other in game seven of the Stanley Cup final, terrorists are trying to blow up the arena, and Jean Claude Van Damme is here to karate fight everyone in the building.

At this point, we're well into the move. We've already seen Luc Robitaille swear and Van Damme use a supersoaker full of lighter fluid to end a dude, but have not yet seen a helicopter crash at center ice.

Also, Van Damme has already killed the Penguins' mascot with a dishwasher. Have I mentioned this is the greatest movie ever made? It totally is.

So at this point, we're late in the game and the Blackhawks are leading. Even worse, Penguins' starting goalie Brad Tolliver has left the game with the flu. Fun fact: Tolliver was played by former Penguin Jay Caufield, even though Caufield wasn't a goalie. I'm starting to think this movie might not be very realistic, you guys.

Van Damme has stolen Tolliver's uniform because of reasons, and he returns to the game. Well, he returns to the bench, where he sits in the middle of all the players, the way goalies do. His coach comes over and orders his unhealthy player back onto the ice, because this was 1995.

By the way, the two announcers are the Penguins' real life duo of Mike Lange and Paul Steigerwald. I love that Mike "Scratch My Back With a Hacksaw" Lange has his own IMDB page.

Brad Tolliver wasn't a real player. But as we hear from the arena announcer, the guy he's replacing is: It's Ken Wregget, playing himself. This game is going to end with the arena getting blown up by a helicopter, making it the second biggest hockey-related disaster Wregget has ever been a part of, behind the 1984-85 Maple Leafs.

"I don't know what he did back in the locker room." Uh, he has the flu, guys. I'm pretty sure we can narrow it down to a couple of options.

We get an extended sequence of Van Damme trying to figure out where to look and how to stand while praying the puck won't come near him, aka "the Brian Elliott". He eventually responds to a breakaway by charging out and flipping his opponent into the air, which is completely ridiculous because only a psychopath would ever do that.

"He hit his head on the ice... he hit it so hard his kids will be born dizzy." In the modern remake, this is the point where the concussion spotters will call down and the movie will end.

Tony Amonte gets his second breakaway of the shift because apparently the Penguins are being coached by Jared Bednar. Still woozy from his brain injury, Van Damme drops down and makes a highlight reel glove save. In what stands as easily the worst part of the movie, his Penguins teammates celebrate by raising their sticks in the air like they just scored. This is so stupid that I'm amazed The Love Guru didn't think of it.

This is the point where our clip ends, but it's not the end of Van Damme's goaltending adventures. He realizes that he can't save the world if he's stuck on the ice, so he does the only reasonable thing: Grabs a random Blackhawks player and sucker punches him to start a line brawl. Because the script writers have never actually seen playoff hockey, this results in the referees actually giving him a penalty, getting him out of the game and back into the terrorist-murdering business.

Sudden Death came out in December 1995, because the world had been good and deserved a Christmas present. It made several billion of dollars and won every Academy Award, but ushered in the Dead Puck Era of the NHL because the league's goalies now had access to Jean Claude Van Damme game film while coaches started focusing on defending the neutral zone in case a helicopter crashed there.

There have been 20 Stanley Cup finals since this movie came out, and the Blackhawks and Penguins have combined to win 25% of them. You do the math.

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at [email protected].

Down Goes Brown Grab Bag: Crosby's Injury, Playoff Outrage, And The Draft Lottery published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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junker-town · 7 years

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The Knicks are 'confident' they'll steal GM Masai Ujiri from the Raptors

Meanwhile, Toronto is just as ‘confident’ they’ll keep their general manager. Only one side can be right.

The Toronto Raptors are reportedly confident that they will retain general manager and president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri. The New York Knicks, fresh off firing team president Phil Jackson on Wednesday, are reportedly confident that Ujiri will become their franchise’s new decision maker.

One side has to be wrong, you know.

In an excellent reported piece from The Toronto Star’s Bruce Arthur, this is described as the first real moment where Ujiri’s future with Toronto has actually been in jeopardy. The 46-year-old former college guard was hired on a five-year deal as the Raptors’ general manager in 2013, but Arthur reports that he is able to get out of that if he chooses to depart to the Knicks. We knew Wednesday that Ujiri was New York’s top target, but at the time it didn’t seem likely. Now we know it might be much more possible than thought.

Why would Ujiri would go to New York?

It’s same reason anyone would go to New York: it’s a larger opportunity on a grander scale.

Ujiri is a “big name” executive, someone an average NBA fan has probably heard of and someone that could make a small splash in New York. The Knicks aren’t in a great place, but Ujiri could hope that his arrival would calm Kristaps Porzingis, presumably giving him a franchise player he can still build around. The Knicks can spend freely, and they can also pay Ujiri much more than he’s making right now. After all, Phil Jackson made $12 million annually as president of the Knicks. Ujiri is ... not making that in Toronto.

The allure of the Knicks, still one of the NBA’s “glamour” franchises, is strong. Another reason is Ujiri’s great relationship with NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who would love to see New York revitalized. Toronto is a really good place to be, of course, even if the Raptors might be facing a complicated retooling period. They’ve given him no real reasons to leave. But it sounds like Ujiri actually might be considering it anyway.

Why would Ujiri not go to New York?

James Dolan.

No, seriously, that’s pretty much it. He could make more money in a huge market with more exposure, while having even more luxuries to spend, but he would have to do it all under an owner that is unanimously seen as probably the worst in the entire league.

There’s also the mess — Joakim Noah’s contract, for example — that Ujiri would take over from the disastrous Jackson era. But that’s a footnote compared to the ownership problems.

Chances that Ujiri goes to New York.

Let’s say there’s a 2.5 out of 10 chance. There are so many nice things to like about New York, but “James Dolan tho” will always be nagging in the back of anyone’s head when making decisions like these. I bet that ultimately keeps Ujiri in Toronto (maybe while bargaining for a raise).

The one wrinkle is if the Knicks would be willing to part with a draft pick or two to obtain Ujiri. I don’t know if that’s being considered or how it would change things. But both sides are ‘confident’ and one of them has to give.

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junker-town · 7 years

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NHL’s questionable playoff officiating looms over Stanley Cup Final

NHL referees could play a big role in the Predators-Penguins series, whether you like it or not.

There’s a clear worst-case scenario for the Stanley Cup Final. It’s Game 7 in Pittsburgh, and both teams are battling in a heated, sudden death overtime. One team manages to get a big rush off a turnover, and crashes toward the net trying to end the game. They do, with the puck sliding through a sea of bodies ... but not before a forward made contact with the goalie.

Then would come the situation that literally nobody in hockey, from the players to the owners to the fans, wants to see come to fruition: Referees would have to huddle around an iPad to make a judgment call over whether a team just won the Stanley Cup. Based on the precedent set over the past couple months, it would be almost impossible to guess which way they’d decide.

“Playoff hockey,” as those around the sport call it because the rules literally change based on the stakes, is different in several ways. The intensity gets ratcheted up, and big names are often nursing injuries. More than any other kind of hockey, it’s a war of attrition fostered by the league’s willingness to bend the rulebook in favor of physicality that goes beyond pushing the envelope.

The postseason also means putting the game’s referees under the limelight constantly, and entering Game 1 between the Penguins and Predators on Monday (8 p.m. ET, NBC), there’s reason to wonder about what kind of impact they’ll have on who wins.

That’s because, over and over these playoffs, referees have shown that they either don’t know the NHL rulebook, or prefer not to enforce it. Other times, the rules seem like judgment calls with a degree of subjectivity that undermines why they exist in the first place. And when the referees don’t do their jobs, and it’s up to NHL Player Safety to send a message, they’ve too often responded with a shrug.

Calvert suspension sets a bad precedent

The NHL had opportunities early in the playoffs to show its players that certain rule-breaking would not be tolerated. The biggest example came in the first-round series between the Penguins and Blue Jackets, when Columbus forward Matt Calvert attacked an opposing player standing at center ice for no apparent reason.

matt calvert breaks his stick on kuhnhackl after the game is over http://pic.twitter.com/p3XTdR9Isy

— evgeni malkin's ego (@EvgeniMaIkinEgo) April 15, 2017

This was not a hockey play in any sense. There was no hockey being played at center ice, yet Calvert took it as an opportunity to go break his stick over Tom Kuhnhackl, then double up with a cheap shot to the Penguins forward’s upper body as he reacted to being hit in the first place.

The NHL’s response to this shameful non-hockey play: a one-game suspension. One. Game. So basically, in order to be suspended in these playoffs, you needed to do something so egregious that it would look more appropriate in Street Fighter V than the NHL.

The precedent had been set that brutal hits, even ones deemed illegal by the NHL rulebook, would not lead to suspensions. How could they, if Calvert can do what he did and only get a game?

The Crosby trials

The weak punishment on Calvert set the stage for what would happen to Sidney Crosby in the first three rounds of the playoffs. The NHL basically gave carte blanch to its players to make brutal hits as long as they could be vaguely described as “hockey plays.” Slamming a guy in the head? Hockey play! Riding someone with a history of concussions head-first into the boards? Hockey play!

And then the NHL basically got it what deserved for its lack of action when Crosby suffered a concussion in the second round against Washington. The injury was the result of a hit to the head from Matt Niskanen in Game 4 that yielded a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct, but no supplemental discipline from the league.

Sidney Crosby went to the locker room, Matt Niskanen got a five-minute major and game misconduct. http://pic.twitter.com/YgoTbUEMWt

— SI NHL (@SI_NHL) May 1, 2017

This isn’t egregious in the same way the Calvert hit was, but this shows the risks of letting players push the envelope when you treat things like the Calvert situation lightly. Why not try to take some cheap shots on the best player in the game during an intense playoff series if the worst-case scenario is a major penalty with no subsequent repercussions? Yes, going on the penalty kill hurts a team, but it’s not surprising that some opponents decide it’s worth taking those risks rather than let Crosby have free space to do his thing.

It’s not particularly fun to watch, though, especially when those superstars end up getting injured and thinning the overall talent level in the playoffs. This is why you need to enforce the dang rules as written down.

What is goalie interference? A judgment call, that’s what.

Every sport demands its officials make subjective decisions at times. What’s a shooting foul in the NBA? What’s a catch in the NFL? There are definitions provided in the rulebooks, but it’s still ultimately on the referees to use their judgment to determine whether what happened meets that definition.

In the NHL, we have goalie interference (and to a smaller degree, offside calls). These are the calls that, when they happen, you basically sit back and just let them tell you what the ruling is. There’s almost no point in trying to break them down in too much detail because doing so just reminds everyone that these are total judgment calls. Referees are trying to determine not just action, but intent, of a high-speed game using slowed-down replays on a 9.7-inch screen.

And over and over again this postseason, this issue came up.

There was the Predators’ game-tying goal against the Blackhawks in the first round where Viktor Arvidsson made contact with Corey Crawford. But the goalie was outside his crease at the time of contact, so the rules state that it’s only interference if the contact is “intentional or deliberate.” That’s not exactly an easy thing to determine, and the referees decided it was a good goal. You could make sense of the decision, but it also felt like a call that easily could’ve gone the other way with similarly strong logic.

A similar ruling came in Game 4 of the Ducks-Oilers series when Corey Perry made contact with Cam Talbot just outside the crease, which meant it was not goalie interference and therefore a good goal. Nicklas Backstrom got busted for one in the first round against the Maple Leafs. The Predators, at one point against Anaheim, had two goals waved off in a matter of seconds for goalie interference.

The penalty keeps coming up in crucial scoring moments of the playoffs, and referees are left to make challenging judgment calls that can leave fans frustrated or outright confused. Several of the calls were obvious, but too many felt like borderline plays, even though the stakes are extremely high with a goal on the line. It just feels like a matter of time before one of these calls comes in a situation like the one described at the start of this post — a make-or-break Game 7 goal.

What will it mean for the Stanley Cup Final?

This is one of the big question marks for the championship series. Yes, we still need to see whether the Predators can hang onto their 5-on-5 advantage even without Ryan Johansen. We need to see if P.K. Subban, Pekka Rinne, and company can stop a Penguins’ power play that’s easily been the postseason’s best. We need to see whether Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are too good to be stopped by the best defensive top-four in hockey.

But we also need to see how the referees will call the Stanley Cup Final, and what kind of impact they’ll have on the series. We already know who the referees are — it’s an experienced group led by Wes McCauley, Brad Meier, Dan O’Halloran, and Kevin Pollock — but we don’t really know how they’ll ultimately enforce rules in a postseason that’s felt chaotic in that department.

The Penguins seem ready to handle a series that could get a little out of control, if their GM’s comments are any indication, but that won’t stop the chaos if this series ends up hinging on a controversial goal like the many we’ve already seen this postseason. Even if the referees take a harder line in this series than we’ve seen in the first three rounds, there’s always the potential that the Stanley Cup will be decided based on whether the refs think a winger intentionally touched a goalie, or got pushed into him. That would be unfortunate for a lot of reasons.

Now, being a referee in the NHL is an incredibly difficult gig, especially in the era of HD cameras allowing fans to second-guess every call you’re making at full speed on the ice. But fans have access to that information, and it’s made the referees’ constant mistakes less excusable. More knowledgeable fans demands more accountability, which is something we don’t seem to see enough for the NHL’s officials.

And while nobody wants a Stanley Cup Final decided by a 5-on-3 power play because it’s not “real hockey,” it’s also not “real hockey” to have the referees ignore chunks of the regular season rulebook.

This is going to be one of the key things to watch for fans in the series. “Playoff hockey” is winding toward its annual conclusion, and more than anything, I hope we don’t remember it for the great hockey, not the bad officiating.

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