Devil Of A Decision

This decision leaves me, and most hockey fans for that matter, scratching their heads. Thae big news around the hockey world a couple of weeks ago was Connor Hellebuyck getting traded from the Winnipeg Jets to the New Jersey Devils. Tonight, the Devils make the trip to Winnipeg to face the Jets. This would have been Connors first game in the city since the trade, and the suspension from the Jets before the trade happened. Now, that's not going to happen in the way people wanted. The Devils announced that Jake Allen will be making the start and not Connor.

New Jersey General Manager Sunny Mehta made a statement on Sunday Night on the decision not to have Connor start in Winnipeg tonight. It as follows.

"This has been an organizational decision for us that we've debated at length. Connor Hellebyuck was adamant that he felt a duty to play on Tuesday in Winnipeg. However, in our estimation, playing in this game would potentially give us a reduction in our expected win probability. Even though Connor isn't playing, at his request, we will coordinate a media availability after Tuesday's morning skate at Canada Life Center."

First off, that announcement didn't sit right and well with Scott Arniel, the Jets head coach. Per nhl.com, “To me, it goes back to the ownership, it goes back to the fans, it goes back to the core guys that have been with ‘Helly’ from the very beginning, that he kind of left on,” Arniel said Monday. “That’s the part for me that is hard. He just gave up on us, and it would be nice to be finally done with this and all it does is drags it out, and nine more game from now, we’re going start into it and talk about it again here. That’s the biggest disappointment for me.”

Jets fans, and I'm sure management as well, had this game circled on the calendar once the trade happened in late October. And I for one am right there with them. I really wanted to see how well everything would have played out in the building. Video tributes are usually a thing for a player that leaves a franchise, via trade or free agency or whatever, that left an impact on a team for a long time during their career. Connor did that in Winnipeg, despite how things ended with the trade. He left his mark in Winnipeg in a big way. The only thing Connor wasn't able to do was bring the Stanley Cup to Winnipeg. I, like most people, wanted to see the reaction he would have gotten, and I'm sure is going to get when he's acknowledged sitting on the bench tonight. It would have been better to see how well he actually played against his former team.

The statement made by the Devils was a cop out, flat out. They are trying, for some odd reason, to protect Connor for whatever reason for getting this start in his former city. They aren't playing a back to back. Connor is coming off shutting out Toronto on Sunday in Toronto. He's won all five of his starts since getting to Jersey, and has a 1.96 goals against with a .913 save percentage. So this decision is a little mind boggling. And this is not a knock by any means on Jake Allen, who is getting the start tonight. Allen's won six of his nine starts this year. The goals against is at 3.20 and he has an .881 save percentage. Not stellar numbers, but not horrible numbers either. Jake is a solid goalie and has proven as such at this level. But it still a surprise he is getting the start in Winnipeg.

Best & Worst NFL Week Eight

Week Eight has now come and gone around the NFL and things are getting more interesting around the league by the week. Since we are now at the halfway point of the season, so to speak, we are starting to see changes around the league. Lamar Jackson looks like he's done for the year with injury, which makes things more interesting with the trade deadline looming right around the corner. Carolina made the first major coaching change, letting go their defensive coordinator. The play on the field this week was a big week for the running game around the league. We also saw some performances that really made you scratch your head. With all that being said, here are some of the best, and worst, from week eight in the NFL.

Best: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Running Game
It was a very wet, sloppy game in Tampa on Sunday. The Buccaneers did what they had to do in a 16-0 win over the Falcons on Sunday. The defense was great, picking off Michael Peninx four times. But the real story of the day was the Bucs offense. Baker Mayfield went 0 for 3 on the day passing. Three passes and he missed all of them. But that's OK, because the Bucs running game more than made up for it. Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell both had days on Sunday. Bucky had 27 carries for 170 yards and the lone touchdown in the game. Gainewell added another 25 carries for 40 yards. And that was more than enough given the conditions on the day Sunday in Tampa.

Worst: Christian Parker, Defensive Coordinator Dallas Cowboys
There are teams that are starting to slip al little, then there's whatever the hell this is in Dallas. The Cowboys were home against Arizona on Sunday and had a decent lead by the half. But then it all fell apart. Arizona walked away with a 33-30 overtime win, this coming after they benched Jacoby Brisette for Gardner Minshew. Gardner threw for three touchdowns in relief, and erased a 14 point deficit in the 4th quarter. Dallas can't let that happen. It's not just Dallas, any team in the NFL shouldn't let a lead like that slip away. Parker's defense gave up 467 yards, which is bad enough on its own. It looks even worse when you realize that this was done with the opposition switching QB's during the game. The big plays have been coming at a slightly alarming clip against Dallas. It's time that the Cowboys need to seriously look at making the changes for that side of things.

Best: Amani Hooker, Safety Tennessee Titans
There might be little signs of hope for the Titans in 2026, but this has been one of the big bright spots. Tennessee found a pro bowler from its defense in Hooker, who had himself a day Sunday. Sure, the game didn't end well, as the Bengals walked away with a 43-36 win in overtime. But Hooker was a big reason the game even got there in the first place. Sure, Burrow played hero for the Bengals by throwing five touchdowns, but he was picked off three times. Amani Hooker had all three of those picks. Those picks now give Hooker five for the season, which leads the NFL. Hooker is under contract in Tennessee through at least 2028, so it shows that the Titans have faith in the guy in the secondary. Now the Titans need to speed this up and get better talent around him on that side of the football.

Worst: Los Angeles Chargers Offense
The Chargers now sit at 0-7 on the season, following a 24-9 loss on the road to the Rams. It's bad enough that the Chargers are winless on the year. It's even worse when the offense has scored just 99 point total on the season through the first two months of the year. It's the lowest point total in the league. They've scored more than 20 points in a game just once this season (23 in the loss to Seattle week four). Justin Herbert isn't helping the cause, fumbling once and getting picked off twice. Sure 257 yards passing is decent, but the turnovers are killing whatever momentum that might bring. We keep sounding like a broken record here, but a lot of this fall on Mike McDaniel, the Chargers offensive coordinator. He's not getting the best out of the weapons he has and quite frankly, he shouldn't be much longer for this job.

Best: Kirk Cousins Quarterback Las Vegas Raiders
Kirk Cousins seems like he's playing for his job every week out in Vegas. This week he held onto it for another go around, leading the Raiders to a 38-33 win over the Jets on Sunday. Cousins threw 19 of 26 for 247 yards and more importantly three touchdowns. Oh he also added another score himself on a sneak late in the game. This all coming after the Jets scored on their first six possessions. But Cousins was able to lead the Raiders to overcome that and kept using his tight end Brock Bowers very well. He had two of the touchdowns that Cousins threw. As badly as the Raiders might want to go to Fernando Mendoza, with Cousins playing like this, they can't make the switch yet.

Worst: Kyler Murray, Quarterback Minnesota Vikings
There was a small hope in Minnesota that Kyler Murray could look like the hype that surrounded him when he was picked 1st overall in 2019. There was hope that Kevin O'Connell offense in Minnesota would be able to pull whatever untapped potential out of Murray. Instead, even though the Vikings are 6-1, following their 19-15 loss to Detroit on Sunday, Murray looked like he's now close to riding the bench. He seemed to sleepwalk through the first three quarters in the loss to Detroit. most of his 201 passing yards came in the 4th quarter. But it took forever for him to wake up and get the Vikings going. They have talent around him to make explosive plays, it just wasn't working. It maybe early to panic in Minnesota, but he might not be long for the job if he keeps getting off to sluggish starts.

Best & Worst NFL Week Seven

Another week has come and gone in the NFL! Week seven went by and the league is starting to take shape. There is a clear divide between the two New York Metro area teams. We saw plenty of teams like the Panthers, Raiders and Ravens get their doors blown off on Sunday. We also saw teams like the Packers and Texans go down by the slimmest of margins. There were great performances and ones that made you scratch your head. That being said, here's some of the best, and worst, from week seven in the NFL!

Best: J.J. McCarthy, Quarterback New York Giants
You could =make just as much for a claim for Cam Skattebo for the best here from the Giants 27-21 win over the Texans. Cam had a massive game with 124 yards on the ground, part of a massive running attack. Funny things is the running game didn't really come alive till late in the game. JJ deserves just as much credit for the performance he had in this win. The Giants gave McCarthy a shot under center over Jameis Winston. And he delivered. He went 20 for 28 for 252 yards. Sure he was sacked three times, but at the same time the passing game most of the day was able to open things up for that ground and pound attack late.

Worst: Aaron Glenn, Head Coach New York Jets
There's bad, and then there's whatever the hell the Jets are doing. You come into the game on Sunday for against a winless Miami team, one that should have been a cakewalk. And you haven't won a game in the division in almost two years. And you blew it. Miami got their first win of the year, a 28-25 win over the Jets. The seat for Aaron Glenn just got a hell of a lot hotter. New York got booed off the field at halftime Its not only the fact that they've lost two straight but the last one is one that you can't defend at all. Losing that game to Miami simply can't happen. And the next three games are against the Raiders, Chiefs and Bills. It's going to get even worse before it remotely gets better. How Aaron Glenn still has a job right now I'm not totallysure.

Best: Bo Nix, Quarterback Denver Broncos
He didn't set the world on fire on Sunday, but he did more than enough to the thing. Denvelr walked away with a big 30-16 win over Arizona. His consistency wasn't totally there Sunday, but it was one of his biggest games of the year in the win. Nix had 222 yards through the air, his second most passing yards this season, with a touchdown. He only completed 15 of his 29 passes, which is a tad alarming, but the yards were there. Oh and he also chalked up seven carries for 73 yards an another touchdown. Sure it was a win over the Cardinals, but a win is a win. And it appears something might be finally clicking right with Sean Peyton's playcalling to get Nix going again.

Worst: Baltimore Ravens Second Half
This was a total garbage second half of football, for a team that was supposed to be good this year. Baltimore had a 13-0 lead at halftime over Cincinnati and looked like they might be on cruise control. Then the second half started and the Ravens appeared to have left their game in the locker room. Here's how the second half went for the Ravens: Punt (only possession of 3rd quarter), downs, punt, interception, downs, end of game (ran out of time on final drive). All while that was going on, Cincinnati scored the 35 unanswered points. Tyler Huntley did everything he could under center but its clear to all that the Ravens badly need Lamar Jackson back under center here

Best: Blake Cashman, Linebacker Minnesota Vikings
It was a good day in Minnesota Sunday, as the Vikings walked away with a 16-10 win over the Colts. For as much as people talk about the offense the NFL, defense should be getting more credit than it does. Just look at the performance that Cashman had for the Minnesota defense. Cashman had 12 tackles, two sacks, three quarterback hits and four passes defended. Minnesota turned up the pressure on Daniel Jones all day long. It wasn't just Cashman getting pressure on Jones, it was the entire Vikings defense. But it was Cashman that was the most noticeable being around the ball all day long and diove the Colts crazy.

Worst: Trey Smack, Kicker Green Bay Packers
Green Bay had a chance to win the game on Sunday, Detroit basically gave them the game. And Green Bay blew it. Detroit somehow walked away with a 20-17 win over the Packers, no thanks to Dan Campbell. He went for it on fourth down late in the game, failed to get it. That boneheaded call gave the Packers a chance to either tie or win the game outright with good field position. They had the ball on the Detroit 22 with 4:53 left. They had the ball on the foot of Smack, who had already missed a kick earlier in the game. Then he had the chance with the game tied to win it, and he sailed it wide right. To be fair it was tipped at the line, but still. To make it worse, he started the year off great, but has now missed four kicks in the last two games.

New King In Tampa Bay

In the now thirty five year history of the Tampa Bay Lightning, there have been a lot of great skaters and scorers that have come through the organization. Guys like Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Victor Hedman, Brad Richards, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos, the list goes on and on. When this season started, the name at the top of that list for scorers was Steven Stamkos, who sat at 1,137 career points. That is no more.

On the Lightning last road trip, Nikita Kucherov picked up four points, bringing his career total to 1,138 (and counting). Making him the Lightnings all time leading scorer. November 25th, 2013, in a home game against the New York Rangers, Nikita Kucherov scored his first NHL point, a goal in a 5-0 win. His first NHL assist (a pair of them actually) came a month later in a road game against the Panthers in Sunrise.

Since that time, Kucherov has gone on to record (at the time of this writing) 405 goals, 733 assists for 1,138 points in 890 games. In his thirteen years in the league, Kucherov has six 100-point seasons, four years of 40 or more goals and five years of 80 or more assists.

The numbers speak for themselves, he is that much of a superstar. Sure he takes some grief for not really talking much in the media, and if I'm being totally honest that's more than fine. His game really needs to do all of the talking for him. He's managed to keep his nose clean, so far as I can tell, away from the rink. His play on the ice is solid all around. Kucherov is no doubt one of the top five players on the planet at the moment and he's showing it off every night (or almost every night). Oh, and he's only 33 years old. He's still got plenty left in the tank.

Congratulations to Kucherov on becoming the Lightning all time leading scorer!

A Devil of A Deal

Man is that a different sight. We talked about it when we broke the news on the last show, but its still a big deal that's having a ripple effect on the league now. It took a little while, and the saga of it has been well documented, but it finally happened. The Winnipeg Jets have moved on from former league MVP goalie Conor Hellebuyck. HE's now tending the pipes as a New Jersey Devil.

The full trade is Winnipeg gets Nico Daws, Dawson Mercer, Alexander Command, Nick Bjugstad, a 2029 2nd round pick and a 2027 7th round pick. In exchange, the Devils got Hellebuyck.

Hellebuyck was taken in the 5th round, 130th overall in the 2012 entry draft. Up till the trade, he'd played his entire career in Winnipeg. 625 games in the Jets nets, with a 345-20855 record, a 2.58goals against average and a .916 save percentage. The biggest awards were the gold medal at the Olympics earlier this year, a four time all-star, three Vezina trophies and the league MVP in 2025. So the numbers were really good in Winnipeg. But something wasn't sitting right between him and the organization.

So, during the summer Hellebuyck came out and said that he had requested a trade from the Jets several months prior to making the announcement public. Winnipeg hadn't been able to find a suitable trade partner, as according to the team, the trades they had been offered were "terrible". So since Connor wasn't moved, he didn't show up for training camp and was promptly suspended by the team until a trade could be made, or he actually reported, whatever happened first.

The trade happened and Connor is now in New Jersey. The Jets finally get to move on from this, and hopefully it will help them maybe get better in the long run. Stuart Skinner has done an admirable job replacing Connor in the Winnipeg nets. Will he be the new answer to get them over the hump and back into playoff contention? Only time will tell.

As for Connor, this is a massive move for the Devils, who seemed to have found their guy to be the next in line of great goaltenders in New Jersey. It's kind of something they've been looking for since Marty Brodeur retired. Now having that kind of stable force in net, combined with some of the fire power that the Devils have, they have the potential to be very good.

2026 World Series Preview

And we are down to two! We started this journey of the 2026 Major League Baseball season back in late March, and the time has finally arrived. WE have one week to determine the best team in all of the baseball world. The 2026 World Series has arrived!

This year's matchup pits the best team in all of baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers, taking on the best team in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays!

Milwaukee got here with the best record in all of baseball, finishing the regular season, going 103-59 and winning the NL Central. Then they dispatched the Padres in four games in the divisional round and swept the Dodgers in the league championship series. It's the second ever World Series appearance for the Brewers, having lost to the Cardinals in seven games in 1982.

Tampa Bay got here by winning the AL East with a 98-64 record. They swept the Yankees in three in the divisional round, before taking out the Guardians in six in the league championship series to reach their third World Series. The first two appearances were a five game loss to the Phillies in 2008 and a six game loss to the Dodgers in 2020.

This is going to be a battle of pitching, which as you know at this time of year always beets good hitting. Both teams have excellent starting rotations for the series, so it's going to come down to which bullpen can blink first. Both back ends of the pen are equally strong, so it's the middle guys that are going to have to step up to the challenge. That gives Milwaukee and ever so slight edge.

Hitting depth too is going to be big in this series. It's been well documented how top heavy the Rays lineup is with Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero. But, to be fair, the depth guys at the bottom of the lineup have been contributing more as this years playoffs have worn on. The big boys of the Brewers lineup have been delivering a tad more than what we've seen from the Rays so far in this years playoffs.

Rays pitchers get the ball in the strike zone a lot more than what the Brewers are used to seeing and that's going to throw hitters off a little in this series. But the Rays had better that the depth hitting can continue in this series or its going to go south on them real quick. Milwaukee is coming off a big 103 win season and have shown everybody why they won that many games here in the playoffs. It's going to be a battle of a series. At the end of the day, Milwaukee's old friend in Freddy Peralta is going to be getting the last laugh and a ring on his finger.

Pick: Rays in six!

Best & Worst NFL Week Six

Week six is in the books in the NFL and an interesting week it was. There's a lot to take in from this past week. Philadelphia took a blow with Hurts now being out for the rest of the season. Them and the Cowboys are falling behind the New York Giants, and even they are struggling. Then the AFC North is all having winning records, including one of the biggest surprises being the Cleveland Browns. We also had a couple of players make history, and others still have bounce back performances. With all that being said, lets take a look at some of what was. Here's some of the best, and worst, of the week that was in the NFL.

Best: Patrick Mahomes, Quarterback Kansas City Chiefs
Move over Brady, you've got company in the record books. Kansas City rolled to a 22-6 win over the Chargers on Sunday, and with that win, Patrick Mahomes went into the record books. The performance itself was solid. Mahomes went 23 of 30 for 272 yards and a pick. The game was won mostly on the back of the running of Kenneth Walker. But for Mahomes, the win was his 100th as a starter in the NFL. It was his 131st career start. It tied him with Tom Brady for the fastest to 100 career wins as NFL starting QB. The only other QB in history to hit 100 wins in under 104 starts was Joe Montana, who's third on the list at 139 starts to 100 wins.

Worst: Backup Quarterbacks
This week, we saw four backup quarterbacks make starts in the league. Yes, you read that correctly. Four backups got starts in the NFL this week. The combined record of those four quarterbacks was 0-4 on the week. We had Jalon Daniels have a roller coaster of a day in just his third NFL start in the Bucs OT loss to the Steelers. Two other backup starters, Tyler Huntley in Baltimore and Jameis Winston of the Giants, have been around longer and had higher expectations. Baltimore was favored to beat Cleveland. But the Browns kept Dereck Henry in check and forced Huntly to create offense, which he wasn't able to do in the Browns win. Winston was so bad in the Giants loss to the Saints he got benched in favor of former Vikings QB JJ McCarthy. Last there was the bad luck to fall on Tanner McKee, who's now got to take over for Janel Hurts who's out for the year in Philly. McKee, who was making his third career start, had to drop back nearly 50 times because the Eagles had no run game.

Best; Travis Hunter, Wide Receiver/Defensive Back Jacksonville Jaguars
Since the NFL merger with the ALF in 1970, there's a very short list of players who have an interception on defense and a touchdown on offense in the same game. In fact, there's only three names on it. Roy Green did it with the Cardinals in 1981. Brian Dawkins did it with the Eagles in 2002. and Now Travis Hunter has done it with the Jaguars this past week. Yes, the Jaguars lost to Houston 34-31, but it wasn't for lack of effort on Hunter's part. Most of Hunter's time in the NFL prior to this year was on the defensive side of the football. Now the Jags are starting to use him more on offense as well. Sunday was a good day on both sides for Hunter, He had three tackles and the pick on defense. On offense, he finished with four catches for 59 yards and that touchdown. That was a day for the ages for the young receiver. If that was what he did this week, he could have a very bright future going forward on both sides in Jacksonville.

Worst: Zachariah Branch, Kick Returner Atlanta Falcons
Special Teams are just as critical in the game of football as offense and defense. When you are a kick returner, your job is to be able to get the ball and set your offense up in good field position. Your main role in during this is being able to hang onto the football. Somebody forgot to tell kick returner Zachariah branch that. His butter fingers moment lead to the Bears walking way with a 31-23 win over the Falcons. He not only muffed a punt on the day, but he also fumbled a ball during a kickoff return. Both of those muffes lead to Bears scores, allowing them to build on a 31-7 lead. Atlanta almost pulled off the comeback, which would have been a miracle in its own rights. But the end of the day, those two mishandles turned out to cost the Falcons the game.

Best: James Cook, Running Back Buffalo Bills
Last week seemed like an off week for Cook, who had two fumbles on the day. Normally he's a lot surer handed than that. So, this week, he needed to have a bounce back game. And he got it. This week, Buffalo walked away with a 33-30 win over the Raiders, and Cook was a solid part of hit. He finished with 22 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown. There was only two guys to hit the hindered or more rush yards this week (Kenneth Walker and Chuba Hubbard). Buu the performance by Cook got him back on his game. Oh, and that touchdown turned out to be the go ahead score in this game. Josh Allen is what makes the Buffalo offense really go, but he needs help for the Bills to go anywhere. Cook showed that he can be that guy to be able to take the pressure off Allen so he doesn't have to be Superman.

Worst: Jim Harbaugh, Head Coach Los Angeles Chargers
Jim Harbaugh has been a winning coach almost everywhere he went. In fact, during his coaching career, between the NFL and College, he's had two seasons in which he's finished at .500 or lower. He went 5-7 at Stanford in 2008 (as well as 2-4 at Michigan in 2020 but that was the Covid year) and 8-8 in his last year in San Francisco in 2014. Otherwise he's had winning records. This year, he's going to have a losing record. The Chargers are now 0-6 on the season, following the 22-6 loss to Kansas City we talked about earlier. It was a poor start to the season, along with injuries taking hold, and it's getting to the point where this is borderline unwatchable. Harbaugh has to take his share of the blame for it. Having Mike McDaniel run that poor offense is on him. It's going to be tough out in Califnoria to watch this team.