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Paul D. Grant — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 10:34:53 EDT

Hockey Night in Canada on Sportsnet: Canadiens vs. Devils

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:50:06 EDT

The streaking Montreal Canadiens look to win their eighth consecutive game and gain ground atop the Atlantic Division when they visit the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. Catch all the action on Sportsnet East or Sportsnet+ and follow every play with the live tracker.

Blue Jays’ frustrating week continues with sloppy loss to White Sox

Ben Nicholson-Smith — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:16:52 EDT

CHICAGO – About an hour after Saturday’s game ended, Tyler Heineman stood by his locker in a quiet visiting clubhouse at Rate Field.

The Toronto Blue Jays had just lost consecutive games to the Chicago White Sox, a far inferior team on paper, and Heineman, normally the team’s backup catcher, had figured prominently in both losses. He wiped tears from his eyes as he spoke.

“The last two games, those losses, they’re on me,” he told Sportsnet. “You can sugarcoat it any way you want and say there’s other things going on, but they’re on me.”

A costly baserunning mistake by Heineman and a subsequent throwing error did figure prominently in the Blue Jays’ 6-3 loss to the White Sox. But while Heineman was willing to accept full responsibility for the two defeats it’s unfortunately not that simple for the Blue Jays.

An underwhelming offensive performance contributed to the loss as did another poor showing from Brendon Little, whose grasp on a roster spot appears to be slipping. It was, unfortunately, a team effort.

“We’re eight games into the season and we’ve had some games that scream ‘not us,’” said manager John Schneider. “When we play (like) us, we are good. So, we’ve got to get back to it.”

The Blue Jays are now assured of series losses against both the Rockies and White Sox and what appeared to be a forgiving week on the schedule has largely been squandered.

“There’s been some things that are magnified,” Schneider said. “The more you dwell on it and the more you say ‘woe is me,’ the worse you’re going to get. They’re very well aware of the standard that is set here and the expectations that we hold and what we think is important. And when you don’t hit those, we’re going to have to have some more conversations.”

Big picture, yes, this is a talented group with a respectable 4-4 record and 154 games remaining. But this has still been an exceptionally difficult week, especially since injuries to Cody Ponce and Alejandro Kirk are further testing the Blue Jays’ depth, with Kirk officially hitting the injured list due to a fractured left thumb Saturday.

Midway through the sixth inning, the Blue Jays looked to be turning the momentum around. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had just homered to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead, but Little entered the game and immediately got into trouble.

Miguel Vargas doubled off Little to lead off the sixth and the next hitter, Munetaka Murakami, hit a no-doubt home run to centre field. Two batters later, Colson Montgomery hit another home run, extending Chicago’s lead.

Little has now allowed more earned runs than outs recorded in three of his five appearances this season. More than half of the total hitters he has faced have reached base — often on hard contact. And while he’d ideally neutralize left-handed hitters, both hitters to homer off him Saturday bat left-handed.

The case for optioning him to the minors to revisit his mechanics and build some confidence has never been stronger.

“We’ve got to figure it out,” Schneider said when asked about the reliever. “We’re going to try to put the best team out there every single day, so we’ll definitely sit down and talk about it.”

Otherwise, the Blue Jays’ pitching was strong Saturday with Lazaro Estrada providing four scoreless, hitless innings. And after narrowly missing his first home run of the season in the fourth inning, Guerrero Jr. hit a no-doubter into the left field bleachers in the sixth.

Still, the Blue Jays cost themselves a chance for further damage from Guerrero Jr. in the seventh when Heineman was caught trying to advance to third on a sacrifice fly. Making the third out at third is a baseball no-no, especially with a hitter like Guerrero Jr. on deck.

“It’s just the wrong play,” Heineman said. “It’s inexcusable.”

“We can’t do that,” Schneider added. “It’s as simple as that. Heineman knows that. Everyone in the dugout and everyone in the stands probably knows that.”

Later, Heineman’s tough day would continue as he threw a ball into shallow left field during a rundown, allowing the White Sox to add two unearned runs. He said afterwards that his errant throw late in Friday’s game weighed heavily on him Saturday. 

“I just need to find a way to not let this stuff snowball,” he said. “And I just got to take ownership of it.”

Before the game, the Blue Jays placed Kirk on the injured list with a fractured left thumb, an injury that will sideline him for weeks to come. A visit with Dr. Thomas J. Graham Monday will help determine next steps and timelines for Kirk, who’d ideally avoid surgery.

Considering his impact on the team’s offence and pitching staff, the loss of Kirk will be significant for however long he’s on the sidelines, but the Blue Jays are hoping Brandon Valenzuela can help minimize the impact of his absence alongside Heineman.

Acquired from the Padres for Will Wagner last summer, the 25-year-old Valenzuela hit 15 total home runs in the minor leagues last year while earning a reputation as a strong defender. With Kirk playing at the World Baseball Classic this spring, Valenzuela got plenty of time with Blue Jays pitchers, which should help him transition smoothly at the MLB level.

All told, rival scouts consider Valenzuela’s skillset MLB-ready. More to the point, the Blue Jays do, which is why he’ll start Sunday in the series finale with Eric Lauer starting.

When the emotions calm down a little, 154 games will still remain on the schedule. To make sure they take full advantage of them, the Blue Jays must collectively find a way to play a cleaner game.

“Those mistakes cannot happen,” Schneider said. “Whether it’s April, October or November. Those mistakes can’t happen.”

Takeaways: Edin shines as Canada’s drought at men’s world championship continues

Justin Arenburg — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 20:25:19 EDT

No matter what Canada’s Team Matt Dunstone did, nothing was going to stop Sweden’s Niklas Edin from winning his record eighth world championship title.

The Manitoba-based rink dropped the gold-medal game 9-6, extending Canada’s drought of not winning the men’s worlds to nine years. On the flip side, Edin continued his dominance over Canadians in the final, improving his record against Canada to 6-1.

“I mean they were a total buzzsaw today, just couldn’t get much going with a team that is making every shot and they showed today why they’re eight-time world champions,” Dunstone told reporters after finishing runner up in his first worlds appearance.

“It’s unfortunate for sure, wish we could’ve put a little bit more pressure on them throughout the game, but I mean, again they were just making everything under the sun and we were chasing the whole game.”

Whenever Canada would make a great shot to set up an end with the hammer or look like a force was in play, Sweden would answer back right away with an even better shot.

Dunstone’s numbers don’t look great at 78 per cent for the game, but it wasn’t like he played badly, either. It was just the level of difficulty he was facing with his shots was so high, he couldn’t make everything.

It even felt like Canada had flipped the momentum heading into the fifth-end break after Dunstone made a beautiful runback for two, cutting the Swedish lead to one.

The front three of lead Ryan Harnden, second E.J. Harnden and third Colton Lott carried that momentum into the sixth where Canada had Sweden in trouble. But with one shot again, the Swedes walked away with two.

This is now the longest time – eight tournaments because of the COVID-19 pandemic canceling 2020 – in between titles that Canada has ever had. The previous record was seven back in 1972-1979 before skip Rick Folk broke the drought.

Edin showed up

It’s safe to say the biggest difference from the beatdown Canada displayed in the round-robin against Sweden, to the title match, was Edin’s performance.

After the first end in the round-robin, Sweden had already lost the game because of a draw Edin came up light on that resulted in Canada stealing four. He went on to curl 75 per cent in that game and shook after six ends down 10-3.

On Saturday, we saw the best version of Edin, maybe since the 2024 world championship final when he also won. Overall, the Swedish skip curled 95 per cent against Canada.

He set the tone right away in the first end with a nice double and avoided the jam to take a 2-0 lead.

From there, Edin got that magic look in his eyes that has made him special for so many years, and took over the game. He gave Dunstone absolutely nothing to shoot at for the first four ends, and even in the fifth end when Dunstone made the runback, that’s all he had.

The eighth end was the dagger, though. Edin placed the broom a couple feet outside of the 12-foot (!) for a draw to the four-foot where he rubbed off his own stone to score two and take a 8-5 lead.

At that point you could see the Canadians facial expressions basically say ‘what are we supposed to do against that,’ leaving them no hope to make a comeback.

In the biggest games, Edin always finds a way to perform at his best and is now responsible for eight of the 13 Swedish men’s titles.

Laying down the hammer

A curling game is pretty simple when you score two each end with the hammer (except in the 10th end Sweden didn’t throw their final stone) and hold your opponent to singles for the most part.

Obviously, there was a lot more that went into each end during the gold-medal match for Canada and Sweden, but that’s basically the gist of it if you just want to look at the scoreboard.

Sweden took care of business with the hammer and made it look easy to score multiple points against, while Canada couldn’t get their offence rolling, and even when they did score two, it didn’t come easy.

Team Whyte has a chance to be the best in the world

Even though Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte isn’t walking away from the men’s world championship with the title, this squad has the chance to become the best in the world.

It could’ve been really easy for Whyte’s team to “not show up” for their bronze-medal match against the U.S. led by skip John Shuster on Saturday after a disappointing semifinal loss to Canada, but instead, they answered the bell.

Whyte’s front three of Robin Brydone, Craig Waddell and Euan Kyle were setting him up all game, but after the first half, the score was still 5-5.

In the second half though, Whyte stepped up and made shot-after-shot including his pick in the ninth end to score four and seal the deal, crushing the U.S. 11-6 to claim the bronze medal.

“We knew we wanted to bring a medal home and get on the podium for all our fans that have travelled out here and everyone back home, so we’re really pleased,” Whyte told reporters after the game.

What Whyte and his teammates – expect Waddell, who played lead for his brother Kyle at 2022 worlds – accomplished in their first legit kick at the can, proved why they’re already the No. 5-ranked team in the world.

Not only is it the shot-making ability all four members of the team have, but out on the ice, the chemistry displayed this week was the best in the field. In general, they work so well together to understand why rock placement is important, making them a technically sound squad as well.

If this team stays together — and it is believed they will after this Olympic cycle — and they add back Duncan McFadzean, who was dealing with an injury for most of the year but was able to come back and be the alternate for this tournament, they’re only going to keep improving.

Honestly, this team’s toughest obstacle to becoming a mutli-time world champion might be Bruce Mouat, their fellow countryman, whose team is No. 1 in the world.

Hockey Night in Canada on Sportsnet: Maple Leafs vs. Kings

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:49:19 EDT

The Toronto Maple Leafs look to play spoiler on Saturday night when they visit the Wild Card-chasing Los Angeles Kings. Catch the action on Sportsnet or Sportsnet+ and follow every play with the live tracker.

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Mike Koreen — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 14:12:57 EDT

Sidney Crosby passes Steve Yzerman on NHL’s all-time points list

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:41:08 EDT

Sidney Crosby‘s climb up the NHL’s points list continues.

With two points on Saturday against the Florida Panthers, Crosby reached 1,756 for his career and passed Steve Yzerman for seventh all-time.

Crosby first got onto the scoresheet in the first period, when he assisted on Erik Karlsson’s power-play goal. The Pittsburgh Penguins captain then dished his 41st assist of the season to longtime running mate Evgeni Malkin 5:51 into the second period.

On the play, Malkin also made some history of his own, becoming just the 23rd NHL player to reach 1,400 career points.

Crosby now has 653 career goals and 1,103 assists.

The 38-year-old centre remains the NHL’s active points leader and will now begin to chase Marcel Dionne, who sits in sixth all-time with 1,771.

The top five consists of Wayne Gretzky, Jaromir Jagr, Mark Messier, Gordie Howe and Ron Francis.

Quick Shifts: Why Maple Leafs believe in running it back … for now

Luke Fox — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 09:00:47 EDT

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep.

1. To retool or to rebuild, that is the question.

And while we have our own opinion on how the Toronto Maple Leafs’ roster should be reconstructed if the goal is to hoist a Stanley Cup and not just hoist back up into playoff contention, MLSE chief Keith Pelley made it clear the short-term path the organization will likely take.

“We have the foundational pieces in place, which gives you the confidence that we can contend very quickly. And if we put the right person in place with the right structure and hockey ops, then I’m convinced … we can do it,” Pelley said Tuesday.

While the boss left the door open for his next and most important hire to change his mind, we can already see candidates entering their job interview with a plan to get the Leafs back to relevance as quickly as 2026-27, the penultimate season on Auston Matthews’ contract.

According to our highly unscientific poll, the public is torn nearly right down the gut. A thin majority believes a retool is the best option, which would mean running back the core stars and, presumably, intriguing young forwards Matthew Knies and Easton Cowan:

And the Leafs themselves, including coach Craig Berube, are on that same page.

Run it back! Mostly!

“Of course, I believe that, because I’ve seen it. Now, it’s been a down year, and we all know that. We had to be better, and we weren’t,” Berube says. “But these foundational players have done it for a while here, so there’s no reason they can’t keep doing it. They need support.

“Everybody needs to be part of it and help bring it along. You know, it’s not just on three or four guys or whatever you’re talking about. It’s on everybody; it’s a team. That’s how you have success in this league.”

All the veteran Leafs with long contracts and fresh memories of their seven playoff wins in 2025 are adamant they can rebound back to form by spring 2027. Even if they’ll be a couple of years older. Even if Buffalo and Montreal are gaining steam.

William Nylander is all aboard for some tweaks. Matthews hasn’t spoken since his injury but, in March, cited the Bruins and Lightning as good teams that rebounded quickly from non-playoff years and suggested Toronto could do the same.

Morgan Rielly: “As a player, you always want to agree with that. I think there’s been examples of teams that have kinda been able to do that.”

John Tavares: “You never stop fighting. You never quit. And you try to build, regardless of where you’re at, and obviously wanting to move things in the right direction.”

Max Domi: “Got all the confidence in the world, man … You can sit here and make every excuse in the book, or you could just look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, it’s done with now. Let’s learn from it, finish off these last (six) games strong and have a great summer.’ Come back, everyone healthy and ready to go, champing at the bit.

“We believe in ourselves, we believe in each other, and we got a strong group in there, so we’ll focus on that.”

Anthony Stolarz: “You just look at the pieces we have. We have a lot of guys on the team from last year, and we made a run there as well. So, having that experience from last year and getting humbled a little bit this year, I think everyone’s gonna go into the summer hungry. And I think we got the pieces here that, moving forward, we can get back to where we want to be.”

They believe.

Is that enough for you to?

2. Pelley rhymed off the sweater numbers of the “foundational pieces” he believes can still be the core of contender in Toronto: 34, 88, 23, and 91.

Not mentioned? No. 44.

The 32-year-old Rielly, the longest-serving Leaf, is younger than Tavares. Like Nylander and Matthew Knies, Rielly is signed for four more seasons beyond this one. The defenceman’s full no-movement protection doesn’t downgrade to a 10-team no-trade list until 2028-29.

Rielly interprets GM Brad Treliving’s firing as a failure of the players. The news, he says, is “fresh.” He’s processing his thoughts on missing the playoffs and the future of the organization.

“It’s been a challenge. And when you’re in it, you never allow yourself to kind of give up or lose hope and lose motivation that you know you’re gonna try to make a push and make the playoffs,” Rielly says. “That’s not the case this year, so it’s challenging.”

Rielly didn’t watch all of Pelley’s presser. He did speak to people who did to learn the message.

“It’s always a little bit uneasy when you’ve worked with people for a certain amount of time,” he says. “You get to know them, and they get to know you. And when that changes, there’s a little bit of uncertainty. And I think it just creates a little bit of an uneasy feeling, just not knowing.”

Berube says Rielly has been handling the turmoil and disappointment well.

“I talked to him quite a bit about it throughout the season,” Berube says. “I mean, there’s a lot of noise. But he never once (said), ‘Well, it’s too much,’ or this or that. He was good: ‘I just want to play, care about the team, do my best.’ That’s it. So, that’s all I can go off of.”

If we’re interviewing the next head of hockey ops, we’re asking for his thoughts on Rielly’s place on this roster.

3. Stolarz (six foot six, 248 pounds) twice skated to centre ice during Toronto’s penalty-filled affair in Anaheim, but it was clear that Ducks counterpart Ville Husso (six foot three, 205 pounds) did not want the smoke.

Stolarz even brushed Husso as they crossed paths during a stoppage and had a few words.

“I saw he slashed Willy (Nylander) earlier in the game,” Stolarz says. “I just told him, ‘Don’t touch anyone else again, or I’m going to come down there.’

“We’re sticking up for each other.”

With the sudden spike in goalie fights this season, Stolarz would welcome some action.

“I think I’d be fine,” the New Jersey native grinned, devilishly. “I’m a bigger guy, so that’s going to help with the reach. It’s not something you go into every game looking for, but if the opportunity does come, you know, I wouldn’t say no.”

Would he rather score a goal or have a fight?

“That’s a tough one. Probably a goal. I’d say a goal, for sure.”

4. Quote of the Week.

“I’m all pro keeping (the) coach as long as possible.” —Kris Knoblauch, Edmonton Oilers coach on Bruce Cassidy’s firing.

5. Cassidy has a .631 career points percentage, a winning playoff record (62-57), and a Stanley Cup ring.

Peter DeBoer has a .585 career points percentage, a winning playoff record (97-82), a perfect record in Game 7s (9-0), and two Cup Final appearances.

Do they have short shelf lives and rub some players the wrong way? Sure.

But if you want to upgrade your bench, you better pounce quickly.

Cassidy and DeBoer will improve your sagging team for 2026-27. Bank on it.

6. Ottawa Senators coach Travis Green dismissed the latest Wingmen podcast as “white noise,” which is a broad term that usually refers to social-media opinion or sports-talk radio.

But when the captain’s father makes mocking reference to not being able to play due to a bad night’s sleep after your team’s No. 1 goalie begs out of an important start in the name rest, and he also wonders if the captain is getting enough ice time, and then that conversation gets uploaded on the captain’s podcast … well, it’s a tough look and a PR headache at best.

At worst, if Keith was talking about Ottawa, it’s a glimpse into some team dysfunction and a harbinger that Brady Tkachuk and/or Linus Ullmark may not be long for the Sens.

Winning, they say, cures all.

So, Ullmark backstopping Ottawa to a big 4-1 win over the Sabres on Thursday, and Tkachuk’s fiery performance that night, served critical for both keeping the playoff dream alive and mitigating some of the drama.

Turns out, Keith Tkachuk was only talking about the Panthers anyway. Huh.

7. As the unseen steam engine that is the Sabres officially end their 14-year playoff drought, the Detroit Red Wings (nine years and counting without a post-season gate) are in grave danger of taking that dreaded baton.

The Wings occupied the Atlantic Division penthouse on Jan. 25. As recently as Feb. 26, they were in second. On March 21, they were still clinging to a wild-card spot.

Stretch runs have been a killer.

The winged wheels fall off every March, a month in which Detroit has gone 17-35-5 over the past four seasons.

The Wings enter the weekend deadlocked with the Senators.

There’s an undeniable romance to hiring franchise playing greats as executives, but things get sticky when results don’t follow.

Steve Yzerman is the sixth-longest-tenured NHL GM. The five execs with more seniority have all led their team to at least one Stanley Cup, conference championship, or Presidents’ Trophy since Yzerman’s hiring.

Yzerman, who was hired in April 2019, is still trying to host his first playoff game at Little Caesars Arena.

8. One man eager to prolong Yzerman’s drought is Marco Sturm.

Boston’s rookie head coach credits the Bruins’ off-season depth additions — Viktor Arvidsson, Tanner Jeannot, Sean Kuraly, et al. — and a new-look bench for meshing well with the existing core and pushing for consistent effort.

But Sturm is realistic about where his scrappy bunch is at. He knows why they didn’t make a deadline splash and sees multiple areas in need of improvement, despite a plus-22 goal differential.

“We are not an elite team in this league, right? So that means we’re still finding our ways. But I like how we find ways to win hockey games,” Sturm says. “The guys are very structured. The guys are working really hard to give me everything they can, but you got to stick with it. For this year, we’ll see what happens. And the following year, who knows?”

In the present, Sturm is treating every night as a must-win. This experience of pushing for a playoff spot will serve young players — and young head coaches — in the future.

He doesn’t sound bogged down by the pressure. The B’s have gathered at least a point in nine of their past 11 games.

“For me, it’s exciting. I’m lucky enough, maybe it’s in me. Because when I even played, I took it as a motivation, right? And that’s how I am right now. Yes, I feel the pressure, but it’s also motivating for me coming to the rink. You want to beat these guys, you know?” Sturm says.

“I want to be the best every night. And that’s why my guys will get the message — because that’s just how I feel, and I don’t want them to slip. That’s something I always had and hopefully will never change. Because if you look at some of the young kids now, it’s not the same anymore. So, you got to help those kids out too, the new generation.”

What’s different about this generation?

“If you look at my kids, they’re the same way. They just ask a lot more questions now. They want to know why. You’ve got to explain. You’ve got to spend way more time these days as a coach. It’s not just going on the ice and doing practice and changing lines; there’s more to it. That’s the biggest change.”

9. The timing of Jim Nill’s two-year extension in Dallas was certainly interesting, as the announcement arrived less than 24 hours after the Leafs fired their general manager.

If the money is decent, we can’t see a reason for Nill, 67, to leave a tax-free state and a Stanley Cup contender.

The Toronto gig is complex and burdensome. Plenty of issues, roster and otherwise, to address.

In Dallas, Nill has already locked up his 2026-27 goaltending and defence corps. He’s got a newish coach doing a fine job.

A couple small decisions need to be made on pending UFAs, like captain Jamie Benn (one-year deals until he retires, like Joe Pavelski?) and rental Michael Bunting.

The only major bit of business on Nill’s desk is the Jason Robertson file, a restricted free agent and leading scorer due a big contract.

But that’s a good problem to have.

Robertson lacks trade protection in a summer razor-thin on UFA scoring wingers.

Nill can either commit to a productive scoring threat in his prime or shop a dynamic asset to 31 competitors.

Nill has set himself and the organization up well.

10. The laser disguised as 22-year-old Cutter Gauthier’s shot is in the 99th percentile for both the NHL’s hardest (99.9 m.p.h.) and most frequent (271) this season.

Last year, as a rookie, the Ducks sniper got it off 190 times and converted on 10.5 per cent of his attempts over 82 games. As a sophomore, Gauthier believes his confidence in growing in concert with his accuracy (14 per cent) and willingness to let ’er rip.

“I think I had that confidence last year, and I shot a lot of pucks, but they didn’t really go in as much. I’m just ramping up the shooting this year and getting more comfortable with the team, the guys. Just being able to get on the ice and not think and just play confidently,” Gauthier tells me. “That’s probably it.”

What’s remarkable is the left wing’s knack and willingness to fire from distance or in tight, and from either side of the sheet. A peek at his shot chart shows no specific “office.”

“Well, I thought he could score. I didn’t know he could score at the rate he’s scored at,” says coach Joel Quenneville, a first-timer in Anaheim. “He’s got great release. He’s got some quickness. He’s got the ability to find the open ice. And he gets his shot away before (goalies) are set or through a defenceman as well, which is dangerous.

“The thing that sticks out is, he’s got the quickest release you could have. It’s loaded and he’s accurate, and it’s got some pace to it that you usually don’t see. One of those shots you can do pretty well with it.”

Uh, yeah.

It’s no accident that no one as young as Gauthier has scored as often this season.

“It’s my understanding of goalies,” Gauthier reveals. “I got really close to (Ducks starter Lukas) Dostal last year. Just talking to him on how to beat goalies in certain situations and working on it in practice. I find out what goalies tendencies are and try to pick on those deficiencies.”

He gets the book right before he hits the ice.

“I’ve played against every goalie in the league almost now. Like, I kind of know what works on some of them, what doesn’t. (Ville) Husso and Dostal will tell me where to shoot right before the game.”

11. An insane individual streak is happening right now. We might put it up there with Glenn Hall’s 502 consecutive games in net as unbreakable.

Anaheim’s Troy Terry has zero hits through 54 games played and 989:31 in total ice time.

To put that in perspective, no skater who has appeared in at least five games this season has gone hitless. The next-busiest skater without a hit is Ottawa defenceman Carter Yakemchuk, still looking to initiate contact at four games and 58:08.

Since time on ice (2000-01) and hits (2005-06) have been tracked, Terry is the first player to reach 310 minutes without a hit. Now he’s closing in on 1,000.

We’re guessing no one is happier to have his record broken than Nick Schmaltz, who didn’t throw a body check through 17 games and 306:22 with the 2018-19 Arizona Coyotes.

12. The Washington Capitals’ final home game takes place April 12, against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

If this is the final time Alex Ovechkin — unsigned and uncommitted for 2026-27 — and Sidney Crosby face off, hockey’s dueling game-changers are going out with a bang.

Ovechkin, 40, just registered his 20th 30-goal campaign, filling the net at a quicker rate than he did in 2023-24. Every goal the Capitals captain scores is a new record, of course.

Meanwhile, Crosby, 38, needs a measly three points over Pittsburgh’s final six games to beat his own record and complete his 21st point-per-game season.

Greatness is one thing. Sustained greatness is something else.

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Noah Love — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 17:21:44 EDT

Sabres clinch playoff spot with Red Wings loss, snap NHL’s longest drought

Associated Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:14:48 EDT

Bring on post-season hockey in Buffalo. The Sabres’ playoff drought is finally over.

Following an NHL-record 14 seasons of futility, during which the team finished no better than 19th in the league standings, the Sabres clinched a berth on Saturday when the New York Rangers defeated the Detroit Red Wings in regulation. Buffalo’s playoff drought was among the four North American major sports’ longest active streaks, ranking second behind the NFL’s New York Jets, who last qualified in 2010.

The Sabres clinched with six games left in their season, before playing at Washington on Saturday night, and are in contention to earn the Eastern Conference’s top seed. At 46-22-8, Buffalo is riding a 35-8-4 surge that has vaulted the team after sitting last in the East in early December.

The turnaround has been remarkable for a franchise that, through Saturday, has gone 5,458 days since the Lindy Ruff-coached team lost Game 7 of a first-round series to Philadelphia on April 26, 2011.

In the ensuing years, the Sabres have finished last overall four times and are on their seventh coach, with Ruff back for a second stint, and their fourth general manager, Jarmo Kekalainen.

Buffalo’s run up the standings coincided with Kekalainen being promoted from his position as senior adviser on Dec. 15, replacing Kevyn Adams, who was fired after five-plus seasons.

The Sabres already had won three straight when the change occurred and proceeded to go on a franchise record-matching 10-0 run. They’ve not looked back since. Buffalo is 14-3-2 since returning from the Olympic break, and the team’s worst stretch since December has been a 0-1-2 skid.

Though Adams’ firing played a role in spurring the team, so did Buffalo getting healthier.

The Sabres’ top two lines were replenished with the return of Josh Norris and Jason Zucker, and their goaltending got a boost with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen shaking off an early-season injury to resume sharing the starting duties with Alex Lyon. After opening the season 4-5-1, Luukkonen has gone 15-4-2 since Dec. 21.

Kekalainen also added depth at the trade deadline last month by acquiring centre Sam Carrick, forward Tanner Pearson and defencemen Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn.

The team is led by two of its longest-tenured players: captain Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, and forward Tage Thompson, who was acquired in a trade that sent Ryan O’Reilly to St. Louis in the summer of 2018.

Dahlin entered Saturday ranking sixth among NHL defencemen with 67 points, while Thompson was tied for 11th among all skaters with 38 goals.

The next test for Buffalo is winning a playoff series, something the team hasn’t done since beating the Rangers in six games in the second round in 2007.

The turnaround has revived a fanbase that had grown weary with losing, various rebuilding plans that failed to generate a winner and a revolving door of talent being shuffled in and out of Buffalo — from O’Reilly’s departure to Jack Eichel being dealt to Vegas in November 2021 following a lengthy standoff over how to repair a neck injury. Each went on to win the Stanley Cup with his new team.

The Sabres have not hoisted the Cup through their first 54 seasons of existence.

Buffalo has had 21 home sellouts this season, including 15 in a row, a year after selling out just five games.

This season, the Sabres have shown resolve in rallying back from deficits. Buffalo entered Saturday with 19 come-from-behind wins, tied for seventh in the NHL. That included defeating Tampa Bay 8-7 last month after trailing 7-5 with nine minutes left in regulation.

The Lightning also clinched Saturday before playing.

Blue Jays acquire INF Tyler Fitzgerald from Giants, option to Buffalo

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:27:44 EDT

While the Toronto Blue Jays were looking for their first road win of the season in Chicago on Saturday, the front office was busy tinkering with the roster.

Infielder Tyler Fitzgerald was acquired from the San Francisco Giants on Saturday in exchange for cash considerations, the Blue Jays announced.

The 28-year-old was subsequently optioned to triple-A Buffalo.

Fitzgerald made 72 appearances with the Giants in 2025, hitting .217 for 10 doubles, a triple, four home runs and 14 RBIs. He also racked up nine stolen bases and seven defensive runs saved while playing second base.

The Giants selected Fitzgerald in the fourth round of the 2019 draft out of the University of Louisville. He’d make his debut in 2023.

The Springfield, Ill. native was one of the fastest players in baseball two years ago, ranked tied-third in the majors for average sprint speed in 2024 at 30.0 feet per second (min. 50 opportunities).

In 178 games over three seasons with San Francisco, Fitzgerald slashed .252/.309/.430 with 31 doubles, three triples, 21 home runs, 53 RBI and 28 stolen bases.

Penguins rout Panthers to officially end Florida’s bid for three-peat

Associated Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 20:10:26 EDT

SUNRISE, Fla. — Maybe the end for the Florida Panthers came when Brad Marchand was shut down for the season last month. Or maybe it was when Seth Jones broke his collarbone and wound up missing 26 games. Or, maybe it was 20 minutes into training camp, when captain Aleksander Barkov blew out his knee.

Nobody knows when the season was officially doomed.

Doesn’t matter now. The Panthers are out.

Games remain, but the Panthers were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday with a 9-4 loss to Pittsburgh. For the first time since 2022, a team other than Florida will represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Final and for the first time since 2023, a team other than the Panthers will be the one hoisting the greatest chalice in sports.

They’ve known this was coming for a while. It’s just official now.

“Obviously, no one’s happy about the situation,” Panthers forward Sam Bennett said. “But it’s about really just sticking together as a team and going through this as a team. We’re all sticking together. It’s not fun sometimes. But we’re just trying to make the best of it.”

By the time the regular season ends in a couple of weeks, the Panthers will have gone well past the 500 man-games-missed mark this season because of injury. Barkov, the captain who Panthers coach Paul Maurice believes is the best player in the world, missed the entire year and a chance to captain Finland at the Milan Cortina Olympics as well.

Jonah Gadjovich will wind up missing 72 games with an upper-body injury. Tomas Nosek missed 60 games with a knee injury. Dmitry Kulikov is up to 58 games missed, most with a shoulder injury and now a badly broken nose. Matthew Tkachuk missed 47 games while recovering from surgery to repair a sports hernia and torn adductor.

Cole Schwindt missed more than half the season with a pair of injuries. Marchand will miss 29 games and Jones missed 26. Niko Mikkola, Evan Rodrigues, Sam Reinhart, Uvis Balinskis and Anton Lundell were all shut down for the season at least a couple of weeks ago. Aaron Ekblad broke a finger this week and he won’t play until next season.

And it was no laughing matter at the time, but Eetu Luostarinen missed nine games — after getting burned while barbecuing.

“I’d say we had some adversity,” Maurice said.

Add it all up, and Florida is likely going to finish the season with no more than eight players who dressed in last year’s Cup-clinching win against Edmonton on the ice. The Panthers bent, bent, bent all season, and finally broke.

“They’ve been true to it,” Maurice said, speaking of the team’s culture. “And we’ve had some tough nights, but the bench has been right and they’re cheering for each other. They’re engaged in the game. They’re talking about the game. It’s just, you’re just not going to be able to produce, not going to be able to execute a whole bunch of things that you normally expect to.”

Put simply, the Panthers might just need a break.

They were in 67 playoff games over the last three seasons, the most in the NHL — and unbelievably, more than 17 other franchises played in that span combined. They’ve logged tons of miles, taken tons of hits and done it all with very short offseasons because their Cup runs kept stretching into June while non-playoff teams are done in April.

“I think we all know … how good this hockey team is,” Bennett said. “We know how good we’re going to be when we have everyone healthy and everyone back. So, there’s obviously a ton of excitement, I think, in anticipation for next year.”

With good reason. Hockey operations president and general manager Bill Zito has had the vast majority of the core under contract for some time: Barkov, Tkachuk, Reinhart, Bennett, Marchand, Carter Verhaeghe, Jones, Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, Lundell, Rodrigues, Mikkola, Kulikov, Balinskis, Reinhardt and Jesper Boqvist are among those who are signed. The biggest question is at goalie, where Sergei Bobrovsky will be a free agent, but one who is believed to want to remain with the Panthers.

Things, if the Panthers are lucky, should look very different next season. Or put another way, things could look like how they were in June 2024 and June 2025, when Florida won the Cup. The celebrations started like this: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman would say a few words, then hand the Cup to Barkov, who would skate away and hoist.

The Panthers felt like that could have happened again this season. For about 20 minutes, anyway. It was at the 20-minute mark of the first full-team training camp practice where Barkov blew out the ACL and MCL in his knee.

“You know right away. Oh, you knew it was bad,” Maurice said. “He’s a tough one. He doesn’t go down lightly. It was as close to being at a funeral as there can be. The 19th minute, we are humpin’, up and down the ice. And I’m taking it all in thinking, ‘Oh, we’re right there. These guys are focused, they’re fit, they’re pushing themselves. I’m not even yelling at them anymore.’ And then that happens.

“The next three days were a prolonged funeral service,” Maurice added. “We didn’t know it was going to be for our season.”

If the Panthers were in the playoff chase, Barkov might be playing now. If there was a Game 1 of Round 1 sometime in the next couple weeks, the expectation is Barkov would have been ready. And now, the Panthers will pivot to Game 1 of next season.

They won’t be the defending Cup champions anymore. It might actually rekindle the desire to win it again.

“Bill Zito’s vision for this team has just been so bang on,” Maurice said. “We have full faith in the vision that he has for the group, and the core is going to be here next year. We’ll all be excited about that.”

UConn staves off Illinois to advance to third national championship in four years

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 20:32:56 EDT

Dan Hurley and his Huskies will be playing for a national title once again.

The UConn Huskies took down the Illinois Fighting Illini 71-62 in Saturday’s Final Four showdown to advance to their third national championship in four years.

As he’s done for much of the season and throughout the tournament, Huskies centre Tarris Reed shouldered the load for UConn, finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds while outmuscling Illinois big Tomislav Ivisic.

Guards Solo Ball and Braylon Mullins — the hero of the Elite Eight — scored 13 and 15 points, respectively, to help coach Hurley to glory once more.

Meanwhile, a 20-point showing from Keaton Wagler wasn’t enough to push the Illini through, as an inefficient game from the rest of the side ultimately proved their undoing.

The only thing standing between UConn and a third national title under coach Hurley will be the winner of the Michigan-Arizona game taking place later on Saturday. The national championship is set to tip off on Monday.

Senators fall to Wild, can’t gain ground in playoff race

Canadian Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:10:54 EDT

Ryan Hartman scored twice to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon.

Jonas Brodin and Jake Middleton also scored, while goaltender Jesper Wallstedt made 33 saves for Minnesota (43-21-12).

Linus Ullmark stopped 19 shots for the Senators (39-27-10). Drake Batherson scored the lone goal.

Jake Sanderson returned to Ottawa’s lineup after missing 13 games with an upper-body injury.

Minnesota raced to a 3-0 lead to start the third period and extended it midway through the period on a great effort by Quinn Hughes.

Hughes kept the puck in at the line, spun and found Middleton on the opposite side. Middleton fired through traffic for his second goal of the season.

Batherson spoiled Wallstedt’s shutout attempt with just over three minutes remaining in the game. Batherson then left the game, but returned after a brief absence.

Ullmark bailed the Senators out on a couple of odd-man rushes, including a save on Hughes early in the third period.

Hartman scored his second of the game when Mats Zuccarello found him at the top of the slot to beat Ullmark glove side and take a 3-0 lead.

Minnesota led 2-0 after the first period. Brodin was the recipient of a fortunate bounce.

He fired a shot and the rebound deflected off the skate of Ottawa defenceman Nikolas Matinpalo and past Ullmark.

The Wild took advantage of a Jordan Spence turnover at the blueline, which led to Zuccarello dishing a pass to Hartman for his 21st of the season.

Takeaways

Senators: The Senators gave up far too many odd-man rushes for Ullmark to clean up.

Wild: Minnesota did a great job keeping the Senators to the outside for much of the game.

Key Moment

The Wild capitalized on a Senators turnover late in the first that led to Hartman’s first goal of the game.

Up next

Senators: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.

Wild: Visit the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

Sargent’s first Toronto FC goal completes comeback win over Rapids

Canadian Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:52:40 EDT

Josh Sargent shook his head in disbelief.

His first career Major League Soccer goal was the winner in Toronto FC’s 3-2 over the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, but the real fireworks happened eight minutes before that.

A blooper-reel own goal by Colorado goalkeeper Zack Steffen brought the game level in the second half and set the stage for Sargent’s heroics.

Leading 2-1 in the 75th minute, Rapids right back Keegan Rosenberry attempted to reset play from midfield by kicking the ball back to Steffen, the Colorado captain.

But Steffen misjudged the pass and stepped forward only to watch the ball dribble past him and into the back of the net for Toronto’s equalizer.

“I was a bit like ‘OK, what just happened? We’ll take it,’” Sargent said. “We definitely got a boost of energy from that, like ‘all right, let’s go win this thing now.’”

Sargent launched a header into the back of the net off a cross from Alonso Coello. It marked the American’s first goal in three games since joining TFC from Norwich City in February.

“Big relief. It’s been a while since I’ve scored,” said Sargent, who missed wide on a first-half scoring opportunity. “I would have been upset if I didn’t get a goal by the end of the game. So just very happy. Great to get a goal and hopefully more to come.”

Sargent played 90 minutes, subbing off just before second-half stoppage time. Toronto’s designated player logged just 65 minutes total over his first two TFC appearances.

“Josh is good at everything you need a forward to be good at and we see bits and pieces of it every time we’ve seen him play, and then we see more of it when we see more minutes,” Toronto head coach Robin Fraser said.

Sargent’s goal was the capper to a see-saw battle that saw Toronto (3-2-1) extend its points streak to four. The game featured three red cards along with momentum swings.

Colorado (3-3-0) was assessed the first red card in the 33rd minute when midfielder Jackson Travis was sent off for an illegal tackle against TFC’s Raheem Edwards.

Toronto failed to capitalize, and then took a red card of its own early in the second half when Edwards was sent off for denying a Colorado goal-scoring opportunity just outside of the box.

The Rapids converted on the ensuing free kick. Paxten Aaronson beat TFC’s Luka Gavran low to the goalkeeper’s right side in the 51st minute.

Rosenberry struck just three minutes later to double Colorado’s lead.

“It was actually quite surreal,” Fraser said. “It’s a horrible place to be and I think we got even better and even more engaged and even more intense at that point. Then it turned into this crazy game.”

Toronto pulled within one when Richie Laryea executed a top-corner strike in the 65th minute, curling the ball in from a tight angle.

There was some question as to whether Laryea’s ball was really intended to be a cross that ended up being pushed in by the wind. Only the result mattered to Toronto.

Colorado’s Miguel Navarro picked up his second yellow card and was sent off in the 74th minute.

The Steffen own goal occurred just three minutes later and led to jeers from the home fans every time he touched the ball for the rest of the game.

“For me, it was just ‘OK, now we’re even. Now let’s go win the game,’” Fraser said. “Zack’s feet are phenomenal, and it was a really unlucky situation for him, which obviously was really fortunate for us.

“It’s probably the first time in a long time that I can recall being down with that large a deficit and getting back to even and just thinking, ‘we’ve gotta win this game.’ It wasn’t satisfying to get back to two-nil, it was really the job is still out there to be done.”

Djordje Mihailovic, who was acquired by TFC from Colorado in August, didn’t suit up for what would have been his first game against his former team due to a pelvis injury. Fraser said the extent of Mihailovic’s injury remains unknown.

Toronto defender Walker Zimmerman was substituted off in the 56th minute due to calf tightness.

Rapids defender and Toronto native Kosi Thompson — traded from TFC to Colorado in late March for up to $400,000 in general allocation money — wasn’t in the lineup for his new team either.

The match marked the third of nine straight at home for TFC before it heads on the road for six to make way for the FIFA World Cup.

Toronto hosts FC Cincinnati, and Colorado is at home to the Houston Dynamo next Saturday.

Blue Jays place Alejandro Kirk on IL with left thumb fracture, recall Valenzuela

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 11:24:47 EDT

The Toronto Blue Jays will have to navigate the absence of their all-star catcher.

Toronto announced Saturday that Alejandro Kirk has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a left thumb fracture and that rookie backstop Branon Valenzuela has been recalled from triple-A Buffalo.

Kirk exited Friday’s loss to the Chicago White Sox in the 10th inning when a foul tip clipped his catching hand behind the plate. The 27-year-old immediately looked to the dugout and told manager John Schneider and team training staff that he needed to leave the game.

He was replaced by Tyler Heineman, who made a costly error on a bunt two batters after he entered. Heineman will get the start on Saturday in Chicago.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters that Kirk will have his thumb evaluated by a specialist on Monday, which will help the team determine a timeline and next steps.

Kirk’s thumb was dislocated on the play, as well, with the fracture coming near his knuckle.

Kirk was slashing .150/.227/.350 with one home run through his first five games of the season.

The seven-year MLB veteran is coming off his second career all-star season in 2025, when he posted a .769 OPS and hit 15 homers in 130 games.

Valenzuela, meanwhile, will join the Blue Jays after being acquired from the San Diego Padres in a swap for Will Wagner at last year’s trade deadline.

The 25-year-old switch-hitter was added to Toronto’s 40-man roster last fall and impressed during big-league spring training, going 7-for-23 with a pair of extra-base hits.

Valenzuela had three hits and one home run in his first four games of the season with the triple-A Bisons.

Blue Jays’ Patrick Corbin strikes out nine in start with low-A Dunedin

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:02:29 EDT

Welcome to the Toronto Blue Jays organization, Patrick Corbin.

After inking a one-year deal with Toronto on Friday, Corbin was on the mound Saturday, pitching for the low-A Dunedin Blue Jays.

The veteran southpaw carried himself well with his new team, working five innings of one-run ball while striking out nine.

The one run that Corbin allowed was unearned, when an error from outfielder Matt Scannell helped the Bradenton Marauders get on the scoreboard in the top of the first.

That was all the Marauders could muster on the afternoon, however, as Corbin allowed just four hits and one walk.

The 36-year-old tossed 74 pitches — 53 strikes — mixing in his slider, sinker, cutter, changeup and four-seam fastball.

Corbin’s sinker averaged 91.6 m.p.h., and he generated seven swings-and-misses with his slider.

As the Blue Jays manage rotation injuries to Trey Yesavage, José Berríos, Shane Bieber and Cody Ponce, Corbin figures to be a potential short-term solution.

A veteran of 13 MLB seasons, the 2019 World Series champion spent 2025 with the Texas Rangers and recorded a 4.40 ERA in 155.1 innings.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters Saturday in Chicago that the team would decide the next steps for Corbin after his outing in Dunedin.

Hockey Night in Canada on Sportsnet: Jets vs. Blue Jackets

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:49:45 EDT

The Winnipeg Jets look to keep their playoff chase alive on Saturday when they visit the skidding Columbus Blue Jackets, losers of five straight. Catch the action on Sportsnet West or Sportsnet+ and follow every play with the live tracker.

Maple Leafs GM Search

Josh Beneteau — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 01:23:46 EDT

Real Kyper’s NHL Buzz: What Maple Leafs are considering next

Nick Kypreos — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 11:14:55 EDT

Matthew Knies had been discussed in potential trades between the Toronto Maple Leafs and other teams leading up to March 6, but even now that GM Brad Treliving is gone, the forward’s name continues to be bantered among the league long past the trade deadline.

One NHL team source told me the Maple Leafs’ ask, under Treliving, was one of three options:

1. Two first-round picks and a high-end prospect.
2. One first-round pick and two high-end prospects.
3. Three high-end prospects.

However, a big issue for teams suspected to have been involved in those talks, including Montreal and Chicago, was how late the possibility was raised. Toronto caught teams off guard with the idea, and some were unprepared to make a deal of that magnitude up against the deadline.

After Treliving’s dismissal, his replacement will need to have a plan for if and how to follow up on this.

Do they pick up these talks again and explore them further? Or will they shut down the talks and reassure Knies he’s a big part of a re-tool?

Meantime, the search is on for who will succeed Treliving, and in what role. There is no shortage of emails, texts and phone calls to Keith Pelley about the opening of a president/GM job.

One of the names we hear linked to the Leafs in that capacity is Chris Pronger, and I can confirm that there has already been contact between the two sides.

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The timing of Pronger’s media blitz for his new memoir, Earned, couldn’t be any better, as he’s certainly given the impression on many podcasts that he doesn’t mind all the attention and speculation.

The big question within the organization, however, is whether Pelley is willing to go with another inexperienced Hall of Fame player in a senior position after letting go of Brendan Shanahan a year ago. When Shanahan first arrived in Toronto as its president, he had a much longer leash to work through the growing pains that a guy like Pronger will not get.

And while the attention naturally is on Treliving’s replacement and how the hockey team will operate, many are keeping an eye on the bigger picture with what ultimately happens with MLSE under the majority ownership of Rogers and its media umbrella. Sportsnet is owned by Rogers.

Currently, the Toronto Blue Jays are owned directly by Rogers, while the Maple Leafs are independently run by MLSE. However, one potential plan is for Rogers to restructure and consolidate all of its sports teams under a single, unified company.

So, there are several things at play here, and what it all could look like beyond the hiring of just one person in charge of the Leafs is anyone’s guess at this point.

What about Morgan Rielly?

Even without a GM in place, you have to wonder if the next half dozen games could be Morgan Rielly’s last as a Maple Leaf.

It’s no secret that a plan to re-tool will likely include some shake-up to Toronto’s blue line.

Even without a new GM in place, as Ryan Hardy and Brandon Pridham are at the helm in the interim, many industry sources believe the Leafs will still be looking at options to move on from their longest-tenured player. A buyout is unlikely, considering he has four years left on his contract. Rielly has a no-movement clause for the next two seasons as well, but expect the club to do its best to convince him to waive it to make a creative trade and send him to a place of his liking.

As many NHL teams have informed me, they still see a good and serviceable player in Rielly who could be rejuvenated under the right circumstances.

But for that to happen, the Maple Leafs may need to retain as much as 50 per cent of the $7.5 million AAV he has, and throw in a draft pick sweetener.

Friday Four: What can Maple Leafs learn from recent retools?

Michael Amato — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 11:01:50 EDT

There weren’t many concrete statements that came out of Keith Pelley’s press conference from earlier this week. The president of MLSE took to the podium a day after relieving general manager Brad Treliving of his duties to address the path for the Toronto Maple Leafs going forward.

Pelley touched on things like making sure a new front office has a focus on data and improving the culture, though much of that was vague and with the steps of how to get there unclear. However, where Pelley did leave no room for interpretation was about retooling the roster. He made it crystal clear the Leafs won’t be rebuilding, citing foundational pieces on the roster they can build around in Auston Matthews and William Nylander.

It’s a bold proclamation to make without a general manager, and potentially without a president, in place. Toronto is devoid of draft capital and young prospects, has a roster full of holes and its biggest star is under contract for only two more seasons. Trying to make a bunch of potentially short-sighted moves to get Matthews to extend could be foolhardy and set the franchise back even further if things don’t work out.

Even if it does seem challenging, organizations around the league pull it off all the time and make bold or under-the-radar moves to get them going back on the right trajectory. Let’s look at a few teams who have retooled recently and what elements or strategies they used to make it successful.

Boston Bruins: Don’t settle for just picks

The Bruins seem like a good bet to get back to the playoffs this year after a rare miss last season. Part of their resurgence was fuelled by the Leafs themselves, thanks to the infamous Brandon Carlo trade at last year’s deadline that is quickly looking like a lopsided win for the Bruins. Boston received Toronto’s first-round pick this summer, which was only top-five protected. Based on where the Leafs are in the standings, that could end up being a massive get for the Bruins and something that might have ultimately doomed Treliving.

However, the other part of the Carlo trade is what’s helping Boston at the moment. The talented, young Fraser Minten also came over from Toronto in the swap and he’s the Bruins’ No. 1 centre. He’s probably not a top-line centre on a Cup contender, but Minten should develop into a solid two-way forward, nonetheless. They also brought back Casey Mittelstadt and Marat Khusnutdinov at last year’s deadline along with Minten. All three are under 28 years old, playing in Boston’s top six and will finish the season somewhere between 15-20 goals. Then there’s Viktor Arvidsson, who the Bruins acquired last summer for only a fifth-round pick. That small, low-risk investment has netted them 24 goals and counting.

Boston used the 2025 trade deadline to get younger and refresh its roster immediately, instead of just pursuing future draft picks. The Bruins haven’t even made the picks they got back for Carlo and Brad Marchand yet, but Minten, Khusnutdinov and Mittelstadt are already helping. This is perhaps a misstep the Leafs made a few weeks ago, when they sold off a few pieces if they were eyeing a retool. The Leafs got only picks back for Nic Roy, Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann, instead of at least a couple of players who might be able to contribute as early as next season.

Toronto could take this lesson with it into the off-season, though. If the new regime decides to move on from Nick Robertson, Matias Maccelli, Max Domi or Simon Benoit, let’s say, the Leafs could try to target a player who has maybe fallen out of favour with their organization instead of a late-round pick. Use your scouting department to identify someone who freshens up your roster, even if they only end up playing in your middle or bottom six. In a retool situation, a player like that will be more valuable than a draft pick that has a slim chance of turning into anything years down the line.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Walking a fine line

Ironically, one of the best options to lead the Leafs through a retool might be Treliving’s predecessor. Kyle Dubas has done a masterful job putting the Penguins in a spot to qualify for the playoffs this spring after three years out.

Pittsburgh’s and Toronto’s situations have some similarities. The Penguins were trying to make the team more competitive in hopes of giving Sidney Crosby another playoff run, but while also simultaneously building for the future. Dubas has walked that fine line well and the Leafs might have to do something similar when it comes to Matthews. If the idea is to improve the team so Matthews signs an extension, what happens if it doesn’t work? You don’t want to invest more significant draft capital, term or cap dollars in the team if Matthews ends up leaving in a year anyway, and then you’re in an obvious rebuild.

Dubas’ Penguins still have all their first-round picks in the next four drafts and have accumulated a combined 15 selections over the second and third rounds over that span, while adding key pieces to the roster at the same time. He’s done so by finding hidden gems and buying low on players who fit into the Penguins’ future timeline, who can also help them today. Drafting Ben Kindel 11th overall last year didn’t hurt either. Kindel has been a huge contributor for the Pens, with 17 goals and holding down a middle-six centre spot all season.

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As far as the additions go, Anthony Mantha, Parker Wotherspoon and Yegor Chinakhov have been found money. Dubas signed Mantha to a one-year, $2.5-million deal last summer, which was a win-win situation for the Pens. In a worst-case scenario, Pittsburgh could’ve shipped Mantha off at the deadline for a draft pick, but in a best-case scenario, he’s scored 30 goals for the Pens this season and has been one of their best forwards. Wotherspoon was inked for two years with a $1-million AAV and is averaging more than 20 minutes a night next to Erik Karlsson on Pittsburgh’s top pair. Meanwhile, Chinakhov, who was floundering in Columbus, has scored 17 goals in 38 games since arriving in Pittsburgh.

None of those acquisitions were risky, cost much or took anything away from the Pens future. The Leafs need to look for a few of those this off-season that may come cheap and could have an immediate impact. Someone like Frank Vatrano, who had 80 goals over the previous three seasons, doesn’t seem to be a favourite of Joel Quenneville’s in Anaheim. His ice time and role have dropped significantly. Dmitri Voronkov, who has been scratched recently in Columbus, is a big body who can score and is still only 25. Could either of them be had for a reasonable price? Both Voronkov and Vatrano could jolt the roster and wouldn’t be anchors if the Leafs have to eventually tear it all down after all.

New York Islanders: Flipping a switch overnight

Let’s be blunt. The Isles have really only turned things around because of an improbable lottery win last year that landed them Matthew Schaefer. New York had just a 3.5 per cent chance to secure the No. 1 pick, but the lottery balls landed in their favour and now they appear to be on a rapid ascension after attaching themselves to Schaefer’s rocket ship. The 2024-25 Islanders felt like one of the stalest teams in the league but virtually overnight they’ve become one of its most exciting, thanks to Schaefer.

The reason I mention the Islanders here is because Toronto’s first-round pick in June in tenuously hanging in the balance. If the Leafs fall anywhere outside the top five, the pick goes to Boston in the aforementioned Carlo deal, but if they sit inside the top five after the lottery, they get to keep it. Pelley was steadfast in his stance that the Leafs won’t tank, though if you watch the impact Schaefer and Macklin Celebrini have had this season, it seems paramount the Leafs do everything they can to keep their selection.

Now, that would mean the Leafs would lose their first-round pick in the 2027 and 2028 drafts if they keep it this year, but it could be worth it. The first few projected 2026 picks could be major difference-makers, and if you could get one of Ivar Stenberg, Gavin McKenna, Chase Reid or Keaton Verhoeff, they may be able to help the Leafs as soon as next season. Banking on one of them now would be a wise move because the next two drafts may not be as deep or strong.

There’s a difference between tanking and doing what makes the most sense for a franchise’s long-term future. The Florida Panthers have been beaten up from a long season and three deep playoff runs in a row, so they are shutting down several key players for the remainder of the season to help ensure they finish in the bottom 10 to keep their pick. Those players are no doubt banged-up, so why not get a look at some younger Panthers and let those established talents get an earlier start on the off-season.

No one is advocating for losing intentionally, although the Leafs could be using this same strategy as the Panthers in some situations. Matthew Knies has been battling something all season that gets better rest, so why not give him a night off here and there, and see what you have in a couple of AHL players. Or, better yet, do John Tavares and Nylander still need to be playing 20-plus minutes a night in a lost season?

The Leafs are three points up on fifth-to-last, even after winning three of their past five games. While there are no guarantees in the lottery, giving themselves the best odds at landing a top-five pick over the final half dozen games could be pivotal to the future of the franchise.

Florida Panthers: Being bold and aggressive

OK, hear me out on this one. The Panthers might not be the first team that comes to mind when you think retool, but they are arguably the best example of it in recent memory. A retool doesn’t just have to apply to a team that has taken a step back and Florida reshaped its roster over the past few years despite being a perennial playoff team.

Panthers general manager Bill Zito took over before the 2020-21 season and has consistently been adding to the roster ever since. He started by signing Carter Verhaeghe for pennies on the dollar, bought low on Sam Bennett and claimed Gustav Forsling on waivers. But even though the Panthers were improving quickly, Zito wasn’t satisfied. After winning the Presidents’ Trophy following the 2021-22 campaign, he replaced head coach Andrew Brunette with Paul Maurice and traded a 115-point player in Jonathan Huberdeau for Matthew Tkachuk. If that’s not a retool, I don’t know what is.

Granted, Florida did a lot of its heavy lifting in a different landscape. The Panthers built much of their roster through trades and free-agent signings, capitalizing on players teams had to offload in a flat-cap world. Free agency is becoming thinner and thinner every year, with teams prioritizing keeping their own players, and with the cap now rising, there will be fewer impact cap casualties for organizations to pounce on.

Still, Zito’s bold mentality can still be channelled today. Despite having some success, he didn’t believe the Panthers couldn’t win the Cup with the status quo and wanted to create a different culture. Since then, Florida has been unstoppable in the playoffs and has become the toughest team to play against. Trading Huberdeau was risky but Zito obviously felt it was worth it. The new front office in Toronto will have to ask similar questions. Can the Leafs still win by building a team around the foundational pieces Pelley was referring to?

Someone like Nylander has been polarizing throughout his time with the Leafs. Nylander possesses immense skill and talent but will his indifferent and nonchalant nature at times conflict with the new culture a front office will try to create? He has full trade protection, and this isn’t to advocate for a deal, though he’s closing in on 30 and would undoubtedly return a haul if he was available. If the Leafs could make a hockey trade involving Nylander and return a top-pair defenceman and a young second-line centre, is that something they would consider?

These are uncomfortable conversations, but the Leafs are in the position they are in now because they’ve been petrified of change and leaned on complacency. Florida has gone the opposite route and the Panthers’ boldness in overhauling their roster has taken them to another level.

Anytime you make significant changes within your organization, it’s going to come with risk, and the Leafs will have to decide how much of it they are willing take.

Breaking down every trade from Treliving’s tumultuous Maple Leafs tenure

Sonny Sachdeva — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:48:30 EDT

The Treliving era in Toronto was a rollercoaster.

There were the highs — an Atlantic Division title, a post-season that began with a brief glimmer of promise — and there were, of course, the lows. The Toronto Maple Leafs are still wading through them now, playing out the final two weeks of a dismal campaign that will end as the organization’s shortest in a decade.

The 56-year-old leaves the Maple Leafs an organization in crisis — set to miss the post-season for the first time in this core’s era, its future looking murky. Though, to be fair to him, Treliving inherited a team that was far from stable, too. When the former Calgary Flames exec arrived, Toronto was just coming off a dramatic off-season saga that saw Kyle Dubas ousted, the club thrown into a moment of disarray, and Treliving sought out to steady the ship.

For a spell there, it seemed he had — the 2024-25 Leafs rode stellar goaltending all the way to a top-five finish in the league’s standings, and a raucous series win over the rival Ottawa Senators. But they ultimately suffered the same fate as Dubas’s Leafs — bounced by Florida in the second round. Then Mitch Marner left, the goaltending magic dried up, and the whole thing came apart at the seams.

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There’s plenty of blame to go around for the current state of the blue-and-white. The group’s core leaders and head coach Craig Berube certainly wear their fair share of it. But focus in on the impact Treliving had in the areas he could specifically affect, and it’s clear he wears it, too. His missteps on the trade market are a worthwhile starting point.

That in mind, on the heels of the organization parting ways with the manager earlier this week, let’s take a look back at every trade Treliving made during his time at the helm, and what his work on the market says of his tenure as Maple Leafs GM:

Oct. 8, 2023: Maple Leafs trade Sam Lafferty to Vancouver for 2024 fifth-round pick

The first move was an odd one. Lafferty was shipped to Vancouver not because the Maple Leafs had no use for him, but because of cap issues — the club had no room for his $1.15-million cap hit, opting to use that final piece of the cap puzzle to give young Fraser Minten a shot instead. It wasn’t a significant loss. Still, Lafferty was a useful depth option — quick and physical, just the type of bottom-six piece the club would find itself missing over the next few years.

Feb. 29, 2024: Maple Leafs bring back Ilya Lyubushkin in three-team deal (Toronto acquired prospect Kirill Slepets too, while Anaheim received Toronto’s 2025 third-round pick and Carolina received Toronto’s 2024 sixth-round pick)

The deal itself was fine — Toronto brought back a familiar face, with some salary retention, to plug a hole. But the context around it is more questionable. So light on right-handed defenders was the organization at the time, then-head coach Sheldon Keefe was forced to consider deploying Marner on the blue line after injuries took out his top options. Treliving set his sights on Chris Tanev but struck out, so the club turned back to Lyubushkin. He was solid enough, and filled a need at the time.

Mar. 7, 2024: Maple Leafs acquire Cade Webber from Carolina for 2026 sixth-round pick

A low-stakes swing. Coming out of Boston University, Webber — a six-foot-six, 220-pound blue-liner — has gone on to log two seasons for the AHL Marlies.

Mar. 7, 2024: Maple Leafs acquire Joel Edmundson from Washington for 2024 third-round pick, 2025 fifth-round pick

At the time, this seemed a worthwhile addition. Edmundson came in as a seasoned veteran with Stanley Cup pedigree and plenty of playoff experience. He added some needed size and bite to Toronto’s blue line. And while the 30-year-old was no longer at the level he’d found earlier in his career, the cost to bring him in wasn’t too steep. He was fine for the nine regular-season games and one post-season round he played in a Maple Leafs sweater, before he inked a four-year deal in L.A.

Mar. 8, 2024: Maple Leafs acquire Connor Dewar from Minnesota for 2024 fourth-round pick, Dmitry Ovchinnikov

Dewar arrived in Toronto with a reputation as a solid depth piece in Minnesota, joining at the deadline to bolster the Leafs’ bottom six. The bigger picture here makes this one look a bit questionable. Dewar didn’t find a fit in Toronto and, as we’ll see further down this list, was eventually shipped out of town. And yet he was a useful depth option before he got to Toronto, and after he left Toronto — he’s since become a quality bottom-six contributor in Pittsburgh this season, where he’s put up 14 goals and 30 points from the Penguins’ fourth line.

Jun. 23, 2024: Maple Leafs swap 2024 fifth-round picks with Chicago, and again with San Jose

Not much to see here, simply some low-stakes asset management.

Jun. 28, 2024: Maple Leafs trade 2024 first-round pick to Anaheim for Edmonton’s 2024 first-round pick, Boston’s 2024 second-round pick

The Maple Leafs used the first-rounder they acquired (No. 31) to draft Ben Danford. Anaheim used Toronto’s original first-rounder to draft Norwegian defender Stian Solberg.

Jun. 29, 2024: Maple Leafs acquire Chris Tanev’s rights for 2026 seventh-round pick, Max Ellis

While the deal Treliving ultimately signed Tanev to is another matter — particular the six-year term, which now looks questionable — acquiring the defender’s rights was a worthwhile move. The club had been desperate to bring in the rugged, right-handed blue-liner. And while injuries have caught up with Tanev, when he was in the Maple Leafs’ lineup the veteran had an undeniable impact, both in terms of his defensive prowess and as an emotional leader. Trading away a seventh-rounder and a prospect who wasn’t going to crack the big club’s roster any time soon seemed a worthy price for working out a deal with Tanev before he hit free agency.

Jun. 29, 2024: Maple Leafs trade 2024 second-round pick to Florida for 2024 second-round pick and 2024 seventh-round pick

Again, not much to see here. Toronto used these picks to draft winger Tinus Luc Koblar and defender Nathan Mayes.

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Oct. 31, 2024: Maple Leafs trade Timothy Liljegren to San Jose for Matt Benning, 2024 third-round pick, 2026 sixth-round pick

A deal that made sense for all involved at the time. The 25-year-old flashed plenty of potential over the course of his six years in Toronto, but it never fully came together for Liljegren in a Maple Leafs sweater. In 2024-25, he found himself a healthy scratch for much of the campaign’s opening month, and sought a fresh start. Treliving found a decent return, and Liljegren found a new opportunity. The Sharks traded the blue-liner to Washington two years later.

Mar. 7, 2025: Maple Leafs acquire Reese Johnson from Minnesota for future considerations

Another fine, low-stakes swing. Johnson remains in the AHL with the Marlies.

Mar. 7, 2025: Maple Leafs acquire Brandon Carlo for Fraser Minten, 2026 first-round pick, 2025 fourth-round pick

This is where it all started to truly go sideways. And it’s a fair bet this deal will be remembered as the focal point of Treliving’s Maple Leafs tenure. The issue isn’t Carlo — the longtime Boston Bruins defenceman was seen as a positive addition for Toronto’s top four at the time, and while he and the entire Leafs blue line have struggled this season, Carlo was solid enough during that 2025 post-season.

It’s the cost that stung Treliving’s blue-and-white legacy. First, there was the matter of Minten, one of the organization’s few prospects with any type of big-league promise — the 21-year-old centreman has 17 goals in his first full NHL campaign with Boston this season. Then there were the picks, specifically the first-rounder that came with only top-five protection, rather than the more common top-10.

As the Leafs have plummeted down the standings over the latter half of the 2025-26 season, the fanbase has become consumed with tracking whether their club will fall far enough to keep their pick and draft in the top five, or — more likely — watch this disappointing season end with Toronto shipping a high first-rounder to the rival Bruins.

Mar. 7, 2025: Maple Leafs trade Connor Dewar and Conor Timmins to Pittsburgh for 2025 fifth-round pick
It pales in comparison to the deal above, but this one feels like another unnecessary misstep. While Dewar didn’t make much of an impact in Toronto, the rest of the forward’s career suggests he’s a useful bottom-six talent if deployed correctly. As mentioned earlier, he’s gone on to put up a career-best campaign for Kyle Dubas and the seemingly playoff-bound Penguins this season. Toronto traded away Dewar, and decent depth defender Timmins, to Pittsburgh essentially for free.

Mar. 7, 2025: Maple Leafs acquire Scott Laughton in five-piece deal (Toronto brought in Laughton, a 2025 fourth-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick, while Philadelphia received the Maple Leafs’ 2027 first-round pick and Nikita Grebenkin)

This was another key brick in the path that led to Treliving’s eventual exit. Again, context is key. With Toronto vying for a division title and gearing up for a post-season run, all eyes were on the front office to bring in some centre depth. Veteran Brayden Schenn was among the leading targets coveted by the fanbase. A deal was reportedly on the table, but the price was steep. In the end, Treliving pivoted to Laughton, but still wound up relinquishing a first-round pick.

Laughton endeared himself to the Maple Leafs faithful and brought plenty of spirit to the club’s bottom six, but the veteran simply wasn’t the type of offensively gifted depth scorer Toronto needed. The pressure on him was immense, it didn’t work out, and the Maple Leafs wound up moving him a year later.

Jun. 30, 2025: Maple Leafs acquire Matias Maccelli for 2027 third-round pick

Once again, context is important here. This deal alone was just fine — a flyer on a depth winger who’d showed some promise. The issue wasn’t necessarily the addition itself, it was how Maccelli fit into the overall project of rebuilding the Maple Leafs’ offence as Marner prepared to move on from Toronto.

A central misstep that sunk the Leafs this season was the front office falling short in using the cap space gained by Marner’s exit to bring in players who could replace No. 16’s offensive impact. Maccelli would’ve been a decent acquisition as a depth contributor, but he was instead slotted in as a top-line option alongside Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, in a spot that was crucial to get right. It was a big swing that seemed unlikely to work out. As the final weeks of the season arrive, it’s fair to say it hasn’t.

Jul. 1, 2025: Maple Leafs acquire Nicolas Roy from Vegas in Mitch Marner sign-and-trade

Treliving did well in acquiring some centre depth here, rather than losing Marner for nothing. Still, the fact that the situation got to this point at all seems another key bit of mismanagement. There was a calculated risk taken to keep Marner in the final year of his deal, with the hope of attaining some last-gasp playoff glory. Then came the ill-timed request for the winger to waive his no-trade clause mid-season for a potential Mikko Rantanen deal, expectedly denied. Ultimately, the Maple Leafs lost one of their most valuable assets — a 100-point, Selke-nominated, Olympic-calibre playmaker — while recouping only a depth pivot they traded away a year later.

Jul. 10, 2025: Maple Leafs trade Ryan Reaves to San Jose for Henry Thrun

A decent deal to bring in some blue-line depth, undoing a Treliving signing for the veteran Reaves, who never quite found a consistent role in the club’s bottom six.

Jul. 17, 2025: Maple Leafs acquire Dakota Joshua from Vancouver for 2028 fourth-round pick

Among the moves Treliving and Co. made in the wake of Marner’s exit, adding Joshua seemed a more understandable swing. He brought some size to the mix, and had showed his offensive potential in Vancouver. While injuries have hampered the former Canuck’s ability to fully find his footing in Toronto, Joshua wasn’t brought in with the expectation that he’d spark offensive creativity in the top six. He was simply asked to slot in as a capable middle-six depth scorer. He’s had his moments, and a healthier campaign could still see him become a useful contributor in blue and white.

Mar. 5, 2025: Maple Leafs trade Nicolas Roy to Colorado for 2027 first-round pick, 2026 fifth-round pick

The Roy deal signalled the Maple Leafs officially pulling the plug on 2025-26. After winning their division a year prior, Toronto trudged into this season’s deadline as reluctant sellers, trying to recoup what assets they could as a lost campaign wound to a close. Getting a first-round pick for Roy wound up the best of Treliving’s moves at this deadline, but it also highlighted once again the fumbling of the entire Marner saga.

Mar. 6, 2025: Maple Leafs trade Bobby McMann to Seattle for 2027 second-round pick, 2026 fourth-round pick

As was the case with a few other key moments of the Treliving era, timing got the better of the Leafs when it came to McMann’s exit. From the outside, Toronto’s fate seemed sealed long before the deadline arrived, and McMann — a 20-goal threat with size and pace — emerged as the club’s most promising trade chip. But Treliving held onto the belief that the club might turn it all around, climb back into the fight, and make something of the season. The timing seemed off, the deal was left too late, and Toronto wound up missing out on what was a good chance to land a first-round pick. McMann has since collected seven goals in nine games for Seattle.

Mar. 6, 2025: Maple Leafs trade Scott Laughton to Los Angeles for 2026 third-round pick

It was much the same for Laughton. While a disappointing season meant a hefty return for the depth pivot was unlikely, the Leafs still approached the deadline with a coveted asset in Laughton, a veteran centre and a heart-and-soul leader. But once again, Treliving and Co. seemed to wait too long, watched it all go sideways, and came away with only a third-rounder.

In all, Toronto walked away having given up a first-round pick and a prospect in Grebenkin for 63 games of Laughton and a collection of picks that won’t move the needle.

How can Maple Leafs create a path to being competitive in 2027?

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Kopitar looks back at his legendary NHL career with Kings

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Road to the Playoffs: The most important games this weekend

Rory Boylen — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:04:45 EDT

The march to the playoffs continues this weekend with several games of massive consequence — whether for a top divisional spot, the Presidents’ Trophy or just to make it to the post-season at all.

As we head into the long weekend, today’s look at the playoff races focuses on the biggest games on the docket. By the time we come out of it on Monday, we’ll have about a week-and-a-half of the regular season left and the playoff picture will look much different than it does today.

Here’s our matchup-by-matchup look at the most important games, all of which you can see on Sportsnet+.

Friday: Philadelphia 4, New York Islanders 1

The Flyers bounced back from a deflating loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday with a huge win over the Islanders. There are now four teams tied at 88 points, including the Senators, who hold the tiebreaker for the second wild card spot. The Islanders, with 89 points, are far from safe in the third spot in the Metro as the Flyers and Blue Jackets can clinch through that path, too.

Saturday and Sunday: Florida at Pittsburgh

The Panthers and Penguins play two games against each other, both in Pittsburgh, this weekend. It’s interesting for a couple reasons. No. 1 is that the Penguins have an opportunity to open up even more space between them and the Metro’s third spot before they finish their season with three of their last four games on the road.

And a funny historical note on this one. Recall the 2022-23 playoff race. The Penguins were ninth in the East, but just one back of the Islanders for eighth and two back of the Panthers for seventh. Pittsburgh had two games left on its schedule, compared to one each for New York and Florida. On April 11, the Penguins were playing against Chicago, the league’s worst team, and they would wrap up their regular season two nights later against the 31st-overall Blue Jackets.

Despite being in this great position, Pittsburgh suffered a highly unlikely 5-2 loss to Chicago in that first game, which allowed Florida to clinch its playoff berth and opened the door to the first of their three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final.

This season, Florida could play a part in the Penguins’ clinching scenario if it drops these two games. Of course, the stakes aren’t as high for Florida now as they were for Pittsburgh in 2023 — the Panthers organization would prefer to lose and ensure it keeps its top-10 protected draft pick.

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Saturday: Boston at Tampa Bay, 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT

A solid run of play, with six wins in its past eight games, has Boston solidly in a playoff spot, still with a chance to push for the No. 3 or possibly even No. 2 seed in the Atlantic. One of the teams the Bruins are still chasing is the Lightning, whom Boston plays both this weekend and next. Tampa, meantime, is neck and neck with Buffalo and Carolina for first place in the Eastern Conference, which would bring a Round 1 playoff matchup against a wild-card team. The Lightning will have immense influence on how the Eastern playoff race plays out for their divisional foes, as six of their last seven games come against Atlantic teams all with something still to play for.

Saturday: Buffalo at Washington, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT

Speaking of the top spot in the East, Buffalo is looking to regain its edge on Tampa, which is equal to the Sabres in points and regulation wins with one game in hand. Buffalo will have to do that against Washington, which may be the longest shot of the bubble teams to get into the wild card in the East, but is still in a good spot in the tiebreaker. It’s a big weekend for the Sabres and Lightning, and will set up a huge matchup between the two on Monday.

Sunday: Carolina at Ottawa, 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT

A big win over Buffalo Thursday, buoyed by a sharp performance from Linus Ullmark, put Ottawa into a wild-card spot and sets up a busy weekend of games. On Saturday, the Sens host Minnesota in a matinee, followed by an Easter Sunday game against Carolina — a team they may line up to play against in Round 1. Goalie usage will be in focus for the Sens in this back-to-back scenario, as James Reimer put together a good month of March with a 1.71 goals-against average. The Sens start the weekend in the playoffs by way of tiebreaker over two other teams with 88 points. How will they come out of it against two high-powered teams?

Sunday: Minnesota at Detroit, 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT

Every game is huge for the Red Wings now and their weekend begins with a matinee in Madison Square Garden against the Rangers. That might make Sunday’s home game against the much more difficult Minnesota Wild all the more challenging. How will they use their goalies? John Gibson has started all but two of Detroit’s games since the Olympic break, including both halves of a back-to-back last weekend, getting pulled in the second one against Philadelphia. He’s perhaps beginning to show signs of fatigue with 15 goals allowed in his last five starts.

Friday: St. Louis 6, Anaheim 2

The Ducks had a game in hand on the Oilers but they squandered that in a blowout loss to the Blues on Friday, their fourth loss in a row. The Ducks and Oilers are now tied at 87 points, but since they are also tied in games played, the Oilers jump ahead by the regulation-wins tiebreaker. The Blues, meanwhile, remain on the fringe of the race with the win but have back-to-back games against the Avalanche next, which could seal their fate if they drop both.

Saturday: Toronto at Los Angeles, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT

The Kings are also caught up in the West’s playoff race, but have lost six of their past eight and with only 19 regulation wins have the worst tiebreaker. Toronto, entering the day eighth-last in the league, has an interest in losing this game for two reasons: its first-round pick is top-five protected; and if the Kings make the post-season, the third-round pick Toronto got in the Scott Laughton trade will convert to a second-rounder (via Buffalo).

Saturday: Winnipeg at Columbus, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT

From an Eastern perspective, the Blue Jackets are currently tied with Ottawa and Detroit at 88 points for the second wild card, but are on the outs because they’ve played one more game than both and have fewer regulation wins. Saturday’s opponent presents a desperate and urgent Winnipeg Jets squad, which should make for a playoff-like atmosphere. And from a Western perspective, the Jets are one of the hottest bubble teams since the Olympic break, including a big win last weekend against Colorado, but they are coming off a 3-0 loss to Dallas on Thursday. The Jets are in an OK spot with the tiebreaker, but are three points out with seven games remaining and running out of time.

Saturday: Vegas at Edmonton, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT

It’s a weighty weekend in the Pacific Division. If Edmonton can win this game, it might be able to take over top spot in the division outright; a Vegas loss could put the Golden Knights far enough back of Anaheim and Edmonton that a division title gets out of reach and makes their seat hotter in relation to the wild-card race. Or, the opposite happens, and a Golden Knights victory makes this a tight, three-way race for the Pacific.

Saturday: Nashville at San Jose, 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT

The Sharks seemed all but buried after losing six straight games in late March, but now they’ve won four in a row, all in regulation, and start the weekend in a great spot as holders of the West’s second wild-card spot with one game in hand on all the teams immediately behind them, plus a decent tiebreaker setup. The Predators, meantime, snapped a three-game regulation losing skid with a huge shootout win over Los Angeles on Thursday that pulled them ahead of the Kings by way of the tiebreaker. The winner of this game is who will be in control of the second wild card on Sunday.

Sunday: St. Louis at Colorado, 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT

If the Avs sweep their two weekend games, it would put them on the precipice of clinching the Presidents’ Trophy. As mentioned earlier, the Blues will face Colorado on Sunday and again at home two nights later, a stiff test for a team hanging on for dear life in the playoff race.

Oilers’ Hyman out vs. Golden Knights, Draisaitl set for return to skating

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 13:53:57 EDT

The Edmonton Oilers will be without forward Zach Hyman for Saturday’s clash with the Vegas Golden Knights (8 p.m. MT / 10 p.m. ET on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+).

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters that Hyman will miss the contest with an undisclosed injury, but added that the winger would be in the lineup if it were a playoff game.

Additionally, star centre Leon Draisaitl is expected to resume skating in the coming days, but won’t travel with the team for its final road trip of the regular season.

Hyman, 33, has 31 goals and 20 assists in 57 games for Edmonton this season.

He played 16:40 in the Oilers’ 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.

Draisaitl’s return to the ice is a good sign for Edmonton as it gears up for the post-season.

The 30-year-old has been out since March 15 with a lower-body injury.

Draisaitl had 35 goals and 62 assists in 65 games before hitting the injured reserve.

Edmonton enters Saturday’s contest against Vegas tied with the Anaheim Ducks atop the Pacific Division. The Oilers also sit three points ahead of the Golden Knights in the standings.

Maple Leafs recall defenceman William Villeneuve on emergency basis

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:52:16 EDT

The Toronto Maple Leafs tweaked the roster on Saturday to bolster a depleted blue line.

Defenceman William Villeneuve was recalled from AHL Toronto on an emergency basis heading into the Maple Leafs game against the Los Angeles Kings, the team announced.

The move comes after defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was listed as doubtful heading into Saturday’s road tilt due to a lower-body injury suffered in Thursday’s loss — which officially eliminated the Maple Leafs from playoff contention — to the San Jose Sharks.

Ekman-Larsson has eight goals and 30 assists in 73 games this season. He’s previously missed just three games all season, and none were due to injury.

As for Villeneuve, the 24-year-old has yet to make an appearance in the NHL since being selected 122nd overall in the 2020 draft by Toronto.

The young defenceman has spent the 2025-26 season with the Marlies, logging three goals and 25 assists through 58 games.

Catch the Maple Leafs look to play spoiler against the playoff-hopeful Kings on Saturday, with puckdrop set for 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Maple Leafs’ Ekman-Larsson out vs. Kings

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:59:26 EDT

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without Oliver Ekman-Larsson for Hockey Night in Canada against the Los Angeles Kings (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT).

Ekman-Larsson was ruled out for the game with a lower-body injury, according to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox.

The blue-liner entered the day doubtful to play after exiting Thursday’s loss to the San Jose Sharks early. The Maple Leafs were officially eliminated from playoff contention in the defeat.

Ekman-Larsson has eight goals and 30 assists in 73 games this season. He’s missed just three games all season, and none were due to injury.

Earlier Saturday, Toronto recalled defenceman William Villeneuve on an emergency basis.

Hockey Night in Canada on Sportsnet: Canucks vs. Mammoth

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:51:30 EDT

The Vancouver Canucks and Utah Mammoth square off on Hockey Night in Canada. Catch the action on Sportsnet Pacific and Sportsnet+ at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT.

FA Cup Roundup: Arsenal stunned by Southampton, City dispatches Liverpool

Associated Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:51:53 EDT

Second-tier Southampton caused a huge shock by beating Premier League leader Arsenal in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Saturday after Manchester City dispatched Liverpool 4-0 thanks to a hat trick by Erling Haaland.

Fresh off losing the English League Cup final to City before the international break, Arsenal saw another potential trophy slip from its grasp when conceding in the 85th minute to lose 2-1 at Southampton — a team in seventh place in the Championship.

It left City as the big favourite to clinch a cup double this season, with the thrashing of Liverpool securing a place in the FA Cup semifinals for a record eighth straight season.

Mohamed Salah’s failure from the penalty spot added to the woes of Liverpool, whose meltdown at Etihad Stadium will put more heat on under-pressure manager Arne Slot.

Chelsea also advanced, routing third-tier Port Vale 7-0. The semifinal line-up will be completed Sunday when West Ham hosts Leeds, after which the last-four draw will be made.

Arsenal cup hopes disappearing

So much for Arsenal’s hopes of a quadruple of major trophies this season.

It’s now just the Premier League and Champions League up for grabs with manager Mikel Arteta’s decision to field a weakened lineup backfiring at St. Mary’s Stadium.

Trailing to a 35th-minute strike by Ross Stewart, Arsenal sent on Viktor Gyokeres — fresh off scoring the goal that lifted Sweden into the World Cup on Tuesday — and the striker equalized in the 68th.

Still, Southampton continued to look dangerous on the counterattack and Shea Charles, a former academy product at Man City, fired home from inside the area to secure a famous win.

“To go and beat arguably the best team in Europe at the minute is an incredible feeling,” Stewart said.

In an added blow to Arsenal ahead of its upcoming Champions League quarterfinal against Sporting Lisbon, Brazil center back Gabriel Magalhaes was forced off with a left knee injury midway through the second half. He was seen later with ice on the knee.

Haaland’s 12th hat trick for City

Haaland’s 18-minute hat trick started with a penalty in the 39th minute after Virgil van Dijk tripped Nico O’Reilly. Then he headed home a cross from Antoine Semenyo in first-half stoppage time, before sweeping in a finish off the crossbar in the 57th.

The Norway striker’s first hat trick of the season for City was his 12th for the club since he joined in 2022.

Semenyo scored the other goal in the 50th for City, which sealed a return to Wembley Stadium two weeks after beating Arsenal there in the League Cup final.

“This club has to win trophies,” said Haaland, who was described after the game as a “machine” by City assistant coach Pep Lijnders — the former Liverpool No. 2 who was deputizing in the dugout while Pep Guardiola served a touchline suspension.

Salah, who announced during the international break he’s leaving Liverpool after nine trophy-filled seasons, was beginning his long goodbye to the Reds but couldn’t mark it with a goal. The best of the many chances he spurned came from a penalty, which City goalkeeper James Trafford palmed away in the 64th.

It was a record 18th straight home win for City in the FA Cup, dating to 2017. Guardiola’s team shared a record with Clapham Rovers for reaching seven consecutive FA Cup finals but now holds it outright.

Many Liverpool fans were seen leaving the stadium after the fourth City goal.

“The fighting spirit wasn’t there enough, the mentality wasn’t there enough,” Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai said. “None of us were there to be honest as much as we could.

“It’s a hard time but we have to stick together.”

Chelsea overwhelms Port Vale

Like City, Chelsea romped to a big win — though this one was expected.

Playing without Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez for disciplinary reasons, Chelsea still had more than enough to dispatch Port Vale at Stamford Bridge thanks to goals by Jorrel Hato, Joao Pedro, Tosin Adarabioyo, Andrey Santos, Estevao and Alejandro Garnacho. There was also an own-goal.

Chelsea has won the FA Cup eight times, most recently in 2018.

Luca Langoni sparks Revolution to clean-sheet win over Montreal

Associated Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 19:34:27 EDT

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Luca Langoni scored early before notching his league-high fifth assist on defender Mamadou Fofana’s first career Major League Soccer goal, and the New England Revolution beat CF Montreal 3-0 on Saturday.

New England (2-3-0) has lost all three of its road matches under first-year coach Marko Mitrović, but the Revolution have won their two home matches by a combined 9-1 score. Mitrović wasn’t on the field as the Revs closed it out after receiving a red card in the 34th minute.

Montreal falls to 1-5-0 and ends a six-match road trip to begin the season.

New England jumped in front in the sixth minute and held a 1-0 lead through halftime on a goal by Langoni, who was in the right place to knock in a deflected shot by Dor Turgeman. It was the first goal this season for Langoni and his sixth in 43 career appearances.

The Revolution took a 2-0 lead in the 77th minute when Langoni set up Fofana’s goal. Fofana tallied one assist in 30 appearances — all starts — last season as a rookie.

Peyton Miller, an 18-year-old defender, scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Miller has two goals in three matches coming off the bench this season after scoring two goals in his first 36 appearances with 33 starts.

Matt Turner had five saves for New England to earn his first clean sheet this season and his 25th in 117 career starts for the club.

Thomas Gillier saved two shots for Montreal in his 14th career start over the past two seasons.

Montreal beat the Revs 3-1 in its last trip to Foxborough in July.

New England leads the all-time series 19-14-4.

UP NEXT

Montreal: Hosts the Philadelphia Union on Saturday, April 11.

New England: Hosts D.C. United on Saturday, April 11.

Canada Soccer turns jersey swap for Italian-Canadian fans into giveaway

Canadian Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:32:15 EDT

Fans of Italy’s national soccer team may be disappointed their team won’t be in the 2026 World Cup, but at least some of them got a consolation prize.

More than 100 fans lined up outside Café Diplomatico on a grey Toronto morning for a Canada Soccer jersey swap targeting the city’s Italian-Canadian community, and the jerseys were gone in under 30 minutes.

Part of Canada Soccer’s new World Cup brand campaign, “Our Game Now,” the premise was simple: bring your Italy jersey, get a Canadian one.

In the end, those who got jerseys didn’t have to give theirs up.

“This is not about taking off a jersey. It’s about putting one on,” said Paulo Senra, Canada Soccer’s chief communications and content officer.

When fans in line learned they’d be keeping their Italian kits, the reaction caught even the organizers off guard.

“A couple of them even started to cry,” Senra said. “There was one lady in line that I actually hugged. It really felt like she was like my mom.”

Canada Soccer announced the event after the Italian team lost a chance to quality for World Cup 2026, being hosted in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, after a surprising loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina earlier this week.

Alessandra Miceli, born in Canada to Italian parents, said she came out knowing she probably should support the host nation, even if it stung a little.

“It was really nice to come and then find out that we got to keep our own jerseys,” she said.

It was her first Canada jersey. When asked whether she’d back Italy or Canada if the two ever met at a World Cup, she didn’t pick a side. And it could have been a reality. Had Italy qualified, they would have opened the tournament against Canada in Toronto.

“I’d probably wear red and blue,” she said. “I wouldn’t take full support for one over the other.”

For many of the fans who turned out, the swap wasn’t a difficult ask. Amil Ivascu has supported Italy for 28 years because of his Italian wife but he and his son David still came out. They walked away with the final jersey while still holding onto their Italian kits.

The pair was split on who they would cheer for in a head-to-head match. David said he’d support Canada. His father, after a long pause, laughed and said he would stick with Italy.

Raymond Chang has watched soccer for 50 years. He’s not Italian-Canadian, he just loves the game and loved watching Italy play. He heard about the event online the night before.

“I really wanted to see Italy get into the World Cup,” he said. “I’m very disappointed they didn’t get in.”

He was happy to take part in the swap.

“I was very excited to have this type of thing,” he said, though he also didn’t have to give up his Italian kit.

While it was all smiles at the grey event, the online reaction to the promotion wasn’t so sunny.

Some critics took issue with the concept on social media, saying it was “ostracizing” and “disrespectful.” Some even wished humiliation on Team Canada during the World Cup.

Senra said the organization anticipated a range of responses and emphasized the campaign was meant as an invitation, not a rejection of long-held loyalties.

“It’s very rare to be in a country like ours where you’re allowed to have multiple homes in your hearts,” he said.

“People have a tremendous amount of history with their home teams,” he said. “Today is not about putting that away, it’s about putting on a jersey and really embracing the globalism, the diversity of this country and also this game.”

By the time the jerseys ran out, Canada Soccer was handing out scarves, hats and 500 posters to the fans still in line.

Noah Brown, 13, had been standing at the back of the queue with his mom, Karen, when it opened and said he wasn’t sure he’d make it. They each walked away with a jersey and a smile.

Dodgers’ Mookie Betts exits vs. Nationals with low back pain

Associated Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:43:31 EDT

WASHINGTON — Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts left Saturday’s game at Washington after the top of the first inning because of right lower back pain.

Betts was starting at shortstop and batting third when he drew a walk in the first and eventually scored on Freddie Freeman’s two-run double. He was replaced in the field by Miguel Rojas before the bottom of the inning. The Dodgers went on to win 10-5.

Manager Dave Roberts said postgame that Betts would have an MRI on Saturday night and is unlikely to play Sunday.

“It was running the bases, scoring on that double,” Roberts said. “It’s certainly more moderate than significant.”

Still, Roberts indicated Betts will not be rushed back for the series finale at Washington — or even the following game on the turf at Toronto on Monday.

“I don’t want to get too far ahead of what we’re going to do,” Roberts said. “We’ll huddle up and see if we need to get a player here. … He certainly won’t be playing the next couple days, I would assume.”

The 33-year-old Betts is coming off a 2025 season in which he played 150 games. He scuffled through the postseason but began the 6-6-3 double play that won Game 7 of the World Series for Los Angeles.

Tigers place Justin Verlander on 15-day IL with left hip inflammation

Associated Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 13:18:30 EDT

DETROIT — Justin Verlander‘s long-awaited return to Comerica Park as a member of the Detroit Tigers was put on hold Saturday.

Verlander, the major league’s oldest active player at 43, was placed on the 15-day injured list with left hip inflammation. On Sunday night, Verlander was scheduled to make his first start in a Tigers uniform at Detroit’s home park since Aug. 20, 2017.

“It’s frustrating for me, obviously,” Verlander said. “I also know a lot of fans were excited about tomorrow night.”

Verlander was dealt to Houston at the trade deadline in 2017. He re-signed with Detroit on a one-year, $13 million contract in February after spending last season with San Francisco.

Verlander made 380 starts for Detroit from 2005 to 2017. In his first start this season, Verlander gave up five runs and six hits in 3 2/3 innings on Monday against Arizona and took the loss.

The injury popped up during that start. Verlander said it wasn’t serious and that he might have been able to pitch on Sunday, but the organization wanted to take a cautious approach.

“It was really sore the next day or two but it’s been trending in the right direction,” he said. “So it was kind of a wait-and-see game if it could get good enough. To be quite frank, it probably is good enough if we wanted to push it. But AJ (manager AJ Hinch) and the front office — and I agree with them — felt it was not the time of year to do that. And unfortunately we don’t have an off-day to finagle with it, which also kind of hurts.”

Verlander believes he’ll have a short stay on the IL.

“It’s not ideal but nothing too bad,” he said. “I think we got it under control.”

RHP Keider Montero was recalled from triple-A Toledo and is expected to start the finale of a three-game series against St. Louis.

MLB Highlights (April 4)

Kai Gammage — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:22:38 EDT

MLB Highlights: White Sox 6, Blue Jays 3

Sportsnet Video — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:43:26 EDT

MLB Highlights: Dodgers 10, Nationals 5

Sportsnet Video — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 19:19:57 EDT

MLB Highlights: Padres 3, Red Sox 2

Sportsnet Video — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 19:27:40 EDT

MLB Highlights: Pirates 3, Orioles 2

Sportsnet Video — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 19:48:15 EDT

MLB Highlights: Astros 11, Athletics 0

Sportsnet Video — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 19:36:24 EDT

MLB Highlights: Mets 10, Giants 3

Sportsnet Video — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 01:39:50 EDT

MLB Highlights: Brewers 5, Royals 2

Sportsnet Video — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:35:17 EDT

MLB Highlights: Tigers 11, Cardinals 6

Sportsnet Video — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:14:39 EDT

UFC Fight Night on Sportsnet: Moicano vs. Duncan

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:05:17 EDT

Renato Moicano and Chris Duncan headline a UFC Fight Night card at the Meta Apex with the Brazilian hoping to end a two-fight skid. Watch the event on Sportsnet+.

UFC Fight Night: Moicano vs. Duncan

Josh Beneteau — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:44:03 EDT

UFC Cage Locks: Teammates Moicano, Duncan meet in main event

Sportsnet Staff — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:12:12 EDT

Renato Moicano and Chris Duncan have trained together on the mats at American Top Team in Coconut Crek, Fla., however on Saturday in Las Vegas the lightweights will be in opposite corners.

The pair headline a UFC Fight Night card at the Meta Apex with Brazil’s Moicano hoping to end a two-fight skid and Scotland’s Duncan looking for his fifth consecutive win.

The co-main event features top strawweights Virna Jandiroba and Tabatha Ricci with Ricci in a position to move closer to a title shot at 115 pounds and Jandiroba attempting to return to the win column after falling short in a title fight this past October.

Moicano, Duncan, Jandiroba and Ricci all successfully made weight Friday at the official weigh-in, although three fighters were over their respective limits on their initial attempts.

Abdulrakhman Yakhyaev weighed in above the non-title light-heavyweight limit of 206 pounds by one pound, former flyweight Rafael Estevam was a half pound above the non-title bantamweight limit of 136, and Darrius Flowers was half a pound over the non-title lightweight limit of 156.

All three were given an extra hour to make weight. Yakhyaev ended up shedding the extra pound to reach 206 pounds, but Estevam and Flowers decided not to cut any additional weight and were each fined 20 per cent of their purse yet their fights will proceed. This was Estevam’s third weight miss in the UFC.

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Below is the projected bout order for UFC Fight Night: Moicano vs. Duncan (subject to change) plus full predictions:

MAIN CARD

— Renato Moicano vs. Chris Duncan

— Virna Jandiroba vs. Tabatha Ricci

— Abdulrakhman Yakhyaev vs. Brendson Ribeiro

— Ethyn Ewing vs. Rafael Estevam

— Tommy McMillen vs. Manolo Zecchini

— Jose Delano vs. Robert Ruchala

PRELIMINARY CARD

— Guilherme Pat vs. Thomas Petersen

— Alessandro Costa vs. Stewart Nicoll

— Lando Vannata vs. Darrius Flowers

— Alice Pereira vs. Hailey Cowan

— Azamat Bekoev vs. Tresean Gore

— Dione Barbosa vs. Melissa Gatto

— Kai Kamaka III vs. Dakota Hope

Ahead of each UFC event in 2026, UFC reporter Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter), producer Dan Fernandes (@DanFernandes__) and writer/editor Mike Johnston (@MikeyJ_MMA) will peruse the odds and make four betting predictions using fantasy dollars: one best bet, one favourite, one underdog and one dart throw wager. REMINDER: Sportsnet is committed to promoting and educating audiences about the importance of betting responsibly. Sources for responsible gambling can be found HERE.

UFC on Sportsnet

Lightweights Renato Moicano and Chris Duncan headline a card at the Meta Apex. Watch UFC Fight Night action on Saturday, April 4 on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+ with coverage beginning at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT.

Watch UFC on Sportsnet

AARON’S PICKS

Cage Lock: Abdulrakhman Yakhyaev -1500

Favourite: Ethyn Ewing -140

Underdog: Renato Moicano +145

Dart Throw: Robert Ruchala wins by decision +550

When someone is lined at -1500, they are essentially a lock and Yakhyaev certainly feels like he has Ribeiro’s number wherever the fight takes place. … While Estevam is undefeated, he is moving up a weight class and his lack of output paired with having to face a bigger opponent has me leaning towards Ewing. After a successful debut against a high-level striker in Malcolm Wellmaker, Ewing will now be tested by a high-level grappler and it is a test that I believe he passes. … Chris Duncan has been on a roll lately, but has typically been the underdog, this time around, he is the favourite against arguably his toughest test to date. Moicano’s speed and grappling could give him fits over the course of five rounds and I like getting him at a value price. … Delano looks like a solid prospect, however I believe that Ruchala, a former KSW champion, is not getting enough respect in this spot. He is tough as nails and I expect him to give Delano all that he can handle.

DAN’S PICKS

Cage Lock: Tommy McMillen -1400

Favourite: Jose Delano -285

Underdog: Rafael Estevam +125

Dart Throw: Jandiroba wins inside the distance +450

All aboard the Tommy McMillen hype train! I think the rising prospect has a favourable matchup this week and the perfect opportunity to show the world what his fans already know: Tommy McMillen is going to be a problem at featherweight. McMillen is a great striker and accomplished wrestler who is taking on an opponent that was unceremoniously knocked out in Round 1 of his UFC debut: Manolo Zecchini. McMillen probably wins inside the distance, but an outright win here parlayed with other value plays could make for a trip (or two) to the pay window.

Like McMillen, Jose Delano is also making his UFC debut and should get his hand raised on Saturday. Delano’s opponent Robert Ruchala seemed a step slower than William Gomis in his UFC debut and will likely struggle to cope with Delano’s well-rounded game. … I think recency bias is impacting the money line on Ethyn Ewing vs Rafael Estevam. It’s hard to cheer against Ewing given his Cinderella story win over Malcolm Wellmaker at UFC 322 at MSG. I just think Estevam is a more cerebral fighter than Wellmaker and will not underestimate Ewing in this fight. When you remove the element of surprise and sentimental storylines from this bout, it’s a very even fight. Worth leaning the underdog here. … If Virna Jandiroba is able to execute her game plan on Saturday night, she could very well finish Tabatha Ricci inside the distance. As she begins to wear on her opponent there will be openings to snatch a limb or even reign down shots from a dominant position. I’m OK with the risk vs. reward factor of +450 here. It’s longshot odds on a probable outcome in my opinion.

MIKE’S PICKS

Cage Lock: Azamat Bekoev -600

Favourite: Virna Jandiroba -120

Underdog: Hailey Cowan +110

Dart Throw: Duncan by submission +750

Without a handful of questionable fight IQ moments in her last fight, Jandiroba could very well be champ right now. Despite her age and falling short against Mackenzie Dern, she is still a tough out at strawweight and will be Tabatha Ricci’s toughest test in at least a couple years. … Moicano is a terrific grappler but has lost a couple times by sub in the UFC and Duncan has a tight squeeze. I could see a world where Duncan rocks Moicano and jumps on a choke. … Bekoev was humbled in his last outing but I’m a believer in the former LFA champ and think he gets by Tresean Gore on the prelims. … Alice Pereira gets hyped because she made it to the UFC by age 20 but her skill set leaves much to be desired and Hailey Cowen has the edge in experience and strength of schedule.

CAGE LOCKS PARLAY

Three legs: Yakhyaev + McMillen + Bekoev

Parlay odds: -300 (to win: $33.33)

2026 STANDINGS AFTER 9 EVENTS

CAGE LOCKS PARLAY

2026 record: 3-6 (L2)

2026 winnings: -$336.12 (on $100 bets)

AARON’S RECORDS/TOTALS (15-21, -2.64 units)

Cage Lock: 4-5 (-$406.61)

Favourite: 6-3 (+$13.24)

Underdog: 3-6 (-$120)

Dart throw: 2-7 (+$250)

DAN’S RECORDS/TOTALS (17-19, -4.52 units)

Cage Lock: 8-1 (+$14.58)

Favourite: 5-4 (-$166.61)

Underdog: 3-6 (-$150)

Dart throw: 1-8 (-$150)

MIKE’S RECORDS/TOTALS (15-21, -11.46 units)

Cage Lock: 8-1 (+$85.13)

Favourite: 4-5 (-$261.80)

Underdog: 3-6 (-$70)

Dart throw: 0-9 (-$900)

Cage Lock: The pick deemed to be the wager most likely to win regardless of what the odds look like. The Cage Locks parlay will combine Aaron’s, Dan’s and Mike’s respective best bet for each event.

Favourite: A fighter with winning odds shorter than -300 but not longer than -110. On chalkier cards with a dearth of available moneyline favourites that meet those criteria, prop bets are allowed to be selected.

Underdog: Any fighter with longer odds than their opponent’s.

Dart Throw: Any prop bet or moneyline wager with odds of +400 or longer.

(Betting odds above are via BetMGM, submitted at various times throughout week, and subject to change prior to the fights)

UFC Fight Night: Moicano vs. Duncan official results

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 18:30:00 EDT

Renato Moicano and Chris Duncan trained together on the mats at American Top Team in Coconut Crek, Fla., however on Saturday in Las Vegas the lightweights were in opposite corners.

The pair headlined a UFC Fight Night card at the Meta Apex with Brazil’s Moicano hoping to end a two-fight skid and Scotland’s Duncan looking for his fifth consecutive win.

Renato Moicano looking to derail gym mate Chris Duncan at Fight Night

Mike Johnston — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:57:45 EDT

A pair of skilled lightweight submission artists heading in opposite directions are stepping into the spotlight this weekend for a five-round featured contest at the Meta Apex.

Renato Moicano hasn’t won a fight in a year-and-a-half, will turn 37 by the end of next month, and is set to face streaking Scotsman Chris Duncan, who happens to be a teammate no less.

The popular Brazilian fighter has lost his last two outings and aims to prove he is still deserving of being a top-ranked contender at 155 pounds.

Moicano enters his third UFC main event matchup, currently the No. 10-ranked lightweight contender on the roster, yet he is the listed underdog against Duncan, his unranked gym mate from American Top Team.

Both fighters have trained out of the star-studded Coconut Creek, Fla., gym for years, so the fact that they were paired together for this matchup has resulted in some complicated preparations out of ATT.

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Moicano explained in an interview with Full Send MMA this week that, at times, the atmosphere in the gym was “confusing” because both he and Duncan usually have an overlap of training partners.

“The gym, I’m not going to say was divided, but some guys that were helping him were not training with me,” Moicano said.

Neither fighter will allow this to alter their game plan or quash their desire to earn a knockout or submission win. In fact, this isn’t the first time that Duncan has recently prepared to fight someone with whom he has shared the mats.

Duncan, 32, is riding a four-fight winning streak, and one of those wins was a hard-fought unanimous decision eight months ago over Mateusz Rebecki, who had spent time at ATT in the past. Duncan has been there for the duration of his UFC career, which began in 2022. He became one of Dustin Poirier’s main training partners there, and his fighting style at times resembles that of the retired one-time interim lightweight titleholder.

Meanwhile, Moicano has been a staple at ATT since 2017 and a fixture on the UFC roster since 2014. The jiu-jitsu black belt began his mixed martial arts career as a featherweight, where he picked up victories over Cub Swanson, Calvin Kattar and Jeremy Stephens. He moved up to the lightweight division in 2020 and, after splitting his first two bouts in his new weight class, has gone 6-3 and even challenged for the title.

Moicano was on the best streak of his career from 2022 to 2024 when he railed off four consecutive wins over top competition. A technical knockout win over Jalin Turner at UFC 300 and another TKO over Benoit Saint Denis in a UFC Paris main event in September of 2024 put him in a position where he was awarded a short-notice title shot at UFC 311 in January 2025.

Moicano was submitted by then-champion Islam Makhachev on one day’s notice as a replacement opponent, and was unable to return to the win column in his next outing. He lost a three-round decision to Beneil Dariush at UFC 317 last June and hasn’t fought since. Also, in recent years, he has been dealing with a shoulder issue that has hindered him.

Duncan has gone 4-0 with three submission finishes since Moicano’s most recent win. His perfect 2025 campaign was capped off by consecutive back-and-forth brawls with Rebecki and Terrance McKinney, the latter of whom he ended up submitting in a wild half-round bout.

Duncan is 15-2 in MMA with four submission wins and all those subs have been via guillotine or anaconda choke. Moicano has been submitted twice in his career – by Brian Ortega via guillotine choke in 2017 and by Makhachev via brabo choke in early 2025.

Half of Moicano’s pro wins have been via submission, but he hasn’t locked in a fight-finishing hold since he stopped Brad Riddell with a rear-naked choke in 2022.

Seven of Duncan’s 15 pro wins have been via KO/TKO, and Moicano has been stopped by strikes three times in his career. He was stopped by Jose Aldo and “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung in 2019 and knocked out by Rafael Fiziev in 2020.

The oddsmakers have Duncan listed as a minus-200 favourite, according to BetMGM, with Moicano a plus-165 underdog. The most likely outcome per oddsmaker projections is Duncan winning by KO/TKO (plus-100), followed by Moicano by submission (plus-300).

UFC on Sportsnet

Lightweights Renato Moicano and Chris Duncan headline a card at the Meta Apex. Watch UFC Fight Night action on Saturday, April 4 on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+ with coverage beginning at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT.

Watch UFC on Sportsnet

UNDERCARD OVERVIEW

Big opportunity for Ricci: The co-main event features strawweight contenders Virna Jandiroba and Tabatha Ricci, the latter of whom is hoping to move closer to a title shot. Jandiroba has to regain momentum after falling short in her vacant title fight with Mackenzie Dern in October. Ricci is riding high off the first KO/TKO win of her UFC career.

Ricci, 31, improved to 7-3 in the UFC with her finish of Amanda Ribas, and she holds a key victory over fellow rising 115-pounder Gillian Robertson. Three of Jandiroba’s four pro losses have been to UFC champions — two were to Dern and one was to Carla Esparza — and she has never been finished in her career. Jandiroba, 37, enters the weekend as the No. 3-ranked contender in the strawweight division with Ricci sitting at No. 7.

Ewing on a full camp: One of the more feel-good stories in the UFC last year was the short-notice debut of Ethan Ewing in November. Ewing handed touted bantamweight prospect Malcolm Wellmaker his first loss at UFC 322 after accepting the matchup on just 48 hours’ notice. Ewing is set for his sophomore outing and his first UFC appearance after having a full training camp to prepare.

The 28-year-old who trains out of CSW Training Center in Fullerton, Calif., is 9-2 and had won a bantamweight title on the regional scene in California just one week before his UFC debut. Ewing’s bout with Wellmaker was a 145-pound contest given its short-notice nature, but he will be competing at his usual weight of 135 pounds this weekend when he faces undefeated Rafael Estevam. Ewing lost his pro debut in 2020 and his second fight in 2022, but has won nine in a row since 2023. Estevam is 14-0 in MMA and 3-0 in the UFC.

Returning fighters: There are a handful of familiar names listed on Saturday’s bout order that UFC fans haven’t seen in a while. Kai Kamaka III was added to the card this week after five years spent competing in rival organizations.

Featherweight striker Lando Vannata is also returning to the cage after a lengthy layoff. Vannata, 34, hasn’t fought in three years and hasn’t gotten his hand raised in nearly five. Vannata has been on the UFC roster since 2016, but only has a 4-7-2 record. He has lost two in a row and three of four dating back to 2020. His opponent, Darrius Flowers, is in a similar spot, having not fought since July 2024 and entering on a three-fight losing streak. Flowers earned a UFC contract through the Contender Series in 2022 and has gone 0-3 at the UFC level.

Below is the projected bout order for UFC Fight Night: Moicano vs. Duncan (subject to change):

MAIN CARD

— Renato Moicano vs. Chris Duncan

— Virna Jandiroba vs. Tabatha Ricci

— Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev vs. Brendson Ribeiro

— Ethyn Ewing vs. Rafael Estevam

— Tommy McMillen vs. Manolo Zecchini

— Jose Delano vs. Robert Ruchala

PRELIMINARY CARD

— Guilherme Pat vs. Thomas Petersen

— Alessandro Costa vs. Stewart Nicoll

— Lando Vannata vs. Darrius Flowers

— Alice Pereira vs. Hailey Cowan

— Azamat Bekoev vs. Tresean Gore

— Dione Barbosa vs. Melissa Gatto

— Kai Kamaka III vs. Dakota Hope

Moicano ready to put friendship aside in Fight Night bout vs. Duncan

Sportsnet Video — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:49:22 EDT

Jokic scores 40, outduels Wembanyama as Nuggets top Spurs in OT

Associated Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 19:33:44 EDT

DENVER — Nikola Jokic had 40 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds, Christian Braun added 21 points and the Denver Nuggets beat San Antonio 136-134 in overtime Saturday to snap the Spurs’ 11-game winning streak.

Cameron Johnson scored 17, Jamal Murray finished with 15 points and 10 assists and Aaron Gordon scored 15 for the Nuggets.

Gordon scored with 6.2 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, then forced Victor Wembanyama into a miss on the final shot of regulation.

Wembanyama finished with 34 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists and five blocked shots for the Spurs, who lost for only the third time in their last 30 games.

Stephon Castle scored 20 points for San Antonio, while Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie each scored 18 for the Spurs.

Up next

Spurs: Host Philadelphia on Monday.

Nuggets: Host Portland on Monday.

Lakers’ Austin Reaves out four to six weeks with oblique injury

Associated Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:25:41 EDT

LOS ANGELES — Austin Reaves has a Grade 2 oblique muscle injury that will force him to miss the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers‘ regular season, along with Luka Doncic, the team announced Saturday.

Reaves and Doncic both incurred potentially significant injuries on Thursday in Oklahoma City, throwing a major complication into the postseason hopes of the Lakers (50-27). Doncic is out for at least the next two weeks after straining his left hamstring in the Lakers’ blowout loss to the Thunder.

Reaves and Doncic both got injured in the first half Thursday, but both returned to the game. Doncic was diagnosed with his second significant hamstring injury on Friday, while Reaves had an MRI on Saturday and was subsequently ruled out by the Lakers, who play at Dallas on Sunday.

Both Doncic and Reaves have been diagnosed with injuries that often take a month or more to heal properly, but the Lakers haven’t speculated on their availability beyond the next five games.

Reaves has blossomed into an elite NBA scorer and remained a vital offensive option alongside Doncic and LeBron James this season during the Lakers’ run to the Pacific Division title. The former undrafted free agent is averaging 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds while playing in 51 games this season, his fifth with the Lakers.

Reaves missed 19 games after straining his left calf on Christmas. He would be the NBA’s 11th-leading scorer if he had played enough games to qualify.

The Lakers have won 16 of their last 19 games to surge into the third seed in the Western Conference. The playoffs begin in two weeks.

Before the severity of Reaves’ injury was announced, Lakers coach JJ Redick told reporters in Dallas on Saturday that the team can’t stop moving in Doncic’s absence.

“Our mission, it hasn’t changed,” Redick said. “The rest of these guys and my staff, we’re going after the 3-seed, and we’re going to try to win a playoff series.”

After his breakout offensive play in his first full season alongside Doncic, Reaves will be eligible for a significant contract extension this summer if he declines his player option for the 2026-27 season as expected. Reaves and the Lakers both expect him to stay with the club.

The Lakers’ regular-season finale is April 12 at home against Utah.

Borovilos leads historic Canadian showing at Augusta

Adam Stanley — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:07:44 EDT

The Canadian group at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur made history this week for both quantity and quality, as Vanessa Borovilos notched the best-ever finish by a Canadian at the championship.

Borovilos, who shot an even-par 72 at Augusta National itself in the final round, finished at 5 under for the week and finished tied for 11th. The previous best result by a Canadian was a tie for 14th, which happened twice before.

Borovilos, Lauren Kim, and Aphrodite Deng already made history, as this was the first time in the championship there was more than one Canadian teeing it up.

All three also made the cut and got to play Augusta National in the final round.

Deng, at 16, was one of the youngest golfers in the field this week while Kim played the championship for her third time – the most by a Canadian – and this was her swan song, as she told Sportsnet.ca in a pre-tournament interview she would be turning professional soon.

Deng finished tied for 19th while Kim struggled at Augusta National and finished 30th

Maria Jose Marin, the seventh-ranked female amateur in the world, won by four after Asterisk Talley, women’s golf’s top-ranked junior, made a disaster of the par-3 12th at Augusta National – making a quadruple-bogey seven. Talley was bogey-free all tournament until she went bogey-quad on Nos. 11 and 12. Marin, the 2025 NCAA Division I individual women’s champion, finished at 14 under for the week.

Spain’s Andrea Revuelta finished second at 10 under, Soomin Oh of South Korea was solo third at 9 under, and Talley ended up in a fivesome tied for fourth at 8 under.

For Borovilos, it was a tremendous return trip to Augusta National – a place where she won the Drive, Chip, and Putt National Final in 2018 as a youngster.

The native of Etobicoke, Ont. shot a bogey-free 66 in the opener at Champions Retreat and while she shot a 1-over 73 in the second day she still made the cut with room to spare.

She got off to a tremendous start at Augusta National Saturday, making birdies on Nos. 1 and 2 (despite saying it was “the first time” she was “nervous on a first tee shot”) and adding another on the par-3 4th. Borovilos then made a tough double-bogey on the par-4 7th before hitting one of the shots of a tournament – a chip-in birdie on the iconic par-3 12th. She added one more birdie on No. 15 before struggling with her finish and ending up with an even-par effort.

On No. 12 Borovilos said she was about 20 yards left of the pin and had to bump it into a hill to let it roll out. It’s one of the most slippery shots on the course because, she said, if you get it going too fast it’ll fall into the water. Borovilos said she hit a 56-degree wedge and had it check into the hill. Once it went in, she said, she was waving to the crowd – but there was no sound.

“I’m like, ‘Oh.’ And then I think they ended up realizing it after. It was a funny moment because my caddie was saying, ‘You need to wave to the crowd more.’ So I did, since I didn’t get any reaction the first time,” Borovilos said with a smile.

Borovilos, already a two-time winner at Texas A&M, said this week was one she’ll carry with her for a lifetime. And it was nothing but positives as she looks ahead to her own golfing future.

“It’s hard not to enjoy it because we’re at Augusta,” Borovilos said. “It was a pretty cool week, to say the least.”

Borovilos was quick to heap praise on Golf Canada’s Women’s National Team head coach Salimah Mussani, who was there to support the trio through the week and helped guide the young talent through what is always a bit of an overwhelming stretch. Canadian golf continues to grow, Borovilos said, especially with young women thanks to Brooke Henderson’s ongoing successes.

But if there was any indication this week, the future is now.

“I think we have a group coming up the next few years, but we’re all competing on the same stage,” Borovilos said. “I know Lauren and Aphrodite are both amazing players, too, and they’re only going to get better from here.”

Canada’s Alphonso Davies subs on for Bayern in return from injury

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 09:39:32 EDT

After nearly a month off due to injury, Alphonso Davies has made his return.

Bundesliga side Bayern Munich announced on Saturday that the Canadian men’s international captain would be available off the bench for their game against SC Freiburg. And in the 86th minute, the Edmonton native subbed on to complete his comeback to the pitch.

His return proved auspicious as Bayern equalized the game off a corner kick just moments after Davies checked in — making it 2-2.

But Davies’ impact didn’t stop there, as he delivered a perfect pass to Lenart Karl on the eventual game-winner in extra time.

He had been sidelined since early March due to a right hamstring strain suffered in a Champions League win over Atalanta. It was the 25-year-old’s first major injury since returning in December from an ACL tear last season.

His return to the pitch will surely excite Canada Soccer fans as the 2026 FIFA World Cup nears — just over two months away. Davies wasn’t with the team for a pair of March friendlies in Toronto, even though he wanted to join his teammates.

“Right now, the emphasis for all of our players that are either in injury situations or return to play situations is to nurse them and do whatever is necessary to get them back to 100 per cent fitness and form,” head coach Jesse Marsch explained on the decision to leave Davies in Munich, Germany.

“So with Alphonso, we decided to leave (him) there and for him to just continue all of what is necessary for him to get himself back to absolute 100 per cent.”

Davies next possible opportunity to suit up for his country will be in June.

No. 29 Canada will face No. 52 Uzbekistan in Edmonton on June 1 and No. 59 Ireland in Montreal on June 5, its final tune-ups before the World Cup begins June 11.

Canada is co-hosting the tournament with the United States and Mexico.

The Canadians’ first game of the tournament will be on June 12 in Toronto against Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the opener, Canada will face No. 56 Qatar on June 18 and No. 18 Switzerland on June 24 at B.C. Place in Vancouver.

— with files from the Canadian Press

Canada’s Ismael Kone forced to leave Sassuolo’s match vs. Cagliari

Sportsnet Staff — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 12:55:47 EDT

Another member of the Canadian men’s soccer team was subbed off with an injury.

Midfielder Ismail Kone was forced to leave Sassuolo’s match vs. Cagliari in the 68th minute with a muscular injury.

Kone, 23, is expected to go through more tests to determine the extent of the injury.

In 28 appearances this season for the Serie A club, Kone has five goals.

The hope is that Kone’s injury isn’t too serious after the Canadian appeared in both March friendlies ahead of the World Cup.

Canada has been dealing with several injuries, including striker Promise David, who suffered a hip muscle injury that required surgery. Stephen Eustáquio suffered a hematoma after a deep-tissue massage.

Right back Alistair Johnston (Celtic FC), who’s recovering from hamstring surgery, and centre back Moïse Bombito (OGC Nice), who’s recovering from a fractured tibia, joined the team for training

Star left back Alphonso Davies made his return to Bayern’s lineup, coming on as a late substitute in a comeback win for the Bundesliga club.

La Liga Roundup: Real Madrid loses to Mallorca as Barcelona build league lead

Associated Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 13:31:46 EDT

MADRID — Barcelona came from behind away from home to beat 10-man Atletico Madrid 2-1 and take a big step toward winning La Liga after Real Madrid lost at Mallorca on Saturday.

Robert Lewandowski scored the decider in the 87th minute with his shoulder off the rebound of a save by the Atletico goalkeeper.

Barcelona has a seven-point lead over Madrid, which lost 2-1 at Mallorca earlier.

Atletico, which dropped 19 points off the lead in fourth place, opened the scoring at Metropolitano Stadium through Giuliano Simeone in the 39th. Marcus Rashford equalized in the 42nd, and Atletico went a man down in first-half stoppage time when Nico González was sent off for a second yellow card.

Lewandowski scored almost by accident when the ball struck his shoulder and went into the net after a save by goalkeeper Juan Muso off a shot by

The winning goal was almost by accident. João Cancelo made a nice run through the left side of the area with a couple of cutback moves to get past defenders but his shot was parried by keeper Juan Muso and rebounded in off Lewandowski’s shoulder.

Atletico has lost three in a row in all tournaments and stayed one point behind third-placed Villarreal, which visits Girona on Monday.

Madrid’s loss

Real Madrid dropped further behind Barcelona after conceding in stoppage time.

Host Mallorca opened the scoring thanks to Manu Morlanes in the 42nd minute. Madrid equalized in the 88th through Éder Militão, who was back after an injury layoff of nearly four months.

The winner came from Vedat Muriqi one minute into added time.

Mallorca has risen out of the relegation zone after its second win in three league matches. It moved to 17th place, two points clear of the bottom three.

Madrid suffered its third defeat in its last six league matches. The club has five league losses all season.

Also, Real Sociedad beat Levante 2-0 at home, and Real Betis drew 0-0 with Espanyol, which has yet to win in 13 games this year.

Pannek has four points as Frost beat Goldeneyes to clinch playoff spot

Associated Press — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:35:40 EDT

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Kelly Pannek had two goals and two assists to pad her PWHL-leading points total and help the Minnesota Frost hold off the Vancouver Goldeneyes 6-5 on Saturday, snapping a three-match losing streak and clinching a spot in the post-season for the two-time defending champions.

Pannek scored twice on power plays in the third period to give Minnesota (12-3-4-6) a 6-4 lead. She tops the league with 14 goals and 28 points with five matches left in the regular season. Pannek had seven goals through her first two seasons.

Sarah Nurse redirected a shot by former Frost standout Sophie Jacques just 1:18 into the match to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead. It was the earliest goal this season for the Goldeneyes, who had posted regulation victories the previous five times they scored first.

Pannek used a no-look backward pass to set up Grace Zumwinkle in front of the net for her career-high 12th goal of the season, tying it 1-1 at 9:05. Pannek’s 14 assists this season is a career high.

Minnesota took a 2-1 lead with 2:21 left in the first when Katy Knoll scored her seventh goal — with assists from Lee Stecklein and Pannek.

But Tereza Vanišová beat Frost goaltender Nicole Hensley one-on-one to tie it, and Jacques gave the Goldeneyes a 3-2 lead when she scored on a power play. The two clubs combined for three goals in 40 seconds.

Vancouver took a two-goal lead 3:30 into the second period on Jenn Gardiner’s fourth goal.

Mae Batherson scored her third goal, and Taylor Heise followed with her 10th — on a power-play 1:18 later — to even it 4-4 at 13:25 and the tie stood heading to the final period.

Pannek gave Minnesota a 5-4 lead a little over four minutes in with Heise notching her career-best 16th assist and rookie Kendall Cooper collecting her 14th.

Pannek scored another power-play goal with 6:16 remaining for some insurance that became necessary when Izzy Daniel scored her seventh goal for the Goldeneyes with 53 seconds left.

Hensley finished with 20 saves for Minnesota.

Emerance Maschmeyer stopped 29 shots for Vancouver.

Up next

Vancouver: Hosts the Boston Fleet on Tuesday.

Minnesota: Hosts the New York Sirens on Saturday.

Grange: Memphis didn’t deserve LeBron James’ criticism

Michael Grange — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 01:15:55 EDT

MEMPHIS — One of the worst trades in NBA history played out on July 3, 2001, when the league’s board of governors approved the relocation of the team from Vancouver to Memphis.

No offence to Memphis. It says more about Vancouver, which would be a lottery pick in the North American city draft.

And in a different set of circumstances, the Grizzlies-to-Memphis deal might never have happened.

Not to relitigate but if the Canadian dollar wasn’t in the 60-cent range relative to the U.S. dollar; if the Grizzlies had pulled off a draft-night trade for Steve Nash in 1996; or not drafted Steve Francis; or if the NBA lockout hadn’t happened in 1998; or if the Grizzlies and Vancouver Canucks were under the same ownership group, maybe things might have been different.

But they were what they were, and the Toronto Raptors‘ expansion cousins moved to Tennessee for the 2001-02 season.

We mention this only in part because the Raptors played the Grizzlies in the 60th edition of their respective histories Friday night.

For the record, the Raptors won 128-96 in a convincing response after their letdown against another tanking team, Sacramento, on Wednesday night in Toronto. They now lead the franchise series 31-29.

“I thought the guys took this game very seriously from the start,” said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic. “Preparation for the game, watching film, we did everything that’s in our control, our guys did a really good job tonight from the jump.”

The Raptors led after the first quarter but six turnovers in the game’s first 13 minutes or so allowed the Grizzlies to briefly take the lead early in the second.

Fittingly, it was RJ Barrett — who had spoken frankly about the Raptors’ poor showing against Sacramento (“that’s a game we have to win”) — who got the team back on track. He hit a three to stop an 8-2 mini run by Memphis and another three to help fuel what ended up being a 14-4 run that allowed Toronto to reassert control.

Barrett finished with 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting to lead Toronto. The Raptors used a 14-5 run at the end of the second quarter to take an 18-point lead into the half. They never looked back after that. They ended up with seven players in double figures and 31 assists on 44 makes from the field while holding Memphis to 40 per cent from the floor and forcing 20 turnovers.

The Raptors needed the win as much as the Grizzlies (25-52) — who had only three players from their opening-night lineup available for the game — needed to lose it for draft-lottery purposes.

The win kept Toronto (43-34) in a virtual tie with Philadelphia for sixth in the East (although the Raptors are in seventh because the Sixers hold the tiebreaker due to a better head-to-head record) and a game-and-a-half behind Atlanta for fifth. Both Atlanta and Philadelphia won Friday.

The Grizzlies’ status in Memphis is topical again not just because this is the 25th anniversary season of their move from Vancouver, but because no less an authority than LeBron James put the organization and the entire city on blast —carelessly and needlessly, I would say — when he shared his view on the Grizzlies in Memphis while playing golf with YouTubers Bob Does Sports.

He was asked if — in his 23th season — NBA travel has lost its lustre, even with private jets and six-star hotels:

“Yeah, a random Tuesday in Milwaukee, stay at the Hyatt at 41 years old, you think I want to do that (expletive)? Being in Memphis on a random-ass Thursday?” James said, his every word and move recorded by cameras following him from all angles. “You guys (Memphis) have to move. Go to Nashville.”

James went on to add that had he been drafted by the Grizzlies in 2003 (they ended up having the second-overall pick that year, which was traded to the Pistons), he might not have reported and forced Memphis to trade him, citing Eli Manning’s refusal to report to the San Diego Chargers in 2004.

Naturally, James’ golf course banter did not go over well in Memphis, with Mayor Paul Young taking to social media to support his city and challenge James to visit, become immersed in the city’s cultural history and opportunities for investment.

Let’s be clear: there are few athletes fickler than an NBA veteran. Raptors fans know it.

In 1997 I remember talking to Otis Thorpe, who played 47 of his 1,257 NBA games in Vancouver. His big complaint? No highways, just surface arterial roads as the main way to get around.

He seemed baffled by it. Mountains? Ocean? Beaches? Incredible textures and flavours from all over the world? All of that was nice, but no highways?

Still, if any group of NBA fans should have some empathy for the people of Memphis it’s Canadian NBA fans — hard feelings about the Grizzlies leaving Vancouver aside. Having covered the NBA’s only (remaining) Canadian team for longer than I’d like to admit, I know what it’s like to have NBA players make disparaging comments about where you live, work and raise your family. Antonio Davis and the fear of his kids having to learn the metric system; Chris Bosh and the challenge of bad cable. Taxes, weather, customs. We’ve heard it.

And it’s not like James has to live in Memphis (or Milwaukee).

Is it really that difficult to fly in on a private jet and stay at a hotel that’s not six stars? Seriously, that’s a complaint NBA players have: there’s no Four Seasons or equivalent, so they have to stay at the Westin or the Hyatt for a night or two, once or twice a year?

Hey, 23 years in the NBA can change a guy, even James, who justifiably likes to reflect on his own remarkable journey from public housing in Akron, Ohio to riches, fame and sunny L.A.

But his gripes touch a nerve because Memphis is one of those cities in the NBA where it’s hard to see the market supporting the scale of investment the league expects these days.

Remember, this is a league planning to earn $7-10 billion in expansion fees for new owners hoping to get franchises in Las Vegas and Seattle. Forget arenas, some teams are spending $500 million on dedicated, standalone practice facilities. The Raptors just opened a $30-million practice facility for their G-League team.

Before the league formally committed to exploring expansion, there was some thought that relocation was a possibility, with most pointing to Memphis and New Orleans — another small market where billions don’t flow from the tap — as the most likely candidates.

And while commissioner Adam Silver said in February relocation wasn’t on the table, but that expansion was the focus, he did leave some wiggle room when said “for now” when asked about the possibility of relocation.

The Grizzlies don’t own their own arena and the lease comes up in three years when they’ll be seeking hundreds of millions in renovations for the publicly owned facility where they are the primary tenant and generate the most revenue.

Will the city or state be willing to foot the bill? Will the ownership want to cut the cheque even though the local revenues aren’t on par with other markets?

It doesn’t mean that small-market teams can’t succeed in the NBA. The San Antonio Spurs certainly have. The Oklahoma City Thunder are a community treasure in a city not much bigger than Memphis.

But things have to go right. The margin for error is small. The Grizzlies are in the middle of a rebuild, which is never a sure thing.

So it’s not inconceivable the Grizzlies could be on the move again at some undetermined point in the future, even though their owner — Robert Pera — is rated as the league’s third-wealthiest individual owner with a net worth of nearly $30 billion, depending on the day.

It would be a shame if the Grizzlies left. Tickets to Grizzlies games don’t cost a fortune.

Centre-court tickets just a couple of rows off the floor were gettable for the Raptors’ visit for $100 on the secondary market. I ordered chicken tenders and fries at the concession stand for $6.99. There were normal families wandering around the concourse before the game.

Bigger picture, the NBA is a league that thrives in part because of its African American roots. Moving from one of the cradles of the civil rights movement would be a tough look.

“It’s ironic, right?” said Raptors veteran and NBPA vice president Garrett Temple, who played in Memphis in 2018-19. “I understand and appreciate the culture and history that Memphis brings to the NBA and America in general. It’s a great NBA (city) and fans love basketball here. Look at the Grit ‘n Grind era. The place was packed. It would be different if there weren’t people who follow the team and loved it.”

On Friday night, attendance was about 2,000 below capacity to watch the Grizzlies play out the string against the Raptors. But those in building were engaged, smart, informed and funny: “Hey ref, enough talking to the coach,” one said when Rajakovic was trying to plead his case while the Grizzlies were on the free-throw line. “Your girlfriend is over there.”

Was James onto something, however clumsily? Maybe. The NBA is a business. But did Memphis deserve to hear it like that? From him?

No one does, frankly. Canadian basketball fans know that as well as any.

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Three-point Grange

Maxing the opportunity

The Grizzlies are very much in the dregs of the NBA season as they try to position themselves for a favourable lottery position this summer. But it’s created an opportunity for Montreal’s Olivier-Maxence Prosper and he has taken full advantage.

Drafted 24th overall in 2023, by Dallas, Prosper had a hard time cracking the lineup with what was then a deep, veteran Mavericks team. He was waived last summer in a contract crunch and signed with Memphis on a two-way deal. His playing time was intermittent at first — he was DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) or inactive for 23 of the Grizzlies’ first 43 games and logged considerable time in the G-League.

But in his last 24 games — 21 starts — he’s had a very convincing audition as a future rotation player, averaging 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals while converting 43.6 per cent from the three-point line. He was only 25-for-96 from deep over his first two seasons.

Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo broke into a big grin when I asked about Prosper pre-game, praising his commitment to improvement, his positional versatility on both ends of the floor and his emergence as “a real sharpshooter behind the line.”

Prosper was ruled out with back soreness Friday night, but a truer diagnosis might be: ‘he’s playing too well.’ The Grizzlies have 25 wins and are in a tight race for the sixth-best lottery odds with Dallas and New Orleans. Playing a hot-shooting Prosper was too risky.

When I spoke with Prosper before the game, he said the transition he’s made in his game and his shooting, in particular, has been more mental than physical. “It’s nothing technical,” the six-foot-seven wing said. “I think it’s more a mindset and belief that you don’t care if you make or miss.

“A lot of players in this league, they get caught up too much in their percentage or them missing a shot. I’ve done so much work (mentally) to believe that no matter what if I go 1-for-5 or 4-for-5, I am still a great shooter. That’s the difference between really good shooters or an average or below average shooter, that the next shot they get they’re going to make it, no matter what happened in the past.”

The 15th roster spot

I’m told the Raptors might do something with it when the team gets back to Toronto on Monday. The interesting wrinkle is that if the Raptors signed someone on Monday, April 6, there wouldn’t be 10 days left in the season.

So, if it is a 10-day signing, the lucky person would only get the pro-rated amount through the last day of the regular season on April 12. Or less if the Raptors wanted to sign one of their two-way players — let’s say Canadian AJ Lawson, who now seems to be a regular in Rajakovic’s rotation — to a standard NBA contract so he would be eligible for the playoff roster.

Lawson is trying to take it all in stride. He’s had Temple in his ear, reminding Lawson that it took him four years and time spent with six organizations before he got his first guaranteed deal.

“It just gives me hope and encouragement just to keep believing and keep going,” said Lawson, who had eight points, three rebounds and two steals in 12 minutes against the Grizzlies.

Was he aware that Rajakovic had said on Wednesday that he was deserving of a standard NBA deal? Yes, but Lawson said he had to keep it in perspective. “It’s good to hear that people are seeing the work that I’m putting in,” he said. “But have to keep it even keel and just be AJ Lawson every time I’m out there.”

Sleeping in

The Raptors usually have a morning shootaround when they’re on the road, unless they are playing on the second night of a back-to-back or it’s an early start like Sunday afternoon in Boston.

But on Friday morning, the Raptors had the option to sleep in, although they could come to the arena to get some shots up if they chose. No one wanted to use fatigue as a reason for their poor showing against Sacramento on Wednesday, but it was a factor.

The Raptors were on the West Coast last week, played at 8 p.m. on Friday in their first game back and played back-to-back 8 p.m. starts on Tuesday and Wednesday to conclude a four-game-in-six-night stretch and six games in nine days.

“Energy is everything for us,” said Rajakovic. “We got to find the energy to close these games.”

One of the players who did go over early to get some shots up was Immanuel Quickley, who missed his seventh straight game with plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

“He’s going to be slowly progressing,” said Rajakovic.

Get to know the Toronto Tempo’s first-ever players

Sarah Maat — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:26:52 EDT

The WNBA’s first international team took a global approach when selecting its first-ever players.

Of the 11 players the Toronto Tempo selected in the expansion draft on Friday, eight of them are international talent from countries other than the United States.

From this first roster list, a few other themes pop out. There’s a good mix of rookie and veteran talent with a heavy emphasis on sharp shooting guards. The Tempo also fulfilled their single unrestricted free agent allotment when they selected Marina Mabrey from the Conneticut Sun. As general manager Monica Wright Rogers said after the draft, the Tempo is “really proud of the competitors that we got.”

“You have to ensure that we have players that will make us competitive. That was a goal for us. Players that will be able to bring us value for now and the future.”

Here’s the complete list of Toronto’s selections and a deeper look at the Tempo’s first players:

Marina Mabrey (Connecticut Sun)
Nikolina Milic (Connecticut Sun)
Maria Conde (Golden State Valkyries)
Kristy Wallace (Indiana Fever)
Aaliyah Nye (Las Vegas Aces)
Julie Allemand (Los Angeles Sparks)
Maria Kliundikova (Minnesota Lynx)
Adja Kane (New York Liberty)
Nyara Sabally (New York Liberty)
Lexi Held (Phoenix Mercury)
Kitija Laksa (Phoenix Mercury)

Top Tempo talent

Mabrey belongs at the top of this list. As the Tempo’s unrestricted free agent pick, the 29-year-old was Toronto’s biggest catch. Coming from the Sun where she averaged 14.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 31.5 minutes a game, Mabrey brings six years of WNBA experience and is exactly the kind of veteran guard the Tempo can build around. She’s a 34.7 per cent career three-point shooter, who can make good passes and will work well in the five-out system head coach Sandy Brondello is looking to run.

Brondello has found her first point guard in Julie Allemand. The 29-year-old comes from the Sparks after having logged two years in the W but arrives in Toronto with even more experience globally. She’s helped Belgium to two Eurobasket championships and is known for her excellent play making. In 2025, with a rebuilding Sparks team, Allemand recorded an average of 5.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game, and on four occasions last year, her assist totals entered the double digits.

“The biggest thing about (Allemand) was just her ability to control the tempo and be a facilitator and a floor general. With a head coach like Sandy Brondello, I think there was no doubt that if a player like that was available to us, that duo would put our offence in great hands,” Wight Rogers said after the draft.

Nyara Sabally is another top pick for Tempo. Brondello knows her well from her years on the Liberty, and although she struggled with injuries last season, only playing in 17 games, this young centre has proven she can step up when it matters. During New York’s Finals run in 2024, the 26-year-old lined up next to Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones to deliver a standout performance with 13 points and seven rebounds as the Liberty captured their first-ever title. Sabally was the fifth-overall pick in the 2022 draft and if she can get healthy, has a chance to reach a new level with the Tempo.

Been there before

Championship experience is a trait the Tempo have prioritized through every facet of their team construction. Wright Rogers and Brondello each have two WNBA Championships to their names, associate coach Olaf Lange has a ring himself, and new assistant coach Carly Clarke knows what it takes to win, as she’s shown recently when her TMU Bold won the national championship in 2022. But the championship standard didn’t stop with the bench bosses.

At the expansion draft, the Tempo focused on selecting players with experience on the biggest stage. Across the 11 picks, nine come with WNBA playoff experience — an impressive feat considering eight of the players selected have played two seasons or less. Although the Tempo drafted veterans with critical playoff experience, like Sabally, three of their young picks made the Finals as recently as last year.

Aaliyah Nye’s championship experience came during the Aces’ run to a title in 2025. The 23-year-old guard appeared in six playoff games in her first season, and although her minutes were quite limited, she had the opportunity to learn from the league’s best players. Nye was the Aces’ first-round pick at No. 13 overall in the 2025 draft, and as Tempo assistant general manager Eli Horowitz put it after the draft, she “is already one of the best sharp shooters in the WNBA.”

Lexi Held and Kitija Laksa, two rookies Toronto grabbed from the Mercury, were at those 2025 Finals too, just on the other side of the floor. Held, 26, clocked seven minutes in the championship game, adding three points and a rebound. Her experience adapting to that stage will be critical as the Tempo look to find their way there too. In the regular season, Held averaged 14.7 minutes with 5.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.7 steals per game. Laksa played a similar role in the Mercury’s playoff run, and averaged 5.9 points and 1.2 rebounds across 19 minutes during her first regular season.

Thinking ahead

The Tempo are focused on youth as they build their inaugural roster.

The new franchise prioritized a higher pick in the WNBA Draft over the first pick in the expansion draft, they made a trade with Chicago to get an extra draft selection, and grabbed five rookies in Friday’s expansion draft.

Not all of these young players will be ready to don a bordeaux jersey this summer, though. As Wright Rogers noted in her availability after the draft, some of these names were specifically chosen because they’ve been flagged for the future.

Adja Kane, who the Tempo selected from the New York Liberty, is an example. The French centre has yet to log minutes in the W but her experience overseas in the LBWL (La Boulangère Wonderligue) shows promise. She had a slow start to her 2025 season but as her minutes ramped up in her last 12 games, so did her contributions. Over that stretch, she averaged 8.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. At just 21 years old, Horowitz said she “is developing really well” and dubbed her “a long-term opportunity.”

Maria Conde is an international player who holds similar promise. She was drafted 27^th overall by the Sky in 2019 and selected by the Valkyries during their expansion draft, so this is the second time she’s been claimed by a new team. The forward has yet to play in the WNBA after she spent a few years playing in Prague and then was out with an injury last year. Recently, though, she’s been back on the court and averaged 9.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists for Spain at the 2026 FIBA qualifying tournament.

“Maria Conde was really a target for us. We believe she’s one of the best players in all of Europe who’s never been in the WNBA,” Horowitz said after the draft.

Tensions flare between UConn, South Carolina coaches at Final Four

Associated Press — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 21:42:42 EDT

PHOENIX — UConn’s Geno Auriemma was not a happy man.

With the officiating. With his team’s performance. With South Carolina coach Dawn Staley.

The Huskies coach ripped into the officiating crew during a live TV interview and then got into a heated argument with Staley in the final seconds of their 62-48 loss to the Gamecocks in the national semifinals of the women’s Final Four on Friday night.

A minute later, he stalked off the floor alone, stewing over the nightmare performance.

“There were six fouls called that quarter — all of them against us,” Auriemma said on the broadcast. “And they’ve been beating the (expletive) out of our guys down there the entire game. I’m not making excuses, ’cause we haven’t been able to make a shot. But this is ridiculous.

“Their coach rants and raves on the sideline and calls the referee some names you don’t want to hear. And now we get 6 to 0, and I got a kid with a ripped jersey, and they go, ‘I didn’t see it.’ Come on, man. It’s for a national championship.”

Auriemma wasn’t finished showing his displeasure. The 72-year-old coach walked toward Staley in the final seconds of the game before the two had an angry exchange, with assistants having to get in between them.

Once the game finally ended, Auriemma slowly walked off the court and down the tunnel without shaking hands with the Gamecocks. The teams did shake hands.

Auriemma apologized for his actions on Saturday.

“There’s no excuse for how I handled the end of the game vs. South Carolina. It’s unlike what I do and what our standard is here at Connecticut. I want to apologize to the staff and the team at South Carolina,” he said in his statement. “It was uncalled for in how I reacted. The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don’t want my actions to detract from that. I’ve had a great relationship with their staff, and I sincerely want to apologize to them.”

UConn’s frustration boiled over after a brutal offensive night for the team’s All-America combo of Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd. Strong finished with just 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting. Fudd scored eight on 3-of-15 shooting, including 2 of 9 from long range.

The Huskies’ lone offensive bright spot came midway through the third quarter. Kayleigh Heckel, Blanca Quiñonez and Fudd each hit a 3-pointer in a 90-second span to cut the deficit to 40-39, but UConn was never able to take the lead. South Carolina took a 44-39 advantage into the fourth quarter and slowly pulled away.

UConn scored just nine points in the fourth, shooting 2 of 14 from the field. The 48 points were easily a season low.

It’s true that it was a physical game. Bodies were flying under the basket for the majority of the night for both teams. UConn was whistled for 17 fouls, while South Carolina was called for just eight.

The problem for Strong and Fudd was they couldn’t hit shots even when they had a little space to operate. The 6-foot-2 Strong — AP’s Player of the Year — was bothered by South Carolina’s interior size, with several of her inside shots rattling in and out.

Their teammates couldn’t pick up the slack. Ashlynn Shade finished with 10 points and Quiñonez added seven. Heckel missed a layup late in the game and the broadcast showed her starting to cry walking back down the court.

Teammates encouraged her and one even lifted her chin, but the damage was done.

UConn’s 54-game winning streak is over.

Sportsnet.ca

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