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Paying tribute to legendary broadcaster Bob Cole

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 15:33

My first game at Hockey Night in Canada was Thursday, Oct. 9, 2003 — Montreal at Ottawa. The hotel set up a shuttle to take us to morning skate. When I walked outside, Harry Neale was in the back seat. I opened the door to sit next to him.

He told me to sit in the front. “Bob (Cole) and I like to sit in the back,” he said. “We like to discuss the game. You sit up there.”

So I did.

Minutes later, Bob walked towards the SUV. He saw me. He frowned and paused. Then, he opened the door. I could hear Harry laughing.

“Young man,” he said, sternly, “I sit in the front seat.”

A few years later, we were doing a Montreal/Boston playoff series. After landing at Logan Airport, we grabbed our luggage and went to get a taxi. After loading our bags, I took a half-step towards the front and remembered the rules, immediately going to the back. The adjustment was barely noticeable.

Bob got in the front, and we started driving. Two minutes later, he turned to look at me.

“Do you think I didn’t notice that you stepped towards the front? I figured by now, you wouldn’t forget.”

The rest of us started laughing. I thought I’d gotten away with it.

As the tributes flow in, many remember — with good reason — his awesome ability to manoeuvre with the crowd. He is the best ever at riding the waves of a crowd’s emotion, flowing with it, rising with it, allowing it to be heard. Bob only cared about whistle-to-whistle. That was his time.

He was such a great teammate, always encouraging, and everyone who worked with him understood not to interfere during play. If I had a report out of a commercial, there was a good chance that, 15 seconds before we returned, he was going say, “This is a big faceoff. Don’t talk through it.”

There were so many great moments. The 1972 Summit Series, on radio. “They’re going home!” during the wild January 1976 exhibition between the Philadelphia Flyers and Soviet Red Army. Joe Sakic’s Olympic clincher in 2002. To Bob, those were magnificent calls at major times, but he prepared for Game 29 of the season as if it was just as important.

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Bob loved being the conduit to the fans. He loved seeing the players, being in the building for a big game. He never, ever lost that passion. We loved his stories. And his opinions. When he was on a roll, there was nothing better.

There was Hall-of-Famer Terry Sawchuk borrowing Bob’s car when the Boston Bruins played a game in Newfoundland. There was bowling with the legendary Gordie Howe when Mr. Hockey visited Red Wings teammate Alex Faulkner, another Newfoundlander.

Who won?

“Gordie wins everything,” Bob answered.

If he had one regret, it was not shaking Frank Sinatra’s hand. Bob loved Sinatra; travelled with CDs of his music to relax with. The Chairman of the Board (as he was known) once walked through the crowd during a concert Bob attended and shook the hand of the person next to him. Bob always thought he should have either a) grabbed it instead or b) reached out the moment that first handshake was done.

Once, he was sitting next to eight-time Stanley Cup champion coach Toe Blake, who pointed at an out-of-town score. “Is that game over?” he asked.

“I think so,” Bob replied.

Blake slammed his hand on the table.

“Don’t tell me what you think,” he declared. “Tell me what you know.” Bob loved that line; used it all the time.

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He was extremely particular about proper pronunciation. If the player didn’t care, he’d ask, “How do your parents say it?” At the 2002 Olympics, he asked producer Jeff Girodat to drive him to a distant practice rink to learn the proper pronunciations of the Swiss players. By the time they got there, the team already was finished. Bob got out of the car, stood in front of their bus and asked head coach Ralph Krueger to come out. Krueger did, helping Bob get what he needed.

God help you if you gave him wrong info about a name. During one of those Boston series, I referred to Vladimir Sobotka as Soh-boat-ka. Bob heard this and confronted me. He said it was Soh-bot-ka and didn’t like that we had two different versions on-air (he was right about that). I told him one of the other Bruins said that was the right way to say it. He went to coach Claude Julien, and Claude thought I was wrong. Bob then asked if we could talk to Sobotka himself.

So before the next game, Bob, Claude, Bruins media-relations whiz Matthew Chmura and I waited for Sobotka’s arrival. I was sweating. When he arrived, Claude asked him to come into the room. Bob told me I was not allowed to speak, so as not to prejudice the witness. Claude explained the situation and asked him to pronounce his name.

Thankfully, Sobotka exonerated me. I am convinced, however, he thought the whole situation insane.

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But, as much as Bob loved calling games, there were two things he loved more: Newfoundland and his family. He was hugely proud of his home province, overjoyed when Hockey Night in Canada headed to Bonavista to do a feature when Michael Ryder burst on the NHL scene as a rookie in 2003-04.

When Bob was working the Olympics, everyone knew to let him relax when not calling a game. That’s a gruelling schedule. But when Brad Gushue went for gold against Finland in the 2006 men’s curling event, he was asked if he wanted to discuss how big this was for Newfoundland. (An excellent curler, Bob competed twice in the Brier.) He was honoured, and it might have been the only time he cared about another sporting event more than the one he was working.

We had some long drives together — Toronto to Buffalo, Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. On those drives, we would discuss family. There was nothing that made Bob more proud than his children: Christian, Hilary, Megan and Robbie. He could talk about each of them for hours, and there was at least one trip where the entire drive consisted of him happily waxing poetic about their lives. Not only was he their father, he was their biggest fan.

A lot of Canadians — a lot of hockey fans — are feeling sadness. But we should also remember the great times, and there were so many. It doesn’t matter if you knew him in-person or you knew him as a great broadcaster. He enriched all of our lives, together.

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Canucks’ Tyler Myers to return to lineup for Game 3 vs. Predators

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 14:22

Vancouver Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers will be back in the lineup for Game 3 of the team’s first-round playoff series against the Nashville Predators.

Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet confirmed with reporters Thursday that Myers, who missed Game 2 due to the flu, will play Friday.

The 34-year-old Myers had 29 points (five goals and 24 assists) in 76 games this season while logging an average of 18:54 ice time per game.

He was a plus-1 with two shots on goal in 19:08 ice time during Game 1 Sunday.

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Tocchet also said he thinks Brock Boeser is “fine” after the all-star winger left practice early when he appeared to get hit in the arm with a puck.

Boeser led the Canucks with 40 goals during the regular season and was fourth on the team in scoring with 73 points. He has one assist and holds an even plus/minus rating through the first two games of the series.

The series is tied 1-1 and shifts to Nashville for Game 3.

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Canada’s Auger-Aliassime, Fernandez both advance at Madrid Open

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 14:17

Leylah Fernandez advanced to the women’s third round at the Madrid Open tennis tournament Thursday, while fellow Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime won his opening-round match in the men’s competition.

Fernandez, who had a bye in the first round as the 32nd seed, defeated Russia’s Anastasia Potapova 7-5, 6-3 in 91 minutes.

The 21-year-old from Laval, Que., overcame eight double faults and broke Potapova five times on eight chances, while saving six on the nine break points she faced, to improve to 2-0 against the Russian.

Fernandez will next face eighth seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia. Jabeur is 2-0 against Fernandez, though the two have not squared off since 2021.

Montreal’s Auger-Aliassime rallied to defeat Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked 35th in the world, fired 11 aces and won 81 per cent of his first serves in a match that lasted two hours and 19 minutes on the clay surface.

The 23-year-old Canadian improved his career record to 3-2 over the 79th-ranked Nishioka.

Auger-Aliassime will face 19th-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France in the second round.

Mannarino won their only previous encounter in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters in 2023.

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Remembering Bob Cole as more than just the soundtrack of Saturday night

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 14:15

Year 1, Game 1. It was opening night of Hockey Night in Canada in the inaugural season of Sportsnet’s national broadcast deal and the email arrived with, “You’ll be the rinkside reporter in Tampa.”

“Oh, and Bob Cole will be on the call.”

How do you even respond to something that seemed so farfetched, it came across as downright absurd? That assignment for a reporter was the equivalent of asking a dancer to join Fred Astaire or an artiste to sit alongside Vincent van Gogh.

If you’re of a certain vintage, there’s not a voice more iconic or connected to sport in this country than Robert Cecil Cole’s. He did it all and everyone across Canada today will chronicle his calls and longevity. I imagine there will likely be an official day of mourning in Newfoundland, although it should be seen as a celebration.

When I heard the news of his passing today, I messaged my colleague and friend, Kyle Bukauskas: “I’m more just overjoyed we got a chance to waltz with the maestro.”

This was Bob Cole, the soundtrack of Saturday night.

But there’s so much more that I’ll remember about Bob: how nobody could walk into a coach’s office or locker room and get the reverence and respect — and intel — that he could; how when we were in Chicago, just after Christmas, his daughter flew in from out West so that her dad wouldn’t be alone around the holidays; how on a snowy drive back to the hotel from Kanata after a morning skate, he told me that there wasn’t a better athlete than Brad Gushue in sport at the time — “other than Sid, of course,” he said.

There was no Mount Rushmore of athletes for Bob. There was Wayne, there was Sid, and there was Gushue. He loved the Oilers of the 1980s and being there for their run. That would come up from time-to-time, and every so often he’d talk about “Foster” only by first name. It was Foster Hewitt, of course, who did no wrong in Mr. Cole’s eyes.

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Bob did things his way, and it’s not that he was unapologetic about it, but he just knew no other way. He called it as he saw it, and not just from the booth. His game prep was simple. He’d show up to the rink and ask the head coach for their lines. He’d then come back to the hotel and write them out on small pieces of cardboard that his dry cleaner back in St. John’s used to help hang his dress shirts. And that was it. And God help you if you were one of the coaches who wouldn’t share which players would be on the same shift as Ovechkin or McDavid — the vocal disassembling Bob gave was an epic sight to behold.

He was ornery in such a bemusing way. One gameday morning, I was waiting to talk to then-Florida Panthers defenceman Brian Campbell for an in-game story. Bob had to wait for me, as I was his ride back to the hotel that day and he had a specific gameday routine, which included a nap. Campbell took a while getting off the ice and going through some treatment. Bob was agitated and began to pace. I could tell he was seething.

Finally, Campbell showed up inside an empty visitors’ locker room. After his second answer, I began to ask a third question when Bob yelled, “Well, that’s enough of this, isn’t it?” As Bob stormed off, Campbell and I were in stitches.

Bob never wanted to be treated with reverence or be the show. Today’s hot-take world made him bristle. He was about the game, and the game only. “People care about the players and what’s happening on the ice, and that’s what we’re here for,” he told me one hot Arizona morning on our walk back from practice.

From time to time, I’d ask him for advice on certain mechanics of the trade and he’d present the answers in such basic ways. He once told me, “You can’t hit your max (volume) on a first period goal, because then what’s left for the overtime game-winner?”

Right, of course. Makes all the sense in the world.

I’m not sure what Bob was like in his heyday, but in the twilight of his career, he wasn’t much for going out after games. Matter of fact, most nights I wouldn’t see him after the final horn. The game would end, and he’d disappear while I was down between the locker rooms doing interviews.

But do this long enough and the little tidbits get revealed. I came to find out that Captain Morgan Dark was his drink of choice and he’d enjoy it in the room after the workday. One December, we were headed to Minnesota for a game when word came that Bob was going to receive the ‘Order of Canada.’ It meant the world to him, but far be it that anyone know such a thing or that he’d be the centre of attention. So, on behalf of the crew, we left him a bottle and a congratulatory note outside his hotel door.

That night, after the game, there was Bob lurking beside the visitors’ equipment area. I beelined over to make sure all was good. Wasn’t like him at all to be down there.

“Room 716, my son,” he said with a grin.

The equipment staff came out with three cans of Coke wrapped in a towel. Bob was heading to the hotel to celebrate and this time he wanted company to soak in a national recognition saved for the rarified few. He just didn’t want anyone to know about it, clandestine even in his personal moment to shine.

That was Bob, an absolute original. There will never be another quite like him.

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Thoughts after Toronto’s Game 3 loss: Go to the net, Mitch

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 13:50

Much of the discussion in the aftermath of the Maple Leafs’ Game 3 loss to the Boston Bruins has rightly focused on Toronto’s futile power play, which has repeatedly failed to put goals on the board this post-season, and in post-seasons past.

The solution is to use Mitch Marner on the goal line.

Right now, without William Nylander on the flank, Marner is left handling the puck. Since he’s never been a shooting threat from the flank, the Bruins are playing off him, taking away his passing lanes, and it’s leading Marner to turnovers. Meantime, Morgan Rielly rarely shoots, and it’s tough to work it to John Tavares in the bumper against Boston’s defence. Even getting the puck to Tyler Bertuzzi – who isn’t exactly a gifted finisher – is proving ineffective. That only leaves them with one shot option, and it’s Auston Matthews, so the Bruins have taken him away and it’s nullifying Toronto’s power play.

Moving Marner low would instantly make Tavares a pop-out shot option and add a dimension. Marner could also take it behind the net and hit Matthews on the other side, forcing the PK to shift. And he has amazing hands in tight, so he could also take it in to the net from down low.

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Nylander usually plays the flank and is a threat to shoot, which automatically moves Marner low. Right now, having Marner on the flank eliminates the weapons Toronto does have without Boston having to do much.

One other thing with that…

Go forward Mitch Marner

I mentioned how playing on the goal line might allow Marner the chance to take it to the net, which for him would be a very, very good thing.

When the Leafs lost in last year’s playoffs, I wrote about how their core players struggled to get in close to the net. But really, Marner was a wild outlier compared to the other three. These were their average shot distances (measured in feet from the net on average) in last year’s playoffs, compared to the regular season:

And the percentage of their shots that were from the slot were mostly worse compared to the regular season, too. Matthews got better, but the rest not so much:

Well, it’s happening again this season, albeit over a very small sample.

Here’s the Leafs’ average shooting distance among the three core forwards who’ve played in the playoffs so far, comparing playoffs to regular season:

And the percentage of their shots that are coming from the slot:

We think of Marner as a pure passer because he’s elite at it, but he’s also scored over 90 times the past three seasons. That ain’t gonna happen from the outside, so being on the goal line on the power play may help Marner get to better finishing spots.

Why Brodie needs to come in for Liljegren

I’ll make this short because I wrote about it after their last game, but Toronto’s penalty kill is getting stuffed in a locker through three games. TJ Brodie is in the press box and they trusted him to kill 199 minutes of 4-on-5 time this season, more than any other Leaf. Next most was Jake McCabe at 153, and nobody else was over 100. Brodie is their clear PK1 defenceman.

That means he’s gone up against almost all PP1 units this season, and his underlying results are still as good or better than any of the other Leaf killers in those tough minutes.

I love the physical nature Toronto’s blue line has right now and don’t want to give that up, so the obvious name to come out is Timothy Liljegren. The two reasons I’ve heard for why he should stay in is 1) he can skate the puck out, and 2), he’s right-handed.

Well, being right-handed didn’t help Liljegren when he got eaten up and turned the puck over before the Bruins’ game-winning goal, and I haven’t seen him skate many pucks up the rink. He’s been fine, not bad. But the need to get one more penalty kill makes Brodie the preferred option.

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Why the Leafs’ physical play and defending gives them hope

The Bruins scored three times against a goalie in Game 3, but you can’t call the first one a breakdown, Samsonov should have had it. And the second goal was a power play goal against. Brad Marchand‘s winner came off a broken play where some Leafs were off their assignment by a few feet.

But by-and-large, Toronto’s defending in this series has been excellent, maybe partially aided by Boston’s lack of firepower. The Leafs have been exceedingly physical, David Pastrnak has been given a rough ride, and you can see how this could and should work in their favour, with the Bruins seeming to be frustrated at times.

If they defend like they have so far in this series the rest of the way – without cheating and getting away from what’s been a positive so far – the Leafs will get enough chances to score and win.

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Their fourth line has been all you could ask for

Ryan Reaves has been everything the Leafs could’ve hoped for, and Connor Dewar too. Reaves has been physical, but more importantly, fast enough to get in on the forecheck with David Kampf. That means the fourth line has spent a big percentage of its time in the offensive zone.

If Nylander comes in, I’d be shocked if they took out anyone out from this line. It’ll have to be Nick Robertson.

I’m fine with Bertuzzi/Marchand if it removes the side show for everyone else

When you think of the great “rat” jobs in the playoffs, it’s usually guys getting under the skin of very important players. Marchand quite famously rabbit-punched Daniel Sedin several times after a whistle in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, to very little response.

But the reality is, Marchand was a 67-point forward this season. If you don’t let him have access to the rental space in the brains of your elite stars, he’s just another good player to be considered, but not obsessed over.

So I’m fine if Marchand and Bertuzzi tangle each other up this series if it keeps Marchand preoccupied and away from Matthews and Marner. Bertuzzi just has to recognize Marchand will goad him, dive, and never fight him, so it needs to just stay what it is without crossing the line.

I recognize this battle hasn’t gone Toronto’s way yet. I saw in Game 1 how the Leafs fixated on Marchand too much. But as the series settles in, they can’t make him more important than he is.

Marchand is competitive, a super smart hockey player, and he can burn you, as he did in Game 3. But you don’t have to spend too much mental energy “shutting him down.” Let him get knotted up with Bertuzzi and cancel one another out, and your stars should have clear heads to play hockey.

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Samsonov starts with a short leash

The Leafs goalie simply hasn’t been bad enough to pull just yet. He made some great saves in the first period of Game 3, and has been solid enough if the team could just score.

But if Samsonov gives up another like he did to Trent Frederic, it should be time for Joseph Woll to try his hand at shutting the door.

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The Leafs need Willy

You already knew this.

But the Leafs’ whole Kyle Dubas-led plan was for the team to be carried by their stars, and losing one of them just devastates their ability to win.

The Bruins have question marks down their lineup, on their third pair and bottom-six, but throwing the likes of Robertson and Pontus Holmberg to expose those weaknesses is totally ineffective. It kills a huge Toronto advantage.

Who knows how Nylander will look if he does get back in, but there’s no doubt that one of the flaws of a top-heavy plan is that a single injury decimates it, and that’s where the Leafs find themselves today.

Get Willy back, and they should be able to create far more, and win more minutes further down the lineup.

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‘More time, the better’: Maple Leafs working with Nylander to play Game 4

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 13:50

TORONTO — The schedule makers have bought the Toronto Maple Leafs the most precious playoff commodity of all.

Time and space.

Room to breathe, regroup, and heal.

Certainly, that applies to every player on the giving and receiving end of a highly combative series that has counted 330 hits through three games.

Most critically for the Maple Leafs, though, the extra day off between Wednesday’s 4-2 home loss and Saturday’s shot at knotting their series versus the Boston Bruins at deuce increases the likelihood of game-breaker William Nylander making his 2024 post-season debut.

“The more time, the better,” coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters Thursday, as players on both sides were granted a day of rest.

“We’ve been working with Willy to give him the time that he needs to be ready to play.”

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Nylander has been on the ice at least thrice since coming down with a severe case of (possibly concussion-related) migraines last week, as reported by Elliotte Friedman, and put in a lengthy session with teammates the morning before Game 3’s loss.

Toronto’s medical team is working with the stud 40-goal, 98-point threat daily to get to the root of his head ailment and him game-ready.

In a series so tightly contested, a game-breaker of Nylander’s calibre could well be the difference. In addition to being a driver at 5-on-5 who provides a middle-six scoring punch, Nylander regularly contributes to the power play and penalty kill.

Toronto has been outscored 5-1 on special three teams through three games, a major reason the Leafs find themselves trailing the Bruins 2-1 in the series.

Nylander switched to a tinted visor heading into training camp way back in 2022 because he was suffering through eye migraines in the 2021-22 season.

He was wearing sunglasses indoors at Boston’s Warrior Ice Arena on Friday, when he missed his first team practice and we learned that his availability was in doubt. (Yes, he’s a cool cat, but that is out of the ordinary for him.)

“We’re not going to comment on, whether it’s Willy or any other player, their status at this time of year especially. We’ve been working with Willy to give him the time that he needs to be ready to play,” Keefe replied, when asked directly about Friedman’s report.

General manager Brad Treliving also declined to confirm or deny that Nylander was dealing with migraines when contacted by Sportsnet.

A specific diagnosis remains hazy, but what is crystal clear is that the Maple Leafs would benefit greatly from Nylander’s offensive punch.

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Boston’s Jeremy Swayman has tended the goal spectacularly in his two appearances and has given coach Jim Montgomery reason to break the club’s goalie rotation and start again in Game 4.

The Maple Leafs’ 1-for-11 power-play is screaming for another shooting threat opposite Auston Matthews.

Toronto has scored three goals or fewer in 10 consecutive post-season games.

A healthy Nylander would increase the Leafs’ shot of bucking their most disturbing trend.

The club is expected to practise Friday.

As ever in this series, all eyes will be on No. 88 in blue.

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Tourigny returning to coach Canada at World Hockey Championship

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 13:03

Andre Tourigny will be back behind the bench for Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship.

Hockey Canada announced its coaching staff Thursday for the tournament taking place May 10-26 in Prague and Ostrava, Czechia.

Tourigny coached Canada to the gold medal last year in Finland and Latvia. He also served as an assistant for the 2021 and 2022 tournaments capturing gold and silver, respectively.

Joining Tourigny will be assistant coaches Dean Evason, Jay Woodcroft and Steve Ott plus goaltending consultant Justin Pogge and video coach James Emery.

“Andre has been a staple behind the Team Canada bench in recent years, and we are excited he will once again lead our team alongside Dean, Jay and Steve. All four coaches bring extensive experience and leadership as we look to defend gold in Czechia,” general manager Rick Nash said in a release. “This staff combines many years of experience at the professional and international level, and we know its leadership will be a valuable asset as we assemble a roster that represents Canada with pride next month.”

The 49-year-old Tourigny wrapped up his third season coaching the Arizona Coyotes, who missed the playoffs with a 36-41-5 record and 21 points back of a wild-card spot. The franchise is set to relocate to Utah for next season.

He has also earned silver as head coach for Canada at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship and gold as an assistant with the team at the 2020 World Juniors.

Evason was head coach of the Minnesota Wild for parts of five seasons until he was fired on Nov. 27.

Woodcroft served as head coach for the Edmonton Oilers until he was let go on Nov. 12.

Ott has been an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues for the past seven seasons and helped the team win the Stanley Cup in 2019.

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‘Struggling’ Capitals captain Ovechkin hoping patience pays off soon vs. Rangers

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 12:28

ARLINGTON, Va. — Alex Ovechkin has just one shot on goal through the first two games of the Washington Capitals‘ first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers, which they trail 2-0.

Coach Spencer Carbery acknowledged after the Game 2 loss this week that Ovechkin is “struggling” and looks a bit off. The Capitals need production out of the No. 2 goal-scorer in NHL history, among other things, to get back in the series against the league’s best team from the regular season. Game 3 is at home Friday night.

“I think it’s just settle down a little bit,” Ovechkin said Thursday. “Not good, but sometimes you just have to do what you can do out there: play physical, try to create open space for your linemates. But we’re all in the same boat. We all have to play better if we want to get success.”

Ovechkin’s lowest shot total through the first two games of a series before now was four (2012 vs. Boston) and five in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final against Vegas. Washington went on to win each series.

The 38-year-old longtime captain and face of the franchise said patience is the key to getting more pucks on net against fellow Russian Igor Shesterkin, who has stopped 42 of the 46 shots he has faced so far.

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“Try to find the lane,” Ovechkin said. “We play against a good hockey team. They’re going to sacrifice their body. They’re going to play hard against our top lines, blocking shots, (be) physical, and we just have to play simple and if we have the puck on our stick don’t throw it right away.”

Carbery said he and Ovechkin have had some good discussions about how to get through defenders and be closer to the net for higher-quality opportunities and “attacking as much as he can.”

“That’s not necessarily from the perimeter — getting to the inside, taking a couple extra steps, threaten, change your shot angle,” Carbery said. “And now you’ve changed your shot angle and now there’s no longer shin pads and a stick in your lane.”

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Getting Ovechkin the puck in better positions to shoot is also on the Capitals’ to-do list. It can pay dividends, after he scored just eight goals in his first 43 games this season and finished with 31 after a torrid second half.

Teammates and coaches aren’t worried about Ovechkin and expect him to be able to turn it on. He has 853 goals in the regular season trailing just Wayne Gretzky and 72 in the playoffs, one shy of Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski for the most among active players.

“He’ll be good,” Carbery said. “He’s been through so many situations like this, I expect him to step up big time in Game 3.”

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Ron MacLean shares some of very his best Bob Cole stories

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 12:26

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Categories: Canada Sports News, Ontario Sports News, Pro Sports News

Bob Cole mastered the ‘feel and flow’ of hockey, and we all benefited

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 11:52

When Bob Cole was a boy living in pre-Confederation Newfoundland, he suffered a sports injury that nearly cost him his leg.

He grew up in St. John’s, where his father was the warden of Her Majesty’s Penitentiary, and was an excellent all-around athlete at Bishop Feild School, one of the city’s hallowed halls of learning. Though Canadians would come to know him as the voice of their national game, over the course of his long life Cole would also skip a rink at the Brier, row and serve as a coxswain in the Royal St. John’s Regatta, distinguish himself in football and baseball and hockey, and play a pretty decent game of golf.

But before most of those accomplishments, he hurt his leg playing soccer, and the complications that ensued left him laid up for weeks. Confined to his bed, he listened to hockey on the radio from far-away Maple Leaf Gardens, with cards bearing the faces of his heroes laid out in front of him as though they were on the ice.

The voice he heard was Foster Hewitt’s, who always mentioned the fans in Newfoundland in his famous opening. When he was alone, Cole would mimic Hewitt, calling the games in his style — which was the only style, since he all but invented hockey play-by-play. When he got back to school, Cole would do it again for his pals, recreating the action from Saturday night, much to their delight.

The path from there to Hewitt’s Gardens gondola, to the Montreal Forum, to the Luzhniki Ice Palace and to pretty much everywhere else that big-time hockey is played was unlikely and meandering and helped along by strokes of luck, coincidences, and no small amount of chutzpah.

But at the core of it was his talent. Bob Cole, like his mentor Hewitt and his friend Danny Gallivan, possessed the innate ability to sound like hockey.

Before he wound up as the primary voice of Hockey Night in Canada, Cole had already lived several lives.

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Seeking adventure as a teenager, he signed on as a bell boy and steward and sailed to New York and then on to the Caribbean. As a young Air Cadet, he spent a summer learning to fly in Nova Scotia. On his first solo flight, he was forced to put his failing Piper Cub down for a crash landing, then spent a long cold night in the woods waiting to be rescued.

Back home in St. John’s, he applied for a job doing late-night radio, and that led to a chance to broadcast local hockey games from the old Memorial Stadium.

But it’s likely no one would have known Bob Cole outside of Newfoundland but for his own moxie. During a stop on a long, windy road trip to New York with some pals (he talked his way into a Yankee Stadium press pass, and interviewed and took a picture of Mickey Mantle on the field), he walked into the offices of Hewitt’s Toronto radio station, CKFH, with an audition tape in hand. The plan was to drop it off at reception. Instead, Hewitt invited him in. They talked about the art of calling hockey games, and it was there that Cole first heard Hewitt’s mantra: It was all about “feel and flow,” he was told. You had to capture the excitement and movement of the game with your voice, and deliver it to the listener.

Cole never forgot that, and you could argue that he became the master of the art, anticipating the play in a lightning-fast game, channeling the building excitement through his voice, and then delivering in those big moments, brilliantly. He made even the dullest game worth watching.

By the time he got his big break in 1969, calling the Montreal Canadiens‘ Stanley Cup win that year, Cole had already established himself as a broadcaster at home. He was the first television news reader in Newfoundland, and as the host of the local version of the high school quiz show Reach For The Top, which was enormously popular, he was one of the most recognized faces in the province.

Three years after his NHL debut, Cole provided the radio play-by-play for the Summit Series in 1972. His call of Paul Henderson’s iconic goal, though not as well known as Hewitt’s on television, is a masterpiece. He returned to the USSR two years later when a group of WHA all-stars faced off against the Big Red Machine.

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By then, he had taken the place of Bill Hewitt, Foster’s son, on Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts from Toronto. He provided the soundtrack for the dynasty years of the New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers, for the last two Montreal Stanley Cup victories, and for the Maple Leafs’ early-’90s renaissance. Be it Wayne Gretzky, or Mario Lemieux, or Joe Sakic in Salt Lake City in 2002, it is impossible to think back to some of the most memorable hockey moments of our lifetimes, and not hear them narrated by Bob Cole.

He certainly had his quirks. He didn’t like to be touched. He unbuttoned his pants when he called a game. His partners in the broadcast booth knew that when Cole gave them the “Heisman” straight arm, it was time to be quiet, and let him finish. For a time he ran a fish-processing plant during summers back home. He didn’t enjoy it when others treated him to their Bob Cole impressions. He drank Captain Morgan rum (and no other rum) and Coke (and no other cola), and would go to extraordinary lengths to make sure both were available — even in the Soviet Union in 1972 and 1974, and in his Pepsi-centric home province. Those in the business also tell tales about his remarkable physical strength, which came as a surprise to many, and served him well even in his later years.

And, of course, Cole never left Newfoundland, even though it meant at least two three-hour flights every week during the season to get to work and back, most of those in the dead of winter.

During his final seasons as a broadcaster, after almost half a century calling NHL games, Cole still insisted on listening to air checks of his work. He wanted to pick up any mistakes, and to make sure that he was still delivering the “feel and flow” of the game as Hewitt had described so many years before — that he wasn’t losing his touch.

To his ears, and to the ears of so many of us, he never did.

Stephen Brunt was proud to collaborate with Bob Cole on his autobiography, Now I’m Catching On: My Life On and Off the Air.

More from Sportsnet

Categories: Canada Sports News, Ontario Sports News, Pro Sports News

Bob Cole: 1933-2024

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 11:50

Categories: Canada Sports News, Ontario Sports News, Pro Sports News

Prospect of Interest: What does Addison Barger bring to the Blue Jays?

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 11:42

After being selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth round of the 2018 MLB Draft, Addison Barger’s major-league dream finally came true on Wednesday night.

The 24-year-old from Bellevue, Wash. has spent the past seven seasons working his way through the Blue Jays’ farm system, making stops at every level along the way.

Ranked as Toronto’s No. 6 prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 5 by Baseball America, Barger played 395 games and logged 1,471 at-bats in the minors before making his MLB debut in Kansas City.

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While Barger went hitless to begin his career, the left-handed hitter offers an element of slug that the Blue Jays lineup is currently lacking.

Here’s a closer look at what he can bring at the major-league level.

Age: 24
Position: Third base/Outfield
Swings: Left | Throws: Right
Height: Six-foot | Weight: 210 lbs.
2024 Stats (triple-A): AVG: .314 | 3 HR | 21 RBI | .435 OBP | .586 SLG

Big hacks and a big arm

When you watch Barger play, there’s no mistaking what he’s trying to do.

When he’s at the plate, he’s trying to hit the ball as hard and as far as he can, and in the field, he’s not going to pass up an opportunity to showcase his arm.

At triple-A Buffalo this year, Barger owns a maximum exit velocity of 111.8 m.p.h. and an average exit velocity of 90.6, both of which would rank second on the Blue Jays.

Barger showcased some of that power in his debut, hitting a ball 105.3 and 397 feet that was swallowed up by the cavernous outfield at Kauffman Stadium.

“I’m aggressive. I take hacks. It’s just the nature of me,” Barger said after the game. “It’s hard for me to tame it sometimes, but it’s going to be about being relaxed and looking for a good pitch to hit.”

As comes with any player swinging as hard as Barger, there is some swing-and-miss risk, but he has actually improved his strikeout rate year-over-year, culminating in a 17.6-per-cent mark through 19 games at Buffalo this year.

Not only has he been striking out less, Barger has been walking more. He posted a full-season career-best 13.1-per-cent walk rate in 2023, which he bumped to 16.5 per cent in 2024.

In addition to his big swing, Barger could immediately step in with one of the best outfield arms in MLB.

According to MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson, in spring training this year, Barger unleashed a 103.8-m.p.h. throw from right field, a number that hasn’t been topped by any major leaguers so far this season.

On the 20-80 grading scale, MLB Pipeline places a 55 on his power and a 65 on his arm, meaning that both tools are expected to be above average to well above average.

Baseball America described him as “a versatile lefthanded hitter who has improved his hit tool while learning to play right field. He is a super-utility type with above-average hitting ability.”

Natural righty

Speaking of his swing, Barger’s current setup at the plate is actually inspired by Seattle Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki.

“I decided when I was probably seven or eight, I’m going to start taking swings and BP left-handed,” Barger said while appearing on Blair & Barker last year. “I wanted to hit left-handed because I really liked Ichiro.”

Barger also added his big leg kick to mimic the 10-time All-Star.

Despite digging in from the left-handed batter’s box, Barger has done well against pitchers throwing from either side. In 2024 with the Bisons, he owns a .882 OPS in 55 at-bats against right-handers and a 1.217 OPS, with two of his home runs against lefties.

Barger fared well in same-handed matchups over the past two years, posting an OPS north of .730 every season since 2021.

Defensive utility

Like many current members of the Blue Jays, Barger has the ability to line up all over the diamond.

Of course, he made his first-ever appearance in left field to begin his MLB career, misplaying the first fly ball he saw, then making a leaping catch against the wall an inning later. He made four total putouts in the game.

“I’ve never played left field in my life … but it’s the same game. I’ll figure it out,” he said before the game.

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Despite the second-inning adventure, Barger is more than used to trying out new spots. Throughout his time in the minors, he spent time at all four infield spots and in right field.

Barger was drafted as a shortstop and played the majority of his innings there until the 2023 season, when right field became his primary spot.

To begin 2024 with the Bisons, he had played 87 innings at third and 40 in right.

With Kevin Kiermaier on the injured list and Daulton Varsho and George Springer seemingly entrenched in centre and right field when they’re in the lineup, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith reported that the Blue Jays largely expect Barger to play left field. However, he would be able to help out at third base and right field when needed.

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Categories: Canada Sports News, Ontario Sports News, Pro Sports News

Celebrating the life and career of legendary broadcaster Bob Cole

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 11:26

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Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole passes away

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 11:10

Bob Cole, one of hockey’s most revered broadcasters, has died.

He was 90.

The native of St. John’s, N.L., was on Hockey Night in Canada for 50 years, completing his run after the 2018-19 season.

Beginning his hockey-broadcasting career with VOCM radio in his hometown, Cole moved into television in 1973.

In addition to 50 years on Hockey Night in Canada, Cole has also called hockey play-by-play for multiple Olympic Games.

One of his most famous calls came in the final seconds of Canada’s gold medal win at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

“Now after 50 years it’s time for Canada to stand up and cheer,” he said. “Stand up and cheer everybody. The Olympics Salt Lake City, 2002, men’s ice hockey, gold medal: Canada.”

A Gemini-award winning broadcaster, Cole is a member of the Order of Canada and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996 as a recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for broadcasting excellence.

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Report: Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey set to leave team

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:26

Chief technical officer Adrian Newey is leaving Red Bull Racing after 18 years, BBC Sport and Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reported Thursday.

Newey has helped Red Bull win seven drivers’ championships and six constructors’ championships during his tenure with the team.

According to BBC Sport, Newey’s decision stems from allegations relating to team principal Christian Horner, who was accused of misconduct toward an employee.

Red Bull dismissed the allegations following an internal investigation and Horner has denied any wrongdoing.

BBC Sport did not say where Newey will be heading, but said he has been linked to Ferrari and had received an offer Aston Martin with others likely to draw interest now as well.

Prior to joining Red Bull, Newey designed championship-winning cars for Williams and McLaren during the 1990s.

Under Newey’s watch, Red Bull ascended to the top of F1 capturing four consecutive constructors’ championships and drivers’ championships with Sebastian Vettel from 2010-13.

The team has claimed the past two constructors’ championships and three drivers’ championships with Max Verstappen.

Red Bull dominated last year winning a record 21 of 22 races.

They’re off to another roaring start this season with Verstappen and Sergio Perez sitting 1-2 in the standings and holding a 44-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ standings. Verstappen has won four of five races so far with a brake issue in Australia preventing a clean sweep.

Newey wrote his memoir How to Build a Car in 2017.

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How Leafs draft pick Carter Verhaeghe ended up on the Panthers

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:22

Is there a more clutch player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs right now than the Florida Panthers‘ Carter Verhaeghe?

Sure, in a Game 7 overtime draft, you’d probably take Connor McDavid ahead of him, or Nathan MacKinnon, or other marquee players who dazzle with their offensive impact night in and night out.

But Verhaeghe’s propensity to be the difference maker in the post-season’s biggest moments is something to behold. His latest example, scoring the Game 2 OT winner against Tampa Bay to give Florida a 2-0 series lead, placed Verhaeghe amongst some all-time greats. Now, only Joe Sakic (eight) and Maurice Richard (six) have more playoff OT winners in their careers than Verhaeghe, who is tied with Glenn Anderson, Patrick Kane and Corey Perry at five in their career.

It’s an amazing stat when you consider Verhaeghe is still 28, with lots of road ahead of him yet, and that this is just his fifth year in the post-season … and fourth as a regular. And it gets even more incredible when you consider how many games it took him to get those five OT goals compared to the others.

According to Chris Jastrzembski, a researcher for the NHL on TNT, Verhaeghe has scored his five OT markers in 47 playoff games, versus Sakic playing in 172, Richard in 132, Perry in 197, Kane in 143 and Anderson in 225.

“He’s got the clutch gene. He’s born with it,” Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad said after Game 2.

It’s fair to say no one predicted Verhaeghe would go on to become such an impactful player in the NHL early in his career. Verhaeghe didn’t even score 30 goals in the OHL until two years after he was picked by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the third round of the 2013 NHL draft. In his first two pro seasons, he wasn’t even able to stick in the AHL from beginning to end, getting bumped to the ECHL for 36 games.

Verhaeghe played two games with the Toronto Marlies, but before his first full pro season began the Maple Leafs, under GM Lou Lamoriello, traded him to the New York Islanders for Michael Grabner. Two years after that, without putting on an Islanders jersey, Verhaeghe was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for goalie Kristers Gudlevskis. With the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, Verhaeghe quickly became a full-time, top-six AHL forward and led the league with 34 goals and 82 points in 2018-19.

When his NHL career finally began in 2019-20 at the age of 24, Verhaeghe was trying to break into a stacked Tampa Bay lineup on the cusp of its Stanley Cup years. He scored nine goals and 13 points in 52 games as an NHL rookie, numbers that don’t jump off the page at you, but have to be viewed within the context that he was largely a fourth-line player who was getting less than 10 minutes a game.

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If you knew where to look, you could see the potential Verhaeghe had if he could earn more ice time. At 5-on-5 in that rookie season, Verhaeghe was one of five Lightning players to average over one goal per 60 minutes of ice time, joining Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killorn, Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point.

But, after winning the Stanley Cup that season — Verhaeghe contributed two assists in eight games during the run — the Lightning felt the first pinch of the pandemic-induced flat cap. With core players taking priority, Verhaeghe ended up being one of the first cap casualties, an arbitration-eligible RFA who the Lightning decided to leave unqualified and walk away from.

Verhaeghe became a UFA that summer, and signed a two-year, $1-million AAV contract with the Panthers. The ascent began, with 18 goals in 43 games out of the gate and 24 goals in his second campaign. He earned a three-year extension with a $4.166 million AAV out of that and then became a 40-goal scorer for the Panthers.

Now one of Florida’s most important forwards, and perhaps its most clutch of all, Verhaeghe has been one of the best early stories of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. For more on Verhaeghe, where he gets his goals from and how the Panthers ended up with him, we turn to our scout, Jason Bukala.

SCOUT’S ANALYSIS

I recall when Verhaeghe was playing in the OHL for the Niagara Ice Dogs in his draft year. I have to be honest, he presented a skill component that could potentially translate to the pro level, but he was also a bit too “one and done” physically. He didn’t look like a player who was going to battle exceptionally hard in the trenches, or push back a ton. I needed him to provide more than he did at the time. I wasn’t convinced he had the necessary push through for his offensive element to impact the NHL game, and his defensive detail was barely adequate.

Fast forward to today, and Verhaeghe obviously figured out what was required of him to become a scorer at the NHL level and he has turned the corner defensively. But it took time and he had stops with the Leafs, Islanders and Lightning organizations before getting his chance with the Panthers.

Here’s a look at where Verhaeghe scored his 34 goals this season. He’s a threat from all quadrants, but especially around the crease and between the hash marks and middle of the ice.

I spoke with some former colleagues of mine who were still with the Panthers when they signed Verhaeghe in the fall of 2020. At the time, the staff was led by director of pro scouting Al Tuer, who is now a pro scout with the New York Rangers. He, and others on the staff, believed Verhaeghe had untapped potential and was worth taking a risk to sign.

(Another pesky player the Panthers added on the advice of Tuer was depth energy forward Ryan Lomberg, who plays quick, provides relentless compete and never backs down physically.)

One of the interesting things that came out of my conversations was the fact the Panthers have established an internal strategy to “aggressively find” under the radar players who have identified NHL upside, but have been toiling at the minor pro levels worldwide. With this strategy, they’ve been able to fill out their roster with the likes of Gustav Forsling, Tobias Bjornfot, Josh Mahura, Kevin Stenlund and Jonah Gadjovich.

Today, the Panthers have one of the largest scouting staffs in the NHL, and GM Bill Zito has done an outstanding job expanding his group. The results speak for themselves when it comes to utilizing the waiver wire and signing affordable depth free agents.

Verhaeghe is the most notable find today, but there are several players on this year’s roster who found the best version of themselves after joining the Panthers.

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Will the Senators end up calling LeBreton Flats home?

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:16

OTTAWA — You can bet on almost anything these days.

I wagered a million dollars that the sun would come up and am rolling in dough today.

(Sun-rising metaphors are fitting in Ottawa, where it has been dark to NHL playoff hockey since 2017).

Now, if you were in charge of placing odds on the future location of Ottawa’s NHL arena, how would you lay them out? Would it be 5/2 in favour of LeBreton Flats and 8/1 on a downtown site? Or something else.

Certainly LeBreton Flats — a tract of land west of Parliament Hill presided over by the National Capital Commission, a crown corporation — has the inside track as an established candidate for a new Senators arena. But, as often happens in an election, later candidates to the scene can win the day.

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, for one, is a proponent for looking into sites even more central than LeBreton, in downtown Ottawa.

Earlier this week, Senators CEO and president Cyril Leeder was speaking to a building summit organized by the Ottawa Board of Trade. Unintentionally, he garnered some headlines for the arena project by stating a simple fact – that LeBreton is currently the one location officially on the docket.

“The only site we’re really focused on right now has been LeBreton Flats,” Leeder said. “Obviously there are other sites in the city. We’ve looked at a number of those. Probably too early to say definitively where the arena’s going to go, but at this point the only site we are really serious with is LeBreton Flats.”

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True enough, representatives of the NHL club, including Leeder and Erin Crowe, executive VP and CFO, have been meeting with the NCC every couple of weeks to discuss LeBreton.

The meat on the table — the Senators, under previous management, signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreement with the NCC to negotiate a lease for building an arena on LeBreton Flats. That arena site would be part of a larger project in the area, building homes and retail space on a vacant area near the War Museum.

With new majority team owner Michael Andlauer coming on the scene last September, that MOU was extended by a year, meaning that time is running out to get something done before the MOU expires.

As Leeder noted this week, there is a lot of heavy lifting to be done before anything is settled on the arena front, citing “shortcomings” in the memorandum of understanding, as far as the hockey club perceives it.

Diplomatically, both Leeder and the NCC are on the record as saying these sorts of issues that remain outstanding are part of a normal business negotiation. But now the onus is on the NCC to come up with a plan that works. To those of us anticipating summer, September seems a long way off. But considering we have been talking about a new arena and the LeBreton site in particular for about a decade, four months is not much time.

Tick. Tock.

“Whatever we do with the NCC has to lead to a viable project,” Leeder said. “Something we can finance, something we can build that will work for us in the long term. It’s got to work for us and our fans.”

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Following a recent NCC meeting, CEO Tobi Nussbaum reiterated that he hopes to have an agreement in place with the Senators by the fall.

“There’s no question that there will be a point at which we’ll have to have a lease or not,” Nussbaum told reporters last week. “I can’t say with 100 per cent certainty when that is. Is it September? I certainly hope so. That’s our hope that we can get all the work done by then.”

If the arena concept for LeBreton falls through, Nussbaum notes that the NCC has a ‘Plan B’ for the site.

“Our first hope was to have a major attraction, a major event centre there, but should that not happen, there is a Plan B for those parcels within LeBreton Flats,” he said. “There’s a great need for housing and mixed use development in the city so, if, at some point, the two sides are not able to come to an agreement or the Senators make a decision that they’re not going to build there, then yes, absolutely, we’ll have to move to our second option.”

As much as Leeder sparked discussion on LeBreton with his talk with the Board of Trade, he confirmed in a text that nothing has really changed. LeBreton is the only site currently up for discussion. Other sites could become candidates but have not to this point.

Recently the federal government announced plans to reduce its office space by 50 per cent over the 10 ten years.

That prompted Ottawa mayor Sutcliffe to suggest it could represent an opportunity for a new arena more central than LeBreton.

“Maybe we can have a new park downtown, maybe we can have other attractions downtown and maybe we can have a conversation about a downtown arena,” Sutcliffe told Ottawa sports radio station TSN 1200 last week.

“If the Senators are interested in exploring a downtown option, I think it would be great for the downtown core,” said the mayor.

None of this is new to Leeder.

Eight years ago, when Eugene Melnyk owned the team, Leeder represented the Senators in a winning proposal to build a new arena on LeBreton land. That project, known as RendezVous Lebreton, provided about 50 acres of land to the RendezVous group, which included the Senators and Trinity Developments – Trinity had a major housing and retail proposal included in the deal.

After the Trinity-Senators partnership dissolved in a spate of lawsuits, the RendezVous proposal died and the NCC moved on to a more piecemeal approach of developing LeBreton. That 50-acre parcel is no longer available and instead, the team is being offered six to seven acres of land on which to build.

As much as the location is tied into rapid transit stations in the area, the Senators want room for cars to park and even more vitally, a lively space around the rink for restaurants and bars, typical of other centrally located NHL arenas.

While Nussbaum has repeatedly said the NCC is “flexible” on the size of the parcel, is there enough flexibility to satisfy the Senators and their needs?

What are the odds of getting this deal done by September?

And the odds of the Senators going elsewhere with their new rink?

Bets on the table, everyone.

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Montgomery on Swayman vs. Leafs: ‘Maybe he’s in their head’

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 10:02

Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery isn’t yet ready to commit to backing off his long-standing goaltender rotation for Game 4 of the team’s first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it sure sounds like he’s considering it.

Asked if Jeremy Swayman‘s recent impressive record against the Leafs will factor in his decision, Montgomery pointed to another aspect of the Bruins’ 4-2 win in Game 3.

“Sometimes I don’t think that (head-to-head records matter) but when (Max) Domi goes off the bench and bumps him on purpose, makes me think that maybe he’s in their head a little bit,” Montgomery said.

During a break in play in the second period, Domi made contact with Swayman as he skated off the bench.

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Swayman was in net for Boston’s two wins in the series. Over the past two seasons, Swayman is 6-0-0 against the Maple Leafs, with a .959 save percentage and 1.31 goals-against average. He also has had four 30-save performances.

Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe, however, isn’t buying Montgomery’s theory.

“I sense zero frustration,” he said. “I think it’s playoff hockey and things are happening all over the ice. With that logic, you would say every time they bump into one of our guys, maybe we’re in their heads.”

There is now an extra day off between games, with the teams returning to action Saturday in Toronto.

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Swayman and Linus Ullmark, the Vezina Trophy winner last year, have been on a rotation most of the season. Swayman hasn’t started two games in a row since Feb. 19-21.

“I mean we’re going to have more rest,” Montgomery said. “The rotation’s been so good for us, so it’s a hard decision.”

Watch Game 4 on Saturday on Sportsnet or Sportsnet+ at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.

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Reason for William Nylander’s playoff absence hard to pin down

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 09:44

According to multiple sources, William Nylander’s absence from the Toronto lineup has to do with a migraine so severe that team doctors tested to see if he suffered a concussion. One of the reasons for the secrecy around his situation is that an actual diagnosis has been hard to come by, whether it is a migraine, a concussion or something else that could affect that area.

That secrecy led to wild speculation — even by Toronto standards — as to why Nylander missed the first three games of the Boston series. It’s believed Nylander first indicated an issue Thursday, the day after the Maple Leafs ended their regular season in Tampa Bay. He played all 82 games in 2023-24.

In September 2022, Nylander told reporters he switched to a tinted visor because of migraines he’d suffered the previous season.

There is hope he will play Game 4, with Boston leading the series 2-1. A little more unclear is the status of the useful Bobby McMann, who suffered a lower-body injury in Game 80 versus Detroit. His timeline was expected to be longer than Nylander’s, although he hasn’t been ruled out of the series.

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Daulton Varsho pushes Blue Jays toward elite team defence

Thu, 04/25/2024 - 09:43

When MLB teams are said to be built around pitching and defence — a label that undoubtedly applies to the Toronto Blue Jays — the second part of that description tends to overshadow the first.

Pitching and defence co-exist in a way that makes them difficult to separate at times, but when teams hang their hat on run suppression the pitchers soak up much of the glory. That’s not completely unfair, either.

Strikeouts, walks and home runs are the domain of the men on the mound — and some have a talent for meaningfully impacting contact quality on balls in play. There are rare teams whose defence is so strong it becomes the club’s best run-suppression weapon despite its inability to affect every at-bats.

While the Blue Jays experienced a costly, high-profile defensive blunder on Tuesday, they appear to be one of those teams. Toronto’s fWAR (1.1), which is based on fielding-independent pitching numbers, ranks 26th in the majors, but the team allowed a middle-of-the-pack 4.32 runs per game — good for 14th in MLB.

Some of that has come from fairly mistake-free fielding as only 10 clubs have committed fewer errors than the Blue Jays, but the driving force of their success has been consistently turned likely hits into outs.

Last season, the Blue Jays were an excellent defensive team that ranked seventh in Statcast Fielding Run Value(+19) — a metric that combines Outs Above Average with catcher fielding statistics to summarize a team’s whole defensive output.

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On a per-game basis that group turned 1.65 balls with an expected batting average above .500 into outs. This year, that number sits at 2.12.

That’s 53 total balls that easily could’ve been hits that found mitts, often via highlight-reel plays:

Expected Batting Average: .917

Expected Batting Average: .832

Expected Batting Average: .831

It’s not a surprise to see Daulton Varsho feature prominently among the best plays, considering he leads the majors in OAA (+7) after ranking 20th last year.

Much of what we’ve seen thus far makes sense, given the track record of Toronto’s position players. Kevin Kiermaier’s strong start is far from shocking considering he’s won four Gold Gloves, including one last year. Alejandro Kirk ranks fourth on the framing leaderboards, which makes sense considering he was a 95th percentile framer in 2022 and ranked in the 79th percentile last year.

While much of Toronto’s defensive success has come from returning players building on their already-stellar reputations, others have also chipped in. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ernie Clement have been nearly flawless at third base, combining for +2 OAA with both players also performing well at other positions.

Davis Schneider is still inexperienced in left field, but he’s handled himself OK, and Cavan Biggio has bounced around the diamond less than usual, primarily playing his best position: second base. With Kiermaier on the IL, left field may not be a position of strength, but it shouldn’t be a disaster, either.

The only two regulars with negative defensive numbers are Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Bichette took a step forward last season but remains inconsistent defensively. Guerrero is at a low point coming off Tuesday’s error, but he looks more athletic this season — and his sprint speed has gone from 27th percentile last season to 54th this year. If he’s moving better overall, he could be in for a stronger defensive season.

With a combination of some of MLB’s best defensive performers and relatively few liabilities, the Blue Jays defence has been outstanding and the club’s Statcast Fielding Run Value, or FRV, of +12 leads the majors. Since the beginning of the Statcast era in 2015, no team has topped a FRV of +59 in a season and the Blue Jays are on pace for +77.8.

It’s unfair to expect them to reach that number as defensive numbers are volatile and any kind of unprecedented pace is likely to regress to the mean a bit. Even if that happens, there’s plenty of room for this group to slow down and remain extraordinary.

Considering the Blue Jays sit fourth in the American League East, rank 22nd in scoring, and have a negative run differential, it’s easy to see them as an unremarkable outfit. While there’s plenty of season to play, that description may end up being accurate — but their defence gives the Blue Jays one indisputably elite quality.

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