Feb 17, 2026; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets pitcher Nolan McLean (26) looks on during the New York Mets spring training workouts at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images | Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images
Meet the Mets
Nolan McLean’s first outing of the spring was fantastic, and the Mets won their exhibition game against the Astros.
Mets minor league pitcher Ryan Lambert is fanatical about his dietary beliefs and once consumed thirty raw eggs per day for an entire month.
“Everybody says first base is easy, but it’s harder than what you expect,” said Jorge Polanco following some work the Mets had him doing at the position in an intrasquad game.
Pitching prospects Thomas White and Robby Snelling, who are roommates and consensus top-100 prospects in baseball entering the 2026 season, are eyeing their big league debuts with the Marlins.
Around Major League Baseball
Giancarlo Stanton is determined to play through the pain caused by tennis elbow in both of his arms—pain that prevents him from being able to open a bottle or a bag of chips.
Details of Max Scherzer's one-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays: $3 million base salary $1 million when he reaches 65 innings $1M for 75IP $1M for 85IP $1M for 95IP $1M for 105IP $1M for 115IP $1M for 125IP $1M for 135IP $1M for 145IP $1M for 155IP He can receive a total of…
Tyler Kepner reports that Kurtz is open to a deal. (The Athletic sub. req.) Kepner also goes into detail about why Kurtz is worth a lot to the A’s—or any other team.
Dennis Lim and Ken Rosenthal report on five bids to buy the San Diego Padres (The Athletic free reg. req.). one of which includes former NFL quarterback Drew Brees as a minority owner. Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob is also reportedly a bidder on the Padres.
The Yankees are retiring CC Sabathia’s number 52. The Yankees are going to be wearing jerseys with numbers in triple digits and/or fractions in the near future with all their retired numbers.
David Schoenfield tries to predict the 2026 All-Star Game lineups. Even Schoenfield calls this “way-too-early,” but really? Are we already concerned about All-Star Game rosters?
Last week, I started taking another look at how the Cardinals have done (historically) with draft-and-development. This is a journey more than end point and I have many more numbers to crunch. This week is an abbreviated update, since most of my time has been spent at Spring Training and sitting inside number crunching doesn’t seem like a thing to do right now. The pool calls. If you missed last week’s article, you can find it here.
I did a mash-up of ZIPS projections for 2026-2028 future seasons and Fangraphs fWAR results for seasons 2017-2025, but limited to players listed in the FanGraphs prospects boards, which ranks prospects dating back to 2017. That covers 9 seasons of “young guys”. With ZIPs doing most of the heavy lifting, I analyzed how ZIPs thinks teams have done with drafting (and developing?).
Interesting side note … I heard from Dan Szymborksi a few hours after my article published using the ZIPs projections. He kindly offered to provide some additional data he may have beyond what FG makes public. If I’m smart enough to figure out something, I will take him up on that.
Below, I’ve summarized, by team, all the fWAR that ZIPs thinks our list of prospects will have accumulated by the end of the 2028 season. I’ve added the perspective of showing (on the y-axis) how much teams have put out in signing bonuses for those prospects. Note the narrow range of spending, with a high of $56 million (over 9 years) to a low of $13 million. Peanuts compared to some of the FA contracts. The highs and low are effectively constrained by where teams draft and the international bonus pool limits. The teams at the low end of the spending (Dodgers, Astros, Yankees, Cardinals) are ones that typically draft low (by being good) or sign Free Agents regularly (losing draft choices and associated pool money). Or both. The teams that have more to spend (Cincy, Pittsburgh, Baltimore) are the opposite. They’ve been bad during the analysis period (drafting high, getting higher bonus pools) and generally avoiding the Free Agent market.
On the x-axis, you see a pretty wide spread of projected fWAR (through 2028). Washington and Miami trail the pack which the Cardinals lead. A quick observation is an oldie, but apparently a goodie. As noted in earlier work using different data sets, it is remarkable how consistently that poorly run teams both play and draft poorly and are unable to acquire much value through their much higher draft picks. As you look in the lower right quadrant, you see the same phenomenon occurs while studying 2017-2028 as occurred during the original study (2000-2019). Well run team, drafting lower, still draft better. Really, only San Diego has broken that mold. Tip of the cap to A.J. Preller. The Cardinals have now had two consecutive high draft picks. I am fascinated to see how that turns out.
The red and blue dashed lines divide the teams into 4 quadrants, with labels as shown. As surfaced with previous analyses using different data sets, the phenomenon continues to be that strong organizations do well on the field and still manage to acquire more measurable prospect talent than the other organizations. These are the ones shown in bottom right=hand quadrant – Low Investment, High Return. These are the organizations getting more fWAR for less dollars.
Which team is projected to derive the most fWAR value from the prospect ranks from 2017 through 2028? Your St. Louis Cardinals. Tops. Bar none. At 371 accumulated and projected fWAR, the Cardinals come out comfortably ahead of Atlanta at 354 accumulated and projected fWAR for their prospects. And the Cardinals were doing this under tighter constraints. Not self-imposed constraints like being cheap, but round/pick bonus constraints that come with drafting where they have typically drafted (except the last 2 years). As a side note, y-axis on this graph shows bonuses actually paid. I queried against pick value and almost all teams, all years have their paid bonuses fall within 5% of the pool allocated the by round/pick values assigned.
Interesting.
Other observations
Let’s look around the league for other tidbits. How about those Padres. They appear to be drafting well. Their bonus spending is right on average, too. Their only drawback is most of those projected WAR are projected to occur with other teams like Washington (the Soto trade) and Oakland (the Miller trade).
I note the Pirates and Reds have spent comparatively heavily, by virtue of being bad for multiple, multiple years. If I peek at only projected WAR (ignoring any WAR actually accumulated 2017-2025), ZIPs appears to like Pittsburgh (157 future WAR) a lot better than Cincy (106 future WAR), but over the 9 seasons views them both as average drafters, albeit spending more to get to that average mark. For the curious, ZIPs sees the Cardinals future (projected) WAR as exceeding both those teams.
Milwaukee and Pittsburgh’s short-term outlooks looks pretty strong. They are local competition. The Cubs and Reds? Not so much. Details upon request.
Clouds on the horizon?
From the Cardinals viewpoint, one dark spot is that if you look ONLY at future performance expected (2026-2028), the Cardinals are more mid-pack, with Detroit, Baltimore, Tampa, San Francisco and Milwaukee in the top 20%. This could be viewed as worrisome, but it is a point-in-time look unpolluted by actual performance data that could prove to be highly variable even by mid-season 2026. Also, I don’t believe any of the Cardinals recent acquisitions (Cinjtje, Doyle, Rodriguez and others) have ZIPs projections yet. I bet they do by this time next year. Let’s hope they are good ones.
I would be remiss if I didn’t note that IF the Cardinal’s projected WAR improves next year, it will be a result of replenishing the farm system via trades as well as good drafting. Later, I will look more deeply, but I suspect that 2021-2023 were not good draft years, creating a bit of a donut hole that all these trades had to backfill.
I would note that the Cardinal’s did underspend their slot money over the 2017-2025 time period. By $2m on a $25m spend over the 9 years. The $25m is calculated at 105% of the slot values, since teams can go over-slot by 5% with negligible penalties. The underspend is nothing egregious. But I do wonder if a team like St. Louis that is so reliant on draft/sign and develop can afford to miss even that much. Back of the envelop math tells me if $23m can produce 371 fWAR, then $2m more could well have produced an added 35 fWAR. That’s not nothing.
One other interesting (to me) thing I see in the data. I know that the Giants grew impatient with their development-oriented leadership and switched over to Buster Posey. Zaidi was hired in 2019 and let go in 2024. Although the graph above shows the Giants running below average on draft/sign talent acquisition, the ZIPs projection data is much more friendly on the view of more recent draft classes and the Giants will likely trend more to the right over the next couple of years (unless they trade all those prospects). The data hints that the Giants may have been too hasty to abandon the track they were on. I note that Bloom is on a similar 5-year timeline. Makes me wonder if that might be too little.
TAMPA, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 26: Carlos Carrasco #59 of the Atlanta Braves delivers a pitch in the first inning against the New York Yankees during a Grapefruit League spring training game at George M. Steinbrenner Field on February 26, 2026 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Atlanta Braves went to Tampa on Thursday and returned with a 7-3 loss to the New York Yankees. Carlos Carrasco got the ball and lasted just 1.2 innings. Though his outing was short, he surrendered four hits and five runs. He struck out one and surrendered a base on balls.
Offensively, the Braves recorded eight hits but were only able to plate runs in the third and fourth innings. It was a pretty backup-heavy lineup for Atlanta, with most of the regulars getting the day off as the team continues to sort through its depth this spring.
The Braves host the Boston Red Sox this afternoon back in North Port.
More Braves News:
Just ahead of the World Baseball Classic, there is plenty of competition at Braves camp.
MLB News: The Athletics have reportedly made an extension offer to first baseman Nick Kurtz, who is “open and interested” depending on the timing.
Fort Myers, FL - February 18: Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas. The Red Sox held Day 9 of Spring Training at JetBlue Park on February 18, 2026. (Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) | Boston Globe via Getty Images
With the offseason behind us, it’s once again time to check in with the Over the Monster community and gauge fan opinion on how the Red Sox organization is doing.
Below are polls covering the job performance of the front office, ownership, and the manager, followed by some other topical items. Your job is to express your opinion on them.
As always, we try and run these four times per year (in late May as the season hits its stride, in early August right after the trade deadline, in early November after the World Series with the offseason kicking off, and in February as we transition into a new spring training).
So, without further ado—make your choices in our February check in, and let us know in the comments your overall feelings about the club.
Previous poll results for this question when it was run:
Kirill Marchenko(20) and Adam Fantilli(14) scored the only goals for the CBJ, while Elvis Merzlikins stopped 19 of 22 Boston shots in a 4-2 Columbus loss to the Bruins.
Joonas Korpisalo earned every penny of his contract by standing on his head the entire game. The Blue Jackets pumped 40 shots at the Bruins goalies but just couldn't solve Bronze Medal winner Korpisalo.
This is only the new HC Rick Bowness's second loss as the Jackets' bench boss.
First Period - SOG 20-10 CBJ - Columbus Goal Marchenko (20)
The Jackets started the game and looked to set the tone early. They weren't generating many shots but were buzzing around Joonas Korpisalo. Kirill Marchenko took a stretch pass from Mason Marchment, who split the defense and smoked a wrister by Korpisalo to make it 1-0 Jackets.
Marchenko would give the Bruins their first power play when he hooked Henri Jokiharju. The CBJ killed it with relative ease to keep the game in favor of Columbus.
With six minutes left in the first period, there were anxious moments on both ends of the ice when Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo seemed to be under siege. Elvis was tripped behind his net, who then fell and had to dive through the crease to make a goal-saving stop on Sean Kuraly. Going back the other way, Korpisalo had to make a couple goal savers of his own.
Viktor Arvidsson would score for Boston when he put in a puck passed Merzlikins off the stick of CBJ forward Isac Lundestrom. Nothing like a little bad luck to start the post-Olympic break.
The Jackets got their first power play with 2:09 left when Michael Eyssimont got called for holding Boone Jenner. The Bruins killed it, keeping it a 1-1 tie heading into the first intermission.
Second Period - SOG 9-8 CBJ - Columbus Goals - None
Miles Wood gave Boston a power play at the 6:13 mark of the second when he ran into Joonas Korpisalo, drawing a Goalie Interference call. Korpisalo was pulled by concussion spotters, causing Michael DiPietro to be inserted into the crease for Boston. Korpisalo apparently passed concussion protocol and was back in the game with 8 minutes left in the second period.
Morgan Geekie wasted no time when he scored his 33rd goal of the season, putting Boston up 2-1.
The Blue Jackets couldn't get anything going in the second. Boston clamped down defensively and didn't give Columbus a thing. The Jackets actually outshot the Bruins 9-8 but went into the third period down by a goal.
Third Period
With 11:29 to go, Mason Marchment was put in the box for slashing, in what looked to be a very soft call in a tight game like this. Merzlikins and the Jackets' PK were able to fend off the Bruins' man advantage to keep the game 2-1.
Sean Kuraly put the Bruins up for good with 8:34 left in the third period to essentially end the game. The goal might have been helped in by a Blue Jacket defender's stick on the shot, which may have affected the angle of it.
Adam Fantilli did score a goal at the 13:45 mark, but it just felt like it was too late.
Viktor Arvidsson scored an empty net goal to end the CBJ's seven-game win streak. The Boston win was their 10th straight win at home.
Boston goalie Joonas Korpisalo played out of his mind in this game, stopping 36 CBJ shots to collect his first win against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Rick Bowness says he doesn't think the game got away from them at all and had more than enough chances to win. He's also curious about how they can control play and have the puck in the Bruins D-Zone so much and not draw any penalties.
Final Stats
CBJ APP
Player Stats
Kirill Marchenko scored his 20th goal of the season.
Adam Fantilli scored his 14th goal of the year and 20th assist. He also had 5 shots on goal and went 8/12 on faceoffs.
Mason Marchment recorded his 14th and 15th assists
Zach Werenski picked up his 43rd assist. He now has points in 8 straight games and 12 of his last 13. He also had 7 shots on goal and played 28:34 after returning from Milan.
Team Stats
The Jackets power play went 0/1.
The Columbus PK stopped 2 of 3 Bruin man advantages.
Columbus only won 41.2% of the faceoffs - 21/51
The Blue Jackets had 24 hits and 11 blocks.
NextUpFor Columbus- The Columbus Blue Jackets are back at home after 23 days away from NWA to face the New York Islanders on Saturday.
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UNITED STATES - APRIL 16: Baseball: Aerial view of fans in stands at Shea Stadium during New York Mets vs Milwaukee Brewers game, Flushing, NY 4/16/2006 (Photo by Chuck Solomon/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (SetNumber: X75714 TK2 R1)
This post is part of a series of daily questions that we’ll ask the community here at Amazin’ Avenue throughout the month of February. We hope you find the questions engaging and that our prompts can spark some fun conversations in the comments. We’ll see you there and plan to have staff chiming in, too.
Sep 10, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; General view of the helmet used by the Milwaukee Brewers before the start of the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images
Greetings, Brew Crew Ball community. Welcome to (almost) March, which means baseball is less than a month away!
Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-baseball sports, the Brewers, you name it. As long as it’s appropriate and is allowed by our moderators, it’s fair game here.
Newcastle v Barça; Liverpool get Galatasaray rematch
Spurs take on Atlético Madrid; Arsenal meet Leverkusen
The draw for the Champions League last 16 has produced some intriguing, heavyweight clashes featuring the renewal of old rivalries. If Manchester City’s meeting with Real Madrid arguably ranks foremost among them, Chelsea’s engagement with the holders, Paris Saint-Germain, and Newcastle’s duel with Barcelona are certainly not lacking in glamour.
Or, in the case of Chelsea and PSG in particular, edge. The tie is a repeat of last summer’s Club World Cup final in New Jersey, which Chelsea won 3-0 thanks to two goals from Cole Palmer and with a team under the management of Enzo Maresca.
CJ Fulton says he is expecting "a bit more pressure and attention on me" when he makes his first Ireland appearance in over two years in Friday's FIBA EuroBasket 2029 pre-qualifier against Azerbaijan (19:45 GMT).
It has been a whirlwind year for the 23-year-old after signing for NBA side Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Belfast native is now focused on helping Ireland advance in the qualifiers for the European Championships following defeats by Luxembourg and North Macedonia.
"It's hard to believe it's almost been three years since I last played in the green jersey, but [I'm] looking forward to it," Fulton told BBC Sport NI's Thomas Kane.
"Very important, must-win games if we want to have a chance of qualifying for the EuroBasket.
"I am very excited to be back."
The first round of qualifying for the EuroBasket consists of three groups with the winners of each and the best-ranked second-placed team advancing to the second round.
Then, those teams will be joined by eight more from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European qualifiers in the second round of qualifying.
"I think I can definitely come back and help the team," added Fulton.
"The European style of basketball is what I grew up playing, I've been out of it for a little bit, but I'm excited to try and get back into that style of basketball.
Fulton signed a professional contract with Minnesota Timberwolves after he played two games in the summer league for the side, and was then waived to the Iowa Wolves who are the Timberwolves' reserves.
Since playing for the Wolves, he has featured in the NBA's team-affiliated development division in the G-League.
Now, Fulton returns home after missing the first two Ireland qualifiers due to college commitments and wants to "give back" to the international side.
"Three years ago, I was probably still the young guy, still coming up and trying to make a name for myself whereas, I'm a bit more established," he added.
"Just with everything that's gone on the past few months, there probably will be a bit more pressure and attention on me, but there's a lot of good players on the roster, so I think it's just about me coming back and trying to help the team win.
"I think it's just really important to try and help as much as I can, help grow the game here, give back to the kids."
G-League 'an adjustment'
Following the two international games, the former St Malachy's College pupil will return to Iowa as the Wolves push to make the play-offs.
The side currently sit in eighth position of the G League Western Conference but have lost their last four matches.
"The G League is kind of a unique kind of trade, you know, guys going up to the NBA. So that's been an adjustment, just kind of trying to embrace all the changes that happen rather than knowing what's going on every day," said Fulton.
"It's been a good experience. There's a lot of talented players in the league and a lot of guys that are on the bubble of making that NBA, just they're not quite there yet, or guys who've played in the NBA and are trying to make their way back.
"There's definitely a lot of talent that I'm going up against, and I think that's only going to help me in the long run."
According to ESPN's Tim MacMahon, SGA is not currently listed on the team's injury report for Friday's game against the Denver Nuggets.
At the very least, Gilgeous-Alexander will be available for the contest, but he could be on a minutes restriction. After all, the Thunder are still atop the Western Conference standings. There is no need to immediately rush their star player back to the court.
That said, they do only sit two games above San Antonio in the West. Perhaps SGA could play more than anticipated if the Thunder are in danger of losing the game late. Here's what to know.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been cleared to return after missing the last nine games due to an abdominal strain. He is not on OKC’s injury report for tomorrow’s game vs. Nuggets.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is expected to play Friday against Denver.
There were concerns early on that SGA would miss extended time, pushing him out of the race for MVP due to the 65-game rule. Those worries have disappeared with his return, and SGA has re-emerged as the favorite to win the award.
How did Oklahoma City fare without SGA?
The Thunder went 5-4 in their nine games without SGA.
The Thunder are still without All-NBA forward Jalen Williams and key role player Ajay Mitchell.
Oklahoma City still sits two games above San Antonio for first place in the Western Conference. However, the Spurs have won 10 consecutive games and own the season tiebreaker between the two teams.
The Toronto Maple Leafs' rookie hasn't been in the lineup since Jan. 29, which is six games ago. In that time, Toronto won its three games before the break, and then lost their last two in Florida.
You would think, given how the Maple Leafs fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, that a day later, Cowan would be inserted into the lineup against the Florida Panthers.
Instead, the only swap Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube made was putting Dakota Joshua in for Calle Jarnkrok. Thursday's game against the Florida Panthers was Joshua's first back since suffering a lacerated kidney on Dec. 28.
Even with Joshua coming into the lineup, though, Berube could've found a spot for Cowan, too. Putting the young forward in would be a discreet message to his team that their performance against the Lightning — amidst a crucial playoff race — wasn't good enough.
But no, Cowan sat again, and it's been almost a month since he's seen game action.
"What does he got? Forty-something games this year played for us? At the time I took him out of the lineup, I felt like he hit a bit of a wall. We won three in a row, so I kept the same lineup going into the game last night against Tampa," Berube said on Thursday before their 5-1 loss to Florida.
"It's decisions that I make as a coach, and I don't believe his development is getting hurt. I think he's improved this year as the year went along, and I think he still has the swagger that's needed. He's a confident kid.
"Now, saying that, he's got to get in there and play. And that's our job to get him in there at some point here."
So, let's get this straight: if Cowan has the "swagger that's needed," why isn't he playing more often? It doesn't even have to be in the NHL — the Marlies would be the perfect place for him to get big-time minutes.
Through 43 games with the Maple Leafs, Cowan has seven goals and 17 points. That's more than forwards Steven Lorentz, Scott Laughton, and Calle Jarnkrok.
It's worth noting that Cowan wasn't eligible to be sent to the AHL before the Olympic break due to a stipulation which states waivers-exempt players can't be sent down if they had played 16 of the team's 20 NHL games before the roster freeze or had been on the NHL roster for 80 league days before Jan. 21, via PuckPedia.
He can be sent down now — though I doubt that will happen.
The bottom line is Cowan needs to play. You can argue his development isn't being harmed because the rookie is around NHLers every day, and likely learning tips and tricks from them. But that can only take him so far.
He needs to get into games to apply the tools he's learning. Cowan could've been the guy for the Marlies this year had they loaned him to the AHL club for more than just the two games he played down there in early November.
Either play him with the Maple Leafs, or send him to the AHL, where he'll get ample opportunity to play in every situation. Cowan needs it. The Maple Leafs' future needs it. And if you're not going to do that, you're doing a disservice to the player and the team's fans.
The Montreal Canadiens finally resumed their season on Thursday night when they hosted the New York Islanders at the Bell Centre. To celebrate their return, the Habs also celebrated their “Soirée Québécoise”. As the arena filled up before puck drop, pictures of poutine, the Rocher Perce, maple syrup and Elvis Gratton were projected on the ice to name a few as Diane Bibaud warmed up by playing Noir Silence’s On jase de toi on the organ.
It wasn’t Bibaud who needed to rehearse the most, though; both teams looked as rusty as one could have expected in the first frame, and there were quite a few icings, offsides, and missed cues, but they got there in the end.
Once they had shaken off the rust, the Habs had a few dominant shifts, including one in which they made a full line change in the offensive zone without losing possession. They had the Islanders pinned down and good puck movement, but they were looking for the perfect play, and when they finally took a shot, it was one Ilya Sorokin had no trouble stopping and freezing, allowing the Isles to get a much-needed change.
The tendency to look for the perfect play rather than putting pucks on net is nothing new for the Canadiens, but it is something that really needs to be addressed. In tight physical playoff games, there won’t be time or space for the perfect play.
Discipline
The Canadiens were in perfect control of the game, up 2-0 in the second frame with 3:30 to go in the period, thanks to two Noah Dobson goals, when Juraj Slafkovsky took an interference penalty after slashing Tony DeAngelo’s stick, and Mike Matheson took a high-sticking penalty seven seconds later.
As a result, the Islanders had 1:53 at five-on-three, and they made the most of the golden opportunity with rookie sensation Matthew Schaefer scoring two power-play goals. It was a shame for Samuel Montembeault, who was tracking the puck well and had made two saves on one-timers during the penalties, but Schaefer showed just how good he was with a couple of picture-perfect shots.
Managing The Lead
After the game, Martin St-Louis was disappointed with the way his team failed to manage the puck after getting a 3-2 lead:
In those last 10 minutes, I felt like we let them play with the puck too much. We had to be able to still generate some offensive time. You’ve got to be calculated with what you do with it in the neutral zone, be selective in your choice of play in the offensive zone, which allows you to make them defend a little bit, but we had to defend the last 10, so you know, they just kept coming. I felt like we were defending pretty well, but at the end, they pulled the goalie, and they got an extra guy, that’s something we talked about, but we didn’t get the job done.
-
The bench boss was clearly annoyed at that five-on-six goal, adding: “The five guys have to do their job, and that’s not what happened”. After the game, the players told the media that the tying goal came from a bad bounce, but St-Louis didn’t agree.
When the Islanders scored with less than two minutes to go in the game, Mike Matheson, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, Philip Danault, and Noah Dobson were on the ice, and given the coach’s comments, it feels like there might be a video session in the cards the next time there’s a full practice.
The Calder Trophy
Seeing Schaefer play in person for the first time tonight, it was hard not to be impressed with the way he plays the game at such a young age. The way he moves with so much fluidity, coupled with his stickhandling skills and decision-making at 18, it feels like the Calder Trophy is already his.
Whether or not Ivan Demidov wins the scoring race probably won’t matter, not against such a young player who has mastered the defenseman role to that kind of extent at that age. While age shouldn’t really be a factor, it generally is.
In the end, the loss was a shame for Dobson, who did manage to score twice against his former team, but he was also on the ice for three of their goals. In the net, Montembeault had a respectable outing even though he surrendered four goals on just 27 shots. The tying goal at the end of regulation was a tipped puck right in front of him, and as for the overtime goal, it was a clear faceoff win by the Islanders, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau took off, outskating everyone and showing up in front of the goaltender all alone. It’s not the first time that he’s spoiled the Canadiens day; it was his fourth game-winning goal in 37 games against the Habs.
As for Alex Newhook, he played a very good game in his return to action, spending over 13 minutes on the ice, picking up an assist on Dobson’s power play goal, taking a shot, landing a couple of hits, and winning four of the seven draws he took.
The Canadiens will hold an optional skate in Brossard at 11:30 AM on Friday, and they’ll be back in action on Saturday night when they’ll host the Washington Capitals.
The Florida Panthers are looking to make a late-season playoff push, and they got things off to a solid start on Thursday night.
Hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team Florida is chasing in the standings, the Panthers jumped out to a 3-0 lead en route to a strong 5-1 victory.
Now they’ll get right back to work, as the Cats finish up a quick back-to-back when they welcome the Buffalo Sabres to Sunrise.
Buffalo arrives in South Florida holding on to the second Wild Card spot, with 72 points through 58 games played. That puts them nine points ahead of the Panthers with the same amount of games remaining.
Boston, who holds the second Wild Card spot, remains eight points ahead of Florida after picking up a 4-2 victory over Columbus on Thursday.
It’s quite the mountain to climb.
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice knows how difficult of a stretch it will be, and was enthused by what he saw on Thursday, knowing what a healthy Florida team is capable of.
“It’s a real easy thing to focus on,” Maurice said. “It’s not even distractions; When you’ve got a 4 Nations year, an Olympic year, everything is kind of out of control and your schedule is completed different. We obviously had so many injuries that affected us, and I think the normal distractions that come from winning, but now this is nice and clean for us.”
The Panthers will be looking to pick up on Friday against Buffalo where they left off the previous night when they dismantled the Maple Leafs.
Leading the way for Florida was their new-look top line of Evan Rodrigues centering Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart.
The trio combined for two goals and two assists on 14 shots on goal.
“Evan Rodrigues was pretty good tonight, pretty dynamic with that line,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “There’s an awful lot of speed the one side and some great hands on the other side. I thought the three guys just played off each other really well, found holes, supported the puck and made some really good plays.”
Outside of Daniil Tarasov stepping in for Sergei Bobrovsky on the second night of a back-to-back, don’t be surprised to see Maurice roll out the same lineup against the Sabres that took down Toronto last night.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Friday’s battle with Buffalo:
Carter Verhaeghe – Evan Rodrigues – Sam Reinhart
Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Photo caption: Feb 2, 2026; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Carter Verhaeghe (23) moves the puck against the Buffalo Sabres during the third period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - FEBRUARY 25: Arseny Gritsyuk #81 of the New Jersey Devils drives the puck towards the goal during the second period against the Buffalo Sabres at Prudential Center on February 25, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Ishika Samant/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Here are your links for today:
Devils Links
In a dispiriting season, a great moment the other night:
With the Olympic break in the rearview mirror and the guys back in New Jersey, the Devils dropped a 2-1 decision to the Sabres on Wednesday. [Devils NHL]
Then on Thursday night, a three-goal third period pushed the Penguins to a 4-1 win over the Devils. [Devils NHL]
“Jack Hughes still gets an indescribable feeling when asked about scoring the biggest goal of his young career. Three days after becoming a national hero by scoring at 1:41 of overtime to give Team USA a 2-1 win against Team Canada in the gold medal game of the men’s hockey tournament at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, Hughes returned to the New Jersey Devils lineup for a night of reflection and celebration at Prudential Center on Wednesday. The 24-year-old center doesn’t want to dwell on the goal and prefers to speak about the team that made it all possible.” [NHL.com]
“The New Jersey Devils have no shortage of problems right now and Johnathan Kovacevic is moving up the list quickly. The 28-year-old defenseman has struggled mightily since making his season debut, and last night against the Buffalo Sabres may have been his worst showing yet.” [Infernal Access ($)]
Hockey Links
Sidney Crosby and Mikko Rantanen will miss some time:
Sidney Crosby is expected to miss at least four weeks with a lower-body injury coming out of the Olympics, according to the #pens.
