The dynasty sleepers of today are the fantasy stars of tomorrow. Or perhaps a few years from now, but the point remains the same: if you can get these guys, get them now before they realize their potential.
Under the assumption that your dynasty league will last a while (because who can really plan for a league to fold after two years when it starts), it takes a few years to truly separate yourself from the pack. It’s important to make the right moves for your team, and acquiring players before they become stars is the best way to do that. If you bought in on Jalen Johnson or Austin Reaves a few years ago, you’re probably sitting pretty in your league.
So who can be the next breakout star for fantasy managers? Here are eight candidates that shouldn’t be impossible to trade for in your league:
Day’Ron Sharpe, Brooklyn Nets
Here’s the breakout lock. Sharpe is already going in the top-100 in redraft leagues, but we might not be ready for just how effective he’s going to be. Over the last few years, he has been elite on the offensive glass and a strong passer for a big man. We saw Nic Claxton have his best passing season last year, and now that he’s gone, Sharpe will fill the void.
Brooklyn ranked near the top of the league in three-point attempt rate last season, so having an elite board man like Sharpe is incredibly valuable. For fantasy managers, he was also able to contribute plenty of steals last year, but he’s a genuinely effective defender. There is a lot to like about Sharpe, and he may be about to put the league on notice and solidify his role as Brooklyn’s center of the future.
Kasparas Jakucionis, Milwaukee Bucks
There are going to be plenty of opportunities for everyone in Milwaukee to get a chance to shine this season, but Jakucionis is going under the radar. He didn’t get to play much early on in Miami, but he did show some flashes during his rookie year and obviously showed a lot during his lone season at Illinois. The defense is an issue at this point of his career, but the Bucks are at least a couple years away from being a true playoff team, so there is time to improve. Right now, he can be a PRA machine that shoots triples at a high rate.
Oso Ighodaro, Phoenix Suns
While everyone is focused on Khaman Maluach, don’t forget about Ighodaro! He’s an effective defender and a strong playmaker for a player that’s nearly seven-feet tall. He’s quite different from Maluach, which means they can be staggered in different lineups based on their strengths and potentially be used at the same time. I’m bullish on Oso’s future in the NBA, and I think the Mark Williams shoulder injury will open the door for both Maluach and Ighodaro to thrive.
Noah Penda, Orlando Magic
I was intrigued by Penda entering the draft last summer, but he showed legitimate fantasy star traits as a rookie. We knew he could pass. We knew he could defend and accumulate defensive stats. However, it wasn’t clear how he’d score. He didn’t finish well as a prospect, and the jump shot was questionable. Neither of those became strengths, but he showcased a far stronger jump shot than I expected. He won’t truly pop behind Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, but he’ll eventually get the opportunity. Buy in now before he takes legit strides this year.
Joan Beringer, Minnesota Timberwolves
Buy in now, because we could see a mini breakout this season and really see Beringer become a fantasy star within 2-3 years. With Naz Reid now in Charlotte, Beringer is officially the backup center in Minnesota. Rudy Gobert was at 31.3 minutes per game last season, but that number has dropped for three straight years. Beringer should split the center minutes, meaning he could hover at 18-19 minutes per game. That’s enough time for him to showcase his talent on the glass and as a defender. He won’t be a fantasy star as a reserve, but he’ll prove that he is a per-minute monster.
Davion Mitchell, Miami Heat
Mitchell’s development over the last two years should allow him to be an excellent fit as the starting point guard for this Heat team, potentially for the next few seasons. You don’t get the nickname Off Night for no reason, so we know his perimeter defense will be vital for the Heat to be successful. However, it’s his improvement as both a playmaker and as a spot-up shooter that will really make a difference for Miami. They traded away the aforementioned Jakucionis just one year after taking him in the first because of their belief in Mitchell to be the team’s point guard.
Ja’Kobe Walter, Toronto Raptors
After a slow start to his career, Walter started to figure things out late last season, and I’m intrigued by what he could be and how he fits on this current Raptors team. He shot 40.9 percent from deep last season and was a positive defender in just his second season. For fantasy managers, he can provide steals and threes in bunches when he gets the minutes. With the way this Toronto team is currently structured, I wonder if he is a better fit as a starter than RJ Barrett. It isn’t realistic for Walter to start over Barrett, especially after Barrett had arguably the best season of his career. However, Walter is still intriguing enough for me to target him at a discount.
Sergio de Larrea, Dallas Mavericks
I was trying to avoid putting rookies on this list, but de Larrea has to be the exception. There was a chance he was going to be stashed overseas, but after landing with Dallas, there was no need. He’ll compete with Marcus Sasser to be the Mavs’ backup point guard behind Kyrie Irving. His playmaking and shooting are both enticing attributes for a tall playmaker, and he’ll have the opportunity to develop into the point guard of the future next to Cooper Flagg. Take a chance on him.
BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 5: Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski and Manager Alex Cora #20 speak with Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman during batting practice prior to Game 1 of the ALDS at Fenway Park on Friday, October 5, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB via Getty Images) | MLB via Getty Images
The Wild Card Series came and went this year without much intrigue. The Yankees blew the Red Sox out of the water, the White Sox stuck the final stake into the dying heart of the Astros, and the Padres embarrassed the Cubs. None of those series were competitive, but there was one that at least reached a Game 3: the divisional battle between the Braves and Phillies.
For one side, it was a mental block that had to be erased. The Braves hadn’t won a playoff series since winning the World Series in 2021, and had lost to the Phillies in consecutive NLDS in 2022 and 2023 to springboard their latest contention window. It’s a win-now core, and even though they had a lot of issues, they weren’t a team that can accept a loss this early.
The other side couldn’t really accept that either: the Phillies had been eliminated earlier and earlier since a heartbreaking loss in the 2022 World Series. Their core was much older, with much less young talent to supplement it. They had stumbled into the playoffs with a disastrous final week that messed up their pitching. They had reached the point where most teams are at the end of their contention window. If you don’t show reason to believe in this core, it’s going to be dismantled.
The Braves won that grudge match in Game 3, sending the Phillies home with another disastrous season and ensuring no October baseball in the City of Brotherly Love for the first time in five years. It’s a sobering defeat for a team whose best players are past their prime, which has an interim manager, and which faces an extremely bleak outlook. Such a bleak outlook is solely because of one man and his ideas of roster construction: Dave Dombrowski.
At the same time that the Phillies and their brass were openly wondering what was next for the franchise, the Yankees were preparing to play Game 1 of the ALDS at Tropicana Field, which they lost last night in St. Petersburg. It came in the team’s 34th consecutive winning season and their ninth playoff appearance in the last 10 years.
Despite having a core of older veterans who do have a gradually closing window, like the Phillies, the Yankees found a lifeline in the development of two little-known prospects into the likely AL Cy Young and a slugging first baseman/DH who will get down-ballot MVP votes in his second full season. The much-maligned architect of this entire core, and several before it, is Brian Cashman.
Cashman and Dombrowski have spent a long time as adversaries. While he was no longer in charge, a roster full of players acquired under Dombrowski beat the dynasty Yankees in the 2003 World Series. His next team, the Tigers, beat the Yankees in the postseason in 2006, 2011, and 2012. His Red Sox took out the Yankees in 2018 en route to a World Series. You’d think the guy who has won all these head-to-head battles would be heads and shoulders above, but then you must wonder why he’s had to bounce around so much.
Here, what we really get is two entirely different executives with entirely different philosophies about how to build a contender. Neither has much experience overseeing failure, so the large part of their careers has been defined by their climb toward the top of the mountain.
With Cashman, as we’ve seen for essentially three decades, it’s an approach that is more focused on long-term sustainability. He’s been blessed with the power of working with one of the league’s deepest pockets in the biggest market in baseball, which usually allows him the bandwidth to fill crippling holes. His approach in the offseason is predicated on getting high-end talent on big deals in free agency to flex their financial muscle, but also making shrewd, under-the-radar trades to fill much of the roster.
While he’s willing to shell out for big contracts both via trade and in free agency and absorb the financial risk that he knows ownership can deal with, he’s more measured when it comes to truly taking that next step. You’ll see him balk at an additional year in a free-agent deal or hold onto a top prospect in trade discussions for a top-level talent. There are times this works, but there are also times he’s left at the altar and burned for it. Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s free agency and trade discussions for Gerrit Cole in the winter of 2017 ring a bell for that.
That restraint is based on his belief in long-term sustainability. The Yankees rarely have a great farm system, but if they can produce an era-defining superstar (hello, Aaron Judge), it makes everything drastically different for roster construction. By that note, he’ll always leave holes on the roster to allow for a cheap, homegrown player to fill them. From here, it can go two ways. You can get a Judge and some great complementary pieces on rookie contracts like Gleyber Torres and Gary Sánchez, but you can also get burned by hoarding a prospect in trade talks (Chance Adams, Clint Frazier, Deivi Garcia).
This mentality is completely different than the one you’ll see Dombrowski employ. His approach to roster building, while similarly predicated on a very generous owner with deep pockets, is more based on taking risks in both free agency and the trade market, pursuing as much proven talent as possible. This approach narrows a contention window, but it’s something he’s able to work off of. It’s a lot easier to do your job when you identify a five-year window to win and disregard anything that comes after it.
Looking at how he’s managed this throughout his tenure, he made some gigantic trades and signings to turn Detroit into a perennial AL contender, acquiring Miguel Cabrera from his old stomping grounds in Miami in 2007 and David Price in 2014, while also inking Prince Fielder to a ridiculous nine-year contract. In Boston, he made blockbuster signings in Price and J.D. Martinez while swinging a franchise-altering deal for White Sox ace Chris Sale. In Philly, he’s been more muted, but gave a massive 11-year deal to Trea Turner to solidify the shortstop position. You’re never bored in an offseason under Dombrowski.
This approach is predicated on doing whatever it takes to climb to the mountaintop, looking to increase the team’s chances of raising the Commissioner’s Trophy at least one time by enough that it offsets the losses that will come down the road. It’s risky in a sport that has so much randomness in the postseason, but if it pays off, it’s genius. Just ask the 2018 Red Sox, who proceeded to bottom out in the ensuing two seasons and only make one playoff appearance over the next six seasons, if they’d trade that title for more wins in those lost seasons.
When it doesn’t work? It leads to a lot of resentment. The Tigers won a pair of pennants in 2006 and 2012, but in an extended, decade-long run with the same core of Cabrera and Verlander at the forefront, the Tigers imploded, missing the playoffs in four consecutive years between those pennants and ultimately wound up spending over a billion and burning up the farm system for no World Series. After Dombrowski was dismissed after a terrible 2015 season, the Tigers wouldn’t make the playoffs again until 2024.
The Phillies hired him to be their President of Baseball Operations in 2020, and he did what he does best. He got Turner; he got Kyle Schwarber; he extended Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. In lieu of blockbusters, he elected to slowly chip away at the farm depth by making a mountain of smaller moves every winter and summer. It was, honestly, his least all-in job as an executive since he was in Miami, but it’s still leading to the same place as Detroit. He was hailed as a savior in 2022 when the Phils won the pennant, but is now on the verge of being driven out of town as they stare down an unbelievably bleak future without a title to show for it.
The strengths and weaknesses of Cashman and Dombrowski are directly opposite of each other. They show the two ways you can run a perpetual contender. Cashman’s philosophy allows him to keep his job for decades and decades, while Dombrowski often gets canned after the contention window slams shut. You might think Cashman’s job security is a byproduct of organizational complacency, but there’s a reason he’s universally revered for his work in baseball circles.
The two rarely go head-to-head for big signings or trades, but you can imagine how they would go. Dombrowski might give a guy an extra year or two in a deal that Cashman is apprehensive about doing. It could either end up like Yamamoto, where his prime wins you multiple championships, or like Turner, who’s turning into one of the worst contracts in the sport just four years in. In the trade market, Cashman might balk at the asking price for a big-time player, while Dombrowski would go for it. That could lead to a massive success like Sale, or a massive failure like what the Mets did with PCA.
If Dombrowski ran the Yankees over the last 15 years, do we see a World Series? I’m not sure. I’d imagine he’d be much more interested in that mega-deal the Braves proposed in 2014 that would’ve sent Luis Severino, Sanchez, and Judge to Atlanta for a box full of proven talent. He’d also be much more likely to pull the trigger on a Kyle Tucker trade that included Ben Rice in the winter of 2024 or a Eugenio Suarez/Merrill Kelly deal with the D-Backs that would’ve sent Cam Schlittler to the desert.
All in all, as the Phillies enter an offseason where they must consider firmly shutting their contention window, the Yankees not only still have a chance to win this year, but seem to have enough young talent left over to win down the road when Judge and Gerrit Cole hang up their cleats. It’s the latest chapter evolving in the several decades that Dombrowski and Cashman have spent as two of the league’s most famous executives, a chess match to truly decide which is the better style of building a contender.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 24: San Francisco Giants flying pride flags from the flag pole during a MLB game between the Athletics and the San Francisco Giants on June 24, 2026 at Oracle Park in San Francisco, CA. (Photo by Trinity Machan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
For the thirteenth time in franchise history, the Giants have ended a regular season with 90+ losses. It’s the tenth time in the San Francisco era where the team has piled up that much losing in a single year and the fourth time in the Oracle Park era. In fact, since 2000, the San Francisco Giants have had fewer winning seasons (13) than winning ones (14). But there were the Bonds years and those three World Championships, so, it’s not like we haven’t been able to enjoy plenty of positives since the turn of the century.
Still, that’s a surprising amount of losing for what’s supposed to be one of baseball’s crown jewel franchises and for a team that touts its desire to remain competitive (while still being financially responsible). The Giants are a money-making business and they’re quite good at making money. Which might explain why the baseball operation doesn’t come off as successful. But maybe that’s all relative?
For one thing, we don’t have to view their two recent 81-81 seasons as bad things. Maybe they’re not technically “winning” seasons, but the Houston Astros just (briefly) made the postseason with that exact record. If that’s now a bar for success, then maybe the Giants have, in some lowered measure approximating respect, managed to have a good amount of success in their waterfront park (15 non-losing seasons to 12).
And for another thing, since this ownership group took control and saved the team from moving to Tampa Bay, they’ve posted the 8th-most wins in MLB with a record of 2,756-2,583 (.516). 9 playoff appearances in 34 seasons. 3 World Championships. Those Bonds year. That beautiful stadium. Jeff Kent is a Hall of Famer. Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy are headed there, too. Buster Posey, too. Brian Sabean, probably. It has been a really high volume of success. They’re not in the top 3, but they have a good showing on the winning Top 10:
Yankees: 3,110-2,224
Atlanta: 2,990-2,346
Dodgers: 2,987-2,353
Red Sox: 2,890-2,450
Cardinals: 2,855-2,480
Guardians: 2,832-2,502
Astros: 2,789-2,550
Giants: 2,756-2,583
Phillies: 2,710-2,630
Mariners: 2,681-2,656
The Yankees have stayed The Yankees. The Dodgers are what they are (criminals). Boston broke their curse and basically remade themselves into a topflight organization (though with plenty of behind the scenes drama).
They are the top 3 organizations in the sport. If a fourth team joined them on a Mt. Rushmore, who would be the best fit?
Atlanta raises the question of, “is it better to be in the playoffs every year or is it better to win the World Series a few more times?” because in the span of time when the Giants have been owned by this particular group, Atlanta has won just 2 world championships in 23 trips to the postseason (including the current one). Still, that’s a lot more money each year with postseason revenue…
The Phillies have been chasing their 1 title in 2008 for nearly two decades now. They and Atlanta are also the two losingest franchises (11,457 and 11,096, respectively).
The Guardians sure do win a lot except for when it counts the most. They’ve won just 2 championships and the last one was in 1948.
The Mariners don’t even have the titles under their belt.
There’s nothing genuine about what the Astros did. Lose 100 games for a few years, get some talent, then cheat when the games matter most? Add to that, Jeff Luhnow has been the architect of MLB’s assault on its labor force. Just don’t see how Houston could join those three teams.
This “since 1993” cutoff cuts off the Tampa Bay Rays, who might warrant general consideration.
The Cardinals probably have the strongest claim insofar as they have 11 championships to their name. They have the history and tradition angle. Their stadium’s even a little bit younger than Oracle Park.
But there was a moment in time, alllllll the way back in the 2010s, when the San Francisco Giants had the chance to be one of baseball’s big 4 teams, setup by those 3 titles in 5 seasons along with the ballpark and all the history. That didn’t wind up being the case, because baseball is very hard and the dominant Giants of the past can’t really exist in today’s world, but rather than stumble around for an idea here, let me bring this piece into focus:
Are the Giants losers? Are we rooting for a losing franchise? Have the San Francisco Giants held on to their brief success in the 2010s so hard and so long that they’ve actually become losers? Did they become Al Bundy? It’s entirely possible that Buster Posey stepping into the role of President of Baseball Operations was that particular fever or malaise breaking, but the results haven’t quite followed and really oughtn’t figure to follow — at least in the next couple of years.
They’re still #8 in wins in this Oracle Park era (2,198-2,071, .515) and with three championships, they’re tied with the Dodgers for the moment. Seems impossibly stupid to describe them as losers or even suggest it. I also consider “loser” more of a state of mind or behavioral, and as disappointing (or abhorrent) as the Giants’ behavior has been recently, I’ve got to admit that the winning is strong enough to balance that out to a degree.
But how should we describe this moment in time?
If we chop off the first 10 seasons of Oracle Park history and just look at their record since their dynasty of the 2010s began, they fall to thirteenth in wins (1,343-1,309), in an exact tie with the Chicago Cubs. They’re the last two teams with winning records (.506) in MLB over this span. That’s… remarkable. And shocking. And… not great for a team that won three titles in five seasons.
The Boston Red Sox, who’ve won the most World Series in the 21st century so far, are just #8 in wins (1,401-1,251; .528), but I think that speaks more to the top heaviness that the league has settled into. And that’s not a comment on the league’s financials. Look at the list:
Dodgers: 1,570-1,082 (.592)
Yankees: 1,508-1,143 (.569)
Rays: 1,440-1,213 (.543)
Atlanta: 1,430-1,220 (.540)
Cardinals: 1,421-1,229 (.536)
Brewers: 1,419-1,234 (.535)
Guardians: 1,403-1,246 (.530)
Red Sox: 1,401-1,251 (.528)
Astros: 1,365-1,286 (.515)
Phillies: 1,353-1,299 (.510)
Blue Jays: 1,345-1,307 (.507)
Cubs: 1,343-1,309 (.506)
Giants: 1,343-1,309 (.506)
Rangers: 1,233-1331 (.498)
Mets: 1,318-1,334 (.497)
The list gets even scarier if you just look at their record since the start of 2017. The Giants drop to 18th (736-782, .485). Only two other teams with sub-.500 records are ahead of them: the Mets (758-760) and Dbacks (750-768). The 12 teams with fewer wins since the end of the dynasty: A’s, Reds, Nats, Rangers, O’s, Angels, Pirates, Marlins, Tigers, White Sox, Royals, Rockies. This is a rough group to be a part of and it’s a little surprising that everyone running the team seems perfectly fine with it.
Forget the division. The franchise isn’t even a third Wild Card contender. Baseball keeps lowering the bar and the Giants keep lowering theirs to come up short. And if you think that sounds extreme, since the third Wild Card was introduced for the 2022 season, the Giants are 386-424 (.477) — 21st in wins.
Both John Shea and former site contributor groug have taken a look at the Giants ownership group over the past several years and the two reporters have sort of hit on the same idea: the group is a hybrid of old family money who invested because they’re fans of the team alongside “a sports team is a sensible investment” new money. Has the decision-making of the majority owners become calcified to the point that the demands of the new money sort of even the team out to simply being an extraction business? Are the Giants just in it for the theater and China Basin? Maybe that has always been the case, using the civic pride for the team itself as a wedge issue to get in there and seize valuable Bay Area real estate, greasing the wheels and appeasing any “interest groups” for as long as they’re needed, then discarding when it becomes inconvenient.
So, is this the Extraction Era?
Well, there’s the private financing for the stadium, the $3.37 billion in payroll since 2000 (according to Cot’s MLB Contracts), the Arizona training complex, the improved international facilities… they have invested in the team to a degree. But there’s also Mission Rock. The new money coming in to help with that, even, despite its supposed self-sufficiency. That $3.37 billion in payroll has only amounted to the team being in the top 5 just three times (2015, 2017, 2018).
Again, it just seems odd that a team that has invested so much should come up so short. It has moved beyond disappointment to a real point of frustration. As though it’s just enough money to create the illusion of competitiveness without actually amounting to that. This has truly only been a symptom of the post-championship era, though, which is why I suggested calcification and a de-prioritization of success.
To wit, the pandemic/COVID season really does skew things a bit, but the Giants have never lost so many games (782) in a 1,518-game span… in their history!
Obviously, this stretch isn’t as bad as the 1970s. The Giants traded away Willie Mays in 1972, and from 1972-1985, the team was dreadful, losing 1,165 out of 2,208 games (.472). This is the only span in Giants history where that’s happened. In fact, if you drop the search criteria to a minimum of 1,100 losses out of 2,200 games, this is still the losingest stretch in franchise history. I still need to see the results of 4 more seasons before I can have any room to complain! And I might not even have that “right” in 2031, given that the team won a franchise-record 107 games… and my personal assurance that the team will be competitive again in 2030.
But, also, the team has the #1 rated farm system at the moment. 2030 might be a little conservative. This enterprise could turn around well before then. And I can’t help but note that I can throw in positives no matter how much history I cite. Maybe this agonizing over the team being one of the worst in the sport for most of the last decade and a decent chunk of the century is entitlement.
Sure, we watch sports to be entertained. But if we’re following them every day in a six-month season, aren’t we also doing so to watch peak performance along with the thrill of victory? I’m not sure what the value proposition is with professional competitive live sports beyond that. I guess I’m mentioning this because a criticism of people who wonder about the team’s track record is that it sounds like entitlement.
It just seems to be getting more difficult with each passing year to play the “wait ‘til next year”/“hope springs eternal” card. Year after year, the Giants have managed to tack on as a sort of drag coefficient something to make the disappointment of the season sting a little worse. This year, it’s pretty obvious. That terrible record and all those injuries were made worse by the bigotry. They let down a significant number of fans with that loser behavior. But maybe that’s not the first time something like it has happened. The Giants were probably worse to their fans in the 70s, since everything about the Giants in the 1970s was worse than today, apparently.
But there were plenty of verifiable firsts, things I’d never think would happen: the first time the Giants have gone five consecutive seasons without a plus-.500 record. Or, to put it another way: the first time they’ve lost 80+ games five years in a row. The first time in over 120 years that they’ve ended a season trailing the Dodgers in their now-dead rivalry by 2 games. The first time they blew a 6-run lead in the ninth inning. The first time they offered to pay their fans to attend games in the final month of the season.
It’s unclear what sort of an organization it is that they’re trying to build or maintain. As a money-making enterprise, it’s very clear. Leverage the Giants brand to expand the investments in real estate. Or simply follow as closely as possible the Peter Ueberroth guide to sports business:
“Let’s say I sat each of you down in front of a red button and a black button,” he said at one early meeting. “Push the red button and you’d win the World Series but lose $10 million. Push the black button and you would make $4 million and finish somewhere in the middle.”
He paused to look around. “The problem is, most of you would push the red one.”
Ueberroth chided them for checking their business sense at the door. “You are so damned dumb.”
But what about the baseball operation? It has certainly tested the idea of “somewhere in the middle.”
In the Magowan-Sabean days, the goal was clear: build a competitor that could win a World Series. That’s hadn’t been done before in San Francisco. There doesn’t seem to be that sort of urgency from the organization today and certainly no obvious expertise on which to hitch your hopes. The recycled “Nothing Like It” slogan is pretty telling on that front, I’d say. A lot of half-hearted stabs in the dark at finding the next “thing” that might redefine the team’s identity but otherwise being fine with the decaying state of things.
Under ideal circumstances, teams are able to reinvent themselves by investing in their player development system. With enough time and some luck, a perpetual motion machine provides talent to the major league roster at a low cost. What has happened, though, is that the real estate business jockey that has been riding the horse that is the baseball club has created a perpetual motion machine of real estate investment.
I have often wondered if there’s a situation where the Mission Rock contingent buys up enough of San Francisco that they eventually sell the Giants and rent the stadium back to its new owners, like what Frank McCourt did when he sold the Dodgers but kept the parking lot.
Anyway, call this era what you want, but it’s composed of a lot of losing. A lot of failed attempts at returning to relevance, too, though. Ownership got what it wanted, but we root for the team because we’re interested in seeing them win, not watching their ownership expand their portfolios. But that seems to be the only upside for the business these days. The front office seems out of their depth and none of the public-facing figures are a good quote, a positive presence, or inspiring of confidence. Winning can usually flip perception 180 degrees within just a single season, but we haven’t seen the San Francisco Giants win in a long time.
CLEVELAND, OH - OCTOBER 03: Patrick Bailey #16 of the Cleveland Guardians celebrates after hitting a single in the seventh inning during Game One of the American League Division Series presented by Booking.com between the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on Saturday, October 3, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Lauren Leigh Bacho/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
As we all process our playoff anxiety for the day, let’s look at some keys and prominent storylines for the Guardians-White Sox ALDS Game Two at 5PM ET today.
Top Storylines:
-Anthony Kay and Sean Burke have dominated the Guardians this season (1.35 ERA for Kay, 1.04 ERA for Burke). Can the Guardians get to them? -Will Gavin Williams be negatively affected by a lengthy layoff? -Will the afternoon shadows surpress offense at the beginning of the game? -Will Game Two be a sellout for the Guardians as fans struggle to get time off work and deal with turbulent economic times (plus, perhaps playoff burnout?)?
Keys for a Guardians’ Victory:
–Hit Burke’s fastball/cutter combination. This season, Burke has thrown the Guardians 98 four-seamers allowing a .278 wOBA, 45 cutters allowing a .077 wOBA, 27 sinkers allowing a .787 wOBA, and 59 sliders allowing a .318 wOBA. The Guardians who have hit him decently: Austin Hedges 1.164 wOBA, Petey Halpin .890 wOBA, Steven Kwan .508 wOBA, Patrick Bailey .445 wOBA, Brayan Rocchio .334 wOBA, and Chase DeLauter .318 wOBA. If the Guardians want to win, they need to be ready to hit Burke’s four-seamer which is gonna be their steady diet today. He doesn’t have a changeup, Guardians. Take solace in that. –Finally get to Anthony Kay. They, somehow, haven’t done it yet this season. Now, Kay is going to be more effective in shorter stints, like most pitchers, but he does have a 4.44 ERA and a 4.75 FIP. Those are not good numbers. The Guardians’ lefty-mashers – Chase DeLauter, Jose Ramirez, Jo Adell, David Fry and Angel Martinez – are going to need to go into this game ready to put up a good at-bat and do damage on pitches to hit. If they don’t make Kay’s life tough in the first or second inning, I don’t like their chances to win this game. –Gavin Williams Needs to Make Effective Strikeout Pitches. The White Sox managed to bug Williams by spoiling third strike pitches over and over the last time out. Gavin, trust your stuff, maintain a consistent delivery, and go after these dudes because it’s basically now or never. –Vogt, Don’t be Afraid to Use Foster Griffin. If Williams runs into some trouble in the fourth or fifth, the White Sox will have a lineup with a good amount of lefties. If Griffin can pitch without running into Miguel Vargas right away, today is a good day to let him use his groundball abilities and lefty-neutralizing skills to your advantage. They’ve seen Herrin and Sabrowski a LOT this year. Let Griffin help.
Overall, the Guardians need to remember that this is YOUR homefield and YOUR division. Come out with a consistent approach at the plate, forcing the pitchers to be in the zone and taking advantage of any pitch to hit you see. I’d predict that if they don’t manage to take at least four walks and hit at least one home run, they will not head to Chicago with a win in hand. But, they’ve got the talent and the experience to redeem a disappointing game one loss. Let’s root them on to make it happen!
Responding to articles on the team’s breaches of financial regulations, Mike Alhadeff says Man City got remarkably little for their money, Ed Barrett says Liverpool were robbed of titles, while Neil Smith warns against triumphalism
Yes, you can look at the six league titles in seven years and the “Centurions” team in 2017-18, all under the aegis of Pep Guardiola. But take a closer look and they were run remarkably close on multiple occasions.
Jul 29, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins first baseman Ty France (13) hits a single during the sixth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
We’re already through the Wild Card round and halfway through the Division Series in the playoffs and there are plenty of former Twins making the news in the playoffs. Old friend Ty France almost helped the Padres upset the Brewers in Game 1, but hit a moonshot of another old friend, Trevor Megill, that doinked off the American Family Field retractable roof right into the glove of Jackson Chourio. Meanwhile, old friend Sonny Gray was annoyed that manager Chad Tracy pulled him in the 5th, down 1-0, with two outs and two men on base. Some things never change.
Not much has happened in Twins Territory, other than a final press conference from Tom Pohlad, Jeremy Zoll, and Derek Shelton where Pohlad promised that the Twins would raise payroll in 2027. I’ll believe it when I see it.
The Past Week on Twinkie Town:
Check out The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
It’s been a busy week in baseball, with the Phillies, Cubs, Red Sox, and Astros eliminated from the wild card round and with each Division Series underway.
The NHL's all-time goals leader is officially retiring. On Monday, Alex Ovechkin announced that the 2026-27 campaign would be his last in the NHL. The 41-year-old is playing in his 22nd season, in which he has scored 929 goals and recorded 1,688 points in 1,575 games.
With this being Ovechkin's final year, that means his retirement tour has already begun. If he stays healthy, his final game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena will be on December 7. Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals also play Vancouver the week prior, on December 1, at Capital One Arena.
Over his career, Ovechkin has had no problems finding the back of the net against Vancouver. In 30 career games, he has scored 16 goals while recording 28 points. Ovechkin also set an NHL record while playing the Canucks as during a matchup in 2022, he surpassed Wayne Gretzky for the most road goals in league history.
Ovechkin has had a career that will instantly make him a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He has captained Washington to a Stanley Cup, won nine Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophies, and has scored over 1,000 goals combined in the regular season and playoffs. Ovechkin has also won three Hart Trophies and was named to the NHL's "100 Greatest Players of the NHL's First 100 Years" team.
Mar 16, 2024; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (8) and forward TJ Oshie (77) celebrate Ovechkin’s goal against the Vancouver Canucks in the second period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
The NHL's all-time goals leader is officially retiring. On Monday, Alex Ovechkin announced that the 2026-27 campaign would be his last in the NHL. The 41-year-old is playing in his 22nd season, in which he has scored 929 goals and recorded 1,688 points in 1,575 games.
With this being Ovechkin's final year, that means his retirement tour has already begun. If he stays healthy, his final game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena will be on December 7. Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals also play Vancouver the week prior, on December 1, at Capital One Arena.
Over his career, Ovechkin has had no problems finding the back of the net against Vancouver. In 30 career games, he has scored 16 goals while recording 28 points. Ovechkin also set an NHL record while playing the Canucks as during a matchup in 2022, he surpassed Wayne Gretzky for the most road goals in league history.
Ovechkin has had a career that will instantly make him a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He has captained Washington to a Stanley Cup, won nine Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophies, and has scored over 1,000 goals combined in the regular season and playoffs. Ovechkin has also won three Hart Trophies and was named to the NHL's "100 Greatest Players of the NHL's First 100 Years" team.
Mar 16, 2024; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (8) and forward TJ Oshie (77) celebrate Ovechkin’s goal against the Vancouver Canucks in the second period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
The NHL's all-time goals leader is officially retiring. On Monday, Alex Ovechkin announced that the 2026-27 campaign would be his last in the NHL. The 41-year-old is playing in his 22nd season, in which he has scored 929 goals and recorded 1,688 points in 1,575 games.
With this being Ovechkin's final year, that means his retirement tour has already begun. If he stays healthy, his final game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena will be on December 7. Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals also play Vancouver the week prior, on December 1, at Capital One Arena.
Over his career, Ovechkin has had no problems finding the back of the net against Vancouver. In 30 career games, he has scored 16 goals while recording 28 points. Ovechkin also set an NHL record while playing the Canucks as during a matchup in 2022, he surpassed Wayne Gretzky for the most road goals in league history.
Ovechkin has had a career that will instantly make him a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He has captained Washington to a Stanley Cup, won nine Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophies, and has scored over 1,000 goals combined in the regular season and playoffs. Ovechkin has also won three Hart Trophies and was named to the NHL's "100 Greatest Players of the NHL's First 100 Years" team.
Mar 16, 2024; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (8) and forward TJ Oshie (77) celebrate Ovechkin’s goal against the Vancouver Canucks in the second period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
CAMDEN, NJ - SEPTEMBER 28: Jaylen Brown #7, LeBron James #23, Joel Embiid #21, Tyrese Maxey #0, and VJ Edgecombe #77 of the Philadelphia 76ers pose for a photo during NBA media day on September 28, 2026 at the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex in Camden, New Jersey. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Jim Poorten/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
At media day, LeBron James spoke about the need for “collective sacrifice” and how that’s often misconstrued as a negative. Jaylen Brown concurred, saying that sacrifice “has its perks and its benefits.” Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe all echoed the need to be we-first, not me-first.
There’s still widespread skepticism about whether they’ll live up to that pledge, though.
Michael Pina of The Ringer recently described the Sixers as “a talent-packed superteam that has a sky-high ceiling and a floor low enough to knock on the gates of NBA hell.” Joe Vardon of The Athletic, whom Brown shut down on media day when he asked about which player would be the “alpha” of the Sixers this year, wrote that the personalities on this year’s Sixers “makes the situation in Philadelphia a potentially combustible one.”
If media day and the first few days of training camp are any indication, the Sixers will be under far more scrutiny this season than they have been in recent years, which is already a high bar to clear. The typical ups-and-downs of the 82-game regular season will be magnified by local and national media alike. The potential pitfalls are obvious.
Then again, Embiid said something on media day that deserves far more attention than it’s received thus far.
“I’m extremely excited for this team,” he told reporters. “We’ve got the right mix of veteran leadership, younger guys, and everybody being on the same page. I feel like we might have some ups and downs, but we’re gonna get there.”
That might be the secret sauce of this year’s Sixers, who look like a superteam on paper.
On the Mind the Game podcast, LeBron and Steve Nash recently discussed what constitutes a superteam. They agreed on a definition of “a collection of players and personalities that have had a lot of success,” but Nash added that “the reality is, it’s not the names; it’s where are they at this stage of their career?”
Nash continued:
“For example, as great as you are, you’re not going to Philly saying, ‘Give me the ball and everyone watch me.’ Cause you have an understanding, like, I can play whatever role. And there will be times when I’m, ‘OK, I need the ball now.’ And there will be times when you’re like, ‘Tyrese is fine, JB’s fine, Joel is fine.’ And you’re able to accept, control, mentor, direct from a different position. That’s not always the case. That’s a big part of this. Where is a player at mentally in his career? How are the personalities? Who’s the leader? How do it work? Cause I think what happens is, a lot of teams that have had multiple players with success, it’s almost like their personalities are bumping into each other. How do we get someone to declare to be the leader? Are the other guys accepting? Or is it natural? ‘I’m quite happy not to be the leader, he’s a natural leader, he can be leader.’ Whatever it may be. So I think there’s so many variables when you put these things together.”
It’s entirely possible that the “alphas” question is what derails this year’s Sixers. But where each of the starters is in his respective career might also be their saving grace.
At some point, LeBron’s fuckery truly won’t go on for much longer. After all, the man is turning 42 in December. He knows this might be his last chance to win a fifth ring. Embiid has never won a title before, and LeBron said helping to get him over the hump was a main reason why he chose to sign with the Sixers this summer. Embiid also told ESPN’s Malika Andrews that he no longer wants to win a title, he needs to win one.
Brown spent the entire offseason having his on-court impact and his character questioned. He should go into this season eager to prove those critics wrong by being adaptable and willing to embrace whichever role the Sixers need him to fill. Meanwhile, Maxey has already proved his ability to operate both on and off the ball during his time in Philly. And between the Ben Simmons and James Harden sagas, he’s experienced a career’s worth of drama only six years into his NBA tenure.
Some—including Draymond Green—have questioned whether VJ Edgecombe could get lost in the shuffle amidst all of the big names in Philly this year. However, Maxey and LeBron have both downplayed that, saying Edgecombe will be a critical factor for the Sixers, particularly in transition. Edgecombe has also already made it clear that he isn’t afraid to hold his new teammates accountable, particularly on defense.
Perhaps the biggest thing working in the Sixers’ favor this year is LeBron’s gravitas. If one of the greatest players of all time was willing to take a veteran-minimum contract to sign with your team, that is the textbook definition of sacrifice. The 22-time All-Star should be a tone-setter from the jump, particularly since he knows what it takes to win a championship in this league. (Four of them, to be exact.)
He isn’t the only former champion on this roster, though. Brown won a title with the 2023-24 Celtics, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope sports a pair of championship rings, including one that he won with LeBron on the 2019-20 Lakers. They can help instill championship habits from the jump, which the Sixers haven’t always had in years past.
That isn’t to say the Sixers won’t experience bumps in the road. LeBron fully anticipates that they will. In fact, he’s looking forward to it.
“You’ve gotta go through shit,” he said on Mind the Game. “And I hope we go through a three-game losing streak, I hope we go through some of those moments where we get some shit out on the table. We go through a couple games where you know, it was a two-point game and who was taking the shots, who was making the plays, we don’t quite know, we’ve gotta figure it out.
“That’s all part of it. I had the same thing my first year in Miami, I had the same thing the first year when I went back to Cleveland, myself, Kyrie and Kev. Those are some of the moments that we have to be able to go through some real, live battle moments, in the fight, in order to know really who we are and what we want to become. We’ve gotta peel the onion. We have to.”
The New York Knicks went through the same travails last year. A 2-9 stretch from Dec. 31 through Martin Luther King Jr. Day had Karl-Anthony Towns hunting Zillow for houses in Milwaukee just in case the Knicks traded him for Giannis Antetokounmpo, as he later told Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. After falling into a 2-1 series deficit against the Atlanta Hawks in the opening round of the playoffs, they turned it around and reeled off one of the most dominant runs in recent playoff history en route to a title.
The Sixers’ journey to a potential championship this year might not look the same as what the Knicks went through last year. But if Nash is correct about what constitutes a superteam, the Sixers might benefit from having landed most of their stars at a time in their respective careers where they’ve already cemented themselves as some of the NBA’s best players.
Individual accolades shouldn’t matter anymore. All that’s left is to win.
Jalen Duren's contract extension talks with Detroit dragged out all summer and right up to the Oct. 1 qualifying offer deadline. These were widely reported contentious talks that league sources at one point had described to NBC Sports as "noxious."
Jalen Duren said none of that came from him and — after signing a five-year, $200 million new deal that keeps him in Detroit — pushed back on the idea that there is any issue between him and the Pistons when he sat down in front of the media Sunday.
"There's been a lot of talk, speculation, false narratives around my name throughout the entire summer..." Duren said. "I've never spoken to anyone in the media, made any statements or comments about anything or everything that's been out there. So you can accept those as rumors....
"I am a Detroit Piston. I want to be a Detroit Piston for life. I want to give everything I got for this city and the fans... I want the city to know that I truly do believe in what we're building. I truly do believe in the players and the organization and the coaches that we have, and I want y'all to believe in me and my work ethic and my ability to want to grow as a man and a player."
Duren also talked about coming off some of the greatest highs of his career, but also a bitter taste about how things ended. Duren is coming off a breakout regular season where he averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, played high-level defense in the paint, and was at the heart of how Detroit bullied teams to 60 wins. He was named both an All-Star and All-NBA player.
Duren's lows came in the playoffs, where he struggled on both ends of the court, averaging 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, and he had a negative plus/minus for the postseason. Duren owned that.
"It was humbling, I just need to get better..." he said. "I'm man enough to acknowledge my flaws, and I'm man enough to acknowledge that I'm not perfect. And I'm also man enough to get my ass in the gym and work on those things and get better. I'm not trying to run from anything."
While the postseason was rough, Duren is 22 years old, and pigeonholing him as a guy who cannot grow from his first real postseason experience would be a mistake.
Duren's contract issue is that he was a restricted free agent, a situation where the team has almost all the leverage in negotiations. Combine that with the playoff struggles, and the Pistons were looking to save money in a tax-apron world where they also have to pay Ausar Thompson (a new five-year, $155 million extension) and MVP-candidate Cade Cunningham. Finding a number both sides could accept took time and wasn't easy.
One thing professional athletes do very well is move on from rough situations and not get dragged down by them. Duren isn't mad about how it all went down.
"I never looked at it as a dreadful situation because people are going through way worse," Duren said. "We're talking about negotiating a lot of money. There's no way I could be upset with that."
A former Montreal Canadiens forward has already suffered an injury during the early stages of the season.
Former Canadiens forward Joe Veleno left the New York Rangers' most recent game against the Utah Mammoth early due to a lower-body injury.
This is certainly tough news for Veleno, as the 26-year-old is looking to cement himself as a key part of the Rangers' bottom six. Yet, for now, the former Canadiens forward is going to be sidelined for the time being.
Veleno did not practice with the Rangers on Monday after exiting their most recent game against Utah. An update on Veleno's specific injury has not been provided at the time of this writing.
Veleno signed a one-year, $1.2 million contract with the Rangers this off-season after the Canadiens decided not to bring him back. In 61 games last season with the Canadiens, Veleno posted two goals, five points, and 166 hits. He also recorded one assist in nine playoff games for Montreal during the playoffs.
A former Montreal Canadiens forward has already suffered an injury during the early stages of the season.
Former Canadiens forward Joe Veleno left the New York Rangers' most recent game against the Utah Mammoth early due to a lower-body injury.
This is certainly tough news for Veleno, as the 26-year-old is looking to cement himself as a key part of the Rangers' bottom six. Yet, for now, the former Canadiens forward is going to be sidelined for the time being.
Veleno did not practice with the Rangers on Monday after exiting their most recent game against Utah. An update on Veleno's specific injury has not been provided at the time of this writing.
Veleno signed a one-year, $1.2 million contract with the Rangers this off-season after the Canadiens decided not to bring him back. In 61 games last season with the Canadiens, Veleno posted two goals, five points, and 166 hits. He also recorded one assist in nine playoff games for Montreal during the playoffs.
A former Montreal Canadiens forward has already suffered an injury during the early stages of the season.
Former Canadiens forward Joe Veleno left the New York Rangers' most recent game against the Utah Mammoth early due to a lower-body injury.
This is certainly tough news for Veleno, as the 26-year-old is looking to cement himself as a key part of the Rangers' bottom six. Yet, for now, the former Canadiens forward is going to be sidelined for the time being.
Veleno did not practice with the Rangers on Monday after exiting their most recent game against Utah. An update on Veleno's specific injury has not been provided at the time of this writing.
Veleno signed a one-year, $1.2 million contract with the Rangers this off-season after the Canadiens decided not to bring him back. In 61 games last season with the Canadiens, Veleno posted two goals, five points, and 166 hits. He also recorded one assist in nine playoff games for Montreal during the playoffs.
In an offseason full of surprises for the Anaheim Ducks and the NHL as a whole, one of the most underdiscussed stories is the signing of 18-year-old Nikita Klepov to his entry-level contract in late July.
During the first round of the 2026 NHL draft, the Ducks traded young center Mason McTavish to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for the 15th overall pick (Klepov) and the 29th overall pick. Following the draft, general manager Pat Verbeek remarked that Klepov could be on a “fast track” to the NHL despite his commitment to Michigan State University, where he was slated to begin his collegiate career in 2026-27.
Klepov decided his development had advanced beyond the CHL; in his first year in the OHL, he led the league in scoring with 97 points (37-60=97) in 67 games. The Ducks seemed to agree and took it a step further by signing him to his ELC.
As 2026-27 is his draft+1 season, Klepov is ineligible to play in the AHL and is now ineligible to play in the NCAA. He must either play in the NHL or head back to the OHL this season. The Ducks have the option of sending him to the San Diego Gulls in the AHL for a 14-day (maximum) conditioning stint if the team scratches him for five consecutive games.
To begin his NHL career, Klepov has been healthy-scratched through the Ducks’ first two games of the season. They opened their schedule on the road against the Vegas Golden Knights and traveled home to host the Florida Panthers. Those first two opponents represent not only cup-contenders, but two of the more physical teams in the NHL.
In a season where the Ducks moved on from McTavish and fellow top-six forward Chris Kreider, compounded by the fact that they’ll be without forward Troy Terry for the first 2-3 months of the season, they’ll be relying on young pieces to step into scoring roles. Klepov presently has clear top-six skill, and if he can mitigate some of what the Ducks will be without, his services would be a welcome addition.
However true that may be, Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville and (presumably) Verbeek felt it best for him not to make his debut this past weekend against Vegas or Florida.
“Well, it's early, and we're going to get him in a game here real soon. And, I think that offensively, I think he's got some great feel to the game,” Quenneville said before their season-opener in Las Vegas on Friday. “He's got a great understanding of the game. You know, he's 18. There's some big guys on our opponents tonight. It's a different night than maybe some other teams.
“And so, watching's not a bad thing, and getting to observe and watching some situations that put yourself in that spot: what would you do, and how would you handle it? But we'll get to see him play.”
Verbeek and the Ducks are no strangers to playing their young future stars in the NHL right away or sooner than perhaps anticipated. A year ago, there were heavy assumptions and speculation that now-star Beckett Sennecke would play his 2025-26 (his D+2) season in the OHL and return to the Oshawa Generals. Under Quenneville and due to injury elsewhere on the depth chart, he played early and often and was allowed to make mistakes, learn on the fly, and ultimately became a Calder Trophy finalist.
After Leo Carlsson’s draft year, it was speculated he’d return to the SHL to play for Örebro again in 2023-24. Instead, Verbeek, the Ducks front office, and the coaching/development staff concocted a game-management plan for their future franchise player that would let him play two games per week, build strength on off days, and avoid burning out halfway through the season, as is common among young rookies.
The fruits of the development plan were never fully realized, as Carlsson spent a significant amount of time injured during his rookie year. However, the blueprint is well-regarded league-wide, and Carlsson is now flourishing into the next generation of NHL stars. The Ducks seem to be eyeing a similar development model for Klepov in his D+1 season.
When asked about it, Quenneville said, “I would say there's some balance to that thought process, exactly like that.”
The Ducks won their first two games against the Knights and Panthers, so it will be curious to see if the coaching staff decides to insert Klepov anywhere in the lineup. It’s too early to draw conclusions regarding Anaheim’s possession numbers just two games into the year, but sliding him into the middle six (or top nine), as presently constructed, would give the depth chart a boost beneath Carlsson, Sennecke, and Cutter Gauthier, who are driving the entirety of the early offense for the Ducks.
Next on the Ducks’ schedule is another cup-favorite team: the Edmonton Oilers, who will travel to Anaheim for a matchup on Wednesday. Their roster has had an early run in with the injury bug, as they’ve been incredibly top-heavy up front, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jason Dickinson, Mattias Janmark, and Matthew Savoie all on IR.
With Edmonton running a lineup with little to no depth, and with the Ducks having the benefit of last change, the game on Wednesday may be as good a time as any for Klepov to make his NHL debut. However, Quenneville has made a habit of being reluctant to alter a lineup that won the game prior in any meaningful way.
Following their game against the Oilers on Wednesday, the Ducks will head to Winnipeg to take on the Jets on Friday, followed by a home-and-home against the Calgary Flames. One would be surprised if Klepov returned to Anaheim on Saturday, Oct. 13, having not made his debut. Beyond that, it’s conceivable his usage will be driven by performance vs. development.
