Despite an excellent rookie season in the KHL, Philadelphia Flyers goalie prospect Egor Zavragin has yet to prove himself in the eyes of some experts.
After starting the season 3-3-0 with HK Sochi and owning a .941 save percentage, Zavragin, 19, re-joined his parent club, SKA St. Petersburg, and effectively became the KHL powerhouse's full-time starter.
The Flyers' 2023 third-round pick played a total of 37 regular season games for SKA, posting a 2.55 GAA, a .912 save percentage, and a 17-11-3 record to go along with three shutouts.
Zavragin's fellow netminders, Artemi Pleshkov and Pavel Moysevich, combined for 17 wins in the 41 games played between them, and Zavragin is younger than both.
But those stats at that age with that kind of responsibility didn't do much for him in the eyes of Scott Wheeler, one of The Athletic's NHL prospect experts.
In Wheeler's latest rankings of the top 20 drafted goalie prospects, Zavragin managed to rank just 17th, ahead of only Carl Lindbom, Jakub Dobes, and Lucas Beckman.
But, what's interesting is that Zavragin still placed in Wheeler's second tier, which spanned from No. 3 goalie Trey Augustine down to No. 18 goalie Lindbom.
Despite his low ranking, Wheeler was plenty complimentary of Zavragin's game and didn't note any negatives, which should come as good news for Flyers fans eagerly anticipating the Russian prospect's arrival in the coming years.
Still, given his extremely young age (still 19 despite being drafted in 2023, born Aug. 23, 2005), Zavragin has a much longer developmental runway than some of his counterparts on the list, and he's already nearing a dominant level of play in a league like the KHL.
Some of this year's draftees, like Joshua Ravensbergen, Pyotr Andreyanov, and Jack Ivankovic, all placed inside of the top-10.
And, somehow, Devon Levi, the second-oldest player on the list, placed seventh despite failing to cement his place in the NHL on a team like Buffalo.
Effectively, yes, while all these goalies are talented, it's hard not to feel like Zavragin was slighted, even just a little bit, in the rankings, but the Flyers and many of their younger prospects are happy to be the underdogs.
As an aside, Wheeler ranked five 2025-drafted goalies ahead of Zavragin, and many of you who follow me online or followed my draft coverage here know that I was adamant about the Flyers taking a goalie with one of their top picks, including as high as the first round, with the poor performances all throughout the organization and perceived uncertainty around the NHL futures of Aleksei Kolosov and Ivan Fedotov.
And Zavragin is actually the most recent goalie the Flyers have drafted, too (alongside draft classmate Carson Bjarnason), so, it makes you wonder. Philadelphia basically has all its eggs in those two baskets right now.
The Knicks mounted a heroic 17-point comeback that ultimately fell short in a nail-biter against the Indiana Pacers in their fourth Las Vegas Summer League game, 91-88.
Here are some takeaways...
-MarJon Beauchamp had another huge night with 28 points on 6-of-11 shooting from three, and Tyler Kolek added 14 points, five assists and five turnovers.
-The Knicks were without top prospects Kevin McCullar Jr., Pacome Dadiet, Ariel Hukporti or Mohamed Diawara. They got some step-up games from Dink Pate, who scored 11, Anton Watson, who scored nine and Yudai Baba, who had nine points.
Kam Jones had a monster night for the Pacers with 21 points and 11 assists on 9-for-19 shooting from the field. Enrique Freeman recorded 18 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
-After appearing for only three minutes combined in the Knicks' last three games, center Lance Ware got the start and made an early impact with a slam and some drawn fouls in the opening minutes. Beauchamp continued his momentum from his breakout third game, hitting an inside floater, leaking out for a dunk and nailing a three for seven points in the first quarter.
Despite the early offense, the Pacers kept their defense in rotation and it was a close affair throughout the first. Ultimately, Indiana led 17-16 going into the second.
The Pacers got off to a 16-0 run behind a stalled New York offense and some strong deep shooting on the other end. Enrique Freeman went 5-5 and scored all 12 of his first-half points in the second quarter, including a monster alley-oop.
-Beauchamp was the only Knick with the knack and aggressiveness offensively, getting inside for the assist and converting a block into a transition and-one, even hitting a pull-up three. He had 19 at the half, however, the Knicks as a team once again struggled creating and converting from deep, going 5-for-15 to Indy’s 8-for-17 in the first half as they trailed at the break 52-38.
Baba, who got the start tonight, got himself going to start the second half, hitting a three and a reverse layup. New York’s offense still looked stilted with a quiet game out of Kolek following his banger in game three.
-They managed to find some success burning Indiana on back cuts and feeding Beauchamp some more, sparking a 9-0 run late in the period. He hit another couple of threes in the third as the Knicks cut the Pacers' lead to 68-59 going into the fourth.
New York’s momentum carried into the fourth. Dink Pate hit a three, scored a lay-up and followed up with another three, plus the foul, totaling all 11 of his points in the final frame.
Anton Watson threw down a one-handed poster on Freeman to cut the Pacers' lead to two with just over two minutes to play, setting off the crowd and announcers. With 90 seconds left, Kolek hit an ankle-breaking step-back middie to tie it up.
After a Pacers free throw, Kolek drove the lane off a nasty spin to hit the and-one lay-up to put the Knicks up two. A Freeman finish evened the score, and after a Beauchamp miss, the Pacers retook the lead on free throws from an off-ball foul and a blown defensive rebound on a missed free throw from the Knicks.
Now down three, Kolek missed a quick two and a Beauchamp look from three, but Indiana missed two free throws. With one more shot at sending the game to overtime, Kolek missed a turnaround three as the Pacers escaped.
Mar 24, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. (3) against the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The NBA has concluded its investigation into the 2023 domestic violence case against Kevin Porter Jr., which eventually led to a plea bargain, and suspended him for four games, with that time already having been served in the more than a year he was out of the league following the incident, reports Law Murray of The Athletic.
In September 2023, then Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. was arrested in Manhattan and charged with second-degree assault and strangulation due to a domestic violence dispute. The incident took place at a hotel not far from Times Square and the victim, who had a relationship with Porter Jr., was taken to a local hospital. Porter Jr. eventually reached a plea deal where he pled guilty to misdemeanor assault and a harassment violation and completed a domestic violence intervention program.
At the time, Porter Jr. was under contract with the Rockets, but before the season started, he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who immediately cut him. Porter Jr. played that season in Greece, and as a result, the NBA suspended its investigation of him because he was not an NBA player under their jurisdiction.
Last season, Porter Jr. signed a contract to play for the Clippers, and with that, the NBA investigation resumed. At the deadline, the Clippers traded Porter Jr. to the Bucks, and this offseason he signed a two-year, $10.5 million contract to stay in Milwaukee (the second year is a player option).
He is expected to be with the Milwaukee Bucks in training camp in September.
The Buffalo Sabres revealed their 2025-26 regular season schedule on Wednesday, with the club opening the 82-game schedule against the New York Rangers at Key Bank Center on Thursday, October 9. The Sabres schedule is home-heavy early in the season, but each month has a game that is intriguing.
Here are seven home games for each month of the season:
October - Friday 10/24 vs. Toronto - Narrowly beating out the first meeting with the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, the first Leafs-Sabres match with Key Bank Center loaded with Toronto fans is always a signature event. Buffalo regularly dominated the Leafs on home ice, but Toronto has fared better in recent years.
November - Tuesday 11/4 vs. Utah - Possibly the most anticipated game of the season, with JJ Peterka returning to Buffalo for the first time since forcing his way out. It will also be Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan’s first chance to play against the newly-named Mammoth.
December - Monday 12/1 vs. Winnipeg - The Sabres only play four games at home in December, and the other three are against non-playoff teams (Philadelphia, NY Islanders, and Boston), so the game against the President’s Trophy-winning Jets wins by default.
January - Monday 1/12 vs. Florida - The best of eight home games in January is against the Stanley Cup Champions, with three former Sabres in Sam Reinhart, Dmitri Kulikov, and Evan Rodrigues sporting a ring on each hand.
February - Thursday 2/5 vs. Pittsburgh - Slim pickings in the year’s shortest month, since the Sabres play only once at Key Bank Center because of the Olympic break, but at least we get to see Sidney Crosby before he hops on a plane to Italy.
March - Tuesday 3/3 vs. Vegas - There is still a buzz in the air when Jack Eichel comes to town, and now that Mitch Marner has joined the former Sabres team captain, the Golden Knights may be the most hated club in the Niagara Peninsula.
April - Monday 4/6 vs. Tampa Bay - One of only three home games and the last Atlantic Division game at KBC in the regular season, something that the Sabres hope means something for playoff implications down the stretch.
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The Chicago Blackhawks have plenty of promising young players on their roster. Goaltender Spencer Knight is one of them, as he has the potential to emerge as a very impactful goalie at the NHL level.
Knight has already shown promise over his four-year NHL career thus far, as he has recorded a 49-33-9 record, a 2.83 goals-against average, and a .904 save percentage in 95 games. Now, after being traded to the Blackhawks from the Florida Panthers in the Seth Jones deal, he will have the opportunity to finally be a full-time starter.
Knight's potential and success so far at the NHL level have now landed him some serious praise. In a recent article for NHL.com, Kevin Woodley ranked Knight as the second-best goalie in the NHL who is under 25 years old heading into the 2025-26 season. The only goalie Woodley had ahead of him was Calgary Flames rising star Dustin Wolf.
Overall, when looking at what Knight has done so far during his career, it is certainly fair that he has earned the No. 2 spot on Woodley's list. The 2019 first-round pick has the tools to become something special for the Blackhawks as they look to take that next step, and it will be fun to see what kind of campaign he has in 2025-26 from here.
Lillard reportedly will sign a three-year, $45 million contract with a player-option in the third year and a no-trade clause. The idea is that he will spend this coming season rehabbing from his torn Achilles before playing two more years in Portland.
From the moment Milwaukee waived him, a return to Portland was always considered a possibility in league circles — it's where he always wanted to be, and that ended up outweighing chasing a ring somewhere else. Portland is where Lillard's home and family are, and it's where his heart always has been.
Lillard played 11 seasons for the Trail Blazers where he was a seven-time All-NBA and All-Star player, as well as the 2013 Rookie of the Year. He averaged 25.2 points and 6.7 assists a game while with the Blazers, as well as developing a reputation as one of the best clutch players and best leaders in the league.
Lillard's leadership is something Portland could use, particularly with a young roster that includes guards Scoot Henderson and Toumani Camara, as well as the recently drafted center Yang Hansen from China. The Trail Blazers also traded for Jrue Holiday this offseason and have held on to him as a mentor for their young guards — Lillard and Holiday were traded for each other back in 2023 and are now teammates. With Lillard sidelined for this season recovering, questions about rotation minutes and how all the guards fit together are not pressing. Holiday could be traded to a contender at the deadline or next summer, or other things will happen that will change the guard dynamic in the next year.
The Trail Blazers traded Lillard two summers ago in an effort to jump-start a rebuild and get him to a team where he could contend. That deal worked out for the Blazers, who got Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Camara, and the Bucks 2029 first-round pick in the deal. However, that trade never quite came together as envisioned for Milwaukee, as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lillard never quite meshed. After Lillard tore his Achilles this postseason, it was the Bucks who decided to move on, stretching Lillard's nearly $113 million remaining on his contract over five years to free up short-term cap space (but have $22 million in dead money on their books for each of the next five years).
Clippers rookie center Yanic Konan Niederhauser was a guard during his youth days until a growth spurt one year took him from 6 feet 5 to 6 feet 11. (Harry How / Getty Images)
Yanic Konan Niederhauser received the pass near the half-court line from a Clippers teammate who had just stolen the basketball. The 6-foot-11 center maneuvered down the court, his long strides allowing him to use just two dribbles before he took flight outside the circle and threw down a thunderous dunk over helpless Lakers defender Cole Swider.
The crowd inside Thomas & Mack Center went into a frenzy, including Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, who leaped out of his courtside seat, pumped his fists and yelled.
At that moment Monday night, Niederhauser displayed his agility, speed and ballhandling skills. It was another step taken in his progress while playing in the NBA Summer League on the campus of UNLV.
The Clippers had used the 30th and last pick in the first round of the NBA draft to select Niederhauser out of Penn State because they saw potential.
That exciting, and in many ways unexpected, play was an encouraging sign for the Clippers.
“I didn’t see Mr. Ballmer because I was in the moment,” Niederhauser, laughing, said late Monday night. “That’s the guard skills I was talking about and I had a couple of fast breaks these last few days and I passed the ball away. Now I said, ‘Naw, man. I can go up by myself.’ I told myself I was going to dunk it and I did.”
In his first three games in the NBA Summer League, Niederhauser has shown different skills.
It was his defense and rebounding in the first game, against the Houston Rockets in which he blocked four shots and collected 10 rebounds. Though he missed all four of his shots and scored just one point, Niederhauser found other ways to contribute.
It was a little bit of everything in his second game, against the Milwaukee Bucks in which he had two points, three rebounds, two steals and one block.
It was his offense in the third game against the Lakers in which he scored 10 points, grabbed two rebounds and had two steals.
“He just sticks with it,” Clippers assistant and Summer League coach Jeremy Castleberry said. “No matter if it’s going good or bad, he sticks with it. He’s trying his best to do everything we ask him to do. And just like I said after the last game, he continues to get better. From the last game [against the Bucks] to this game [against the Lakers], he was a little bit better than he was last game. He’s getting the dunks, catching the basketball, finishing it, being a rim-protector, consistently running the floor. Like, you can see the progress.”
Niederhauser was born in Bern, Switzerland, a town of about 135,000 an hour from Zurich. Even so, at 15, the Clippers’ international scouts became aware of Niederhauser when he played on the under-16 Switzerland national team. At that time, he was a 6-1 guard.
Niederhauser had a growth spurt at 17 that pushed him into playing center position. He said he was 6-5 when he broke his knee and was forced to sit out for a year.
Clippers center Yanic Konan Niederhauser elevates for a shot over Lakers center Christian Koloko during a Summer League game in Las Vegas. (Garrett Ellwood / NBAE via Getty Images)
“I was like out for a whole year and once I came back, after a whole year of sitting out and I get back on the court, now I’m 6-11,” he said. “Yeah, in one year, I had to change my whole game from being like a forward/guard to being a center. So, yeah, I had guard skills. That’s why sometimes I be dribbling the ball.”
Niederhauser laughed, agreeing those guard skills helped him make that electric dunk against the Lakers.
His size, weight (242 pounds) and youth (22) are all part of the package the Clippers like.
“We think there’s plenty of upside,” Clippers general manager Trent Redden said. “You know, the famous draft word, obviously. But for a guy that’s his age, he’s still learning and growing into his frame that he hasn’t really had his whole life. We just haven’t had a guy that size at that position in a backup role that’s young that we can feed into and give to our developmental staff.”
As a kid growing up in Switzerland, Niederhauser learned to speak four languages — Swiss, German, French and English.
His parents, Dominique and Nadege Niederhauser, made sure their son was well-versed.
“Since I was a baby, I was speaking all those languages,” Niederhauser said. “My mom, she speaks French. She’s from the Ivory Coast and that’s where I learned French, and my dad speaks mostly German and so that’s how I learned my German.”
Now that Niederhauser is with the Clippers, he’ll have tutors to teach how the NBA game is played.
Lopez is 37 and a 17-year veteran who signed with the Clippers this summer.
He mentioned how he played with great players like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Now it’s up to him to pass on knowledge to Niederhauser like others passed on to him.
“I’m absolutely ready to get on the court, help him out and help him adjust and become a great player in this league,” Lopez said.
Niederhauser is soaking it all in while in Las Vegas, from the games to the practices to the conversations he’s had with Clippers coach Tyronn Lue.
“He’s been giving me advice. I can just tell that he has a lot of knowledge,” Niederhauser said. “I’m loving this. I’m in a great situation with experienced players to learn from. I’m just taking time to learn and get my experience. Everything is new to me so I’m just trying my best to soak everything in and just get better every day.”
The Vancouver Canucks have announced that they have traded Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a 2028 fourth-round pick.
General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that the #Canucks have acquired a 4th round pick in the 2028 NHL Entry Draft from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Dakota Joshua.
Joshua's name has been floating around the rumor mill this off-season as the Canucks look to shake up their roster. Now, the Pacific Division club has officially dealt him to the Maple Leafs, where he will look to be a solid part of Toronto's bottom six.
Joshua appeared in 57 games this past season with the Canucks, where he had seven goals, 14 points, 193 hits, and a minus-13 rating. This is after he set career highs with 18 goals, 14 assists, 32 points, and 245 hits in 63 games with the Canucks during the 2023-24 campaign.
This is a reunion of sorts, too, as Joshua was initially selected by the Maple Leafs with the 128th overall pick of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Yet, he never played a game with Toronto after being drafted by them, as he was traded to the Blues during the 2019 off-season for future considerations. Yet, with this trade, he will now get the opportunity to make his Maple Leafs debut 11 years after being drafted by them.
In 42 games over two seasons with the Blues from 2020-21 and 2021-22, Joshua recorded four goals, five assists, nine points, 100 hits, and a plus-3 rating.
Blues Made Sneaky Good Move Signing New ForwardEarlier this off-season, the St. Louis Blues signed forward Nick Bjugstad to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1.75 million. With the Blues needing more center depth, seeing them bring in Bjugstad ultimately made sense. This is especially so when noting that Radek Faksa ended up leaving St. Louis and going back to the Dallas Stars in free agency.
Storied Blair Field, home of the Long Beach State Dirtbags, could be the site where an independent league team plays if an ownership group can reach a deal with the city. (Hiro Ueno / Associated Press)
Could the fourth time be the charm for minor league baseball in Long Beach?
On Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council is scheduled to consider whether to order city staff to work toward an agreement with the ownership group for a “new professional baseball team” that would play at Blair Field, the city’s storied ballpark.
The ownership group includes Paul Freedman, one of the co-founders of the Oakland Ballers, a successful independent league team launched last year amid the departure of the Oakland Athletics.
The new team would open play next season and participate as an expansion team in the Pioneer League, the same league in which the Ballers play. The league includes teams in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.
“I got into this industry because of love for baseball and the community, and love for Oakland,” Freedman said. “I see a tremendous amount of parallels between the city of Oakland and the city of Long Beach, and I think the kind of community-oriented baseball that is working in Oakland can work in Long Beach as well.”
In minor leagues affiliated with major league organizations, those organizations sign and pay players, then assign them to a minor league team. In an independent league, the teams sign and pay players, most of whom hope to play well enough to earn a contract from a major league organization.
Independent leagues also serve as labs for the major leagues: The “swing-off” that decided this week’s All-Star Game has been a rule in the Pioneer League since 2021.
Three independent minor league teams have come and gone in Long Beach over the last 30 years: the Barracuda (renamed the Riptide) in 1995-96, the Breakers (2001-02) and the Armada (2005-09).
Freedman said he believed the struggles reflected instability in the various leagues in which the teams played more than an inability of Long Beach to support a team.
“It’s a city with a huge baseball tradition,” Freedman said. “It’s a diverse city on the rise. It’s hosting the Olympics. I think now it’s time to have a team to represent the town.
“I think baseball has worked in Long Beach, and I think Long Beach is in an even better condition now to embrace a new kind of baseball.”
The Long Beach State baseball team, proudly known as the Dirtbags, attracted more fans last season than any of the other nine Big West Conference teams based in California. The Dirtbags are the primary tenant of Blair Field, and the motion before the city council would require city staff to work with Long Beach State on a “collaborative partnership agreement.”
A city spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.
Nine-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard is reportedly heading back to the Portland Trail Blazers.Photograph: Morry Gash/AP
Damian Lillard is returning to the Portland Trail Blazers. The nine-time NBA All-Star is finalizing a three-year, $42m contract with the franchise where he spent the first 11 seasons of his career, ESPN reported Thursday. The deal includes a player option for the 2027–28 season and a no-trade clause.
Lillard, who turned 35 this week, was waived by the Milwaukee Bucks on 7 July. The team stretched the $113m remaining on his contract to make room for free-agent center Myles Turner.
The veteran guard is expected to miss the entire 2025–26 season after undergoing surgery in May to repair a torn left achilles tendon. He sustained the injury on 27 April in the first quarter of the Bucks’ Game 4 loss to Indiana in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. It was just his third game back after missing a month due to a blood clot in his right calf. He also sat out the final 14 games of the regular season.
Despite receiving interest from playoff contenders offering mid-level and veteran minimum deals, Lillard chose to return to Portland, where his family resides. Talks with general manager Joe Cronin and head coach Chauncey Billups intensified in recent weeks, with all sides aligned on a reunion. His agent, Aaron Goodwin, is finalizing the terms this week.
Between his stretched Milwaukee salary and the new Portland contract, Lillard will earn $70m next season and $141m over the next two years.
Lillard initially requested a trade in 2023 after the Trail Blazers began a rebuild. He was dealt to Milwaukee in a three-team blockbuster that sent Jrue Holiday and Toumani Camara to Portland. Holiday was later traded to Boston, then reacquired by the Blazers this offseason.
With Lillard’s return, the Blazers now boast a core that includes Holiday, Robert Williams III, Scoot Henderson, Camara and a stockpile of future picks and swaps.
Lillard averaged 24.9 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.7 rebounds in 58 regular-season games with Milwaukee. He owns career averages of 25.1 points, 6.7 assists, and 4.3 rebounds over 900 games.
He ranks fourth all-time in made three-pointers (2,804) and eighth among active players in scoring (22,598 points). In Portland, he remains the all-time leader in points and threes and second in assists. He led the franchise to eight playoff appearances, including a run to the 2019 Western Conference finals.
After spending the first five seasons of his career with the New York Rangers, K’Andre Miller is beginning the next chapter of his career with the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Rangers and the Hurricanes agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that sent Miller to Carolina. Miller ultimately signed an eight-year, $60 million contract with the Hurricanes.
During his introductory press conference with the Hurricanes, the 25-year-old defenseman expressed his excitement to join the Hurricanes, while also making sure to acknowledge his gratitude toward the Rangers organization.
A couple of weeks after his departure, Miller took the time to send out a formal farewell to the Rangers and their fans on his Instagram.
“To the Rangers fans — I’ll miss the roar of the crowd and the ‘Let’s Go Rangers’ chants that will forever echo in my mind. Your fandom is second to none,” Miller wrote via Instagram.
“To my teammates — Thank you for your support and lessons along the way. You made me a better player and person. Grateful.”
“To the Rangers coaches, trainers and support staff — thank you for teaching me, caring for me, and helping me. Most appreciated.”
“Thank you for giving me my start and allowing me to live out my dream in the greatest arena in the world. Thank you.”
The Rangers selected Miller in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He quickly blossomed into one of the team’s most promising defensemen with expectations he could be a legitimate top-four blueliner.
However, over the past two seasons, Miller has shown signs of regression, and the Rangers were unwilling to offer him a long-term contract extension due to his inconsistent play.
This move certainly leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of Rangers fans that once believed in Miller’s potential, but that potential is still there, and it could very well be unleashed in Carolina.
Ofahengaue scores two tries as Leigh close on top two
Leigh Leopards further underlined their position as bona fide Super League title contenders with another statement victory, this time winning at fourth-placed St Helens to close the gap further on the competition’s top two.
A month ago, Leigh conceded 50 points at Leeds and with fixtures against the league leaders Hull KR, second-placed Wigan and the Saints on the horizon, it was not inconceivable to consider whether the Leopards could find themselves in a scramble just to make the play-offs in the final two months of the season.
The NHL’s off-season free-agent and trade frenzy has now died down, which means it’s time to evaluate how each squad has done so far.
We’re kicking off The Hockey News’ NHL summer splash rankings. Day by day, we’re ranking which teams did the most to improve, based on acquisitions, departures, hirings and firings.
The general criteria is examining which teams improved, stayed the same or got worse. There are exceptions for teams that kept star players off the market by re-signing them and clubs that didn’t necessarily get much worse but did significantly less than what was expected.
The last-place squad in this series fits into one of those exceptions – you can guess which one.
The NHL summer splash rankings begin with Team No. 32 – the Buffalo Sabres.
Additions
Josh Doan (RW), Justin Danforth (RW), Michael Kesselring (D), Conor Timmins (D), Alex Lyon (G)
The Breakdown: The Sabres made their defense corps deeper by adding Kesselring (via the JJ Peterka trade) and Timmins (via the Connor Clifton trade). Kesselring has potential as a top-four defenseman, but neither D-man can be considered a massive difference-maker.
Similarly, young winger Doan has shown promise in his game, scoring seven goals and 19 points in 51 games while splitting this past season between the NHL and AHL. But he’s a depth player, as is 32-year-old former Columbus Blue Jackets winger Danforth, who gives experience to Buffalo’s bottom six forwards.
Lyon signed as a free agent to compete with youngster Devon Levi for the supporting role behind starting goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Departures
JJ Peterka (RW), Sam Lafferty (C), Connor Clifton (D), Jacob Bernard-Docker (D), James Reimer (G)
The Breakdown: Peterka was traded to the Utah Mammoth, where he quickly signed a five-year deal with an average annual value of $7.7 million. Clearly, either Buffalo wasn’t willing to offer that contract, Peterka wasn’t willing to sign the same deal with the Sabres or both.
Meanwhile, depth center Lafferty was dealt to Chicago, Clifton was shipped off to Pittsburgh, Bernard-Docker signed a free-agent deal with Detroit, and Reimer, 37, remains unsigned.
The Bottom Line
The Sabres’ off-season moves are extremely underwhelming. They lost a dynamic point-producer in Peterka and ostensibly used his cap space to re-sign young defenseman Bowen Byram.
But while Buffalo’s defense corps now has solid depth, its overall offense has taken a hit, and that’s not good news in the highly competitive Atlantic Division. They scored the 10th-most goals-for this past season, and Peterka was their second-top scorer, with 68 points.
The Sabres have about $7.39 million in cap space, but a chunk of that will have to go to RFA goalie Levi and RFA blueliner Timmins. All in all, Buffalo hasn’t improved, and they’ve gotten worse in the grand scheme of things.
Sabres fans don’t need to be reminded, but their team hasn’t made the playoffs in 14 years. They were one win away from making the playoffs in 2022-23, with 91 points, and subsequently finished with 84 and 79 points in the following two seasons. How patient can a fan be?
If the Sabres extend their playoff drought to 15 years by missing out on the post-season in 2025-26, the Sabres should be radically remaking their front office and starting over to at long last come up with a team that can compete with the best organizations in the NHL.
They haven’t done nearly enough to go toe-to-toe with top Atlantic teams like Florida, Toronto and Tampa Bay, and Buffalo’s lack of improvement this summer is probably dooming them to another letdown season. That's why they're last in the NHL summer splash rankings.
He started that game as an unknown, even to himself. He departed a hero. By the end of the month, he was a World Series champion.
The momentum he gained in the playoffs carried into this season, which explains why the 26-year-old right-hander was at the All-Star Game in Atlanta earlier this week reliving what might have been the most consequential start of his career.
The Dodgers will return from the All-Star break on Friday with Yamamoto as the only dependable arm in their billion-dollar rotation, and his newfound status as one of the best pitchers in baseball makes him their likely Game 1 starter when they open the postseason.
“He’s just to the point where he knows he’s a really good pitcher, he’s an All-Star and he has high expectations for himself,” manager Dave Roberts said.
The sense of stability that Yamamoto provides was something the Dodgers couldn’t have dreamed of in his up-and-down rookie season last year. Yamamoto encountered difficulties that were unknown to him as a three-time Pacific League most valuable player with Japan’s Orix Buffaloes, missing three months with shoulder problems. Even when he pitched, he performed inconsistently, and in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Padres, he gave up five runs in only three innings.
“The more I failed, the more it felt like things were piling up,” Yamamoto said.
With a two-games-to-one deficit in the series, the Dodgers managed to win Game 4 in San Diego to set up a winner-take-all Game 5 in Los Angeles. Yamamoto was assigned to start the deciding game.
Yamamoto had difficulty sleeping the night before his start. When he tried to think of anything other than the game, he couldn’t.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the Chicago White Sox on July 1. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
He felt the weight of his 10-year, $325-million contract, which was the most lucrative deal signed by any pitcher from any country. He was also pitching opposite Yu Darvish, making this the first postseason game featuring two Japanese starting pitchers.
His worst fears were never realized. He pitched five scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory, delivering a performance that changed how everyone viewed him — the fans, the team, even himself.
“Being able to contain them there,” Yamamoto said, “became a source of confidence.”
Yamamoto downplayed his psychological fortitude that was required to regroup in the wake of his Game 1 calamity, describing his turnaround as a function of his ability to identify problems and remedy them.
“I’m by no means strong mentally,” he said. “When I get hit, there are times I get really down. But as time passes, things clear up. What I have to do becomes clear.”
Between the two NLDS starts, for example, Yamamoto adjusted the positioning of his glove, which the Dodgers believed revealed in Game 1 which pitches he was about to throw.
His celebration, however, was short-lived.
“I felt like I cleared a mountain,” Yamamoto said. “But there was no time to relax before the next game started.”
Yamamoto started twice more in the playoffs, in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets and Game 2 of the World Series against the New York Yankees. He gave up a combined three runs in a combined 10 ⅔ innings over the two games, both of which the Dodgers won.
“I think it was a really valuable experience,” he said. “Because of what I experienced, along with the advances I made from a technical standpoint, I think I was able to grow.”
He also drew from the unpleasant times, particularly the three months he was sidelined with a strained rotator cuff.
“I spent the time determined to grow from that,” he said. “I don’t want to forget how frustrated I was.”
The experiences gave him a baseline of knowledge he could take into his second season. As a rookie, he had reported to camp without any expectations.
“I didn’t know what my ability was relative to everyone else’s,” he said. “I lacked a basic understanding of, ‘If I do this, it will work, or if I do that, it won’t.’ So I wasn’t thinking I’d be successful and I wasn’t thinking I wouldn’t be either. I really didn’t know.”
This spring training, he knew. He knew he could succeed.
He also knew what he was up against. Standing a modest 5-foot-10, Yamamoto was struck as a rookie by the imposing physical frames of the other players.
“More than that, when you get to the ballpark, for example, Mookie [Betts] will be finishing up hitting drenched in sweat ,” he said. “ I was surprised by the amount of training, that players weren’t just relying on their talent. It was a little shocking.”
Recognizing that he lost weight over the course of last season, Yamamoto was determined to report to spring training this year with a stronger body. He also benefited from increased comfort with low-quality American baseballs and the pitch clock. He purchased a home, the off-field stability permitting him to focus more on his work.
Pitching once a week as he did in Japan, Yamamoto was 4-2 with a 0.90 earned-run average in his first seven starts of this season. He started pitching on five-days’ rest after that, and he wasn’t nearly as dominant. He initially struggled pitching on a shorter cycle, but he said the causes of that were disruptions to his between-starts routine rather than anything fatigue-related.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the San Francisco Giants on June 13. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“I think there is absolutely no problem with that,” he said. “You pitch on six days’ rest in Japan, but you throw 120, 130 pitches in seven or eight innings. That was tough. You have one less day to recover here, but you’re also throwing fewer pitches, so you don’t feel the fatigue that much.
“There are things that come up in between starts. For example, there could be two flights or you could arrive in a city in the middle of the night and have to pitch the next day. You won’t be able to spend every five-day period the same way.”
Yamamoto said he learned to better maximize his time between starts, which he pointed to as the reason he was able to regain his form leading up to the All-Star break. In his penultimate appearance before the intermission, he didn’t make it out of the first inning and was charged with five runs, three of them earned. But in two of his last four starts, he didn’t give up any runs. In another, he yielded just one.
In fact, Yamamoto said that if the team asks, he thinks he could pitch on four days’ rest.
“This year, my body has recovered really well,” he said. “I often check with the trainers after the game, and we talk about how if it’s like this, I could throw in four days, or how if I feel like that, I might be a little later. We go through different scenarios like that every week. I still haven’t started on four days’ rest, but I think my preparation to do that has gone well.”
Yamamoto enters the final 2 ½ months of the regular season not only as the Dodgers’ leader in wins (eight) but also games started (19) and innings pitched (104 ⅓).
His increased comfort has extended into the clubhouse. He forged a somewhat unlikely friendship with South Korean Hyeseong Kim, the two of them often conversing on the bench during games.
“We speak to each other in broken English,” Yamamoto said with a chuckle. “I really like Korean food, so he teaches me about that. There are differences between Korean and Japanese baseball, and the major leagues are a little different too, so stuff like that. They aren’t deep conversations, but I think it’s important to communicate, so we talk a lot.”
Yamamoto has also developed a particularly strong admiration of Clayton Kershaw.
“In him, you have a player on the team whom you can model yourself after,” Yamamoto said. “I also learn a lot watching him pitch. He’s someone you can admire in every aspect. All of my teammates think of him like that too. That’s the kind of player I would like to be.”
The kind of player who could be counted on to take his turn in the rotation. The kind of player who can deliver for his team in big moments.
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