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Matthew Poitras was one of the bright spots for the Bruins this season, earning a roster spot in training camp and largely playing a regular role since then. However, his rookie year has come to an early end as the team announced that he has undergone a successful right shoulder open stabilization.
That surgery carries a five-month recovery time, ending his season. GM Don Sweeney released the following statement on the procedure:
Our medical staff made the recommendation for Matt to proceed with the surgery rather than continue playing with an unstable shoulder and risking further damage. Everyone involved supported the decision as to do what was best for him at this time. Matt is just starting his Bruins career and is a key part of our future.
The 2022 second-round pick had a strong preseason showing to help him break camp with the big club in October, and he didn’t look back. Poitras had five goals and ten assists in 33 games while averaging over 13 minutes a night.
Boston opted to loan him to play for Canada at the World Juniors back in December, and he had some success offensively in that event. He recorded two goals and two helpers in five contests. Upon returning, his playing time has been more sporadic with this shoulder injury clearly being the reason for that.
Boston is currently using LTIR and will likely be placing Poitras on there in the near future, giving the team a little extra salary cap flexibility. However, with Poitras on his entry-level contract, the potential cap savings will be limited as his AAV is just $870K with most of that likely being earmarked for whoever the Bruins elect to recall to take his spot on the roster. Speculatively, Patrick Brown, who has been back and forth several times this season, could be brought up to serve in the reserve forward role.
While Poitras officially burned the first year of his contract early in the season, the surgery will prevent him from hitting the 40-game benchmark which would have allowed him to accrue a year of service time toward UFA eligibility. Instead, he won’t be eligible to hit the open market until he turns 27 in 2031.
More must-reads:
- Who are the current captains of every NHL team?
- Ranking Bruins’ Needs at the 2024 Trade Deadline
- The '1971-72 Boston Bruins' quiz
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Maple Leafs News & Rumours: Kotkaniemi Hire, Stolarz’s 'Snub' & Domi’s Challenge
The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to give fans plenty to talk about as training camp creeps closer. While the roster remains largely set, the front office has been busy making tweaks, and questions about depth and consistency are never far from the surface. This edition of Maple Leafs News Rumours will share a mix of storylines—from an intriguing front-office hire with a family twist, to Olympic chatter surrounding Anthony Stolarz, and pressure building on Max Domi to carve out a bigger role. Each narrative sheds light on different challenges facing the Maple Leafs as they head into the 2025-26 season. Item One: Maple Leafs Hire Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s Father as Scout The Maple Leafs announced an interesting front-office addition this week, bringing in Mikael Kotkaniemi—the father of Carolina Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi—as a European scout. He posted on LinkedIn that it was “a real privilege” to join the organization and spoke about the passion surrounding the team. Of course, the hire has sparked speculation. Toronto is thin down the middle behind Auston Matthews and John Tavares, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi could be seen as a possible trade target if Carolina looks to move him. Still, it’s worth keeping perspective: Mikael’s role is on the scouting side, and family ties don’t necessarily mean a deal is in the works. For now, it’s simply an intriguing move that adds another wrinkle to the Maple Leafs’ busy offseason. Item Two: Anthony Stolarz Still Has More to Prove Some fans were surprised when Anthony Stolarz didn’t receive a U.S. Olympic camp invite, but calling it a “snub” is a stretch. Sure, he had an exceptional first season with the Maple Leafs, posting a .926 save percentage and ranking among the NHL’s leaders in advanced goaltending stats. However, it was also the first time in his career that he played more than 30 games, and it ended prematurely due to a knee injury. When you look at the competition—Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger, Jeremy Swayman, and even Joey Daccord—it’s clear why USA Hockey wasn’t ready to slide Stolarz into the mix. At 31, he’s a late bloomer, not an established starter. If he can repeat his strong play this season and stay healthy, the conversation could change. For now, there’s no snub here, just a goalie who still has some things to prove. Item Three: Max Domi Needs to Bring Back His Edge Domi has shown flashes of being a difference-maker, but consistency has been the issue. After his 72-point season in Montreal back in 2018-19, he’s struggled to recapture that level of play. In two seasons with the Maple Leafs, he has appeared in 154 games, scoring just 17 goals and adding 63 assists. The encouraging sign is that Domi has inclined to play a more disruptive role. Maybe it comes from watching his dad play with the Blue White. Max hits, blocks shots, and is willing to mix it up physically. All of which have increased since he got to Toronto, showing that he understands how to contribute in other ways. But Toronto still needs him to deliver in key moments. He has 15 career game-winning goals, yet only two of them have come during his time with the Maple Leafs. If he can combine his grit with a scoring touch, Domi could fill a role this team desperately needs—an agitator who also changes games on the scoreboard. What’s Next for the Maple Leafs? The Maple Leafs enter the 2025-26 season with no shortage of storylines. A front-office hire may or may not signal bigger roster moves. Stolarz has to prove last season wasn’t a one-off, and Domi faces the challenge of becoming more than a depth piece. Each of these stories will help shape what kind of team Toronto becomes this season. As always with this franchise, expectations are high. The Maple Leafs believe they’re contenders, but turning that belief into playoff success remains the challenge. Training camp and the early months of the season should offer plenty of clues about whether this group can take the next step.
Craig Kimbrel lands with World Series contender after latest release
Craig Kimbrel is hoping to make an impact with an MLB team down the stretch, and a World Series contender is giving the former All-Star reliever a shot. Kimbrel agreed to a big-league contract with the Houston Astros on Thursday, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan. Kimbrel began the 2025 season with the Atlanta Braves after signing a minor-league contract with them in March. The right-hander started out with the Double-A Columbus Clingstones and did not give up a hit in three appearances. Kimbrel was then promoted to the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers, where he went 1-1 with a 2.00 ERA and 23 strikeouts over 18 innings. The Braves added Kimbrel to their active roster on June 6. He pitched a scoreless seventh inning in Atlanta's 5-4 win over the San Francisco Giants that day. Kimbrel allowed a walk and a hit in the inning. The following day, Atlanta made the puzzling decision to designate Kimbrel for assignment. Kimbrel opted for free agency rather than accepting his minor league assignment. He then signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers but never made it to their MLB roster. Kimbrel was granted his release on Thursday and signed with Houston. Kimbrel, 37, is a nine-time All-Star who has pitched for eight different teams during his MLB career. He led the National League in saves four times and was one of the best relief pitchers in the league during his prime. Kimbrel also helped the Boston Red Sox win a World Series in 2018. The Astros were 69-58 entering Thursday and had a 1.5-game lead over the Seattle Mariners in the AL West. If Kimbrel is healthy, he could provide Houston with some valuable bullpen depth over the final stretch of the season.
Jerry Jones: Micah Parsons' agent told me where we could stick contract details
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants to deal with David Mulugheta insofar as to get Micah Parsons' agent to fill out the paperwork on the contract extension that was already negotiated. During an appearance with Michael Irvin on Thursday, Jones said Mulugheta told him to shove the paperwork up their heinie. "When we wanted to send the details to the agent, The agents told us to stick it up our a--," Jones said. "Just so we're clear. (Parsons) and I talked, and then we were going to send it over to the agent, and we had our agreements on term, amount, guarantees, everything. "We were going to send it over to the agent, and the agent said, 'Don't bother, because we've got all that to negotiate.' Well, I'd already negotiated. I'd already moved off my mark on several areas." Following an incoherent analogy to a child going between a mom and dad to negotiate, Jones accused Mulugheta of trying to "stick his nose" in negotiations to try to get the Cowboys to cave for a better deal for his client. Jones has no plans to back down from the agreement he had already worked out with Parsons. "In my mind, for the Dallas Cowboys, we've got it done," Jones said. "And if the agent wants to finish up the details, which he should, and do all the paperwork, he can do that, and we're ready to go. But as far as the amount of money, the years, the guarantees, all of that we negotiated." Dallas is set to conclude its preseason against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday night with no end in sight to the biggest distraction on the team this summer. Jones should have avoided the situation with Parsons by dealing with Mulugheta directly, but that might have caused the theatre to be much less dramatic before the regular season.
Tiger Woods unintentionally molded Scottie Scheffler into the best golfer in the world
Scottie Scheffler is the most dominant golfer we've seen since Tiger Woods in his prime, but he wasn't always at this level. It took Scheffler 73 starts before he finally won his first PGA Tour event at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open. Since then, he's rattled off 21 worldwide wins, and he has Woods to thank. Ahead of the 2025 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, Scheffler explained how playing with Woods in the final round of the 2020 Masters taught him a valuable lesson about what it takes to succeed on the PGA Tour. "The biggest change I felt like I made my first couple years on Tour to 2022 was the question always was, hey, how come you haven't won? The reason I felt like I hadn't won yet is I hadn't put myself in position enough times. I'd only played in a couple final groups. I always found myself just a little bit on the outside looking in, and that's one of the things I learned from playing with Tiger," Scheffler told reporters on Wednesday. "It was like, we're in 20th place or whatever going into Sunday at the Masters. Tiger has won five Masters; he's got no chance of winning the tournament. Then we showed up on the first hole and I was watching him read his putt, and I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, this guy is in it right now.'" Scheffler recalled how locked in Woods was in the final round despite being out of contention. He also mentioned how impressed he was when Woods birdied five of his last six holes after making a 10 on the par-3 12th. "I just admired the intensity that he brought to each round, and that's something that I try to emulate," Scheffler added. "It's not an easy thing to play a golf tournament. If I'm going to take a week off, I might as well just stay home. I'm not going to come out here to take a week off. If I'm playing in a tournament, I'm going to give it my all. That's really all it boils down to. "That was something that I just thought about for a long time. I felt like a change I needed to make was bringing that same intensity to each round and each shot … I think it's just the amount of consistency and the intensity that I bring to each round of golf is not taking shots off, not taking rounds off, not taking tournaments off." What used to be a weakness for Scheffler quickly became a superpower. The World No. 1 approaches every PGA Tour round like it's the final round of a major championship, and it shows in his consistency. Scheffler has played 72 competitive rounds this season. He's shot over par only seven times, and two of them came at the brutally tough U.S. Open in which only one player finished the tournament under par. Dating back to the Travelers Championship, he's shot in the 60s in 19 of his last 20 rounds. That level of consistency is nearly impossible to beat. The rest of the PGA Tour can't be happy that Woods gave Scheffler the secret sauce to dominating professional golf a few years ago.
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