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The New Jersey Devils needed a win in Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Devils saw Jonas Siegenthaler return to the lineup after spending nearly three months away due to injury. He certainly played well in this contest. However, it was young defenseman Simon Nemec who made the most significant impact.
Nemec carried the puck into the offensive zone. He made a move around the Carolina defense to create a bit of space. The Devils defender picked his spot and fired a shot. It went past Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen and into the goal. This gave New Jersey a 3-2 win at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. And it brought the series to 2-1 in favor of Carolina.
NEMEC IS THE OT HERO FOR THE DEVILS
pic.twitter.com/kQIFKYC9XQ
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 26, 2025
Nemec had an up and down season in 2024-25. The young Devils defender entered the year as one of the team’s more highly touted prospect. In fact, many saw the former second-overall pick as a future star in the league. However, trade rumors around Nemec began swirling after the emergence of rookie Seamus Casey and veteran Johnathan Kovacevic.
This goal certainly may have changed the narrative a bit. One of his veteran teammates applauded the 20-year-old blueliner for his effort in Game 3. “He took that moment. He wasn’t scared of it,” Devils defenseman Brian Dumoulin said after the victory over the Hurricanes, The Athletic’s Peter Baugh.
This win certainly means something to New Jersey. They are within a game of tying this series against the Hurricanes. Given their start to the matchup, it’s a massive confidence boost. However, the work is also nowhere close to done. The Devils need to win three of potentially five games in order to advance. Game 3 between the Devils and Hurricanes takes place on Sunday night at the Prudential Center.
More must-reads:
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Canadiens’ Kirby Dach gets disappointing injury update after knee surgery
The Montreal Canadiens were a surprising playoff team in the Eastern Conference last season. They took that berth and doubled down in the offseason, trading for Noah Dobson. Another improvement the Habs were banking on could be missing the start of the year. Kirby Dach could miss the start of the Canadiens’ training camp with his knee injury, according to a recent report. “Now, I learned yesterday that Kirby Dach was spending the summer in Edmonton with Kaiden Guhle – Dach is from Fort Saskatchewan and Guhle is from Edmonton (both cities in Alberta) – and that Dach was still in rehab,” Maxime Truman reported for danslescoulisses.com, as translated from French. “…five months after his most recent knee surgery and about forty days before the start of training camp, Kirby Dach is still not recovered and ready to play. However, on February 28, the Canadian told us that Dach would be ready (at 100%) in time for the team’s training camp.” Dach has just played 59 games in two seasons with the Canadiens. He played 57 games in 2024-25, playing his last game in February due to a knee injury. His first year in Montreal was cut short after just two games, tearing his ACL and MCL and missing the entire season. The Canadiens’ lack of center depth crushed them in their playoff series against the Washington Capitals. Dach is supposed to slide in behind Nick Suzuki on the second line. But without him, Alex Newhook is bumped up the lineup. That was made clear in the playoffs and could cost them valuable points in the early portions of the season. Dach has never lived up to his third-overall pick status, with injuries playing a big role in his early career. If he can recover from his most recent knee injury and have a career year, the Canadiens will benefit.
Celtics' moves suggest new guard will be traded — eventually
The Boston Celtics got under the second luxury-tax apron by trading Georges Niang to the Utah Jazz Tuesday. The move also gives them a huge incentive to deal their most expensive new player. The Celtics have dramatically reduced their payroll in the wake of Jayson Tatum's Achilles injury. With their superstar unlikely to play in 2025-26, the Celtics traded away starters Jrue Holiday ($94.4M for three years, plus a $37.2M player option in 2027-28) and Kristaps Porzingis ($30.7M next season). They also let Luke Kornet ($2.8M) leave as a free agent, and Al Horford ($9.5M) is almost certainly gone as well. They received Georges Niang ($8.2M) in the Porzingis deal, but traded him Tuesday for undrafted R.J. Luis Jr., a rookie on a two-way deal. That effectively takes Niang's full salary of their books and gets them under the second luxury-tax apron, freeing them from the penalties and restrictions that go along with second-apron status. According to cap expert Yossi Gozlan, the Celtics have saved a whopping $286M in salary and taxes with their moves. Still, the team can reap a larger long-term reward by dropping below the luxury tax entirely, which requires reducing their payroll by just over $12M more. The Celtics don't seem inclined to trade Jaylen Brown, Derrick White or Payton Pritchard, wanting to keep some core members of their 2024 title team together for Tatum's return. Sam Hauser is on an affordable four-year, $45M deal, but losing his $10M salary wouldn't get them under the tax line. That's why Anfernee Simons, acquired in the Holiday trade, is likely not long for Boston. The 26-year-old guard makes $27.7M in the last year of his contract, making him the perfect trade piece to get Boston under the luxury tax. Not only would getting under the tax line free the Celtics of their tax obligations and save them as much as $40M, but it would make them eligible to share in the money from tax-paying teams. The Celtics would also be able to avoid the dreaded repeater tax penalties, which make every dollar over the luxury-tax number progressively more expensive every year a team stays over the tax line. This doesn't mean Simons is going to be traded this summer. Boston has until the Feb. 5 trade deadline to move Simons, since luxury tax is calculated on the team's total payroll the last day of the season. But given the massive savings they'd get back from losing Simons' salary, it seems inevitable. The Celtics have lost a lot of talent this summer, but they've saved a tremendous amount of money in the process. They might have to attach draft capital to get off Simons' deal, but if he plays well in Boston, he might even bring back something in a trade next season. Tatum's injury threw a huge wrench in the Celtics' plans. If they can use this season to get under the luxury tax, they'll have the flexibility to reload and contend again when their star is back in a year.
NFL, ESPN agree to two expansive non-binding agreements
Despite the day belonging to ESPN and its reporters, it was Mark Maske of The Washington Post who broke the news first. Per Maske, the NFL and Disney-owned ESPN have completed the long-rumored deal, giving ESPN NFL Network and certain other media assets (including RedZone and NFL Fantasy) in exchange for 10% equity stake in ESPN. The second non-binding agreement, per Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic, sees the NFL license to ESPN certain NFL content and intellectual property to be used by NFL Network and other assets. “Today’s announcement paves the way for the world’s leading sports media brand and America’s most popular sport to deliver an even more compelling experience for NFL fans, in a way that only ESPN and Disney can,” CEO of The Walt Disney Company Roger Iger said in a statement released by ESPN’s Lily Blum. He continued, “Commissioner (Roger Goodell) and the NFL have built outstanding media assets, and these transactions will add to consumer choice, provide viewers with even greater convenience and quality, and expand the breadth and value proposition of Disney’s streaming ecosystem.” Given ESPN’s streaming abilities — through multiple streaming apps such as ESPN Watch, ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+ — the agreements should make available lots of content exclusive to the NFL and NFL Network available in multiple formats in addition to the usual cable and satellite option. The statement also cites an additional platform in what they’re calling “ESPN’s upcoming direct-to-consumer service.” While YouTube TV still owns the rights to air NFL Sunday Ticket and ABC/ESPN/Disney/NFL Network, FOX, CBS/Paramount/Nickelodeon, NBC/Peacock, Amazon and Netflix all have individual rights to air certain games, ESPN gets “broad rights to the RedZone brand and will distribute the NFL RedZone Channel to pay TV operators for continued inclusion into their sports packages.” Though ESPN gets broad rights to the brand and TV distribution rights, the NFL will continue to own, operate and produce NFL RedZone and retain the rights to distribute it digitally. ESPN’s platforms will now license an additional three NFL games per season (all to air on NFL Network) and will adjust its overall NFL game schedule with four games shifting to NFL Network, as well. The league will continue to own and operate its retained media businesses such as NFL Films, NFL+, NFL.com, the NFL Podcast Network, the NFL FAST Channel and the official sites for all 32 teams. The two parties’ fantasy applications, NFL Fantasy Football and ESPN Fantasy Football, will merge, “creating the official Fantasy season-long game of the NFL and one best-in-class digital experience.” While much of the news is being presented by the parties involved as a shiny new present for NFL fans, there are some perceived negatives to the agreements. While Iger calls the transactions additions “to consumer choice,” in reality this is a step closer to a monopoly. At the moment, existing contracts keep the NFL readily available from several different streamers and television channels, but when those contracts expire, how willing will the NFL be to dole out games to networks other than the one it has a 10% stake in? ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio offered his usual candor in a making another relevant point about ESPN’s reporting responsibilities. When issues such as the ownership collusion case we’ve seen this summer break the NFL news circuit, how critical will ESPN be towards its minority owner? Ultimately, the transactions are still subject to the parties’ negotiation of definitive agreements, various approvals (including those of NFL team owners and federal regulators) and customary closing conditions. There’s still quite a ways to go, but Tuesday’s agreement gives a peek into what the NFL media future will look like.
Ex-Yankees Bust Clint Frazier Sends Clear Anthony Volpe Message
Hindsight is 20/20, and the New York Yankees may have a major regret regarding a player on track for his second 20-20 season in three years. Although shortstop Anthony Volpe has 17 home runs, 60 RBIs, 14 stolen bases, and a career-high .710 OPS, he also has a league-high 16 errors. The 24-year-old Volpe is striking out at a 23.8% clip and batting just .189 with runners in scoring position. Volpe went hitless with a walk in Monday’s 8-5 loss to the Texas Rangers, leading ex-Yankees outfielder Clint Frazier to suggest that Volpe is in a “tough spot.” "Everybody is so hyper focused on him at the moment and you gotta believe he’s fully aware of it because it’s impossible to not be,” Frazier wrote on X/Twitter. “That standing ovation might need to come here soon,” Frazier added. “It could help.” Frazier is referring to the idea that Yankees fans should give Volpe a standing ovation the way that Philadelphia Phillies fans did for Trea Turner two summers ago. Los Angeles Dodgers fans did something similar for struggling All-Star shortstop Mookie Betts on Monday night, though Betts went 0-for-4 in a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Longtime Yankees pitcher David Cone made a similar proposal last week. The Yankees return home for a three-game set against the Houston Astros beginning Friday night. The 60-53 Yankees trail the first-place Toronto Blue Jays by 5 1/2 games at publication. Although the Yankees and Seattle Mariners are tied for the AL’s second Wild Card spot, they only have a 1 1/2 game lead over the Rangers.
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