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After electing for salary arbitration on July 5th, defenseman J.J. Moser and the Tampa Bay Lightning have reportedly agreed on a new contract. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the team has signed Moser to a two-year contract worth an AAV of $3.375M.
According to the report from Friedman, Moser will make $2.7M during the 2024-25 season and $4.05M in 2025-26. It will be a significant raise over Moser’s previous contract, in which he averaged $887K during his entry-level contract.
It will be interesting to see how the Lightning deploy Moser after acquiring him as a part of the package for defenseman Mikhail Sergachev in a draft-day trade with the Utah Hockey Club. During a three-year stint with the Arizona Coyotes, Moser quickly became a part of the team’s top four after making his NHL debut in the 2021-22 NHL season.
Over 205 regular season games with the Coyotes, Moser scored 16 goals and 72 points while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time per night. Moser played in nearly all situations in Arizona and showed flashes of being an effective two-way defenseman but did have some shortcomings on the defensive side of the puck. According to HockeyReference, Moser produced an expected +/- of -35.6 throughout his tenure in the desert — coming out to an average of nearly -12 each season. Additionally, Moser averaged an on-ice save percentage in all situations of 89.5% over his first three seasons. Still, some blame could be shared with a subpar Arizona defensive core.
With Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh expected to receive most of the minutes on the left side of Tampa Bay’s blue-line crew, Moser should get bumped down to a bottom-pairing role with the Lightning. Although his salary for next year is right on par with a bottom-pairing defenseman, his 2025-26 salary will become a bit rich if Tampa Bay decides to keep him in a similar role.
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What happens if Penguins can’t move veterans?
The Penguins find themselves in a strange position as a franchise. Management appears to have embraced the need to rebuild. Yet, they still have three franchise icons on the roster in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, along with several veterans who can still perform at a high level. Pittsburgh entered this summer as an obvious seller at a time when it seemed there were no sellers, but they have yet to trade any of the veteran candidates and are just over a month away from starting training camp with those players still on the team. So, what will happen if forwards Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, and defenseman Erik Karlsson are still with the team when the season begins? That is where things could get very interesting. With those players in the lineup, the Penguins can field one of the stronger top-nine groups in the NHL, led by Crosby, Rakell, and Rust, who were the only bright spots for the Penguins last season. Additionally, Malkin can still center a second line despite an apparent decline in his play, and he might get some help this season after a carousel of low-scoring depth wingers flanked him last year. Recently signed Anthony Mantha is a capable option to play with Malkin, along with trade deadline acquisition Thomas Novak, who only played a few games last season with Pittsburgh before suffering an injury. If the Penguins decide to use Novak as a third-line pivot, they could look to rookie Ville Koivunen, who appears NHL-ready and might already be a top-six winger alongside Malkin. In any case, a top six like that is good enough to help the Penguins win some games, which might not be what Penguins fans are hoping for, especially with Gavin McKenna available in the NHL Entry Draft. Beyond the top six, the Penguins have many potential options for their bottom six, including some costly depth veterans who might not make the lineup. If Novak ends up as Pittsburgh’s third-line center, he could be flanked on the wings by young players Rutger McGroarty and Philip Tomasino. Both are former first-round picks and have the ability to generate offense from the third line, something the Penguins haven’t seen from their bottom two lines in quite some time. On the fourth line, the most likely lineup would be Blake Lizotte centering newcomer Justin Brazeau and Connor Dewar. That isn’t a bad fourth line, but the Penguins could also run Noel Acciari, Danton Heinen, or Kevin Hayes, who are all veterans making north of $2MM in the final year of their contracts and will be motivated to prove they still belong in the NHL. The bottom line is that if Rust and Rakell aren’t traded, the Penguins have a forward group capable of getting a team to a Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. However, their defensive unit is where it gets messy and might be the worst in the NHL. General manager Kyle Dubas opted for quantity over quality this summer on the backend, which makes sense given the Penguins’ current situation as an organization. Dubas decided to buy low on a group of defensemen who badly needed a fresh start. Matt Dumba and Connor Clifton have both been effective in the past, but have recently fallen on hard times and were essentially traded to Pittsburgh along with assets as a cap dump. Their presence congests an already deep right side for the Penguins, as they currently have Kris Letang and the aforementioned Karlsson still in the top four, as well as 2024 second-round pick Harrison Brunicke, who could be NHL-ready, along with Jack St. Ivany and Philip Kemp. The left side has even more players, but none of them are likely capable of top-pairing minutes for Pittsburgh, and they might not even have a solid second-pair option either. The Penguins’ left side is mediocre, with Ryan Graves and Owen Pickering as the most likely players to see time on the top two pairs. Beyond that, it is truly anyone’s guess, as Pittsburgh also brought in Caleb Jones, Parker Wotherspoon, and Alexander Alexeyev in free agency to join holdovers Graves, Pickering, Ryan Shea, and Sebastian Aho. All in all, Dubas has assembled 14 potential NHL defensemen for the Penguins to use this season, with only two or possibly three capable of playing on the top two pairs. It’s a bold strategy and certainly a unique idea that will either end in total disaster or be a surprise of the season. None of this will matter if Pittsburgh gets goaltending like they did last season, when Tristan Jarry struggled for most of the year before a late-season turnaround after two AHL demotions and a waiver wire pass. Jarry can win NHL games, as shown by his two All-Star Game appearances. However, if he plays like he did last season, Pittsburgh won’t be able to outscore the problem. But if Jarry can be league average next year and the Penguins keep the likes of Rust, Rakell, and Karlsson, that might be enough to put them in the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference. The other variable in net is 24-year-old Arturs Silovs, who was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks in mid-July. The reigning MVP of the Calder Cup Playoffs last season will suit up as an Olympian next year for Latvia and has the potential to make an impact in the NHL. Whether or not he makes an impact next season remains to be seen, but again, if he is league average as a backup for the Penguins, it would be an improvement on last season’s goaltending. If Pittsburgh gets some goaltending and scores the way they are capable of, it could turn into a feel-good story for the Penguins, especially if Malkin’s NHL swan song is near. Having Letang and Crosby there for it would be pretty special. Now, a lot would have to go right for Pittsburgh to make the postseason, and it would be nearly impossible if they move on from the veterans on the trade block. However, if their asking price isn’t met and the Penguins are left holding onto Rust, Rakell, and Karlsson, they might surprise some people, even if they remain flawed and older. The talent is there to make some noise; it’s just not guaranteed that the talent will still be present when the season begins. Photo by Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Former NASCAR official sheds light on investigation, decisions during infamous 2013 'Spingate' scandal
In September 2013, one of the biggest scandals in NASCAR history took place at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. The 2013 Federated Auto Parts 400 was the final race in the 2013 Cup Series regular season. At the time, only 12 drivers made the Chase for the Sprint Cup. After a chaotic evening that saw Carl Edwards snag the win, Michael Waltrip Racing was embroiled in a massive race manipulation scandal that played a huge role in the team's eventual downfall. Clint Bowyer intentionally spun in the closing laps in an effort to help teammate Martin Truex Jr. make the chase, while Brian Vickers was told to come down pit road for the same reason. When it was all said and done, Truex Jr. was booted from the Chase and ended up leaving the team at season's end, along with longtime sponsor Napa Auto Parts. Bowyer was docked 50 points and saw his title hopes evaporate before the postseason even began and general manager Ty Norris was indefinitely suspended. Former crew chief and NASCAR Vice President of Competition, Robin Pemberton, joined the "Dale Jr. Download" on Wednesday and explained NASCAR's side of the story from that infamous evening nearly 12 years ago. "About 10 o'clock in the morning (the day after the race) the phone rings," Pemberton said. "It's (former NASCAR president) Mike Helton. He goes, 'We got frickin' trouble. We got to do an investigation.'" At the time, Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, hosted the first race of NASCAR's postseason as well as media week for the Chase. The spotlight was going to be firmly on the race weekend regardless of extenuating circumstances, but what followed was one of the most bizarre set of occurrences in NASCAR history. "Monday at nine or 10 o'clock, I'm on a (expletive) airplane going to Chicago," Pemberton said. "They (NASCAR) put me in a room. The TV people came in, and they replayed stuff and replayed stuff. I was in that room for eight or 10 hours the first day and probably 16 the second day." After combing through footage and radio transmissions, Pemberton came to a conclusion. "Now, you're fixing a race," Pemberton said. But the MWR scandal was not the only domino to fall in regard to the 2013 Chase. Team Penske and Front Row Motorsports — a pair of Ford teams — were also found to have participated in race manipulation, with David Gilliland intentionally slowing on a restart in order to help Joey Logano secure his spot in the postseason. While Logano remained in the playoff field, NASCAR made an unprecedented decision by adding four-time champion Jeff Gordon as a 13th driver, claiming that Gordon and the No. 24 team had been placed at a disadvantage at Richmond due to race manipulation. "It was kind of no harm, no foul," Pemberton said of the move to add Gordon to the Chase field. "He wasn't having one of his best years. But that was a decision by a few people. "What a frickin' week that was." The NASCAR Cup Series field will return to Richmond on Saturday for the penultimate race of the 2025 regular season — an event that will hopefully be devoid of race manipulation and controversy.
MLB Insider Lists Seattle Mariners as No. 1 Fit For International Superstar
The Seattle Mariners acquired their starting third baseman for the rest of the season after they traded for Eugenio Suarez from the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 30. Currently, Suarez and the Mariners are attempting to make the team's second postseason berth in four seasons, and they're focused on that task. But there's questions for the team and Suarez after this season. Suarez is set be a free agent and will be one of, if not the most, highly-coveted third baseman in free agency this upcoming offseason. He entered Wednesday with 69 runs in 117 games and hit 20 doubles and 37 home runs with 92 RBIs. He has a slash line of .234/.304/.540 with an .844 OPS. The second-most sought after third baseman will b from Japan. Corner infielder Munetaka Murakami is almost guaranteed to be posted by the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. The 25-year-old slugger is considered one of the best power-hitters in NPB, is a two-time Central League MVP, four-time NPB All-Star, won the Japan Series (NPB's version of the World Series) in 2021 and has won two gold medals with Japan — one in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics and the other in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. In a recent appearance Bleacher Report's Walk-Off show, MLB insider Jon Heyman listed Seattle as his "top fit" for Murakami. "(Suarez) is a free agent. I doubt he re-signs (with the Mariners)," Heyman said. " ... The Mariners have the money to sign (Murakami). Obviously, they've had Japanese players before and done well with them. To me, the Mariners are an excellent fit for Murakami." Heyman listed the Los Angeles Dodgers as his second-best fit, the New York Mets the third-best fit and the Boston Red Sox as the fourth-best fit. Notably absent from Heyman's list were the New York Yankees, who Murakami has also been tied to in various rumor mills. Murakami has hit 229 home runs with 609 RBIs in eight seasons in NPB. He's slashed .271/.395/.551 with a .945 OPS. He's been limited to 15 games this season due to a right oblique strain entering Wednesday. Murakami is projected to earn a $200-$300 million contract when he's posted. There's been speculation he could earn a contract on the lower-end of that range due to his injury. Murakami can also play first base, which could also help the Mariners. Their other trade acquisition, first baseman Josh Naylor, is also a free agent after this season.
Steelers' Dispute With Cameron Heyward Is Preventing Another Elite Player From Getting Paid
The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the midst of another nasty contract situation. Defensive captain Cameron Heyward fired some shots at the front office for how they did things in the past while demanding a restructured deal. So far, Pittsburgh seems to have not budged on his demands. They appear to be ok with letting things play out and seeing if he caves in and plays without getting what he wants. All the focus is currently on him, even though he is not the only high-end player that is refusing to participate in practice. Kicker Chris Boswell has also been holding in and playing golf, as opposed to kicking footballs in Latrobe. After an amazing 2024 season, he believes that he deserves to be the highest-paid special teamer due to being the best in the previous season. There appears to be little movement on that front as well, and the Steelers seem to be willing to push this as far as it could possibly go. While making an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, NFL insider Mike Florio explained the simple reason why Boswell is not getting paid. "I don’t see them blinking for Boswell and not blinking for Heyward," Florio said. "That one is just weird to me." Kickers are seen as one of the most replaceable positions in the league. What is not replaceable, however, is an All-Pro team captain in the trenches. Heyward is priority number one, even if there has not been much movement in that front. Pittsburgh will have a very hard time stopping the run game if the 15th-year veteran is not there at all. That would also be a major blow to the locker room morale to have him off the team during the regular season. Boswell may be one of the greatest kickers in NFL history, but he doesn't have the impact on and off the field that Heyward does. On top of that, Ben Sauls has performed well in training camp and in the team's first preseason game. If Boswell is not on the field in Week 1, the Steelers would still go into that game with confidence in the man that makes the trip to East Rutherford, New Jersey. The same can't be said for whoever would replace the defensive captain. As mentioned before, the Steelers have not budged much for Heyward, if at all. They don't want to give him a raise and/or guaranteed money at the moment, whichever he prefers. If that's their mindset with one of the best players of his generation, why would they not have that same mindset for a kicker? Steelers May Need Boswell More Than They Realize The problem for the Steelers has been their subpar, inconsistent offense for years now. After replacing one aging veteran quarterback with another one, odds are that there won't be too much of an increase in production on that side of the ball. That would mean the team would be over-reliant on the leg and accuracy of their kicker. Sauls might be having a solid camp, but he is no Boswell. Boswell had two separate games where he accounted for all 18 points in a game, and he did so with a different quarterback under center in each contest. He was a perfect 35/35 on extra points and went 41/44 on field goals, including going 13/15 from 50+ yards out. With Heyward still fighting for a restructure, who knows if/when Boswell gets the extension that he is looking for? This will likely get much uglier before it gets good again.
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