Colts star selected by Islanders with 17th pick in NHL Draft
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CTV News
32 minutes ago
- CTV News
Golden Hawks football back after storied 2024 season
CTV's Colton Weins has a preview of what's the come this season after last year's champion run. The Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks football team hosted a controlled scrimmage with the York Lions on Friday, as they look ahead to the upcoming season. It's been about nine months since Laurier played in the national U Sports football championship and excitement was especially high. 'It's August again so Football season is right around the corner, so I just can't wait,' Jesulayomi Ojutalayo, fourth year wide receiver for the Golden Hawks, said. golden hawks 2025 Wilfrid Laurier and York University at a controlled scrimmage at University Stadium Aug. 15, 2025. (CTV News/Colton Wiens) The Golden Hawks' last season was one to remember. The team went undefeated through 11 games and came up just short in the national final. 'You have a nine month off season. And we have the shortest off season of all, having played in the Vanier Cup. And it's still a long time in the weight room, in the meeting rooms and no games. So the fact that training camps here, we're having a joint practice and scrimmage against York today and then our season opener at Guelph next Saturday, there's a lot of excitement around the program,' Michael Faulds, head coach of the Golden Hawks, said. Faulds has been telling players since January not to think of all of last years success, but instead that every season is new, with new players and in need of a new identity. 'So we know last year put a target on our back. So we're going to get everyone's best. But we've got a very mature group, a very talented group that knows we're going to have to earn everything,' Faulds said. One position with a lot of questions this season is who takes over for star quarterback Taylor Elgersma -- who's now with the NFL's Green Bay Packers. 'We've got five quarterbacks in house, all working really hard and like a lot of other positions, we're asking everyone to compete. We haven't solidified starters anywhere. But that's a good problem to have as coaches that you have a lot of guys competing, a lot of guys that want to dress and play,' Faulds said. Faulds doesn't expect anyone to fill Elgersma's shoes, but feels the depth of their roster will take a lot of pressure off whoever earns the job. 'Just be themselves, play mistake free football and try to win football games,' Faulds said. Despite not knowing their starter, leaders that are still in the lineup say the team's recent success has made a big impact on the program. 'I see definitely a culture change within the community, the guys have all bought into the process, which Coach Faulds has laid out for us. So, just trusting him every single day,' Ojutalayo said. 'I think recruits look at this as a destination where you can win a lot of football games, where you can be seen on the national stage, but it also means for recruits, which isn't easy for them to realize that you're probably going to have to be a developmental player before starting,' Faulds said. Ojutalayo is from Shelburne, Ont. He is in his fourth year of U Sports eligibility and in his fifth year of schooling at Laurier. He's graduating with a major in economics, and a minor in geography and leadership. It is also his pro draft year, and he spent the summer in Waterloo working for a window cleaning sales company. 'When I decided to leave home and committed to the Laurier Golden Hawks, I made a plan to myself that I'm going to do whatever it is to make sure I have the most development I can, and that includes staying in the summer,' Ojutalayo said. The Golden Hawks will start to solidify their starting lineup in the coming days and are set to kickoff the regular season on Aug. 23, against the Gryphons, at the University of Guelph.
Edmonton Journal
an hour ago
- Edmonton Journal
Elephant in the room: still one massive unknown about Connor McDavid's new contract
Article content Until Connor McDavid signs a new contract with the Edmonton Oilers, nothing is certain. Article content But according to numerous credible sources, hockey insiders like Bob Stauffer, Elliotte Friedman and Frank Seravalli, we can expect McDavid to sign sometime before Edmonton's training camp starts in September, most likely on a deal ranging from three-to-five years. Article content Article content But there's an elephant in the room when it comes to the new McDavid contract, one that will have a significant impact on whether or not the Edmonton Oilers can successfully compete for a Stanley Cup in the next few years. Article content Article content Let me start out by saying McDavid is such a tremendous player, he's worth whatever pays him. But how much Edmonton pays him — and any other player — also impact the team's chance to win the Cup. This is the hard truth of the matter. Article content On a free NHL market, McDavid could command more than $50 million per year. But under the NHL's cap system, if he signs now, the maximum he can sign for is $19.1 million per year. Article content But there's a rub. Under the cap system, teams only have so much they can spend on players, between $95.5 million and $113.5 million in the next few years as the cap rises. Article content Article content McDavid will never been overpaid under this system, as some NHLers, including some of McDavid's teammates, are overpaid. He will always be grossly underpaid based on his performance. But the more money that any one player takes under the cap system, the less money there is to hire other top players to compete for a Stanley Cup. Article content In the NHL's cap era, 2006 to 2025, the Top Four players on each Stanley Cup winner have taken up 40.5 per cent of the salary cap on average. Article content The Florida Panthers were near that mark last year, with their top four players, Aleksander Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky making $10 million each, Matthew Tkachuk making $9.5 million, and Ekblad $7.5 million, which had them take in a combined 42 per cent of the NHL's cap of $88 million. Article content The top four on the Oilers, McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse and Mattias Ekholm took in less than that last year, just 41.2 per cent of the cap. Article content In those 20 years, just three teams have paid their Top Four more than 45 per cent of the cap and gone on to win the Stanley Cup, Anaheim in 2007 at 47.1 per cent, Detroit in 2008 at 47.3 per cent and Pittsburgh in 2016, 45.2 per cent. Article content Indeed, only six Stanley Cup winners in this 20 year period paid their Top Four more than 42 per cent of the cap, including Florida in 2023-24 at 44.3 per cent (though, of course, in recent years, it's been common for Cup-winning teams, such as Tampa, Vegas and Florida, to essentially circumvent the salary cap by bringing back injured players during the playoffs, a practice that will be outlawed after the 2026 playoffs). Article content Evidently managing the cap wisely — which includes not paying more than about 42 per cent of the cap to your Top Four players — is a best practice for team success in the playoffs. Article content In the eight years of McDavid's new $12.5 million per year deal, the Oilers been well-placed to compete for the Cup in terms of pay for their Top Four, with the those elite players taking in on average 42.1 per cent of the salary cap. Article content Article content But this year, with major new raises for Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard kicking in, that's no longer the case. This year, Edmonton's Top Four will take up 48.4 per cent of the $95.5 million cap. Article content That is a higher percentage than any team that's ever won the Cup under the cap system. And that high percentage comes before any new contract that McDavid signs kicks in. Article content Article content Article content If McDavid's new deal has a $14 million cap hit, just like Draisaitl's new contract (and that's about as low as I can see McDavid going in order to both get paid a fair amount and leave cap space for other players), Edmonton's Top Four will take in 46 per cent of the cap in 2026-27, but just 42.1 per cent the year after in 2027-28, when the NHL's cap is to rise to $113.5 million per team. Article content It's already going to be more difficult for the Oilers to compete for the Cup this year given Nurse's high pay and the raises for Draisaitl and Bouchard. But even if McDavid signs at the low end of his expected pay, it will also be hard in 2026-27. Article content Article content If he signs for $16 million per year — and this number was mentioned by Seravalli last year as a probable cap hit for McDavid — Edmonton's Top Four will be paid 47.9 per cent of the cap in 2026-27. The percentage will drop after that, as the cap goes up. Article content If he signs for $18 million per year, what I see as the high end for his pay, the cap hit of the Top four will be 49.9 per cent in 2026-27. Article content What to make of all this? Article content The hard salary cap system creates a major dilemma for top players. They are clearly worth a high percentage of the cap, but if they take that high percentage it decreases their chance of Stanley Cup glory. Article content If McDavid does take less in order to give the Oilers more cap space to win the Cup, there's one way for that bet to pay off monetarily. A Stanley Cup win would mean significantly more opportunities for lucrative advertising and sponsorship deals. But that's a risky bet, given how hard it is for any one team to win the Cup. Article content If McDavid were to sign a short-term deal for $14 million per year, that would help get the Oilers into better salary cap position to battle for the Cup in 2026-27. But if he were to take that amount, he might just want to take it for just one year, as the salary cap shoots up again in the 2027-28 season. Article content My own hunch is that he'll take a $16 million per deal for four years, which will put the Oilers close to that magic below-45 per cent mark for the cap hit of the Top Four in time for the 2028 playoffs. Article content As for this year, with the Top Four set to earn 48.4 per cent, Edmonton is going to need some luck with injuries, some success in getting great years out of young and inexpensive forwards like Matt Savoie and Ike Howard, and skill with cap management in order to have its highest odds of winning the Cup. Article content In other words, like Tampa, Vegas and Florida in recent years, it's going to need to have a player or two injured before the trade deadline, but ready to return for the playoffs, so the team can both load up on talent at the deadline, but get back its injured stars in time to compete for the Cup.
CBC
3 hours ago
- CBC
Canada Games - Men's Basketball - Semifinal - Game 70 (W54 vs W56)
Watch this men's basketball semifinal game between British Columbia and Ontario at the 2025 Canada Games in Newfoundland and Labrador.
