The Hockey News Playoff Frenzy Live: Reaction As The Stars Eliminate The Jets In Game 6 Overtime Victory
Welcome to The Hockey News Playoff Frenzy Live, streaming nightly during the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs.
After the big game of the night, our experts go live to react to the match that was, break down the key moments and storylines and read your opinions.
On tonight's show, Avry Lewis-McDougall and Willie Ramirez react to the Dallas Stars defeating the Winnipeg Jets in overtime of Game 6 to win the series and advance to the Western Conference final.
Share your thoughts in the comments, and the hosts may discuss your message during the stream.
Check out the show right now.
Promo image credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Are the Oilers Canada's team?
The Edmonton Oilers are one series win away from being the first Canadian team to capture the Stanley Cup in more than 30 years. So we posed this question across the country: Are the Oilers now Canada's hockey team?
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Multiple Timberwolves Rank Among NBA's Top Free Agents
The 2025 NBA offseason could start as soon as Wednesday night for the Minnesota Timberwolves, if down 3-1, they can't solve the Thunder puzzle back in Oklahoma City for Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. It's literally win or go home. And if they can't find a victory in OKC, it would be the second-straight playoffs that the Wolves have been eliminated in five games of the Western Conference Finals. Advertisement Whether it ends tonight or after hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy in June, once the Timberwolves actually turn the page on the 2024-25 season, they have some serious decisions to make. A new ownership group is taking over and president of basketball operations Tim Connelly's future remains up in the air. Minnesota Timberwolves have multiple top free agents Credit: Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images And that's before we get to next year's roster construction. Once the offseason hits, Nickeil Alexander-Walker will be an unrestricted free agent. Beyond NAW, Julius Randle has a player option to become an unrestricted free agent, as does Naz Reid. Advertisement Earlier in the week local insider Darren 'Doogie' Wolfson opined exactly how he expects the Minnesota Timberwolves to handle the offseason. The main trio to make decisions on include Randle, Reid, and Alexander-Walker. On Wednesday, ESPN's Kevin Pelton put out a ranking of the top 25 NBA free agents this offseason. All three aforementioned Wolves players made the cut. 4. Julius Randle – PF Randle was acquired in the Karl-Anthony Towns trade just before the regular season kicked off. It took him some time to find his footing with Minnesota, but he gelled down the stretch. Playoff performance hasn't been notable for him, and he currently possesses a player option for next year. 'After some early growing pains, Randle's strong close to the regular season and his monster first two playoff rounds were key to the Timberwolves returning to the Western Conference finals. Wrapping up an extension he signed with the New York Knicks in 2021, Randle has a $29.5 million player option that he has outperformed. Minnesota and Randle have multiple options for how to handle it. He could decline the option and sign a long-term deal in free agency or exercise it in conjunction with another extension.' Kevin Pelton – ESPN Advertisement How the Minnesota Timberwolves handle Randle should be fascinating. His market may have depreciated with the playoff performance, but he could still be a trade asset. His $29.5 million player option isn't a huge deterrent as an expiring contract. There's a chance he opts in and still Minnesota flips him elsewhere to address other needs. 17. Naz Reid – F/C Part of the reason that Minnesota needed to move Towns was in order to free up funds for Reid. He's going to command a sizable contract after opting out of his current deal. It would seem unlikely that he actually hits the open market, but if he does, you can bet that suitors will line up for the former Sixth Man of the Year. 'A year removed from being named Sixth Man of the Year, Reid actually averaged more points, rebounds and assists this season, albeit on slightly weaker efficiency. Reid has had a major impact as a third big man, but he probably would be stretched defensively as a starter. That and the lack of cap space should help the Timberwolves navigate Reid's $15 million player option. The sides could agree to exercise the option then build a long-term extension off it to keep the fan favorite in Minnesota.' Kevin Pelton – ESPN There is arguably no player more liked by Timberwolves fans than Reid. He is a cult hero turned key-contributor. It's now going to cost Minnesota a sizable chunk of change to retain him, but it makes sense to do so. He can stretch the floor and also has the ability to play inside. Reid earned his payday, and the Timberwolves will likely be willing to sign up for it. 21. Nickeil Alexander-Walker G You didn't need the series against Oklahoma City to see that Nickeil Alexander-Walker was going to get paid. He has stood out alongside his Free Throw Merchant cousin. A rotational spot is something he has developed into with the Timberwolves, but it's clear the ceiling is much higher. 'A screaming value on a two-year, $9 million deal signed as a restricted free agent two years ago, Alexander-Walker is in line for a big raise. He averaged a career-high 25.3 MPG as the Timberwolves' third guard, defending lead ball handlers and shooting 38% from 3-point range. Alexander-Walker isn't quite good enough as a distributor to serve as a full-time point guard, and he has slumped beyond the arc in the playoffs, but he should more than double his previous salary.' Kevin Pelton – ESPN Advertisement This is one of those situations where a player simply outgrows their role. Alexander-Walker might not be entirely worth the new contract he'll get, but he's earned every bit of that opportunity. The Minnesota Timberwolves aren't going to foot the bill, but they'll look to develop another version of him for next season. Related: Local Insider Scoops Timberwolves Plan for Multiple Key Contributors This Offseason It seems likely that the Timberwolves have a chance to keep two of their three key free agents. They may deal Randle, but that would be something done on their own choosing. No matter what, they have some serious talent eyeing the open market.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
What we're hearing about Adam Foote's Canucks coaching staff, and more notes
Over the course of the next month, the Vancouver Canucks intend to go all-in and fundamentally reimagine their forward group. This has already been a busy offseason for the club to this point. From the surprising departure of Rick Tocchet in the wake of a disappointing season to a proactive coaching search process that resulted in the club hiring first-time NHL bench boss Adam Foote and amateur and professional scouting meetings last week, there's been no shortage of news, and no shortage of situations demanding the club's attention. Advertisement And we're just getting started. The NHL combine is this week in Buffalo, N.Y., and the league's various general managers — including Canucks GM Patrik Allvin — will descend upon Western New York to interview prospects, hold discussions with various agents, eat Dinosaur Barbecue and, perhaps, get into the weeds on trade talks that could come to fruition over the next four weeks. Allvin and Canucks president Jim Rutherford intend to be aggressive, and have already attempted to do so. The club, however, feels like this is the week when the process of reshaping the forward group will really begin to kick into high gear. Let's get into the notebook and share some of what we're hearing about how the club is working to flesh out Foote's coaching staff, an update on Pius Suter and the club's willingness to break the mold and cast a wide net in search of significantly bolstering the forward group. Foote has been steadily pecking away at filling out his coaching staff over the past few weeks. And that effort is beginning to produce results behind the scenes, even if the club's hires to this point won't be formally announced until the work is complete. Team sources have confirmed to The Athletic, for example, that the Canucks are poised to hire former Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins assistant coach Kevin Dean. The experienced 56-year-old assistant, who specializes in running the defence, drew interest from a variety of NHL teams following his offseason departure from Chicago. Dean is highly regarded in the industry, in part, because of a consistent willingness to heavily utilize and lean on young defenders. Dean blooded Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo as younger players when he was in Boston. He worked players like Alex Vlasic, Kevin Korchinski, Wyatt Kaiser, Nolan Allen and Artyom Levshunov into high usage roles in the lineup during his Blackhawks tenure. Advertisement One can understand why that profile would be appealing to Vancouver, especially considering the composition of its blue-line depth with Tom Willander, Elias Pettersson and perhaps Victor Mancini factoring into the organization's plans for next season and beyond. The club still intends to add an offensive specialist assistant coach, and that part of the process is still ongoing. Despite the fact that Foote has never been a head coach at the professional level, the club intends to prioritize experience running the power play above head coaching experience in finalizing Foote's coaching staff for 2025-26. We're already beginning to see the market for middle-six forwards capable of playing centre come into focus. On Monday, the Tampa Bay Lightning signed Yan Gourde to a six-year contract worth $14 million in total value ($2.33 million annual average value). It's a fascinating deal in part because it's a contract that was tailor-made to work for a Lightning team that enters the offseason with very little cap flexibility relative to the rest of the league. Gourde, who will turn 34 next season, isn't the sort of player we'd typically expect to earn six years of term. For a win-now Tampa Bay team that has a lot of ground to make up against its in-state rival, the Florida Panthers, who dispatched them with disturbing ease from the first round of the playoffs this spring, however, they were comfortable prioritizing long-term risk for short-term cap workability. The best way, then, to really think about Gourde's contract is that it's a stretched-out version of a four-year, $3.5 million AAV contract for a middle-six forward capable of playing centre. That's an instructive baseline for our purposes, as we think about Canucks pending unrestricted free agent Pius Suter. Advertisement On Tuesday, meanwhile, another interesting, if somewhat imperfect, comparable dropped when the Philadelphia Flyers signed arbitration-eligible restricted free agent Noah Cates to a four-year contract worth $16 million in total value ($4 million AAV). Now, Cates' overall valuation on his new deal isn't a direct comparable for any unrestricted free agent values, obviously, but it's still an instructive deal from a market price perspective. Cates, like Suter, is a productive defensive specialist forward capable of pitching in on the wings or at centre. He was projected by Evolving-Hockey's contract projection model to earn $2.94 million on a one-year contract, and indeed, the actual salary breakdown of his contract includes one season at $5 million, two seasons at $4 million and one season at $3 million, according to Cap Wages. If we throw out that lowest-salaried season as representing Cates' valuation for his final restricted free agent season, we get a three-year deal worth $4.33 million per season. And that's a strong indication of where the market for a player like Suter, who outproduced Cates by 10 points last season, and is a far more consistent goal scorer, is trending. However, there's no new traction between Vancouver and Suter's camp. The club and the player are staying in touch, but Suter has set himself up to cash in significantly this summer as a result of his 25-goal platform year. He's certainly looking to do better than signing a deal in the $3.5 million to $4 million per season range. The Canucks aren't necessarily closed off to getting a bit uncomfortable in order to retain Suter. It's more a matter of 'not now' than it is a matter of closing the door entirely. The Canucks have a lot of admiration and respect for Suter's versatility, overall hockey intelligence and his quality as a person and teammate. In a perfect world, they'd love to find a way to keep him. Advertisement We don't live in a perfect world, however, and Vancouver has bigger fish to fry somewhat higher up the lineup, with the club laser-focused on adding a top-two line centre (or, ideally, two) as it enters the offseason. Accomplishing what the club hopes to do is going to require maximum cap flexibility to pull off, and to this juncture, the team continues to balk at committing that space to Suter with roughly four weeks to go before the market opens on July 1, given what it could take off the table as trade talks heat up this month. To this point in the Rutherford and Allvin era, the Canucks have been somewhat scrupulous about avoiding long-term commitments or paying significant premiums in order to acquire older players. Filip Hronek was 26 when the club acquired him. Jake DeBrusk was so heavily sought after by the club last summer, in part, because he was a relatively young unrestricted free agent. It's a mold that the club has hewn closely to under this management team. And it's a mold that the club is prepared to break, given the urgency of upgrading down the middle of the forward group. Now, there are limits to this, of course. The club isn't looking to trade the 15th pick in the 2025 NHL Draft for a player in their mid-30s, but if the best option to add some elite offensive skill into the forward group turns out to be an older centre like 34-year-old Matt Duchene, as an example, then that's something the club will be willing to strongly consider and pursue. This open-mindedness and a willingness to depart from how the club has operated over the past few years is an indication, more than anything, of the gravity of Vancouver's needs up front. And of the club's willingness to chart a different path in order to get back to competing at the top of the Pacific Division after this past season went haywire so dramatically. (Photo of Kevin Dean: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
