Here's Why Oilers' Clutch Player Needs To Be A Free-Agent Target For Sabres
In their current playoff push, the Edmonton Oilers have received contributions from throughout the lineup. But one player -- albeit a currently-injured player -- is someone the Buffalo Sabres ought to be targeting when he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer.
We're talking about Oilers right winger Connor Brown, who's been out of action since absorbing a huge hit from Dallas Stars defenseman Alex Petrovic in Game 3. But prior to that, Brown was one of Edmonton's best secondary scoring options, posting five goals and eight points in 14 playoff games this year. The 31-year-old doesn't appear on many highlight reels, but his grit and drive makes him one of the Oilers' more valuable components -- and he's doing it on the cheap, earning only $1-million this season.
With his terrific and timely play, Brown -- who generated 13 goals and 30 points in 82 regular-season games this year -- may be pricing himself out of Edmonton after this season concludes. Since the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted him 156th-overall in 2012, Brown has bounced around the NHL, playing for the Buds, Ottawa Senators, Washington Capitals and Oilers. And in five of his nine seasons, Brown has posted at least 13 goals -- and in two seasons, he's put up at least 20 goals. So while he's not going to break the bank by any means, Brown has shown enough to get a healthy raise on a new contract this summer.
As a Toronto native, Brown might decide to play closer to home next year -- and that's where the Sabres should pounce. If Buffalo gave him the security of, say, a three-year contract around $2-millon per season, that might just be enough to convince Brown to play for the Sabres. We're not suggesting there's going to be a bidding war per se for Brown's services, but he's shown more than enough in this current post-season to deserve a serious bump in pay.
Brown's experience, versatility and quiet leadership would serve the Sabres very well. Given that it's going to be difficult for Buffalo to attract high-end UFAs, putting their energy into wooing Brown is the type of move that could pay off for both the player and the team next season. And being part of an on-the-rise Sabres team might prove to be very appealing for Brown.
Canucks' Upcoming Free Agent Should Be A Target For Sabres This Summer The
Buffalo Sabres have a lot of salary cap space to spend this summer -- and a Vancouver Canucks star should be firmly in the sights of Sabres management.
He has been undervalued in the past, but Brown's rising profile in the current post-season means those days are coming to an end. He's earned the attention he's going to get on the open market at the end of the season, and he's exactly the type of role player Buffalo needs more of.
Brown may ultimately decide to stay with the Oilers -- especially if they win the Stanley Cup this year -- but if he is looking to get paid, the Sabres should be pushing toward the front of the line and doing a hard sell on what relative riches and opportunity awaits him in Western New York. Role players bring their unique skill sets to teams, and Brown's above-average capabilities would look particularly good if he were in a Sabres uniform.
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New York Times
38 minutes ago
- New York Times
Under Trump, a Native American Mascot Debate Is Turned Upside Down
A New York school district was mired in a pitched battle over its Native American mascot. The school board in Lancaster, a small district near Buffalo, had voted to banish its 'Redskins' imagery and nickname. But parents protested that the mascot was a source of pride. Teachers arrived to class sporting outfits with the logo. And students regularly ran into reminders of the old mascot in classrooms, gyms and locker rooms. The year was 2015. The school district was accused of violating students' civil rights when it persisted in showcasing the mascot, and the U.S. Education Department opened an investigation. The imbroglio eventually ended with an accord between the district and the federal government to halt the use of the mascot. A decade since the battle began in Lancaster, the elimination of Native American mascots from public schools has re-emerged as a contentious political issue, and New York again finds itself at the center of a firestorm. The state has required districts to abandon mascots that appropriate Native culture, or risk losing funding. But this time, the federal government's stance is very different. The Education Department recently began a civil rights investigation into the state's mandate to banish certain mascots after the Massapequa district on Long Island refused to forgo its decades-old 'Chief' mascot, a Native American man wearing a feathered headdress. On Friday, the federal education secretary, Linda McMahon, is expected to visit the district to announce whether by restricting the use of Native mascots, the state violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits recipients of federal funds from engaging in discriminatory behavior based on race, color or national origin. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Spokane, county fling accusations of 'toxic' relationship as sewer showdown resurfaces amid $57 million threat
May 29—Spokane mailed a whopper of a utility bill this month: $57.4 million. The bill, from the city to Spokane County, is the remnant of simmering tensions between the two local governments that threatens to spark lawsuits and derail other efforts at regional cooperation. A yearslong fight over utility taxes that seemed to be resolved in 2022 boiled back up to the surface when Spokane Chief Financial Officer Matt Boston sent Spokane County officials the $57.4 million past-due bill. "I really think they've blown up whatever trust was there between these jurisdictions," Spokane County Commissioner Josh Kerns said. "We're trying to do some big things here regionally, and I don't know how you work with somebody that can just nonchalantly turn around and drop that on you." County officials argue the city is reneging on a prior agreement and trying to collect an unjust tax on people who don't live in the city and aren't receiving city services. City officials claim it was the county that tried to hold up agreements in order to win a permanent agreement to avoid the tax, and now the city is just putting its expensive cards on the table to force the county to permanently resolve an issue that has lingered for more than a decade. Elected officials have argued for more than a year about whether Spokane should collect a utility tax on the county's wastewater treatment facility, which lies within city limits but almost exclusively serves customers outside of the city. The facility serves nearly all of Spokane Valley, more than 15,000 customers in unincorporated Spokane County and roughly 1,800 total properties in Millwood and Liberty Lake. Based on city law, Spokane should have been collecting the tax since the county opened the wastewater plant in 2011. Spokane Municipal Code requires the city to levy a 20-21% tax on the total income of any wastewater system in city limits. According to past staff estimates, a full tax on the county's facility would bring the city between $6 million and $8 million a year. Toward the tail end of 2022, then-Mayor Nadine Woodward struck a deal with the county to impose the tax — but only on the fewer than 30 property owners inside city limits connected to the facility. But that deal was apparently never codified into a signed agreement and existed solely as administrative policy. Mayor Lisa Brown claims the county had begun holding up agreements — and in at least one case, appears to have reneged on a mutually beneficial infrastructure project unrelated to the county treatment plant — unless the 2022 handshake deal under a previous mayor was made permanent. While the city under Brown had raised the 2022 agreement with the county commission, it had never actually threatened to break it, she said. The county refused to come to an agreement to expand a tax diversion program in the Kendall Yards area that has boosted development and public infrastructure there, Brown said, unless the Woodward-era agreement was made permanent. And under the same pretense, the county reneged on an agreement to allow the city to tie into a county-owned pipe for an unrelated $6.7 million sewer facility — after the facility had been built under the understanding that the tie-in had already been agreed to, according to Marlene Feist, city public works director. In a December letter to the Spokane County Commission, Brown called this an inappropriate and illegal request to tack on, particularly "considering we had agreement in advance from the County. ... "While the City and County may not always agree, we have always worked well together to manage the community's wastewater needs," Brown wrote. "In response to an anticipated, and rather routine, request to route sewage ... through a County sewer pipe, we have been met with a demand that is outsized compared to the request." Besides being irrelevant to the tie-in, Brown said it would violate state law for the city to limit the taxing authority of a future City Council. In response to Brown's letter, Kyle Twohig, senior public works director for Spokane County, argued that a long-term agreement between the two jurisdictions would not preclude future councils from changing it, and that the county needed assurances that its customers would not be "irrationally subject to tax obligations, for the City's exclusive benefit ..." Failing to come to an agreement, Boston sent the county a bill dated to 2020, when the court case Lakehaven Water & Sewer Dist. v. City of Fed. Way clarified that it was legal for one jurisdiction to tax another. This bill included the back due taxes themselves, $34.1 million, but also $7.8 million in late fees and $15.5 million in interest. Brown characterized this letter as more of a negotiating tactic than an actual bill. "Obviously, there are ways to resolve this, and let's figure out how to do that," she said. "I'm not going to go into what those (solutions) are — hopefully, we just get them involved and there's not a legal strategy involved, but one way or another, it is time to get it resolved." County and Spokane Valley officials, meanwhile, characterize the letter as a bomb dropped on an already fragile relationship just as the jurisdictions are trying to surmount mutual distrust and partner on issues of greater importance to the region, like homelessness, public safety and addiction treatment. Spokane County Commissioners Al French and Kerns said the move took them by surprise. They believe it equates to taxation without representation, as the funds collected would be used within the city of Spokane, where the rate payers are unable to weigh in on city priorities through local elections. The letter sent to county officials is dated the same day the Spokane Valley City Council and the county commission each finalized an intermodal agreement with the city of Spokane to coordinate on homelessness services, and comes just as local leaders from across the region got underway with an ambitious effort to run a tax measure that would reshape the local criminal justice system. "We are literally passing an ILA of our jurisdictions to work together, and meanwhile their staff is over there drafting a letter that's essentially a $60 million bill," Kerns said. "It's just like, wow, with friends like these, who needs enemies?" Resurfacing the utility tax fight now jeopardizes any regional partnerships between the county and the city, as well as Liberty Lake, Spokane Valley and Millwood, Kerns and French said. At least one member of the Spokane City Council has raised similar concerns. "We've got so much regionality we're trying to achieve, it doesn't make sense to treat your friends and neighbors like this," Councilman Michael Cathcart said in an interview. He understands that, with a new mayor, the county would want a permanent resolution to an issue that otherwise hung over their heads, and he said he thinks demands for that agreement ahead of other partnerships makes sense. "If it's been resolved, we should quickly say yes, it's been resolved," Cathcart said. "If it's not been resolved, I understand the county wanting to say we need to get this done." Commissioner Amber Waldref, who represents the district where the facility is located, declined to speak directly to the utility tax dispute and related correspondences between the two entities because of legal concerns. She said she hopes "the region can work together to address many issues that have been left unresolved." "These disagreements are making it difficult for our region to move forward together on strategies to improve economic growth and housing, emergency response, and community health and safety," Waldref said in a written statement. Commission Chair Mary Kuney added in her own statement that she was "outraged" when she saw the letter and could not comment further due to "pending or potential litigation." Spokane County administrators also declined to comment, citing the same reason. Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley echoed the commissioners' concerns about regional collaborations, adding that her fellow council members, despite their ongoing disagreements, are presenting a unified front in opposition to Spokane's demand. Spokane Valley residents account for 80% of the users of the county's wastewater facility. Haley said the Spokane Valley City Council was not made aware of the city's bill until one of the county commissioners notified them. The lack of communication from Brown and Spokane officials, especially around an issue that would impact almost all Spokane Valley residents, struck on old frustrations between the two cities, Haley said. "As a matter of fact, I had that conversation probably a few days before that letter came out, with Lisa Brown and Betsy Wilkerson saying, 'You know, you guys do not communicate with us,' " Haley said. " 'It's always a surprise when we find out. It's always after the fact, and it would really go a long way to building relationships if you would stop doing that.' "And then just a couple days later, it happened again, only with a lot more gusto." Kuney said she also hopes communication can improve between the local jurisdictions, especially as they seek to collaborate on regional issues. She'd prefer Brown and city leadership approach the county with a conversation, rather than a letter as they tend to communicate through. Millwood Mayor Kevin Freeman said the city just negotiated and renewed its agreement with Spokane County for treatment and disposal of wastewater in the small town. He said local officials will be "keeping a close eye" on how the dispute shakes out, as Millwood residents have a vested interest. "This tax, obviously, was not considered as part of the rate structure that was negotiated and set as part of that interlocal agreement," Freeman said. "We, as the city of Millwood, are very concerned as to what the outcome of this is going to be." The county began exploring building a wastewater management facility in the mid-2000s, after growth in the area began to strain regional infrastructure, and at the start of a decades-long effort to remove septic tanks that sit on top of the area's drinking water. French, who was on the Spokane City Council at the time, said city leadership were supportive of the effort because of the dwindling infrastructure, the overwhelming cost to fix it and a shared goal of preventing environmental damage from faulty septic tanks. He pointed to the city's purchase of the former Playfair Race Track under Mayor Jim West as evidence of that support. West told The Spokesman-Review in 2004 he eyed the parcel as a potential waste treatment site, and any unused space into sports fields, as reported by The Spokesman-Review. At the time, the county had narrowed down potential sites to the city-owned Playfair parcel and the county-owned former Old Union Stockyards. French said the county elected for the latter site because of its proximity to the river and low altitude, allowing gravity to do a lot of the work for the county's system. Based on the newspaper's reporting at the time, and interviews with local officials, the implications of the utility tax statute were not included in any studies or analyses of either site, despite both falling within city limits. There was never a written agreement put in place dictating that the city would not pursue the tax because the two entities had an established "honorable" relationship, French said. "It was a much healthier environment than it is today," French said. "I regret that we don't have the same relationship where we could trust our partners and address what's important to our constituents." He insinuated the county could claw back money provided to Spokane to address regional issues if the city tries to follow through with the tax by saying "every relationship now falls under a different level of scrutiny." At the very least, French expects the dispute will head to court. "I've been dealing with the city and county relationship for 23 years," French said. "I've never seen it as toxic as it is right now, due largely to the leadership they have at the city."
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
‘Game over': How Connor McDavid rescued the Oilers with one of his best-ever moments
DALLAS – The Edmonton Oilers were getting caved in, with their three-goal lead down to one and on the verge of evaporating completely as the Dallas Stars made a frenetic push in the second period. Like a sweater with a loose thread, the Oilers seemed as though they could unravel at any moment. All it took was for the puck to careen to center ice, into the hands of perhaps the fastest and most electrifying player the sport has ever seen, to swing momentum back in the Oilers' favor. Advertisement Enter Connor McDavid. He turned the tide for the Oilers on Thursday by scoring a scintillating goal that stood as the winner in a 6-3 victory to close out the Western Conference final in five games. It was pivotal in helping them eliminate the Stars at this stage for a second straight year and reach another Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers. 'Incredible,' longtime teammate Darnell Nurse said. 'The big moments, he always steps up and makes such a difference for our team. 'That was a golden example of a big player making a big play in a big moment.' It all started with Mattias Ekholm, who returned from a lower-body injury for his playoff debut. His penalty, barely three minutes earlier, led to a Roope Hintz power-play goal that narrowed Edmonton's lead to 3-2, but then Ekholm blocked a shot from Thomas Harley at the right faceoff dot. The puck ricocheted to open ice, where McDavid, fresh off the bench, pounced after cutting to the middle at the defensive blue line. McDavid grabbed the puck just as he crossed the red line. With Hintz, Dallas' top center, charging behind him, McDavid remained composed and unfazed. McDavid fended off Hintz all the way to goaltender Casey DeSmith – who replaced the pulled Jake Oettinger early in the first period – and made his move. With a deke to the backhand and a cut to the forehand, he pulled Smith out of position, powered past the back pressure and stick work from Hintz, and slid the puck into the open net. Edmonton 4, Dallas 2. Time of the goal: 14:28 of the second period. 'Connor can do that,' Oilers veteran winger Corey Perry said. 'That's a Connor McDavid kind of play. That's just the player that he is.' 'He's not missing that,' Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. 'And it's game over.' It was a jaw-dropping goal by someone who's scored so many of them. He makes unbelievable plays when the stakes are at their highest. And because of that, this goal might have been the best of all. Just ask running mate Leon Draisaitl. 'All things considered, my hockey brain goes to (how) that's one of the nicest goals I've seen him score,' Draisaitl said. 'Just the whole situation, how it played out, who he had coming up behind him – that's big-time play. Advertisement 'There's only one player in the world who can do that moment, and we're very fortunate to have him on our side.' It's not like McDavid's goal singlehandedly won Game 5 for the Oilers. As the Oilers' captain was quick to point out, the Oilers' fifth goal was crucial, too. That was credited to Evander Kane at 3:28 of the third when his centering pass deflected in off Esa Lindell. The goal came less than three minutes after Jason Robertson scored his second goal of the game to pull the Stars within one goal for a second time. But McDavid's individual effort was something else. It was the best player of his era coming through at the most crucial time. 'That's why he's the best player in the world, and we have two of those guys on our team,' Perry said, while also praising Draisaitl, a Hart Trophy candidate. 'They want to make a difference. They want to be that guy. And they don't shy away from it. 'You see it out there. He takes off. They've got a push going. They just scored that power-play goal, and he puts it in the back of the net, quiets our bench a little bit and calms everything down.' McDavid's goal was his most remarkable play of the game, but it wasn't his only notable moment. McDavid set up Perry for a power-play goal 2:31 into the game to opening the scoring. That was his 100th career postseason assist in his 90th game, making him the second-fastest player to reach that mark after Wayne Gretzky (70 games). With McDavid leading the way, the Oilers improved to 12-4 in the playoffs, with wins in 12 of their last 14 games. They knocked out the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights in five games. Ditto for the Stars, even quicker than in last year's six-game series. 'That Edmonton team is better than the team we played last year – deeper, defend harder, harder to play against,' DeBoer said. Advertisement The Oilers feel that, too. They've become more battle-hardened and experienced, the result of playing 12 series in the last four postseasons. It helps them – and McDavid – come through in the clutch. 'We've prepared to be in this position for a long time. These are more normal positions for us now,' McDavid said. 'The moment doesn't feel big. It doesn't feel anything other than a hockey game. 'That allows you to make your play.' That play helped the Oilers improve to 10-2 in close-out games with McDavid and Draisaitl. The most recent of those losses came in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Now they have a chance to make amends for last year. 'We know what they're about,' Draisaitl said of the Panthers. 'We played them seven times. They're a good team. We're a really good team as well. It's nice to get a shot at getting some revenge.' The rematch starts Wednesday in Edmonton. But the Oilers might instead be preparing to play Dallas in Game 6 at home if McDavid hadn't scored that amazing goal. The breakaway deke-out marked his second career series-clinching goal, following the unforgettable overtime marker he netted against the Flames in Game 5 of the 2022 second round. He also scored a dazzling goal in the clincher against the Stars in last year's Western Conference final, when he walked around Miro Heiskanen on an Oilers power play for a sensational snipe just four minutes into a 2-1 win. What he did on Thursday was just more of the same. Safe to say, though, it never gets old. 'There's just a chance for him to get that puck and go to the net and score that big goal,' Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. 'It alleviates some of that pressure at that time. 'I've seen Connor do it numerous times – last year in the playoffs and, before I was coaching him, I was watching on TV. It's really remarkable how him and Leon have really elevated their game at this time.'
