The New Jersey Devils started fast and played well throughout regulation before dominating overtime and saw the Devils do everything but score against the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
That led to a shootout defeat 4-3 and a disappointing end to another exciting game from a team waiting for their two newest players to arrive.
Devils goals to Jesper Bratt (25 Power Play), Dawson Mercer (21), and Miles Wood (11).
The Devils will finish their road trip Sunday night in Arizona for their first visit to Tempe and the 5,000-seat arena that the Coyotes share (snicker) with Arizona State.
Hell Raisers
1) Las Vegas can give almost all of the credit for their win to their netminder, Adin Hill.
Hill was amazing on this night and had he even been only above average, the Devils would have walked away with a relatively easy win.
2) Is it just me or are more and more hockey fans getting bored with the shootout?
Not just Devils fans because they lost this one but in general I've read more and more people complaining about the ending being decided by a skills competition and there was a vocal majority that liked it when they initially installed it as a decider.
3) Dawson Mercer's goal continued his goal-scoring streak and extended it to eight games, which tied the franchise record.
Quite the goal for the budding power forward and keeping the smile on Devils fans' faces that they were able to keep his services in Newark rather than include him in the Timo Meier trade.
4) Note above that I said franchise record, not team record for goals in consecutive games.
That is because the franchise record of eight games is held by Paul Gardner of the then-Colorado Rockies.
Gardner scored eighty-three goals for the Rockies in just under three seasons in Denver before he was traded in mid-season to Toronto in 1979.
It's a three-fight boxing weekend in the boxing challenge.
I mentioned Lewis Ritson and Ohara Davies fighting in a WBA eliminator in Newcastle against countryman Ohara Davies last week but the fight is actually this Saturday.
Ritson has won two straight since losing to Jeremias Ponce, including a win over former WBC lightweight champion Dejan Zlaticanin.
Davies has only two losses to Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall, so it's hard to blame him for those defeats.
However, Davies doesn't have any wins over top-level opponents and will be the road fighter in this bout.
Showtime's main event for a minor featherweight title looks to be the latest in a series of action fights over the last month as former WBC champion Mark Magsayo faces former WBC junior featherweight boss Brandon Figueroa in what should be an excellent fight.
Magsayo upset long-time champion Gary Russell last year to win the title but lost in his first defense to current champion Rey Vargas via a split decision.
Figueroa lost a debatable majority decision to Stephen Fulton in November 2021 and knocked out Carlos Castro last summer in six rounds in his featherweight debut.
Style-wise, this should be an excellent fight between two fighters that always move straight ahead.
The winner will be next in line for WBC champion Rey Vargas, who lost to O'Shaquie Foster for the WBC title at 130 pounds.
Had Vargas won that fight, this fight would have been for the full title at featherweight.
Former WBA and IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd attempts a comeback at middleweight after a twenty-one-month layoff since his boring decision loss to Luis Arias.
Armando Resendiz is the opponent and his only loss came against Marcos Hernandez, so if Hurd comes back even close to what he was five years ago, Hurd should have few problems.
Boxing Challenge
Junior Welterweights. 12 Rds
Lewis Ritson vs Ohara Davies
Ramon Malpica and Vince Samano: Davies Unanimous Decision
TRS: Ritson Unanimous Decision
Featherweights.12 Rds
Mark Magsayo vs Brandon Figueroa
R.L: Magsayo Unanimous Decision TRS and V.S: Figueroa Unanimous Decision
The New Jersey Devils made a minor swap on the final day of the NHL trading season as the team traded a 2024 fourth-round draft pick to the Vancouver Canucks for forward Curtis Lazar.
The twenty-eight-year-old Lazar has scored three goals with two assists with Vancouver this season after signing with the team in July.
Lazar is essentially a fourth-line player that builds depth for the stretch run and there is a reason that New Jersey will be the sixth team that he has played at a relatively young age.
Lazar can play on the wing or at center, so there is some versatility with him and he can be used as a penalty killer as well.
Lazar will be under contract to the Devils for two more seasons at an affordable one million per year, so he's not going to be a cap killer and he won't be a rental either, which means someone thinks that he can helpful for longer than the playoff run.
Lazar seems (for this season anyway) to be an attempt to replace some of what was lost when Fabian Zetterlund was sent to San Jose in the Timo Meier trade as a bottom-six-line member.
New Jersey continues to try and build a bench crew and at the cost and length, there really isn't a downside to this trade.
I promised when the Devils added Timo Meier from the San Jose Sharks that I would try to write more hockey and coming home from work from my only evening shift, I was planning on having to decide between the Cavaliers and Celtics in a big Eastern Conference showdown or the Devils in Denver against the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche.
I chose the Devils as I was leaving work at 9 PM when the Devils were just starting rather than the Cavaliers who tipped off ninety minutes earlier.
So when I arrived home thinking I would miss maybe the first eight to ten minutes of the game, I saw a replay of a New Jersey goal by Nathan Bastian and then discovered that I had missed another goal from the Devils for a 2-0 lead -less than eight minutes into the game!
It turned out as only the beginning as the two teams would produce as entertaining of a game as you'll see with the Devils grabbing a 7-5 road win over the Avalanche, the second game in a row that the Devils have scored seven goals.
Devils goals to Nico Hischier (26 empty net), Dawson Mercer (20), Dougie Hamilton (18), Tomas Tatar (14), Miles Wood (10 power play), Ondrej Palat (7), and Nathan Bastian (5).
Mercer's goal kept his goal-scoring streak alive at seven games.
New Jersey continues their road trip in Las Vegas Friday night.
I'm not going to add too much to this other than this- If anyone out there is still using the tired thirty-year-old refrain about boring Devils hockey needs to either watch this team play or knows nothing about the game.
I'm not saying the Devils don't have any flaws. However, I'm still not convinced Vitek Vanacek is the long-term answer despite an excellent season thus far (Vanacek was relieved in this game by Akira Schmid, after allowing five goals) in goal. I'm still wondering about the defensemen once you get past the top pairing or two.
However, this young and talented team is loads of fun to watch.
They'll score a lot and they'll give up some but this team's window is starting to open for a run of quality hockey that may not result in a run like the Lou Lamiorello years as far as Stanley Cups but could be the most offensively exciting team in franchise history.
At the NFL combine, Andrew Berry announced that the Cleveland Browns would be releasing starting safety John Johnson in order to give the Browns extra space with their salary cap situation.
Johnson was signed before the 2021 season with a large amount of fanfare from the Los Angeles Rams in what was thought at the time to be quite a coup for the Browns with Johnson being regarded as the top safety available in that free agent class.
With the release, the Browns will save 9.75 million on their cap, and for a team that needs defensive players of impact at several positions, an expensive player that hasn't made such an impact is a luxury that the Browns cannot currently afford.
Johnson intercepted one pass, recovered and forced two fumbles, and finished with a half-sack for the Browns in 2022, which aren't awful numbers but for a player that is earning over thirteen million dollars a year, Johnson's play didn't warrant that amount of pay.
Johnson's two seasons in Cleveland shouldn't be regarded as a bust but even a neutral observer would likely label Johnson's tenure as a bit disappointing.
Johnson often struggled with missed tackles and a player like Johnson isn't paid for making big plays- he's paid for making the average play.
All too often Johnson would have his tackles broken or caught in a missed deep coverage that burnt the Browns several times last season, although other players and defensive coordinator Joe Woods have just as much blame for the blown coverages.
Johnson never seemed comfortable with what Woods asked from him and I would have been interested in seeing how Jim Schwartz would have used Johnson in his system but I understand why Andrew Berry wasn't able to take the chance at the cost for next season entering what seems to be a make or break season for so many in the Browns organization.
Now a Cleveland Browns team that was in desperate need of help at one defensive end, both defensive tackles and linebackers have added another position that will need to be addressed in safety.
Grant Delpit returns at free safety but the only other safeties on the roster are inexperienced D'Anthony Bell and future contract signing Bubba Bolden as Ronnie Harrison is also a free agent that is unlikely to return.
Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that the Browns have a strong interest in signing Jessie Bates of the Bengals, who, like Johnson in 2021, is rated as the best safety that may be available in free agency.
The Bengals would like to keep Bates and they are trying to do so but their cap constraints may keep them from keeping him in the fold.
The Browns would prefer to trade something to the Bengals for Bates (as they did last season with Dallas for Amari Cooper) to have an exclusive negotiating window for a player that will certainly have several suitors but the division rivals in Southern Ohio aren't very likely to do the Browns any favors that will help them improve.
One thing is for sure- the Cleveland Browns are going to be adding some safeties before training camp because they don't have the option not to add any.
In an entertaining fight, former super middleweight champion Badou Jack added the WBC cruiserweight title to a career that also saw him win a minor title at light heavyweight with a final-round knockout of champion Illunga Makabu in the top supporting bout to the Jake Paul-Tommy Fury bout in Saudi Arabia.
Jack was ahead entering the final round and had knocked Makubu down (with a nifty almost somersault to boot) in the fourth and eleventh rounds,
Jack stunned Makabu in the final round and with a staggering champion behind on the scorecards, the referee decided to end the day with a deserved stoppage.
The thirty-nine-old Jack hadn't beaten a world-class opponent since his 2017 knockout at light heavyweight over Nathan Cleverly.
His three fights following the victory saw a draw with Adonis Stevenson and losses to Jean Pascal and Marcus Browne and even though he had won his five contests since against lesser opponents, he didn't look good doing as he barely escaped his last fight winning a split decision over Richard Rivera.
Off those fights, it wasn't unreasonable to wonder how much Jack had left in his career but he was clearly the stronger and faster fighter against the younger (slightly) Makabu, who I thought lost his last bout to Thabiso Mchunu.
The title win was the best performance for Jack since his draw with Adonis Stevenson and against even the best in the division, he would be an interesting underdog against IBF champ Jai Opetaia, WBO king Lawrence Okolie, or Mairis Breidis.
As for Makabu, he looked very slow and although he attempted to fire back, he seems to be a fighter well past his best days.
I'll be the first to admit that the one thing that I enjoy in life that has suffered the most due to the chaos in my work life over the last four months has been the New Jersey Devils.
I do see a decent amount of Cleveland Cavaliers games since I have league pass (IF I can avoid the final score), even if I don't have time to write about them here, boxing is generally easy to find as I can watch on delay if needed, and my latest addition in Newcastle United (very little coverage here because I just don't know enough about soccer/European football to add much of substance other than Howay Lads!") is easy to follow because usually they play once a week and if they do play twice, it's on a delightful weekday afternoon when I am begging for something to watch!
But it's been the Devils that have suffered the most from my lack of time.
It's not that I don't know what's going on, I read every recap and boxscore and see most highlights, it's just been hard to watch games, which is saddening considering how the team has played this season and is about to make the playoffs with a talented young team coming into its own at second in their division (three points behind Carolina) and fourth in the Eastern Conference.
All of that is down for posterity but I am super jacked for the Devils trade for Timo Meier from the San Jose Sharks as the trade deadline nears!
Tom Fitzgerald didn't insist on a signed contract extension for Meier (although the team will be pursuing one) which kept the price for Meier down a bit but does increase the risk should Meier decide to test the free agent meat market as Meier is a restricted free agent following the year.
Meier does have a ten million dollar qualifying offer, so assuming the Devils have to, they will do so and at minimum, the Devils will have Meier for a year and a half.
San Jose will pay half of Meier's remaining salary for this season as well.
Meier was easily the best player available on the trade market and could slot in on either of the Devils top two lines, which are pretty interchangeable and aren't true one and two lines as much as one and one A due to chemistry.
Meier scored 31 goals (13 Power Play) and 21 assists (5 Power Play) in fifty-seven games for the Sharks this season after scoring 35 goals last season for San Jose and is a dominant player on the power play.
Meier averages four and a half shots on goal per game and is a winger that makes his linemates better as he can extend possessions and is known as a play driver.
At 27, he is just entering his prime and there is nothing to dislike about his game, contract, or anything else.
In other words, if you have an issue with Timo Meier, I'd have to wonder either how much you know about hockey or you have to have a bias against Meier or the Devils!
The Devils obtained a few pieces other than Meier in the trade in defensemen Scott Harrington ( one goal and six assists in 28 games for the Sharks) and Santeri Hatakka (two assists in eight AHL games), left-wing Timur Ibragimov (11 goals and 21 assists for ECHL Wichita), goaltender Zach Emond ( three games for ECHL Wichita) and Colorado's fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft).
Harrington has played most of his career with Columbus but only once (2018-19) has played more than thirty-nine games.
Harrington's a decent skating defenseman and you can play him but his level is anywhere between a third-pairing blueliner to a seventh man that is not always active or stashed in the AHL as their veteran defenseman for needed depth that can be used in the event of injury.
I've read a report or two that think Hatakka could eventually see some NHL action although his ceiling is very similar to that of Scott Harrington's as a back-of-the-pack defenseman and it appears that Ibraginov and Emond were toss-ins to keep the Sharks under the organizational limit for contracts.
Harrington will more than likely join the parent club, Hatakka is likely to report to AHL Albany, and who knows where Ibragimov and Emond will wind up.
New Jersey avoided having to give up any of the players that would have been targeted by the Sharks (or any other team looking to trade) as the team retained Dawson Mercer, Alexander Holtz, Luke Hughes, and Simon Nemec, which makes this team a potential force for years to come, especially if Meier can be signed to an extension.
The Sharks' end of the trade includes former first-round defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin, defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk, wingers Fabian Zetterlund and Andreas Johnsson, New Jersey's 2023 first-rounder (conditional on the pick not being in the top two choices, which is as likely as Green Arrow finishing out of the money in an archery contest), a 2024 second rounder, which can become a first under playoff conditions and Meier's playing time, and a seventh-round choice in 2024.
While you never want to trade first-rounders, those picks are almost certain to be near the bottom of the round, so I'm fine with that.
The biggest potential loss appears to be Shakir Mukhamadullin, who was thought to be a reach when New Jersey selected him with the final of their three 2020 first-rounders but has developed into a strong prospect in his time since in the KHL with Ufa Salavat Yulavev.
Mukhamadullin currently has six goals with nineteen assists in sixty-seven games with a solid plus sixteen plus-minus and he appears to me to be the player in this trade that the Devils might eventually regret losing, although as regarded as Mukhamadullin is, both Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec are graded as even better prospects.
Nikita Okhotyuk was New Jersey's second-rounder in 2021 and while he doesn't look like a potential top-pairing defenseman, he could be a solid second-pairing player eventually.
Okhotyuk scored a goal in ten games for the Devils this season and two goals with four assists in twenty games for AHL Utica.
Fabian Zetterlund has played well in his rookie season with the Devils, scoring six goals and fourteen assists in his rookie season, and is the player that is likely for Sharks fans to see in the teal and black immediately.
At 23, Zetterlund is a strong shooter and I could see him scoring thirty goals a time or two over his career down the road.
Andreas Johnsson once scored twenty goals in a season and was thought of as a steal when the Devils obtained him in 2020.
Johnsson would only score eighteen goals in two seasons with the Devils, and spent this season in Utica, scoring nine goals in twenty-eight games for the Comets.
Johnsson is still only 28, so I wouldn't be surprised if he could contribute in San Jose but considering his recent play, I wouldn't count on it.
It was fun writing about hockey again and I'm fired to watch more games now when I can!
I'm not sure how much coverage I'll have as much as the Cavaliers, I have to have time to both watch the game and write as well but I'll do the best I can!
