Why Pontus Holmberg is the depth option the Toronto Maple Leafs should revisit

Right now, a lot of the focus around Leafs land is on bringing Ryan O’Reilly back into the lineup and finding the proper fit for him. While the Leafs are doing that, I’d suggest there is another bottom six centre the Leafs should consider bringing back into their lineup: Pontus Holmberg.
Holmberg has spent most of March and much of February in the AHL. A big part of this decision was driven by the fact that he doesn’t require waivers and as the Leafs attempted to juice their roster at the trade deadline, Holmberg was the easy choice for the demotion. There is also the small matter of Holmberg going pointless in February, and combined with his one game recall in March, he doesn’t have a point in his past five games with the Leafs. Points aren’t the reason you play Holmberg, but still, it doesn’t help his case for bringing him back into the Leafs roster.
The other thing that hasn’t helped Holmberg’s case is his performance with the Marlies. In his 33 games with the Marlies this season, Holmberg has accumulated just 19 points. That isn’t bad, …

Read More

Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation

3 biggest flaws Raptors must overcome to make a playoff run

3 biggest flaws Raptors must overcome to make a playoff run

Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors are right in the thick of the play-in race. While winning should always be encouraged, and the team is in a much better position than they were earlier in the year, the fact that the Raptors are in this position after winning 48 games last year has to sting. […]
3 biggest flaws Raptors must overcome to make a playoff run – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Read More

Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

Canadians to Watch Amongst the Top 25 Programs in Division I Baseball this season

As the college baseball season is right around the corner for many teams across the United States, there are tons of Canadians represented across numerous Division I, II, and III programs and in JUCO ball from coast to coast.

Using the D1 Baseball preseason rankings, let’s look at the Canadian players present on the rosters of the Top 25 teams in Division I baseball programs heading into the 2023 season. I utilized the Canadian Baseball Network’s Canadians intent page for assistance in making this list as well as going to each program’s roster. Some players listed below may not be on the official roster at the time of writing but have committed to the program.
Micah Bucknam – Lousiana State University (#2)
Born in New Zealand, Micah Bucknam grew up in Abbotsford, British Columbia and was a Canadian Junior National team member. Those Blue Jays fans who follow the MLB Draft will likely remember Bucknam’s name, as he was drafted by the club in the 16th round of the 2021 MLB Draft but chose not to sign. At the time, he had a commitment to the University of Washington but he reclassified for the 2022 MLB Draft and also committed to LSU, with Bucknam spending the 2022 season in the MLB Draft League.

Micah Bucknam of Abbotsford, BC goes to the @BlueJays in the 16th round, 482nd overall!#MLBD …

Read More

Author: Tyson Shushkewich / Blue Jays Nation

Raptors fans show no mercy for Bobby Webster during Jazz game

Raptors fans show no mercy for Bobby Webster during Jazz game

Toronto Raptors fans have every right to be frustrated with President of Basketball Operations Masai Ujiri and GM Bobby Webster right now. After failing to make many improvements in the offseason, a 48-win team has now withered on the vine to a point where a trade has almost become necessary. The Raptors signed the oft-injured […]
Raptors fans show no mercy for Bobby Webster during Jazz game – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Read More

Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

News and Notes: Yankees in the mix for Bryan Reynolds, other MLB owners are mad about Steve Cohen’s spending, and more!

Christmas is right around the corner and things in the baseball world are unsurprisingly slowing down but we’ve still got a few worthwhile notes to go through today…

According to Jon Morosi, the New York Yankees are among the teams who are in the mix for Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds…

Sources: #Yankees among teams in contact with #Pirates on Bryan Reynolds over recent weeks; one obstacle to a trade is that Pittsburgh prefers starting pitchers to headline the return and top end of Yankees’ system is deeper in position players. @MLB @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 22, 2022

The switch-hitting Reynolds has been widely discussed as a fit to fill the Blue Jays’ biggest need right now, which is a big bat that isn’t right-handed. He reportedly requested a trade earlier this off-season and there’s an obvious connection between Toronto and Pittsburgh because Pirates general manager Ben Cherington used to work in the Blue Jays front office.
The interesting part of this note is that it gives us a little bit of a look into what the Pirates might be looking for in return for one of their best players. Morosi said that the Pirates are looking for pitching prospects to headline the return for Reynolds, which isn’t all that surprising considering they only have one pitcher among their top five prospects.
With that in mind, you’d figure that the Pirates would be asking for Rickey Tiedemann, Toronto’s top pitching prospect, in a potential Reynolds deal. Pittsburgh’s top prospect is catcher Henry Davis, so they likely wouldn’t be interested in making a deal that centers around Gabriel Moreno. That said, the Blue Jays could always get a third team involved and move one of their catchers for a pitching prospect that the Pirates like. Who knows.
Elsewhere, the New York Mets are close to finalizing a 12-year, $315 million deal with Carlos Correa, days afte …

Read More

Author: Cam Lewis / Blue Jays Nation

The Nathan MacKinnon contract and how it affects the Leafs

You had to know this post was coming right? And it probably doesn’t take much effort to guess at how this affects the Leafs. So let’s jump right into the inevitable discussion of how Nathan MacKinnon’s contract will impact not only Auston Matthews’ next contract, but likely Mitch Marner’s next contract as well.
Here’s the contract:
$12.8 AAV for 8 years with a full no-movement clause throughout. The deal was signed when Nathan MacKinnon is 27 years old, the deal is front-loaded and pays him a $16.5M combined salary and signing bonus in year one, transitions in year 4 (2026-27) to $12.15M and drops to $9.9M in year 5 and stays at that until the end of his contract. MacKinnon’s contract is largely paid in signing bonuses and has an escalated salary to reflect the minimum salary being likely to rise. The signing bonus structure means it would be a gigantic pain in the ass to buy out. The one year (year 4, 2026-27) where the majority of MacKinnon’s contract is paid as salary instead of signing bonus coincides with the expiration of the current CBA. Based on the current salary cap of $82.5M, MacKinnon’s contract takes up 15.27% of the salary cap. That’s the import …

Read More

Author: Jon Steitzer / The Leafs Nation