The Toronto Blue Jays came very close to winning their first World Series championship in over three decades last season, coming up just short in a grueling seven-game series against the eventual champions in the Los Angeles Dodgers. As a result, the Blue Jays will now have to wait for another chance for a potential title.
That situation could open the door for another savvy move by the Islanders. While Skinner is hardly the goal scorer he once was, he could be a low-risk proposition. Skinner would get a chance to go to a playoff team, with eyes on a middle-six role. Meanwhile, the Islander could get a motivated player with a chip on his shoulder. Skinner would be eager to show that he still has what it takes to be successful at the NHL level.
The biggest culprit for Prescott's regression in these talks is not himself: it is his league-worst, atrocity-of-a-defensive-unit. Dallas knows this, so they tried to fix it. Their next games will feature a slew of fresh faces on the defense, including external additions Quinnen Williams and Logan Wilson. They will also get guys like DeMarvion Overshown, Shavon Revel, and Malik Hooker back to full speed this month.
Lucky for them, outside of Montreal and Detroit, no one's really had a great start around them in the Atlantic Division. That's where the conversation started on the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take. So far, it's been a mixed bag for a lot of the top contenders. Furthermore, Rosey weighed in on the Leafs specifically and his level of concern regarding their slow 3-3-1 start. Spoiler: He's at about a five. He thinks they'll figure it out in short order here.
Right after the extension news, I noted that while the cost seems high for what many consider to be a mid-tier center, it was a ' necessary evil' since Toronto's stats show they struggle whenever Poeltl is out. Last season, Toronto went 9-16 in games without Jakob Poeltl, and I vividly remember two matchups against the Memphis Grizzlies where the Raptors were absolutely obliterated, thanks in large part to monster performances by rookie Zach Edey.
For one reason or another, Antonio Gibson always finds a way to make plays. Be it in the run game or on special teams, he's found a way to stay relevant despite a new coaching staff. Rhamondre Stevenson's fumbling issues have persisted, but he's at least back to the 4.0 yards per carry mark, and he had a career high 88 receiving yards in Week 2.
For me, I'm so focused. I'm more happy about the team that we got going into this season. I'm blessed, bro. I wasn't stressing about anything. If something happened, it happened. If it didn't, I still got time. I'm focused on this team. I'm focused on right now. I got a great team going into the season that you can't say I've had [before]. So I'm even more excited about that. Who knows what the future is for me. But right now I'm here and I'm present like me and Coach [Quin Snyder] have been talking about. I'm ready to go.
According to Brad Gagnon from The Bleacher Report, it is fairly broad and fairly typical. The analyst cited the play of the Commanders' defense as the team's biggest roadblock to success. He admits there is a degree of nitpicking involved in this analysis. Washington played well across the board last season, far exceeding expectations on its way to a conference title game. The offense was exceptional, so perhaps defense will indeed be the key to equaling or surpassing last year's performance.
