From The Archive: Don't Believe The (Lack Of) Hype
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Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
From The Archive: The Big Decision
Welcome to this edition of "From The Archive". In this recurring series, we open The Hockey News' vault and display some of the top WHL-related articles from the past. Today's article comes from May 1, 2012, where Ryan Kennedy wrote about former Portland Winterhawks' defenceman Seth Jones. Subscribe now to view the full THN Archives here and read the full issue here. The Big Decision, Draft Preview 2012, May 1, 2012 Seth Jones is always prepared. His October birthday means he'll wait an extra year before becoming eligible for the draft. Playing up with national team development program's under-18 team gave him a legitimate shot at making Team USA's national junior team this season. His birthright as the son of ex-NBA player Popeye Jones is that lessons in being an elite athlete are burned in: 'Nothing comes easy,' Jones said. 'Nothing is going to be handed to you on a platter. It's what people don't see, what you do in practice, that matters.' Jones just makes it look easy. Already 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, he brings so many looks to the blueline that his coach struggles to single out a strength. 'I can just say 'everything,'' said Danton Cole. 'He passes well, he shoots well, he has a knack for knowing when to make a play and when to jump into the rush. On the defensive end, he sees the game. He's not overly physical, but he plays the body.' Though he was born in Texas, Jones spent his formative years in Colorado, where he became a big Avs fan. His model NHLer, however, comes from the Red Wings. 'Nick Lidstrom,' he said. 'I know that's lofty, but the way he plays the game, he keeps it simple.' Recently, Jones' life has been rather complex. As the best American prospect yet to commit to a college, the big defender was being courted by the Western League's Everett Silvertips, which hold his major junior rights, and a number of NCAA schools, most notably North Dakota. Jones sees the benefit of both routes. 'With Everett, there's more games played,' he said. 'It's a similar schedule to the NHL. College would be more developmental. You live in a dorm and you have to grow up a little.' Wherever he ends up, it won't be for long. Only a shoulder separation kept Jones off Team USA's national junior squad as a 17-year-old and big expectations have not fazed him. 'He's had a lot on him, but he's a uniquely prepared young man,' Cole said. 'He hasn't let anything become a distraction.' Make sure you bookmark THN's WHL site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more from The Hockey News. 2025 WHL Prospect Pools: Minnesota Wild Victoria Trades Kraus To Brandon For Eskit & A Pick In The 2029 Draft From The Archive: 'Pronger-Type' Heads '08 Draft 2025 WHL Prospect Pools: Los Angeles Kings 18 Current & Former WHLers Named To Canada's 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase Roster
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Dodgers' trade deadline was a bet on their stars figuring it out
What in the moment appeared to be posturing from the Los Angeles Dodgers' brass instead foreshadowed what their MLB trade deadline would entail. 'This group is really talented and I would argue it's better than the team that won the World Series last year,' Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said on July 22. Advertisement Translation: They are betting on their superstars to figure it out. The Dodgers (63-46) appear vulnerable. Their division lead is just three games, and the San Diego Padres (60-49) once again won the trade deadline in hopes their season will end in a meaningful banner. Mookie Betts hasn't hit all year. Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Herńandez haven't caught fire since May. Their offense slumped, bullpen collapsed and defense reared its ugly head over a miserable 10-14 record in July, just their second losing month in seven years (the last, either ironically or informatively, was last July). The Dodgers' haul amounted to just two big leaguers, a signal that they felt their record spending this past winter would be enough. They said they'd hoped as such at the time. Now, even after the Dodgers didn't break baseball the way some critics feared, they're repeating it. 'Coming into the year, felt like this was as talented a roster as we've ever had,' Gomes said after the deadline on Thursday. 'We're in a position where we're in first place, and I don't even think we've played our best baseball yet.' Brock Stewart and Alex Call could be sensible, productive solutions to some of the Dodgers' problems. Stewart, 33, is a controllable reliever who came at a minimal cost, almost unheard of in this market. He is death on right-handed hitters, a plug-and-play replacement for Evan Phillips, who is out for the season. Call doesn't necessarily profile as an everyday solution, but he represents better depth than what the club has run out on the field for much of the last month. In a market where the best position player moved was Eugenio Suárez, who never fit, and where relief pitching prices fell out of the Dodgers' comfort zone, there's a path to talking yourself into what the Dodgers did. That they got some intriguing pieces to boost their farm system was a bonus. It's a system that was already deep enough to land whatever target they'd want, if needed. The Dodgers chose not to cash those chips in this week. Advertisement The biggest truth might be this: Even had the Dodgers managed to pry Steven Kwan from the Guardians or swung the deal to get Jhoan Duran instead of Stewart from the Twins, nothing shifts the Dodgers' chances of being baseball's first repeat champs in 25 years more than their existing stars figuring it out. Betts needs to hit, breaking out of a season-long funk that has become an increasing storyline with each successive month as he's hitting .240 with a .681 OPS. Freeman collected three hits in the penultimate day before the deadline and homered Wednesday for the first time since June 28. He's hoping to move past a June and July where his OPS was just .616. Teoscar Hernández is having a good trip after struggling to rediscover his timing in the months since coming off the injured list. The Dodgers need Max Muncy to come off the injured list next week and recapture the form he was in when Michael A. Taylor slid into his left knee. Call's acquisition would be less of a necessity if Michael Conforto's $17 million signing translated more to what he was in July (.827 OPS) rather than what he'd been before it (.602 OPS). On Thursday, Gomes highlighted Conforto's strong month as a reason to keep giving him opportunities. Even Shohei Ohtani, who set a career-high with five straight games with a home run earlier this month, has been increasingly prone to whiffs. A lineup that still has scored the second-most runs in baseball this season certainly didn't look the part in July; their 91 wRC+ for the month ranked 26th in the majors. They need players to be healthy. Blake Snell makes his third start of the season on Saturday night. Tyler Glasnow missed extended time and finally looks physically right. Ohtani's cramping incident that cut short his pitching outing on Wednesday was a bullet dodged in a doomsday scenario. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has already exceeded his workload from last year. Michael Kopech has pitched a total of seven innings this season, Blake Treinen is only just now back, and Tanner Scott is in the early stages of a throwing progression. Advertisement If Scott gets through this forearm scare OK, he and Kirby Yates need to show that the dollars the Dodgers spent intending to avoid getting a reliever at this deadline were a sound investment. This is already a bullpen group that has had to log the most innings in the sport this season after already carrying a heavy workload last October. The Dodgers' rotation on paper looks strong enough that they traded away a starter in Dustin May rather than add; they will need to log enough innings to help their bullpen find its footing. The Dodgers are banking on enough of these scenarios to flip in their favor. Trading for more pieces could have given themselves even more wiggle room, but the bet is still the same – one they've committed nearly $400 million to. 'As we saw last year, what's most important is to peak at the right time and hit our stride in that second half and be strong going into October,' Gomes said. 'So the belief in this group, and what we can accomplish, is strong and we feel great about what we can do.' (Photo of Mookie Betts: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images)
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
Genie Bouchard Retires From Professional Tennis
One-time world No. 5 and Wimbledon finalist Eugenie 'Genie' Bouchard has played her last match as a WTA professional. Bouchard, who is Canadian and has represented her country in the Olympic Games, played the last singles match of her professional tennis career on July 30 at the Omnium Banque Nationale présenté par Rogers in Montréal. She announced earlier in the month that she would play her final tournament in her hometown, but the 31-year-old lost a second-round matchup against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, 2-6, 6-3, 4-6. In addition to being the first Canadian-born player to reach a Grand Slam singles final, Bouchard made history as a member of the first Canadian team to lift the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023. The right-hander boasts an impressive career, having logged a 300-230 record as a pro. Bouchard made her professional debut in 2008 at age 14, when she played her first WTA qualifying match in Montréal as a part of the ITF Circuit. Bouchard's first big splash came in 2012, when she defeated Elina Svitolina to capture the girls' singles title at Wimbledon. She made her Top 100 debut on April 8, 2013, and cracked the Top 50 in September 2013. Later that season, at the Japan Open in Osaka, Bouchard reached the first of eight Tour-level singles finals and was named WTA Newcomer of the Year. But it was 2014 that became Bouchard's banner year, breaking through to the semifinals at the Australian Open, as well as the French Open, the latter of which pitted her against then four-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova, who went on to win at Roland Garros. Also that year, Bouchard, seeded No.13 at Wimbledon, stormed to the final, defeating No.3 Simona Halep in the semifinal before falling to Petra Kvitova in the title bout. She achieved her career-high ranking of No.5 on October 20, 2014. In addition to her singles title at Nürnberg, Bouchard won a doubles title in 2019 with USA star Sofia Kenin at Auckland. Playing as an unranked wildcard in Montréal this week, Bouchard enjoyed a rousing three-set win over Colombia's Emiliana Arango in the first round, Monday night. The Canadian star also boasts 12 wins over Top 10 opponents and, over her career, earned nearly $7 million in prize money. Fellow players and others heavily involved in the game point to Bouchard's influence on the sport. The Tennis Gazette reported that Australian pro Jaimee Fourlis said that Bouchard not only held her own as a pro but also introduced a style and energy to the game that was refreshing and new. Fourlis hints that Bouchard is 'more influential' than she gets credit for. 'I feel like on the ITF Tour at the moment, the next crop of girls who are coming up, you can definitely see they have watched Genie and idolised her,' Fourlis said on the Australian Open podcast. 'A lot of these girls are starting to swing like her and play like her and hold [the] baseline. 'When you walk around the tour, especially at ITF events, you are like, I know who your favorite player was when you were growing up. 'So I feel like there's a lot of those girls who are hugging baseline, holding, and pretty much have the same swings as Genie. I definitely think she was more influential than a lot of people have said.' Reflecting on Bouchard's career, the WTA's CEO, Portia Archer, said: 'With her standout achievements on court and engagement with fans, Genie has inspired a generation of young Canadians and helped grow the popularity of tennis around the world. On behalf of the WTA, I wish her every happiness and success as she sets out to conquer fresh challenges.' World No. 33 player Emma Raducanu paid a touching tribute to 31-year-old Bouchard, saying that she enjoyed Bouchard's style of play. On her Instagram account, Raducau said, "Thank you Genie. Loved watching you play (heart emoji)," In recent years, Bouchard has jumped in as a television analyst and tennis pundit for the Tennis Channel, and in 2024, she made her professional debut as a pickleball player on the PPA Tour. In February, AP News reported that Bouchard's appearances on the court at pickleball competitions always conjured a 'big draw' of fans, while the Canadian also had climbed the sport's rankings to No. 17. Rounding out the calendar year, Bouchard is signed up to compete in the Luxembourg Ladies Tennis Masters, an invitational event featuring WTA alumnae, this coming October.
