Category: Sport

The Pittsburgh Steelers can’t be sure who their starting quarterback will be in Week 1. But Aaron Rodgers is still an option.

Speaking at the NFL scouting combine, Steelers general manager Omar Khan said Rodgers would be welcomed back next season. Rodgers is a free agent, but is coming off a solid season in which Pittsburgh won the AFC North with a 10-7 record. The Steelers also made a move that might entice Rodgers to play another season, hiring Mike McCarthy to replace Mike Tomlin at head coach. McCarthy coached Rodgers when they were with the Green Bay Packers from 2006 to 2018, and the pair won a Super Bowl together in 2010.

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The Steelers’ quarterback situation is uncertain, but Khan made it clear Rodgers could be the answer.

“The door’s open to have Aaron back,” Khan said at the podium from the combine, via Yahoo Sports’ Andrew Siciliano.

Khan told a smaller group of reporters earlier Tuesday that he and McCarthy have been in contact with Rodgers, and while there’s no deadline for Rodgers to make a decision, it wouldn’t drag on. Last season, Rodgers didn’t sign with the Steelers until June.

“I don’t foresee this going like it did last year,” Khan said, via longtime Steelers writer Mark Kaboly.

The future Hall of Famer passed for 3,322 yards, completed 65.7% of his pass attempts and threw 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions for Pittsburgh last season.

The Miami Dolphins are still holding out hope that a trade can happen with Tua Tagovailoa.

Addressing the media at the NFL scouting combine on Tuesday, new Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said the team is exploring all possibilities involving Tagovailoa, who was benched late last season. He acknowledged a trade is possible.

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“We’ve had conversations with Tua and his representation, everything is on the table including the potential of a trade,” Sullivan said at the podium via David Furones of the Sun Sentinel. “We don’t know which way that’s going to go. There’s a lot of different factors in play, a lot of conversations being had.”

Cutting Tagovailoa seems likely, unless the Dolphins do find a trade partner. Sullivan told a smaller group of South Florida reporters earlier Tuesday that taking on the entire $99 million dead cap hit as a pre-June 1 move was unlikely. Even if the team spreads it out over two seasons, it’s still a lot to take on.

Sullivan acknowledged the Dolphins’ cap situation is bad and that a priority is getting that back in order. That could preclude the team from making any substantial move at quarterback this offseason. But Sullivan came from the Packers, as did new head coach Jeff Hafley, and that will lead to speculation over free agent quarterback Malik Willis, who played well as Jordan Love’s backup in Green Bay.

“Any team that is potentially in a needy quarterback situation, if they tell you they’re not talking about Malik Willis that would be a lie,” Sullivan said via Dave Schroeder of WBAY. “But we’ve talked about a lot of people, a lot of free agents. Malik is just one of them. We have no idea how that will look like in our room. Will it be multiple draft picks? Will it be a free agent along with Quinn [Ewers]? Who knows.”

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Perhaps that’s a reason Sullivan talked up Ewers, a 2025 seventh-round pick who started three games late in the season.

“Evaluating the roster, Quinn did a nice job at the end of the year,” Sullivan said. “Excited about what’s ahead for him.”

The age of reliable goaltending in fantasy hockey is over. And perhaps the age of elite goaltending altogether is on its way out. When you think of elite goaltenders in the NHL right now, a handful of names come to mind. Connor Hellebuyck is the first, followed by Andrei Vasilevskiy, Ilya Sorokin, Igor Shesterkin and Sergei Bobrovsky. Others who deserve to be in the conversation include Jake Oettinger, Juuse Saros and perhaps John Gibson in a resurgent season. But some of those goalies are aging and close to retirement. Others are trapped in poor team environments, going through a rebuild. A few are just somewhere in the middle, experiencing a bout of bad play or puck luck.

It happens in hockey. It’s a whacky game.

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Variance. Volatility. These are words we throw out a lot when analyzing fantasy sports. There is always a range of outcomes going into a draft when figuring out which players to select. Some positions are going to be easier to sift through than others. Some are going to be tougher given the lack of options or quality at a particular position. At the end of the day, we’re never going to be 100% correct all the time, but we’d like to be right some of the time. That is becoming increasingly difficult at the goaltender position in fantasy hockey, so much so that it may be time to rethink the way we approach drafting the position moving forward.

Think of how you would approach drafting in fantasy football. There’s an argument to be made for waiting on positions like QB and TE, strategies that are proven to be very effective. So why aren’t we adopting these philosophies for hockey? We still rank goalies among the top players and suggest they should go as high as the first round. If we look at tight end in football, this can work out with players like Trey McBride. It can also backfire with players like Brock Bowers; there are similar parallels when we look at both sports.

But with goaltenders in hockey, there’s less of a pool, fewer roster spots and an insane amount of variance and volatility to take into account compared to football. It’s my belief that we need to stop investing so heavily in goaltenders at the top of drafts — shoot, even in the middle of the draft. And we’re going to get into why as you prep for the rest of the season with the NHL returning on Wednesday and the playoffs around the corner.

First, however, I want to talk about one man and five syllables (No, I’m not talking about Der-ek Zoo-lan-der). I’m talking about Con-nor Hell-e-buyck. Winnipeg Jets goalie, and reigning Hart and Vezina Trophy winner, Connor Hellebuyck. Who is fresh off a gold medal for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

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Not even the best in the world is safe

While watching the United States win the gold medal over Canada in the men’s hockey final at the Olympics on Sunday, I couldn’t help but think, “How is a player of this caliber experiencing such a poor season in the NHL?”

Hellebuyck stood on his head in the final, making 41 saves to help the USA win gold for the first time in 46 years. But until he took off on that plane to head to Italy to compete, Hellebuyck was in the midst of one of the more disappointing regression seasons of all time for a goalie.

One could simply point to Hellebuyck’s 2025-26 as a clear indicator that goaltending is too volatile to invest too heavily in for fantasy hockey. Last season, Hellebuyck led the NHL in wins (47), goals-against average (2.00), shutouts (8), goals saved above average (41.6), adjusted goals against average (2.13) and goalie point shares (14.5), en route to winning his third Vezina Trophy and first Hart Trophy as MVP. We’ve seen just nine goalies win the Hart in NHL history, dating back to 1923.

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But this season, you’d think Hellebuyck was a completely different player up until we saw him put on a show at the Olympics. So what does this tell us? That a fantasy goalie is only as good as the sum of his parts. As we come out of the Olympic break, the Jets goalie has these marks: 13 wins, 2.79 GAA, .900 SV%, no shutouts and just 19 quality starts in 36 games.

You could point to the Jets’ blue line, specifically Neal Pionk, Dylan Samberg and Colin Miller, all missing time. Plus, natural regression from aging forwards and the rigors of this season’s condensed schedule. The West has also seen a few teams emerge; the Mammoth, Ducks, Sharks, Predators and Kraken are all improved. But if you asked anyone before the season if they saw this type of regression coming from the Jets, who won the Presidents’ Trophy with 116 points last season, they’d probably tell you: “Not like this … not like this.”

Hellebuyck entered the season as the consensus, no-doubt No. 1 goalie in fantasy. Even as play opens back up on Wednesday, Helly is considered a top-five fantasy goalie. But why? The Jets have 26 games left and it may be difficult for him to even break 20 wins this season, something that hasn’t happened since Hellebuyck was a rookie in 2015-16. Sure, he’s going to get plenty of starts but also could be gassed from winning gold. When the dust settles on 2025-26, I’ll be interested to see if Hellebuyck even finishes as a G2 in fantasy hockey.

But if we’re looking ahead to next season, and Hellebuyck is still considered the top goalie choice, there’s no way I’m investing a first-round pick unless the Jets make vast improvements this offseason. Even then, it feels like he’ll be a massive risk coming off a season like this at age 33.

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Historical and recent trends

We’ve seen goalie stats league-wide get worse and worse since the NHL decided to change the size of pads to increase scoring. We saw a big jump in league-wide goals-against average from 2.59 in 2016-17 to 2.78 the following season. Average save percentage has steadily decreased from .913 in 2016-17 to .908 in 2020-21 and .900 last season. Right now, league-average SV% is at .896 as we head into the final stretch of the regular season. If that holds, it will be the lowest average SV% league-wide since 1993-94 (.895).

This downward trend doesn’t appear to be a product of the lack of talent at the goalie position. It feels more like a lack of importance. And we can point to a few teams at the top of the Pacific Division to make this argument — the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers.

The Knights have been without Adin Hill due to injury. Between Hill, Akira Schmid, Carter Hart and Carl Lindbom, you have 27 wins, a 3.04 GAA and .882 SV%. Schmid entered this season ranked 41st among goalies in Yahoo analyst Scott Pianowski’s rankings. That isn’t to say the ranking was wrong; it’s simply pointing out how difficult it is to predict what will happen at the position. Sure, if Hill is healthy, he’s likely among the top-12 goalies in fantasy. But again, this points back to the unpredictability at the position.

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Similarly, the Oilers have operated with a four-headed monster featuring Stuart Skinner (since traded to PIT), Calvin Pickard, Connor Ingram and Tristan Jarry. Their collective numbers? That would be 28 wins, a 3.29 GAA and .883 SV%. Having superstars like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on your roster can really buoy the other positions. Plus, from a cap perspective, the Oilers have to get by on cheap goaltending.

Can you find reliable streams among those two groups? Absolutely. And it shows that when injuries happen and play is inconsistent, teams are fine existing (and even sustaining) within these time-shares. It takes more work but it’s becoming tougher to simply plug in a goalie and hope for the best all season. You have to adjust.

Schmid has been startable most of the season. Ingram and Jarry have had their moments and Skinner has really thrived in Pittsburgh. So, while it may be difficult, there are goalies we can pluck from these situations to help your fantasy team without spending high draft capital.

Below is a list of every goalie taken within the first 100 picks based on ADP in Yahoo leagues before the season. Seven of the 17 goalies are ranked inside the top 12 at the position in Yahoo points leagues. The others? Well, you can see how they’re doing. It’s a mix of players who are underperforming, injured or are on teams that aren’t very good.

Outside of Vasilevskiy, goalies taken at the top of drafts have mostly underperformed. Oettinger has been outplayed by backup Casey DeSmith on a quality Stars team. Bobrovsky and the Panthers have had bad injury luck — to be expected, after three straight trips to the Cup Final. Shesterkin is hurt and the Rangers have admitted they need to rebuild.

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Moving further down that list, we see some injuries and regression from Kuemper, then we land on a few bright spots with Sorokin and Thompson, though each was selected around the 5-6 rounds on average. Markstrom and Binnington are victims of the teams in front of them. Saros benefits from volume, tied for the league lead in games played at the position at the break with 44.

Now, let’s take a look at goalies who rank among the top 24 in points leagues who were selected outside the top-100 picks on Yahoo:

What do a lot of these goalies have in common? They’re mostly from teams that have surprised this season. Vejmelka on the Mammoth, Gibson on the Red Wings, Dostal on the Ducks, Greaves on the Jackets, Swayman on the B’s, Knight for the ‘Hawks. Those teams have exceeded preseason expectations and their goalies are reaping the benefits. If you took a shot on one or more of those goalies late in your draft, you’re in good shape as the playoffs approach. And it’s not like it’s uncommon; clearly, we’re seeing it enough that we can take multiple shots on players like this at the backend of your draft.

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Others, like Wedgewood and Wallstedt, are backups who are on good teams. The Avalanche were without Mackenzie Blackwood to start the season and Wedgewood stepped up and has helped fantasy managers immensely this season. With Blackwood healthy, Wedgewood may not see as many starts, but he’s an example of a player who can bridge the gap for you as you navigate the season.

Gustavsson struggled out of the gate for the Wild and Wallstedt picked up the slack early in the season. But if you targeted both goalies in your draft rather than spending a high pick on one of the “elite” players, you got yourself a solid tandem.

Even names like Brandon Bussi on the Hurricanes and Alex Lyon for Buffalo don’t pop up in those lists above but are carrying managers into the postseason.

How to approach drafts next season

So, after all of this, what should you be doing going into your 2026-27 draft? Well, we’re going to wait on goaltender and use our high draft capital on elite forwards and defensemen. It’s tougher to find sleepers at those positions, particularly on the blue line. We want to shore up those positions early on.

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Think of it in terms of the quarterback position in fantasy football. We don’t generally target QBs until around the second or third round at best. This past season showed us that we can wait at QB and find plenty of value: Drake Maye, Matthew Stafford, Dak Prescott, Caleb Williams, Trevor Lawrence — the list goes on and on.

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2026 MLB season]

So let’s carry this over into hockey, taking 3-4 shots late in your draft on players who fit some of the trends we mentioned above. Perhaps it’s a backup who could be in a split situation on a good team. Maybe it’s a goalie we know is going to get the majority of the starts on a team that should be improved based on the offseason. Use your resources, absorb as much analysis as possible, both fantasy and real-life. We know that we can find quality goaltending just as often after the first 100 picks as inside the top 100. Play the numbers and stay aggressive on the waiver wire and there’s no reason you can’t be successful.

Goaltending is becoming less and less paramount in the regular season and it’s time for fantasy managers to follow suit, given the uncertainty and risk that comes with the position.

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Divisional round weekend is right around the corner and we have Matt Harmon and Joel Smyth here to get you ready. The two preview each game and provide their favorite matchups and prop bets along the way. Smyth also shares his favorite DFS lineup for Divisional weekend.

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(5:00) #6 Bills @ #1 Broncos

(21:50) #6 49ers @ #1 Seahawks

(37:35) #5 Texans @ #2 Patriots

(49:00) #5 Rams @ #2 Bears

(1:01:50) Joel’s Divisional Round DFS Lineup

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The Los Angeles Dodgers did it again. The defending back-to-back World Series champions have had yet another big-time offseason. After adding star closer Edwin Díaz, they went out on Thursday night and brought top free-agent outfielder Kyle Tucker into their already star-studded lineup, solidifying them even more as the Evil Empire of baseball.

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On this episode of Baseball Bar-B-Cast, Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman talk about the shocking—at least to some—move of Los Angeles once again bolstering their roster as they look for the first three-peat in baseball since the New York Yankees’ 1990s dynasty. With the Tucker deal coming in at four years, $240 million, should Commissioner Rob Manfred start to worry about the perception the Dodgers are giving off to opposing fans with their free agent spending?

Later, Jordan and Jake discuss the Boston Red Sox adding one of the big-arm free agents, Ranger Suárez, to their already crowded starting pitching depth chart and why he will be an interesting fit in their rotation. They then get into the Yankees trading for Ryan Weathers and the Arizona Diamondbacks acquiring Nolan Arenado from the St. Louis Cardinals before giving an update on Team USA’s newest roster additions. The guys close the show by making their picks for this week’s edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Uggla.

1:39 – The Opener: Kyle Tucker to the Dodgers

20:36 – Red Sox sign Ranger Suárez

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43:29 – Scott Boras Scoreboard update

46:10 – Around the League: Trade news

1:01:48 – Team USA roster update

1:08:09 – The Good, The Bad & The Uggla

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Kevin O’Connor is joined by Jason Timpf to check in with unhappy fan bases across the NBA. They discuss whether the criticism of Karl Anthony-Towns is fair and offer solutions to the problems in New York. Then, they break down the root of Atlanta’s issues since the Trae Young trade. Plus, what’s going on in Los Angeles and can it even be fixed?

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Next, KOC shares why Collin Murray-Boyles could be the next Draymond Green and why the Celtics-Pistons matchup is the game of the week. Who should the Pistons target before the trade deadline? KOC gives his picks! Plus, is Ja Morant’s stock rising? Do the Timberwolves need to make a trade to find success this season?

Later, Justin Boone joins to discuss why the Buffalo Bills parted ways with Sean McDermott, recap the wild NFL divisional games and preview the upcoming championship weekend.

(0:15) Jason Timpf joins

(1:23) Unhappy fan bases: New York Knicks

(9:18) Unhappy fan bases: Atlanta Hawks

(15:49) Unhappy fan bases: Los Angeles Lakers

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(25:16)  Collin Murray-Boyles = Draymond Green

(29:13) Celtics vs. Pistons preview

(41:56) Is Ja Morant’s stock rising back up?

(49:19) Do Timberwolves need to make a trade?

(1:06:23) All-Star starters announced

(1:10:26) NFL 6 Points! with Justin Boone

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Nate Tice & Matt Harmon react to the latest NFL coaching hire news before determining what went wrong for playoff losers and what each team can do to get further next season. The duo start with their thoughts on the latest coaching hires, including the Miami Dolphins hiring Jeff Hafley, the Tennessee Titans getting Robert Saleh, the Detroit Lions hiring OC Drew Petzing and the Kansas City Chiefs hiring OC Eric Bieniemy.

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Next, Nate & Matt deep dive on the four Divisional Round losers, determining what direction each team needs to take to retool and get even closer to a Super Bowl next season. The duo cover the post-Sean McDermott Buffalo Bills and their need to nail the next coaching hire, the Chicago Bears and how they can fix their defense, the Houston Texans and next steps to fix C.J. Stroud and the San Francisco 49ers, who are entering a sketchier offseason than you may realize.

(5:00) – Titans hire Robert Saleh

(14:10) – Dolphins hire Jeff Hafley

(20:30) – Key OC hires: Petzing to Lions & Bieniemy to Chiefs

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(41:00) – Bills deep dive

(1:00:45) – Bears deep dive

(1:06:45) – Texans deep dive

(1:20:15) – 49ers deep dive

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The New York Mets struck big last year when they reeled in Juan Soto from the Bronx to headline an eventful winter. However, after a disappointing 2025 campaign, the Amazin’s have been on a mission to retool this offseason, and thanks to David Stearns, they’ll go into 2026 with plenty of new faces and hope for success.

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On this episode of Baseball Bar-B-Cast, Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman talk about the retooled lineup that the Mets have assembled, which includes signing Bo Bichette and trading for Luis Robert Jr. from the Chicago White Sox. In addition to the signings of Devin Williams and Jorge Polanco, the new-look Mets are looking forward to a redemption season in 2026.

Later, Jordan and Jake talk about Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, why the Houston Astros cheating scandal caused Beltrán to have to wait and the improbable climb for Jones to make it into the Hall. Then the guys discuss the Philadelphia Phillies bringing J.T. Realmuto back to the City of Brotherly Love, Elly De La Cruz rejecting a big contract extension from the Cincinnati Reds and take a look at the LIDOM Championship Series.

1:12 – The Opener: New-look Mets

22:09 – Luis Robert Jr. trade

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33:24 – Hall of Fame results

54:26 – Around the League: Phillies re-sign Realmuto

1:03:02 – Three-team trade

1:06:47 – Elly turns down extension

1:09:33 – LIDOM Championship Series

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Team USA revealed its ski and snowboard roster for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic Winter Games on Thursday.

Leading figures include Olympic veterans Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin and Chloe Kim. Vonn, who won gold in the downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics, returned to the sport in 2024 after retirement and a partial knee replacement. Three-time Olympian and two-time gold medalist in snowboard slopestyle Jamie Anderson was not on the 97-person list.

Shiffrin, the most decorated Alpine skier, will compete in her fourth Olympics. Kim, a three-time Olympian, aims to be the first snowboarder to win a third straight gold in halfpipe.

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“In many ways, making this team is even harder than the Olympics themselves,” snowboard program director Rick Bower explained in a statement. “The depth of our field is incredible, and selection truly came down to the wire.”

On the men’s side, the U.S. team will be led by three-time Olympian and 2018 slopestyle gold medalist Red Gerard, snowboard cross racer Nick Baumgartner, and 17-year-old Alessandro Barbieri, who’s seen as a medal contender in halfpipe.

Four-time Olympian Nick Goepper will head the freeski halfpipe squad, which also includes two-time Olympic medalist Alex Ferreira, Birk Irving and first-time Olympian Hunter Hess. Irving’s sister, Svea Irving, qualified for the women’s freeski halfpipe. Defending Olympic freeski slopestyle champ Alex Hall is also set to compete in his third Olympics.

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Olympic champion and three-time cross-country skiing medalist Jesse Diggins will participate in her fourth and final Olympics. Chris Lillis is returning for the aerials team. He took gold at the 2022 Games.

At the 2022 Beijing Games, skiers and snowboarders earned 15 of the 25 medals for Team USA. For the 2026 Winter Olympics, they’ll make up nearly half of all the athletes representing the U.S.

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When the New York Mets signed Bo Bichette and traded for Luis Robert Jr., many wondered if President of Baseball Ops David Stearns was finished making major moves this offseason. On Wednesday night though, Stearns had one more big surprise up his sleeve when he acquired someone from his past days in Milwaukee.

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On this episode of Baseball Bar-B-Cast, Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman discuss the big trade that saw the Mets deal for Milwaukee Brewers ace Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers in exchange for a package of top prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams. With Peralta now headlining the Mets’ starting rotation, does this addition make them a World Series contender again? Also, how will the new additions to the Brew Crew’s prospect pipeline help them in the immediate future?

Later, Jordan and Jake talk about the New York Yankees and Cody Bellinger reuniting after his impressive 2025 season in pinstripes on a five-year, $162.5 million contract. The move further solidifies the Yankees’ belief in their offense, essentially running it back from last season—but could Brian Cashman and company have one more front-page deal before Spring Training kicks off? The guys then close the show by making their picks for this week’s edition of The Good, The Bad & The Uggla.

2:03 – The Opener: Freddy Peralta to the Mets

29:43 – Jordan’s Prospect Hut: The Brewers’ return

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38:28 – Yankees re-sign Cody Bellinger

52:00 – Scott Boras Scoreboard update

54:37 – The Good

1:01:13 – The Bad

1:06:44 – The Uggla

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