Browsing: defense

After his second season in the NBA was cut short due to the discovery of deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder, San Antonio Spurs star big man Victor Wembanyama attacked the offseason with fury in hopes of building his body back up.

“My training this summer, it was brutal,” Wembanyama said at Spurs media day, per The Athletic’s Jared Weiss. He went on to explain that he committed to a strict regimen that didn’t include much offensive work.

“This summer, I chose to do something much more violent,” Wembanyama added. “Maybe that takes away from some time I can spend on shooting the basketball, but it doesn’t matter. I wanted to get my body back.”

Wembanyama was averaging 24.3 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and a league-leading 3.8 blocks before his season ended in February after just 46 games. Weiss explained, “The doctor visits, the games watching from the sideline, it all got to him.” The 21-year-old traveled across the world and “lived life to the fullest this summer” before beginning his preparation for the 2025-26 season.

Wembanyama arrived back to San Antonio for training camp with a renewed energy, evidenced by an intense drill in which he “defends a one-on-one sequence against every player in the gym without a breather. Once he’s taken everyone on, he sprints down to the other end of the court and goes right back into it,” per Weiss.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone work out like that,” Spurs wing Julian Champagnie told Weiss. “It’s crazy to see.”

Wembanyama made it clear that his commitment to the defensive side of the ball this year will emanate through the entire team, which would surely help San Antonio return to playoff contention.

“From the first game of the preseason, (defense) is a non-negotiable. It’s not something you can’t do if you want to be a part of our team,” Wembanyama said. “We’re going to hold each other accountable. We know the coaches are gonna hold us accountable. It doesn’t matter your status, defense is non-negotiable.”

Source link

Yesterday, we put forth our opinion that the Buffalo Sabres need a big year out of star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin if they were going to contend for a Stanley Cup playoff berth (and end their 14-season playoff drought. And 24 hours later, we’re sticking with that notion. But this column is an addendum to yesterday’s column. Because while the Sabres need Dahlin to spearhead a defensive renaissance for this franchise, Buffalo isn’t going to be a playoff team unless something else happens in addition to Dahlin being very difficult to play against particularly in their own zone.

And that “something else” is this: the Sabres need their entire defense corps to make a major step forward this year and cut down Buffalo’s porous D-zone play. The Sabres were tied for third-from-last place in goals-against average last season at 3.50 goals-against per-game. Only one team — the Montreal Canadiens — finished outside of the playoffs last year despite posting a G.A.A. that was outside the top-16 in that department.

That tells you all you need to know about the importance of defense. When you have it, the way the Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights had it last season, you know you’ve got it. And when you don’t have it, the way the Sabres didn’t have it last year, or the year before that, or the year prior to that, you know what you’re missing.

So while the majority of the pressure defensively will be on Dahlin (and of course, Buffalo’s goaltenders) to lead the way this season, the reality is that his fellow Sabres blueliners also have to come through with big step-up years.

To be sure, Buffalo needs bigger and better years from defenseman Owen Power. The 22-year-old posted career highs in goals (7), assists (33), and points (40) last season, but there’s a troubling aspect or two about Power’s improvement that will get plenty of attention this season. For one thing, Power’s ice-time average was nearly three full minutes less than Dahlin’s.

Sabres Need This Key Player To Have Big Season If Buffalo Is To Be Playoff Team
The Buffalo Sabres need solid years from everybody to even come close to being in the mix for a Stanley Cup playoff appearance for the first time in a decade. But (and at the risk of just pointing out one of those players when it will take big efforts from most Sabres players to make Buffalo a playoff team) we’re going to focus on a player this writer believes has to have a big year to get the Sabres back in the post-season.

We get it — Power is on Buffalo’s second defense pairing, so it’s understandable why he’d have fewer minutes than Dahlin. But when you’re paying a player $8.35-million for the next six seasons, you probably want the defender to be playing more time than 21 minutes a night.

But it isn’t just Power and Dahlin that have to be good for Buffalo to be a playoff team. Freshly re-signed D-man Bowen Byram also needs a big year — to prove the Sabres were right to re-sign him at a $6.25-million salary, and to set himself up for another big payday when he becomes a UFA in the summer of 2027. And if he’s on the top pairing with Dahlin, Byram’s individual numbers should spike in a positive direction. Byram did have career-best numbers in assists (31) and points (38) last season, but with his new salary, more will be expected of him.

Value In Former Sabres Shows Buffalo Has Talent — But So Far, The Mix Has Always Been Wrong
Believe it or not, the Buffalo Sabres and their players are not inherently terrible. Sure, there are Buffalo players you may believe to be flawed, and sure, the Sabres have been consistently sub-par for the past 14 seasons — none of which have ended with Stanley Cup playoff games being played in Western New York.  But if you look at some of Buffalo’s former players, you see that they have some value across the league, even though they have a stint with the Sabres on their resume.

Finally, the rest of Buffalo’s D-men also have to come through with some type of solid contribution this season. Matias Samuelsson will need to be a stable stay-at-home defender, while new acquisitions Michael Kesselring and Conor Timmins will need to make better-than-average first impressions in their own way.

There’s no area in which the Sabres are too good in order to make up for bad Sabres areas. They need everything working in their favor if they’re to be a playoff team in 2026.

And if they don’t get that — if they don’t improve significantly on defense this year — the defense corps in Western New York at this time next September will look drastically different.

Source link

The Chicago Blackhawks are at the halfway point of training camp. One week from today, they will be in Sunrise to take on the Florida Panthers in their first game of the season. Florida will raise their second straight Stanley Cup banner while the Blackhawks continue to try and build to become a team like that again.

Halfway through preseason, there are a lot of things to be figured out. Who is going to fill out the lineup at forward and defense? Who will earn what role? There are three more games, all at home, and a handful of practices to go before things will be truly set.

The truth is also that the decisions made for opening night can be changed for every game after. A lot of young players are going to be in and out of the lineup throughout the season.

When the Hawks do reach opening night, however, you can expect the lineup to look something like this:

Andre Burakovsky – Connor Bedard – Ryan Donato

Teuvo Teravainen – Frank Nazar – Tyler Bertuzzi

Colton Dach – Jason Dickinson – Ilya Mikheyev

Nick Foligno – Lukas Reichel – Landon Slaggert

Extra – Sam Lafferty, Oliver Moore

This would mean that the Blackhawks start Ryan Greene in the AHL and that Landon Slaggert is healthy enough to go on opening night. Oliver Moore could draw in, but it is hard to place where he’d fit in with these lines over guys who clearly earned spots.

Colton Dach brings something to this group that they don’t have much of, which is grit, tenacity, and toughness. He is not afraid to get in someone’s face if he feels it necessary.

Sam Lafferty, in his third tenure on the team, will probably make the team, but he won’t be in the lineup regularly. He’ll for sure play, but keeping younger players out in his favor every night would not be wise for the development plan.

Although he has been in trade rumors, Lukas Reichel should be in (at minimum) a bottom-six role as long as he’s in the organization. He has looked good in recent preseason games, and he has a huge final week of camp ahead of him to cement that role.

If this ended up being the top six, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to anyone. Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, although young, deserve the opportunity to work as a two-headed monster down the middle. There are some good wings on each of their lines to help them.

Alex Vlasic – Sam Rinzel

Wyatt Kaiser – Artyom Levhunov

Nolan Allan – Connor Murphy

Extra: Louis Crevier

There are five defensemen on the Chicago Blackhawks who are locks to make the team if healthy. Some of them came in feeling like they needed to prove themselves, but there is no doubt that Alex Vlasic, Sam Rinzel, Wyatt Kaiser, Artyom Levshunov, and Connor Murphy are the five most NHL-ready players in the organization on the blue line.

Matt Grzelcyk is in camp on a PTO. There is no need for him to make the team over any of the younger players that the Blackhawks have competing for spots. They have Connor Murphy there to be the veteran on the unit, and they don’t need a second.

Jeff Blashill said that Grzelcyk will only make the team if he feels that there isn’t a younger player who deserves the spot. Well, there are about three guys who have a case.

Based on the way he’s played through the first half of camp, Nolan Allan deserves that job. Right behind him is Kevin Korchinski, followed by Ethan Del Mastro. Allan’s physical presence in their most recent game against the Minnesota Wild serves as a reminder of what he can do when he’s out there.

Kevin Korchinski will get his chances this season. He is mostly relied on to be a puck-mover, but the rest of his game is still coming together. As for Del Mastro, it’s been a tough go for him in the games he’s played, mostly in a larger role, which may see him get some more seasoning in the AHL to start. If any of these three on the outside looking in have a strong end to the preseason, however, we may be singing a new tune come next week.

Spencer Knight

Arvid Soderblom

Spencer Knight is going to be the team’s number one goalie. This is the first time in his young career that he will enter a season as a true top guy for a team. The prize in the Seth Jones trade for Chicago was Knight, and he’s ready to show why. So far in the preseason and camp, he’s been brilliant.

As for the backup spot, Arvid Soderblom came into camp with the edge because he was good in his role last year, but Drew Commesso is coming up fast. Although both played very well up to this point, the Blackhawks ultimately decided to get Commesso down to the Rockford IceHogs to continue in his development. Soderblom will serve as Knight’s primary backup.

Can anything change here?

Anything can change with these projected lineups before opening night next Tuesday. Ryan Greene could force the Blackhawks to take him over Oliver Moore or Lukas Reichel. One of the three defenseman left off could force Nolan Allan to begin his season in Rockford. There could be an unforeseen injury that changes everything.

There are still three preseason games (all at home) to go against the Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild, and St. Louis Blues. That stretch begins on Tuesday against the Wings, which will feature a combination of players fighting for the final spots and roster locks.

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

Source link

Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos defeated a depleted Cincinnati Bengals team 28-3 at home Monday night as Joe Burrow remained sidelined.

The Broncos improved to 2‑2 with the impressive home win over their struggling opponent. With a long list of inactive players on Cincinnati’s roster, the Bengals dropped to 2‑2 after suffering back‑to‑back losses following their 2–0 start.

Nix completed 29-of-42 passes for 326 yards and two touchdowns, adding another score on the ground, and threw one interception. He connected with Courtland Sutton for a touchdown (81 yards) and with R.J. Harvey for another. Marvin Mims Jr. also added a rushing score, while J.K. Dobbins rushed for 101 yards.

Meanwhile, fill-in quarterback for the Bengals, Jake Browning went 14-of-25 for 125 yards without a touchdown, as the Bengals failed to reach the end zone Monday.

Denver’s win impressed fans, as their defense held Cincinnati without a touchdown.

The Cincinnati Bengals’ opening-drive field goal was a promising start that quickly faded, as they were held scoreless for the remainder of the game following Evan McPherson’s early kick.

Despite throwing an interception, Denver and quarterback Nix added three touchdown drives before halftime, giving the Broncos a commanding 21-3 lead while their defense shut down Cincinnati’s scoring opportunities.

Neither team scored in the third but the Broncos added insult to injury with a touchdown pass with less than five minutes left in regulation to take a 28-3 lead and no chance for the Bengals to comeback.Â

The Broncos will face the 4-0 Philadelphia Eagles on the road next Sunday.

Source link

Red Wings defender John Leonard scores twice while defensive miscues from rest of Detroit defense leads to blown two-goal lead in 3-2 loss to Penguins.

The Detroit Red Wings fell short on Thursday as they blew a 2-0 lead, eventually losing 3-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was a feisty matchup between two age old rivals as the two teams combined for 32 penalty minutes including a rare preseason brawl between Pittsburgh’s Connor Dewar and Detroit’s Carson Bantle. The Red Wings look to rebound with their third game in three days on Saturday when taking on the Buffalo Sabres once again.

The story of their win on Thursday was the offense and the preview of the Red Wings’ potential third line for the season with Andrew Copp, Mason Appleton and Michael Rasmussen. Detroit’s defense was instead the story of their matchup Friday versus the Penguins as defender John Leonard was responsible for both of the Red Wings’ goals.

The 27-year-old Massachusetts native also had his rough moments like a roughing penalty in the second and a blown coverage on a scoring chance by the Penguins in their end. This was the overarching story for the Red Wings backend on Friday as defensive lapses lead to all three of the Penguins goals.

Justin Holl struggled defensively, failing to track a Penguins forward who broke free for a power-play breakaway. He also made poor decisions moving the puck in the second period, one of which led directly to a Penguins zone entry and another scoring chance. Antti Tuomisto had his share of trouble as well, losing track of a Penguins forward who slipped behind him for a dangerous opportunity that goaltender John Gibson had to stop.

Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features.

Erik Gustafsson also had a tough night, committing a costly turnover in his own zone after being stripped of the puck, which led to yet another Penguins chance. On a Detroit power play, both Gustafsson and Holl were beaten by a streaking Penguins forward, who cut through them for a solo chance on net. Gustafsson also had difficulty clearing the front of the net, allowing multiple second-chance opportunities that forced Gibson to come up big.

One of the few bright spots was Alexandre Doucet, who assisted on Leonard’s first goal with a nice pass intercept and pushing the puck up to Leonard for a breakaway chance.

The Detroit defense will look to regroup on Saturday when deploying a more veteran-focused group versus the Sabres with Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Jacob Benard-Docker, Ben Chiarot and Albert Johansson.

Red Wings Play Third Preseason Game in Three Days Saturday on the Road Against Sabres
The Red Wings play their third preseason game in three days when taking on the Buffalo Sabres.

Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News favorites!

Source link

Keegan Bradley says the U.S. Ryder Cup team has a plan.

And that the Americans are comfortable with that plan.

So, yes, they’re going to stick to that plan, the American captain said Friday night at Bethpage Black. But the decision comes as part of the plan — the foursomes pairing of Collin Morikawa and Harris English — was ranked last by a data group heading into the event, then lost 5 and 4 on Friday morning to the European duo of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.

Bradley said he remained confident, though. And Saturday morning, as his team faces a 5.5-2.5 overall deficit, Morikawa and English will again play foursomes, and they’ll do so again against McIlroy and Fleetwood.

“Be an exciting match, and we’re sticking to our plan,” Bradley said. “We’re not going to panic. We’re not going to panic and make those sort of mistakes. We’re going to stick to what we know.

“We have a lot of confidence in them.”

The move comes as the Data Golf website ranked all 132 potential pairings for each side — and the Morikawa-English combo was 132nd. The rank received validation by the Friday morning defeat, and Morikawa and English didn’t play in the four-ball matches later Friday.

Did Bradley’s team have different data, though? Was the decision based on feel?

He said the call was a bit of both.

“They were really bummed out that they lost their match today,” Bradley said. “They were eager to get back out on the course, and that’s why we did that.”

Would Bradley ever deviate from his plan, though?

He said he would. Just not now. He said he’s not shaken.

“Yeah, I think there’s definitely some things that you have to adapt to,” Bradley said. “We ran into some really incredible play by the Europeans today. So you know, we look at the data. We look at the strokes gained. In the morning session, we just didn’t make any putts. Really, hardly any at all. Everything else was pretty good. We actually hit more fairways and less greens.

Ryder Cup’s biggest hero, biggest dud from Friday at Bethpage

By:

GOLF Editors

“But that middle match with Collin and Harris, they went up against a final group that shot five-, six-, seven-under, something like that, in alternate shot, which is tough to beat.”

Might there be one adjustment, though?

A reporter also asked Bradley if he was going to change the order of when his players would tee off in the alternate shot matches. And the U.S. captain answered this way:

“Yeah, I think we’ll keep that to our team and what we’re going to do there.”

By Ella Jay

Sept. 23, 2025 7:16 pm EST

Lee South/AEW

Just days removed from her big title win at AEW All Out, newly-crowned AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander will meet the first test of her reign on Wednesday’s episode of “AEW Dynamite.” AEW President Tony Khan confirmed that Statlander’s first challenger will come in the form of Mina Shirakawa, a close friend of the now-former champion Toni Storm.

“After her All Out World Title win, Statlander said she wants [to] be a fighting champ!” Khan wrote on X. “On a winning streak + aiming to avenge Toni, Mina’s stepped up! Stat vs Mina TOMORROW!”

Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite
8pm ET/7pm CT
TOMORROW

AEW Women’s World Title@CallMeKrisStat vs @MinaShirakawa

After her All Out World Title win, Statlander said she wants be a fighting champ!
On a winning streak + aiming to avenge Toni, Mina’s stepped up!
Stat vs Mina
TOMORROW! pic.twitter.com/dGrF5lpU7y

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) September 23, 2025

In recent months, Shirakawa has vied for a number of titles, including the ROH Women’s, Interim ROH Women’s Television, AEW TBS, and AEW Women’s World Championship. Her latest shot at the AEW women division’s biggest prize came at AEW Double or Nothing 2025 against Storm. Storm emerged victorious in that instance, though Shirakawa later found gold of her own when she captured the Interim ROH Women’s TV Championship at ROH Supercard of Honor.

Most recently, Shirawaka competed in an eight-woman tornado tailgate brawl on the All Out pre-show. She, Harley Cameron, Willow Nightingale, and Queen Aminata clutched victory after encounters with trash cans, coolers, and grills. On the main show of All Out, Statlander claimed the AEW Women’s World Championship with a seatbelt pin on Storm amidst their four-way title match.

This week’s episode of “Dynamite” will emanate from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a trios match pitting Mark Briscoe, Hologram, and a mystery partner against The Don Callis Family also set for the card.

Source link

Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer told reporters Monday that the defense “will make changes” after getting torched by the Chicago Bears’ passing attack on Sunday.

“Some might be scheme,” he said, referring to the pending adjustments. “Some might be personnel.”

“Well, of course, if we can’t cover them, there’s not but one thing to do, and that’s try to rush them up,” team owner Jerry Jones told reporters Monday when asked if the Cowboys needed to bring additional rushers if the front four weren’t getting to the quarterback. “But we’ve got to get better. We got to get more on the (same) page. I’m confident we will. This is inordinate to have that many big plays.”

Source link

Training camp is still in its earliest phases for the 2025-26 Anaheim Ducks, who will begin preseason games on Sunday…

AEW/Ricky Havlik Athena came into “ROH” Death Before Dishonor on…