Nothing To Write About

There isn’t a whole heck of a lot to report on this week. Sports is in a cycle where you watch the events and then comment. But there is not a lot that is controversial or noteworthy. 

The NHL Playoffs continue in the second round. Montreal did prevail over a solid Tampa Bay Lightning team coached by John Cooper. They now play Buffalo, and are down 1-0 in their series. 

Cooper hasn’t had much success lately in the playoffs—his TBL teams have been eliminated in the first round in four consecutive years after winning the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021 before losing to Colorado in the 2022 finals. This comes on the heels of Cooper being the head coach for Team Canada in the 2026 Olympics. Of course, that’s when Team USA won the gold on the golden goal by New Jersey’s Jack Hughes. 

The other Eastern Conference series looks to be a walkover. While Philadelphia looked good against Pittsburgh, a team with many deficiencies, they have been up against a buzz saw in Carolina. After the Flyers’ Thursday’s home loss, the Hurricanes are ahead 3-0 in the best-of-seven series. 

Carolina plays with a fierceness and intensity which mirrors the behind-the-bench demeanor of their coach, Rod Brind’Amour. So far, in seven games played in these playoffs, the Canes are 7-0. I wouldn’t be surprised if they go 8-0 this weekend. 

In seven seasons with Carolina under Brind’Amour, the franchise has made the playoffs every year. In that span, the Canes have lost in the conference finals three times. This group appears to be the strongest one yet, although Ottawa and now Philadelphia are not top tier opponents. 

Can the Hurricanes beat either Buffalo or Montreal? Yes, they can. Either might prove to be a more formidable test. 

Even if Carolina makes it to the Stanley Cup Finals, there are some pretty fair opponents awaiting. It won’t be a cakewalk.

Anaheim surprised a number of people with its win over Edmonton to reach the next round. People in the East are unfamiliar with the Ducks level of play this season. To show how competitive Anaheim is, they went to Las Vegas and split the two games there. This is with Vegas on a sort of a winning roll having made the unorthodox move of changing coaches at the tail end of the season.

Both teams won their opening round series in six games. Going at least six games against each other would not be surprising. 

Whichever team emerges from that series will likely have to face the Colorado Avalanche, the overall points leader in the regular season. The Avs are up 2-0 in their series versus Minnesota. 

Colorado can score goals. In this series against the Wild, the Avs have scored 14 goals in two games. No matter that they have surrendered eight goals. To me, outshooting and outscoring your opponent is a winning formula. I expect to see Colorado in the Finals. 

The NHL Draft Lottery took place earlier in the week. Toronto, which has not won a Stanley Cup since 1967, to the chagrin of its faithful yet irritable fans, won the top pick. With new management and some time to build a more representative team, could the Leafs actually turn the corner and become a contender? The pressure has been turned up a notch by the successes of rivals Montreal and Ottawa both making this year’s playoffs. 

In New Jersey, a local kid who is a savant and a former professional poker player, returns to his home state to guide the team he rooted for as a kid after a stint with Florida, a two-time Stanley Cup winner in 2024 and 2025. Sunny Mehta is thrilled to be back home and brings a background in risk assessment, options, trades and hockey analytics. 

With a few tweaks, this team can contend. The nucleus, beginning with Hughes, is strong. 

Mehta has cleaned house in upper management, preferring to bring in his own people. Will he do the same with the head coach, or does Sheldon Keefe, a former Toronto head man, deserve another year after a late season run fell short? Could he be waiting for the end of he playoffs to make a move? Whatever happens, it is going to be interesting in Newark going forward. 

Enough hockey. The NBA is also grinding through its playoffs. 

Locally, for those of us who reside in the NY-NJ-PA area, we have a rematch between the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76’ers. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns lived in the area growing up—Brunson was born in New Brunswick and Towns in Edison. 

Brunson followed his dad, Rick, now a coach with NYK, but along with his mother, were athletes at Temple University in Philadelphia. He spent the bulk of his youth in Cherry Hill before ending up in Illinois for a storied high school career. 

Then it was on to Villanova to play for Jay Wright and win a national championship. Three other teammates from Villanova have played with him in New York—Donte Di Vincenzo; Malik Bridges; and Josh Hart. The latter duo are currently key members of the Knicks. 

Towns lived much more locally. He lived in Piscataway, the son of the all-time rebound record holder at Monmouth University and a coach at Piscataway Technical High School. KAT grew up with basketball and traces his success back to practicing with the Piscataway Tech teams before matriculating at St. Joseph’s in Metuchen for high school and then onto Kentucky to play for John Calipari. 

New York was not the original stop for either star. Brunson, a second round selection, began his career in Dallas with Luka Doncic. Coming off the bench and then starting, the two-time NCAA champion and an Illinois Mr. Basketball showed how talented he was. 

Towns was a star with Minnesota, winning Rookie of the Year, garnering All-Star nominations and even winning the 2015-16 All-Star Skills Challenge and then the Three-Point contest during the 2021-22 season. He accumulated offensive statistics which put him in rarified air, becoming the only NBA player to score at least 2,000 points along with grabbing over 1,000 rebounds and making over 100 three-point shots in a season. 

When injuries slowed Towns down, he was traded to New York in a three-team deal. Brunson came to the Knicks with his dad as a free agent—although New York did get penalized for tampering. 

As much progress as the team has made, it appears that New York has thrived under new head man Mike Brown. With Brunson’s dad and the legendary Maurice Cheeks on his staff, the Knicks are a hustling, committed group which follows the lead of its stars, both capable of offense inside the lane as much as behind the arc. 

New York has a 2-0 advantage on Philadelphia as the series moved to South Philly. The Knicks high-powered offense did just enough to defeat a Joel Embiid-less Sixers team on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. 

Coming off of big-time blowouts in the last two games agains Atlanta and then the opener versus the Sixers, New York gutted it out against a Philadelphia team which is well-coached by a former champion in Nick Nurse. The pressure defense PHI employed along with foul trouble for Towns made the contest a much closer affair. If Philadelphia hadn’t turned the ball over as much a it did and shot poorly at the end of the game, the outcome might have been different. 

Do not count the Sixers out right now. Tyrese Maxey is an absolute dynamo. Paul George brings experience and defense. Kelly Oubre can be troublesome on offense and defense. Plus rookie VJ Edgecombe has been difficult to stop. 

Combine them with the return of Embiid at some time, maybe beginning with Friday night, the Sixers will be even more difficult to play for NYK. Even more so, with starter and strong contributor O.G. Anunoby having suffered a hamstring strain late in Wednesday game. Just ask Boston how tough a match up Philly can be—the Sixers took it to the Celtics in Game 7 of their series. 

Cleveland and Detroit are the other Eastern Conference battle. Detroit came back to overcome Orlando’s lead in their series. (Orlando management was so upset in the manner in which the team fell apart in its last two games against the Pistons—albeit without star Franz Wagner—that the coach was fired) Pistons’ star Cade Cunningham has regained his scoring magic. 

Cleveland is a nice team. Can they retake momentum from the Pistons once back in Ohio? Sure they can. Detroit is hardly invincible. 

Out West, the Los Angeles Lakers, sans Luka Doncic, are no match for defending champion Oklahoma City. Expect OKC to take down LeBron James and his mates in four or five games. There is just too much firepower on OKC to contend with and Austin Reaves alone cannot rescue LAL—despite his scoring 31 on Thursday night after a poor opening game. 

In the other series, Minnesota and San Antonio are tied at 1. The Timberwolves stole Game 1 on the road with a two point win. This was despite a record 12 blocked shots from Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, handing Minnesota its largest playoff loss ever. T-Wolves head man Chris Finch, the F&M grad, questioned how many blocks by the tall SAS center were actually goaltending calls missed by the officials. 

Minnesota has advanced to the conference finals in the past two seasons. I heard a statistic, if true, which may make this a longer series. That nugget is that the Spurs have lost seven straight in Minneapolis. With Anthony Edwards back in the lineup, even if it is with a minutes restriction, the T-Wolves will not be a pushover for a San Antonio team most everyone outside of the state of Minnesota and surrounding area thinks is destined to meet OKC. 

Briefly, I will discuss the New York Yankees and Anthony Volpe saga. Volpe, the local kid from New York City and Warren, New Jersey by way of The Delbarton School, burst upon the scene in 2023 to claim the starting shortstop spot for the team. In his first year, Volpe showed signs of hitting in the clutch and won a Gold Glove for his defense. His 20 homers and 20 stolen bases made him the 15th MLB rookie ever to do that.

However, his on-base percentage and chase rate for balls outside the strike zone has always been bad. Perhaps because he jumped almost directly from Double A ball to the majors and didn’t have enough time to develop. 

Rather than improve off of his rookie season, Volpe did not meet the standards expected of him. His hitting and fielding statistics weren’t good enough. Plus he played most of last season hurt, warranting left shoulder surgery in the off season.

Volpe was sent on rehab assignments and his hitting still hadn’t improved that much—in a limited sample. Meanwhile, his replacement, Jose Caballero, was hitting well, running the bases even better with his great speed and playing more than adequate defense. And the Yankees were winning, currently atop the American League with the best record, although Tampa Bay is breathing down their necks in the AL East. 

The statistics couldn’t be denied. General Manager Brian Cashman and Manager Aaron Boone made the difficult decision to keep Volpe in the minors for the foreseeable future. How and when Volpe returns to the big club will be dependent upon how he performs down there and any injuries necessitating his call up. 

This isn’t quite like what had happened to former Yankees mainstays Oswaldo Cabrera and Jasson Dominguez. Both began the season in Triple A, with no place on the MLB roster. 

Slugger Giancarlo Stanton went down with anther leg injury and Dominguez got his chance. He was contributing as the DH. Manager Boone saw an opportunity to rest slugger Aaron Judge by letting him DH on Thursday and slotting Dominguez in left field. 

The fates caught up with Dominguez in the first inning. Running hard for a ball hit deep to left field, Dominguez crashed into the wall. He held the ball in an amazing catch, suffering a concussion and shoulder injuries which will land him on the IL for awhile. 6’6” slugging super prospect Spencer Jones will get the call to finally show us what is expected of him at the major league level.

As for Volpe, he has to wait his turn. I really like the kid and wish him the best. I would want to see him playing the shortstop the Yankees need him to excel at. With a log jam created by Caballero’s excellent play thus far and that Volpe offers no versatility like others already in New York, including the speedy Caballero, it may be a long period before he will be back in the Yankees pinstripes. 

Moreover, George Lombard, Jr. is another highly-touted prospect who plays shortstop. Given his downward trend and the bad timing of an injury, Anthony Volpe must sit and bide his time. I root for him, but baseball is a business and performance matters. 

I end with this. Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo will forego running in the Preakness Stakes. So will a total of 17 of the 18 horses which ran in the Derby. 

The contention is that the Triple Crown races are too close in proximity that will cause a greater likelihood of injury to the animal. This issue has been raised in prior years and the Derby winner has not competed for the Triple Crown in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. 

What may not have been a concern in the industry is one now. The luster of winning the three races seems to have been shunted aside. Which is bad for the sport. 

The Derby drew 24 million viewers to a sport which remains somewhat dormant until May. With each race, the viewership grows if there is legitimate chance at a Triple Crown. Without changes, the networks will not want to pay top dollar. 

It’s a shame because nobody knew about Golden Tempo until the horse charged from dead last to win the biggest race. There would have been a ton of attention on this Preakness had he been entered. 

Hockey. Basketball. Volpe and the Yankees. The Triple Crown. Evidently I had nothing to write about this week.  

RetiredLawyerSportsOp April 30, 2026 Scoreboard

  It’s May 1st. May Day. A perfect time to take a peek at what’s going on in the sports world as we approach the midpoint of Spring. 

Let’s go first to hockey. The NHL is in the beginning stages of the race to crown another winner of the Stanley Cup. Eight series in total, four per conference. 

In the Eastern Conference, two series are over. One was a sweep with Carolina eliminating a game Ottawa club in four games. Then Philadelphia, a team nobody thought much of, took care of Pittsburgh and the legendary Sidney Crosby in six games. The deciding Game 6 went to overtime tied at 0-0 before the Flyers scored to end the game and series. 

Still up in the air is what will happen with the remaining series. Buffalo, the team with the most points n the Eastern Conference during the regular season, drew a battle-tested Boston team which is very familiar with the Sabres. While Buffalo leads the series three games to two, the Bruins have looked like the better team for much of the time. 

In Games 3 and 4, the Sabres played like a dominant team, holding the Bruins to one goal in each game while scoring 3 and 6 goals. In Game 1, Buffalo had to make a determined comeback to win, scoring three goals during the last eight minutes to secure the victory. 

Otherwise, it has been all Boston. The Bruins return to TD Garden on May 1, hoping the knot the series once more. It would not be at all surprising if the two teams had to play a seventh game to determine a winner. 

Montreal and Tampa Bay have been competing fiercely in the other series. Montreal is the youngest team in the playoffs. TBL has won the Cup in 2000 and 2001 (defeating Montreal 4-1 in the finals) and was in the final round in 2022. 

Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy is one of the premier goaltenders in the league—a shoo-in for the Hockey Hall of Fame. He has once again shown how elite he remains, repeatedly  turning back Canadiens’ scoring chances. Jacob Dobes, the Montreal net minder, has been equally as brilliant. 

I am sort of biased here. Having been in the Bell Centre in early April, I hear the passion of the crowd which so overwhelmed me when we saw the New Jersey Devils play. Plus I love the rapturous music from the highly-talented Montreal organist; she is beloved by the Canadians fans.  

Game 6 is in Montreal. The Habs have a chance to close out the series at home. The place will be rocking—both inside and outside the Bell Centre. Tampa Bay will literally be seeing red with the rouge sweaters adorning the players and the Montreal fans. 

There have been three overtime games thus far. The last four games ended in a 3-2 score, and all have been one-score victories. I can see this series ending in Canada as much as I can see it returning to Florida for a deciding Game 7.

Turning to the Western Conference, things have been a bit wilder. Only one series resulted in a sweep. Overall points leader Colorado took out the Los Angeles Kings. Even there, the first two contests were 2-1 scores before the Avalanche showed their superiority. 

Everybody else will be playing a sixth game, and possibly a seventh game to see who advances to the next round. Anaheim and Minnesota both had the opportunity to end their particular series on home ice. Upstart Utah returns to Salt Lake City facing elimination at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights. 

The Golden Knights have been a different team since John Tortorella took over behind the bench. VGK went 7-0-1 in its final regular season games and has been very aggressive thus far in the playoffs. 

VGK has won the last two matches in overtime by identical 5-4 scores, erasing a 2-1 Utah lead in the series with three straight wins. I would not at all be surprised if VGK ends this series on the road.

Anaheim and Minnesota winning their respective series would be considered mild upsets. Minnesota did their part, eliminating Dallas. They draw Colorado next. So did Anaheim, ousting Connor McDavid and his Edmonton mates. The Ducks await either VGK or Utah. 

So we know that Carolina and Philadelphia will meet in the second round. Whichever teams emerge from the other side of the Eastern bracket will have their hands full.

Moving to the NBA Playoffs, two series in the Western Conference are over. The top two seeds, defending champion Oklahoma City swept Phoenix in four games, while second-seeded San Antonio took care of business, downing Portland in five games. 

In the remaining undecided series, the Los Angeles Lakers, despite returning Austin Reaves to the lineup for his added scoring punch, couldn’t banish a Kevin Durant-less Houston Rockets team on Wednesday night. Up 3-0, the Lakers hold on the series felt tenuous at best, especially with Reaves and superstar Luka Doncic out and Houston going with the second-youngest starting five in NBA Playoffs history. 

LeBron James is showing the wear on his 42 year old body and the supporting cast isn’t able to pick up the slack. It is no gimme that LAL wins at home on May 1st; if they don’t could Houston accomplish the unthinkable by winning a Game 7 down 3-0? It’s never been done in NBA history. 

In a bruising, heated affair, Minnesota went into the last night of April with a 3-2 lead on the Denver Nuggets. While Denver’s Nikola Jokic led all scorers, the T-Wolves have a statistical edge despite losing key player Donte Di Vincenzo to an Achilles tendon tear and having star Anthony Edwards sidelined. 

It didn’t matter. Minnesota put a solid effort together to eliminate Denver. Missing Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray performing badly doomed the Nuggets. Which set off a unique celebration in the Twin Cities, as the Wild and T-Wolves advanced to the second round together on the same night, 10 miles apart, for the first time ever.

The Eastern Conference saw all four series with 3-2 leads entering Thursday night’s action. #4 seed Cleveland leads #5 seed Toronto. What is more surprising is that #8 seed Orlando, a team with enormous potential but which seemingly underperformed in the regular season, leads top-seeded Detroit. The Magic can close out their series with a home win. 

When Boston hits its three point shots, the Celtics win. Shoot poorly from behind the arc and the C’s are doomed. With the return of Joel Embiid from injury, Philadelphia looked energized. Enough so that they have forced a Game 7 in Boston. 

The New York Knicks have had their hands full with a scrappy Atlanta Hawks team which has shown very little fear. Jalen Johnson and C.J McCollum had played outstandingly for the Hawks. NYK star guard Jalen Brunson has had difficulty with the Atlanta pressure defense. Big man Karl-Anthony Towns and O.J Anunoby have been strong for NYK.

Remember this—both Atlanta wins were by one point. That’s how close the Knicks came to sweeping their rival. Which is why the first half outburst in Game 6—where NYK opened up an incredible 51 point lead showed how effective the Atlanta defense had been until now and how good NYK can play. Game, set and match convincingly to New York.

While James Harden has led the Cleveland offense in scoring, his defense and turnovers have plagued the Cavs. Scottie Barnes has shined for Toronto. I can easily see the Raptors winning at home. That means a Game 7. I pick Cleveland. 

Detroit is the biggest enigma in the NBA Playoffs. While star Cade Cunningham has averaged 32.6 points per game, his teammates have struggled mightily. Conversely, Paolo Banchero and his mates have done nearly everything right to put the Pistons in the predicament that the top-seed faces. It will be ugly in Motown if the Pistons lose the series—especially with Orlando big man Franz Wagner out for Game 6. 

Looking ahead, I still see OKC and San Antonio prevailing in the next round, thus giving NBA fans he series they want to see. It might be a little tougher in the next seres, whoever they draw.

In the East, a Knicks-Celtics series will always be a tough one. Knicks-Philly too. If it is Orlando and Toronto, that will be difficult to gauge who wins.

Baseball has hit the 30 game mark. It has been especially for two underperforming teams. The Boston Red Sox fired Alex Cora, who took the team to a World Series win, and Philadelphia jettisoned Rob Thompson, who was very successful there until the start of this season. Carlos Mendoza is definitely on the managerial hot seat as the high-payroll New York Mets continue to flounder with the worst record in baseball. 

New York Yankees fans were apoplectic when, after opening the season 8-2, the team stumbled badly. Then lowly Kansas City came to the Bronx and the Yankees swept the Royals. A nine game road trip which began in Boston and continued in Houston and Texas produced a 7-2 mark. The team’s 20-11 record is tied for MLB’s second-best with Cincinnati and defending champion Los Angeles. The top team record-wise is Atlanta, which sports a 22-10 record. 

Aaron Judge has started the season slowly and his batting average reflects it. Still, batting behind the remarkable slugging of Ben Rice, Judge has walloped 12 home runs and driven in 20 runners. Rice is batting .327 with 11 round trippers and 23 R.B.I. The remainder of the lineup needs to pick things up to take the pressure off of Judge and Rice. 

What New York has is great starting pitching. The sensational Cam Schlittler has continued his success from when he was called up last season, posting a 1.51 E.R.A. with 49 strikeouts and only 6 walks issued. Stalwart Max Fried is right there with Schlittler with a 2.07 E.R.A. and an identical 4-1 record. 

Will Warren and Ryan Weathers have also performed well in starting roles. Star pitchers Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole are on minor league rehab assignments and will join the team in May. If they perform adequately and the hitting continues, a somewhat leaky bullpen won’t be as much of a burden. 

The Dodgers are in dogfight with San Diego in the NL West. This was expected. For a moment, the Padres owned first place over the Dodgers. Expect a close race throughout the season. Justin Wrobleski continues to shine for LAD, going 4-0 with a 1.50 E.R.A. Shohei Ohtani has a 2-1 record and an incredible 0.60 E.R.A. He is hitting .273 with 6 home runs and 13 R.B.I. Ex-Yankee Michael King and Randy Vasquez lead the Padres’ mound staff. 

The vagabond Athletics lead the AL West, with surging Seattle on their tail. Cleveland and Detroit own 16-16 records for a tie in the lead in a mediocre AL Central. Munetaka Murakami has slugged 12 homers and driven in 23 runs for a 14-17 Chicago White Sox team. There may be something to root for on the South Side this season.

Each NL Central team sports a .500 or better record. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ expected spiral after opening the season with some nice wins has begun. 

The NL East has some bad records behind Atlanta. Miami just took 2 of 3 from the Dodgers in LA, the final game a 2-1 win over Ohtani. 

Arizona remains nicely positioned in the NL West at 16-13. Colorado, thanks to playing the woeful Mets, is at 14-18. San Francisco, under former University of Tennessee coach Tony Vitello , is floundering in last place.

  Just a few more updates. Denison hasn’t lost a game since the second game of the season. That’s why the Big Red are 35-1 with a 34 game winning streak heading into the final weekend of the regular season and then to the NCAC playoffs. 

In Centennial Conference action, Franklin and Marshall compiled a three game winning streak to end the regular season. The Diplomats needed two losses by Gettysburg, Swarthmore and Ursinus to make the playoffs. That didn’t happen and Swarthmore was eliminated via a tie-breaker. Ursinus made it to the main draw with a victory over G-burg.

Senior Matt Hollender from nearby Short Hills, New Jersey put up a monster season for F&M. He batted .453 in 37 games, amassing 62 hits, 26 for extra bases while driving in 54 baserunners. F&M led the CC with a cumulative .341 batting average and the most doubles with 95. Unfortunately, the pitching was sixth in the CC with a bloated 7.05 E.R.A. And the defense was seventh. That hurt. 

Top of the heap UCLA seemed bored with Sacramento State this past weekend, coming from behind twice and then dropping the finale of the three game set. I guess the Bruins are human—they have lost 5 times.

A revenge game at UC Santa Barbara was on tap on Tuesday. UCSB had the best Division I E.R.A going into the game. UCLA took care of business, routing the Gauchos 15-3. 

UCLA heads to chilly East Lansing to take on below .500 Michigan State. UCLA should keep its conference record unblemished. 

Rutgers, after taking two of three from Ohio State in Piscataway (I saw OSU club the Scarlet Knights 9-0 on Friday), lost to a visiting UConn team on Tuesday. RU has to travel to Southern California to meet a very fine USC team, ranked #21.

And I did watch the thrilling last rotation of the NCAA Division I Women’s Gymnastics Championship. Gymnastics dynasty Oklahoma eked out a stunning win for their eight title. A high-scoring floor routine from Faith Torrez capped a comeback victory over LSU. 

I won’t get into the specifics of the NFL Draft there than to say that the New York Giants and New York Jets both did well. Things could be looking up at Met Life Stadium in 2026. 

Finally, the news that the NCAA is going to expand the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments to 76 teams is ludicrous. It only benefits the Power 4 conferences. Where’s the equity? Where’s the drama? It’s more “show-me-the-money” in the long-term.

That’s it. The RetiredLawyerSportsOp Scoreboard through April 30, 2026.