A surprising figure has emerged in the ongoing saga to determine the next owner of the Ottawa Senators.
Award-winning rapper Snoop Dogg is part of a bid fronted by Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Neko Sparks that's interested in purchasing the Senators, he confirmed Monday.
"He's passionately involved. He's coming up with ideas. And he's legitimately excited," a source told The Athletics' Ian Mendes. "He wants this team."
The famed rapper is reportedly interested in growing and marketing hockey to families from diverse backgrounds in and around the Ottawa area.
"He's passionate about trying to make this game affordable for visible minorities and kids in low-income areas who haven't been able to play hockey in the past," a source told Mendes. "He wants to be community-oriented."
Snoop Dogg has emerged as a vocal supporter of hockey and the NHL. He's a frequent attendee at games in Southern California and was even featured in the video game "NHL 20" as a commentator and playable character.
Snoop Dogg is the latest celebrity to be connected to a bid interested in the Senators, joining actor Ryan Reynolds.
Reynolds is aligned with the Remington Group, which is reportedly preparing a $1-billion offer to buy the Senators.
New York-based bank Galatioto Sports Partners, hired by the family of Eugene Melnyk to sell the franchise, has set a May 15 deadline for offers.
The thin line between love and hate for the Stanley Cup Playoffs wasn't exclusive to the Kings-Oilers or Jets-Golden Knights series, but it was a clear one for Los Angeles and Winnipeg.
Maybe there was value on the Kings with the odds heavily favoring Edmonton. It especially felt that way with the Kings' early 3-0 lead and late 4-3 lead in Game 4 while up 2-1 in the series. Maybe the Jets were live at anything plus-money before starting their series in Vegas - it certainly felt that way after a convincing road win in Game 1.
But the Kings let go of their near-stranglehold on the series, and the Jets' injuries (plus a reversal of a presumed goaltending advantage) flipped the momentum, so the Oilers and Golden Knights did what other high-caliber teams could not: survive the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Series odds
TEAM
GAME 1
SERIES
SERIES HANDICAP
Oilers
-110
-155
-1.5 (+120)
Golden Knights
-110
+135
+1.5 (-150)
The market already sniffed this one out. Vegas has the division title and the home-ice advantage that comes with it, but the Oilers are the better team. For the first - and maybe only - time this postseason, the team playing on the road in Game 1 is favored to win the series.
Ratings
Using primarily even-strength metrics to evaluate a team's quality, we've established how a team rates relative to an average NHL team. We use these ratings to create an implied win probability split in each game, which we then translate to a fair moneyline price for each before home-ice advantage is applied and the sportsbook takes its vig on a bet. Here's how these teams rated for the season, when isolating play after the All-Star break, and in their first round matchup (relative to their opponent).
TEAM
SEASON
POST-ASB
ROUND 1
Oilers
+14%
+9%
+19%
Golden Knights
+11%
+2%
+8%
What you do against who you're playing matters, particularly in the short term. So the Oilers driving even-strength play at 54% against a good team like the Kings - who had the ability to fire back - means more than the Golden Knights taking down the wounded-wing Jets.
Advanced metrics at even strength (regular season)
The Oilers only converted 9% of their even-strength high-danger chances against Joonas Korpisalo. I'd expect better against Laurent Brossoit, but even if that doesn't happen, that low rate was still good enough to win in six games.
How disappointing was Connor Hellebuyck? A minus-1.5 GSAx encapsulates the Golden Knights' unsustainable 21% HDC conversion rate on the Jets' goalie.
Goaltending matchup (regular season)
PLAYER
GSAx/60 MIN
Stuart Skinner
0.38
Laurent Brossoit
0.62
Stuart Skinner was OK against the Kings' high-danger chances, but a minus-2.35 GSAx for the series is very concerning as they now face a team known for usually converting chances at a high rate.
Special teams (regular season)
TEAM
PP%
PK%
PP+PK
Oilers
32.4
77.0
109.4
Golden Knights
20.3
77.4
97.7
The Oilers had what felt like an unsustainably good power play during the regular season and somehow blew through the efficiency stratosphere in the first round, scoring more than half the time the Kings took a penalty. While Vegas consistently doesn't take penalties, the Jets actually had the second-best power play in Round 1.
Moneyline betting guide
If you followed our NHL betting guide where we projected moneylines for each game, allowing us to compare and contrast our price to bet with what's available on a daily basis, you may be interested in what prices would be considered valuable for each team when they're on the road, at home, and for the series as a whole.
Price to bet
TEAM
NEUT. WIN PROB
GM 1/2/5/7
GM 3/4/6
SERIES
Oilers
53.6%
+112
-131
-126
Golden Knights
46.4%
+109
+161
+154
As alluded to above, the market's on top of this. The games in Vegas are coin flips, and the -110/-110 moneyline indicates that. We'll see what moneylines are available when the series shifts back to Vegas. The current available series prices fall in between anything close to a "must bet," so we have to find a play the old-fashioned way.
Best bets
With the unusual scenario of the favorite playing on the road for Game 1, it's important to determine how much we care about home-ice advantage in this series.
The Oilers handled a trio of road games in Los Angeles - a comparable road environment to Vegas - and won two of three, with the lone loss coming in overtime after a dubious no-call on a puck being contacted with a high-stick. The Oilers also have experience from last postseason's games in Calgary and Colorado. While the Golden Knights took both games in Winnipeg, the Oilers represent a considerable upgrade in opposition.
Having Game 6 at home makes the Oilers more likely to win in six games or better. They can hold serve in Edmonton and should be able to take at least one of the first three games in Vegas, setting up a potential closeout in Game 6, where a plus-money price will be valuable on a game with a moneyline that should be higher than -150.
The Oilers got their scare and are ready to take care of business - as long as their goaltending can hold up from Game 1.
Game 1: Oilers' moneyline (-110 or better) Series: Oilers -1.5 games (+120 or better)
Matt Russell is the lead betting analyst for theScore. If there's a bad beat to be had, Matt will find it. Find him on Twitter @mrussauthentic.
The Calgary Flames fired head coach Darryl Sutter, the club announced Monday.
"On behalf of ownership and all Calgary Flames fans, we want to thank Darryl for his cumulative years of service to the Calgary Flames and to the community at large," Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation CEO John Bean said.
Sutter just completed the third season of his second stint as the Flames' bench boss. The team signed him to a two-year contract extension this past October that was set to take effect on July 1, according to Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli.
The new contract is expected to pay Sutter around $4 million per season following his dismissal, reports The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.
The Flames had a disappointing 2022-23 campaign, finishing with a 38-27-17 record to miss the playoffs for the second time in three years.
“He's a firm coach, a hard coach, demanding coach - there's a shelf life to that type of coaching," Flames president of hockey operations and interim general manager Don Maloney said Monday, according to Sportsnet's Eric Francis.
Maloney added that the next Flames' general manager will decide on the new head coach.
Sutter won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top head coach last season after leading Calgary to a 50-21-11 record and a Pacific Division title. He finishes his second Flames stint with a 102-63-28 record.
The 64-year-old ranks ninth all time among NHL head coaches with 737 career regular-season victories.
Calgary also agreed to part ways with general manager Brad Treliving in April. Treliving spent nine years in the role.
The road teams pulled off a pair of Sunday upsets, eliminating last year's Stanley Cup champion and the most successful regular-season team of all time - in their own buildings.
Home-ice advantage hasn't been worth much in this year's playoffs. Of the seven teams to advance thus far, six secured a second-round berth on the road.
Will that trend continue Monday? Let's take a closer look by honing in on a couple of best bets for the day's lone Game 7.
The Devils laid eggs in the opening two games of the series. They couldn't use their speed at five-on-five and were overly focused on physical play; the result was a lot of unnecessary penalties that the Rangers quickly exploited.
Lindy Ruff pulled a couple of his penalty-prone depth pieces out of the lineup for Game 3 - most notably Miles Wood and Brendan Smith - and the Devils have looked like a completely different team since.
New Jersey controlled 53% of the expected goals in Game 3 and gave up very little defensively en route to its first win of the series. The team flexed its muscles even further in Game 4 with an expected goal share above 72%.
The Devils followed that up with another strong effort in Game 5, posting a near-60 expected goal percentage despite holding a lead for most of the game. That put them in the driver's seat for the later stages of the series.
Although the Rangers fared better in a bounce-back Game 6 win, it wasn't until the Devils started parading to the box - and gave up a goal - that New York found its footing. New Jersey dominated at five-on-five in the first period of that game, winning the high-danger chance battle 7-0.
Overall, the Devils have largely been the better team at full strength. Their inability to stay out of the box is a major reason the Rangers have three wins.
The good news for New Jersey is that the refs tend to put the whistles away in Game 7. The officials managing Sunday's contest in Colorado, for example, called but one minor penalty across 60 minutes of play.
Though that may be an extreme example, don't expect a ton of special-teams action in this matchup. Even-strength play figures to be the deciding factor, and the Devils have been the better team in that regard all series - and all season.
Look for New Jersey to control the run of play, and expect some of its star players - perhaps aided by more favorable matchups at home - to bust out of their respective shooting slumps en route to a Game 7 victory.
Bet: Devils (-120)
Timo Meier over 3.5 shots (-135)
Meier doesn't have a goal - or even a point - in this series, but it certainly isn't for lack of opportunity.
The power winger has 46 shot attempts at five-on-five through six games, ranking behind only Nathan MacKinnon for the playoff lead. They've been good shots, too, with Meier leading the postseason in high-danger chances.
Given his ability to create dangerous shots and the Devils' need for offense in a do-or-die game, Meier should get plenty of ice time Monday. That's especially true considering he's one of the NHL's most efficient even-strength shot generators, and special teams will likely be less prevalent in this elimination contest.
That makes five-on-five play that much more important, and no one in this series has been better than Meier when it comes to generating shots in such situations.
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.