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The opening of the NHL season is fertile ground for overreactions.

Look at the Toronto Maple Leafs. Head coach Sheldon Keefe overreacted to his team losing at home to the pride of ASU, the Arizona Coyotes, by calling out his elite players: “That’s the way it goes when those guys don’t make the difference that they can.”

He then overreacted to his own overreaction by walking back those comments after they became “a thing,” as they often do in Toronto. “I used some of the wrong words,” Keefe said, in the sense that he said them out loud.

Such is the start of the season. Proclamations are made and then quickly regretted. Hot takes are blast-chilled.

Just over a week into the 2022-23 NHL regular season, here are 10 first impressions that we judge to be absolutely delusional or harbingers of things to come.

John Tortorella will win the Jack Adams

Philadelphia sports are having a moment. The Phillies are nearing the World Series. The Eagles are undefeated. The Sixers don’t have Ben Simmons anymore.

And it turns out the Flyers might not be the pushover joke of a team many expected they would be this season, thanks to the coaching of John Tortorella, who has led them to an impressive 3-0-0 start.

The verdict: MODERATE OVERREACTION. This is why the Flyers plucked Tortorella from the ESPN studios: to make the team harder to play against. They’re delivering more hits and blocking more shots than they did last season. The Tortorella effect has bolstered Carter Hart‘s game, as he was third in the league in goals saved above expected (3.9) through three games. The Flyers are doing all of this without the services of Sean Couturier, who is trying to work back from an injury.

No one expects the Flyers to finish in a playoff seed, especially when they’re in the lower third of the league in shot attempt share and expected goals percentage. Then again, no one expected the Blue Jackets to improve by 32 points in the standings in Tortorella’s first full season in Columbus, when he won his second Jack Adams Award. It’s still not likely to happen, but if Philadelphia somehow makes the postseason with Torts behind the bench, there’s a high probability he makes it a Jack-Trick.

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who lost his starting job earlier this week, will not be returning to the team, he announced Thursday night.

Castellanos, who started 12 games last season and retained the top job under new coach Bill O’Brien, wrote on X that “unfortunately, all good things come to an end, even though it’s sooner than I would like.” He did not mention the transfer portal in his departing message and has not officially entered it. The junior from Waycross, Georgia, started his career at UCF and appeared in five games in 2022.

O’Brien said Tuesday that Grayson James, who replaced Castellanos in last week’s win against Syracuse, will start Saturday when Boston College visits No. 14 SMU. Castellanos “wasn’t real thrilled” with the decision, O’Brien said, adding that the quarterback decided to step away from the team for several days.

Castellanos had 2,248 passing yards and 1,113 rushing yards last season under coach Jeff Hafley, passing for 15 touchdowns and adding 13 on the ground. He had 18 touchdown passes and only five interceptions this season, but his accuracy dipped in recent weeks, and he completed only 2 of 7 passes against Syracuse before being replaced.

In his statement, Castellanos thanked both coaching staffs he played for at Boston College and wrote that he had “some of the best experiences of my life in the Eagles Nest and I will truly cherish these memories forever.”

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Gators’ Lagway ‘ready to play,’ will start vs. LSU

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Gators' Lagway 'ready to play,' will start vs. LSU

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida quarterback DJ Lagway is “ready to play,” coach Billy Napier said Thursday on his weekly radio show.

Napier removed Lagway from the team’s injury report and penciled him in to start against No. 21 LSU in the Swamp on Saturday.

Lagway practiced every day this week while progressing from a strained left hamstring. The highly touted freshman was carted off the field against Georgia on Nov. 2. Tests revealed a “less significant” injury than initially feared, and now he’s back in time to face the Tigers.

The Gators (4-5, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) need him. They have to win two of their final three regular-season games to become bowl eligible.

LSU (6-3, 3-2) has struggled mightily against dual-threat QBs, including Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who ran for 185 yards and four touchdowns last week.

Lagway returns after walk-on and Yale transfer Aidan Warner started in his place against Texas. Warner threw two interceptions and was 12-of-25 passing for 132 yards in a 49-17 loss.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Georgia leading rusher Etienne ruled out vs. Vols

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Georgia leading rusher Etienne ruled out vs. Vols

No. 12 Georgia will be without leading rusher Trevor Etienne for Saturday’s showdown against No. 7 Tennessee.

Etienne was downgraded from questionable to out on Thursday night’s SEC availability report.

Etienne left Georgia’s win over Florida with an upper-body injury on Nov. 2 and did not return. He played limited snaps in last week’s 28-10 loss at Ole Miss, carrying the ball six times for 24 yards.

Etienne leads the Bulldogs with 477 rushing yards and seven touchdowns this season.

The loss is another blow to Georgia’s banged-up backfield. Cash Jones is also listed as questionable while Branson Robinson remains out after missing the past three games with a knee injury.

That leaves true freshman Nate Frazier as the only healthy Bulldogs running back who has played meaningful snaps this year. Frazier is second on the team with 333 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

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