DURING A TEAM meeting this summer, Florida center Kingsley Eguakun watched as a clip from last season’s opening game against Utah popped onto the screen. That game — beating the seventh-ranked Utes — had seemed to signal first-year Florida coach Billy Napier could get the program turned around in a hurry.
Florida finished 6-7 last season, though, and the clip showed one possible reason why. Eguakun, who didn’t want to out a player by name, said the screen showed a big play for Florida, after which a seemingly teamwide celebration broke out. Except, Eguakun said, “There was one player who didn’t celebrate.” He added ruefully, “He just walked away.”
“This is what selfishness looks like,” Eguakun recalled the presenter saying.
Eguakun agreed, and not just because of the loss to Kentucky the next week or the seven losses overall in 2022, including to perennial cellar-dweller Vanderbilt, which an opposing coach called “unforgivable.” Beating Utah — a solitary win — bred complacency, Eguakun said, and when things went sideways afterward, the team didn’t have the necessary leadership to hold the locker room together.
Buy-in was lacking, Eguakun explained, as if players weren’t sure whether they wanted to stick it out through the coaching change and then got stuck.
“If you’re one foot in, one foot out, that’s not going to work,” he said. “It kind of had a trickle-down effect on some of the younger guys.”
Team sources affirmed Kinglsey’s assessment of the Year 1 roster. Fights in practice, sources said, were commonplace, as well as players missing team meetings.
Cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. was frustrated because veterans were setting a bad example. Napier “changed the perspective” by focusing on discipline, Marshall said, noting that “a lot of players were still locked in on the past.”
Marshall and Eguakun said clearing out “selfish” former teammates had ushered in a “different energy, a different vibe.” Eguakun said, “The guys being bought in is the game-changer for this Florida Gators team.”
Eguakun made it clear that losing the way they did last year was no longer acceptable — watching teammates “carrying on” in the locker room while he was ready to “go drop a tear or two.”
“Changing this direction that we’ve been on might be No. 1 on my list because I want to win,” he said.
This season, the wins haven’t always been easy to come by, but the mood around the program has changed according to players and coaches. Instead of folding after a season-opening loss at Utah, they bounced back and beat rival and then-No. 11 Tennessee. After a loss to Kentucky (again) and a comeback win at South Carolina, the Gators sit at 5-2 — second in the SEC East.
If Napier’s process is really working we’ll soon find out. The most difficult stretch of the season approaches, starting Saturday with No. 1 Georgia. The Gators then close the season with No. 15 LSU, No. 16 Missouri and No. 4 Florida State.
THE PHYSICAL REMINDER of the pressure awaiting Napier at Florida was right there, walking toward the 25-yard line inside the University of Louisiana football stadium on Dec. 4, 2021.
Moments after beating Appalachian State to win the Sun Belt West Division — Napier’s last act as head coach before leaving for Gainesville — fans rushed the field. The vast majority were wearing the Cajuns’ red and black.
But a pair of fans, who drove nearly 7 hours from Panama City, wove their way through the crowd toward Napier, one wearing bright orange, the other wearing royal blue. Napier laughed when the man in orange lifted his short-sleeve shirt to reveal a gator tattoo on his shoulder. Napier obliged their request for a selfie and told the both of them, “I’ll see you soon.”
Napier tried his best to stay in the moment that night, letting the nostalgia wash over him. He recalled his introductory news conference and reporters telling him just how bad the Louisiana program was. And he said they weren’t wrong. They hadn’t had a winning record in three years.
But Napier meticulously rebuilt both the roster and team infrastructure, adding dozens of positions to create what was affectionately called, “Bama on a budget.” Together, they turned the program around in a hurry, leaving with a record of 40-12. Napier got one of the game balls as a going-away present, carrying it everywhere he went, eventually onto the departing plane. When he accidentally dropped the ball during a postgame news conference, he sent a staff member back to retrieve it. “I’m not letting this one go,” he said.
He didn’t know it at the time, but he would come to miss the program he’d shaped. The principles would be the same at Florida — structure, attention to detail, discipline, an eye toward efficiency — but the game had changed in the SEC since he left as an assistant at Alabama, making this rebuild much more difficult.
“The big takeaway for me was I leave a place [Louisiana] where I probably had as good of a relationship with my team — I would put it up against anywhere in the country, just the team dynamic,” he said. “And then you inherit a long list of challenges in an unprecedented time, relative to the portal and NIL. There’s no manual for that. I don’t care what you say.
“And I’m, to be very transparent, five years removed from the SEC and no experience with Power 5 recruiting in the early signing period era. That was a huge adjustment. Not that we can’t evaluate and we can’t recruit, just the fact that our established workflow and the way we operated at Louisiana did not apply in the SEC.”
Napier said they successfully adjusted. They signed a top-15 class, he added, “But it was a scramble.”
That first year required a dizzying amount of work, whether it was getting up to speed in recruiting, getting their arms around an NIL operation that wasn’t where it needed to be, navigating the transfer portal, building out a staff that was growing by a whopping 25% and, oh yeah, trying to learn the current roster and get them up to speed on an entirely new system. “Tampering,” Napier suggested, “magnifies that.”
Don’t just take his word for it. Tennessee coach Josh Heupel, who has no reason to support a rival coach, said first-year coaches are behind the eight ball in a way they’ve never been before.
“I don’t know if it’s ever been harder than it is now because of transfer portal,” he said. “You truly have to recruit everybody on your roster. Then you got to go out and recruit guys to come to your roster. … You’re literally dealing with everything that every coach is complaining about right now currently inside the landscape of college football, plus you have no relationships with the players on your roster.”
Just learning their names is a challenge. So if there was a disconnect between Napier and holdovers from the previous staff, maybe it was with good reason.
“We run a tight ship,” Napier said. “I’m a firm believer in structure and routine. We play complimentary football. We teach a set of values. And I think that that’s where it was different. All of a sudden, it’s like there’s consequence, there’s discipline, there’s accountability.”
Napier called last year’s squad “one of the more dysfunctional teams I’ve been a part of.”
But, he promised, “We got a plan for everything.”
Some players didn’t like the plan and left. Eguakun and Marshall said they’re better off for it. Opposing coaches in the SEC aren’t ready to judge Napier off one rocky season, but they did offer a glimmer of hope: “Some of their best players are young, and that’s a good thing.”
A whopping 24 freshmen are on Florida’s official depth chart, including both starting tight ends Hayden Hansen and Arlis Boardingham, starting defensive end Caleb Banks, starting safety Jordan Castell and standout starting receiver Eugene Wilson III. And that’s to say nothing of the additions Napier & Co. made via the transfer portal.
After locking up a top-15 recruiting class in December, they set about replacing quarterback Anthony Richardson. But instead of signing a high-profile transfer like Sam Hartman or Devin Leary, they wound up bringing in former Wisconsin signal-caller Graham Mertz, which went over about as well as the Tomahawk Chop inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the time. Last spring, ESPN did not rank Mertz among its top 75 portal players.
Mertz has been effective, though, with 12 passing touchdowns and only two interceptions. His 76.2 completion percentage is tops in the SEC.
Less than 48 hours after Mertz led a fourth-quarter comeback at South Carolina, Napier told ESPN that it’s beginning to feel a lot more like his time at the University of Louisiana in terms of “just the overall culture in the building.” His first team there finished 7-7 before winning double-digit games and finishing atop its division in each of the next three years.
FORMER FLORIDA NATIONAL championship-winning coach Urban Meyer offered Napier advice upon taking the job that sticks with him today.
“It’s important for you to understand,” Napier recalled Meyer telling him, “you’re in a state with 22 million people and you have huge alumni, but you’re also in a state with two hated rivals. So if you fall and trip, not only do you know your small percentage of bandwagon fans get riled up, but you also have two fan bases from others that jump in on the action as well.”
“So,” Napier said, “that’s the reality.”
And it’s a reality Napier hasn’t shied away from when fans have voiced their frustration after losses to Utah and Kentucky this season. “Let’s call it like it is,” he said, “Sometimes you deserve to be criticized.”
He didn’t lash out when it was suggested he give up playcalling duties on offense to focus on the big picture. He said it was a “relevant question” and part of the evaluation, “But I feel confident in our process.”
Napier’s ability to take the proverbial bumps in the road in stride and stick with his plan is exactly why athletic director Scott Stricklin hired him in the first place, citing his unique temperament and approach.
“The idea of hiring Billy wasn’t to have a four- or five-year solution,” he said. “It was to have a 15-, 20-year solution.”
As Stricklin stood on the field in Columbia a few weeks ago, he remembered two years earlier when he was in the same spot and it became clear that the “internal foundational challenges” under previous coach Dan Mullen were “more significant than we probably realized.” (Mullen, now an analyst at ESPN, did not respond to requests seeking comment for this story.)
“And so to be back there and to have that kind of game that we had was rewarding to be on the other side where the foundational issues have in large part been corrected,” he said. “The culture, the relationships, the focus on the things that you can’t be great without have been addressed.”
Which is not to suggest that the team is anywhere near a finished product.
“But I think the things are in place for it to happen,” Stricklin said.
Florida is third in ESPN’s latest Class Rankings for 2024. On Sunday, Napier and his staff added four-star defensive end L.J. McCray to the growing list of commitments.
Put together a strong showing against Georgia on Saturday and it might induce even more recruits to jump on board.
Because for as up-and-down as Florida’s been, no one in college football doubts the strength of the brand or its ability to produce national championships.
“Florida’s a momentum job, if that makes sense,” Napier said. “I think if you get it built, it’ll be hard to slow down.”
He paused a beat for emphasis.
“If you got the discipline to create it the right way and something that’s sustainable and repeatable. That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
NEW YORK — Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad has been suspended for two games for elbowing Lightning forward Brandon Hagel in the head midway through Game 4 of Florida’s first-round series against Tampa Bay.
The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced its ruling after a phone hearing with Ekblad earlier Tuesday. He will be out for Game 5 and either Game 6 of this series or the Panthers’ first game in the next round.
No penalty was called when Ekblad hit Hagel in the chin with his right elbow and forearm with just under nine minutes left in the second period on Monday night. Hagel left the ice and did not return, and Ekblad scored the first of two goals in 11 seconds late in the third to give the defending Stanley Cup champions a comeback victory and a 3-1 series lead.
Coach Jon Cooper said Hagel would not play in Game 5. Hagel was suspended for Game 3 for his late hit that knocked Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov out of Game 2.
Ekblad missed the first two games of the playoffs and the final 18 of the regular season after being suspended for violating the league and NHLPA’s performance-enhancing drug policy. Florida got accustomed to playing without Ekblad.
“If it’s the first time it happens, there’s even questions from the coaching staff about what’s the right adjustment to make in your lineup and how will that play out — there’s a lot of unknown,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Because we’ve been through it so much when Aaron’s out, we know what the D-pairs are — let’s assume — if he’s out of the lineup.”
Another Florida defenseman, Niko Mikkola, was fined $5,000 for boarding Tampa Bay’s Zemgus Girgensons. Mikkola was given a five-minute major and ejected for the play early in the third period of Game 4.
Add Rick Tocchet to the list of available coaching options on the open market with the Vancouver Canucks announcing Tuesday that Tocchet left the team.
There had been a belief that Tocchet’s time with the Canucks could be coming to an end. Last week saw the discussion of Tocchet’s future with the franchise come under greater focus, with Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford saying they weren’t exercising their option on Tocchet’s contract before adding that they offered him a new, more lucrative deal to remain in Vancouver.
But now? Tocchet joins the list of sought-after coaching candidates and the Canucks become the eighth NHL team that will use this offseason to go through a coaching search.
“After a very long and thorough process, unfortunately Rick has decided to leave the Vancouver Canucks,” Rutherford said in a statement. “This is very disappointing news, but we respect Rick’s decision to move to a new chapter in his hockey career. We did everything in our power to keep him but at the end of the day, Rick felt he needed a change.”
In the same news conference in which Rutherford said the team offered Tocchet a new deal, he also said that Tocchet “may have his mind somewhere else” before adding that he felt Tocchet and his staff did “a good job coaching this team this year” as they did in their first full campaign.
Tocchet was a midseason hire during the 2022-23 season. His first full year in charge saw the Canucks win 50 games, finish with 109 points and win the Pacific Division. He led the Canucks to their first postseason appearance since the 2019-20 season and was a win away from advancing to the Western Conference finals.
Entering this season, the Canucks had most of their players from their playoff team. They started strong with a 15-8-5 record but encountered numerous on-ice and off-ice problems that would prove too large.
Among them was the friction between star forwards J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson. The tension between Miller and Pettersson reached a stage in which Canucks captain Quinn Hughes publicly acknowledged there was an issue with Miller and Pettersson denying such issues.
Miller would be traded to the New York Rangers before the trade deadline, and the Canucks struggled to find someone who could replace his production. They would finish six points behind the St. Louis Blues for the final Western Conference wild-card spot.
Still, Tocchet had the support of Hughes, along with others within the organization who wanted him to stay.
As for what it all means going forward for both parties? Tocchet is among those who will join Mike Sullivan, who parted ways with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday after winning two Stanley Cups in 10 seasons, as one of the most attractive names for teams seeking a new bench boss.
“I’m choosing to move on from the Vancouver Canucks,” Tocchet said. “Family is a priority, and with my contract lapsing, this becomes an opportune time. While I don’t know where I’m headed, or exactly how this will play out for me over the near term, I feel like this is the right time for me to explore other opportunities around hockey.”
It seems such a short time ago that all 16 teams began the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs with a clean slate. On Tuesday night, two teams could have their postseason runs ended.
Can both teams stave off elimination to get another home game out of the 2025 postseason?
Games 2-4 marked the 11th time in the past 20 years that teams have gone to overtime three straight times in a playoff series.
Jake Sanderson‘s game-winning overtime goal was the first of his career, and he became the ninth defenseman age 22 or younger with an OT goal in the playoffs (and the first for the Senators).
Veteran David Perron scored his first playoff goal with the Senators, the fourth team with which he has scored a postseason goal (Blues, Golden Knights, Ducks).
Toronto defensemen have scored five goals this postseason, the most by any team, a surprising outcome given that the Leafs had the fewest goals by defensemen in the regular season (21).
The Devils have outscored the Hurricanes at 5-on-5 in the series (7-5), but trail on their own power plays (0-1), the Canes’ power plays (0-4) and when the net is empty (0-2).
Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen was knocked out of Game 4 following a collision with Devils forward Timo Meier. Meier has not scored on Andersen during this series, but scored on his first shot on goal against backup goalie Pyotr Kochetkov.
Andersen’s status is up in the air for Game 5, but he is the current leader among playoff goaltenders in goals-against average (1.59) this postseason, and is second among qualified goalies in save percentage (.936).
Andrei Svechnikov scored his second career playoff hat trick in Game 4. He has two for his career and is the only player in Hurricanes/Whalers franchise history to score a playoff hat trick.
Game 4 broke one streak and continued another. Ivan Barbashev‘s OT winner snapped a three-game losing streak for Vegas in playoff OT games, while the loss for Minnesota makes it five straight defeats in home playoff games that go to the extra session.
Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson made 42 saves in the loss, his second career playoff game with 40 or more. He is the only goaltender in franchise history with multiple 40-save games in the playoffs.
Kirill Kaprizov registered an assist in the Game 4 loss, giving him eight points in four games this postseason, one behind the leaders.
Vegas forward Tomas Hertl is on a heater. His goal in Game 4 is his third this postseason, and he has eight goals in his past nine games going back to March 22.
The Wild have been mostly effective at keeping Jack Eichel off the score sheet. He had one assist in Game 4, his first point of the series after a team-leading 94 points in the regular season.
With his two-goal outing in Game 4, Evan Bouchard became the fourth defenseman in Stanley Cup playoff history to have back-to-back multigoal games, joining Rob Blake (2002), Al Iafrate (1993) and Denis Potvin (1981).
Leon Draisaitl — who scored the OT game winner in Game 4 — now has eight four-point games in his playoff career. That’s the fourth most in Oilers history, behind Wayne Gretzky (20), Mark Messier (10) and Jari Kurri (10).
Tied with Draisaitl for the playoff scoring lead is Kings winger Adrian Kempe, who is also tied for the goals lead with four. Kempe had 19 total points in 22 previous playoff games, all with the Kings.
Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper has been busy, facing 134 shots, which is the second most among postseason goaltenders (Gustavsson is first with 136). Kuemper’s current .881 save percentage is the second worst of his playoff career, narrowly ahead of the .879 he generated while backstopping the Wild for two games in the 2013 playoffs.
Arda’s three stars from Monday night
Johnston scored his first goal of the 2025 postseason nine seconds in, which is tied for the fifth fastest goal to start a game in Stanley Cup playoff history. He had himself a night, with two goals and an assist in the Stars’ win.
Rantanen scored his first postseason goal with the Stars against his old team. Rantanen became the seventh different player in NHL history to score a playoff goal against a team with which he previously tallied 100-plus postseason points. The others: Jaromir Jagr (2012 and 2008 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins), Brett Hull (2002, 2001, and 1999 vs. St. Louis Blues), Wayne Gretzky (1992, 1990, 1989 vs. Edmonton Oilers), Jari Kurri (1992 vs. Oilers), Paul Coffey (1992 vs. Oilers) and Bernie Geoffrion (1967 vs. Montreal Canadiens).
His postgame quotes keep getting better and better, to the point where he deserves a star for saying, “I’m sick of talking about hits” — then asking the media for their thoughts. Love it.
After an exciting, but scoreless, first period, the game heated up even more in the second. Anton Lundell opened the scoring for the Panthers, and Aaron Ekblad delivered a vicious hit to Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel; the call was not penalized on the ice, and Hagel would have to leave the game. Thereafter, the Lightning scored two goals within 11 seconds from Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak to take the lead well into the third period. But then in another span of 11 seconds, the Panthers pulled off the same feat, with goals by Ekblad and Seth Jones, sending the building into a frenzy. Carter Verhaeghe added an empty-netter for insurance. Full recap.
play
1:21
Panthers match Lightning with 2 goals in 11 seconds to take lead
Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones score within 11 seconds of each other as the Panthers grab a late lead in the third period.
As wild as the opening game was Monday night, this one looked to be going down the same road early. Dallas’ Wyatt Johnston scored nine seconds into the game, which is the fastest goal ever to start a playoff game in Stars franchise history. Fellow young Star Thomas Harley joined him on the scoresheet with 45 seconds left in the first. From there on, Dallas kept Colorado at arm’s length, with a second-period goal from Mikko Rantanen, another from Johnston and one from Mason Marchment, followed by an empty-netter from Roope Hintz to put an exclamation point on the proceedings. Artturi Lehkonen and Nathan MacKinnon scored in the second period, but that was not nearly enough on this night. Full recap.
play
0:34
Stars score in first 9 seconds of the game
Wyatt Johnston wastes no time as he finds the net within nine seconds of play for a Stars goal against the Avalanche.