NHL Power Rankings: Best addition for each team in 2023-24
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Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporter
We’re another week closer to All-Star Weekend — the spiritual, if not mathematical midway point of the season — but our voters caused no change atop the Power Rankings, with the Winnipeg Jets holding down the No. 1 slot again. Of course, there were plenty of changes elsewhere.
Beyond the updated rankings, we’ve identified the best new addition for all 32 teams — be it a player, a coach, or … a draft pick? Read on for our picks for each club.
How we rank: A panel of ESPN hockey commentators, analysts, reporters and editors send in a 1-32 poll based on the games through Wednesday, which generates our master list here.
Note: Previous ranking for each team refers to the previous edition, published Jan. 12. Points percentages are through Thursday’s games.
Previous ranking: 1
Points percentage: 72.09%
Next seven days: @ OTT (Jan. 20), @ BOS (Jan. 22), @ TOR (Jan. 24)
Gabriel Vilardi. Winnipeg acquired Vilardi as part of the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade with Los Angeles in June, and the Jets certainly scored a winner (something Vilardi himself has done plenty of this season). Vilardi puts up great numbers, is a net-front menace and adds potency to Winnipeg’s overall attack.
Previous ranking: 2
Points percentage: 71.11%
Next seven days: vs. TOR (Jan. 20), vs. CHI (Jan. 22), vs. STL (Jan. 24)
Teddy Blueger. Vancouver has brought the best out of Blueger. The 29-year-old forward is on pace to smash his previous career highs (nine goals, 28 points) thanks to a fresh start in the Canucks’ dominant offensive scheme. Blueger is the ideal depth signing for a team looking to play long into this coming spring.
Previous ranking: 3
Points percentage: 71.59%
Next seven days: vs. MTL (Jan. 20), vs. WPG (Jan. 22), vs. CAR (Jan. 24), @ OTT (Jan. 25)
James van Riemsdyk. Boston has gotten more than it could have bargained for out of van Riemsdyk. Brought in on an under-the-radar, one-year deal, the veteran winger is top five in scoring for the Bruins, can play anywhere in the lineup and remains, as ever, a verifiable net-front force on the power play. Overall, van Riemsdyk has been the ultimate depth player Boston needs to be at its best.
Previous ranking: 4
Points percentage: 66.30%
Next seven days: @ PHI (Jan. 20), vs. WSH (Jan. 24)
Jonathan Drouin. Colorado essentially took a flyer on Drouin in free agency, and that one-year, $825,000 contract is aging nicely. The Avalanche’s winning culture, and a reunion with former junior hockey teammate Nathan MacKinnon, has helped Drouin settle into a solid season so far. MacKinnon recently stated his belief that Drouin has just scratched the surface of what he can provide for Colorado into the season’s second half.
Previous ranking: 5
Points percentage: 65.91%
Next seven days: vs. MIN (Jan. 19), @ NSH (Jan. 22), vs. ARI (Jan. 24)
Evan Rodrigues. Florida is all sorts of excellent this season, and Rodrigues has played a surprisingly involved role in its success. The veteran signed a four-year deal in the offseason that has translated to top-line minutes alongside Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart. There’s no doubt Rodrigues is benefitting from high-caliber linemates, but his stats are no fluke.
Previous ranking: 6
Points percentage: 65.91%
Next seven days: @ LA (Jan. 20), @ ANA (Jan. 21), @ SJ (Jan. 23)
Peter Laviolette. New York believed it needed a new voice behind the bench to take another step forward. Laviolette got the nod — and, so far, the results. The Rangers have generally responded well to Laviolette’s structure (despite a rocky stretch or two), and the longtime head coach’s experience — in knowing when to tweak, or stand pat — has served New York well in a strong performance this season.
Previous ranking: 8
Points percentage: 66.28%
Next seven days: @ NJ (Jan. 20), @ NYI (Jan. 21), @ DET (Jan. 23), vs. ANA (Jan. 25)
Sam Steel. Dallas was smart to sign Steel when Minnesota failed to give him a qualifying offer in June. That one-year, $850,000 contract for Steel has translated into a solid depth forward who can add some punch — sometimes literally — and scoring touch while providing the Stars with bottom-six versatility. All in all, it has been a good marriage thus far.
Previous ranking: 9
Points percentage: 61.63%
Next seven days: vs. DET (Jan. 19), vs. MIN (Jan. 21), @ BOS (Jan. 24), vs. NJ (Jan. 25)
An eight-year extension for Sebastian Aho. Carolina wasn’t about to let its best player hit free agency this coming summer. So, GM Don Waddell took care of business last July and inked Aho to an eight-year, $78 million extension (the largest in franchise history), which already looks like tidy work by the Hurricanes. Aho currently leads the club in goals, assists and points and is exactly the type of dynamic skater to build a franchise around.
Previous ranking: 10
Points percentage: 63.33%
Next seven days: vs. PIT (Jan. 20), @ NJ (Jan. 22), @ NYI (Jan. 23)
2024 third-round pick. Vegas has basically run it back with its Stanley Cup-winning roster. We’ll see how that strategy ultimately plays out for the Golden Knights (and if they’re busy at trade deadline because of it). For now, it’s an asset acquired via another trade — that of Reilly Smith to Pittsburgh in June — that has added the most to Vegas’ coffers by offering them something to deal.
Previous ranking: 12
Points percentage: 61.25%
Next seven days: @ CGY (Jan. 20), vs. CBJ (Jan. 23), vs. CHI (Jan. 25)
Kris Knoblauch. Edmonton’s numbers speak for themselves: The Oilers were 3-9-1 when Jay Woodcraft was fired; they are 21-6-0 since Kris Knoblauch took over. That’s the league’s third-best record overall since Nov. 12, and no doubt Knoblauch has played a key part in righting Edmonton’s ship before it completely capsized.
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Previous ranking: 7
Points percentage: 60.47%
Next seven days: @ VAN (Jan. 20), @ SEA (Jan. 21), vs. WPG (Jan. 24)
Martin Jones. Toronto was eyeing organizational goaltending depth when signing veteran Jones to a one-year deal in August. What the Leafs got with their low-key move was a massive depth piece to carry them through a rough stretch of injury (to Joseph Woll) and poor play (by Ilya Samsonov). Jones gives Toronto a chance each night he’s in net, and that’s all it can ask of a third-string savior.
Previous ranking: 13
Points percentage: 61.36%
Next seven days: vs. COL (Jan. 20), vs. OTT (Jan. 21), vs. TB (Jan. 23), @ DET (Jan. 25)
Ryan Poehling. Philadelphia wasn’t going for flash when signing Poehling to a one-year deal in the offseason. What the Flyers got was a forward they could count on, and Poehling has been that throughout the season. He’s a quiet contributor and a valuable depth piece, and most importantly, he loves being in Philadelphia. That’s an energy every team wants for its lineup.
Previous ranking: 11
Points percentage: 59.52%
Next seven days: vs. NYR (Jan. 20), vs. SJ (Jan. 22), vs. BUF (Jan. 24)
Cam Talbot. Los Angeles picked right in tapping Talbot as its latest No. 1 netminder. The 36-year-old is having his best season in years, with consistently strong performances that set the Kings up for a terrific first half. Talbot himself earned an All-Star nod and remains among the league’s top-10 starters in most statistical categories.
Previous ranking: 20
Points percentage: 57.95%
Next seven days: @ CAR (Jan. 19), vs. TB (Jan. 21), vs. DAL (Jan. 23), vs. PHI (Jan. 25)
Alex DeBrincat. Detroit had no doubt that DeBrincat would be a difference-maker when it traded for and signed him last summer. And DeBrincat has not disappointed in the least. He leads the Red Wings in points, is tied for the team lead in goals and helped convince Patrick Kane to join Detroit’s ranks, too. DeBrincat really can do it all for the Red Wings.
Previous ranking: 17
Points percentage: 57.14%
Next seven days: @ VGK (Jan. 20), @ ARI (Jan. 22)
Alex Nedeljkovic. Pittsburgh made splashier offseason moves — we see you, Erik Karlsson — but the one-year, $1.5 million investment in Nedeljkovic was a sound one. He has produced strong numbers in the NHL and gives the Penguins depth at a precarious position. While Nedeljkovic might not be the No. 1 netminder in Pittsburgh, he’s the ultimate insurance policy.
Previous ranking: 15
Points percentage: 55.95%
Next seven days: @ CBJ (Jan. 19), vs. DAL (Jan. 20), vs. VGK (Jan. 22), @ CAR (Jan. 25)
Simon Nemec. New Jersey has a burgeoning rookie sensation in Nemec, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 draft. The 19-year-old blueliner plays with intensity, finesse and no fear of throwing down with league veterans (see: Nemec vs. Brad Marchand). Nemec logs over 20 minutes per game, is smart with the puck and consistently defends well. What more could the Devils want?
Previous ranking: 16
Points percentage: 58.14%
Next seven days: @ STL (Jan. 20), @ MIN (Jan. 23), @ COL (Jan. 24)
Spencer Carbery. Washington tapped rookie head coach Carbery to remake the club into a playoff contender. Right now, the Capitals are in that mix. Carbery has been patient tinkering with his new team and overcame bouts of adversity with poise to prove he can get the most out of what Washington has to offer on the ice.
Previous ranking: 18
Points percentage: 56.67%
Next seven days: @ ARI (Jan. 20), vs. FLA (Jan. 22), @ MIN (Jan. 25)
Ryan O’Reilly. Nashville grabbing O’Reilly on a four-year, $18 million deal is looking like a bargain. The 32-year-old center is on pace to hit 30 goals — which would be a career high — and O’Reilly brings a certain physicality and attitude the Predators need to keep the competition at bay. Expected or not, Nashville found a true top-line performer in O’Reilly.
Previous ranking: 22
Points percentage: 56.67%
Next seven days: @ BUF (Jan. 20), @ DET (Jan. 21), @ PHI (Jan. 23), vs. ARI (Jan. 25)
Jonas Johansson. Tampa Bay likely didn’t expect to lean on Johansson — signed in July on a two-year contract — to start the season. But when Andrei Vasilevskiy underwent surgery in September, it fell on Johansson to keep the Lightning afloat. And he did. Johansson was 8-4-5 with a .894 SV% in Vasilevskiy’s absence to keep an inconsistent Tampa Bay team on track.
Previous ranking: 19
Points percentage: 52.22%
Next seven days: vs. TOR (Jan. 21), vs. CHI (Jan. 24)
Joey Daccord. Seattle had Daccord all along (as in, it selected the goaltender from Ottawa in the expansion draft). But because Daccord signed a fresh two-year contract in the offseason and became the Kraken’s No. 1 netminder for the first time, we’re counting him as a new add. Daccord has been exceptional for Seattle in a starting role and helped it weather the ups and downs of this early season. Talk about found money.
Previous ranking: 14
Points percentage: 54.55%
Next seven days: @ CHI (Jan. 19), vs. DAL (Jan. 21), vs. VGK (Jan. 23), @ MTL (Jan. 25)
Mike Reilly. New York snagged Reilly off waivers from Florida when Adam Pelech was injured, and that move was been quite a steal for GM Lou Lamoriello. Reilly has carved out an effective role on the Islanders’ back end and is the type of low-maintenance, high-character skater Lamoriello loves to target. And all the better that Reilly practically fell into New York’s lap.
Previous ranking: 23
Points percentage: 52.22%
Next seven days: vs. EDM (Jan. 20), vs. STL (Jan. 23), vs. CBJ (Jan. 25)
Yegor Sharangovich. Calgary acquired Sharangovich’s rights from New Jersey in the Tyler Toffoli trade in June and quickly signed him to a two-year deal that has paid fine dividends to date. Sharangovich is a top-three offensive producer for the club (and coming off a recent hat trick performance) who can consistently ignite the Flames’ attack.
Previous ranking: 21
Points percentage: 52.33%
Next seven days: vs. NSH (Jan. 20), vs. PIT (Jan. 22), @ FLA (Jan. 24), @ TB (Jan. 25)
Alex Kerfoot. Arizona added a jack-of-all-trades player in Kerfoot — meaning, Kerfoot can (and has) played just about everywhere for the Coyotes. He rapidly earned coach Andre Tourigny’s trust with a strong defensive commitment and the skill to slide seamlessly from a first- to fourth-line spot. Whatever Arizona needs, Kerfoot has found ways to deliver.
Previous ranking: 24
Points percentage: 51.16%
Next seven days: vs. WSH (Jan. 20), @ CGY (Jan. 23), @ VAN (Jan. 24)
Oskar Sundqvist. St. Louis technically had Sundqvist before bringing him back — two years later — on a one-year deal last summer. Details! What matters is Sundqvist 2.0 is an ideal fit for the Blues. He’s a hard-working, durable forward who can elevate skaters around him and never quits on a puck. It’s that sort of doggedness St. Louis missed when it lost Sundqvist.
Previous ranking: 25
Points percentage: 50.00%
Next seven days: @ BOS (Jan. 20), vs. OTT (Jan. 23), vs. NYI (Jan. 25)
Alex Newhook. Montreal made a great call trading for Newhook over the summer — even though Newhook has spent weeks on the shelf because of a high-ankle sprain. He was superb to start the season (and is still top seven in scoring on the team despite that missed time) and will be a valuable contributor over the life of his four-year deal as the Habs move closer to playoff contention.
Previous ranking: 27
Points percentage: 48.89%
Next seven days: vs. TB (Jan. 20), @ ANA (Jan. 23), @ LA (Jan. 24)
Zach Benson. Buffalo recently promoted rookie Benson to a top-line stint. He had earned his look. Benson has proved to be a trustworthy, responsible and clearly versatile piece for the Sabres, a north-south player who is unfazed by any assignment. At just 18 years old, Benson is repeatedly showing he’s NHL ready.
Previous ranking: 26
Points percentage: 46.59%
Next seven days: @ FLA (Jan. 19), @ CAR (Jan. 21), vs. WSH (Jan. 23), vs. NSH (Jan. 25)
John Hynes. Minnesota didn’t adjust much in the offseason, and its 2023-24 campaign started poorly. Credit to GM Bill Guerin for not wasting time pursuing change when he axed coach Dean Evason on Nov. 27 and hired Hynes. The Wild were 5-10-4 when Hynes took over and have rebounded to the point the playoffs aren’t a pipe dream (perhaps just an uphill battle).
Previous ranking: 28
Points percentage: 42.05%
Next seven days: vs. NJ (Jan. 19), @ EDM (Jan. 23), @ CGY (Jan. 25)
Adam Fantilli. Columbus chose well taking Adam Fantilli at No. 3 overall in June’s draft. The 19-year-old has been invaluable to the Blue Jackets in another injury-plagued campaign, moving throughout the lineup to eventually land an unexpectedly expanded role as a top-six center. Fantilli’s rapid growth has produced good numbers and burgeoning chemistry with multiple teammates.
Previous ranking: 29
Points percentage: 40.00%
Next seven days: vs. WPG (Jan. 20), @ PHI (Jan. 21), @ MTL (Jan. 23), vs. BOS (Jan. 25)
Vladimir Tarasenko. Ottawa got what it paid for with Tarasenko. The veteran is an effective second-line winger making consistent contributions offensively. Given the one-year deal Tarasenko signed, his greatest value to the Senators might still be to come — as a trade candidate before March 8.
Previous ranking: 30
Points percentage: 35.23%
Next seven days: @ SJ (Jan. 20), vs. NYR (Jan. 21), vs. BUF (Jan. 23), @ DAL (Jan. 25)
Leo Carlsson. Anaheim hit the right note taking Carlsson second overall in the 2023 draft. The 19-year-old — just back from a sprained MCL — plays with maturity beyond his years. Carlsson has game-changing potential, is dangerous at both ends of the ice and frustrates opponents with his tenacity. The Ducks are in for years of high-caliber performance from their top pick.
Previous ranking: 31
Points percentage: 31.11%
Next seven days: vs. NYI (Jan. 19), @ VAN (Jan. 22), @ SEA (Jan. 24), @ EDM (Jan. 25)
Connor Bedard. Chicago drafted the generational talent at No. 1 for a reason. The rookie — currently sidelined by a fractured jaw — leads the Blackhawks in every meaningful offensive category and performs all over at 5-on-5 and special teams. Bedard will be itching to regain his form once cleared to return from injury.
Previous ranking: 32
Points percentage: 26.67%
Next seven days: vs. ANA (Jan. 20), @ LA (Jan. 22), vs. NYR (Jan. 23)
Mikael Granlund. San Jose’s list of top performers is short and headlined by newcomer Granlund. He has had a great run individually and injected some life into the Sharks’ otherwise sputtering offense. San Jose got Granlund via a trade last summer. Will it have cause to flip him again before the deadline, and maximize what he has been able to produce so far?
JIM ABBOTT IS sitting at his kitchen table, with his old friend Tim Mead. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they were partners in an extraordinary exercise — and now, for the first time in decades, they are looking at a stack of letters and photographs from that period of their lives.
The letters are mostly handwritten, by children, from all over the United States and Canada, and beyond.
“Dear Mr. Abbott …”
“I have one hand too. … I don’t know any one with one hand. How do you feel about having one hand? Sometimes I feel sad and sometimes I feel okay about it. Most of the time I feel happy.”
“I am a seventh grader with a leg that is turned inwards. How do you feel about your arm? I would also like to know how you handle your problem? I would like to know, if you don’t mind, what have you been called?”
“I can’t use my right hand and most of my right side is paralyzed. … I want to become a doctor and seeing you makes me think I can be what I want to be.”
For 40 years, Mead worked in communications for the California Angels, eventually becoming vice president of media relations. His position in this department became a job like no other after the Angels drafted Abbott out of the University of Michigan in 1988.
There was a deluge of media requests. Reporters from around the world descended on Anaheim, most hoping to get one-on-one time with the young left-handed pitcher with the scorching fastball. Every Abbott start was a major event — “like the World Series,” Angels scout Bob Fontaine Jr. remembers. Abbott, with his impressive amateur résumé (he won the James E. Sullivan Award for the nation’s best amateur athlete in 1997 and an Olympic gold medal in 1988) and his boyish good looks, had star power.
That spring, he had become only the 16th player to go straight from the draft to the majors without appearing in a single minor league game. And then there was the factor that made him unique. His limb difference, although no one called it that back then. Abbott was born without a right hand, yet had developed into one of the most promising pitchers of his generation. He would go on to play in the majors for ten years, including a stint in the mid ’90s with the Yankees highlighted by a no-hitter in 1993.
Abbott, and Mead, too, knew the media would swarm. That was no surprise. There had been swarms in college, and at the Olympics, wherever and whenever Abbott pitched. Who could resist such an inspirational story? But what they hadn’t anticipated were the letters.
The steady stream of letters. Thousands of letters. So many from kids who, like Abbott, were different. Letters from their parents and grandparents. The kids hoping to connect with someone who reminded them of themselves, the first celebrity they knew of who could understand and appreciate what it was like to be them, someone who had experienced the bullying and the feelings of otherness. The parents and grandparents searching for hope and direction.
“I know you don’t consider yourself limited in what you can do … but you are still an inspiration to my wife and I as parents. Your success helps us when talking to Andy at those times when he’s a little frustrated. I’m able to point to you and assure him there’s no limit to what he can accomplish.”
In his six seasons with the Angels, Abbott was assisted by Mead in the process of organizing his responses to the letters, mailing them, and arranging face-to-face meetings with the families who had written to him. There were scores of such meetings. It was practically a full-time job for both of them.
“Thinking back on these meetings with families — and that’s the way I’d put it, it’s families, not just kids — there was every challenge imaginable,” Abbott, now 57, says. “Some accidents. Some birth defects. Some mental challenges that aren’t always visible to people when you first come across somebody. … They saw something in playing baseball with one hand that related to their own experience. I think the families coming to the ballparks were looking for hopefulness. I think they were looking for what it had been that my parents had told me, what it had been that my coaches had told me. … [With the kids] it was an interaction. It was catch. It was smiling. It was an autograph. It was a picture. With the parents, it ran deeper. With the parents, it was what had your parents said to you? What coaches made a difference? What can we expect? Most of all, I think, what can we expect?”
“It wasn’t asking for autographs,” Mead says of all those letters. “They weren’t asking for pictures. They were asking for his time. He and I had to have a conversation because this was going to be unique. You know, you could set up another player to come down and sign 15 autographs for this group or whatever. But it was people, parents, that had kids, maybe babies, just newborn babies, almost looking for an assurance that this is going to turn out all right, you know. ‘What did your parents do? How did your parents handle this?'”
One of the letters Abbott received came from an 8-year-old girl in Windsor, Ontario.
She wrote, “Dear Jim, My name is Tracey Holgate. I am age 8. I have one hand too. My grandpa gave me a picture of you today. I saw you on TV. I don’t know anyone with one hand. How do you feel about having one hand? Sometimes I feel sad and sometimes I feel okay about it. Most of the time I feel happy. I hope to see you play in Detroit and maybe meet you. Could you please send me a picture of you in uniform? Could you write back please? Here is a picture of me. Love, Tracey.”
Holgate’s letter is one of those that has remained preserved in a folder — and now Abbott is reading it again, at his kitchen table, half a lifetime after receiving it. Time has not diminished the power of the letter, and Abbott is wiping away tears.
Today, Holgate is 44 and goes by her married name, Dupuis. She is married with four children of her own. She is a teacher. When she thinks about the meaning of Jim Abbott in her life, it is about much more than the letter he wrote back to her. Or the autographed picture he sent her. It was Abbott, all those years ago, who made it possible for Tracey to dream.
“There was such a camaraderie there,” she says, “an ability to connect with somebody so far away doing something totally different than my 8-year-old self was doing, but he really allowed me to just feel that connection, to feel that I’m not alone, there’s other people that have differences and have overcome them and been successful and we all have our own crosses, we all have our own things that we’re carrying and it’s important to continue to focus on the gifts that we have, the beauty of it.
“I think sometimes differences, disabilities, all those things can be a gift in a package we would never have wanted, because they allow us to be people that have an empathetic heart, an understanding heart, and to see the pain in the people around us.”
Now, years after Abbott’s career ended, he continues to inspire.
Among those he influenced, there are professional athletes, such as Shaquem Griffin, who in 2018 became the first NFL player with one hand. Griffin, now 29, played three seasons at linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks.
Growing up in Florida, he would watch videos of Abbott pitching and fielding, over and over, on YouTube.
“The only person I really looked up to was Jim Abbott at the time,” Griffin says, “which is crazy, because I didn’t know anybody else to look up to. I didn’t know anybody else who was kind of like me. And it’s funny, because when I was really little, I used to be like, ‘Why me? Why this happen to me?’ And I used to be in my room thinking about that. And I used to think to myself, ‘I wonder if Jim Abbott had that same thought.'”
Carson Pickett was born on Sept. 15, 1993 — 11 days after Abbott’s no-hitter. Missing most of her left arm below the elbow, she became, in 2022, the first player with a limb difference to appear for the U.S. women’s national soccer team.
She, too, says that Abbott made things that others told her were impossible seem attainable.
“I knew I wanted to be a professional soccer player,” says Pickett, who is currently playing for the NWSL’s Orlando Pride. “To be able to see him compete at the highest level it gave me hope, and I think that that kind of helped me throughout my journey. … I think ‘pioneer’ would be the best word for him.”
Longtime professional MMA fighter Nick Newell is 39, old enough to have seen Abbott pitch for the Yankees. In fact, when Newell was a child he met Abbott twice, first at a fan event at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan and then on a game day at Yankee Stadium. Newell was one of those kids with a limb difference — like Griffin and Pickett, due to amniotic band syndrome — who idolized Abbott.
“And I didn’t really understand the gravity of what he was doing,” Newell says now, “but for me, I saw someone out there on TV that looked like I did. And I was the only other person I knew that had one hand. And I saw this guy out here playing baseball and it was good to see somebody that looked like me, and I saw him in front of the world.
“He was out there like me and he was just living his life and I think that I owe a lot of my attitude and the success that I have to Jim just going out there and being the example of, ‘Hey, you can do this. Who’s to say you can’t be a professional athlete?’ He’s out there throwing no-hitters against the best baseball players in the world. So, as I got older, ‘Why can’t I wrestle? Why can’t I fight? Why can’t I do this?’ And then it wasn’t until the internet that I heard people tell me I can’t do these things. But by then I had already been doing those things.”
Griffin.
Pickett.
Newell.
Just three of the countless kids who were inspired by Jim Abbott.
When asked if it ever felt like too much, being a role model and a hero, all the letters and face-to-face meetings, Abbott says no — but it wasn’t always easy.
“I had incredible people who helped me send the letters,” he says. “I got a lot more credit sometimes than I deserved for these interactions, to be honest with you. And that happened on every team, particularly with my friend Tim Mead. There was a nice balance to it. There really was. There was a heaviness to it. There’s no denying. There were times I didn’t want to go [to the meetings]. I didn’t want to walk out there. I didn’t want to separate from my teammates. I didn’t want to get up from the card game. I didn’t want to put my book down. I liked where I was at. I was in my environment. I was where I always wanted to be. In a big league clubhouse surrounded by big league teammates. In a big league stadium. And those reminders of being different, I slowly came to realize were never going to go away.”
But being different was the thing that made Abbott more than merely a baseball star. For many people, he has been more than a role model, more than an idol. He is the embodiment of hope and belonging.
“I think more people need to realize and understand the gift of a difference,” Dupuis says. “I think we have to just not box everybody in and allow everybody’s innate light to shine, and for whatever reasons we’ve been created to be here, [let] that light shine in a way that it touches everybody else. Because I think that’s what Jim did. He allowed his light to permeate and that light, in turn, lit all these little children’s lights all over the world, so you have this boom of brightness that’s happening and that’s uncontrollable, that’s beautiful.”
NEW YORK — Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong is projected to receive the largest amount from this season’s $50 million pre-arbitration bonus pool based on his regular-season statistics.
Crow-Armstrong is on track to get $1,091,102, according to WAR calculations through July 8 that Major League Baseball sent to teams, players and agents in a memo Friday that was obtained by The Associated Press.
He earned $342,128 from the pool in 2024.
“I was aware of it after last year, but I have no clue of the numbers,” he said Friday. “I haven’t looked at it one time.”
Pittsburgh pitcher Paul Skenes is second at $961,256, followed by Washington outfielder James Wood ($863,835), Arizona outfielder Corbin Carroll ($798,397), Houston pitcher Hunter Brown ($786,838), Philadelphia pitcher Cristopher Sánchez ($764,854), Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz ($717,479), Boston catcher Carlos Narváez ($703,007), Red Sox outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela ($685,366) and Detroit outfielder Riley Greene ($665,470).
Crow-Armstrong, Skenes, Wood, Carroll, Brown, De La Cruz and Greene have been picked for Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
A total of 100 players will receive the payments, established as part of the 2022 collective bargaining agreement and aimed to get more money to players without sufficient service time for salary arbitration eligibility. The cutoff for 2025 was 2 years, 132 days of major league service.
Players who signed as foreign professionals are excluded.
Most young players have salaries just above this year’s major league minimum of $760,000. Crow-Armstrong has a $771,000 salary this year, Skenes $875,000, Wood $764,400 and Brown $807,400.
Carroll is in the third season of a $111 million, eight-year contract.
As part of the labor agreement, a management-union committee was established that determined the WAR formula used to allocate the bonuses after awards. (A player may receive only one award bonus per year, the highest one he is eligible for.) The agreement calls for an interim report to be distributed the week before the All-Star Game.
Distribution for awards was $9.85 million last year, down from $11.25 million in 2022 and $9.25 million in 2023.
A player earns $2.5 million for winning an MVP or Cy Young award, $1.75 million for finishing second, $1.5 million for third, $1 million for fourth or fifth or for making the All-MLB first team. A player can get $750,000 for winning Rookie of the Year, $500,000 for second or for making the All-MLB second team, $350,000 for third in the rookie race, $250,000 for fourth or $150,000 for fifth.
Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. topped last year’s pre-arbitration bonus pool at $3,077,595, and Skenes was second at $2,152,057 despite not making his big league debut until May 11. Baltimore shortstop Gunnar Henderson was third at $2,007,178.
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Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
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Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
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