SMU coach Rhett Lashlee suggested the December portal window should be eliminated, decrying that players have to make decisions about whether to transfer or play in the College Football Playoff.
Speaking Tuesday during his news conference before a CFP first-round matchup against Penn State on Saturday, Lashlee said having an open portal window while prepping for postseason games is “terrible,” while also noting the decision that Penn State backup quarterback Beau Pribula made to enter the portal.
“I feel so awful for our kids and kids around the country,” Lashlee said. “There’s no other sport at all that has free agency in the season. It’s sad. It’s terrible. You hear the story about their backup quarterback saying, ‘I don’t have a choice.’ That’s wrong. That’s unacceptable. That’s not OK. He shouldn’t have to make that decision.'”
SMU backup quarterback Preston Stone, who lost his starting job in Week 3, has chosen to stay with the Mustangs for their playoff run, but Lashlee said, “We’re working with him, but it’s still a juggling act.”
The December portal window opened Dec. 9 and closes Dec. 28 — although players whose teams made it to the CFP have a five-day window to enter, starting the day after their season ends.
“The real easy thing is you don’t have a transfer portal in December. That’s the real easy answer, and it solves all the problems,” Lashlee said. “Why in the world would we put kids in a position where they’ve got to decide, do I transfer or play in the playoff? Do I transfer or play my bowl game? Scholastically, it doesn’t make sense either, because your years end in May, not in December.”
Lashlee said college football has to take another look at the calendar to help alleviate what is happening now. In addition to players who may be considering a transfer, Lashlee said, “People are bombarding our roster, trying to pick people off our roster, and we’re trying to focus on the playoff. So yeah, it’s real easy: Don’t have a transfer portal in December. Go to the spring.”
If that were to happen, Lashlee said they should also consider moving more toward an NFL model when it comes to spring practices, which would begin after the portal closes — like OTAs in the NFL.
“We talk about making a system that is all great for [players], but we haven’t,” Lashlee said. “That’s part of your job as adults, is do what’s best for young people, not what they want necessarily, and they don’t want this. Yes, they want the ability to transfer and go where they want to go if they don’t like their situation. Yes, they want the ability to make money on their name, image and likeness. Neither one of those are bad things.
“We coaches have been saying this for the last three or four years with all these changes, and what happens is we just make all these random changes because we don’t want to get sued, or we don’t want to do this, we don’t want to do that. We don’t think about the long-term effects it has on the young people that we’re supposed to be serving.”
The trophy is awarded annually “to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League.” The award is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.
The 21-year-old Hutson received the trophy at a surprise party his family had organized to celebrate his selection as a finalist.
Hutson led all rookies with 66 points, and his 60 assists tied the single-season NHL record for most by a rookie defenseman alongside Larry Murphy.
Celebrini, 18, played 70 games and scored 25 goals — second among rookies behind the Philadelphia Flyers‘ Matvei Michkov — and his 63 points tied with Michkov for second.
Wolf, 24, was 29-16-8 with a 2.64 goals-against average, .910 save percentage and three shutouts for the Flames, who selected him in the seventh round of the 2019 draft.
BOSTON — Marco Sturm got his first taste of the passionate Bruins fans when he was traded to Boston for No. 1 draft pick — and soon-to-be NHL MVP — Joe Thornton.
“I mean, it wasn’t my fault, right?” the former Bruins forward told chuckling reporters Tuesday at a news conference to introduce him as the team’s coach. “I got here, and it was difficult. I’m not going to lie. You read the paper or social media or even you go on the street, people will let you know, right?
“But also it pushes you. And I saw it in the positive way,” Sturm said. “I’ve got such good memories here. And I know the fans, as soon as they feel that there’s something good happening here, they will support you. I know that. It kind of goes the other way, too. But I don’t want to talk about that. I want to look forward.”
A three-time Olympian and first-round draft pick who played five of his 14 NHL seasons for the Bruins, Sturm led Germany to a silver medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and spent the next six years in the Los Angeles Kings organization, the last three as head coach of its AHL affiliate.
The 46-year-old former left wing replaces Joe Sacco, who finished the season as the interim coach after Jim Montgomery was fired in November. Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said that as the team tries to rebuild after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016 it was important to have a coach “who understands our fan base and values the same things — of being incredibly hard out each and every night.”
The Bruins marked the occasion with a news conference in their offices overlooking Causeway Street and the TD Garden. Former captain Patrice Bergeron, who assisted on Sturm’s overtime game winner in the 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park, was in the front row as a show of support. German chocolate cupcakes — a nod to the new coach’s heritage — were served.
Sturm said he never considered coaching while he played, but he started working with his own kids before getting the job as head coach and general manager of the German national team in 2015.
“And that’s where I really realized, ‘This is actually me,'” he said. “And that’s where I have passion. That’s where I’m good at. And then to go after that.”
He put his plans for family time on hold and spent six years living in Los Angeles, away from his wife and children.
“I was chasing my dream,” Sturm said, adding that the children, who are now 19 and 21, missed Boston since moving away. “My kids grew up there. They always wanted to come back. And here I am. Now they get their wish.”
Sturm said he wouldn’t have taken just any opening, but the Bruins presented a team that has strong goaltending in Jeremy Swayman and a solid core led by defenseman Charlie McAvoy and forward David Pastrnak that could push for the playoffs if it stays healthy. Boston also stockpiled draft picks and young talent from the midseason trade deadline purge that dealt several veterans — including Brad Marchand, the only remaining member of the Bruins’ 2011 Stanley Cup championship roster.
After posting 100-plus points in six straight non-pandemic-shortened seasons — including a Presidents’ Trophy in 2023, when they set NHL records of 65 wins and 135 points — the Bruins finished with 76 points this season; only three teams were worse.
“Every job — it doesn’t matter if you’re in Boston or not — will be a challenge. But it’s a good challenge. I love challenges,” Sturm said. “I know the expectations here. I know how it is. But as long as I’m putting my work and preparation in, I know I will be in good shape.”
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Edmonton Oilers defenseman Jake Walman was fined a total of $10,000 by the NHL on Tuesday for two separate incidents in their Game 3 loss to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.
Walman was fined $5,000 for “an incident involving Florida’s bench” during the second period Monday night. Walman had his glove stolen by Panthers winger A.J. Greer, who deposited the glove into the benches. Walman responded by taking his water bottle and spraying a stream at Florida’s players while standing at his own bench, at least four times.
“Yeah, I mean I obviously did that for a reason. I won’t go into the details. It’s just gamesmanship, I guess,” Walman said after the 6-1 loss to Florida, which gave the Panthers a 2-1 series lead. “I’ve just got to realize there’s cameras everywhere and they see that stuff.”
Walman was also fined $5,000 for roughing Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk in the third period. He delivered a series of gloved punches to Tkachuk’s head while the Panthers winger’s arms were being held by Edmonton defenseman John Klingberg. Walman was assessed a pair of minor penalties for roughing as well as a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The fines were the maximum allowed under the NHL collective bargaining agreement. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
The Oilers and Panthers combined for 140 penalty minutes in Game 3, the fourth-highest total in a Stanley Cup Final game. Center Leon Draisaitl called their third period, which featured 122 combined penalty minutes, “a UFC fight” between the teams.
“It was just penalty chaos tonight,” Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner said. “I’m not sure what I really make of it. I think you just see there’s a lot of emotions that are going into this. We’re trying to win a Cup. They’re trying to win a Cup. So there’s a fight.”
Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final is scheduled for Thursday night in Sunrise.