Heiskanen sets sights on Norris: ‘I want to be the best defenseman in the NHL’

Dallas Stars workhorse Miro Heiskanen is gunning to be the top defenseman in the NHL – and he wants the hardware to back it up.

“That’s one thing I really want to win,” he told NHL.com’s Dan Rosen. “I want to be the best defenseman in the NHL.”

Heiskanen finished seventh in Norris Trophy voting in 2022-23, a personal best. He broke out offensively with a career-high 73 points in 79 games while averaging a whopping 25:29 per contest – the sixth-highest total of all rearguards league-wide.

“I kind of knew that it is there, that I can score more points and be more involved offensively,” he said. “I think I was able to put it all together. It didn’t take away the defense by playing more offense.”

Prior to this past season, Heiskanen’s career high in points was 36. Despite the offensive surge, he finished behind Erik Karlsson, Cale Makar, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Morrissey, and Dougie Hamilton on the final Norris ballot.

Heiskanen has been tabbed as a franchise defenseman since being drafted third overall in 2017. He broke into the NHL at 19 and has registered 204 points in 354 career games while never averaging fewer than 23 minutes per game over an entire season.

Although he’s motivated to be recognized as the NHL’s top blue-liner, he won’t let his individual goals overshadow the Stars’ championship aspirations.

“It’s the thing I want to win, but I don’t think about it too much during the season,” he said. “It’s like I always say, I try to help my team win the Stanley Cup, but if there is a chance to win the Norris Trophy as well that would be great. Hopefully next year.”

The Stars reached the Western Conference Final this past spring and are expected to be in the mix again with a deep roster that added Matt Duchene in free agency.

Giannis: I won’t sign Bucks extension unless ‘everybody’s on the same page’

Giannis Antetokounmpo will not commit long term to the Milwaukee Bucks next summer if he believes the franchise isn’t aligned with his goal of another NBA title.

“The real question’s not going to be this year – numbers-wise it doesn’t make sense,” Antetokounmpo told The New York Times’ Tania Ganguli about penning an extension. “But next year, next summer it would make more sense for both parties. Even then, I don’t know.”

Antetokounmpo continued: “I would not be the best version of myself if I don’t know that everybody’s on the same page, everybody’s going for a championship, everybody’s going to sacrifice time away from their family like I do. And if I don’t feel that, I’m not signing.”

This year, the 28-year-old star will be eligible for a three-year, approximately $173-million extension, which would only elongate the initial five-year, $228-million super-max deal he signed with Milwaukee in December 2020. However, by waiting until the summer of 2024, he could secure a bigger windfall by adding on another year at max value.

He can also wait until 2025 and become a free agent by declining to exercise a $51.9-million option for 2025-26. Doing so opens up the possibility of signing an entirely new maximum contract. While that could land him the largest deal among all his options, it also presents the most risk due to the wait.

The seven-time All-Star also admitted that changes behind Milwaukee’s bench could influence the decision about his future. The Bucks fired Mike Budenholzer this summer after he spent five seasons in charge of the team and won the organization’s first championship in a half-century in 2021. After crashing out in five games to the Miami Heat in the first round this year, the Bucks replaced Budenholzer with Adrian Griffin, who has never been a full-time head coach in the NBA.

“You’ve got to see the dynamics,” Antetokounmpo told Ganguli. “How the coach is going to be, how we’re going to be together. At the end of the day, I feel like all my teammates know and the organization knows that I want to win a championship. As long as we’re on the same page with that and you show me and we go together to win a championship, I’m all for it. The moment I feel like, oh, yeah, we’re trying to rebuild – “

He continued: “There will never be hard feelings with the Milwaukee Bucks. I believe that we’ve had 10 unbelievable years, and there’s no doubt I gave everything for the city of Milwaukee. Everything. Every single night, even when I’m hurt. I am a Milwaukee Buck. I bleed green. I know this. This is my team, and it’s going to forever be my team. I don’t forget people that were there for me and allowed me to be great and to showcase who I am to the world and gave me the platform. But we have to win another one.”

Antetokounmpo has spent all 10 years of his career in Milwaukee, where, along with winning a title and being named Finals MVP, he has twice been named MVP of the regular season. He’s also a seven-time All-NBA selection and was awarded the NBA’s 2019-20 Defensive Player of the Year honor.

Britt Baker Talks Taking A Backseat To Rest Of AEW Women’s Division

Britt Baker will be one of four women vying for the AEW Women’s World Championship this Sunday at AEW All In London at Wembley Stadium. During a recent interview with DAZN Wrestling, Baker explained why it’s time for her to be back in the championship spotlight.

“I think right now is the time for sure to remind everybody who I am, that I am the first female signed,” Baker said. “Again, I sound like a broken record, but it’s because it’s true and I mean it and I believe it, that I am the face of the women’s division. You can’t say ‘AEW women’ without thinking of me. That’s a fact, and I know it, and I’m proud of that because I worked really, really hard for that.”

She continued, “With that being said, I’m well aware that I’ve taken a respectful backseat for the past few months, maybe even a year, and that’s okay. Maybe even taken quite a few losses, and that’s okay, and I’ve learned from it. But now I’m motivated more than ever and I’m ready to show everybody again who I am and I think it’s time for me to be the champ again. It’s time to take another step into the ‘DMD era.’ I think that was one of the highlights of the women’s division was when I was champion and I have a lot of pride in that. I think we had a lot of interest and a lot of eyes on it… I’m ready to do it all again and make it better.”

Baker previously held the AEW Women’s title from May 2021 until March 2022. Her last title match took place at “AEW Dynamite Grand Slam” last September.

Lillard: Winning title ‘at the top of my list’ as twilight of career approaches

Amid a long-spanning planned exit from the Portland Trail Blazers, superstar point guard Damian Lillard is clear about his priorities as he reaches the end of his prime.

“The desire (to win a championship) now is as high as it’s probably going to be,” Lillard told Andscape’s Marc J. Spears, “That’s literally the thing at the top of my list.”

Lillard confirmed he requested a trade earlier in the offseason but declined to offer details about his reported preferred landing spot of the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat.

The 33-year-old previously had issues with Portland’s younger roster, which has failed to compete in a loaded Western Conference. Despite a career average of 25.7 points per game in the postseason, Lillard has only advanced past the first round three times and has never made the NBA Finals.

Though he intends to leave Portland, Lillard said he remains committed to the city that he’s played in for 11 seasons.

“I love the city of Portland,” Lillard said. “Every initiative that I’ve started, I’ll continue, and I’ll finish regardless of anything.”

Mahomes wants Chiefs to ‘keep building’ toward rare Super Bowl repeat

Kansas City Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes reported for training camp Tuesday and is already thinking about how the reigning Super Bowl champions can keep competing in a stacked AFC.

“The thing this year is how we can keep building?” the quarterback said, according to NFL.com’s Michael Baca. “Obviously, we won the Super Bowl last year and it was amazing, but we still have a lot of young guys, and we want to continue to get better and better. You look around the AFC, everyone has gotten better. So you want to continue to build and build and not be satisfied with what we did last year and see if we can take that next step.”

The New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens, among other AFC teams, significantly improved their rosters this offseason. New York made headlines when it traded for four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers. Meanwhile, Baltimore re-signed quarterback Lamar Jackson, added two new starting receivers, and hired Todd Monken as the new offensive coordinator.

Kansas City won its second Super Bowl with Mahomes in February. Only seven NFL franchises have ever lifted the Lombardi Trophy in back-to-back years – the New England Patriots were the most recent club to achieve the feat in 2003-04. Led by Mahomes, Kansas City reached consecutive big games in 2019-20 but fell short against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV after winning the previous campaign.

The Chiefs, who’ve hosted the AFC title game for five straight seasons, bolstered their offense by signing tackles Jawaan Taylor and Donovan Smith and drafting wide receiver Rashee Rice in the second round. Defensively, the AFC West club used a first-round pick on defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah. Kansas City also signed lineman Charles Omenihu.

“I’m always confident that we have a chance to get to the Super Bowl, but I understand it’s a process, I understand it’s not easy,” Mahomes added. “We want to have a special group that kinda can carry out a legacy, and I think we have the right guys and now let’s just go out there and do it.”

The quarterback also addressed the ankle injury that bothered him for most of the playoffs, saying it “feels great” ahead of the new season.

“Going into OTAs a little bit, I was still a little timid about running and cutting and doing stuff like that,” Mahomes said. “But when I got closer to that minicamp and that later OTA stage, I got the confidence back in my ankle. I’m sure I’m not gonna be running a lot right now, but we’ll be testing it a lot.”

The Chiefs kick off the 2023 season against the Detroit Lions on Sept. 7.

Tyreek: I’ll catch 2K yards, Dolphins will win Super Bowl this season

Tyreek Hill said he’ll enter the record books while helping the Miami Dolphins end their Super Bowl drought this upcoming season.

“I’ll break 2,000 (receiving) yards (this season),” Hill said on the latest edition of his “It Needed To Be Said” podcast. “All I’m gonna say is 2,000 yards was on my bucket list to get, bro, before I leave this league. And y’all think Cheetah gonna leave without doing something he promised himself?”

He added: “Two thousand yards and another Super Bowl, we getting that.”

Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson holds the single-season record for receiving yards with 1,964 in 2012. Only one other player has topped the 1,900-yard mark in a season, as Los Angeles Rams star Cooper Kupp racked up 1,947 yards in 2021. Kupp became the first receiver ever to top 2,000 yards in the regular season and playoffs combined after leading the Rams to a Super Bowl victory that year.

Hill set a career high with 1,710 yards in his first season with the Dolphins last year. The 29-year-old, whom Miami acquired in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs during the 2022 offseason, also caught a career-high 119 passes and seven touchdowns en route to earning the fourth first-team All-Pro nod of his career.

A fifth-round pick in 2016, Hill said in April that he intends to play 10 seasons in the NFL and retire at the end of his current contract with Miami. The seven-time Pro Bowler is currently signed through the 2026 season, according to Spotrac.

In 2022, Hill helped the Dolphins make the playoffs for the first time since 2016, but their run ended with a wild-card loss to the Buffalo Bills. Miami hasn’t won a postseason game since the 2000 campaign, and its last Super Bowl appearance dates back to the 1984 season when the team lost to the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XIX.

The Dolphins haven’t won the big game since lifting the Lombardi Trophy in back-to-back seasons in 1972-73.

Original Golden Knights hope to fulfill owner’s wish of Cup by 6th year

Golden Knights owner Bill Foley was aggressive from the beginning, saying he wanted to win the Stanley Cup in six years.

Vegas nearly won it the first year, making the Stanley Cup Final before losing in five games to the Washington Capitals. For the players on that team, high expectations came from the top and came early.

“Maybe (Foley) saw something that we didn’t see,” said Jonathan Marchessault, one of the players on that 2017-18 team.

Marchessault and his Vegas teammates have the opportunity to make good on the owner’s projection. The Knights, who are in their sixth season, take a 3-1 series lead into Tuesday’s Stanley Cup Final game against the Florida Panthers.

Meaning the Stanley Cup will be in T-Mobile Arena for the second time. The first time was in 2018 when the Capitals skated around the rink holding the cherished prize.

The Knights have their own version of the Original Six, the half-dozen members still in the Vegas dressing room who were on that inaugural club. They called themselves the Golden Misfits, a collection of players assembled from teams around the league through the expansion draft and trades.

The six Misfits have ingrained in their collective memory of coming so close to what would have been a shocking championship, and they have been working ever since to get back to that point. Those players are careful to point out no celebrations can take place unless they beat the Panthers.

“It would be sweet, but at the same time, we can’t get ahead of ourselves,” said Shea Theodore, an original Knight. “It’s good to be at this point, but at the same time, it’s not done. We can talk about that after, but our focus is on going to work for 60 minutes. I feel like if we’re on top of our game, then we should be good.”

The Misfits have their fingerprints all over these playoffs.

William Karlsson has scored 11 goals, and his defense has been key. Coach Bruce Cassidy usually rolls his four lines, but played a little bit of a matchup game in the second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers by often putting Karlsson’s line on the ice with Connor McDavid.

Theodore’s nine assists are third among playoff defensemen. He snapped a 27-game goal drought with a key score in Game 1 against Florida and had an assist.

William Carrier, Brayden McNabb and Reilly Smith also made important contributions.

“All the guys have stepped out, had big moments and played solid,” McNabb said. “I think it kind of (speaks) to the depth on our team. When you have that buy-in, it’s a pretty hard team to beat.”

Vegas has been tough to beat from the beginning.

Facing the usual low expectations of an expansion team, the bond between team and city began to be forged after the mass shooting Oct. 1, 2017, that initially claimed 58 lives. The death total from what in Las Vegas is commonly referred to as One October has since been revised to 60.

More than providing a distraction for a hurting city, the Knights won from the beginning. They surprisingly made the playoffs and then went 12-3 in the first three rounds to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

After falling short to the Capitals, management decided to begin taking apart the team and setting the stage to bring in high-profile players, eventually adding the likes of Mark Stone, Jack Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo. The Knights also are on the third coach despite making the postseason each year but once.

This season’s team bears little resemblance to the first. Except for those six remaining players.

“We came that close in the first year, but there are a lot of guys in this room that have been playing a long time, a lot of hard games, a lot of battles trying to get to this moment,” Theodore said.

Foley set the expectations from beginning.

Playoffs in three. Cup in six.

“After we lost in the finals the first year, Bill said, ‘OK, Stanley Cup in three,’” Smith said. “I don’t know if that got published, but we’ve felt we’ve had the team every year to push and to challenge for the Stanley Cup. We’re in a better spot today, but there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Allen focused on bringing Lombardi Trophy to Buffalo

Bills quarterback Josh Allen is focused on bringing a Super Bowl victory to Buffalo.

“Just understanding our window, and I want to give everything that I have for as long as I play,” Allen said Tuesday, per team reporter Maddy Glab.

“I’m not saying that I haven’t done that in the past, but there’s always new ways that I can find to get better and not being complacent with what I’m doing on the field, understanding that there’s a lot of plays that we left out there. And, statistically, you look at it, we were a top three-to-four offense in the league last year, and it wasn’t good enough. So, just losing the playoffs isn’t fun, you know?”

The Bills have made the playoffs every year since 2019 but have failed to reach the Super Bowl. An AFC Championship Game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020 is the closest they’ve come.

“And I so badly want to bring a Super Bowl here to Buffalo, and I just don’t want anything to get in the way of allowing me to be the best quarterback that I can be for this team,” Allen said.

This offseason, Buffalo added first-round tight end Dalton Kincaid, second-round offensive lineman O’Cyrus Torrence, free-agent running back Damien Harris, and free-agent offensive lineman Connor McGovern in an effort to bolster the offensive talent surrounding Allen.

“I’ve seen a different Josh this offseason, not that it was bad before, but he’s got a new sense of focus and determination, which is good,” head coach Sean McDermott said.

Allen has a 52-24 record as a starter in the regular season, and Buffalo has won three consecutive AFC East titles. The Bills will look to continue their regular-season dominance when they face the New York Jets in Week 1.

Cody Rhodes Still Aims To Beat Roman Reigns For The Undisputed WWE Universal Title

As part of the 2023 WWE draft, Cody Rhodes remains a member of the “WWE Raw” roster, while Roman Reigns has become exclusive to “WWE SmackDown.” However, speaking to “ComicBook Nation” about his recent WrestleMania loss, Rhodes has reiterated that his sights are still set on Reigns and the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship despite being positioned on different brands.

“The goal is the same for me,” Rhodes said. “I came here wanting one thing. It doesn’t mean other stories won’t happen that will also be finished, and it doesn’t mean there aren’t other milestones. … But the most important thing to me is still the championship that sits on Roman’s shoulders.” Rhodes then made sure to add that a lot would need to happen in order for that rematch to come to fruition.

Rhodes also commented on the returning WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which will be exclusive to “Raw.” Though his top priority still seems to be the title held by Reigns, the “American Nightmare” stated that he still has interest in pursuing the new championship.

“[With] how WrestleMania 39 ended, a lot of people wonder how [I would] look at this,” Rhodes continued. “I try not to get into the discussion on it, because it’s more one of those things where, in my mind, the goal hasn’t changed, but also other things are going to come up.” The “Raw” star stated that he’s more focused on his upcoming match with Brock Lesnar at the moment.

Rhodes vs. Lesnar is set to take place this Saturday at WWE Backlash. The event will emanate live from the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, marking the first time in 18 years the company has held a TV, PPV, or PLE taping in the country.

Liv Morgan Opens Up About Having ‘Baby Fever’

Liv Morgan experienced the biggest year of her career in 2022 when she won Money in the Bank and quickly cashed in to capture her first “SmackDown” Women’s Championship. While she remains focused on winning another title in WWE, she’s also thinking about her future once her in-ring days are over. Morgan recently appeared on “Out of Character” and opened up to Ryan Satin about possibly becoming a mother.

“I never thought that for myself,” Morgan said. “Honestly it’s really weird what changed it, and I don’t know why this was the moment.” Morgan shared that she’s known Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch’s daughter, Roux, since she was born. They saw each other every week at “Raw” until Morgan moved to “SmackDown” over the summer. She explained, “We did mixed live events this past weekend and I got to see Roux. For some reason, just seeing her eight months later and how much she’s grown, and seeing Becky be a mom, knowing she left at the height of her career, then had this baby and is still going on so strong, succeeding in other things as well. I don’t know. Just seeing Roux in that moment, I had a little bit of baby fever.”

Morgan explained that she’s always loved kids, but never saw herself as a mom. The 28-year-old shared that she feels like something has been missing in her life as of late, although she’s perfectly happy with how her WWE career is going. Ultimately, Morgan sees how Lynch looks so fulfilled balancing her career and motherhood and wonders if that will be her path one day.