D.J. Smith: ‘Inner competition’ key to Senators snapping playoff drought

Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith says competition within the team will be crucial for the club to return to the playoffs.

“I think the biggest thing is the inner competition,” Smith said, per TSN. “We don’t just have one or two top forwards or defensemen. We have guys that can take another spot on any given day. The job of the coach is to recognize who’s going and put them on the ice when they’re going.

“That’s how we feel we can get ourselves over the hump, is that inner competition among the team.”

The Senators haven’t made the postseason since 2016-17 when they fell one win short of reaching the Stanley Cup Final. It’s been an arduous rebuild since, but the club is on the upswing thanks to a young core spearheaded by captain Brady Tkachuk and burgeoning superstar Tim Stutzle.

Ottawa was highly active this offseason in hopes of making a splash in the deep Atlantic Division, signing Vladimir Tarasenko and Joonas Korpisalo while also trading winger Alex DeBrincat.

The Senators also project to have prized trade acquisition Jakob Chychrun and second-line center Josh Norris, who was limited to eight games in 2022-23 due to injury, for the entire upcoming campaign. Smith believes the inclusion of Norris alone in the lineup will make a significant impact.

“The biggest thing for us is we have to be healthy. If we’re healthy, we’re going to be a really competitive hockey team,” he said. “Especially with Josh, we’re a completely different hockey team.”

Ottawa’s 86 points last season were its highest total since it last made the playoffs but was only good enough for 11th place in the conference and sixth in the division.

Kings finally end longest playoff drought in NBA history

Light the playoff beam.

The Sacramento Kings clinched a long-awaited postseason berth and snapped the longest playoff drought in NBA history thanks to their dominant 120-80 win Wednesday over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Sacramento shot 45.7% from the field and drained 18-of-48 attempts from downtown for its third victory in four games.

Malik Monk had a team-high 19 points, Domantas Sabonis posted another double-double, and Keegan Murray broke the NBA single-season rookie record for 3-point field goals.

Sacramento last made the playoffs in 2006 under Rick Adelman. With a starting lineup of Mike Bibby, Bonzi Wells, Metta World Peace (then known as Ron Artest), Kenny Thomas, and Brad Miller, the Kings lost their first-round clash with the San Antonio Spurs in six games.

After that season, the Kings elected not to retain Adelman, whose contract expired. Between then and the end of the 2021-22 season, the franchise employed 11 different head coaches, who went a combined 467-809 (36.6 winning percentage) over 16 consecutive losing seasons.

Only five of the 31 head coaches in franchise history have cumulative winning records with the Kings: Adelman, Les Harrison, Jack McMahon, Cotton Fitzsimmons, and current bench boss Mike Brown. That includes the franchise’s time as the Kansas City Kings, Cincinnati Royals, and Rochester Royals.

The Kings’ 16-year drought edged the Los Angeles Clippers in 2022 as the longest in NBA history. The Clippers went 15 seasons without making the playoffs in a stretch spanning three different cities. Their skid began in 1977 when they were the Buffalo Braves and continued throughout their entire six-year existence as the San Diego Clippers. They didn’t make the playoffs until 1992 – eight years after moving to L.A.

After the Seattle Mariners qualified for Major League Baseball’s playoffs in 2022, the Kings took over the dubious record for the longest active streak without a playoff appearance in the four major North American sports leagues. Before then, the Mariners hadn’t made the postseason in 21 years.

With Sacramento playoff-bound, the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and NFL’s New York Jets now share the record for longest playoff drought at 11 seasons.

Knicks lock up playoff spot, Celtics bound for play-in after loss

The New York Knicks are a playoff team again.

The Knicks clinched their first postseason berth since 2013 on Wednesday with the Boston Celtics‘ loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Though Wednesday’s result ensures New York will finish as a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks can still climb higher before the end of the regular season. Tom Thibodeau’s side is only half a game behind the Atlanta Hawks for fourth in the East with three games left to play. The Knicks are also tied with the Miami Heat at 38-31, but the Heat sit fifth because they own the head-to-head tiebreaker over New York.

Boston’s defeat also means the Celtics can finish no higher than seventh in the East and must progress through the play-in tournament to reach the first round of the playoffs. The Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers will also be in the tournament, with the Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls still battling for the fourth and final spot.

The Knicks last made the playoffs after posting a 54-28 regular-season record under head coach Mike Woodson with an offense carried by Carmelo Anthony, JR Smith, and Amar’e Stoudemire. New York eventually fell in six games in the conference semifinals to an Indiana Pacers squad led by Paul George, David West, George Hill, and Roy Hibbert.

Mariners’ playoff drought extends to 19 seasons

The Seattle Mariners were eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday despite not playing.

With both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Houston Astros winning, Seattle’s postseason drought extended to 19 seasons, the longest active stretch in the big four North American professional sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL).

The Blue Jays defeated the New York Yankees to clinch the last American League wild-card spot and the Astros clubbed the Texas Rangers to ensure the Mariners could no longer catch them for the second AL West position.

The Mariners last reached the playoffs in 2001 when they posted the best regular-season record since the schedule expanded to 162 games by going 116-46. However, they were bounced by the Yankees in five games during the ALCS.

The starting lineup for that final playoff game to date for the franchise is a real blast from the past.

ORDER	PLAYER	POSITION
1	Ichiro Suzuki	LF
2	Mike Cameron	CF
3	Bret Boone	2B
4	Edgar Martinez	DH
5	Jay Buhner	RF
6	John Olerud	1B
7	Dan Wilson	C
8	Carlos Guillen	SS
9	David Bell	3B

Aaron Sele started the game and reliever Jose Paniagua remains the most recent Mariners pitcher to toe the rubber in a playoff contest.

Seattle will wrap up its season with a four-game set against the AL West-leading Oakland Athletics.

Dalton donates to Buffalo cancer center as thank-you to Bills fans for support

Andy Dalton‘s foundation was flooded with donations after he helped end the Bills‘ 17-year playoff drought last season, and now the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback is repaying Buffalo fans for their generosity.

Dalton and his wife, Jordan, announced Wednesday that his foundation will make a donation to the Roswell Park Cancer Center in Buffalo.

The Bills host the Bengals in a preseason matchup on Aug. 26.

Mariners now own longest major-league playoff drought

With the Buffalo Bills clinching their first playoff berth in 17 seasons Sunday, the Seattle Mariners now possess the longest postseason drought among North American major-league teams in any sport.

The Bills hadn’t made the postseason since 1999, when they lost the AFC wild-card game to the Tennessee Titans. Thanks to defeating the division-rival Miami Dolphins and a loss by the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo will face the Jacksonville Jaguars on Jan. 7.

One fan base’s good news is another city’s reminder of mediocrity, though, as the Mariners now hold the longest active stretch without a playoff appearance, spanning 16 seasons.

Seattle hasn’t been in the playoffs since its unceremonious exit in 2001. The club followed a historically dominant 116-win campaign by losing the American League Championship Series 4-1 to the New York Yankees.

Like the Bills, the Mariners have never won a championship.

The Mariners recently lost out on Shohei Ohtani to divisional rivals the Los Angeles Angels, and also share the AL West with the World Series champion Houston Astros, who seem poised to contend for the foreseeable future.

If the Mariners do squeeze into the playoffs in 2018, the longest active playoff drought in pro sports would shift back to the NFL. The Cleveland Browns have been on the outside looking in for 15 seasons and just completed a 0-16 campaign.

Bills end longest playoff drought in pro sports with win, Bengals’ upset of Ravens

The Buffalo Bills have circled the wagons.

By virtue of their victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday and the Baltimore Ravens‘ loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Bills earned the sixth and final AFC playoff spot, ending the longest drought in pro sports. Their last playoff appearance came in 1999.

The Bills defeated the Dolphins 22-16 to end the year at 9-7, and needed either a loss by the Ravens or losses by both the Los Angeles Chargers and Tennessee Titans to get in. The Chargers and Titans both won, but the Ravens lost on a last-minute touchdown by the Bengals.

The Bills enter the playoffs as the conference’s sixth seed and will play the Jacksonville Jaguars at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Jan. 7.

The game pits the Bills against the team’s former coach, Doug Marrone, who opted out of his contract with Buffalo in 2014 and took over the Jaguars in Week 14 of the 2016 season.

Bills’ Ryan on playoff guarantee: ‘I let my mouth get ahead of everything’

Rex Ryan started his tenure with the Buffalo Bills with a fiery approach, and now he wishes he brought a little less heat.

The Bills head coach regrets making a preseason guarantee that his club would snap the NFL’s longest playoff drought.

“I think we got a great thing going here. We just didn’t produce the wins I thought we would,” Ryan told WGR 550 on Monday. “The thing that kind of gives this team a black eye when we’re looking at it, is that I let my mouth get ahead of everything. And I think if I would have come in there and just said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna compete’ and do all that stuff, maybe we wouldn’t have such a bad feeling about this team.”

The Bills are mired at 7-8 and can only hope to play spoiler in Week 17 against theNew York Jets, Ryan’s former club.

“I know it’s been 15 years since the Bills made the playoffs,” Ryan said during his introductory press conference in January. “Well get ready, man, we’re going. We are going … My message to our team is to get ready. Start preparing now. Start preparing that we’re going to be playing games in January.”

With a roster brimming with talent, the roster needs to perform better in Ryan’s second year with the club. Otherwise, scrutiny will continue to mount upon the Bills’ brazen head coach.