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Steel’s Corner: To Playoffs or Not to Playoffs, that is the question for the Steelers
To Playoffs or Not to Playoffs, that is the question for the Steelers!
The final two games of the regular season are upon the Pittsburgh Steelers. And they are potentially on the verge of a playoff berth, provided the stars,planets, and moon all align, but of course, that means that the Steelers need to win out!
Given that the Steelers are currently “In the Hunt” but basically on the outside looking into the playoffs. What with the two devastating losses to the Cardinals and then to the Patriots in successive weeks. The win last week to the rival Bengals only makes this cut a little deeper. Let me bend your eyes for a moment.
On the weekend of Thanksgiving, the Steelers had just defeated the Bengals for the first time this season and, at 7-4, had a good hold on not only a playoff berth but even potentially the division. It was the first game since Matt Canada had been fired, and the team put up 421 yards in that win against Cincinnati. Everything and everyone was riding that high of Victory Formation!
The next two games are against opponents that have a combined 4-20 record this season in the NFL. Kenny Pickett was to lead the team against two teams that had a suspect defense and could only muster four wins between the two teams all year to this point. There was confidence abounded in press conferences, and some help was returning on defense for these next two games, and that is when the tires came off.
The Arizona Cardinals came into Pittsburgh for a homecoming game for James Connor. That is just what happened, as James Conner put up over 100 yards rushing and scored a touchdown to cap off the fact that Kenny Pickett went down with an ankle injury, and Mitch Trubisky had to come in and mop up literally. Pittsburgh did what they could least afford to do: lose to a 2-10 team.
If that was not a bed of roses, how about if they go from bad to worse when the Patriots opened a can of whoop-ass on the Steelers in front of a home crowd. The Steelers have dropped another game to a 2-10 team this season in back-to-back weeks. Of all the things that the team could ill afford to do was lose two games in a row to two teams going the opposite direction this year. Can I put my finger on the facts as to what led to these losses today? Well, how about a defense that gave up considerable yardage and points?
Not only did they allow for a 100-yard rusher one week and a 240-yard passer the following week, but they also gave up 51 points to two of the lowest-rated offenses in the league. These two games, by far, were the worst performances by the Steelers this season, from special teams to coaching, to the offense or lack thereof.
Just when you thought, alright, there is no way that the Steelers could drop three in a row after losing to two 2-10 teams in back-to-back weeks, right? Well, that is precisely what happened as the Colts proceeded to dismantle the Steelers as they dropped their third game in a row to the Colts 13-30. In case you are counting, and I am, that is 81 points that this defense gave up in three weeks, and as far as I am concerned, it does not matter that your offense is impotent, but your defense is not even able to stop the lowest ranked offenses in the league.
Now, just a few days before kick-off of the final two games of the regular season for the Steelers, the team is not in control of their own destiny when they had it in their grasp only a few short weeks ago. Because of these losses, this team needs a lot of help even to get a chance at the playoffs this year. Not to mention that this team needs to find away to win the final two games against the Seahawks, who are also 8-7, and then finally, the Ravens, who are the number one seed in the AFC.
Only a few short weeks ago, these games looked winnable, or at least one of them did. Now, with Kenny Pickett coming back from injury and Mason Rudolph having been the best quarterback of the Steelers season by a long margin in the win against the Bengals, If it were up to me, I would run with the “Hot Hand” and start Mason. At this point, you have nothing to lose and only a playoff berth to gain! Let Kenny sit another week and be 100% healthy, and let’s see what Mason can do against the Seahawks this Sunday.
2024 NHL Draft Eligible Players to Watch at the WJC
GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN – DECEMBER 25: USA’s Zeev Buium #28 – 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship at Frolundaborg on December 25, 2023 in Gothenburg, Sweden. (Photo by Chris Tanouye/IIHF)
With all the hustle and bustle of Christmas now behind us, if you find yourself not knowing what to do with some much-needed time off, I would suggest tunning into the NHL Network to watch the IIHF’s World Junior Championship U20 Tournament that is currently taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is here where some of the most talented prospects in the game today from countries all around the globe commonly come together to see which nation will be able to skate away with the bragging rights and the hardware (Gold Medal) after winning it all.
To help you further enjoy these contests, in this article, I will break down some of the top 2024 NHL Draft Eligible Players available on each team. In this tournament, teams tend to fill their rosters with their country’s best players who are currently under the age of 21. This means that many of the prospects that you’ll find yourself enamored by have already been drafted by an NHL club and, therefore, are just fine-tuning some points to their games before signing their entry-level contracts. But this is not the case for all players involved. On every team’s roster, there are a few un-drafted players who were skilled enough to find a way to make it through their country’s final rounds of cuts to play in this tournament. So, let’s take a look.
Team USA
One of the favorites this year has to be Team USA, and for good reason: 21 of the 23 players on their roster have already been drafted by NHL Clubs. Many of them were good enough to be selected in the first or second round of their respected draft classes, such as Cutter Gauthier, Will Smith, Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault, Lane Hutson, Seamus Casey, and Frank Nazar, to name a few. But, despite the Red, White, and Blue having all these future NHL stars playing for them right now, there is still one undrafted player in their lineup whose play is already on par or better than his already claimed counterparts.
Zeev Buium
That player is Zeev Buium, the 6’0, 183-pound left-hand shot defender who is just 18 years old, that you can typically find playing in the NCAA for the University of Denver. While Buium was respected for his work with the U.S. National Development Program in previous years, no one expected that Zeev would come out this season and make the collegiate ranks look like child’s play. What do I mean by that? Well, in just his first year of college hockey, Buium has been able to score five goals and 20 assists for a total of 25 points in only 18 games played for the Pioneers thus far. It is this 1.38 point-per-game pace as a defenseman, mind you, that has allowed Zeev to see his name vault up the mock drafts as of late to the point where some even have him potentially being taken by a lottery team this summer.
So far in this tournament, Buium has scored just one goal and one assist in two games played, but look for his point totals to continue to climb as he gets more comfortable playing with his new teammates.
Team Canada
Now, as good as the USA looks, it would not be the WJC if we did not talk about the perennial favorites Team Canada. Like America, Canada’s roster is filled with talent that NHL clubs have previously drafted in prior drafts, but there are some names that you’ll most certainly see called this upcoming summer as well.
The easiest to pick out would be Macklin Celebrini, who not only leads the entire tournament in points right now but is all but typed in already as being the first overall draft pick taken in the 2024 draft. So, let’s pick another name you should look out for.
How about…
Mathis Rousseau
Mathis is a 19-year-old goaltender who can be found most nights in net for the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Rousseau, who is only 5’11 and 172 pounds, has astounded many this year with his play, so much so that he has managed to beat out fellow Canadian goalie Scott Razlaff, who was taken by the Buffalo Sabers last summer for Canada’s starting job. In two games played thus far in this tournament, Mathis has been able to post two victories and maintain an impressive 1.00 goals against average (G.A.A.) and a .958 save percentage (SV%).
As far as what got him the privilege to try out for Team Canada, Rousseau had to post a 2.07 G.A.A. and a .934 SV% through 21 games with the Mooseheads. But what might have given him the edge over others is the fact that if needed, he can evidently be counted on to provide some goal-scoring depth, as he proved capable of doing just that in a game a few months back against the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
Team Finland
Having already been handed an unexpected 4-3 loss to Germany earlier in this tournament, Finland will obviously be looking to rebound quickly. And to do that, they might have to rely on one of their promising undrafted prospects.
Konsta Helenius
And for me, while they have a few to choose from in that regard, I think the player they will be counting on the most throughout the rest of this tournament will be Konsta Helenius. The consensus on this 17-year-old forward, who already finds himself competing in his country’s highest professional league, the Liiga, is that he has the type of talent that will see him selected as one of the top ten players in the 2024 draft class. With that being said, I would have to agree. From an early age, Konsta has proved that he can hang while playing with older players. No other example of this would be more evident than this year while playing in the Liiga, where through 28 games playing for Jukurit, he has been able to tally eight goals and twelve assists for 20 points.
But while that success has not yet translated in this tournament as Helenius has been held scoreless through two games played (when last year he was averaging well over a point per game in both the WJC-U17 and U18 competitions), look for him to step up and will his country to a couple of victories in the coming days.
Team Sweden
Another strong team in this tournament, as always, is Sweden. Like Canada and Team USA, Sweden’s roster is full of players who already find themselves residing in NHL systems.
Hugo Havelid
But perhaps the player whose name surprises me the most that does not find his name on that list is goalie Hugo Havelid.
Hugo is a netminder who I had a team certainly taking at some point this past summer because of his phenomenal play. But sadly, that wasn’t the case. My guess as to why that didn’t happen would have to be his height. Havelid stands at just 5’10 tall but manages to circumvent any shortcoming (pun intended) by shooting out of the crease to challenge the shooter.
And while he has not yet managed to play a game in the SHL (Sweden’s top professional league), he did manage to not only secure the crease in Sweden’s first game against Latvia, over both Melker Thelin and Kevin Reidler, who were lucky enough to be drafted by an NHL team already but also earned himself a shutout for his efforts in the team’s 6-0 victory as well.
While I don’t expect Hugo to get the majority of the starts, moving forward, if he somehow can continue to make the most out of the starts that he does receive in this tournament, you can expect an NHL team to call his name come draft day this summer.
Team Czechia
Well, while this country may have gone through a lot of changes over the years, especially involving its name- Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic, to now being known as Czechia, one thing that hasn’t changed is that prospects born in this country can flat out play.
And while defenseman Adam Jiricek should have been the talk of the town for Czechia this year at the world juniors, the knee injury he sustained in their first game against Slovakia has left Czechia desperate for someone to step up and help lead in his absence.
Dominik Rymon
For me, that player should be Dominik Rymon. This 19-year-old undrafted forward possesses the kind of quick stick work that allows him to collect points in bunches. If you need proof of this, look no further than what he has been able to do this year while playing for the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League. Through 32 games played thus far, Dominik has been able to score 18 goals and 25 assists for 43 points. Rymon is quick to rush to a puck, and once he has retrieved it, he makes sure that it doesn’t stay on his stick blade for long because it doesn’t matter where he is on the ice; Rymon is going to let it fly.
Besides his scoring ability (which he has used to average a points-per-game so far in this tournament), NHL clubs are also sure to be captivated by his defensibility as well, seeing that he is currently ranked among the WHL’s league leaders in plus-minus with an average of +19.
Any and all of these undrafted prospects could potentially earn themselves the honor of being drafted by an NHL club this summer simply by having a good showing at this tournament. For although it is just a week or two long, it is held in high regard because it is one of the only places where all the best and brightest prospects from around the world can come together to face off against each other. So, if you can prove to the masses that you can play well on this stage, the sky is the limit.
The Phillies Should Consider adding a Couple of Cubans to the Pen
Gene Wang/GettyImages
Now that the Los Angeles Dodgers have seemingly managed to corner the market in Japanese pitching for the next decade by shelling out well over a BILLON dollars to ink both Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The rest of the league can finally stop dreaming about the possibility of acquiring one of them and begin to focus on filling out the rest of their roster.
This goes for the Phillies as well, as their most glaring hole this off-season continues to be their Bull Pen. While relief pitchers like Jose Alvarado and Matt Strahm looked strong for the fighting Phills last year, other additions, like Gregory Soto and Craig Kimbrel, undoubtedly cost Philadelphia multiple wins in the postseason, where both saw their earned run average (E.R.A.) skyrocket to an embarrassing 6.00.
Thankfully, the team’s President of Baseball Operations, Dave Dombrowski, decided it was NOT in the team’s best interests to bring back their now 35-year-old closer whose play is on the decline after he has been able to post an incredible 417 saves through the last 14 grueling MLB seasons. But one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, as the Baltimore Orioles proved to be more than happy to swoop in and sign him for next season.
So, what should be the team’s next move, you may be asking? Well, as nice as signing an elite closer like Josh Hader or a flame-throwing inning eater like Jordan Hicks, both of which I proposed in an earlier article
the teams’ executives have come out and said they will not be looking to break the bank to solidify the back end. So, I would now suggest they allow Alvarado to try his hand at closing games for them and sign a couple of setup men.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t wish to see the Phillies go into next season having to hope that Orion Kerkering (who started last season playing Single-A ball) does not have a sophomore slump after opposing teams are able to gather more than his current 3.0 MLB regular season innings of game tape to watch.
With that being said, I now suggest that Philadelphia take a nice long look at a couple of Cubans who can throw absolute missiles!
(RHP) Yariel Rodriguez
The first of which is a relevantly unknown player in 26-year-old Yariel Rodríguez. Yariel, who last played in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League for the Chunichi Dragons back in 2022, averaged a very impressive 1.15 E.R.A. through 54.2 innings pitched.
In addition to that, here’s what many teams may find intriguing: while Yariel was used predominantly in relief in Japan and is projected to play in a similar role once signed here in the States, Rodriguez has recently shown the ability to start a game as well. In fact, he showcased this skill set during the most recent World Baseball Classic, where he started two games striking out ten batters while managing to maintain a 2.45 E.R.A.
Taking some time off to train in the Dominican Republic, Rodríguez recently completed a showcase where no less than 15 MLB clubs were in attendance. As far as his stuff goes, Yariel is able to average around 96-97 M.P.H. on his fastball but has been known to put a little extra on it when needed so that it then tops out in the triple digits. As far as his other pitches go, we can expect to see him throw a very reliable curveball and a decent slider now and again.
With Yariel’s ability to throw multiple innings (if signed), expect the Phillies to utilize him like they did Ranger Suarez when he first came up, as a long reliever who could be trusted with a start on occasion when injuries occur.
To try and accurately estimate just how much Rodriguez could fetch on the open market now that he has been released from his deal with the Dragons of the NPB would be foolish if you ask me—seeing that so many teams now appear to be willing to shell out big bucks for players that have yet to play a single inning on the world’s largest stage. So, I won’t even try to attempt to guess the final numbers. However, what I do know is that Yariel just hired Edgar Mercedes to be his agent. A man who previously was accused of helping multiple Cuban baseball stars flee their home country to try to find asylum on the isle of the Dominican Republic so that they could then seek employment in the MLB. This is the same man, mind you, that represented fellow Cuban star Yoenis Cespedes when he landed his first contract with the Oakland Athletics, which paid him $36 Million!
So, seeing that times have changed a bit, and it is now easier to sign Cuban players. Philadelphia should act fast, as there are sure to be many teams clamoring about trying to be the one to ink Rodriguez, who many feel may be the best arm to come out of Cuba since the “Cuban Missile” himself, Aroldis Chapman.
Aroldis Chapman
And since we brought him up, let us discuss why he, too, should be an option for the Phillies next season. Now, before you start, I know he is 35, and the Phillies just got burnt when taking a shot last year on veteran closer Craig Kimbrel, but unlike Kimbrel, Chapman has shown no sign of falling off anytime soon.
In what was his 14th MLB season last year, Aroldis amassed both the largest number of pitches thrown and threw for the most innings since his efforts in 2015, when he was still with the Cincinnati Reds. Also, for the first time since 2015, Chapman was able to amass over 100 strikeouts in a single season. And for those efforts, this seven-time All-Star was able to collect his second World Series Title.
Now, Aroldis may not be still throwing over 105 M.P.H. like he did back in his days with the Reds. But the fact that this nearly 36-year-old can still consistently place a ball where he wants it at 102-103 M.P.H. is impressive! Still, at this point in his career, Chapman should no longer be expected to be “THE GUY” to close out games. He is now best utilized as a setup man like he was in Kansas City last year, with whom he initially signed a one-year deal with for a very affordable $3.7 million before being dealt to the Texas Rangers.
If Philadelphia could manage to add both the up-and-coming Yariel Rodriguez (to be a long reliever) and the legendary “Cuban Flamer Thrower” Aroldis Chapman (to be the setup man), they might struggle at first to find a decent local Cuban restaurant to cater pregame meals of Ropa Vieja, and Mojo Criollo. But one thing they will not struggle at anymore is closing out games! And if they can do that, then this team might just find themselves planning a massive parade at the end of next season.