Clint Kubiak has been the Raiders head coach for approximately three months. He has already told his front office that the time for explanations is over.

“I’m very familiar with the resources and facilities the Raiders have,” Kubiak told Raiders.com. “I was practicing here when I was with the 49ers, playing at Allegiant. It’s as good as it gets.” “So as coaches and administrators we have no excuse for not going out and getting great players and getting them to perform at their best.”

This is the kind of quote that travels. It also sets the tone for what analysts are predicting when the OTAs come out.

Other insiders are excited about Raiders 2026

The Athletic’s Sam Warren made a post-draft case for cautious optimism, pointing to the under-the-radar work done following the Mendoza selection.

“There was always going to be something to be excited about in this draft class because of Fernando Mendoza,” Warren wrote. “But what the Raiders did on days two and three should also be cause for optimism. Las Vegas addressed its lack of defensive backs in a big way, drafting four of them, all of whom are known for their ball skills,” Warren wrote.

The quarterback room is where most national pundits are descending on this week. He is of great interest in the position battle for Clint Kubiak’s Raiders.

CBS Sports analyst Nate Burleson, seen in the Sports Illustrated video, did not say anything about the QB1 conversation. “I think Kirk is going to miss that opportunity. Mendoza is just not going to be able to beat Kirk Cousins. Kirk is still a veteran quarterback, and if you look at the money they paid him, he’s going to play quarterback there,” Burleson said.

Kubiak isn’t holding back on QB framing

Clint Kubiak places no emphasis on the framing created by Burelson. It has made it more complicated.

Kubiak said, “Between Kirk, Aiden and Fernando, they’re three really outstanding players. We’re going to coach our own team, but no matter what they do they always bring out the best in each other.” “So, when it’s a competitive room, it’s a good thing,”

The phrase competitive room keeps coming up again and again. So, what does the phrase “there’s still a long way to go” mean?

Owner Mark Davis opened another door this week by saying, “Fernando Mendoza potentially coming in as the starting QB is very exciting,” Davis said, contradicting the soft consensus that Cousins ​​has locked down the job.

read between the lines. Cousins ​​arrived knowing the offense, having played three seasons under Kubiak at Minnesota. Mendoza comes in as the No. 1 overall pick, the reigning Heisman winner, and by his own admission, is still learning to take a snap from under center.

Nothing is certain about that. Kubiak likes it that way.

Scott Gulbransen, a quintessential expert in the field of sports journalism, serves as an editor, nfl , mlb , Formula 1 … More about Scott Gulbransen

After competing for the services of Sunny Mehta, it looks like the New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs may be facing off against each other for another front office executive.

After learning he was also a candidate for the job in Toronto, the Devils were not going to let Mehta slip through their fingers.

He immediately fired Tom Fitzgerald and secured Mehta’s arrival in New Jersey.

Mehta didn’t have to wait long to make changes to his front office and has now relieved former assistant general manager Dan MacKinnon and senior advisor Chuck Fletcher.

Now the Devils GM has a cabinet to build, and he may seek the services of Florida Panthers Director of Player Development Brian McCabe.

“One of the guys I’m curious to see if Mehta will try to add is Brian McCabe.

“Former Maple Leaf defenseman Brian McCabe has a really good reputation for player development,” Elliotte Friedman said on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast. “Mackenzie Weegar is one of those guys who has credited McCabe in the past for really helping him become the player he’s become.”

However, Friedman noted that although John Chayka and Mats Sundin have not yet made a move, McCabe could also be a candidate in Toronto – where he has played before.

Friedman said, “But I’ve also wondered if, for whatever reason, if, if, if, if Toronto makes a change, would Sandin commit to him in a player development role as well.”

McCabe will be a welcome asset to New Jersey. Given his success in developing players like Weegar, Gustav Forsling and Dmitry Kulikov into vital blueliners, this kind of guidance would prove tremendously helpful to Devils defensemen like Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec.

McCabe isn’t the only Panthers executive Mehta may have his eye on.

The Devils GM needs a right-hand man, and Braden Burch is the name being whispered about.

“The other guy I heard might be on Sunny Mehta’s radar is a guy named Braden Burch. Now, Burch’s official position is this [Florida’s] Director of hockey operations and salary cap management. He played hockey. he was actually drawn by [Chicago] Blackhawks in 2008, and then he moved abroad. “He’s been around hockey his whole life.”

“When we were talking about… how some of these teams felt that some of the guys they were interviewing were very quiet and didn’t really have a lot of experience in a lot of different areas, one of the future candidates, because I don’t think he’s ready yet, some people reached out to me about Burch, and they wondered if he was ultimately going to be Sunny Mehta’s right-hand man with the Devils. So just a few names that I pointed out there. Wanted to do.

James is the fully certified New Jersey Devils beat reporter for New Jersey Hockey Now on SportsNote and … More about James Nicholls

We’ve known the names for a while: Mats Sundin and John Chayka. But some people around the game still refuse to believe that a former player (a great guy, admittedly) and a young executive, whose last act in the NHL five years ago was getting suspended by the league, would be the new Toronto Maple Leafs front office duo.

But we are here.

The Leafs are officially announcing Sunday that Sundin and Chayka have been hired to run their front office. Sundin’s role will come with the title of Senior Executive Advisor, Hockey Operations. Chaika will be the general manager.

Friedman said it is a full-time commitment for Sundin. He would move his family from Sweden to Toronto.

As far as the composition of the pair is concerned, he says the goal would be to have the two unite publicly. But he adds that “there needs to be someone who has the final say and reports directly to MSLE President and CEO Keith Pelley. That’s Chayka. The position the organization advertised in its interview process was ‘Chief of Hockey Operations,’ and Chayka will be that.”

The move is already being ridiculed in some circles of the game. Sundin has zero front office experience in the NHL, while Chayka was the youngest GM in league history in 2016 when he was hired by the Arizona Coyotes. He left the team after four years under controversial circumstances. He was ultimately suspended for one year by the NHL for “engaging in conduct detrimental to the league and breaching his fiduciary duty to the club”. That conduct included illegal scouting practices, including watching prospects separately from the NHL Combine.

Athletic beat writer Jonas Siegel said he found it “hard to understand what they’re doing.”

The Detroit Red Wings have some big decisions to make ahead of the 2026 NHL offseason. Despite scoring the most points (92) in a season since 2016, the Red Wings will not participate in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This comes after a historic decline since January, and an NHL insider has the latest information on whether big changes are coming.

There are no expected changes in terms of what the Red Wings front office looks like at this time, as The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reported on the Chris Johnston Show. This also includes Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman, who has been in NHL rumors for the past few weeks.

Will the Detroit Red Wings make the right decision by keeping Steve Yzerman?

It’s fair to wonder if the Red Wings might be making the right decision by keeping Yzerman. On one hand, it was Detroit’s best season in 10 years since making the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Red Wings, on the other hand, suffered a massive collapse late in the season and were in jeopardy of the playoffs again.

The Red Wings roster and coaching staff were put together by Yzerman. Detroit head coach Todd McClellan was a great guy and the team is lucky to have him. Meanwhile, Mo Sider is arguably the best defenseman in the NHL while Alex DeBrincat has scored 40 goals. The franchise had not seen a 40-goal scorer since Marian Hossa during the 2008–09 season.

However, there are other flaws that should have been addressed. The Red Wings had very little production from their bottom six and the offense struggled to score in five-on-five play. The two were known prior to the NHL trade deadline, where Yzerman acquired defenseman Justin Faulk and forward David Perron.

Getting to this point has been a slow and heartbreaking process, but Detroit has fallen behind three seasons in a row. The Red Wings have the longest playoff drought in the NHL. Unfortunately, the franchise did not have good luck with its playoff position. This is the 13th-best record entering the regular season finale, when 16 teams advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Yzerman has improved the Red Wings over the years, but a late-season slump has ruined the story. As of right now, it doesn’t look like there are going to be any major changes for the front office in Detroit. It’s not a bad decision, but it does mean Yzerman needs to make positive changes this summer.

What should the Detroit Red Wings change outside the front office

The Red Wings need to find the best way to move forward. Detroit has a group of veterans as well as young prospects who haven’t produced as expected. Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin is aging while Cedar and Lucas Raymond are coming into their own. Simply put, there are two directions for Detroit.

The organization needs to put their faith in young players and “throw them into the fire” or use their assets to acquire a specific player. Detroit is in desperate need of an elite offensive forward like Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. It also needs another center to take the pressure off Larkin.

From the top six to the bottom six, there are changes that could optimize the offense. The lower six did not provide much in detail and depth of building had to be prioritized. This could come from NHL free agency or trusting young players to perform at the top level.

The defensive lines seem to be quite organized, with most of the focus being on offensive production. The best decision would be to acquire an elite first line forward. Also, the team should put more emphasis on the bottom six players along with other young players in hopes that they can start performing as expected.

The Red Wings may not have much in-house front office drama, but they will need to address the flaws on this roster. It’s time for a concentrated effort to get Detroit back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

READ MORE: Detroit Red Wings out of playoff race after collapse

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The firing of general manager Brad Treliving last week is clearly the first blow to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ownership and MLSE President and CEO Keith Pelley have made that clear. Insider Elliotte Friedman gives us the latest insider information about a recent meeting that has left employees around the organization on high alert.

Following the change in general manager, Keith Pelley held a Zoom call with members of the hockey operations department. And after it’s over, and from talking to several people over the past few days, it’s pretty clear that they’re expecting big changes.

I asked, ‘Did Pele say anything specifically about ‘change’ there?’ And it wasn’t that much Wordit was about how he talked. One of the things he mentioned was, ‘We’re going to use our resources to our fullest capacity.’ And he got the feeling that (Pelé) felt he wasn’t doing it. So I think people are expecting there to be more changes.

The Leafs are believed to have some strong analytical people on their staff, including special assistant to the general manager Darryl Metcalf and hockey research and development analyst Cam Charone. This is probably a big part of what the team president was referring to by reiterating that they were not utilizing their resources to their full potential.

More ‘big changes’ coming for Leafs front office

Pelé cited during his big press conference last week that he has plans to find a more ‘data-centric’ head of hockey operations. It seems like he’s looking for someone like… Kyle Dubas. Leafs fans have probably heard of this guy.

Dubas, who has the Pittsburgh Penguins on the verge of clinching a highly unlikely playoff berth this season, was the man who hired players like Metcalf and Charron for the Toronto front office. Dubas is the one who led that strong analytics department.

Of course, previous Leafs corner office ideologues decided to drop Dubas after the 2022-23 season, after seven seasons of playoff failures that included only one series win. The postseason decline continued for nine years following Dubas’ departure, and has now resulted in a complete ban on the playoffs this year.

For now, assistant GMs Brandon Pridham and Ryan Hardy are co-managing the Leafs on an interim basis.

Pelé and his staff have a lot of work to do to turn this around. From the sounds of it, a lot of people in that front office will be looking over their shoulders.

The irony is that the Leafs may have still won something by losing on Saturday night. By allowing the Los Angeles Kings to steal two points in an overtime win, LA remains in a tie for the final wild card berth in the Western Conference. If the Kings make the postseason, the third-round selection sent to Toronto for Scott Laughton at the trade deadline becomes a second-rounder.

A wild new report details the messy situation inside the Las Vegas Raiders that has alienated top star Max Crosby, including a teammate of Tom Brady who has few fans in the organization.

One of the biggest stories in the NFL as we approach the start of the new league year is the future of Raiders star pass rusher Max Crosby. During a rough stretch in franchise history, the seven-year veteran has been one of the few bright spots as he has earned Pro Bowl honors each of the last five seasons.

Unfortunately for the 28-year-old, his efforts have mostly gone in vain as the Raiders have reached the playoffs only once during his tenure. Additionally, he has had five different head coaches, and it could be six if he remains with the organization in 2026. It’s understandable why Crosby would be frustrated and want out.

Raiders aren’t consulting Crosby during trade talks

However, Crosby has remained loyal to Raiders fans despite consecutive losses. But the team threw him into the deep end when he requested that he miss the final two games of the season as they vie for the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. Which he did. Nevertheless, this caused a rift between the team and Crosby and it was expected that he would soon be traded. Or maybe not.

According to a new report from Michael Silver of The Athletic, the Raiders have made the process of moving the fan-favorite more “messy” than necessary despite overwhelming interest.

“The Raiders are not assuring him that he will accept the best offer he gets or asking him for input on where he would like to play,” writes Silver. “Theoretically, this saga could extend to the draft – or even the season.

“If that happens, it would continue a pattern of dysfunction that has plagued the Silver and Black throughout Crosby’s tenure, and which no sane superstar would ever welcome.”

Tom Brady’s servant is causing trouble at the Raiders facility

However, an interesting piece of information in Silver’s report reveals another reason why Crosby has soured on the organization: minority owner Tom Brady’s top in-house minion, Alex Guerrero. The man with the title of “Wellness Coordinator” has surprising influence in the Raiders offices and has reportedly used his unusual power to rub many people in the organization the wrong way.

“Guerrero, who regularly attends practices and meetings, is claimed to have significant organizational power, informing players of impending transactions and even signaling to staff members who do not follow his instructions that their jobs may be in jeopardy,” Silver’s report said.

“Guerrero is believed to have direct access to Brady, who lives in Florida and serves as Fox’s lead NFL analyst, limiting his in-person appearances. Suffice it to say, trust issues are rampant at the Raiders’ training facility in Henderson, Nev.”

After earning a journalism degree in 2017, Jason Burgos worked as a contributor to several sites, including MMA Sacca… More about Jason Burgos

The Los Angeles Lakers have hired longtime Los Angeles Dodgers executive Lon Rosen as president of business operations, the organization announced Thursday, continuing a comprehensive restructuring under new majority owner Mark Walter.

ClutchPoints NBA insider Brett Siegel reported the move to Rosen began his career as a Lakers intern during college.

Rosen’s appointment follows Tim Harris’ decision to step down after the 2025-26 season. Harris spent more than 35 years with the franchise and The Forum and played a central role in securing the team’s lucrative local television rights agreement with Spectrum SportsNet. His departure marks the end of one of the longest executive tenures in franchise history.

The leadership change comes amid broader organizational changes. Earlier this season, Joey and Jesse Buss were dismissed from their executive positions, along with most of the Lakers’ scouting department, as part of a revised front office structure.

The overhaul follows the historic $10 billion sale approved in late October, when the Busch family sold a majority stake in the team to Walter. Walter, who also leads the Dodgers’ ownership group, has overseen a period of sustained success in Major League Baseball. Under his leadership, the Dodgers have captured three World Series titles, including back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025.

The Lakers return to action against the Los Angeles Clippers (26-28) on Friday night at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN. Los Angeles enters the matchup 33-21, seeded fifth in the Western Conference as it begins the final stretch of the regular season.