📰🏟️ Puck drop
Plus: Mark Sanchez’s felony charge…
Good afternoon. Welcome back to another week filled with top sports stories. Let’s rock and roll.
1) NHL regular season kicks off tonight
The puck officially drops on the 2025-26 NHL season this evening with an opening night tripleheader on ESPN.
- Despite winning back-to-back Stanley Cups, the Florida Panthers aren’t among the top-5 betting favorites this year, with the Oilers and Golden Knights sharing the #1 spot per BetMGM odds.
- International rivalries will also take center stage this season, with the NHL taking a break in February so players can participate in the Winter Olympics for the first time in over a decade.
2) ESPN exits MLB postseason coverage on a high note
Last week’s Wild Card round averaged 4.6 million viewers across all 11 games on ESPN, a 64% increase from last year and by far the highest mark in the four-year history of the current WC format.
- The increase, which came in ESPN’s last contracted year of MLB playoff coverage, was especially notable among viewers aged 35 or younger (+89%), as well as those under 18 (+108%).
- In other MLB news, Divisional Round action continues with two ALDS games tonight.
3) Browns trade QB Joe Flacco to the Bengals
Cleveland officially traded the 40-year-old veteran QB to Cincinnati earlier today, per multiple reports, marking the first trade between the two division rivals since Cleveland returned to the NFL in 1999.
- The Browns received a 5th-round pick in exchange for Flacco, but also had to give up a 6th-round pick.
- The Bengals are 0-3 since star QB Joe Burrow suffered a serious turf toe injury in Week 2, with his replacement Jake Browning having thrown eight interceptions over that period.
4) Mark Sanchez charged with felony over weekend assault
The Fox Sports analyst and former NFL QB received a Level 5 felony battery charge on Monday for his alleged attack on a 69-year-old truck driver in Indianapolis on Saturday, which involved “serious bodily injury” to the truck driver and also resulted in Sanchez being hospitalized with stab wounds.
- The lead prosecutor described the incident as “people fighting over a parking space or a dispute about where people are parking.”
- The felony charge carries a sentencing guideline of one to six years in prison, if convicted, while Sanchez is also facing a civil lawsuit from the truck driver.
5) Celtics star Jayson Tatum joins Duke as first chief basketball officer
Earlier today, the Duke men’s basketball team officially named Tatum as the program’s—and college basketball’s—first-ever chief basketball officer chief.
- Tatum, a 4x All-NBA first-teamer and Blue Devil alum who’s rehabbing a ruptured Achilles this season, will conduct regular virtual sessions with Duke’s staff throughout the season.
- He’ll also meet in person with players to discuss their development, team culture, future careers, and more.
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