It is Wednesday, my dudes.
Hopefully you've enjoyed a decent week so far. If not, you're just about halfway through, so hang in there.
The Miami area continued its decimation of Boston title hopes on Monday, with the Heat eliminating the Celtics in seven games.
Jimmy Butler and Matthew Tkachuk will not be on Jeremy Jacobs' Christmas card list, as they took a whole bunch of hot dog revenue away from TD Garden this spring.
Returning to hockey, Tkachuk and the Panthers will face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final, which will begin on Saturday night in Vegas.
I got just about every aspect of that Dallas-Vegas series wrong: I thought Dallas would roll over and die after that disastrous showing in Game 3, then I thought they'd show some moxie in Game 6 at home.
Wrong on both counts.
Panthers-Golden Knights is a pretty intriguing match-up. Can the Panthers continue their Cinderella (kind of) run? Does Vegas have the firepower to get through Sergei Bobrovsky? Will Tkachuk continue to be the king of big moments?
All of us around these parts will have our own rooting interests, but I'd kind of like to see Florida pull it off - not so much as a slight to Bruce Cassidy, but just because it would be an incredible story.
In Bruins news, the organization made a free agent signing on Tuesday, adding forward Owen Pederson to the mix in Providence.
The B's signed the former Winnipeg Ice skater to a two-year AHL deal. Pederson is 21 and had 74 points (32G-42A) in 65 WHL games last season.
Pederson went undrafted, but is a big dude at 6' 3", 205. From EliteProspects:
Pederson's strength in battles immediately jumps out. He's such a strong, aware support player, recognizing opportunities to help out his teammates down-low or swoop in for an interception and breakout pass.
Seems like he's worth a look!