OF HURLEY, JAMES, AURIEMMA, McDAVID, VAN IMPE, KNOBLAUCH ... MORE

 

So the NBA Lakers are offering DANNY HURLEY $15 

million annually to take over as coach of a team that has 

underperformed … and he told his players at UConn Thursday 

he’s interested … It says here LeBRON JAMES deserves 

Hurley, a tough, thin-skinned jerk who has led the Huskies to a 

pair of national championships … and will be favored to do so 

again in 2024-25 … That is, if he stays. If he goes … with the 

transfer portal deadline come and gone, the players, 

nevertheless, will have 30 days to leave ... and many probably 

will … Now it develops that James, scheduled to make $51.4 

million next season (no kidding), likes Hurley’s offensive 

approach and gave his stamp of approval on hiring him .. . 

Hurley, 45, makes about $5.4 million a year at UConn 

compared to Huskies women’s coach GENO AURIEMMA, 

the former U.Va., assistant who this week signed a five-year 

extension worth $18.7 million.

 ---- Watching CONNOR McDAVID zig, zag then zig again to 

score the first goal in Edmonton’s 2-1 disposal of Dallas in 

Game 6 to win the NHL West … we were reminded (again) of 

how much the game has changed since hockey came to 

Richmond in 1971 when the AHL Robins were the top farm 

team of the Philadelphia Flyers … In the good old days, 

nobody, least of all a player talented as McDavid, would have 

lasted very long with such show-off moves. Flyers’ defenseman

 ED VAN IMPE, for example, would have welcomed McDavid 

with a hard stick to the stomach … which he did often for the 

two-time Stanley Cup-champion Broad Street Bullies and, 

invariably, got away with it. Van Impe turned spearing into an 

art form.

---- To think the New York Rangers twice passed over coach

 CHRIS KNOBLAUCH, then behind the bench of their top 

affiliate in Hartford, Conn. Edmonton hired him with the 

Oilers, consensus preseason Cup favorites, off to a terrible 3-9-

1 start … and now, here they are, in the finals after buying into 

his emphasis on defense … In the Rangers’ defense, Knoblauch 

gave it the Mr. Nice Guy approach with the AHL Wolf Pack … 

allowing some players to make the same mistakes over and 

over without replacing them in the lineup. “He never got mad 

unless you did something really bad,” said NY forward WILL 

CUYLLE, 22, who played parts of two seasons for Knoblauch 

in Hartford before joining the Rangers in 2023-24 … Edmonton 

decided to take a chance on the 45 year old native of Toronto 

because he had coached McDavid in junior hockey … and liked 

him.

Florida favored in seven … In case anyone cares, we had Carolina vs. 

Minnesota in the final … At risk of jinxing them, we like Panthers in 

six … with goaltender SERGEI BOBROVSKY taking home Smythe 

Trophy as playoffs’ MVP … Best of seven finals get under way 

Saturday in Sunrise, Fla. All games will be seen on ABC and ESPN-

plus, with air time at 8 p.m. SEAN McDONOUGH, RAY 

FERRARO and EMILY KAPLAN have the call.

Until next time ...