Young Horn's New York Sports Minute

*Spoiler alert* This blog will be longer than a minute to read, unless you don't have a reading disability like myself.

Tough week to be a New York sports fan. The #NHLTradeDeadline has come and gone, Jalen Brunson will be sidelined for the Knicks for at least two weeks, Juan Soto can't play outfield, Yankees already have some of their premier players hurt, and the Jets/Giants don't have Quarterbacks.

Let's start with the #NYIslanders:

Brock Nelson was traded to the Colorado Avalanche by the New York Islanders on Thursday for defenseman Oliver Kylington, forward prospect Calum Ritchie, a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, and a conditional third-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft.

Colorado also received forward prospect William Dufour in the deal, which New York followed up by trading Kylington to the Anaheim Ducks for future considerations.

Nelson has 43 points (20 goals, 23 assists) in 61 games this season. The 33-year-old forward led the Islanders in goals in each of the previous five seasons, including scoring at least 34 goals in each of the previous three. Nelson is in the final season of a six-year contract he signed with New York on May 23, 2019.

It was a deal the team needed to do, shed cap money, get a little longer, and concede trying to sneak into a playoff spot only to get bounced in the first round. Personally, I preferred the Isles GM to make some more moves to get younger and have more cap space going into this off season in order to go after some younger free agents but what do I know. As a trade grade I think both Colorado and New York both came away as better and would get an "A" as a trade grade.

Onto the #NewYorkKnicks:

Despite falling to the #Lakers Thursday night in OT, the bigger loss was All-Star PG, Jalen Brunson will be out for at least two weeks. The 28-year-old captain is seventh in the league in scoring (26.3 points per game) and eighth in assists (7.4). Brunson, who has been the heart and soul of the "Nova Knicks" since signing with NY from Dallas, looms large with his absence heading down the stretch of the NBA Regular season.

The Knicks will need to rely heavily on their zesty big man, Karl-Anthony Towns these next two weeks to keep their head above water, and hope that Brunson comes back in form if they plan to make any noise in the post season, especially against a top heavy Eastern conference with the Cavs and Celtics running away with it.

Spring Training has plagued #Yankees with early injuries:

Giancarlo Stanton was back at Yankee camp Friday, but not for long.  The slugger will head back to New York on Monday for yet another round of PRP injections on his ailing elbows, a team spokesman said Friday.  Stanton had been away since Feb. 24 to deal with a personal matter before he returned Friday, and there’s no telling when he’ll be able to resume baseball activities as he continues to deal with tennis elbow (tendinitis) that’s impacting both arms.

Talk about a guy with paper skin and glass bones. Initially I thought they were shutting him down early in spring training to manage his work load due to his injury history. Boy was I wrong. Double tennis elbow as a DH sounded like a made up injury to not raise any eyebrows and just let him chill until they need him for the second half of the season and they could use this issue to occasionally shut him down. Now he can potentially be out for the season.

Meanwhile, the Yankees starting rotation is dropping like flies. Gerrit Cole saying he is “concerned” about his elbow injury that he suffered after his most recent spring training start. Cole said images taken Friday night gave him “an initial idea” of the injury, but he’s waiting for more opinions before deciding the next step. Asked if he was worried about having to undergo surgery on the same elbow that caused him to be shut down for much of the first half of last season, Cole said, “I’m concerned. I give it two weeks before they announce he needs Tommy John surgery, best case scenario he will probably be shut down by the All-Star break.

2024 Rookie of the Year, and the #3 starter in the Yankees rotation, Luis Gil, will be shut down for 3 months due to a lat strain. Imagine being sidelined due to a lat strain. I do lat pulldowns at the gym at least twice a week, I don't think a sore lat could keep me off the mound but I am also a blue collar boi.

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told reporters on Thursday that starting pitcher Luis Gil is being sent back to New York to undergo additional testing on his high-grade lat strain. He also projected Gil would have a three-month recovery time, with the hope that he'll return "sometime in the summer."

On the bright side, thank god the Yankees kept Marcus Stroman!!! He will end up getting his chance to rejoin the rotation as a starter to being the season, and he will run his mouth to a 4.85 ERA by the end of May.