Your midday sports snack.

Toast points

• Auston Matthews will be a game-time decision for the Maple Leafs’ 7 p.m. date with the Vegas Golden Knights. Head coach Mike Babcock said his star centre is dealing with “soreness” after Matthews departed early from the morning skate. Toronto’s contingency plan would be to shift right winger William Nylander over to the No. 1 centre spot.

• A fan group organized to thwart Jon Bon Jovi’s attempt to move the Buffalo Bills to Toronto was created at the behest of one Donald J. Trump, two of the group’s leaders have told the Associated Press. Hoping to rally Buffalonians against Bon Jovi and his Canadian partners, including the Rogers family and former MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum, the future U.S. President and fellow would-be team buyer is said to have summoned a local public relations consultant to Trump Tower in early 2014 and tasked him with spearheading a grassroots boycott of the rock artist’s music.

“He wanted to be the hometown favourite because he would keep the Bills in Buffalo,” the consultant, Michael Caputo, said of Trump. (In the end, of course, the team was purchased by Sabres owner Terry Pegula, who bid US$1.4 billion to tack the Bills onto his portfolio.)

• The Telegraph reported this morning that Henrik Stenson is out for the rest of the year after injuring his ribs in a promotional stunt at the HSBC Champions event in China two weeks ago. Stenson was hooked up to a harness and raised above the ground in an imitation of Superman at a pre-tournament news conference. Stenson played the World Golf Championships event and finished tied for second, but the injury worsened at last week’s Turkish Airlines Open.

An unnamed “insider” told the Telegraph: “The players are always keen to help to promote events, but the stunts do seem to be getting wackier and the Tours should probably put a limit on what the players are asked to do by the sponsors. It’s not only a risk to their dignity anymore, but to their fitness as well.”

• Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., is competing this week at the NextGen ATP Finals in Milan, an elite eight-man field of the top ATP point-getters from this season who are age 21 and under. Shapovalov qualified No. 4 for the field, which also includes Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Borna Coric, Jared Donaldson, Hyeon Chung and Daniil Medvedev. Top qualifier Alexander Zverev is not entered because he also qualified among the top eight overall for the ATP Finals. He will be replaced by local wild-card Gianluigi Quinzi.

Shapovalov, 18, lost his last outing, falling 6-4, 6-4 to Julian Benneteau last week in the first round of the Paris Masters event.

• Jose Bautista is officially a free agent. The Blue Jays declined the 37-year-old outfielder’s US$17.5-million option over the weekend, formalizing the end of Bautista’s remarkable 10-year tenure in Toronto. The deadline for MLB teams to tender qualifying offers to their free agents is 5 p.m. ET today.

• Embattled Hamilton Tiger-Cats vice-president of football operations Kent Austin said at his season-ending media availability today that he isn’t planning to leave Hamilton anytime soon. The declaration comes days after several players anonymously voiced their frustration with Austin to the Hamilton Spectator. Austin stepped down as head coach in August after starting the season 0-8; the Ticats eventually missed the CFL playoffs at 6-12.

• The Toronto Wolfpack are offering an official travel package — flights, hotel bookings and tickets — to fans who want to follow them to the United Kingdom next season. The transatlantic English rugby league club is scheduled to play its first 11 games of 2018 on the road from early February to mid-April.

• Canadian Major League Soccer fans will have easier access to team merchandise through a new online store that is to launch in 2018, the league said today. MLS has teamed with the sportswear retailer Fanatics to ship Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps gear within Canada — a departure from its current merchandising arrangement, in which Canadian customers can buy a limited amount of items that ship from the United States.

Nutritional information

The Raptors have already played a game at home since the end of their six-game Western road swing, but let’s take one last glance at the trip and look ahead to future trips to the Western Conference.

First, let’s look at how the Raptors have fared on the road against the West in the Dwane Casey era:

The 2011-12 season (the first one on this chart) was a lockout season, so Toronto didn’t play every team in the West because of the reduced schedule.

In three of these seasons, Toronto has eked out a winning record: 8-7 in 2013-14, 2015-16 and last season. But as has become a common refrain, the West is still a quagmire for the Raptors. They haven’t won in Golden State (although they may still rue letting the Warriors off the hook on Oct. 25) nor in San Antonio. Toronto has only won once in Houston and Sacramento in the Casey era, but they have three-game winning streaks against the Lakers and Trail Blazers.

It’s also worth taking a look at their historical shooting percentages in the 15 Western Conference buildings.

The Raptors shoot well in Minnesota and Utah and against the Lakers. They shoot badly in Portland, Houston, Memphis and Oklahoma City and against the Clippers.

The Raptors have nine road games left against the West, starting with a back-to-back in Houston and New Orleans next week, followed by a four-game trip to Memphis, Sacramento, the Clippers and Phoenix in December. They have another back-to-back right after Christmas in Dallas and Oklahoma City and finish with the West with a single-game trip to Minnesota in January. That game is the second half of a back-to-back after playing San Antonio at home.

Photos of the day

Painful scenes from yesterday’s New York City Marathon.

At nationalpost.com

• The Maple Leafs are waning. The Oilers are straggling. The Predators? After adding Kyle Turris to a suddenly formidable group of centres late yesterday, they’re probably smiling. Toronto and Edmonton could learn a lot from Nashville, writes Michael Traikos, and specifically from general manager David Poile, whose nose for blockbuster trades and willingness to pawn depth pieces for stars led his club all the way to the Stanley Cup final last season.

• What do a converted hurdler, a 39-year-old retiree and a two-time Olympic gold medallist with high expectations have in common? They’re all jostling for spots on the women’s bobsleigh team Canada will send to Pyeongchang in February. Scott Stinson gauged the state of the program ahead of the start of the World Cup season, which will help determine how many Canadian sleds get to go to the Games.

TV tonight

All times Eastern

7 p.m. NHL: Vegas at Toronto SN Ontario
7:30 p.m. NBA: Boston at Atlanta TSN2
8 p.m. CHL: Russia vs. WHL SN One, Sportsnet
8:15 p.m. NFL: Detroit at Green Bay TSN1,4,5, RDS
8:30 p.m. NHL: Winnipeg at Dallas TSN3
10 p.m. NHL: Detroit at Vancouver SN Pacific
10:30 p.m. NBA: Miami at Golden State TSN2

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