08-15-2018, 11:42 AM
On the eve of free agency Jordan Howard Bears Jersey , John Tavares is leaving the NHL guessing about his destination.
With less than 12 hours until the market opens, the elite center had not chosen between six suitors, with the San Jose Sharks, hometown Toronto Maple Leafs and incumbent New York Islanders considered the most likely options. Returning to the Islanders looks less likely now after the midnight deadline passed for Tavares to get an eight-year contract from his current team.
The Tavares sweepstakes dragging on into Sunday seems to favor San Jose and Toronto, either of which could sign the 27-year-old to a seven-year deal worth $70 million or more. He met this week with the Sharks, Maple Leafs, Islanders, Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning, and his decision could drastically affect the plans of those teams and others.
”I think other teams have admitted, we would have to make moves (to clear salary-cap space),” Bruins general manager Don Sweeny told reporters in Boston on Friday. ”Pretty confident we’d be able to do that.”
As hockey waited for the Tavares watch to end Taven Bryan Jersey , several teams made moves Saturday ahead of the frenzy.
The Sharks agreed to a $64 million, eight-year extension with forward Logan Couture, according to a person familiar with the contract who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn’t been announced. It can’t become official until after noon Sunday because it doesn’t begin until the 2019-20 season – the same as long-term deals the Los Angeles Kings have with Drew Doughty and Arizona Coyotes have with Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Detroit got its own defenseman under contract for the next two seasons by agreeing to deal with Mike Green that pays him $5,375,000 annually. Signing Green could be just the start of the action for the Red Wings, who have been linked to unrestricted free agent goaltender Jonathan Bernier and winger Thomas Vanek.
New Jersey also shored up its goaltending situation by re-signing Eddie Lack to a $650,000, one-year deal. The Devils also have Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid, who split time last season and in the playoffs.
A person with direct knowledge of discussions said the Buffalo Sabres are expected to sign goalie Carter Hutton, who had been the St. Louis Blues’ backup to Jake Allen. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because agreements cannot be announced until the signing period begins.
Hutton and others seem to already be ticketed for certain places, but many big-name players are still up for grabs.
Maple Leafs winger James van Riemsdyk, who tied Tavares with 36 goals last season Tarik Cohen Jersey , has been drawing significant interest and, at 29, could easily command a seven-year contract at a substantial raise over his previous $4.25 million salary. The Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights have cap space but might lose wingers David Perron and James Neal, who combined for 110 points last season.
The Winnipeg Jets are doing their best to try to bring back center Paul Stastny after he was so instrumental in their playoff run. They cleared about $5.5 million in cap space by trading goaltender Steve Mason and Finnish forward Joel Armia to Montreal on Saturday but may still need more room to bring back the 32-year-old.
The Canadiens are set to buy out Mason, putting him on unconditional waivers as the Minnesota Wild did with forward Tyler Ennis to clear cap space.
Stastny fit in seamlessly after Winnipeg acquired him from St. Louis at the trade deadline but also might be better served waiting to see what Tavares does. Teams looking for a center who don’t land Tavares will look to Stastny and Toronto’s Tyler Bozak and could look into a trade for Buffalo’s Ryan O’Reilly, who is signed for the next five years and owed a $7.5 million bonus Sunday.
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AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow in San Jose, California, contributed to this report.
Bengals owner Mike Brown says President Donald Trump’s numerous tweets attacking NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem have prolonged the issue, which he sees as one of the league’s biggest distractions.
Brown noted at the team’s annual preseason luncheon Tuesday that the NFL and the players’ union are trying to develop an anthem policy that will hopefully please not only owners and players, but fans and the president, too. He said the president’s tweets have worked against finding a resolution to the issue.
”I think that worked against us,” Brown said. ”I think it stirred the pot Odell Beckham Jr Jersey Youth , it got people looking at it unfavorably, and he has worked that issue for, I suppose, political reasons. It is what it is. It’s beyond my pay grade.”
Trump has attacked the NFL and players who protested social injustice by kneeling during the ”Star Spangled Banner.” The league adopted a policy in May that would fine clubs if their players protest on the field, but gave them the option to stay in the locker room during the anthem.
The issue flared again last week when the Miami Dolphins developed a policy that would leave players subject to suspensions, prompting the NFL to try to find a solution with the players’ union. Trump tweeted again that players should be suspended for kneeling, and he challenged Commissioner Roger Goodell to make a stand.
Brown said he’s seen Trump only once in person. They were in the same courtroom in the 1980s when Trump – then owner of the USFL’s New Jersey Generals – sued the NFL.
”Unlike some of the (NFL) owners you read about in the newspaper, I have never met Donald Trump,” Brown said.
Brown said he considered implementing an anthem policy for the Bengals before the league and the union decided to try for a joint resolution last week.
”Yes, I have thoughts on it,” Brown said. ”Yes, we had ways of handling it. I’m not so sure that wasn’t pretty good Lawrence Taylor Jersey Youth , at least compared to others. But that’s as much as I’m going to say about this, and let’s get on to something else.”
Brown’s team also is involved in a grievance filed on behalf of free agent safety Eric Reid, who met with the Bengals but wasn’t offered a contract. Brown reportedly asked Reid during their visit whether he would continue to kneel during the anthem.
The grievance claims that Reid wasn’t signed by any team because of his anthem protests. Brown said he was scheduled to meet with the team’s lawyers on Wednesday to discuss the case. He was surprised it quickly became an issue.
”It was a quick-forming thunderhead,” Brown said. ”I didn’t expect it.”
Brown is disappointed that the debate over anthem protests has lingered into another season.
”It should never have developed into the issue it has,” he said. ”Yes, it bothers me that we sit here today talking about the anthem issue.”
The Bengals open camp this week coming off a second straight losing season. They haven’t won a playoff game since the 1990 season, the sixth-longest streak of postseason futility in NFL history. Brown chose to bring back coach Marvin Lewis for a 16th season even though he has an NFL-record 0-7 in the playoffs.
Brown said he’s concerned not only about his team’s challenges but also the challenges that the NFL faces with the focus on concussions and pregame protests.
”We have distractions,” Brown said. ”We have to get beyond them. We have to get beyond the anthem issue. We have to get beyond the concussion issue. There are other things. We’re about football. That’s what fans want. And this other stuff turns off everybody. We have to get away from it somehow, and it’s a challenge for us to do that.”
—
.
With less than 12 hours until the market opens, the elite center had not chosen between six suitors, with the San Jose Sharks, hometown Toronto Maple Leafs and incumbent New York Islanders considered the most likely options. Returning to the Islanders looks less likely now after the midnight deadline passed for Tavares to get an eight-year contract from his current team.
The Tavares sweepstakes dragging on into Sunday seems to favor San Jose and Toronto, either of which could sign the 27-year-old to a seven-year deal worth $70 million or more. He met this week with the Sharks, Maple Leafs, Islanders, Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning, and his decision could drastically affect the plans of those teams and others.
”I think other teams have admitted, we would have to make moves (to clear salary-cap space),” Bruins general manager Don Sweeny told reporters in Boston on Friday. ”Pretty confident we’d be able to do that.”
As hockey waited for the Tavares watch to end Taven Bryan Jersey , several teams made moves Saturday ahead of the frenzy.
The Sharks agreed to a $64 million, eight-year extension with forward Logan Couture, according to a person familiar with the contract who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn’t been announced. It can’t become official until after noon Sunday because it doesn’t begin until the 2019-20 season – the same as long-term deals the Los Angeles Kings have with Drew Doughty and Arizona Coyotes have with Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Detroit got its own defenseman under contract for the next two seasons by agreeing to deal with Mike Green that pays him $5,375,000 annually. Signing Green could be just the start of the action for the Red Wings, who have been linked to unrestricted free agent goaltender Jonathan Bernier and winger Thomas Vanek.
New Jersey also shored up its goaltending situation by re-signing Eddie Lack to a $650,000, one-year deal. The Devils also have Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid, who split time last season and in the playoffs.
A person with direct knowledge of discussions said the Buffalo Sabres are expected to sign goalie Carter Hutton, who had been the St. Louis Blues’ backup to Jake Allen. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because agreements cannot be announced until the signing period begins.
Hutton and others seem to already be ticketed for certain places, but many big-name players are still up for grabs.
Maple Leafs winger James van Riemsdyk, who tied Tavares with 36 goals last season Tarik Cohen Jersey , has been drawing significant interest and, at 29, could easily command a seven-year contract at a substantial raise over his previous $4.25 million salary. The Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights have cap space but might lose wingers David Perron and James Neal, who combined for 110 points last season.
The Winnipeg Jets are doing their best to try to bring back center Paul Stastny after he was so instrumental in their playoff run. They cleared about $5.5 million in cap space by trading goaltender Steve Mason and Finnish forward Joel Armia to Montreal on Saturday but may still need more room to bring back the 32-year-old.
The Canadiens are set to buy out Mason, putting him on unconditional waivers as the Minnesota Wild did with forward Tyler Ennis to clear cap space.
Stastny fit in seamlessly after Winnipeg acquired him from St. Louis at the trade deadline but also might be better served waiting to see what Tavares does. Teams looking for a center who don’t land Tavares will look to Stastny and Toronto’s Tyler Bozak and could look into a trade for Buffalo’s Ryan O’Reilly, who is signed for the next five years and owed a $7.5 million bonus Sunday.
—
AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow in San Jose, California, contributed to this report.
Bengals owner Mike Brown says President Donald Trump’s numerous tweets attacking NFL players for kneeling during the national anthem have prolonged the issue, which he sees as one of the league’s biggest distractions.
Brown noted at the team’s annual preseason luncheon Tuesday that the NFL and the players’ union are trying to develop an anthem policy that will hopefully please not only owners and players, but fans and the president, too. He said the president’s tweets have worked against finding a resolution to the issue.
”I think that worked against us,” Brown said. ”I think it stirred the pot Odell Beckham Jr Jersey Youth , it got people looking at it unfavorably, and he has worked that issue for, I suppose, political reasons. It is what it is. It’s beyond my pay grade.”
Trump has attacked the NFL and players who protested social injustice by kneeling during the ”Star Spangled Banner.” The league adopted a policy in May that would fine clubs if their players protest on the field, but gave them the option to stay in the locker room during the anthem.
The issue flared again last week when the Miami Dolphins developed a policy that would leave players subject to suspensions, prompting the NFL to try to find a solution with the players’ union. Trump tweeted again that players should be suspended for kneeling, and he challenged Commissioner Roger Goodell to make a stand.
Brown said he’s seen Trump only once in person. They were in the same courtroom in the 1980s when Trump – then owner of the USFL’s New Jersey Generals – sued the NFL.
”Unlike some of the (NFL) owners you read about in the newspaper, I have never met Donald Trump,” Brown said.
Brown said he considered implementing an anthem policy for the Bengals before the league and the union decided to try for a joint resolution last week.
”Yes, I have thoughts on it,” Brown said. ”Yes, we had ways of handling it. I’m not so sure that wasn’t pretty good Lawrence Taylor Jersey Youth , at least compared to others. But that’s as much as I’m going to say about this, and let’s get on to something else.”
Brown’s team also is involved in a grievance filed on behalf of free agent safety Eric Reid, who met with the Bengals but wasn’t offered a contract. Brown reportedly asked Reid during their visit whether he would continue to kneel during the anthem.
The grievance claims that Reid wasn’t signed by any team because of his anthem protests. Brown said he was scheduled to meet with the team’s lawyers on Wednesday to discuss the case. He was surprised it quickly became an issue.
”It was a quick-forming thunderhead,” Brown said. ”I didn’t expect it.”
Brown is disappointed that the debate over anthem protests has lingered into another season.
”It should never have developed into the issue it has,” he said. ”Yes, it bothers me that we sit here today talking about the anthem issue.”
The Bengals open camp this week coming off a second straight losing season. They haven’t won a playoff game since the 1990 season, the sixth-longest streak of postseason futility in NFL history. Brown chose to bring back coach Marvin Lewis for a 16th season even though he has an NFL-record 0-7 in the playoffs.
Brown said he’s concerned not only about his team’s challenges but also the challenges that the NFL faces with the focus on concussions and pregame protests.
”We have distractions,” Brown said. ”We have to get beyond them. We have to get beyond the anthem issue. We have to get beyond the concussion issue. There are other things. We’re about football. That’s what fans want. And this other stuff turns off everybody. We have to get away from it somehow, and it’s a challenge for us to do that.”
—
.