Month: March 2023

Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney announced on Thursday, March 2, that the team has signed forward David Pastrnak to an eight-year contract extension through the 2030-31 season, with an annual NHL cap hit of $11.25 million.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound winger has spent all nine seasons of his career in Boston, playing in a total of 570 games for the Bruins. In that time, Pastrnak has amassed 282 goals and 302 assists for 584 points. The 26-year-old Pastrnak leads the Bruins in goals (42), assists (38), points (80), points per game (1.33), even strength goals (28), even strength points (51), power play goals (14), and power play points (29) so far this season. This is Pastrnak’s third career 40-goal season.

Pastrnak ranks in the top 20 in Bruins franchise history in goals (9th, 282), hat tricks (3rd, 13) assists (18th, 302) and points (14th, 584). He has played in 60 games with the Bruins this season, recording 42 goals and 38 assists for 80 points with a plus-27 rating.

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The Lakers announced Thursday that LeBron James has been diagnosed with a right foot tendon injury and will be re-evaluated in three weeks after being examined by the team’s medical staff.  James’s foot injury will reportedly cause him to miss a significant amount of time in the second half of the season, but it appears that he will avoid surgery. With this timeline, the earliest James would be able to return is March 24 against the Thunder, with only nine games remaining in the season.

James suffered the injury against the Mavericks on Sunday but played through the Lakers 111–108 comeback win.  The Lakers are currently the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference with a 30–33 record but are just four games behind the Suns who are the No. 4 seed with a 34–29 mark. A playoff spot is for the taking but the team will need to stay in the hunt with James forced to watch games in a walking boot.

On the season, the 38-year-old James is averaging 29.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 6.9 assists.

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The Washington Capitals announced on Wednesday they have traded forward Lars Eller to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a 2025 second-round pick. The Capitals will retain 31% of Eller’s salary in the deal; he is set to be an unrestricted free agent after the 2022-23 campaign. Eller is the fifth Capitals player to be traded since last week; Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov were traded to Boston; Erik Gustafsson to Toronto; and Marcus Johansson to Minnesota.

The 33-year-old Eller has 364 points in 930 career NHL regular-season games over 14 seasons with the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens and Capitals, who was drafted by the Blues in the 2007 NHL Draft. Eller has spent the last six-plus seasons with Washingto; he has seven goals and 19 points in 60 games with the Capitals this season.

Eller is perhaps best known in Washington for his exceptional play during the Capitals’ Stanley Cup run in 2018, scoring seven goals and 11 assists in the 2018 playoffs, including three-game winning goals. Eller scored the double-overtime game-winner against Columbus in Game 3 of the opening round; and in the Stanley Cup Final against Las Vegas, Eller scored the go-ahead goal in Washington’s 4-3 Game 5 victory over the Golden Knights, helping the Capitals clinch their first title in franchise history.

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An arrest warrant was issued for Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter in connection to a fatal January crash that killed two members of the Bulldogs’ football program. Carter is charged with the misdemeanor charges or reckless driving and racing.

On the morning of Jan. 15, offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting analyst Chandler LeCroy were killed in a car crash that injured two other passengers At the beginning of the investigation, Carter told police that he was nearly a mile away from the car when the crash happened, but later said he was close enough to see the car’s taillights and acknowledged he was alongside the other car. Police now believe Carter and LeCroy were racing before the early-morning incident, after initially believing it to have been a single-car crash.  The investigation found that LeCroy and Carter “were operating their vehicles in a manner consistent with racing shortly after leaving the downtown Athens area at about 2:30 AM,” and police also said the two drivers engaged in reckless driving, including switching between lanes, driving in opposite lanes of travel and driving at high rates of speed “in an apparent attempt to outdistance each other.” Police said LeCroy’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.197 at the time of the incident, and investigators determined “that alcohol impairment, racing, reckless driving and speed were significant contributing factors to the crash.”

Carter acknowledged the warrants on Wednesday afternoon, tweeting: “There is no question in my mind that when all of the facts are known that I will be fully exonerated of any criminal wrongdoing. The statement also claimed that some reports about the January crash and charges against him are inaccurate. Numerous media reports also have circulated this morning containing inaccurate information concerning the tragic events of January 15, 2023. It is my intention to return to Athens to answer the misdemeanor charges against me and to make certain that the complete and accurate truth is presented. There is no question in my mind that when all of the facts are known that I will be fully exonerated of any criminal wrongdoing.” 

After the news was the warrant was made public, Georgia coach Kirby Smart also released a statement: “The charges announced today are deeply concerning, especially as we are still struggling to cope with the devastating loss of two beloved members of our community. We will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities while supporting these families and assessing what we can learn from this horrible tragedy.”

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