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NHL trade deadline day was pretty dead
Most of the big deals were made prior to today. Over the weekend, the Leafs landed 2019 Norris Trophy winner Mark Giordano from Seattle, Eastern Conference-leading Florida got Claude Giroux from Philadelphia, and Boston acquired defenceman Hampus Lindholm from Anaheim — then promptly handed him an 8-year, $52-million US contract extension. Before that, Florida added defenceman Ben Chiarot from Montreal, defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay grabbed young forward Brandon Hagel from Chicago, Presidents’ Trophy front-runner Colorado acquired d-man Josh Manson from Anaheim, and Pacific Division-leading Calgary shored up at forward by getting Calle Jarnkrok from Seattle.
With those Stanley Cup contenders getting their shopping done early, there was a dearth of major trades today ahead of the 3 p.m. ET cutoff. The biggest (assuming nothing else major rolls in after our 4 p.m. ET publish time) saw reigning Vezina Trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury go from Chicago to Minnesota for a conditional second-round draft pick that becomes a first-rounder if the Wild reach the conference finals. Catch up on today’s significant trades here. See every move, large or small, in this NHL transaction tracker.
Quickly…
Another big-name NFL quarterback is on the move. 2016 MVP Matt Ryan was reportedly traded today from Atlanta to Indianapolis for a third-round pick. This comes three days after Cleveland’s blockbuster trade for Deshaun Watson, who agreed to waive his no-trade clause when the Browns promised him a new five-year contract worth a record-shattering $230 million US guaranteed. Cleveland also reportedly agreed to give Watson a base salary of only $1 million this year, ensuring his financial hit would be minimized if the NFL decides to suspend him in connection with the civil lawsuits Watson is facing from 22 women who have accused him of sexual assault and sexual misconduct. Watson is not facing criminal charges after a grand jury declined to indict him.
Two Canadian stars prevented March Madness from descending into complete mayhem. A lot of brackets are busted after four double-digit seeds cracked the men’s Sweet 16 over the weekend. That includes tiny Saint Peters, which is only the third No. 15 seed to make it this far. Meanwhile, defending champion Baylor became the first No. 1 seed eliminated from this year’s tournament when it lost in the second round to North Carolina. And two other No. 1s could have been bounced if not for the efforts of their key Canadian players. Tournament favourite Gonzaga scraped past 9-seed Memphis on Saturday night with 23 points from Andrew Nembhard, including some clutch free throws down the stretch. Arizona was in danger of losing to 9-seed TCU before Bennedict Mathurin nailed a three-pointer to force overtime and scored six more points in OT to finish with 30 in an 85-80 win. The women’s tournament completes its second round tonight. Canada’s Shaina Pellington (30 points for Arizona in the opening round) and Aaliyah Edwards (seven for UConn) will try to help their teams advance to the Sweet 16 when they play at, respectively, 9 p.m. ET and 10 p.m. ET.
Canada is off to a so-so start at the women’s curling world championship. Back-to-back-to-back Scotties champion Kerri Einarson and her team are 2-2 after beating Italy and Turkey (who are a combined 1-6) while losing to Norway and defending-champion Switzerland over the weekend in Prince George, B.C. The Canadians play just once today — at 5 p.m. ET vs. Denmark (2-1). Also this evening, you can get caught up on all the recent team shakeups in Canadian curling by watching That Curling Show at 7 p.m. ET on the CBC Sports YouTube channel.
And in case you missed it…
A few more things from the weekend that you should know about:
Damian Warner won his first world indoor title. The 2021 Olympic decathlon gold medallist and Lou Marsh Trophy winner nailed his first big competition of the 2022 season, capturing the heptathlon title at track and field’s world indoor championships in Serbia. Warner’s focus this year is the outdoor world championships in July in Oregon, where he’ll be looking to win his first decathlon title after taking a silver and two bronze over the past decade. In the most anticipated event of the world indoors, Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy beat reigning 100m world champ Christian Coleman of the U.S. in the men’s 60m final. They didn’t face each other at the Olympics last summer because Coleman was banned for missing multiple doping tests. The most inspiring moment came from 20-year-old Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who won the women’s event after fleeing her war-torn country and travelling 2,000 kms by car to reach Serbia. Read more about all of these performances and watch highlights here.
Canadian swimmer Taylor Ruck beat Lia Thomas for her first individual NCAA title. Swimming for Stanford University, Ruck won the women’s 200-yard freestyle final at the U.S. collegiate championships on Friday night. The top-ranked Thomas, who won the women’s 500-yard freestyle on Thursday to become the first known transgender athlete to capture an NCAA swimming title, placed fifth. Ruck, a four-time Olympic relay medallist, also grabbed a relay medal of each colour with her Stanford teammates at the NCAA meet, which ended Saturday. Canadian Olympic gold medallist Maggie Mac Neil came up short in defence of her women’s 100-yard butterfly title, taking bronze. The reigning Olympic and world 100m butterfly champion also grabbed a bronze in the 50-yard butterfly for the University of Michigan.
Some of Canada’s Winter Olympic medallists finished their seasons strong. Beijing silver medallist and 2018 Olympic champion Mikael Kingsbury wrapped up his 10th World Cup moguls season title with a victory on Friday, then won the closing dual moguls event on Saturday to add the dual and overall season titles to his massive trophy collection. Double Beijing medallist Eliot Grondin won the World Cup men’s snowboard cross season finale to finish fourth in the standings. Marielle Thompson, who in Beijing added a ski cross silver to her gold from 2014, placed second in the women’s season finale to finish third in the World standings.
You’re up to speed. Talk to you tomorrow.