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On Thursday, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson penned a letter to the Players Associations representing five major professional sports leagues, asking potential free agents to avoid signing with teams in Texas because of the state’s voting and abortion laws. The letter was sent to the Players Associations of the NBA, NFL, WNBA, NHL, and MLB, and urges professional athletes to “seek employment with sports teams located in states that will protect, honor and serve your families with integrity.”

The John Doe who accused former Blackhawks video coordinator Brad Aldrich of sexual assault came forward in an interview with TSN on Wednesday evening. Kyle Beach, a 2008 first-round pick for the Blackhawks now playing in the German third division, spoke for 25 minutes in an emotional and powerful interview, saying he is still working through the healing process after suppressing the memory of his assault for years after initially reporting it. Tuesday, the NHL released a commissioned report into the incident and two executives left the franchise — with more fallout still possible. “Yesterday was a day of many...

The NHL has all but four players who have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19. On Tuesday, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the league achieved more than 99 percent of vaccinated players by the season-opening game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins. "Our vaccination rate is incredible," Bettman said. "Four players, not four percent of players. All of our officials are vaccinated. All of the personnel that comes into contact with the players are vaccinated."

Edmonton Oilers coach Dave Tippett has said that forward Josh Archibald is out indefinitely after having been diagnosed with myocarditis.

Nine days before NHL training camps begin, the Columbus Blue Jackets have relieved assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre of his duties over refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the team announced on Monday. Steve McCarthy — originally on the coaching staff of the Cleveland Monsters, their AHL affiliate — has been promoted to take over Lefebvre’s spot with the Blue Jackets to coach their defensemen. “While we are disappointed, we respect that this decision is a personal one for Sylvain and wish him well,” general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said in a team release. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Sept. 2 that...

NHL star Evander Kane’s pregnant wife ripped her husband in a scathing Instagram post — claiming the San Jose Sharks forward is a gambling addict who tanked games for profit and abandoned her with their toddler to party in Europe while their house is being “taken by the bank.” The Saturday Instagram stories have apparently already prompted an investigation by the National Hockey League, which said in a tweet it was aware of the posts and intended to “conduct a full investigation.” Anna Kane let loose on her husband in the blistering posts, painting him as an addict who had...

A medical examiner in Michigan says an autopsy has determined that Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks died of chest trauma from an errant fireworks mortar blast, and not a fall as authorities previously reported. Police in Novi, Michigan, said the mortar-style firework tilted slightly and started to fire toward people nearby Sunday night. The 24-year-old Kivleniek was in a hot tub and tried to get clear with several other people, police Lieutenant Jason Meier said. The fire department and EMTs got to the private home shortly after 10 p.m. and took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced...

Henri Richard, who had a long and storied career in the National Hockey League as a player with the Montreal Canadiens, passed away on Friday. Richard was 84 years old.

The NHL and health authorities are reportedly working on a travel exemption that would let the winner of the all-Canadian North Division and an American opponent cross the border during the final two rounds of the playoffs, including the Stanley Cup Final. The exemption would let teams enter Canada for games without having to isolate for 14 days, as is currently required for non-essential travelers because of the pandemic, The Canadian Press reported Sunday, citing two people with the federal government who spoke on condition of anoymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The NHL has been working...

<p>Monday afternoon's scheduled Minnesota Twins game has been postponed following the fatal police shooting of a man in Brooklyn Center on Sunday, which sparked civil unrest.</p><p>The Twins were set to open a four-game series at Target Field against the Boston Red Sox at 1:10 p.m.</p>

False teeth could one day be a thing of the past, thanks to the discovery of an antibody that sparks the regeneration of lost teeth. By inhibiting the action of a gene called USAG-1, the antibody increases the availability of certain growth factors, and could eventually be used to help people grow a new set of pearly whites. Publishing their work in the journal Science Advances, a team of researchers describes how they genetically modified mice to suffer from tooth agenesis, where some teeth fail to develop. Injecting pregnant mice from this line with the USAG-1 antibody, however, resulted in...

As NBA ratings have declined over the current season, a new poll shows that more than 30 percent of Americans say they have watched less sports over political and social justice messaging. The poll, which was conducted by Yahoo News/YouGov, found 34.5 percent of respondents saying they have watched less sports due to social justice campaigns. According to the poll, 11 percent of people said they have watched more sports as a result of the social justice messaging, and 56.3 percent said they have watched the same amount. Looking at the different political party affiliations, 19 percent of Democrats said...

You have to see it to believe it.Peter DeBoer said those words after the Vegas Golden Knights coach put the team through a fun, spirited pregame practice Friday on the NHL's makeshift rink built atop the 18th fairway at Edgewood Tahoe Resort, a slap shot away from Lake Tahoe with the Sierra Nevada in the distance. "I think the pictures, as beautiful as they are, don't do it justice," DeBoer said. "I grew up in Canada and I know anywhere in the Northeast of the United States or Minnesota, anywhere they can build outdoor rinks, there's always a competition on...

Sportswear giant Under Armour is dumping its licensing contracts with the National Football League, according to Front Office Sports. The company axed its deal for NFL players to wear its products on the field, making the coming 2021 season the first in years that Under Armour logos will not appear on the field for years, according to a recent issue of the Front Office Sports email newsletter. Under Amour’s move comes on the heels of the company’s exit from several other high-profile sports leagues, as well. Under Armour asked to end its $85 million deal with the University of California...

That opportunity ended early this week, he said, when he was called by Private Jet Services, which is handling charter flights for NHL teams such as the Hurricanes, and informed he was being fired as a travel concierge because of his work in Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

A former Trump worker allegedly lost his job simply because a pro sports league refused to work with a company that would employ Trump workers. Dawson Buchanan, a young Trump supporter, left a very disturbing thread on Twitter. He asserts that he was all set to begin working for a company called Private Jet Services. However, shortly before he was to begin, PJS fired him. He finally learned from the owner that PJS had a contract with the National Hockey League. When the NHL learned that PJS had hired someone who had worked for the Trump company, the NHL said...

Division realignment and the intradivision schedules have the 2020-21 NHL season primed to be a sprint to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, complete with the intensity, emotion and animosity typically reserved for the spring months.(snip)Players, coaches and executives from across the NHL agree that the 56-game season will create team and player rivalries that didn't previously exist, or that were bubbling under the surface, and intensify the more known rivalries, both historic and recently developed.

New York Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo deleted his Twitter account and called the social media site a “disgrace,” after the site permanently banned President Trump. The star defenseman now says he will join Parler.

It's only hockey. Then again, it's more than hockey. It's Jan. 3, 2021, and the NHL is back. The seven teams that didn't play in the 2020 postseason opened training camp Thursday; the rest open camp Sunday. The regular season begins in a matter of days, on Jan. 13, when the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins renew their rivalry at Wells Fargo Center to open a five-game slate (5:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN). The coronavirus pandemic affecting life around the world has not ended. It disrupted the 2019-20 season in unprecedented ways. It will impact this season in many ways too....

Washington's NFL team, Cleveland's MLB team ... and now the Vancouver Canucks? The NHL squad is now feeling pressure to change ... this after an Indigenous Studies expert claims the main logo featured on the team's uniforms is cultural appropriation. Sean Carleton -- a University of Manitoba history professor -- spelled out his concerns in a lengthy social media thread this week ... explaining why he feels the team's orca logo should be replaced. Carleton says the whale -- which was created nearly 3 decades ago and has elements of artwork designed by Haida in it -- is hurting indigenous...