Bruins’ new forward Connolly out six weeks
The Boston Bruins acquired forward Brett Connolly from the Tampa Bay Lightning for two second-round draft picks just before the trade deadline to bolster a forward group decimated by injuries for the stretch run.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, Connolly will miss said stretch run after it was announced he would be out six weeks with a displaced fracture in his right index finger. Connolly was injured in practice Wednesday when he was struck in the hand by a shot from defenseman Dennis Seidenberg.
Connolly, a 2010 first-round pick, has 12 goals and three assists in 50 games this season with the Lightning. He had yet to play a game with the Bruins.
Allen will not play this season
Longtime NBA guard Ray Allen announced Wednesday that he will not play this season.
“Over the past several months, I have taken a lot of time to deliberate what is best for me. I’ve ultimately decided that I will not play this NBA season,” he said in a statement released by his agent.
Allen, 39, said he will spend the rest of the year reassessing whether he will play in 2015-16.
The league’s career leader with 2,973 3-pointers, Allen had been pursued by several teams, including the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
He had spent the last two seasons with the Miami Heat. Last season, he averaged 9.6 points while shooting 44.2 percent overall and 37.5 percent from 3-point range.
In his 19-year career with the Milwaukee Bucks (1996 to 2003), Seattle SuperSonics (2002-07), Boston Celtics (2007-12) and Heat (2012-14), Allen averaged 18.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists while shooting 45.2 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 89.4 percent from the free-throw line.
ESPN to broadcast 2016 World Cup of Hockey
ESPN has been awarded the exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
The NHL and NHL players association made the announcement Wednesday for the event, which will be played at the Air Canada Centre next year in Toronto from Sept. 17 to Oct. 1.
The tournament will feature eight teams, including entries from the United States, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden, a team made up of players for other European countries, and a team comprised of young North American players. It is expected to include upwards of 150 NHL players.
This will be the first World Cup of Hockey since 2004, when Canada defeated the United States in the final.
The deal with ESPN covers all tournament games — round-robin, semifinal and the best-of-three final — with most games to appear on ESPN and ESPN2.
Panthers’ Hardy meets NFL officials
Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy met with NFL officials in New York on Wednesday to lobby for his removal from the commissioner’s exempt list.
Hardy submitted documents from his domestic-assault case and left the meeting with no resolution, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media.
Scheduled to be a free agent on March 10, Hardy is seeking immediate reinstatement.
Hardy has been on the exempt list since last September due to a domestic-abuse case, and the league is still investigating whether he violated the personal-conduct policy.
Hardy was convicted last summer of assaulting and threatening to kill his former girlfriend. He appealed the ruling and was assigned for a jury trial that was to start Feb. 9 in Charlotte, N.C. But the case was dismissed because his accuser could not be found to testify.
Hardy played only one game last season but received $13.1 million from Carolina after being designated with the franchise tag in February.
Martin draws one-game suspension
New York Islanders forward Matt Martin was suspended Wednesday for one game without pay for kneeing Dallas Stars defenseman Trevor Daley during a game.
Daley was hit by Martin at 1:48 of the first period in Dallas’ 3-2 overtime win Tuesday night. Martin received a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct.
Daley sustained a lower-body injury on the play and did not return to the game.
According to the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Martin will lose $5,376.34 in salary.
Jackets lose Clarkson for 4-6 weeks
A torn oblique muscle will keep Columbus Blue Jackets right winger David Clarkson off the ice for four to six weeks.
Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said Clarkson suffered the injury during Tuesday night’s game against the Washington Capitals.
The 30-year-old Clarkson was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 26 in a trade for right winger Nathan Horton. In three games with the Blue Jackets, Clarkson had 14 penalty minutes.
Clarkson has played in a combined 61 games between the Maple Leafs and Blue Jackets this season, logging 10 goals, five assists and 106 penalty minutes.
In 547 career NHL games, Clarkson has 112 goals, 84 assists and 969 penalty minutes.
Eye injury sidelines Marble
Orlando Magic guard Devyn Marble will miss four to six weeks after suffering a detached retina in his left eye, the team announced Wednesday.
The 6-foot-6 rookie guard from Iowa has played in 16 games and started seven for the Magic this season. He is averaging 2.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.
In six games with the Erie Bayhawks of the NBA Development League, Marble is averaging 13.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.17 steals.