Bruins sign Backes to five-year, $30 million deal
The Boston Bruins signed center David Backes to a five-year, $30 million deal shortly after Friday’s free-agency frenzy began.
The 32-year-old Backes departed the St. Louis Blues as a free agent after 10 seasons. He had 21 points and 24 assists last season.
The former St. Louis captain had 206 goals and 254 assists in 727 career games.
“I am as excited as can be to join an Original Six team with tons of history and a great chance to win,” Backes told Comcast Sports Net New England. “The courtship period and vision for winning with this group was irresistible.”
Backes has twice scored 31 goals in a season, the recent time being the 2010-11 campaign when he scored a career-high 62 points.
Boston also re-signed defenseman John-Michael Liles to a one-year, $2 million deal and signed free agent goaltender Anton Khudobin to a two-year, $2 million deal.
Howard agrees to $70.5M deal with Hawks
Free agent center Dwight Howard agreed to a three-year, $70.5 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks, multiple media outlets reported Friday.
Howard is a native of Atlanta, and Howard agreed to join the Hawks after his first meeting with an NBA team.
“It was a really, really, really good meeting,” a source told ESPN.com. “Very impressive. Dwight’s going to look at all his options. But it went very, very well.”
Howard had drawn interest from the Boston Celtics among others. Howard had scheduled meetings with other clubs on Saturday, but canceled them after agreeing to the deal with Atlanta.
The deal averages $23.5 million per year in salary.
Howard is an eight-time All-Star who has won three Defensive Player of the Year Awards.
Goodell made nearly $32 million in 2015
The NFL paid commissioner Roger Goodell nearly $32 million in fiscal year 2015, a drop from $34.1 million the previous year.
Goodell, who became commissioner in 2006, was paid $44 million in 2013, which included base salary and bonuses as well as pension and other deferred payments.
According to the Sports Business Daily, the 2015 figure of $31.74 million is based on the last tax return filed by the NFL. Goodell’s salary will no longer need to be made public since the league changed its status from exempt to taxable.
In the 10 years in which his commissioner salary has been disclosed, Goodell has made an average of $21.5 million a year and a total of $212.5 million.
NFL suspends Ravens’ Waller
The NFL suspended Baltimore Ravens tight end Darren Waller for the first four games of the 2016 regular season for violating the NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse, the league announced Friday.
Waller will be eligible to return to the Ravens’ active roster on Monday, October 3 following the team’s October 2 game against the Oakland Raiders.
Waller played in six games last season, including one start, and had two receptions for 18 yards.
Waller is eligible to participate in all preseason practices and game
