NHL
– F Jaromir Jagr could sign a 1-year deal “in the next week or so,” according to his agent. The Penguins and Red Wings are believed to be the front runners for his services, but Jagr’s agent said that “quite a few teams are in the picture.” Jagr hasn’t played in the NHL since 2008, but remains an interesting choice, as he could still be a top-6 forward at the NHL level. That said, and players who attempt to return to North America after stints in the KHL haven’t had the best results–Jagr has been pretty close to a point-per-game player in the KHL, but so was Red Wings’ F Jiri Hudler, who went onto score 10 goals and 37 points in 73 games last season. Jagr has 646 goals and 1,599 points in his NHL career, ranking among the game’s all-time best. He had 25 goals and 71 points in his last season with the Rangers three years ago when he finished strong with 15 points in 10 playoff games.
– The NY Times is reporting the Rangers and Flyers will play at Citizens Bank Park in the next Winter Classic game. The annual outdoor game will be played on January 2, because Sunday, January 1 is scheduled to be the final week of the NFL’s regular season.
– The Blue Jackets have added former Wild head coach Todd Richards as an assistant coach. Richards became Minnesota’s coach in 2009 and led the team to a 77-71-16 record during his tenure.
MLB
– Federal prosecutors are asking for a two-month postponement of Barry Bonds’ next court date. The government was expected to announce at a Friday hearing whether it intended to retry Bonds on three perjury charges a jury deadlocked on after a month-long trial in April. Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice and a judge was to set a sentencing date on Friday. His lawyers have filed legal papers asking that Bonds’ conviction be tossed out. A second court hearing was scheduled for July 1 to consider Bonds’ argument that the jury erred in convicting him of making a misleading statement to a grand jury investigating a steroid distribution ring. Prosecutors on Tuesday asked the judge to delay both hearings until Aug. 26. Bonds’ lawyers oppose the request.
– Roger Clemens and the prosecutors who have accused him of lying about using performance-enhancing drugs submitted a flurry of motions Tuesday ahead of next month’s criminal trial, with the baseball star trying to limit his former teammates’ testimony about drug use and the government trying to block revelations about his chief accuser’s investigation for sexual assault.
The filings revolved around the prosecution’s leading witness — former Clemens trainer Brian McNamee, who says he injected the seven-time Cy Young Award winner with steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens has steadfastly disavowed using drugs and is scheduled to go on trial July 6 on charges that he lied when he made those denials during congressional testimony.
– Rangers’ 1B Mike Napoli received a cortisone injection in his left obilque muscle on Monday. Napoli said the soreness was down to one specific spot, so he hopes the shot will take care of the issue. “It’s just sore to the touch. They had me twisting and turning and it was fine. We’ll see.” Napoli is expected to rest for the next 24 to 48 hours and will likely need several batting practice sessions before going out on a minor league rehab assignment. There’s no timetable for his return right now.
– The Padres have placed 1B Brad Hawpe (strained right middle finger) on the 15-day DL retroactive to June 19.
NBA
– Bobcats’ F Boris Diaw has exercised his $9M player option for next season. It’s a no-brainer given the uncertainty of the season. The move comes after owner Michael Jordan criticized Diaw’s play in the 2010-11 season. Diaw, who was nearly traded twice last season, could be a potential target to be moved as Jordan seeks to revamp Charlotte’s roster. The 29-year-old averaged 11.3 point and 5 rebounds last season.
– The Wizards have picked up the 3rd-year options on G John Wall, G Jordan Crawford, G Trevor Booker and G Kevin Seraphin. The team also announced Saturday it has extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Nick Young, Othyus Jeffers, Hamady Ndiaye and Larry Owens. The qualifying offers guarantees the team a right of first refusal on any deals the players might sign after the NBA and the players’ union reach a new labour agreement — unless the agreement changes the rules regarding restricted free agents. Wall and Crawford had standout rookie seasons for the Wizards. No. 1 overall pick Wall averaged 16.4 points and 8.3 assists, while Crawford averaged 16.3 points after joining the team in a midseason trade.
– Heat’ president Pat Riley says he will not return to coaching. Riley ended his Hall of Fame coaching career in 2008, before tapping Spoelstra as his replacement. Current head coach Erik Spoelstra has a 148-98 record in three regular seasons, along with a 18-15 mark in post-season play.
WWE
– WWE announced on their website that issues with tabulating the mobile voting resulted in the Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston bout on Raw being booked as a Best of Three Falls bout. The actual winning stipulation was Vickie Guerrero being banned from ringside.
In light of the technical difficulties that occurred during the “Power to the People” edition of Raw on Monday night, WWE will make it up to fans by holding a match between Sin Cara and Evan Bourne on next week’s show. WWE.com adds:
“During Monday’s Raw broadcast, WWE fans were given the option to text A, B or C to 46993 (GOWWE) in order to decide what they wanted to happen on the show. Things went perfectly at first when text votes selected Kelly Kelly (option B) to take on Brie Bella for the Divas Championship. However, our vote tabulating provider’s system became overwhelmed, causing these votes to definitively affect the following contest, in which Mason Ryan (also option B) was voted into a match against Evan Bourne — even though, as it was later discovered, Sin Cara had received 90 percent of the total votes in WWE.com’s Live Chat poll, and should have been Bourne’s opponent.”