NHL
– The Penguins are expected to announce that they’ve signed F Sidney Crosby to a 12-year/$104.4M contract extension on Sunday. The 24-year-old is entering the final season of a 5-year/$43.5M contract extension signed in 2007. For each of the first four seasons of the last extension, Crosby was paid $9M, and $7.5M in 2012-2013.
Crosby missed the second half of the 2010-11 season and most of 2011-12 because of a concussion and neck injury, playing in just 22 regular season games last year. He was hurt in January 2011 and missed the remainder of the 2010-11 season before returning last November, then played eight games before a recurrence of symptoms forced him out again until March 15.
Crosby posted eight goals and 29 assists for 37 points in his 22 games during the regular season, then added three goals and five assists in six playoff games as the Pens were ousted by Philadelphia in the first round.
In 434 career regular-season games, Crosby has 223 goals and 609 points. In 2006-07, at just 19 years of age, he won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL scoring champion and the Hart Trophy as the league’s regular-season MVP. He helped the Penguins to the Stanley Cup title in the spring of 2009.
– The NHL has announced that the salary cap for the 2012-13 season has increased by $5.9M to a total of $70.2M. The cap floor is set at $54.2M, with an adjusted midpoint of $62.2M. The free agency period for the NHL begins on July 1.
– The Blues have signed F Scott Nichol to a 1-year contract. The 37-year-old appeared in 80 games with the Blues last season posting eight points (three goals, five assists) and 83 penalty minutes while leading the club with a 57.6% face-off win percentage.