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Ohio State continued its recruiting success as five-star cornerback Na’eem Offord committed to the Buckeyes on Sunday.

Offord is the No. 6 prospect in the 2025 class and the top-ranked cornerback. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound recruit from Birmingham, Alabama, chose the Buckeyes over offers from Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida State, Tennessee and a handful of others.

He took a visit to Ohio State with his family this weekend and committed while on the trip.

His commitment gives the Buckeyes seven ESPN Junior 300 commitments in the 2025 cycle, and he is the third cornerback. Offord is the highest-ranked commit for Ohio State, ahead of cornerbacks Devin Sanchez, ranked No. 11 overall, and Blake Woodby, the No. 28 prospect in the class.

Ohio State finished the 2024 cycle with the No. 3 class overall and added some of the top transfers this offseason, including safety Caleb Downs, quarterbacks Will Howard and Julian Sayin, and running back Quinshon Judkins.

The staff is off to a fast start with the 2025 class and already has one of the best classes now that Offord is on board.

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Jets sign captain Lowry to 5-year, $25M extension

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Jets sign captain Lowry to 5-year, M extension

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Winnipeg Jets signed captain Adam Lowry to a five-year, $25 million contract extension Wednesday. The deal starts next season.

The 32-year-old Lowry has played his entire 12-year NHL career with Winnipeg, serving as captain since 2023-24.

St. Louis native Lowry has a goal and two assists in seven games this season. The 6-foot-5 center has 122 goals and 154 assists in career 782 games.

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Bruins’ McAvoy, hit in mouth by puck, has surgery

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Bruins' McAvoy, hit in mouth by puck, has surgery

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy had surgery Wednesday to repair facial injuries and will be sidelined indefinitely.

McAvoy was hit in the mouth by Noah Dobson‘s slap shot Saturday in the second period of Boston’s 3-2 victory in Montreal.

“He’s doing good,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said before Boston’s game against Anaheim. “He’s recovering right now at home. We still don’t know how long he’s going to be out for.”

McAvoy has 14 assists in 19 games this season.

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Panthers say Luostarinen out after BBQ ‘mishap’

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Panthers say Luostarinen out after BBQ 'mishap'

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are now dealing with even more injuries, including one sustained in a grilling accident.

And coach Paul Maurice, when looking at the big picture, is seeing all of this as a way for the champs to get even better.

Forward Eetu Luostarinen will be listed as week-to-week, Maurice said Wednesday, after what the coach described as “a barbecuing mishap.” But the already-shorthanded Panthers don’t seem to have a concrete timeline in mind for Luostarinen’s return.

“We don’t have a lot of experience with this,” Maurice said. “When he comes back and feels comfortable with the equipment on him, away we go.”

And forward Cole Schwindt, claimed off waivers last month to help with the Panthers’ injury problems, is now on the injury list himself. Schwindt will need surgery in the coming days to repair a broken arm, and the Panthers expect that he’ll miss two to three months.

Luostarinen and Schwindt become the latest entries on an injury log for the Panthers that already included long-term issues for captain Aleksander Barkov (preseason ACL tear), Dmitry Kulikov (upper body), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Tomas Nosek (knee) and Matthew Tkachuk (groin). Barkov, Kulikov, Gadjovich and Nosek all still have months to go in their recoveries; Tkachuk might start skating by the end of this month and could make his season debut sometime in December.

It is not at all what the Panthers expected to start the season. But that’s where Maurice sees opportunity; the roster depletions have forced Florida to change its playing style somewhat, and he thinks that could wind up providing valuable lessons.

“There’s an awful lot of good if you can capture, if you can learn some new things, things that you have to learn to survive,” Maurice said. “And that’s really in some ways what we’re doing, is trying to survive. When you get to seven guys out of your lineup, you’ve got a problem. We can survive that and then learn through the adversity of it eventually.

“We’re going to have, slightly after the trade deadline, the biggest movement in the league,” he added. “We’re going to get some players back. We can be a better team than we were going into the playoffs last year, if we can learn how to do this. It’s just going to be hard. It’s going to be uncomfortable right now. And we’ve got to be good with that.”

The Panthers expect that rookie forward Jack Devine, part of two NCAA title teams at Denver and twice a Hobey Baker Award finalist before turning pro last year, will make his NHL debut Thursday in a home game against New Jersey.

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