Connect with us

Published

on

The Minnesota Wild have reportedly landed defenseman John Klingberg from the Anaheim Ducks in a deal that got completed just before the deadline Friday.

The Ducks will receive defenseman Andrej Sustr, the rights to forward Nikita Nesterenko and a fourth-round pick in 2025. Anaheim retains 50% of Klingberg’s remaining salary this year.

The Wild also added some size up front, acquiring center Oskar Sundqvist from the Detroit Red Wings for a fourth-round selection this summer. The 6-foot-3 Sundqvist, 28, had seven goals and 21 points for Detroit this season and won a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2018.

In Klingberg, the Wild get a defenseman they could use either in their top four or top six. One of Klingberg’s strengths is his ability to facilitate a power play, which has been something of a problem area for him this season. In his final season with the Dallas Stars, Klingberg finished with 20 points on the extra skater advantage. This year, he has six power-play points through 50 games on what is the worst power-play unit in the league, with a 15.6% success rate. The Wild, however, have the No. 10 power play in the NHL with a 22.9% success rate.

Getting Klingberg and reinforcing their blue line comes as the Wild are among the many Western Conference teams trying to solidify their playoff spot. The Wild are three points behind the Dallas Stars for the Central Division lead and the best record in the Western Conference. That said, the Wild are also two points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for the first wild-card spot and four ahead of the Winnipeg Jets for the last wild-card spot.

Klingberg’s time in Southern California lasted less than a season after he signed a one-year “prove it” deal worth $7 million with the Ducks. The expectation was that Klingberg could help the Ducks continue the progress they made last season, when they finished 31-37-14 and at one point appeared in contention for a wild-card spot. The Ducks could also potentially move him in the event the season went in the other direction.

Anaheim has been porous defensively this season, and Klingberg’s statistics show that to a certain extent. But his puck-moving ability and playoff experience with the Stars likely piqued contenders’ interest as the trade deadline neared. Klingberg has eight goals and 24 points but was a minus-28 on a team that often found itself trailing.

But the native of Gothenburg, Sweden, has a much larger body of work on his résumé. In nine NHL seasons, Klingberg reached double digits in goals four times. And in the 2019-20 campaign interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Klingberg had 10 goals and 45 points in the regular season before helping lead Dallas to the Stanley Cup Final in the postseason bubble in Edmonton, Alberta.

Klingberg has been among the top minute-getters on his team nearly every season he has been in the NHL. Through the All-Star break this season, he held a career time-on-ice average of 22:49. And in 2017-18 with Dallas, he averaged 24:04.

The Ducks entered Friday as one of the teams in the running to win the NHL draft lottery and the right to take presumed No. 1 pick Connor Bedard. Anaheim has the third-fewest points in the NHL and is two points away from the Columbus Blue Jackets for the fewest points in the league.

Continue Reading

Sports

Springer’s 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

Published

on

By

Springer's 7 RBIs help Jays pile on Yankees late

George Springer had a career-high seven RBIs, including his ninth grand slam, and the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated Canada Day by beating the Yankees 12-5 on Tuesday and closing within one game of American League East-leading New York.

The seven RBIs are tied for the second most by any Blue Jays player in a home game, behind Edwin Encarnación (nine RBIs in 2015), according to ESPN Research.

Andrés Giménez had a go-ahead, three-run homer for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 2-0 deficit against Max Fried. After the Yankees tied the score 4-4 in the seventh, Toronto broke open the game in the bottom half against a reeling Yankees bullpen.

Springer went 3-for-4, starting the comeback with a solo homer in the fourth against Fried and boosting the lead to 9-5 with the slam off Luke Weaver after Ernie Clement‘s go-ahead single off shortstop Anthony Volpe‘s glove. Springer has 13 homers this season.

Toronto won the first two games of the four-game series and closed within one game of the Yankees for the first time since before play on April 20.

New York went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, dropping to 3-for-24 in the series, while the Blue Jays were 5-for-7. After going 13-14 in June, the Yankees fell to 10-14 against AL East rivals.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Astros’ Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

Published

on

By

Astros' Alvarez to see hand specialist after setback

DENVER — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez has experienced a setback in his recovery from a broken right hand and will see a specialist.

Astros general manager Dana Brown said Alvarez felt pain when he arrived Tuesday at the team’s spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he had a workout a day earlier. Alvarez also took batting practice Saturday at Daikin Park.

He will be shut down until he’s evaluated by the specialist.

“It’s a tough time going through this with Yordan, but I know that he’s still feeling pain and the soreness in his hand,” Brown said before Tuesday night’s series opener at Colorado, which the Astros won 6-5. “We’re not going to try to push it or force him through anything. We’re just going to allow him to heal and get a little bit more answers as to what steps we take next.”

Alvarez has been sidelined for nearly two months. The injury was initially diagnosed as a muscle strain, but when Alvarez felt pain again while hitting in late May, imaging revealed a small fracture.

The 28-year-old outfielder, who has hit 31 homers or more in each of the past four seasons, had been eyeing a return as soon as this weekend at the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now it’s uncertain when he’ll play.

“We felt like he was close because he had felt so good of late,” Brown said, “but this is certainly news that we didn’t want.”

Also Tuesday, the Astros officially placed shortstop Jeremy Peña on the 10-day injured list with a fractured rib and recalled infielder Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A Sugar Land.

Continue Reading

Sports

Ohtani’s 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

Published

on

By

Ohtani's 30th HR before break ties Dodgers mark

Shohei Ohtani reached 30 homers for the fifth straight season, hitting a fourth-inning drive after fouling a pitch off the plate umpire, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Ohtani fouled the ball off Alan Porter’s right knee in the fourth. Ohtani checked on the umpire and stood by watching until Parker got up under his own power. The three-time MVP then hit a 408-foot shot to center, snapping an 0-for-6 skid and extending the lead to 6-1. He tied Cody Bellinger in 2019 for most home runs before the All-Star break in Dodgers history; Bellinger won National League MVP that year.

Ohtani joined Seattle‘s Cal Raleigh (33) and Aaron Judge of the Yankees (30) as players with at least 30 homers by the All-Star break; it marks the fifth season that three players have reached the 30-homer threshold before the break (2019, 1998, 1994, 1969).

As for Ohtani, this is his third season hitting at least 30 home runs before the break, tying Ken Griffey Jr. for third most in MLB history (Judge and Mark McGwire each did so for four seasons).

During the seventh-inning stretch, Ohtani walked over and checked on Porter again before leading off.

Los Angeles scored its most runs this season in support of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-6), staking the Japanese right-hander to a 4-0 lead in the first inning.

The Dodgers won for the 13th time in 16 games and opened a season-high, eight-game NL West lead. They are 16-5 (.762 win percentage) since June 8, the best record in MLB during that span.

Every run Tuesday night was scored with two outs.

Yamamoto allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, struck out eight and walked one.

White Sox rookie Shane Smith (3-6) got two quick outs in the first before walking Will Smith and Max Muncy back-to-back. Teoscar Hernández followed with an RBI single, Andy Pages hit a run-scoring double and Michael Conforto had a two-run single.

Chicago’s lone run came on Lenyn Sosa‘s RBI single in the third.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Trending