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Vida Blue, a hard-throwing left-hander who became one of baseball’s biggest draws in the early 1970s and helped lead the brash Oakland Athletics to three straight World Series titles before his career was derailed by drug problems, has died. He was 73.

The A’s said Blue died Saturday but they didn’t give a cause of death.

“There are few players with a more decorated career than Vida Blue,” the team said in a statement Sunday. “Vida will always be a franchise legend and a friend.”

Blue was voted the 1971 American League Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player after going 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA, 301 strikeouts and 24 complete games, eight of them shutouts. He remains among just 11 pitchers to win both honors in the same year.

Following his award-winning 1971 season, Blue clashed with A’s owner Charlie Finley over his salary and played sparingly in 1972 as the A’s marched to the first of three straight World Series titles.

The left-hander played an integral role in the 1973 and 1974 titles. But Blue’s tumultuous relationship with Finley was a sign of things to come as the owner broke up the A’s championship core instead of paying the stars in free agency.

After Blue clashed publicly with Finley, the A’s owner traded Blue twice only to be blocked each time by baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, first in June 1976 to the Yankees and then in December 1977 to the Cincinnati Reds. Kuhn vetoed the deals under the commissioner’s authority to act in the “best interests of baseball.”

Blue posted a 209-161 career record with a 3.27 ERA, 2,175 strikeouts, 143 complete games and 37 shutouts over 17 seasons with Oakland (1969-77), the San Francisco Giants (1978-81, ’85-86) and the Kansas City Royals (1982-83).

A six-time All-Star, Blue helped pitch the Swingin’ A’s to consecutive World Series titles from 1972 to ’74. Since then, only the 1998-2000 New York Yankees have accomplished the feat.

“Vida Blue has been a Bay Area baseball icon for over 50 years,” Giants president Larry Baer said in a statement. “His impact on the Bay Area transcends his 17 years on the diamond with the influence he’s had on our community.”

Blue was released by the Royals in August 1983 and ordered that December to serve three months in federal prison and fined $5,000 for misdemeanor possession of approximately one-tenth of an ounce of cocaine. Blue was sentenced to one year in prison, but U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Milton Sullivant suspended the majority of the term.

Blue was among the players ordered by baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth in 1985 to be subject to random drug testing for the rest of their careers.

After sitting out 1983 and 1984, Blue returned to baseball with the Giants for two seasons.

After his 2005 arrest in Arizona on suspicion of DUI for the third time in less than six years, Blue was sentenced to six months in jail after failing to complete his probation. But he was told he could avoid incarceration by spending time in a residential alcohol treatment program.

A’s great Dave Stewart tweeted out his condolences, calling Blue “my mentor, hero, and friend.”

The Athletics, Giants and Royals also tweeted out tributes to Blue.

The Royals held a moment of silence before their game against the visiting A’s to remember Blue. Blue was drafted by the then Kansas City Athletics in 1967 and debuted for the A’s in 1969, shortly after the move to Oakland.

A Louisiana native, Blue threw a no-hitter in 1970 and was part of a combined no-hitter in 1975. He was the first pitcher to start All-Star Games for each league: the AL in 1971 and the NL in 1978 while a member of the Giants.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Grzelcyk, 31, nets one-year deal from Blackhawks

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Grzelcyk, 31, nets one-year deal from Blackhawks

CHICAGO — Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has made the Chicago Blackhawks, agreeing to a $1 million, one-year contract with the team.

Chicago announced the deal on Sunday. Grzelcyk had been with the team in training camp on a personal tryout agreement.

The Blackhawks visit the Florida Panthers for their season opener Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Grzelcyk had one goal and a career-high 39 assists in 82 games for Pittsburgh last season. He also set a career high with a team-leading 101 blocked shots.

Grzelcyk, a Massachusetts native, was selected by Boston in the third round of the 2012 NHL draft. He had 25 goals and 110 assists in 445 games for the Bruins over eight seasons.

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Lightning, Panthers net 312 PIM in preseason tilt

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Lightning, Panthers net 312 PIM in preseason tilt

Niko Mikkola had an assist on a goal that gave the Florida Panthers an 8-0 lead. Problem was, he had been kicked out of the game a few minutes earlier and nobody noticed.

It was that kind of night between the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Florida defeated Tampa Bay 7-0 in the preseason finale for both clubs Saturday night, though the score was irrelevant. There were 65 penalties for 312 minutes on the stat sheet, including 13 game misconduct penalties — seven for Tampa Bay, six for Florida. The penalty count kept rising after the game, as officials were making sure everything that was called got logged.

“I have no idea,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said, when asked what message Tampa Bay was trying to send with its style of play. “I’m not worried about it. Training camp is over. We had some good games … and no one was complaining about ice time by the end of it, so it’s over.”

Florida had 17 power-play chances in the game, by the NHL’s count.

“It got silly. It got stupid by the end of it,” Florida forward Evan Rodrigues said. “It wasn’t really hockey out there.”

The parade to the penalty boxes started about two minutes into the game when Tampa Bay’s Scott Sabourin — who was among six players the Lightning called up for the game — went after Florida’s Aaron Ekblad. Sabourin got a major penalty after playing 19 seconds.

“It made you think there might be something coming,” Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen said, when asked what he thought when he saw the Lightning called up players for the game.

What would have been the eighth Florida goal of the night, midway through the third period, was taken away 15 minutes after Jesper Boqvist scored. Off-ice officials realized that Mikkola couldn’t have had an assist on the play — since he had been ejected earlier in the period.

The teams skated with the scoreboard saying Florida led 8-0 for about five minutes of actual game time before officials informed both teams that the goal had been taken away and Mikkola had to leave the game.

The Lightning took nine penalties and had no shots on goal in the third period.

Saturday’s game came two nights after the teams combined for 49 penalties and 186 minutes in another preseason contest, one the Lightning won 5-2.

Tampa Bay went to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals from 2020 through 2022, winning two titles in that span. Florida has been to each of the past three Stanley Cup Finals and has won the past two Cups. And there has long been a heated rivalry between the franchises.

“I think anybody that’s been a part of this rivalry would probably look at this box score and A, not be surprised and B, I can’t believe it’s taken this long for something like that to happen,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Ellis joins Sharks after injury-filled Flyers tenure

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Ellis joins Sharks after injury-filled Flyers tenure

PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers rid themselves of defenseman Ryan Ellis‘ contract in a trade with the Sharks, ending his tenure at four games played in four seasons.

Ellis and a conditional sixth-round draft pick were traded to San Jose on Sunday for forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Artem Guryev. The condition on the sixth-round pick is that San Jose shall receive the earlier of two picks Philadelphia currently owns in the 2026 sixth round, its own and Columbus‘.

The Flyers now have five picks in the 2026 draft. They own one pick in each of the first three rounds, one in the sixth and one in the seventh round.

Philadelphia thought it acquired one of the NHL’s best defensemen when it landed Ellis from the Nashville Predators ahead of the 2021 season. Ellis was selected by Nashville with the No. 11 pick in the 2009 draft and helped the Predators win the Stanley Cup in 2017. He had 270 points in 562 career games at the time of the trade.

Ellis played four games in 2021 until he suffered a pelvis injury believed to be career-threatening.

The Sharks likely will place Ellis on long-term injured reserve. He has two seasons left on an eight-year, $50 million contract that carries an annual cap hit of $6.25 million through 2027.

Grundstrom scored nine points in 56 games with San Jose last season.

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