CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers extended a qualifying offer Friday to center Jarrett Allen, making him a restricted free agent.
The team had until Aug. 1 to make the offer to Allen, a 23-year-old acquired last season in a trade from Brooklyn and viewed as one of Cleveland’s core pieces.
The Cavs can now match any offer given by other teams to Allen, whose size and athleticism at both ends of the floor makes him enticing.
General manager Koby Altman has expressed his hope to keep Allen in Cleveland long-term.
Allen, who played college ball at Texas, came to the Cavs as part of the blockbuster trade in January that sent star James Harden to the Nets.
Allen’s arrival pushed veteran Andre Drummond to the bench and eventually led to the team buying out the two-time All-Star center’s contract.
Allen averaged 13.2 points and 9.9 rebounds in 51 games — 40 starts — for Cleveland.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Jordan Staal broke the record for games played as a Carolina Hurricane and then missed a long stretch of Thursday night’s game after a rare fight.
It turned out to be a rewarding evening as the Hurricanes beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3.
The Carolina captain played in his 910th game in a Hurricanes jersey, pulling ahead of brother Eric Staal.
“I appreciate the boys battling it out for me there,” Staal said. “Getting a good memory out of milestone game and getting the two points. It has been a fun ride. It has been a lot of fun with these guys here and all the other teammates I’ve played with it has been just a joy and blessing and I’m just happy to keep going.”
Jordan Staal, 37, is third in franchise history in games played when the team’s time as the Hartford Whalers is included behind Ron Francis (1,186) and Glen Wesley (913).
“He comes to the rink every day and puts the team first,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “In today’s day and age, it’s not unique, but it’s getting harder and harder to find.”
Staal was involved in his first fight since February 2017, when he rushed Minnesota’s Tyler Pitlick in the first period after Pitlick’s blow to the head of Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield.
“He’s our leader,” Brind’Amour said. “We talk a lot about him and we can’t say enough great things. That’s just another one of those things he does for our group and is willing to do.”
That scuffle drew Staal a five-minute fighting major and a 10-minute instigator penalty, even though Pitlick was done for the night with a match penalty.
After returning to the ice, Staal’s influence remained high. He won his final 10 faceoffs.
Chatfield’s injury marked another blow to the Hurricanes’ defensive corps.
“It’s just the way this year has gone,” Brind’Amour said. “We can’t get healthy and keep losing key pieces, that’s rough. I don’t know how long (Chatfield) is going to be out.”
Carolina has already been without Jaccob Slavin and Shayne Gostisbehere because of injuries, though the Hurricanes got K’Andre Miller back Thursday after a six-game absence with a lower-body injury. Miller played more than 23 minutes.
The Hurricanes have back-to-back games this weekend, facing Buffalo at home Saturday and visiting Toronto on Sunday.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Blues forward Jordan Kyrou was a healthy scratch for Thursday night’s game at Buffalo as St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery tries to spark improvement from his struggling team.
The Blues are 1-6-2 in their past nine games and entered Thursday in 15th place in the Western Conference with a 4-9-2 record. St. Louis followed a 3-2 win at home against Edmonton with a 6-1 road loss at Washington on Wednesday night.
Montgomery held a mandatory morning skate before playing in the second game of a back-to-back Thursday in Buffalo.
“If you have competitive fire in your belly, struggles like this provide opportunities to grow stronger together when you face these again,” Montgomery said after the practice.
Kyrou is tied for second on the Blues with eight points in 14 games and has led the team in goals in each of the past three seasons. Kyrou has not recorded a point in his past five games. This is the first time in five seasons that the 27-year-old winger has been a healthy scratch. He has 154 goals and 340 points in 430 NHL games.
Alexandre Texier replaced Kyrou at right wing on the Blues’ top line.
Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell will return to lead the Badgers in 2026, athletic director Chris McIntosh announced on Thursday.
With the Badgers 2-6 overall and winless in Big Ten play, McIntosh is informing the Wisconsin team on Thursday that Fickell will return as head coach next year. The return will come with changes, which include increased investment in the roster and program, along with an ongoing analysis of every facet of the program.
“Chancellor [Jennifer] Mnookin and I are aligned on significantly elevating investment in our program to compete at highest level,” McIntosh told ESPN. “We are willing to make an investment in infrastructure and staff. As important is our ability to retain and recruit players in a revenue share and NIL era.”
In three seasons at Wisconsin, Fickell has gone 15-19. Along with supporting Fickell, McIntosh pledges to support the program more financially to return the Badgers to contention in the Big Ten.
“If Wisconsin is going to be as competitive as we expect, the support has to be as competitive,” McIntosh said. “There’s no getting around it. Our people, our fans are passionate about Wisconsin football. I’d have it no other way. A successful football program is important to university, the state and our lettermen.”
Fickell’s deal runs through the 2031 season. If he were to have been fired this year, he’d have been owed more than $25 million. (The one-year extension in the offseason did not impact the size of Fickell’s buyout.)
“This season has caused us all to have to look from within,” McIntosh said. “Luke has had to do that. I’ve had to do that. He has a willingness to be better. So do I, and so does Wisconsin from an institutional perspective.”
There’s optimism at Wisconsin that with college football settling into the revenue share and NIL era, the school will be better positioned because of the school’s traditional success in attracting corporate partnerships. Those can translate to NIL deals, in addition to the revenue share available to all schools.
“Our intention is to be, in terms of our investment, on par with those that we intend to compete with,” McIntosh said. “Our expectations are to compete at the highest level in the Big Ten and beyond.”
Wisconsin has lost six straight games. The Badgers host No. 23 Washington on Saturday afternoon and finish the year at No. 2 Indiana, home against Illinois and at Minnesota. The 37-0 loss to Iowa at home earlier in the year marked the program’s first home shutout since 1980.
Fickell’s tenure — and this season in particular — has been hallmarked by major injuries at quarterback. This season’s starting quarterback, Billy Edwards, got injured early in the season opener and hasn’t contributed significantly since.
Overall, the quarterback health can be summed up by Fickell’s team having the intended first-string quarterback play the entire game in just 11 of 34 games. The Badgers have endured consistent injury issues this year, including being down eight projected starters at Oregon.
That has left Wisconsin playing backup Danny O’Neil and third-stringer Hunter Simmons, and the Badgers have the No. 17 passing offense in the 18-team Big Ten (only Iowa is worse.) That lineup has gone up against a schedule with four teams ranked in the top 10 and seven of the top 25 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.
McIntosh said the same traits that made Fickell a celebrated hire remain.
“He has the vision and fire to do it,” McIntosh said. “The same things that made Luke Fickell a unanimously great hire in 2022 remain. He’s a winner, program builder and developer of talent, and he understands the Big Ten.”
Fickell won an average of 10.6 games per season in his final five years at Cincinnati. That included leading the Bearcats to the four-team College Football Playoff in 2021, the first team from outside a power conference to reach the College Football Playoff.
Fickell also brought extensive Big Ten experience, as he had spent 15 years coaching at Ohio State. That included a stint as interim coach in 2011 and his work as co-defensive coordinator on Ohio State’s 2014 national title team.
He’ll get a chance to reset the trajectory at Wisconsin in 2026.
“We all acknowledge this is short of expectations,” McIntosh said. “We have identified the ways in which we need to be successful, and we have a plan to be successful. We are executing that plan.”
