AVALANCHE RE-SIGNS GRAVES FOR 1 YEAR
The Avalanche is holding on to a young prospect who made his NHL debut with Colorado last season.
Defenseman Ryan Graves has resigned with the Avalanche on a oneyear contract, the team announced Monday. The contract is worth $750,000 in the NHL and $350,000 in the minors, according to capfriendly.com.
Graves, 24, was acquired by the Avs via trade with the Rangers in February 2018 in a swap of American Hockey League prospects.
The Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, native was promoted to the Avalanche roster last December and appeared in 26 games with three goals and two assists. Graves also played in 32 regular-season games for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles with two goals and seven assists.
He is a former 2013 fourth-round NHL draft selection.
Kings coach Walton says sexual assault claim lacks facts.
Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton says sexual assault allegations against him are not backed up by facts and are designed to attract media attention.
Walton made his comments in a court brief filed Wednesday in response to a lawsuit by former sportscaster Kelli Tennant. The lawsuit is filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, and the Sacramento Kings and the NBA are jointly investigating the accusations.
Walton’s court filing claims Tennant filed a lawsuit nearly five years after the alleged assault.
Tennant has said Walton attacked her in 2014 when he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors, but she was too afraid to file charges, though she did confide in others.
Report: Burks agrees to deal with Warriors.
CALIF.» Former OAKLAND,
University of Colorado guard Alec Burks has agreed to a one-year deal with the Golden State Warriors, a league source confirmed to Bay Area News Group. The Athletic first reported the news.
Burks, an eight-year NBA veteran who played last season with the Cavaliers and Kings, averaging 8.8 points per game, had agreed to terms last week with the Oklahoma City Thunder. But after the team agreed to trade star forward Paul George to the Clippers over the weekend, the Thunder allowed Burks to re-evaluate whether he wanted to sign with the team, The Athletic reported.
Northern Arizona football player dies.
ARIZ.» Northern Arizona FLAGSTAFF, University officials said a football player has died.
The school’s athletics department said in a statement that senior offensive lineman Malik Noshi was found dead Sunday morning in his Flagstaff home.
University spokesman Randy Press said no other comments would be made out of respect for Noshi’s family.
He said Flagstaff police are investigating the cause of death.
Sharks retain forward Labanc.
After losing a lot of talent in free agency, the San Jose Sharks locked up a young player who should be crucial to their success next season.
San Jose re-signed forward Kevin Labanc, 23, to a one-year, $1 million contract. With Joe Pavelski, Joonas Donskoi and Gustav Nyquist gone, the Sharks are counting on Labanc continuing his career progression and taking advantage of a bigger role.
Bruschi doing “much better.”
Former New England Patriots linebacker and ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi said he’s doing “much better” after suffering a second stroke.
In an Instagram post, Bruschi said he knew what was happening immediately Thursday when he lost use of his left arm, began slurring his speech and his wife noticed his face was drooping.