HOCKEY
Longtime television analyst Pierre McGuire is returning to an NHL front office as senior vice president of player development for the Ottawa Senators.
The club announced McGuire’s appointment Monday, saying he will work with General Manager Pierre Dorion and owner Eugene Melnyk.
McGuire was one of the faces of NBC Sports’ hockey coverage since 2006, often serving as the between-the-benches analyst. Before that, he worked for TSN in Canada and did color commentary for Montreal Canadiens radio broadcasts.
This move allows McGuire to put his extensive knowledge of hockey players’ origins and connections to use in a far more private forum than TV. The Senators hope that helps turn them around after missing the playoffs the past four seasons.
McGuire, 59, spent time as a coach, scout and executive before his broadcasting career, and this is a return to those roots. He was a Senators pro scout between 1994-96 before going into radio and TV. He won the Stanley Cup twice as a Pittsburgh scout and assistant in the early 1990s and went on to be assistant general manager and coach of the Hartford Whalers.
• The Chicago Blackhawks traded two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith to the Edmonton Oilers for young defenseman Caleb Jones and a third-round draft pick.
The Blackhawks also sent forward Tim Soderlund to the Oilers, who were looking for some help on defense after they were swept by Winnipeg in the first round of the playoffs. The 2022 draft pick becomes a second-rounder if Edmonton reaches next year’s Stanley Cup final and Keith is among the top four Oilers defensemen in total ice time through three rounds.
OLYMPICS
CYCLING: Three-time world champion Peter Sagan had surgery to treat an infection in his right knee that occurred following a crash at the Tour de France, leaving his status for the Tokyo Olympics in question less than two weeks before they begin.
Sagan tangled with Caleb Ewan on the third stage of the race and went down hard at high speed. The knee was hit by the chainring on his bike, leaving a deep gash that his Bora-Hansgrohe team treated with antibiotic ointment through the past 10 days. But eventually the infection became too serious for Sagan to continue with the race.
The surgery was performed near his home in Monaco and Sagan said he hopes to resume training in a couple days.
SWIMMING: An attempt at cheating to qualify Uzbekistan swimmers for the Tokyo Olympics has been blocked by sport’s highest court. World swim body FINA denounced Uzbekistan’s “nefarious behavior.”
FINA said the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected an appeal by the Uzbek swimming federation against its refusal to authorize manipulated results from two race meets. They included home racers achieving Olympic qualifying times.
The alleged cheating was alerted by a swimmer from India who took part in the second meet in Uzbekistan in April.
Likith Prema made the allegations, including that he was offered bribes by Uzbek officials, in a film he posted online including race footage and results sheets.
SOCCER
COPA AMERICA: There were 179 known COVID-19 cases related to the Copa America, Brazil’s health ministry said, up 13 from its previous update 17 days ago.
The ministry did not say how seriously the disease evolved in any of the infected.
The figure also did not contemplate possible contagion among a few thousand guests who watched Lionel Messi’s Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 on Saturday in the final at Maracana Stadium. The final was the only match in the tournament to have spectators in the stands.
MLS: Toronto FC striker Jozy Altidore has returned to full training with the team after spending more than seven weeks working out on his own.
The Major League Soccer club confirmed his return for the first session at the team’s practice facility since a 3-2 win last week at New England.
Altidore’s future in Toronto has been up in the air since a confrontation during a game in late May with former coach Chris Armas when the star striker was substituted in the 70th minute of a 1-0 loss to Orlando City. The 31-year-old Altidore is in his seventh season in Toronto.
Armas has since been fired after a 1-8-2 start to the season. He was replaced by assistant coach Javier Perez.
TENNIS
PRAGUE OPEN: Slovak qualifier Rebecca Sramkova upset top-seeded Petra Kvitova 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4 to advance to the second round at Prague.
It was another early exit for Kvitova after she was defeated by Sloane Stephens in the first round of Wimbledon, the Grand Slam she had won twice.
Former U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur of Australia recorded her sixth straight loss. She was eliminated by American Grace Min 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
FOOTBALL
NFL: The Detroit Lions say Ford Field can be at full capacity this season, a year after the public did not have access to games during the pandemic.
The Lions announced the decision was made in large part because of Michigan’s steady COVID-19 vaccination rate.
The team will follow the state’s reopening guidelines and will not require fans to wear masks. The Lions will not ask spectators for proof of vaccination status, but they will encourage unvaccinated fans to wear a face covering.
• The Washington Football Team, which has been searching for a new name since abandoning the antiquated Redskins moniker it used for more than 85 years, announced that it will not be renamed the Warriors. Team president Jason Wright said that name also hit too close to home for Native Americans.
“One might look at this name as a natural, and even harmless transition considering that it does not necessarily or specifically carry a negative connotation,” Wright wrote in a statement titled Moving Forward. “But as we learned through our research and engagement with various groups, ‘context matters’ and that makes it a ‘slippery slope.’”
The name the Warriors, which is already in use by a professional basketball team, had been making the rounds as a popular suggestion on social media. According to Wright, the ball club has spent the past nine months reviewing the “unique opportunity to re-evaluate” their organization “in terms of who we are today and what path we want to take into our future.”
That unique opportunity was brought about in part after FedEx, a major investor and namesake of the stadium where the club plays, suggested it was time for a change in a July 2020 open letter to the club. Pressure from the public had been mounting for years for the team to choose a less insensitive title.
“It’s no secret why we began this journey of finding a new brand identity,” Wright acknowledged. “It centered around our old name and its use of Native American imagery and racialized language.”
Wright conceded in his statement that not all Washington football fans have been pleased about recent changes, but said that moving forward was “the right thing to do.”
He gave no indication to which other names were under consideration.
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