Newsmakers: Ottawa Senators to retire Daniel Alfredsson’s No. 11 jersey
Announced The Ottawa Senators will retire former captain Daniel Alfredsson’s No. 11 on Dec. 29 when they host the Detroit Red Wings. Alfredsson will become just the second player in club history to receive the honor. The other is No. 8 that was worn by forward Frank Arthur Finnigan. Alfredsson, currently the Senators’ senior adviser of hockey operations, played 18 NHL seasons, all but one of them for Ottawa. He served as the club’s captain for 13 seasons and holds many club records, including goals (426), assists (682), points (1,108) and playoff games (121).
The six-time All-Star twice helped Sweden win Olympic hockey medals (gold in 2006, silver in 2014).
Signed West Ham has signed Argentine striker Jonathan Calleri on a season-long loan, soon after he competed for his country in the football tournament at the Rio Olympics. Calleri, who was the top scorer in last year’s Copa Libertadores with Sao Paulo, joins from Uruguayan club Deportivo Maldonado.
West Ham said Tuesday he is in the squad for the Europa League playoff against Astra Giurgiu.
The 22-year-old Calleri scored for Argentina at the Rio Games. He scored 39 goals in 90 appearances in club football over the last two seasons.
Burnley broke the club’s transfer record to sign Belgium midfielder Steven Defour from Anderlecht for a reported 7 million pounds ($9 million). Defour has won league titles in Belgium with Standard Liege and in Portugal with Porto.
The Arizona Coyotes have brought back forward Radim Vrbata on a one-year contract.Vrbata, 35, spent the past two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks after playing six of the previous seven with the Coyotes. Vrbata had 13 goals and 14 assists last season after scoring 31 for Vancouver in 2013-14. In 934 games, Vrbata has 259 goals and 295 assists for the Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Coyotes, Lightning and Canucks.
The Czech native was the 212th pick of the Avalanche in the 1999 draft.
Died Brazilian Joao Havelange, whose two-decade presidency of FIFA saw soccer’s governing body transformed into a multibillion dollar business and a hotbed for subsequent corruption that damaged its reputation, has died. He was 100. Havelange expanded the World Cup from 16 to 32 teams and made it one of sport’s most important events. He organized six World Cups as FIFA president from 1974 to 1998, when Sepp Blatter replaced him. He secured lucrative broadcast deals, brought nations into FIFA, and created the women’s World Cup.
With more cash for football also came widespread financial wrongdoing by its top officials, including Havelange. In 2013, FIFA ethics court judge Joachim Eckert said Havelange’s conduct had been “morally and ethically reproachable.”
Havelange was never punished. He was allowed to resign his FIFA honorary presidency in 2013.
Reported The U.S. Tennis Association says 2009 U.S. Open champion and Rio Olympic silver medalist Juan Martin del Potro has been given a wild-card entry for the U.S. Open, the year’s last Grand Slam tournament. Del Potro hasn’t appeared in the U.S. Open since 2013. He missed 2 1/2 years’ worth of majors because of three operations on his left wrist, returning to Grand Slam action at Wimbledon in June. His ranking was too low to gain direct entry into the field at Flushing Meadows this year. He is 141st this week.
A lawyer for Andre Rison says a federal warrant accusing the former NFL player of violating probation by testing positive for marijuana and failing to keep up with minimum child support payments has been lifted. The Flint Journal reports that Rison appeared Tuesday in federal court and was released on bond. In 2013, the Flint, Michigan, native was ordered to pay at least $1,000 a month.