New Jets coach Arniel concentrating on a style that produces sustainable strong play

CALGARY – Rebuild, retool, revamp, pick your term. The Calgary Flames are a team in transition heading into the 2024-25 NHL season.

The Flames open Wednesday on the road against the Vancouver Canucks with a younger, cheaper roster that’s just a few million above the cap floor.

Calgary (38-39-5) finished 17 points out of a playoff spot last spring and endured a second straight extended summer. A 2-6-1 start combined with roster flux from traded big names unwilling to sign contract extensions impeded efforts to get on track.

Winger Blake Coleman believes the Flames can use this season’s low expectations as fuel.

Young players hungry to make a name for themselves in the league can inspire veterans to remarkable results, the 33-year-old said.

“There’s very little expectation being placed on this team right now,” Coleman said.

“It’s an exciting way to play when there’s no pressure, no expectations. Inside the room, we have a much different view of ourselves than outside.”

Said captain Mikael Backlund: “We’re here to make the playoffs, and we want to show people, prove people wrong.”

But the Flames will start the season minus their leading goal scorer of last season. Yegor Sharangovich was placed on injured reserve Monday with a lower-body injury sustained in Calgary’s final pre-season game.

A trickle-down effect means more responsibility will fall immediately onto the shoulders of players such as 23-year-old Connor Zary and 21-year-old Matt Coronato, and even 19-year-old Samuel Honzek with a team-leading two goals and five assists in six pre-season games.

But it’s the Calgary back end that’s most transformed with Dan Vladar and Dustin Wolf vying for starts after Jacob Markstrom’s trade, plus newcomers Kevin Bahl, Jake Bean and Tyson Barrie settling in on defence.

“We have a lot of young guys who want to show they can be good players in this league,” Backlund said. “As veterans, we want to drive this team, and we want to get back to playoffs after missing two years.”

The teams’ fortunes rest heavily on the leadership and performances of core veterans Backlund, Coleman, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and defencemen Mackenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson.

“An enormous amount would probably be the light way to put it,” said Ryan Huska, who starts his second season as Calgary’s head coach. “We need them to be the guys that go out and lead by example all the time.”

Kadri’s team-leading 75 points (29 goals, 46 assists) in 2023-24 was the second-highest total of his career. Coleman’s 30 goals and 24 assists were a career-high as were Weegar’s 20 goals and 32 assists.

The Flames need more of that in 2024-25.

WHITHER HUBERDEAU?

Speaking of needing more, Flames fans are still waiting for Huberdeau to produce at a level befitting his US$10.5 million annual salary.

The left-winger totalled 107 points over his first two seasons in Calgary after a single-season 115 with the Florida Panthers. Huberdeau’s average points-per-game increasing from .5 to .8 in the second half of last season signals a more positive trend.

“He changed how he did things this summer because he hasn’t been happy with the way things went for a couple years,” Huska said. “He’s come back with a really good mindset, and he’s in shape right now and that’s something that we need.”

GOALIE DRAMA

Training camp didn’t definitively settle Calgary’s No. 1, so expect competition to continue and the Flames to go with whoever has the hot hand at the moment.

Vladar, 28, will try to parlay his superior NHL experience into more starts. As he has at every level of his career, the 23-year-old Wolf will try to prove an undersized goalie can cut it in the NHL.

SCHEDULE WATCH

The Flames are in Salt Lake City’s Delta Centre on Oct. 30 to face the new Utah club relocated from Arizona. Former No. 1 Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom is set to return to the Saddledome on Nov. 1 with the New Jersey Devils. The Columbus Blue Jackets in town Dec. 3 will resonate with Flames fans. Johnny Gaudreau was two seasons removed from his eight years in Calgary when he and brother Matthew were struck by a vehicle while cycling and died Aug. 29. Johnny’s absence from the Blue Jackets lineup will be felt at the Saddledome, where he was a star for so many years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

A former WWE employee who filed a lawsuit against the company and ex-leader Vince McMahon, accusing him of sexual battery and trafficking, is asking them to not enforce nondisclosure agreements with other former and current employees and contractors so they can potentially come forward with similar accusations.

A lawyer for Janel Grant emailed a letter making the request late Monday to attorneys representing WWE, McMahon and John Laurinaitis, a former WWE executive and wrestler, in Grant’s lawsuit against them.

A spokesperson for McMahon, Curtis Vogel, declined to comment. Lawyers for WWE and Laurinaitis did not immediately return emails seeking comment late Monday. Emails to the WWE and its parent companies, Endeavor Group Holdings and its subsidiary, TKO Group Holdings, also were not returned immediately.

McMahon, former CEO and chairman of WWE, has denied Grant’s allegations.

Grant, who worked in WWE’s legal and talent departments from 2019 to 2022, sued the company, McMahon and Laurinaitis in January, making graphic allegations of sexual assault, harassment, trafficking and other physical and emotional abuse.

McMahon stepped down as WWE’s CEO in 2022 amid a company investigation into allegations that match those in Grant’s lawsuit. He also resigned as executive chairman of the board of directors TKO Group Holdings in January, a day after Grant filed her lawsuit.

“If WWE and its parent company Endeavor are serious about parting ways with Vince McMahon and the toxic workplace culture he created, their executives should have no problem with releasing former WWE employees from their NDAs,” Ann Callis, Grant’s attorney, said in a statement. “This is the first step to rehabilitating a company that covered up decades of sexual assault and human trafficking.”

McMahon previously responded to Grant’s lawsuit with a statement calling it “replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth. I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name.” His lawyers said in court documents that he had a consensual relationship with Grant and never mistreated her.

Laurinaitis’ lawyer has denied the allegations, and said Laurinaitis was also a victim in the case.

Grant says she was pressured into leaving her job with the WWE and signing a $3 million nondisclosure agreement. The lawsuit also seeks to have the agreement declared invalid, saying McMahon breached the deal by giving her $1 million and failing to pay the rest.

Four other women — all formerly affiliated with WWE — signed agreements with McMahon that bar them from discussing their relationships with him, the Wall Street Journal reported in July 2022, citing people familiar with the deals and documents it reviewed. Grant was not among those women, her representatives say.

In December 2022, McMahon agreed to pay a female former wrestling referee millions of dollars to settle her allegations that he raped her in 1986, the Journal also reported. McMahon said the alleged sexual assault never happened, and his lawyer said he settled the suit to avoid costly litigation.

Grant’s request for the Stamford, Connecticut-based WWE to waive enforcement of the NDAs is similar to ones made to other companies when sexual misconduct allegations arose.

In 2018 and 2019, respectively, the Weinstein Co. and NBC Universal released employees, former employees and others from NDAs made in connection with sexual misconduct claims against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and “Today” host Matt Lauer.

Victims’ lawyers call NDAs instruments to silence accusers while allowing alleged abusers to avoid accountability. A federal law approved in 2022 and similar laws in more than a dozen states curb the use of NDAs that block victims of sexual harassment from speaking publicly about their allegations.

The Associated Press does not normally name people who make sexual assault allegations unless they come forward publicly, which Grant did.

She alleges McMahon forced her into a sexual relationship with him in order for her to get and keep a job, and later directed her to have sexual relations with others including Laurinaitis. She also accuses McMahon and Laurinaitis of sexually assaulting her at WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.

The lawsuit further claims McMahon recruited other people for sexual relations with Grant, shared pornographic photos and videos of her with other men including WWE employees despite saying he wouldn’t and subjected her to cruel and humiliating acts.

McMahon bought what was then the World Wrestling Federation in 1982 and transformed it from a regional wrestling company into a worldwide phenomenon. Besides running the company with his wife, Linda, he also performed at WWE events as himself.

TORONTO – Two months after failing to win a game at the Paris Olympics, Canada Basketball said it has “mutually agreed” to part ways with senior women’s head coach Victor Lapena.

He led the team to a 17-10 record in FIBA competitions since being hired in January 2022 but was 0-3 at the Games.

“On behalf of the senior women’s national team and our women’s high-performance program, I’d like to thank Víctor for his efforts in leading our team,” general manager Denise Dignard said Monday in a release.

“The organization would also like to express our sincere appreciation to Victor and his family for their dedication and sacrifice over the last several years and wish them all the best in the future.”

Lapena guided Canada to a third-place finish at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup last year and a fourth-place showing at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in 2022.

Earlier this year, in consultation with Canada Basketball, Lapena was hired by the Turkish club Cukurova Basketbol Kulubu.

Following the Olympics, it was decided it would be best for him to focus his efforts on his pro team as it competes in the EuroLeague Women and other national competitions, the federation said.

A replacement was not named for the seventh-ranked team.

Canada Basketball said a head coaching search will be part of the process as it assesses its training and competition calendar along with player and coach development strategies for the next quadrennial.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2024.

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