It didn’t take long for Annika Sorenstam to get those competitive juices flowing. For the second time in as many months, the 72-time LPGA winner will be competing with the best on tour.

But this occasion will be official.

Sorenstam announced Tuesday on Twitter that she will compete in the Gainbridge LPGA, February 25-28 at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, Florida. She made her unofficial LPGA return in January at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, also in the Orlando area, where she competed in the celebrity division. Her participation in February’s event will mark her first competitive start on the LPGA Tour since she stepped away from the game to start a family in 2008.

“[Thirteen] years is a long time to not compete,” Sorenstam told GolfChannel.com via email.  “We reached out to the LPGA to see if I was even exempt and learned there are four spots for Hall of Famers each week.”

“They had to explain how to register,” she said, adding a smiling-face emoji. “I’m thankful to be able to play.”

In its second year on tour, the Gainbridge LPGA moved from its inaugural location in Boca Raton to Lake Nona, which is also Sorenstam’s home course. The move played a major part in Sorenstam’s decision to compete.

“It is literally in our backyard,” said Sorenstam, who lives on the course. “We look at the 16th hole and our kids and lots of members have urged me to play. I thought, why not? I need to practice. If the tournament wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be playing.”

Sorenstam, who finished T-9 in the celebrity division of the Diamond Resorts TOC, played alongside several LPGA players who were too young to have competed against the Hall of Fame member in her prime. Gaby Lopez and Nelly Korda were grouped with the Swede at the tour’s season opener and embraced the opportunity to watch and learn from the 10-time major champion.

“We talked a lot about short-term goals,” Lopez said about playing with Sorenstam. “Today was probably one of the luckiest days of my life being able to play with her in a competitive round.”

Being back inside the ropes, Sorenstam learned quite a bit, too. Playing golf, let alone competitive golf, had largely taken a back seat since Sorenstam retired in ‘08. Much of her time in recent years has been spent raising her two children, Ava and Will, and participating in a variety of ventures to grow the game through her Annika Foundation.

“I realized that I was nervous and rusty,” Sorenstam said about playing in the Diamond Resorts event. “I know that’s natural, but the only way to get used to it is to have those same feelings again. Though, my expectations are low as I’m at a different place in my life.”

Sorenstam turned 50 last October and while she might not have designs on winning in her LPGA return, she does have her sights set on another major title this summer: the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Connecticut.

“I realized after the Diamond Resorts event that I need tournament reps if I’m going to have a chance at playing well [at the USSWO],” Sorenstam said. “Ironically, I don’t play 18 holes at Lake Nona very often. I need to play the entire course more in the next couple weeks.”

U.S. international forward Aron Johannsson is in talks with Polish side Lech Poznan, sources have confirmed to ESPN.

Interia Sport and Sportowe Fakty were among the first to report the news.

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Johannsson, 30, has been without a club since his deal with Swedish side Hammarby expired at the end of 2020, and told ESPN last November that he was looking at Major League Soccer and Bundesliga options. But one source told ESPN that the talks with Poznan are now in an "advanced" stage.

The Mobile, Alabama-born forward has bounced around a variety of European leagues, with stops in Iceland with FJolnir, in Denmark with AGF Aarhus, the Netherlands with AZ Alkmaar and Germany with Werder Bremen before signing with Hammarby.

Following impressive spells with both Aarhus and AZ, Johannsson was thought to be a rising talent, but his spell with Bremen was marred by injuries that saw him make just 28 appearances over four seasons, while scoring four goals.

At international level, Johannsson has made 19 appearances with the U.S., scoring four goals. He was also part of the side that played at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. His last appearance for the U.S. came in September of 2015.

Poznan is currently in 10th place in the Polish Ekstraklasa, 15 points off the pace set by league leaders Pogon Szczecin. Earlier this season Poznan progressed to the group stage of the Europa League -- eliminating Johannsson and Hammarby along the way -- but were eliminated, finishing last in Group D.

The United States men's national team will play a friendly against Northern Ireland in Belfast on March 28, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced on Monday.

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While the match will take place at Windsor Park, Northern Ireland's national stadium, it will be played under UEFA's Return To Play protocol, meaning fans won't be in attendance.

It is one of two matches the U.S. expects to play in Europe in March.

The USMNT is looking at a busy 2021, with participation in the CONCACAF Nations League, the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and World Cup qualifying all on the schedule.

It is expected that manager Gregg Berhalter will bring in mostly European-based players for the match.

"This is a good opportunity to work with our full group before the Nations League Final Four in June," Berhalter said. "We've been excited about the progress our players continue to make with their clubs, and now we have another chance to strengthen our group ahead of the start of World Cup qualifying later this year. Northern Ireland is a very competitive team and brings a different set of challenges in the way they play. We look forward to a great experience."

For Northern Ireland, the match falls between two World Cup qualifying matches. The first will be away to Italy on March 25, while the second will be a home match against Bulgaria.

The encounter will be the first in 70 years between the two sides. On Aug. 11, 1948 Northern Ireland prevailed 5-0.

With the news that the members of the MLS Players Association and MLS both ratified a revised Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on Monday, MLS has guaranteed itself labor peace, at least for this season.

It wasn't easy.

The just-concluded talks marked the third time in roughly a year that the two sides have hammered out a CBA, due primarily to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. What started out as significant gains by players last February devolved into $150 million in concessions over the life of the deal last June. Neither side offered up a dollar figure in the latest CBA, but the league had been seeking upwards of $110m in concessions over the life of the deal from the players, while the MLSPA offered up $53m. To reach an agreement, the league had to use the threat of a lockout. Again.

So what did the league gain?

The biggest gain for MLS was their ability to extend the length of the CBA for an additional two years through the end of the 2027 season. This has the effect of doing two things. One, the extension delays the jump in compensation that typically comes with a new CBA. Second, such an extension provides the league with considerable distance from the 2026 World Cup -- co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico -- and takes away leverage from the MLSPA to negotiate improved terms in the run-up to the tournament and its immediate aftermath.

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MLS also succeeded in limiting the growth of the total roster spend (not including Designated Players) between the 2021 and 2022 seasons to $100,000, an increase of just 1.1%. This is on top of a freeze negotiated last June that froze the budget between 2020 and 2021. This will have a ripple effect into future seasons.

The share of incremental media revenues -- which will kick in when a new media rights deal is negotiated starting with the 2023 season -- was decreased from 25% to 12.5% in 2024.

Lastly, the dreaded force majeure clause remains in place, but with restrictions. It was this clause -- invoked because fans aren't likely to be allowed back into stadiums any time soon -- that allowed the league to reopen negotiations in late December and bring the MLSPA back to the bargaining table. With a deal now done, the clause cannot be invoked again until Dec. 1, 2021. This means that if MLS is still struggling financially into the summer, it can't come back to the MLSPA and try to reopen negotiations again. After Dec. 1, anything goes.

What did the MLSPA gain?

This deal wasn't so much about what the MLSPA gained, but what it didn't lose. Preservation of present salaries has been a consistent goal of the MLSPA throughout the two most recent CBA negotiations. A source with knowledge of the situation said the union made direct payments to players last year in a bid to ease the sting of the 5% annualized cut in salaries, which resulted in the average annualized pay cut being reduced to 2.5%.

With that in mind, the union maintains that it had three goals entering these negotiations. The first was no cuts to 2021 salaries. The second was any current contracts for 2022 and beyond must be honored. (In other words, no coming back to the MLSPA and insisting on a salary cut, as was done in 2020.) The third was that minimum salaries and player bonuses would increase each year through 2027.

All of these goals were reached. According to details published by the league, the senior minimum will rise from $81,375 in 2021 to $125,875 in 2027, and the reserve minimum will rise from $63,547 in 2021 to $97,700 in 2027. Team win bonuses and contributions to players' 401(k) will remain as they were in the previous CBA. The MLSPA also secured accelerated growth rates in terms of spending on salary toward the back end of the deal, with the year-over-year growth rate increasing to 7.5% in 2026 and 10% in 2027.

The MLSPA also made modest gains in free agency for 2026 and 2027, with the eligibility requirements going from 24 years of age and five years in MLS to 24 and four. The MLSPA says this will have the effect of making a third of the entire MLS player pool eligible for free agency, compared to zero prior to 2015. Keep in mind, though, that there are limits to what players can make via free agency based on their previous salary.

So who 'won' in all of this?

At first glance, you'd have to say the league and its owners, who used their leverage to good effect. They asked for concessions from the players and got what they wanted in terms of both the salary cap freeze and two-year extension. The force majeure remains in place as well, though with short-term limitations, and any "givebacks" are far down the road toward the end of the deal.

Was it a total loss for the players? No. They're still getting paid their full salaries for 2021, and in some cases beyond. That was their stated aim all along. But the MLSPA was playing defense from the beginning, and with the threat of a lockout hanging over the union's collective head, the players had to give plenty. The growth of the spending on salaries is essentially frozen for two years, including the current season. The delay in the expiration of the CBA -- and the bump that usually comes with the next deal -- is considerable. The total player spend per team of $9.225m in 2020 represented a 13.1% increase from 2019, the last year of the 2015-19 CBA. Such a bump is now pushed out into the future.

If any group among the players "won," it was those at the lower end of the pay scale. Unlike their higher-paid colleagues, there's no freeze for reserve minimum or senior minimum players, which means their pay will rise over each year of the deal. The "losers" are the low- to mid-range players who will be entering the league in the coming years, as well as existing MLS players who sign new contracts. There will simply be less money to go around than the union anticipated a year ago.

The big unknowns in all of this are what dollar amount the new media rights deal will fetch starting in 2023, along with the aforementioned loss of leverage around the 2026 World Cup. The MLSPA maintains that momentum from the World Cup isn't likely to go away by 2027, but the reality is that the percentage of the media rights deal the MLSPA would get went down again in 2024. And the timing of the CBA's expiration date means it will have less leverage than it had before.

What was the broad reaction to the deal on both sides?

The league is no doubt pleased at the outcome. They got what they wanted, especially in terms of cost certainty surrounding the World Cup, without having to give much of anything away.

"I think the basic framework of this two-year extension, with the improvements that the players negotiated in free agency and some other things, increased economics and 2026 and 2027, but also not having pay reductions in in this year, I think it's a fair deal," said one source with knowledge of the situation. "I think it's good for the league, because it provides some long-term stability, and I think that's good for everybody. It's great that we have this period of time for everybody to focus in on building league and making investments that are needed.

The general consensus among the players was summed up by one Western Conference player who said "We did the best we could" given the pandemic and threat of a lockout. The players didn't want to be in the position of renegotiating the deal, but that was the reality they faced.

San Jose Earthquakes forward Chris Wondolowski added, "[It was a] mixed bag. I think this was probably the closest the two sides have come to some sort of work stoppage. That being said, the players finally had a major bargaining chip [in the World Cup]. I think it's going to hurt the younger player pool in a couple of years. All in all, I'm relieved there wasn't a stoppage."

Not everyone was so positive. One MLS player agent who asked not to be identified called it "unconscionable" that the union agreed to a force majeure clause last June that made the union vulnerable to the league reopening negotiations.

The agent added that the MLSPA "further failed its members by losing perhaps the 2020 CBA's most significant component -- minimizing the CBA length to five years to set up reassessment on a new media rights deal, expected full expansion and two years ahead of a hosted World Cup. MLS and its owners are laughing to the bank how the league turned a five-year CBA into an eight-year stranglehold that includes a domestic World Cup without any major concessions in return."

So has the union been weakened by three rounds of CBA talks? Certainly, the players are in a less advantageous position than they were a year ago. Based on the June CBA as well as in recent talks, the players have given up anywhere from $203m to $260m in concessions over the life of the deal. Not surprisingly, MLSPA executive director Bob Foose opted for a more positive viewpoint.

"By every measure I can think of -- player engagement and involvement, resources, staffing -- the PA is stronger now than it has ever been," said Foose. "Our Bargaining Committee, which consisted of 13% of the player pool, was engaged, clear on their own priorities, clear on the priorities of their teammates, and prepared to make thoughtful decisions when they needed to be made. They stayed sharply focused on those priorities throughout. This pandemic has weakened all of us economically, but as an organization, I am extremely bullish about the PA's continued growth and development."

The league took some hits as well, but they are more easily absorbed given its sheer financial heft compared to the players.

How close were the players to getting locked out?

A source with knowledge of the talks said the threat from the owners was serious. Given that the league extended its own deadline twice, it's easy to take such pronouncements with a grain of salt, but the players certainly took the league at its word.

Asked at what point he was confident a deal would get done, Colorado Rapids goalkeeper and MLSPA executive board member Clint Irwin said, "Really at no point. When management repeatedly threatens a lockout via press release, it's difficult to have confidence in any part of the negotiations that a deal can get done. That said, I'm proud of our player and executive leader for navigating this process, again, while subjected to management tactics that echoed those this past summer."

What's to stop this from happening again?

Nothing, really. The players are safe from seeing the force majeure invoked again, but only until Dec. 1, 2021. At that point, the league is free to what it did last December, though if it comes to that, then that will be a reflection of how the pandemic is still dominating life in the U.S. a year on.

"I think the pandemic obviously continues to be a big concern for everyone," said Foose. "But I believe the odds of there being a force majeure event in place in a year are extremely low."

So what's next?

The union will continue to do what it does: advocate for players away from the glare of a CBA negotiation. But Foose senses something has changed in the relationship between the league and the union. Neither Garber nor anyone else on the labor committee were involved in the face-to-face talks; it was all handled by MLS attorneys and outside counsel.

"It's not good," said Foose about the league/union relationship. "I would characterize it as entirely transactional. To me, that's far from the ideal way to conduct those relations, so that's something that they're gonna have to make a decision on moving forward."

Irwin added that the relationship between players and ownership is worse than it was last June, which was another time the owners threatened the players with a lockout.

"It doesn't have to be this way," he said. "There are other ways for the league and its owners to approach these issues, issues that are challenging to both sides. We've seen collaboration in other North American sports leagues, between management and union, where a working relationship exists amid identical circumstances. We have a long way to go to get there now."

The reality however is that memories fade while players come and go. When Jan. 31, 2028 -- the revised CBA's expiration date -- rolls around, few of those involved in the just concluded talks will be around. And MLS will likely continue to have the upper hand in its relationship with its players.

These days, the career path for young American players seems straightforward: Get your butt to Europe as early and as quickly as possible, and then progress from there. It's an approach that, in the past six months alone, has seen the likes of Bryan Reynolds (FC Dallas to Roma), Mark McKenzie (Philadelphia Union to Genk), Brenden Aaronson (Philadelphia to FC Salzburg), and Daryl Dike (Orlando City to Barnsley), each make moves abroad before their 22nd birthdays.

The recent exodus continues an ever-growing trend for American stars, with the likes of Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Giovani Reyna having all previously crossed the Atlantic as youngsters.

Jump to: A few minutes with Cannon | Stock watch: Brooks, Pulisic, Siebatcheu, De La Fuente

All of which makes the paths taken by Paul Arriola and Jordan Morris feel anachronistic by comparison. Both recently completed loan moves to English Championship high-flyers Swansea City -- and could line up against Manchester City this Wednesday in the Carabao Cup (12:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+) -- but did so at the relatively advanced age of 26. Not that it's too late by any means.

"My goal was always to grow as a player, and that continues to be my goal," said Arriola. "How can I push myself? How can I take myself to the next level?"

Granted, each career carries with it its own momentum. For some, the path is clear early on and resembles a beautifully paved road. Others can get stuck in blind alleys or turn down opportunities to move abroad, the path not taken haunting them at the end of their playing days. There is also a school of thought that starting out abroad and then returning to MLS is akin to forever turning one's back on foreign opportunities. Yet that is what Arriola did, beginning his career with Liga MX side Club Tijuana, where he spent four years.

While Arriola made himself useful for Xolos, he never quite rose to the ranks of being indispensable. So when D.C. United came calling in 2017 with a $3 million transfer fee, he jumped at the chance, eschewing other opportunities overseas, and became a consistent presence for both the Black-and-Red and the United States men's national team. All the while, the California native never closed the door on future opportunities abroad.

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"My thoughts were I can use MLS as a trampoline bounce, and then go further if I was successful," he said. "I found some stability [with DCU], and I was able to establish myself. I continued to want that same type of career where you're a constant impact player, you're always involved in games."

As much as it's become a cliche that there are myriad paths to a successful pro career, Morris seemed to violate even more tenets of how best to navigate that path. He turned down a homegrown deal with the Seattle Sounders when he was 18 in order to go the much-maligned college route and attend Stanford University. His reasoning was simple -- with the likes of Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, and Eddie Johnson on the team's books, playing time would be hard to come by. Going to a high-level program like Stanford would still test him.

"Going [to Stanford], I felt that my path was just going to be: play however many years there, hopefully, try to win a national championship and then come back to the Sounders because European teams aren't scouting college kids," he said.

A scrimmage against the U.S. men's national team ahead of the 2014 World Cup changed everything. Morris impressed then-U.S. manager Jurgen Klinsmann so much that he was called up to the senior team later that year, becoming the first college player in 15 years to play for the USMNT. Then in 2015, in his first international start, the forward scored in a friendly against rivals Mexico. When Morris decided to turn professional in early 2016 following his junior year at Stanford, he trained with and received an offer from Bundesliga side Werder Bremen. Seattle was also trying to land the forward, but it was clear what most observers thought he should do: Head to Germany. Morris disagreed, joining the hometown Sounders instead.

"Going over to Bremen, I definitely felt that pressure, that people thought that was the best option for me," Morris said. "But I knew myself. And I knew what I felt was going to be best for my career and where I felt I would develop the best and I felt that was going to be Seattle."

That decision was panned in some circles: then-U.S. international Jermaine Jones said at the time that Morris took "the easy way." But Morris felt that being near home would help him adapt to the professional game, and time has shown the move clearly paid off with a pair of MLS Cups to his name. When Morris tore his ACL in 2018, being close to family aided his recovery. And like Arriola, Morris never felt like he was completely giving up on a European move.

"I felt confident that that option would be there," he said. "But again, at the time, and even now, if I played my whole career in Seattle, I think I would have been really, really happy and fulfilled and felt that I developed really well as a player."

Could either player have developed quicker if they had pounced on overseas opportunities earlier in their careers? It's impossible to say. One or both might have seen their stock skyrocket, but plenty of American careers have dried up in Europe as well. They certainly head to Europe now as more established, mature players.

Timing was a factor as well in terms of making a move now. Morris said he had been feeling the itch in recent years to test himself overseas. With MLS not scheduled to start until April 3, Arriola spoke of not wanting to wait a few months for his next competitive match, especially as he continues to return to full strength following an ACL injury of his own. With a busy international calendar ahead, testing themselves and staying sharp will be paramount. And now they'll have each other to lean on as well, on a club in the thick of the Premier League promotion race.

"Paul and I are really close, [and have been] for a while now with the national team," said Morris. "He's one of my good friends, so it's pretty surreal actually, that we ended up in the in the same spot."

Especially given the paths they took.-- Jeff Carlisle

A few minutes with ... Reggie Cannon

USMNT right-back Reggie Cannon joined Portuguese outfit Boavista in September after three-plus seasons in MLS with FC Dallas.

The 20-year-old recently caught up with ESPN's Tom Hamilton to discuss his decision to move to Europe, life in Portugal and what it is like at Boavista so far.

Stock watch: Assessing the ups and downs of Americans abroad

John Brooks, Wolfsburg -- On the rise: Brooks has quietly been one of the top-performing Americans in Europe this season, commanding a Wolfsburg defence that has conceded just 19 goals in 19 Bundesliga games, the second-best mark in Germany's top flight. In fact, Wolfsburg have not conceded a goal in five consecutive games over all competitions, with Brooks playing every minute during that span. The 28-year-old was reportedly available for transfer last summer, sources tell ESPN, but it would seem Wolfsburg are quite happy that they have held onto the American.

According to one German journalist, Brooks has formed an "ideal partnership" with newcomer Maxence Lacroix due to Brooks' experience and Lacroix's speed. If Brooks' can replicate his recent club form with the national team, it would be a huge boon for the USMNT, as inconsistency has defined his international career so far.

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Christian Pulisic, Chelsea - Trending down Trending down: Thomas Tuchel confirmed after Chelsea's win over Sheffield United on Sunday that Pulisic was omitted from the squad because of "family issues," but the 22-year-old's involvement under the new Blues boss has been limited to 84 minutes in four games.

Sources tell ESPN's James Olley that the United States international's diminished game time could be explained by a couple of reasons: the club's medical staff are concerned that the United States international is at risk of suffering another hamstring injury, and Tuchel is keen to evaluate the squad at his disposal, already having a good understanding of what Pulisic offers after their time together at Borussia Dortmund.

Jordan Siebatcheu, Young Boys (on loan from Rennes) -- On the rise: If Siebatcheu is an unfamiliar name to you, it's perhaps because he has never played for the United States at any level. The Washington D.C.-born forward, who on loan at Swiss giants Young Boys from Ligue 1's Rennes, bagged a hat-trick last week to take his tally for the season to seven goals in 17 games for the Swiss Super League leaders. While things didn't work out for him initially at Rennes, sources tell ESPN that the French club remains quite positive about his future, expecting him to return and fight for a starting place next season.

The former France Under-21 international remains eligible for the United States and, in an interview with American Soccer Now last year, hinted he would be open to representing the Stars and Stripes. Given the USMNT's uncertainty at striker, don't be surprised if the in-form Siebatcheu receives a call-up from Gregg Berhalter soon.

Konrad de la Fuente, Barcelona -- Holding steady: After surprisingly cracking Barca's first-team out of preseason at the tender age of 19, De la Fuente has faded into the background a bit in recent months. The winger has managed just 26 minutes for Barca so far this campaign and thus has been turning out for Barca B recently to get playing time.

With Ronald Koeman adamant that youngsters need to play and gain experience, sources tell ESPN that if Barca can keep players fit, the plan now is for him to train with the first team in the week, join up with the B team on Friday or Saturday and then play for them at the weekends. Breaking into a star-studded Barca team was always going to be a tall task for the youngster, and next season Barca will have to decide whether it is best for his development to stay around the first-team again or go out on loan and get minutes.

Scouting report: Bryan Reynolds

Bryan Reynolds has just 31 MLS appearances to his name and has yet to represent the United States above the Under-18 level, yet two of Italy's biggest clubs, Juventus and AS Roma, were desperate to sign him during the winter transfer window. Why? Potential.

Roma ultimately won the tug-of-war for the 19-year-old right-back, the latest bright talent --Weston McKennie, Chris Richards, Reggie Cannon, etc. -- to emerge from FC Dallas' fruitful development pipeline. What they are getting is a player with huge upside, as Reynolds possesses great size (6'3") and speed, and is an excellent crosser of the ball. Reynolds' time as a winger earlier in his career also seems to have really benefitted him from an attacking perspective, particularly as a dribbler and in terms of his directness. This past season he picked up three assists for Dallas but with the number of chances he created (16 in 19 games), that figure could have easily been higher.

Where Reynolds will need to continue to develop is as a defender. While far from a liability this past season, the youngster was inconsistent at times defensively, and he definitely has room to improve when it comes to tracking runners and not getting caught too far forward. This seems to be a common thread with most young full-backs, and given Reynolds' recent position switch, this could simply be dismissed as inexperience at the position.

Reynolds is not a player who will jump into Roma's starting XI overnight but he does possess tremendous attacking potential as a full-back long-term, and that is what top clubs are shelling out the big bucks for these days.

The Pittsburgh Penguins dramatically reshaped their front office Tuesday, hiring Brian Burke as president of hockey operations and Ron Hextall as the team's new general manager.

"We feel incredibly lucky to bring in two highly respected executives with a combined 50-plus years of NHL management experience," said Penguins president and CEO David Morehouse, to whom Burke will report.

Patrik Allvin, who became interim GM of the Penguins when Jim Rutherford resigned on Jan. 27 for personal reasons, will return to his role as assistant GM.

Hextall, 56, became the front-runner for the general manager opening during the second round of interviews for the Penguins. Other executives under consideration included Colorado Avalanche assistant GM Chris MacFarland, Boston Bruins director of player personal John Ferguson Jr., former Toronto Maple Leafs assistant GM Mark Hunter, former Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis and former NHL player and current NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes.

Hextall was the general manager for the rival Philadelphia Flyers for four seasons (2014-18) and was a long-tenured member of the Los Angeles Kings front office, as assistant general manager and an advisor. He's credited with drafting well and developing the minor league system for both organizations.

He played 608 games as an NHL goaltender, winning both the Vezina Trophy as top netminder and the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP for the Flyers in 1986-87.

While Hextall was heavily rumored to be in the mix for the Penguins job, Burke's hiring shocked the hockey world. The 65-year-old had followed his 31 years as an NHL executive with a featured role on Sportsnet's NHL coverage in Canada, as one of its most popular commentators.

Burke previously served as general manager of the Hartford Whalers, Canucks, Anaheim Ducks and Maple Leafs. He was most recently director of hockey operations for the Calgary Flames until April 2018. He built the Ducks into a Stanley Cup champion in 2006-07.

"To me, Pittsburgh is a take-your-breath-away destination for any GM or president of hockey ops," Burke said. "I'm so excited for the opportunity. The Penguins are a storied franchise with outstanding ownership in Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, and Pittsburgh is just a great hockey city. Ron Hextall and I are very fortunate. We can't wait to get started."

The Penguins are 5-5-1 this season for a .500 points percentage. Turning the team into a Stanley Cup contender again is seen as a challenge. Its core of stars -- Sidney Crosby (33), Evgeni Malkin (34) and Kris Letang (33) -- are aging past their primes. The team doesn't have a first-round pick this season and had the 31st-ranked prospect pipeline in ESPN's recent rankings.

"If you don't have a job, they are all desirable," one NHL general manager told ESPN. "The only possible issue could be if ownership was unstable. But that's not the case in Pittsburgh. So it's a very desirable job."

U.S. sportsbooks capped one of their most lucrative football seasons ever with a big win on the Super Bowl.

More than $136 million was bet on the Super Bowl LV with Nevada sportsbooks. The state's books won a net $12.6 million on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' upset of the Kansas City Chiefs, according to figures released Tuesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

The $136 million wagered was down 12% from last year's Super Bowl, in part due to occupancy restrictions at Las Vegas casinos amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, it still was the fifth most since the state began tracking the betting action on the game in 1991. Five of the six reported $1 million-plus bets on the Super Bowl were placed in Nevada.

Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania were also among the states reporting wins on the Super Bowl, as betting handle spiked in many of the jurisdictions that have launched legal sports betting markets in recent years. Data from leading geolocation firm GeoComply showed a 267% year-over-year increase in online betting over Super Bowl weekend -- despite several sportsbooks experiencing service disruptions in the hours leading up to and during the game.

• Approximately $117.4 million was bet on the Super Bowl with New Jersey sportsbooks -- a 116% increase from last year's game. After suffering net losses on their first two Super Bowls, New Jersey books won a net $11.3 million.

• Illinois sportsbooks took $45.6 million in bets on the Super Bowl -- 94% of them placed online -- and won a net $7.7 million on the state's first Super Bowl with a legal betting market.

• Pennsylvania sportsbooks took $53.6 million in bets on the Super Bowl and won a net $9.4 million. Sportsbooks did well with the Bucs pulling the upset and covering the 3-point spread in a 31-9 game that was lower scoring than expected.

"Overall, a solid day," Adam Pullen, assistant director of trading for William Hill U.S., told ESPN. "The game going under [the total] and Tampa [covering the spread] was the preferred outcome. Not many crazy longshots happened that the public likes to bet on, which was good for us."

One longshot that did come through was Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes throwing zero touchdown passes. A bettor in New Jersey placed a $3,000 bet with William Hill U.S. on Mahomes not throwing for a score at 15-1 odds and won a net $45,000.

In 2020, Nevada sportsbooks won a net $122.4 million on football bets -- both college and pro -- making it the most lucrative football year ever for the state's bookmakers.

Throughout the season, the amount bet on the odds to win the Super Bowl was down significantly, and bookmakers were bracing for a potential big dip in betting on the Super Bowl, especially with casinos restricted to 25% capacity.

Jay Kornegay, vice president of race and sports operations for the SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas, said the betting handle on the Super Bowl at his shop was similar to how much was wagered on last year's game between the Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers.

"We actually handled more on this year's game than we did on last year's game," Kornegay said. "But the overall number did fall short of last year, but mainly because of the [Super Bowl] futures pool being well short of last year's pool."

In normal times, Kornegay says Super Bowl Sunday in the sportsbook feels like a heavyweight fight is going to take place. This year, he said it felt more like a "welterweight" fight.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is still the UFC's undefeated lightweight champion, although even he believes the belt should belong to Dustin Poirier.

Speaking to Match TV, Nurmagomedov (29-0) said he believes Poirier "deserves" to be the UFC's 155-pound champion, following his knockout victory over Conor McGregor last month. Before the fight, UFC president Dana White teased Nurmagomedov could potentially face the winner, but Nurmagomedov isn't interested.

"I wouldn't say Poirier and McGregor disappointed me," Nurmagomedov said in Russian. "They showed nothing supernatural. I fought with Poirier, nothing special. It's the same with Conor. I believe that now Poirier deserves to be a champion. That's my opinion. Look at the fighters he's fought: Jim Miller, Eddie Alvarez, Anthony Pettis, Max Holloway. These are all top fighters and they could end up in the UFC's Hall of Fame."

Nurmagomedov, 32, abruptly retired in October, following a dominant title defense against Justin Gaethje at UFC 254. The Dagestani legend said he would not fight without his father, Abdulmanap, who died in 2020 following a heart condition made worse by COVID-19.

White and Nurmagomedov met in person in Abu Dhabi last month. Before the meeting, White told ESPN he would try to persuade Nurmagomedov, who is arguably still in his prime, to compete again. For now, Nurmagomedov remains in control of the lightweight championship, even though he continues to say he is retired.

The UFC has not yet announced Poirier's next bout. A trilogy fight between Poirier and McGregor is the most likely option as of now. McGregor knocked out Poirier in a featherweight fight in 2014, before Poirier evened the series at 1-1 last month.

North Carolina's players and team managers released a statement of apology Tuesday after a video showing multiple players partying without masks on after Saturday's win over Duke forced the postponement of Monday's game against Miami.

Two hours before Monday's men's basketball game between Miami and North Carolina in Chapel Hill, the ACC announced that both teams had mutually agreed to postpone the game. The decision came hours after The Daily Tar Heel, North Carolina's student newspaper, posted a Snapchat video that shows UNC standouts Day'Ron Sharpe and Armando Bacot partying without masks on, along with other young people who also weren't wearing masks, Saturday after UNC's 91-87 win over Duke.

In Tuesday's apology, North Carolina's players and managers said Bacot and Sharpe weren't alone.

"Saturday night, a number of players and managers -- not just the ones shown on the video that was seen -- got together to celebrate our win at Duke," their statement said. "Our intention was to celebrate privately within our group. Unfortunately, we allowed several friends who are not members of the team to join the gathering. We were inside and not wearing masks, which were mistakes.

"We apologize for not adhering to the University's and athletic department's guidelines and apologize to Coach Williams and his staff for not stepping forward when he first addressed it with us on Sunday. We have worked too hard for eight months doing the right things to make those kinds of mistakes at this point in the season. We are hopeful we will be able to play again soon and wish to remind everyone to stay safe so this pandemic will be over as soon as possible."

In the brief video published by The Daily Tar Heel, Sharpe and Bacot, who combined to score 27 points in the win over their chief rivals Saturday, are shown hanging out with multiple people in a room as music plays in the background.

While the league's statement did not offer specifics, the ACC's health and safety protocols list multiple reasons for postponing a game, which include the "inability to perform adequate contact tracing consistent with governmental requirements or recommendations" and the "inability to isolate new positive cases, or to quarantine high contact risk cases of the traveling and home team university students."

Roy Williams said in a statement that he was glad his players and managers apologized.

"I appreciate the players voicing their apology," Williams said in the statement. "They made a mistake. They've been fantastic for more than eight months in the way they have dealt with the whole situation with the virus. But they realize they did make a mistake, for which they are paying a very significant price."

The school has not said how Saturday's video could impact games beyond Monday's matchup against Miami.

MIAMI -- Heat guard Avery Bradley went nearly two weeks without seeing his wife and children after testing positive for COVID-19, a brutally hard part of his ordeal with the illness.

The sacrifice was worthwhile, though: None of them got the virus.

Bradley confirmed Tuesday that he tested positive for the coronavirus last month. For anyone, that diagnosis can be daunting. For Bradley, that was especially so, given that he opted to not join his then-team, the Los Angeles Lakers, in the NBA's restart bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort last season out of concerns about COVID-19 and the possibility of exposing his young son -- who has chronic respiratory issues -- to the disease.

"I was really nervous," Bradley said. "It's just a blessing that no one in my household got COVID. It made me feel a lot more at ease. It was just frustrating knowing that the virus is still around. It's been tough. It's been tough for me and my family, but we're getting through it. I'm happy my kids didn't have it, my wife didn't have it, that made me feel a lot better.

"But it was tough not being around my family for 11 days, I think it was, not being able to see them, hug my kids, hug my wife. And I'm happy that it's all over."

Bradley catching the virus was part of a challenging time for the Heat. They had only eight players available for two games at Philadelphia on Jan. 12 and 14, both of them losses, while eight others -- Bradley among them -- were out for virus-related reasons and Meyers Leonard was out with what became a season-ending shoulder injury.

"No one is going to feel sorry for us," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Bradley has appeared in only 10 games for Miami this season; Tuesday's game against New York is the 14th he is to miss, and that number will keep rising over the next few weeks. Bradley could be out until the end of the first-half schedule in early March with a strained calf muscle, though he's hoping to return before the midseason break.

He missed eight games because of COVID-19, then returned, bruised his knee in his comeback, sat out the next two contests, played two more games and then hurt the calf.

"It's really frustrating," Bradley said. "It's unfortunate, catching COVID, having the knee contusion and now this. It's very frustrating. All I can do is continue to stay professional and make sure I'm doing everything I can do to get back as soon as possible, make sure I'm able to contribute and help our team in every way I can."

Bradley is averaging 8.5 points this season. The Heat start a seven-game road trip in Houston on Thursday; Bradley isn't expected to travel because of his injury.