The Denver Nuggets are on the brink of elimination from the 2025 NBA playoffs, and one of their stars is dealing with an illness in their do-or-die game.

Guard Jamal Murray was added to the Nuggets’ injury report around 3:30 p.m. ET Thursday due to an illness. He was listed as questionable for Game 6 of the second-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but in an update posted roughly 45 minutes before the scheduled tip-off, the Nuggets said he would be ‘available.’

It’s unclear what illness Murray is dealing with, but it comes as the Nuggets are down 3-2 in the Western Conference semifinals. Denver hosts top-seeded Oklahoma City Thursday night.

Murray was the second-leading scorer for Denver in the regular season behind Nikola Jokic, and he’s been the Nuggets’ No. 2 scorer in the playoffs with 22.3 points, 5.3 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game. He has averaged 21.4 points per game in the five contests against Oklahoma City, and he’s coming off a 28-point performance in Denver’s 112-105 Game 5 defeat.

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This story has been updated with new information.

Simone Manuel will be at the grocery store, and someone might stop her and ask: ‘What sport do you do?’

“Sometimes I entertain them a little bit and I let them guess,” she says with a slight laugh, “and swimming is never their guess. When I end up telling them I swim, I kind of get some crazy eyes. I’ve gotten laughed at. I’ve gotten, ‘There’s no way that you’re a good swimmer,’ even though they look at my build.”

‘Actually,’ she will tell them, ‘I’ve won Olympic medals.’

Manuel was 20 in 2016 when she became the first Black woman to win an individual gold at Olympic swimming. Nearly 10 years later, she sometimes still feels dragged down by the heft and responsibility of the moment, and she still faces the stereotypes that are assigned to her race and sport.

‘The most common one is that Black people can’t swim,’ Manuel tells USA TODAY Sports. ‘I still hear that to this day, unfortunately. I’ve gotten comments from the Black community as well that we can’t swim.’

Manuel, 28, has won seven Olympic and 16 world championship swimming medals. She is seeking more, but spoke of another opportunity ahead of International Water Safety Day on Wednesday. In 2023, Manuel launched the Simone Manuel Foundation, with a goal of increasing opportunities and water safety in communities of color.

‘It’s about bringing swimming into spaces where people may not feel like they’re welcome, or they may not even feel like it’s an avenue for them to pursue,” she says.

According to a report by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released last May, nearly 64% of Black children have little to no swimming ability.

The statistic is decades in the making, reflecting America’s long history of racial intolerance at pools that conflicted a little girl in Sugar Land, Texas.

‘I began to question if swimming was the sport for me,” Manuel says.

She shared how getting her mind around her identity within her sports was a process filled with doubt. But she has acquired lessons from an often-excruciating athletic journey that might help parents and young athletes.

(Questions and responses are edited for length and clarity.)

Validating emotions can build a stronger athlete

Manuel tried other sports, but something came alive inside of her when she got in the pool. The water not only cooled her from the sweltering Texas heat, but filled her with confidence, pushing her up into training groups with older swimmers.

Then a voice in her head told her she should quit. Sharron and Marc Manuel helped their daughter understand what she was hearing. Sharron also would scroll the Internet with her young daughter, pulling up photos of past Black swimming champions like Olympic silver medalist Maritza Correia McClendon.

USA TODAY: How did your parents support you in swimming?

Simone Manuel: I think the biggest tangible thing was just continuing to allow me to be authentically myself, to continue to validate my experiences as a Black woman in this sport. Being one of a few is a really tough journey, and I know that as parents, they dealt with their own experiences and they were able to recognize that my journey was gonna be unlike other swimmers’ just because of, unfortunately, the color of my skin.

So a lot of their support came from encouraging me. When I would come home from practice and tell them, ‘Oh, someone said this,’ or, ‘This happened,” that alone helped me feel empowered. It allowed me to (feel) that I wasn’t crazy, that what I was experiencing was real, but then to use that as motivation to continue to fight for my goals and dreams.

Sports unify the world, but often isolate the athlete

When you swim, you spend a lot of time by yourself in the water, propelling toward the wall and not knowing if you will get there first. After Manuel touched the wall in Rio in 2016 to win the 100-meter freestyle, she realized how solitary a sport it can be.

USAT: You have felt pressure to be an example. Can you expand on that?

SM: I found out that I made history when I did the interview. At that moment, I just was trying to win a medal, but then for that moment to be really historic, nobody can prepare you for that. I think it was, in some sense, a heavy weight that I wasn’t prepared for. It’s not like I dive in a pool every day and I’m like, ‘I want to be the best Black swimmer.” I want to be the best swimmer that I can be. I can inspire my community (and) people beyond my community who may not feel like they fit into whatever particular endeavor that they want to pursue, but there is pressure that comes with it. I have learned that I will be my best when I focus on trying to be the best Simone, and that comes with my competition, with my advocacy. And the rest, even if it feels lonely at times, it’s really important for me to just try to stay true to myself.

It’s really important for me to continue to compete and do what I love to do, because hopefully there’s a young Black child watching me on TV, and they look at the screen and they say, “Hey mom, hey dad, I want to learn how to swim too.”

Again, a supportive family can make all the difference. Manuel’s older brothers played college basketball, Chris at Oklahoma Christian and Ryan at SMU.

“They always would encourage me,” she says. “They would ask me to come out and play, but they would show no mercy (laughs), and I appreciated that. I didn’t need them to take it easy on me. I had to take a couple of elbows and maybe lose by 20 points. But I mean, beyond that, they’re like my biggest supporters.

“At the end of the day, I’m just their little sister. It reminds me that I am a swimmer, but it’s not who I completely am.”

It takes courage to believe in yourself when you don’t fit the mold

Public pools dominated the American landscape for much of the 20th Century. These could be intimate spaces shared by friends and competitors, but also ones charged with racial strife.

Federal judges began declaring pool segregation unconstitutional before the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, but waves of American communities pushed back in the 1950s and 1960s. Instead of complying with desegregation, they closed pools, affecting generations of potential Black swimmers.

 “And then on top of that, you have the rise of private pools, country clubs, people no longer going to public pools and having the access,” Manuel says. “The accessibility to backyard pools, in the Black community, is not something that we typically had in the past. Discrimination and racism have created these consequences.”

USAT: What was it like growing up in a primarily white sport?

SM: I didn’t feel like I fit in. I think it’s kind of normal to, at a young age, look around and not see other people that look like you. I don’t see any other Black children doing this, but when I’m on the soccer field, I see them. When I’m on the volleyball court, I see them. When I play basketball, I see them. So I really began to question if it was a sport group that I could be good at and successful in. But I think on top of that, just some of the experiences, some of the comments from teammates, parents, that make you doubt yourself, tacked on with what you’re already feeling, makes it very difficult to feel like the pool is a welcoming space.

I had supportive coaches who helped a lot with that. I learned that it was really important for me to own my dream, and that, unfortunately, this was a journey that I was going to have to go on. I was going to have to deal with these obstacles. We all do in life, and this was one of them that I had to hopefully conquer.

USAT: What would you say to young swimmers who look up to you?

SM: Believe in the power of your dreams. Believe in yourself and don’t let anyone keep you from pursuing your passion, because if it’s yours, it’s for you, and it’s not for them to take.

‘Drowning epidemic’: Swimming can help shed stereotypes

‘So many people are so terrified of the water,’ said Naji Ali, a long-distance swimmer who has hosted a podcast promoting swimming in the Black community. He spoke as a featured voice for a 2021 Philadelphia museum exhibit known as “Pool: A Social History of Segregation.”

“Whether you go in or not, you should know how to swim,’ he said. ‘And not just survival swimming, I’m talking where you are comfortable in the water.”

The Simone Manuel Foundation seeks better education – through water safety awareness workshops, swim lessons, clinics – in BIPOC (Black, indigenous and people of color) communities.

And it offers possibility.

USAT: What message do you want to share about the work that you’re doing?

SM: It would be great to see other Black swimmers on the podium. I don’t know if I will see that in my lifetime. But above that, I think it’s really about empowering the Black community to learn how to swim, because the drowning epidemic is so staggering.

USAT: What has sports done for you and for your life?

SM: Sports has allowed me to grow into a stronger, more resilient person. It’s given me some of my greatest achievements, but also some of my lowest lows. Sports (is) a microcosm of society, it’s a microcosm of life, and the experiences that I’ve had through have helped me handle difficult situations. I believe that swimming has really given me all the tools to be able to handle whatever comes my way.

Coach Steve: What the brash ex-swimmer learned about his career when he lost everything

Sports careers often remain ‘unfinished,’ no matter who we are

Manuel says that before Rio, she faced undisclosed “major health issues” that forced her to significantly modify her training.

‘There were times where I didn’t think I could go any further,” she says.

Before Tokyo, she developed overtraining syndrome. She spent six months out of the water recovering from mental and physical exhaustion, depression, anxiety, soreness and other symptoms.

She returned to win a bronze in Tokyo and a silver in Paris. She has described her career since Rio as not a comeback but unfinished, a perspective on how sports continue to teach throughout athletes’ lives.

USAT: You’re hoping to compete in Los Angeles in 2028. How is that going?

SM: It’s probably been the hardest training that I’ve ever done in my career, but it’s been really fun. I’m really excited what hopefully the next four years has to come.

My goal is always to win medals. I’m never been someone that sets low goals. But I also think it’s really important to be realistic. The last couple years have been really tough for me, so I just want to continue to improve, not put too much pressure on myself, and just see where my results land, and then adjust from there. So it’s hard to kind of give a definitive goal when something is four years away. I ultimately see my best results staying in the present.

USAT: You said your goal is to be able to compete without the weight of expectations. Do you think you’ve gotten to that point yet?

SM: No, I haven’t, unfortunately, I feel like I’m getting there. I’m starting to learn how to swim more for me. I do think it is gonna take some more work on my part, but expectations are good. Hopefully I continue to become more confident in what I’ve accomplished and what my resume says about me, that I can just step up on the blocks and not feel like I have to prove anything.

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.

The action has teed off for the 2025 PGA Championship, as more than 150 golfers are at Quail Hollow Club vying to win the second major of the year.

While there are plenty of big names and top contenders to win the PGA title, the first step golfers must make in order to have a successful weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina is to make the cut line. The PGA Championship has a different cut line from most PGA events, as the top 70 golfers − including ties − on the leaderboard after 36 holes will qualify for the third and fourth round. That likely means about half of the field will be cut after two days of play.

Thursday’s first round is over and while there’s still another full day of golf to be played, plenty of golfers can change their fortunes. But it’s not too early to see what the field will need to do in order to ensure being able to play on Saturday and Sunday, and who could be in danger of having an early exit at Quail Hollow.

PGA Championship projected cut line

As of 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday, the projected cut line for the 2025 PGA Championship is +2, according to the predictive model used by Datagolf.com. The site says there’s a 41.9% chance 2-over-par is the cut line after Friday.

Since there’s still another day of golf left to be played, Datagolf.com notes there are strong chances the cut line moves around. There is a 29.9% chance it’s +1, and a 17.7% chance it’s +3. Those scores would be much lower than when the event was held at the same course in 2017, when the cut line was +5.

Last year at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, the cut line was -1, the lowest in PGA Championship history. Here is the recent history of the cut line at the PGA Championship:

2024: -1 (Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky)
2023: +5 (Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York)
2022: +4 (Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma)
2021: +5 (The Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, South Carolina)
2020: +1 (TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, California)
2019: +4 (Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, New York)
2018: E (Bellerive Country Club in Town and Country, Missouri)
2017: +5 (Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina)

PGA Championship 2025 cut line: golfers to watch

Scores as of 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday

Xander Schauffele: +1
Will Zalatoris: +1
Patrick Reed: +1
Hideki Matsuyama: +1
Wyndham Clark: +1
Sepp Straka: +2
Rickie Fowler: +2
Shane Lowry: +2
Jason Day: +2
Max Homa: +2
Justin Thomas: +2
Patrick Cantlay: +3
Rory McIlroy: +3
Brooks Koepka: +4
Cameron Smith: +4
Jordan Spieth: +5
Dustin Johnson: +7
Phil Mickelson: +8

Call it luck of the draw, but NFL schedule-makers hit the jackpot this season with the cross-divisional rotation.

The NFC North, the best division in football last season, had games against the AFC North and NFC East on the schedule.

“That’s probably a best-case scenario, not just for FOX but for the entire league,” FOX Sports president, insight and analytics, Michael Mulvihill told USA TODAY Sports.

The 12 intra-divisions in the NFC North alone could be anchors of a late-Sunday or prime-time game every week, Mulvihill said. Add in the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Commanders, Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens from the crossover group, and that’s a lot of heavy hitters. The fortunate situation also adds depth to a Sunday slate and makes the early afternoon window stronger, Mulvihill said.

Conference splits should benefit everyone

Fans of a certain NFL age – OK, it wasn’t that long ago – may remember when the conference loyalties of NFL broadcast partners CBS and FOX were well-defined. CBS had the AFC. The NFC belonged to FOX.

Technically, it was the away team that designated which package the game went to, with a certain amount available to be pulled into the prime-time pool. That changed during the league’s latest media rights deal that began in 2023. Now, every game operates as a free agent, with guarantees in place to ensure CBS retains a brand with the AFC and the same for FOX and the NFC.

But don’t be shocked when the Detroit Lions-Green Bay Packers Week 1 matchup is on CBS (4:25 p.m. ET). Or that the Bengals and Buffalo Bills are playing on FOX in Week 14.

Mulvihill said the format was a creative fix when the imbalance between NFC viewership and AFC viewership was less balanced. But the emergence of teams such as the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills as national brands helped the conference regain parity in that respect.

This year, FOX asked the NFL to balance the cross-flexing to “make sure that we were getting as much from the AFC as we gave back with the NFC,” Mulvihill said. He believes the league heard him and helped reward FOX with that Cincinnati-Buffalo matchup and the chance to air the Super-Bowl rematch in Kansas City between the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles (Week 2). They’ll also be in Buffalo for an Eagles game in Week 17.

“We’ve probably gotten more this year than we ever had in the past and that was important to us,” Mulvihill told USA TODAY Sports.

As far as the league’s priorities, NFL executive vice president of media distribution Hans Schroeder said those switches are done at the ‘right time of the year’ with the goal of delivering the premier matchup to ‘the biggest audience we can get it to.’

The league sees that as an advantage – and for the partners, who also benefit from the flexibility, in Schroeder’s eyes. 

‘And we don’t have to worry about what partner it’s on,’ Schroeder told USA TODAY Sports.

FOX goes ‘variety’ over Cowboys for late Sunday window

The Cowboys and the 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday game on FOX are synonymous. But in 2025, Mulvihill said the network is trying to give the showcase window a different sine.

FOX requested three home Cowboys games for the slot (which averages nearly 25 million viewers), down from six last season.

Mulvihill said the goal is to elevate the Eagles and Detroit, and they hoped to have stronger AFC presence. Jayden Daniels and the Commanders were also another strong viewership option to help offset a drop in Dallas inventory.

“Candidly, I think we hear from fans sometimes that they get a little worn out with FOX’s 4:25 window so heavily reliant on the Cowboys,” Mulvihill said.

He added: ‘I think we’re going to benefit from some of that added variety.’

How did Aaron Rodgers’ indecision impact 2025 NFL schedule?

The Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that hasn’t had a losing season since 2003, don’t have their schedule fortunes come down to the signing of one man – even if it is a starting quarterback.

‘Certainly Aaron Rodgers, Hall of Fame quarterback, makes a difference,’ Schroeder said.

“But Pittsburgh’s been incredible (for) a long streak. Mike Tomlin’s an incredible coach.”

Schroeder noted the presence of one of the NFL’s best defenders in T.J. Watt.

‘They seem to play a lot of great football late into the year’ every season, regardless of whoever the quarterback is, Schroeder said. 

Streaming vs. Broadcast

More than 85% of the NFL’s games are available for free over-the-air (OTA) broadcast television. But the embrace of streaming continues with the introduction of YouTube as a game partner, with the streamer showing the Week 1 matchup from Brazil (for free) between the Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers.

YouTube, like Netflix’s Christmas games, bring in an international audience.

“That’s really exciting for us,” said Schroeder, who said the league will continue to be strategic about balancing platforms. 

Broadcast remains the bedrock, Schroeder said. But for example, every Sunday night, the NFL is on Peacock in addition to NBC and delivering for fans who are not cable subscribers.

“We still think the foundation of the NFL fan experience is watching games for free on Sunday afternoon,” said Mulvihill, countering the narrative that the league is moving to streaming. “We’re happy to keep as many games on broadcast as we can.”

Piecemeal release of schedule here to stay

Annoyed by the NFL’s three-day rollout of the schedule, starting with a trickling of international and prime-time games before the schedule release broadcast on NFL Network? It’s not going anywhere.

Finishing the schedule in mid-May lets the team inside NFL headquarters on Park Avenue time to factor in trades and the recently completed draft, while being sensitive to the business activities of their broadcast and streaming partners who held important advertising Upfronts in New York this week.

‘It all sort of comes together well, we think, in trying to make this the sort of bigger tentpole in the NFL calendar,’ Schroeder said.

Fans have known the matchups for months. They’ve even known where the game would be played (for the most part). But they don’t know when.

“There’s just so much more to our schedule now,’ Schroeder said. ‘We think there’s an opportunity to tell that story and engage with our fans in a time of year where there’s not a lot of NFL news. We think this can be a bigger platform, similar to what the draft has become.

“We think there’s a lot of interest and excitement – so how can we make this more engaging for our fans?” 

University of Southern California football coach Lincoln Riley was credited with a little more than $11.5 million in total compensation for the 2023 calendar year, the school’s new federal tax returns show.

The document, provided by the university Thursday in response to a request from USA TODAY Sports, also showed that Riley has the benefit of a housing loan that has a balance due of $3.43 million — the same as the original amount.

Just over $10.2 million of Riley’s total compensation was categorized as base compensation; $100,000 as bonus and incentive compensation; and nearly $1.15 million as what the tax form calls “other reportable compensation.”

This provides the first full look at Riley’s pay as USC’s coach, including the loan. The school’s return last year, which covered 2022 calendar-year pay, included amounts connected to the $4.5 million buyout that USC paid to the University of Oklahoma on Riley’s behalf for ending his contract with that school. USC treated that amount as taxable income for Riley, but it also paid those taxes. That resulted in USC reporting Riley with $19.7 million in total compensation, including slightly less than $10 million that was categorized as base compensation.

USC’s new return also showed that in 2023, the school continued paying buyout money to former football coach Clay Helton, who was fired in September 2021. Helton received $4.25 million from USC in 2023, bringing his total payout through the end of that year to a little more than $9.1 million.

Helton became Georgia Southern’s head coach in November 2021. His basic pay from that school for the 2023 season was $752,000.

Riley’s $10.2 million in base compensation for the 2023 calendar year likely would have made him the fourth-highest paid football coach in the nation, according to USA TODAY’s annual pay survey for the 2023 season. However, comparing the pay of private-school coaches to that of public-school coaches is difficult because the contracts of private-school employees are not subject to public-records disclosure requirements.

Under IRS rules, while non-profit organizations — including college and universities — make most financial disclosures on a fiscal-year basis, they are required to report employee compensation figures on a calendar-year basis, including the value of all bonuses and benefits. They must use the calendar year completed during the given fiscal year. USC’s fiscal year covered by the new return ended June 30, 2024, so the 2023 calendar year is used for compensation reporting. A combination of IRS reporting deadlines and the availability of automatic extensions results in a significant time lag in the disclosure of private schools’ pay numbers.

USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen, who left the University of Washington to take the job with the Trojans in August 2023, also benefitted from a housing loan and assistance with the buyout she owed Washington. She was credited with nearly $3.1 million in total compensation from USC in 2023, according to the new return, plus a housing loan, the original amount of which was $3.8 million.

More than $2.1 million of her total compensation was connected to the buyout she owed Washington, which USC treated as taxable compensation. Her reported base compensation of $687,185 for a period starting Aug. 22, 2023, works out to an annualized amount of nearly $1.95 million. Her total for the year also includes a $200,000 bonus.

Cohen’s annualized base amount likely makes her one of the 15 highest-paid athletic directors in the nation, according to contracts and tax records obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

USC’s former men’s basketball coach, Andy Enfield — now at SMU — was credited with nearly $4.7 million for 2023, but the return stated that he forfeited nearly $350,000 of that amount when he left for SMU in April 2024 and became ineligible for retention payments he had been set to receive had he stayed at USC.

Legendary wrestling commentator Jim Ross announced he has been diagnosed with colon cancer.

Ross revealed on social media Thursday that he learned of his condition earlier in the week and he is scheduled to have surgery within the next two weeks.

‘I appreciate your concern and support,’ Ross said.

Considered one of the greatest wrestling personalities to put on a headset, Ross became a star during his time in WWE, as he spent more than 20 years with the company through two stints. His passion on calls and ability to capture big moments − plus his catchphrases like ‘by god’ − is what made him a well-regarded voice for wrestling fans.

He was paired up with Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler during most of his time with the company, forming one of the most iconic duos in wrestling commentary. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.

Ross signed with All Elite Wrestling in 2019 and has been with the company since then. He began as the lead play-by-play announcer for the start of AEW Dynamite but the 73-year-old has gone through some health issues during his time with the promotion, resulting in a reduced schedule.

In October 2021, Ross revealed he was diagnosed with skin cancer, but was cancer-free two months later. In February 2024, he said he had cancer surgery for his right hip.

Ross’ last time appearing for AEW commentary was in April for the Dynasty pay-per-view.

An outfield collision sent two Minnesota Twins All-Stars to bench as the club won its 11th consecutive game on Thursday.

Byron Buxton and shortstop Carlos Correa collided as Buxton hauled in a fly ball in shallow center field during the bottom of the third inning at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

Correa, down on the grass for a few moments, walked slowly off the field and exited the game immediately. Buxton, who had homered in the top of the inning, stayed in the game but was removed before the bottom of the fourth.

The Twins announced that both players had entered MLB’s concussion protocol, and bench coach Jayce Tingler told reporters that the team would have an update Friday.

Buxton, 31, leads the Twins with 10 home runs and 27 RBIs. The former Gold Glove winner has struggled with injuries throughout his career, playing in more than 100 games just twice since his 2015 debut. Correa, in the third year of a six-year, $200 million deal, has struggled this season, with a .236 average and .605 OPS. Injuries limited him to 135 games last season.

After starting the season 7-15, the Twins have won 17 of their last 22 games to surge back into contention and notched their third consecutive series sweep with a 4-0 win over the Orioles.

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The Carolina Hurricanes will try to reach the Eastern Conference final for the second time in three seasons when they visit the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.

The Hurricanes hold a 3-1 lead in the second-round series after winning Games 1, 3 and 4.

Carolina has played a smothering defensive style and limited the NHL’s No. 2 regular-season offense to six goals, one of them an empty-netter, in four games. The Capitals are averaging fewer than 20 shots a game. NHL all-time leading goal scorer Alex Ovechkin has one goal on 11 shots.

Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen has a 1.24 goals-against average and .934 save percentage in the second round.

USA TODAY will provide live updates of Game 5 between the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals. Follow along:

What time is Hurricanes vs. Capitals Game 5?

Game 5 of the Hurricanes-Capitals series will start at 7 p.m. ET at Washington.

How to watch Hurricanes vs. Capitals playoff game: TV, stream

Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Capital One Arena in Washington
TV: TNT, TruTV
Stream: Sling TV, Max

Carolina Hurricanes lines

Alexander Nikishin making NHL debut

The 6-4 Russian defenseman was taken by Carolina in the third round in the 2020 draft. The 23-year-old had been playing with St. Petersburg SKA in the Kontinental Hockey League. Jalen Chatfield had been banged up recently.

Capitals call up goaltender

The Capitals have recalled goaltender Clay Stevenson from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, but coach Spencer Carbery says No. 1 goalie Logan Thompson is fine. The move was made, Carbery said, because backup Charlie Lindgren is dealing with personal stuff.

The Los Angeles Kings haven’t been able to get past the Edmonton Oilers in the first round the last four years.

Now, they’re bringing in a former Oiler and a Stanley Cup winner to be the franchise’s 10th general manager.

The Kings announced the hiring of Ken Holland on Wednesday and he was introduced on Thursday. He will replace Rob Blake, who had been Kings GM from 2017 until he and the team had agreed to part ways on May 5.

‘I’m excited because it’s a really good hockey team,’ Holland said. ‘I’m excited to be back in the saddle.’

Holland, 69, had been with the Oilers from 2019 to 2024 but didn’t have his contract renewed after Edmonton’s run to Stanley Cup Final. He also won four Stanley Cup titles with the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 (as an assistant GM), 1998, 2002 and 2008 and has a .622 points percentage as a general manager.

“It was very important to get the right person to guide this franchise to where we want to be,” team president Luc Robitaille said Thursday, “which is not about beating one team, winning one round, it’s about winning four rounds. … He knows the path of what it takes to get to a championship.”

Robitaille played two seasons for Detroit under Holland, winning the Stanley Cup in 2002.

Holland inherits a Kings team that tied franchise records in wins and points last season. But the Oilers stood in their way again. This year’s loss was probably the most frustrating because the Kings led the series 2-0 before Edmonton won the next four games.

‘We’ve got to find a way to make the team a little bit different, a little bit better,’ Holland said.

That won’t involve a coaching change. Holland said Jim Hiller will remain as coach.

‘Jim Hiller did a fabulous job in leading the team to 105 points,’ Holland said. ‘They were good defensively. They were good on special teams. The team played hard. … He’ll be a better coach next year for the experience he went through this year.’

The Kings have most of their core locked in. Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov is a pending unrestricted free agent, as are backup goalie David Rittich and trade deadline acquisition Andrei Kuzmenko.