The Seattle Kraken fired coach Dan Bylsma on Monday after just one season at the helm.

The Kraken regressed after Bylsma took over for Dave Hakstol, who coached them for their first four seasons of existence and got them to the playoffs in 2023.

Bylsma had been promoted from within after coaching the American Hockey League’s Coachella Valley Firebirds to back-to-back Calder Cup Finals before losing to Hershey.

This was Bylsma’s third stint as an NHL head coach. He led the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup championship in 2009 and he later coached the Buffalo Sabres.

Gophers athletics

Women’s hoop adds UAB post through portal

Gophers women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit added another piece through the NCAA transfer portal, signing 6-foot-2 forward Tracey Bershers from Alabama-Birmingham. She has one year of eligibility remaining and joins her sister, Zoey, on the Gophers roster.

Bershers played three seasons at UAB after transferring from Oklahoma State. As a junior, she played in all 32 games, averaging 6.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 17 minutes of play. She also shot 43 percent from beyond the 3-point line.

Bershers joins a roster that won a program-record 25 games last season after earning the WBI tournament title in Indianapolis, and will add big pieces Mara Braun and Taylor Woodson next season after they missed most of last season because of injuries.

Zoey Bershers is a 6-3 incoming freshman who won back-to-back state titles in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Tracey also was part of two state-title teams for Northside.

— Andy Greder

Redshirt RB Wright plans to enter portal

Gophers redshirt freshman running back Jaydon Wright plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, a source confirmed to the Pioneer Press.

Wright missed the 2024 season with an injury and has been sidelined during spring practices, as well. He is the third scholarship player to enter the portal this spring, following quarterback Zach Pyron and linebacker David Amaliri last week.

One element in the amount of departures is the Gophers’ need to trim its roster down to 105 players before next season. That is the expected requirement incoming from the House settlement with the NCAA.

Wright was a three-star prospect from Bishop McNamara Catholic School in Kankakee, Ill. 247Sports first reported the news on Wright.

— Andy Greder

College basketball

Duke’s Flagg headed to NBA, likely top pick

Duke star Cooper Flagg is headed to the NBA as the favorite to be the No. 1 overall draft pick.

Flagg’s move comes after a lone college season that saw the 18-year-old become only the fourth freshman named as The Associated Press national player of the year while leading the Blue Devils to the Final Four.

The forward from Newport, Maine, averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals to lead Duke in each category.

College sports

NCAA passes rules for direct athlete payments

The NCAA has passed rules that would upend decades of precedent by allowing colleges to pay their athletes per terms of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit settlement expected to go into effect this summer.

The nine proposals passed by the NCAA board were largely expected but still mark a defining day in the history of college sports.

An athlete’s ability to be paid directly by his or her university in on track to be enshrined in a rulebook that forbid that kind of relationship for decades.

boston marathon

Kenyan Lokedi breaks women’s course record

Sharon Lokedi broke the Boston Marathon course record, and fellow Kenyan John Korir joined his brother as a race champion as the city celebrated the 250th anniversary of the start of the Revolutionary War.

Lokedi finished in an unofficial 2 hours, 17 minutes, 22 seconds. Korir won in 2:04:45.

NHL

Sharpe accused of rape in $50 million lawsuit

A woman who says she was raped and threatened by retired NFL player Shannon Sharpe during a “rocky consensual relationship” filed a civil lawsuit against him seeking $50 million in damages.

Attorneys filed the lawsuit Sunday in Clark County, Nevada, for a woman listed in court documents as Jane Doe. The lawsuit also accuses Sharpe of using physical force on her and inflicting emotional distress.

NBA

Hawks fire GM Fields, promote Saleh to role

Landry Fields was fired as general manager of the Atlanta Hawks after three seasons, with the team missing the playoffs in the last two.

The Hawks promoted Onsi Saleh to the GM role, while also announcing that they have opened a search for a president of basketball operations.

Atlanta went 40-42 this season, then missed the playoffs after going 0-2 in the play-in tournament.

NHL

Avalanche activate Landeskog off IR

The Colorado Avalanche activated captain Gabriel Landeskog prior to Game 2 of its first-round series against the Dallas Stars.

Landeskog has not played in an NHL game since June 26, 2022, when he and the Avalanche beat Tampa Bay to win the Stanley Cup.

A chronic right knee injury that led to two surgeries kept him off the ice through multiple attempts to get back.

MLB

Braves place Strider on 15-day injured list

Atlanta Braves ace Spencer Strider strained his right hamstring while playing catch and was placed on the 15-day injured list.

Atlanta made the move retroactive to Friday, two days after Strider returned from elbow surgery and made his first big league appearance since April 5 last year.

Strider allowed two runs over five innings in a 3-1 loss at Toronto.

— From news services