Team togetherness ended Sunday.

For nine days, it’s rest and relaxation. It’s every man for himself and his family — with some limits (no downhill skiing, please) and exceptions (injured players whose names are on an NHL-approved list can report for treatments).

Rob Blake and his family might head to Southern California. Jed Ortmeyer and his wife are going to Maui. Ryane Clowe is off to Newfoundland to visit family and friends. Even coach Todd McLellan is off to Lake Tahoe for a few days.

The idea is to stay away from Sharks Ice and HP Pavilion — until 2 p.m. Feb. 24. At that moment, the NHL allows practices to resume and McLellan plans to have strenuous daily sessions for everybody not in Vancouver.

“They’re going to have to rest physically and mentally,” he said, “and when they come back, they better bring their work boots, because we’re going to go through a little mini-training camp.”

McLellan said he isn’t worried about any of his players showing up on Feb. 24 in poor shape.

Click here to read the full article – By San Jose Mercury News

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Kings defenseman Jack Johnson returned to Los Angeles about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, his whirlwind trip to Vancouver for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics leaving him both exhausted and inspired.

“It was a great experience. Probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” said Johnson, the first American NHL player to take part in the opening ceremony in Winter Olympics history. “It was worth every minute of it to get there. It was everything I thought it would be. And more.”

But making it there required some sacrifice — and a good deal of planning. Less than seven hours after the Kings’ shootout loss to Edmonton on Thursday, Johnson was heading to the airport for a two-hour charter flight to Washington state with his parents and younger brother. From there, a hired driver took them 50 miles across the border to the Olympic Village.

Johnson said he marched in the opening ceremony alongside snowboarder Shaun White, then sat in the stands with members of the U.S. speedskating team. Once the four-hour festival finished, he made the drive back to Washington and caught a charter flight home to make the Kings’ 10 a.m. practice Saturday.

“The whole ceremony was incredible,” said Johnson, who had the team’s blessing to participate even though it meant missing Friday’s workout. “From start to finish there wasn’t a dull moment in the entire thing. I took as much video and photos as I could.

Click here to read the full article – By Los Angeles Times

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There are a lot of healthy NHL players who’d like to play as well as Ryan Getzlaf did on Sunday night with his wobbly left ankle.

The Anaheim Ducks centre saw his first in-game action in six days on Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers, scoring two goals — including a beauty in the third period — and adding a pair of assists in the Ducks’ 7-3 win at Rexall Place.

His dominant performance boosted his season point total to 61 (17 goals, 44 assists) in 2009-10.

More important, for the time being at least, is that the Regina native still hopes to play with Team Canada at the Olympics in Vancouver, as it prepares for its opening game on Tuesday against Norway. Getzlaf said he’d rest Sunday night after arriving in Vancouver and see how his ankle reacted this morning before making a concrete decision with Canada executive director Steve Yzerman.

Click here to read the full article – By Edmonton Journal

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Right-hander Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants have settled their arbitration case, with the two-time NL Cy Young winner signing a $23 million, two-year contract ahead of Friday’s originally scheduled hearing, baseball sources tell ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney

For arbitration, the Giants filed for $8 million while Lincecum countered with $13 million. He earned $650,000 last season.

Lincecum, the reigning Cy Young winner, was 15-7 last season with a 2.48 ERA. He’s 40-17 in his three major league seasons with a 2.90 career ERA.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

The Sharks are going on their longest trip ever to open a new season — and that says a lot considering they once flew to Tokyo to do just that.

The NHL made it official Tuesday: The Sharks will be one of six teams opening next season in Europe, with two games against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Stockholm on Oct. 8 and 9.

Other two-game series being played overseas involve the Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes in Prague, and the Minnesota Wild and Carolina Hurricane in Helsinki.

The Sharks were asked to open the present season in Europe, but general manager Doug Wilson objected because of the extra travel in an Olympic year with an already compressed schedule. At the time, he said he would support a trip when the timing was better.

“It’s exciting, especially with friends and family be able to see us play,” defenseman Douglas Murray said. “My closest family come out to California, but I’ve got a lot of friends who haven’t made it.”

Click here to read the full article – By San Jose Mercury News

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The Kings’ winning streak ended Monday at a club-record nine games, halted not by lack of effort but by a more desperate effort by the playoff long shot Ducks.

It took every bit of determination the Ducks had to subdue the Kings, 4-2, at the Honda Center and set a record of their own with a 10-game home winning streak.

It took Scott Niedermayer frantically batting the puck away from Dustin Brown while on his knees near the net midway through the third period. It took Corey Perry contributing a goal and two assists despite losing his center, Ryan Getzlaf, to a sprained ankle in the second period. It also took Teemu Selanne adding a goal and an assist and goaltender Jonas Hiller weathering a barrage in the third period while the Kings outshot the Ducks, 18-7.

“I think we were tired of losing to them,” Niedermayer said after Ducks beat the Kings for the first time in six games stretching to last season and moved within three points of eighth place in the West.

Click here to read the full article – By Los Angeles Times

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In a quiet moment as he left the Honda Center on Wednesday, Ryan Getzlaf said he has received more telephone calls in the past two days than he previously took in the past two months.

Maybe every person in Canada isn’t fretting over Getzlaf’s sprained left ankle and his availability for next week’s Olympic men’s hockey tournament, but the immediate fate of the Ducks’ leading scorer has become a national story north of the border.

While he still wore a walking boot, Getzlaf hopes to skate in the Ducks practice Friday in Calgary and wants to be in the lineup Saturday when they play the Flames or Sunday in Edmonton.

“All signs are showing to things progressing the way we want them to,” said Getzlaf, who sat out the 3-2 win against the Oilers. “Obviously we have our fingers crossed if things keep going the same way and we don’t have any setbacks.

“When I woke up this morning, I was walking a lot better. I’m off the crutches and all that stuff. All those things point in the right direction.”

Click here to read the full article – By Orange County Register

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LaDainian Tomlinson says he believes he has played his last game with the San Diego Chargers.

His comments come after more than a month of saying he did not know what would happen.

The NFL’s most valuable player in 2006 has two years remaining on his contract. He is due a $2 million roster bonus March 5 and would be paid $5 million in total salary in 2010.

Tomlinson tells the newspaper he doesn’t know when the Chargers will release him and that his agent, Tom Condon, might call the club to expedite the process.

Condon didn’t immediately respond to a phone message from the AP.

“All discussions about the future will take place later this month. No decisions have been made,” Chargers spokesman Bill Johnston wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

Tomlinson has become one of the most beloved athletes in San Diego history during a nine-year career but his production and speed have been decreasing.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Outfielder Scott Hairston and the San Diego Padres have agreed to a $2.45 million, one-year contract to avoid arbitration.

Hairston had asked for $2.9 million and the team offered $2.1 million. He made $1.25 million last year.

Hairston spent the majority of the last three seasons with the Padres before being traded to the Oakland Athletics on July 5. He was reacquired last month in a deal that sent third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff to the A’s. Three days after that deal, the Padres signed his older brother, Jerry, to a free-agent deal.

The Padres have agreed to terms with all of their arbitration-eligible players.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Anze Kopitar’s slick short-handed goal was exactly what everybody expects from the Los Angeles Kings’ leading scorer. His steady defense against Rangers star Marian Gaborik was a whole lot more surprising.

The Kings needed both dimensions of their dynamic young leader to extend their biggest winning streak in 18 years, and Kopitar repeatedly came through on both ends of the ice.

Kopitar scored late in the second period and Jonathan Quick made 20 saves in the Kings’ seventh straight victory, 2-1 over punchless New York on Tuesday night.

Ryan Smyth scored with 8:46 to play for the Kings, who are on their longest winning streak since early 1992, when Wayne Gretzky’s Kings won a franchise-record eight straight. The Great One famously made hockey a hot ticket in Hollywood for a few years, and Kopitar’s talented young Kings are trying to rekindle the affair.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com