HOCKEY

The NHL has postponed the Calgary Flames’ next three games after six players and a staff member entered the league’s COVID-19 protocol over a 24-hour period.

The Flames announced Monday that forwards Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, Brad Richardson and Adam Ruzicka and defensemen Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov were in the protocol.

Postponed games include Monday night’s game at Chicago, Tuesday’s game at Nashville and Thursday’s home game against Toronto.

The league said in a news release that the games were postponed due to concern with continued spread and the likelihood of additional positive cases. The Flames’ training facilities were closed until further notice.

Calgary is the third NHL team this season to have games postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak. Last month, the Ottawa Senators had three games postponed and the New York Islanders had two games postponed.

• The Dallas Stars placed goalie Anton Khudobin on waivers, a move that could allow the club to send its 2020 Stanley Cup final starter to the minors.

Teams have until Tuesday afternoon to claim Khudobin, who is in the second year of a three-year contract that has an annual salary cap hit of $3.3 million.

Khudobin has been relegated to the third option behind 22-year-old Jake Oettinger and veteran Braden Holtby, who signed as a free agent in the offseason.

If the 35-year-old Khudobin goes unclaimed, Dallas can send him to the Texas Stars of the AHL while getting some salary cap relief.

BASEBALL

OBIT: Roland Hemond, whose 70-year career in baseball included three Executive of the Year awards as general manager of the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles, died Sunday night. He was 92.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, with whom he spent 19 seasons, announced Hemond’s death.

“He passed peacefully in his son Jay’s arms,” Hemond’s family said in a statement released by the Diamondbacks. “The Hemond family shared many laughs with him until the end, and we appreciate the love and support of all his baseball family.”

Hemond was Chicago’s GM from 1970-85 and served in the same role for Baltimore from 1988-95. He won the Sporting News MLB Executive of the Year award in 1972, and then again in 1983 when the White Sox won the AL West.

His third Executive of the Year honor came in 1989, when the Orioles nearly won the AL East after losing 107 games the previous season.

SOCCER

NWSL: Alex Morgan is joining the San Diego Wave, which will begin play next season.

Morgan was one of the NWSL’s original players when the league launched in 2013. She spent three seasons with the Portland Thorns before joining the expansion Orlando Pride. She also had stints in Europe with Lyon and Tottenham Hotspur – and she took time off for the birth of her daughter, Charlie.

U.S. WOMEN’S SOCCER: The U.S. Soccer Federation and the union for its women’s national team agreed to a three-month extension of their labor contract through March, a move announced on the same day players filed a brief asking a federal appeals court to reinstate their equal pay claim.

As part of the extension, the sides agreed the federation will stop paying the salaries of national team players in the National Women’s Soccer League. The allocation system of national team players had been in place since the league started play in 2013.

The NWSL Players Association is attempting to negotiate an initial labor contract with the league, which has been dealing with sexual harassment allegations that led to the resignation of Commissioner Lisa Baird in October.

The extension gives more time for negotiations during the leadup to regional qualifying for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, scheduled for July 4-20.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Real Madrid ended up paying the highest price for UEFA’s botched draw.

Madrid was paired with Paris Saint-Germain in the Round of 16 after UEFA had to redo the entire draw following a big mistake the first time around. The Spanish club had initially been drawn against Portuguese club Benfica but now instead faces PSG’s superstar attack of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.

PSG had been paired with Manchester United in the original draw, which had to be voided after a mistake that UEFA blamed on an external software provider.

Man United had initially been paired with Villarreal even though the English club’s name should not have been placed in that bowl since the two advanced from the same group.

Next, Man United’s name was mistakenly not included among possible opponents for Atletico Madrid when it should have been. That oversight meant the entire draw had to be redone.

Atletico and Man United were then paired in the second draw.

Only one of the eight pairings came out the same in both processes: defending champion Chelsea playing Lille.

Bayern Munich will now face Salzburg, making its debut at this stage, instead of its original opponent Atletico.

Liverpool had been paired with Salzburg but was later drawn to face Inter Milan.

Also, it was: Sporting Lisbon vs. Manchester City, Benfica vs. Ajax, and Villarreal vs. Juventus.

First-leg games are played over two midweeks from Feb. 15-23. Return games are from March 8-16.

The second draw ceremony opened with an apology from UEFA tournament director Giorgio Marchetti, who tried to distance the European soccer body from blame by saying the technical errors had been caused by software made by an outside provider.

PREMIER LEAGUE: The English Premier League reported its highest weekly coronavirus infections while in talks with Manchester United about postponing Tuesday’s match at Brentford after the club closed its training facility due to an outbreak.

There were 42 cases of COVID-19 in the week to Sunday after 3,805 players and club staff were tested, a jump on the 12 cases in the previous seven days of testing.

TENNIS

COVID-19: U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu tested positive for COVID-19 and pulled out of an exhibition match in the United Arab Emirates.

Organizers of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship announced Raducanu’s withdrawal, saying the British teenager is isolating and following protocols.

A replacement for Raducanu is being sought to fill in and play Belinda Bencic in Abu Dhabi.

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