The Dallas Stars have signed center Wyatt Johnston to a five-year extension following their blockbuster acquisition of winger Mikko Rantanen earlier Friday.

Johnston, 21, inked a five-year deal worth $8.4 million against the salary cap through 2030, when he'll become an unrestricted free agent. Both Johnston and Rantanen are represented by agent Andy Scott of Octagon. Rantanen signed an eight-year contract extension with the Stars after being acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

Johnston is in his third NHL season. He has 79 goals and 86 assists in 226 career games, including 23 goals and 36 assists in 62 games this season. He has been strong for the Stars in the postseason, too, with 14 goals and 8 assists in 38 games.

Rantanen agreed to an eight-year deal with an average annual value of $12 million ahead of Friday's NHL trade deadline.

Following the acquisition of Rantanen, the Stars became the co-favorite to win the Stanley Cup at ESPN BET, moving from +700 to +600. The Florida Panthers also moved to +600 (from +750) to win the championship this year after landing Brad Marchand in a deal with the Boston Bruins. The Edmonton Oilers (+700) had previously been the Stanley Cup favorites.

The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo, adding significant size and a veteran presence to their blue line ahead of Friday's NHL trade deadline.

The Maple Leafs traded top prospect Fraser Minten and a 2026 first-round pick to the Bruins for Carlo. They also traded forward Connor Dewar and defenseman Conor Timmins to the Pittsburgh Penguins for future considerations to clear roster space.

Carlo, 28, is a 6-foot-5, 220-pound defensive stopper in his ninth year with the Bruins. He has averaged 18:46 in ice time this season in 62 games and was the Bruins' primary penalty killer on the blueline (2:50 short-handed ice time per game). Carlo helped the Bruins defeat the Maple Leafs in playoff series in 2019 and 2024.

Carlo is signed through 2027 with a $4.1 million cap hit. In the deal, Boston will retain 15% of Carlo's salary, sources told ESPN.

Minten, 20, was selected 38th overall in the 2022 NHL draft. He can play center or wing. Minten has played 19 games with the Maple Leafs in the NHL after turning pro in 2023-24 but has spent most of this season with the AHL Toronto Marlies. The 6-2 forward plays a physical game and can play a variety of roles. Many considered him to be the Leafs' second-best prospect behind forward Easton Cowan.

The Boston Bruins unloaded many players at the NHL trade deadline. Besides Carlo, the Bruins traded captain Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers, center Charlie Coyle to the Colorado Avalanche, center Trent Frederic to the Edmonton Oilers and forward Justin Brazeau to the Minnesota Wild.

United States men's national team defender Sergiño Dest is set to make his return for PSV Eindhoven on Saturday after an 11-month injury layoff.

PSV coach Peter Bosz said Friday that he was expecting to include Dest in the squad that takes on Heerenveen in the Dutch Eredivisie.

"If all goes well, Sergiño Dest will be in the matchday squad tomorrow. I'm very happy about that," he told a news conference.

Dest, 24, suffered a torn ACL while training with PSV on April 20 last year. At the time, the former Ajax player was on a season-long loan from Barcelona, but, despite the injury, PSV made the move permanent, signing Dest to a contact through 2028 last June.

His return will come as a welcome boost for PSV. After winning the Dutch title last season, they currently sit in second place, eight points behind leaders Ajax. Bosz's side are also coming off the back of an emphatic 7-1 home defeat to Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie on Tuesday.

Dest has 33 caps for the USMNT but has been unavailable for selection since Mauricio Pochettino took over as coach last September. Pochettino is set to name his roster for the Concacaf Nations League finals on Tuesday. The U.S. will face Panama in the semifinals on March 20.

Ruben Amorim has said he won't get the same time to rebuild Manchester United as Mikel Arteta has enjoyed at Arsenal as the two managers prepare to meet at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Arsenal finished eighth and fifth in Arteta's first two full seasons in charge at the Emirates after arriving at the club in December 2019.

Despite coming close to winning the title in 2023 and 2024, he's approaching five years without a trophy, with the club having not won silverware since the FA Cup in 2020.

Amorim has been tasked with a similar rebuilding job at United, but he's not expecting his bosses to show the same patience.

"I will not have the time Arteta had," Amorim told reporters on Friday.

"I feel that. It's a different club, I think it's a different club. I think in that aspect the way Arteta dealt with that is an inspiration for everybody but I will not have the time like Arteta had."

United and Arsenal are separated by 21 points in the table ahead of Sunday's meeting. Arteta handed Amorim his first Premier League defeat in December when Arsenal beat United 2-0 at the Emirates.

United have a crucial Europa League second leg against Real Sociedad to come next Thursday after drawing 1-1 at the Anoeta, and Amorim has admitted he's concerned about how his injury-ravaged squad will cope against Arsenal this weekend.

"We need to survive on Sunday," he said.

"The team was so tired in the last 20 minutes [of the first leg against Real Sociedad]. We have to prepare for Sunday and think about this important game for our season on Thursday.

"We are trying to see all the players who are fresh and who are not in danger of getting an injury. Even with that we have to risk a little bit but we have to be competitive on Sunday."

Amorim said he "doesn't know" whether Harry Maguire and Manuel Ugarte will be fit to face Arsenal after both missed the first leg against Real Sociedad.

Youngster Chido Obi -- who spent much of his youth career with the north London club before joining United -- will be back in the squad after being ineligible for the trip to Spain, while Amorim has also raised the prospect that Amad Diallo could return from injury before the end of the campaign.

The game against Arsenal will also see United fans stage a protest against the club's ownership ahead of kick-off as anger continues to grow about perceived financial mismanagement.

"For everybody in our club it's a really tough moment," Amorim said.

"It's everything at the same time. The only thing I can do is and our players can do is perform well and win. People have the right to protest.

"I think it's a good thing to do that. It's part of our club. Everybody has a voice. But our job and my job is just to improve the team and give them something in this moment because they deserve it and they are amazing."

An investigation has been opened into the technical staff of Bay FC, National Women's Soccer League commissioner Jessica Berman confirmed on Friday.

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported on Friday that two former Bay FC players described the culture under head coach Albertin Montoya as "toxic." The report also said the league was made aware of one formal complaint in which a player said she had experienced "bullying" by Montoya.

"A review is underway by an independent third party, and we're very confident that the system we have in place will ensure that we surface the issues that need to be addressed, and that we'll continue to work with all of our clubs, our technical staff and our players to make sure that we're achieving our goal of creating a safe, healthy working environment," Berman said.

The news comes just weeks after the NWSL reached a $5 million settlement with the attorneys general from New York, Illinois and Washington, D.C., to close ongoing investigations and compensate mistreated athletes following a wave of "systemic" abuse uncovered by a pair of reports conducted in 2022.

The settlement, which Berman referenced throughout answers to repeated questions about investigations and team cultures in a 25-minute news conference on Friday ahead of the new season, also requires the NWSL to provide the results of annual anonymous player surveys to the attorneys general.

Berman, who became commissioner in early 2022 and has a legal background, said on Friday that complaints being raised are a sign that the new system is working. She said multiple times that these procedures and inquires are "commonplace in most work environments." She also emphasized that investigations do not equate to assumptions of guilt.

"You want to facilitate an environment where people can come forward without a predetermined conclusion that it means that there's been a violation, that there's going to be discipline," Berman said. "Once you have an environment where people come forward and think that's the assumption, it actually deters people from raising proactive concerns."

Montoya was hired to be the first head coach of Bay FC ahead of its 2024 expansion season, emerging late in the process as the choice after a global search put forward other candidates.

Montoya is a respected coach in the Bay Area with decades of experience in the youth landscape, with additional experience in the NWSL and the now defunct WPS, where he won a league title. The Chronicle reported that Montoya has a long-standing relationship with Bay FC majority owner Alan Waxman through the Mountain View Los Altos Soccer Club, a top youth program in the Bay Area.

"I don't actually think having familiarity or knowledge of a coach and his or her experience in the youth space is in and of itself a problem," Berman said, referencing other work environments where familiarity plays a role in hiring.

Bay FC struggled through the early part of its expansion season before general manager Lucy Rushton abruptly resigned in June, less than halfway through the team's first season. The team improved to make the expanded eight-team playoff field and narrowly lost in the quarterfinals.

Berman did not explicitly say whether the results of the investigation would be made public.

Last year, the San Diego Wave came under scrutiny after allegations from a former employee that the club, led by then team president Jill Ellis, created a toxic work environment. The Wave quickly refuted those allegations and a few weeks later, Ellis filed a defamation lawsuit. The league said after the fact that it had already concluded third-party investigations into the team and cleared it of wrongdoing.

Six former employees are suing the Wave and the NWSL for multiple forms of discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination.

"On a case-by-case basis, depending on what we learn and what the situation is that we're navigating, we have to make a judgment call about our macro goals and the specific circumstances that we have in front of us, and that's what we'll continue to do," Berman said on Friday about the league's choices around what to make public.

Bay FC also recently hired Graeme Abel as a head scout despite allegations of abuse in his most recent job as head coach of the University of Oregon's women's soccer team. A week after Abel was announced, and following significant backlash, he resigned from the role.

Abel had worked with Bay FC sporting director Matt Potter in several previous jobs, including at U.S. Soccer.

To get an idea of just how much the NWSL's current Collective Bargaining Agreement has changed the league, one need only to look at the two most recent trades involving current Seattle Reign forward Lynn Biyendolo (née Williams).

Back on Jan. 12, 2023, Biyendolo, at the time a regular with the U.S. women's national team, was traded from the Kansas City Current to Gotham FC. And she never saw it coming.

"That was a complete shock," she told ESPN about the deal. "I had no idea until about an hour before the trade happened."

Fast forward almost two years later and Biyendolo was dealt again, this time from Gotham to Seattle -- and her experience was completely different. In that instance, she not only knew ahead of time that she would be moved, but she had a say in where she went. The Fresno, California native wanted to go to a title contender and be closer to family.

"Very, very different," she said about the two experiences. "The ability to just wrap my head around everything, knowing that I was making an informed decision coming here, and it was on my own terms versus the latter [trade] of surprise, where you need to uproot your life and everything."

She added: "To have control in where we're living and where we want to work, I think it's vastly important."

Biyendolo owes the difference in part to the new CBA that the NWSL agreed to with players last August. Players can no longer be traded without their consent, but it doesn't stop there.

Whereas in the past, there was a limited form of free agency tied to service time, all players are now free to sign wherever they like upon reaching the end of their contract. All drafts are also gone, meaning collegiate players are no longer forced to go to the teams that select them and can now sign with whoever they wish.

As a result, the CBA has created a new dynamic in the league-wide struggle for supremacy, be it for players or teams. For players, they can choose the situation they think will work best, deciding if they fit with the manager and the team's style and culture. A quick canvassing of some players at the recent NWSL Media Day revealed that when selecting a team, potential playing time is still a top priority.

"I think it's all about if you can fit in and get that playing time that you want," said Houston Dash forward Michelle Alozie, who signed a two-year contract extension with the Dash last September. "People have different reasons for wanting to leave or try something new, but I think everyone wants to play at the end of the day. Maybe you go to a club that, one, fits your playing style, but two, you can actually make a lasting impact."

• Stream the NWSL opening weekend on ESPN+: KC Current vs. Portland Thorns (March 15)

That is by no means the only consideration. The needs of a player can vary depending on what stage of their career they're in.

"Some people may be younger and want the development, and some people maybe are at the end of their career and want to be closer to family," said North Carolina Courage midfielder Ashley Sanchez. "So it just really depends [on] what you're trying to get out of it. I think what's kind of special is every team kind of offers something different. I feel like North Carolina is a place where players go and they develop."

In many ways, the new CBA was a way for the NWSL to keep up with European leagues, where free agency at the end of a contract is the norm.

Unfettered free agency has also put every team in the league on notice, and on a variety of levels. Some had to refine their recruiting pitches, though Meghann Burke, the executive director of the NWSL Players Association, feels this is an ongoing process.

"I think there's the way some teams are doing it and then there's the way they should be doing it," she said about the teams' approach to recruiting. "I think some teams are pitching what they have to offer and making it about them. But I think some of the more successful teams in free agency are pitching how they can help that player meet their needs in that stage of their career."

Burke added that those considerations are becoming more granular. If a player has a history of injuries, they'll be looking closely at the medical staff. If they want development, they'll look at the coach and the staff's management style. And so on.

"You have to meet players where they're at, and you've got to do your research on what are the things that matter most to athletes," said Orlando Pride sporting director and VP of soccer operations Haley Carter. "And some common similarities I think is the ability to develop.

"They all want to be the best version of themselves. And so really being able to meet with them on that and create an understanding of what those goals are and how your staff and environment can help them achieve those goals is really important."

Because of the increased emphasis on player recruitment, the new CBA has created another directive for clubs: Invest or perish. This can happen on a variety of levels. For some clubs like the Kansas City Current, the investment has been in facilities like stadiums and training bases.

It's an approach that is being followed by Angel City FC, which just opened its training facility. The Portland Thorns just announced plans to build a new training facility that will also be used with the city's WNBA team.

But it needn't stop there. There are investments to be made in in training staff, medical staff, as well as scouts to aid in player recruitment. On top of that is making sure those additions have the resources they need to succeed. There are a lot of buckets to fill.

The Pride, fresh off winning the league title last season, is a club that ticks a lot of these boxes. For that reason, Carter said their approach to recruiting hasn't really changed. She knows who their targets are "well in advance." But Carter wants to see every other team in the league do the same, albeit with their own twist.

"I think holistically for the league, and one of the reasons why I'm a proponent of free agency, is that it really sort of forces everyone to invest and be serious and professionalize and make sure that you're investing in staff," she said. "Make sure you're investing in the facilities. Make sure you're investing in player support and their experience and what that's like on and off the field.

"You've got to get things right if you want to attract the best players and if you want to retain the best players."

She added: "The CBA is the floor. That's the bare minimum."

Some of the more recent additions to the league are trying to play catchup in these areas. The Utah Royals are set to begin their second season, and sporting director Kelly Cousins told ESPN that the emphasis will be on improving player recruitment "and having more eyes out there, whether it's U.S.-based, worldwide-based and really starting to grow that."

A club spokesperson added that Utah has three full-time dedicated staff but have plans to engage more part-time scouts.

Bay FC is in a similar situation, with the team's sporting director, Matt Potter, admitting that last season the team engaged in a "reset" that saw him take over in the middle of the campaign from initial hire Lucy Rushton.

"It's all well and good getting a player here, but then what do we surround them with when they are here?" Potter said. "We probably have one of the most robust player care and high performance/medical departments, and the one thing in our identity as a club, as we look at development, is a parallel path between on the field and off of the field."

Another knock-on effect of the CBA is that other, more established clubs aren't standing still. The Kansas City Current has a leg up on many other teams in that it has a training facility as well as their own stadium. The next frontier is youth development.

Current co-owner Angie Long said that in the "global war for talent is everybody is leveling up."

The CBA has been in effect for only six months, but so far this is one rising tide that will lift the entire league -- and the players most of all.

ESPN's Cesar Hernandez contributed to this report.