New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider was the most coveted player at the NHL trade deadline. Apparently, no one coveted him more than his current team.

Kreider, 28, who was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, was re-signed on Monday to a 7-year deal.

According to reports, he will get an annual average value of $6.5 million.

Kreider, who had spent his entire career in New York, has 24 goals and 21 assists in 60 games this season and is on pace to set career highs in both categories. He has had a productive February, posting six goals and five assists in 11 games.

A dozen teams were in the hunt for the winger's services, including the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche and New York Islanders.

But the Rangers were committed to trying to re-sign him. As of last Friday, a source said there was a "65-percent chance" of Kreider reupping, but that talks had reached an impasse on Sunday. The issue: The Rangers wanted to go six years with Kreider, at around $7 million annually, while the was seeking seven. The $6.5 million AAV would appear to be the compromise.

He missed nearly two months of the 2017-18 season due to blood clots, undergoing two surgeries and spending nearly a week in the hospital because of the issue. But he has been a

While the Rangers, at 33-24-4, could post their first winning season since 2016-17, they have some ground to make up in the strong Metropolitan Division and could miss the playoffs for the third straight year. But in Kreider, they have secured an important piece as their collecting of outstanding young players rounds into a contender.

Patrick Marleau gets a chance to experience a playoff run this season after the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired the forward from the San Jose Sharks for a conditional third-round draft pick.

"Patrick is a player who can play anywhere in our lineup," Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford said in a statement. "He's a good two-way player, provides leadership and will be a good fit with our team."

Marleau returned to the Sharks for a 20th season in 2019 on a league-minimum $700,000 contract after spending two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. But the season didn't go the way he wanted, with injuries and ineffectiveness keeping the Sharks near the bottom of the West.

The Penguins are only two points behind the Washington Capitals for the lead in the tough Metro Division, and Marleau will likely fill a bottom six role and try to win his first Stanley Cup.

If the Penguins win the Cup, the Sharks get a second-round draft pick.

Marleau is the Sharks' franchise leader in games (1,550), goals (518) and points (1,102). The 40-year-old has 10 goals and 10 assists in 57 games this season.

"Patrick is one of the most iconic players to ever wear the Sharks uniform," Sharks GM Doug Wilson said in a statement. "Although we have had a disappointing season in San Jose, he deserves every opportunity to have a chance at winning a Stanley Cup, and we're happy to help accommodate that. We wish him the best of luck."

He played for the Maple Leafs in 2018-19, but his $6.25 million annual average salary was too much for the cap-strapped Leafs, who traded him to Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes made the move to net a first-round pick and bought out the final year of Marleau's contract.

Marleau captained the Sharks from 2003 to 2009.

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski contributed to this report.

The Carolina Hurricanes upgraded their offense by acquiring forward Vincent Trocheck from the Florida Panthers for Erik Haula, Lucas Wallmark and two prospects.

The 26-year-old Trocheck has 10 goal and 36 points this season. How did each general manager do in this trade?

The deal:

Hurricanes get: F Vincent Trocheck

Panthers get: F Erik Haula, F Lucas Wallmark, F Eetu Luostarinen, D Chase Priskie

Carolina Hurricanes: B+

One of the most thrilling sights in football is watching Hakim Ziyech fire a 50-metre, cross-field pass. Ziyech thinks so too. He'll often pause for a split-second to admire its flight. Sometimes, after backheeling his way past another opponent, he'll glance up at the big screen to catch the replay. (He has so many different feints but doesn't yet boast a trademark one.)

Only a couple of footballers in Europe right now are more creative than Ziyech at Ajax. But if he is to become equally influential at Chelsea, the club at which he will play from next season, Frank Lampard will have to do something brave: give Ziyech the keys to the shop and let him do what he wants on the field. The Dutch-Moroccan isn't moving to London just to become an ordinary, play-it-safe footballer. "Free Hakim Ziyech!" could be the drama that plays out at Stamford Bridge next season.

Ziyech's origins help explain the footballer he became. He was born in 1993 in Dronten, a small town founded only 20 years earlier on land reclaimed from the sea. There weren't many other good footballers anywhere nearby. Like the northern villager Arjen Robben before him, Ziyech grew up as the best player in his rural region, and so nobody nagged him about passing, tracking back or playing it safe. His job was to win games single-handedly.

He was the ninth and youngest child of poor Dutch-Moroccan parents. On Saturdays, after his game at the local amateur club, he and his dad would share fries in the canteen. But his father had multiple sclerosis. One night, 10-year-old Hakim fell asleep on his dad's bed in the living room, then roused himself around midnight to go upstairs. At 3 a.m., he recalled recently for the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper, he came down to find his father dead.

Ziyech started his professional career at Heerenveen before making a modest step up to FC Twente. Ryo Miyaichi, the Japanese winger formerly at Arsenal, marvelled after their first training session together at Twente: "What's he doing here? He belongs at Real Madrid." Ziyech appeared to agree. He passed to the only one or two Twente players whose talents he trusted, and he never bothered defending.

He also made obstinate career choices. Selected for Holland's squad in 2015, a year after the Dutch had finished third at the World Cup, he suddenly left training camp pleading injury. Holland's then-coach, Guus Hiddink, recalled thinking: "A shame, but I had the feeling his future with Oranje would come." It didn't: Ziyech chose Morocco instead.

Holland's assistant coach Marco van Basten called him a "dumb boy" following his decision. Didn't Ziyech understand that Holland would always be better than Morocco? At 23, Ziyech was still fighting against relegation with Twente, and it seemed feasible that he'd spend his career performing brilliant cameos in football's shallow end. Ajax had checked him out, but in August 2016, technical director, Marc Overmars, said he wasn't going to buy him because Twente wanted too much money and Ziyech would only block the development of academy players. Days after Overmars' verdict, Ajax were humiliated 4-1 by Russian side Rostov in a Champions League qualifier and the club hurriedly forked out €11 million for Ziyech. The player moved into a posh flat in Amsterdam that he furnished with a billiards table and little else. But it had enough guest rooms for his beloved nephews and nieces to visit.

That season, 2016-17, Ziyech helped transform Ajax. Against every expectation, the absurdly young side reached the Europa League final, which they lost 2-0 to Manchester United. The club's keeper Andre Onana recalls thinking of Ziyech: "What is this man? He's good on free kicks, he's good at one-on-ones, he's fast and scores many goals. But his best quality: decisive passes. He really sees everything. Sometimes I think he has three eyes." Ziyech was also suddenly pressing and tackling opponents, even in the 90th minute with his tongue hanging out and his spindly legs buckling. Stranger still, he enjoyed it.

"If you'd shown me those images of myself when we lost possession five years ago, I'd have said you were crazy," Ziyech told Voetbal International magazine.

His only shortcoming was a habit of shooting from almost anywhere on the field and, perhaps not coincidentally, Ajax's 2017-18 season was a flop. Ziyech is a player who aims to be decisive with every move -- whether beating defenders, playing a splitting pass or finding the top corner -- but the flipside is that he often loses possession. When he isn't brilliant, his scowl, drooped shoulders and bowed head can lose him friends, notes Dutch journalist Sam Planting. Ziyech became a hate figure to disappointed Ajax fans and he once retaliated by removing all his Ajax-related posts from Instagram. He distrusts people he doesn't know and detests the chatter around football. Still, in the summer of 2018, he went to the World Cup with Morocco while Holland stayed home.

Last season, as Ajax got to the brink of a Champions League final, Ziyech -- even more than his teammates Frenkie de Jong, Dusan Tadic and Matthijs de Ligt -- emerged as probably the Eredivisie's best player in 25 years. He even finally grew out of his shoot-on-sight policy. Ajax's coach, Erik ten Hag, moved him from midfield to outside-right, where he could cut in on his left foot and take all the risks he liked, knowing there were enough men behind him in case he lost the ball. Holland's former striker Youri Mulder summed him up: "If he gives 10 passes, he loses possession five times, gives two normal balls and creates three brilliant openings that can produce goals."

'A player we hope can bring that bit of creativity'

Ziyech is at his most brilliant against big teams, making and scoring Ajax's first goal in their 4-1 win at Real Madrid in March, but he visibly loves playing football against anybody. After Heracles were thumped 4-1 by Ajax, their forward Cyriel Dessers marvelled at Ziyech's passing: "Three, four times, the ball suddenly drops dead at the back post. How is that possible?" When Ten Hag tried to give Ziyech some rest by substituting him late in a 4-0 pounding of Feyenoord last October, the player was outraged. He knew he was playing the best football of his life and he didn't want to miss a minute. During his time at Ajax, Ziyech has had more assists, shots, chances created and dribbles completed than any other player in the Eredivisie, according to Opta.

Fans have learned to adore him, and he now reciprocates, too. When an admirer invaded the pitch during a match at Lille, Ziyech hugged the boy, inviting him and his parents to Amsterdam. He took time for cheery chats with disabled fans.

Ziyech outgrew the Eredivisie years ago, yet until last week he kept turning away foreign clubs inquiring about his availability. "I'm very choosy," he told the Algemeen Dagblad. "Last summer, Sevilla made a concrete offer. Absolutely a nice club, but there's a technical director there [Monchi] who had wanted to bring me to Roma a year before. Everything was almost sealed until we suddenly didn't hear from him anymore. And now I had to join his club. Well, forget it: I don't let anyone mess me around."

The bigger problem is that only about 10 clubs on earth are now obviously better than Ajax and the likes of Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid aren't about to give Ziyech the freedom to take any risk he likes. "Big clubs had doubts because you have to build a team around him," noted Holland's former playmaker Rafael van der Vaart. Ziyech wasn't going to leave Ajax just to play boring safe football in the service of some other creator.

Even though he turns 27 next month, Chelsea are getting Ziyech cheap for €40 million, possibly rising to €44 million with bonuses. (Overmars had promised Ziyech he'd be cooperative when the right club came along.)

Lampard explained after the signing: "This season, there have been games where we've maybe struggled to unlock the door, and he's certainly a player who we hope can bring that bit of creativity."

In Chelsea's 4-2-3-1 system, Ziyech could play outside-right or as a No.10. However, Lampard may not realise just how much freedom his new signing expects. If Ziyech can inherit Eden Hazard's old role as Chelsea's designated risk-taker, he'll love it. If he can't, he will one day look back on the 2018-19 season at Ajax as his pinnacle, the time in football that he was happiest. So will many Dutch fans.

Last year's great Ajax team is now falling apart. De Jong and De Ligt have gone, Donny van de Beek will probably join Real Madrid this summer and Onana may yet follow Ziyech's path to Chelsea. We may need to sustain ourselves these next 25 years with memories of Ziyech.

Imagine falling asleep after Australia's defeat in the T20 World Cup opener against India on Friday and then waking up no sooner than the third over of their 123-chase against Sri Lanka three days later, only to find the four-time winners and defending champions are staring at another potential league stage defeat.

Australia have never lost to Sri Lanka across limited-across formats; at 3 for 10 in 3.2 overs, it seemed like they were heading for a historic defeat at WACA. The swing of left-arm pacer Udeshika Prabodhani and turn from offspinner Shashikala Siriwardene had suddenly left the vulnerability of a seemingly impenetrable line-up exposed even further after Poonam Yadav spun them into a tangle in Sydney.

Against Yadav's wristpin, their batters didn't have any answers. On Monday, Prabodhani's inswingers felt like jumbled alphabets to this world-beating side. A 4.5-degree swing from the left-arm pacer's second ball of the innings would get the better of one of the world's bests. Alyssa Healy, coming off a blazing 51 in the T20 World Cup opener, was sent packing by a 98kph incoming delivery.

At 34, Prabodhani is one of Sri Lanka's most experienced players, their most economical bowler on Sri Lanka's tour of Australia across limited-overs formats, and senior-most among the rare few left-arm pacers on the women's international circuit. "She's the best bowler in Sri Lanka and she has a lot of experience," the captain Chamari Atapattu had said about Prabodhani at the pre-match press conference on Sunday. "We call her 'the silent killer'".

"I'm sure there was a couple of nerves today, but I hope we showed today the character that has been there in the group." Rachel Haynes

Prabodhani's first four balls in the second over denied No. 3 Ashleigh Gardner any runs. The fifth, a carbon-copy of the ball that dismissed Healy, hooped back down the line to crash into the top of middle and leg. With just eight on the scoreboard, the urgency among the Sri Lankans fielding inside the circle lent a degree of imminence to a third wicket that was only three balls away.

In the recent past, the left-hand opener Beth Mooney has been peerless at the top within the Australian set-up, playing starring roles in the title triumphs of her WBBL side Brisbane Heat and, more recently, Australia in the tri-series. Her last two 20-over outings, though, were worth a combined 16 runs. At the WACA, she would add only another six runs, her seven-ball stay cut short with a flighted away-going delivery from Siriwardene.

For the second time in four nights, the focus of an Australia chase fell squarely on the side's highly-regarded batting depth. The chastening defeat against India had left questions to be asked of this purported strength, but unlike Friday night where the entire line-up seemed wanting in resilience after Healy's dismissal, resistance against Sri Lanka came in the form of a 95-run stand between the Australia captain Meg Lanning and her deputy Rachael Haynes.

"I thought today we showed a little bit of our character," Haynes said after her 47-ball 60. "World Cup tournaments aren't easy. Playing at home, you're really enjoying the opportunity to do it but you kind of escape from the fact that it's different from a normal series where perhaps you can drop a game here and there and get back in the contest whereas World Cup cricket you have to keep winning. That's the nature of the beast.

"I'm sure there was a couple of nerves today, but I hope we showed today the character that has been there in the group. To be able to get over the line right at the end there will hopefully correct some of the momentum heading into the rest of the tournament."

At least four dropped chances when the pair were batting and a botched use of DRS left Sri Lanka no room to review a Lanning caught-behind.

"It didn't feel easy to bat out there, to be honest," Haynes said. "I felt like I cloffed nearly every shot that I played today, perhaps with the exception of one. We knew, more than anything, that the partnership was really valuable. So it was nice to be able to come together and get us back in a position where we could attack.

"I think we talk a lot about having match-winning contributions, and sometimes it requires beginnings, and sometimes it requires impactful innings in T20 cricket. Today I think Meg and I came together and we did that job. We won the game of cricket for our team. It was obviously an important moment because we needed to win today to stay in the contest.

"But, yeah, from my point of view, it was just really nice to share in that with Meg. Today is also her 100th match. So it was really nice to not only win but obviously win a big game for her too."

Peshawar Zalmi will have no case to answer for alleged ball-tampering during their game against Quetta Gladiators, after the PCB confirmed that Quetta had failed to formally make a complaint. Quetta captain Sarfaraz Ahmed's claim they had reported what they perceived as ball-tampering by Peshawar has been refuted by the PCB, who in a press release stated Quetta had not filed the complaint through the "correctly stated procedure".

Following the conclusion of the match between Quetta and Peshawar on Saturday, Sarfaraz said his side believed Peshawar had altered the condition of the ball, and they were taking the matter up with the match referee and the PCB. "As far as ball-tampering is concerned, we have followed the protocols of [the] PCB and submitted our report on the matter," he said. Team manager Nabeel Hashmi, who was with Sarfaraz at the press conference, appeared to clarify the comment, suggesting a formal complaint had not been made.

The procedure to file a formal complaint was never followed though. Quetta wrote their complaint on the match evaluation form, which is not the platform to lodge formal complaints. Instead, the PCB pointed out, "all Reports must be completed on Form "Rep 1" (or such other form as may be made available for such purpose by the PSL from time to time). All Reports must be signed and dated by the person lodging the Report."

That needed to be done within 48 hours of the conclusion of the game, which Peshawar won by six wickets. With that time having now lapsed, the window of opportunity available to Quetta to make a complaint has closed.

"The Pakistan Cricket Board today confirmed match referee Roshan Mahanama has not received an official complaint from Quetta Gladiators against Peshawar Zalmi for changing the condition of the ball..." the PCB media release said.

The PCB made clear they will not recognise Sarfaraz's public comments as an official complaint, and were not happy with the manner in which Quetta had handled the matter.

"We are aware that a statement on changing the condition of the ball has been made without providing any concrete evidence or lodging a formal complaint through the correctly stated procedure," Wasim Khan, the PCB CEO, said.

"In this case, this should have been submitted to the match referee by 6pm on Monday, 24 February. Such irresponsible statements without formal follow-up will only effect the integrity of the event and cast doubts on international cricketers, and, as such, I request the players to use caution and show responsibility."

A source at Quetta Gladiators told ESPNcricinfo that they had no intention to formally complain, insisting Sarfaraz's comments had been misinterpreted. Quetta merely wanted to raise awareness of the issue, and to ask umpires to pay more attention to the ball's condition, which would explain why they included their remarks on the umpire evaluation form instead of lodging a complaint to the match referee.

The PSL resumes in Multan on Wednesday, where Multan Sultans will take on Peshawar. Quetta next play in Rawalpindi against Islamabad United.

Another talking point regarding potential No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow occurred when his measurements were taken on Monday morning at the NFL combine in Indianapolis.

Burrow's hand size was measured at nine inches, a source confirmed to ESPN. The information was first reported by Yahoo Sports.

Per ESPN Stats and Information, the length from pinkie to thumb was tied for the smallest among first-round quarterbacks measured at the combine since 2008. Ryan Tannehill and Jared Goff, the others with those hand sizes, happened to be instructed by current Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor.

Taylor and the Bengals could potentially draft Burrow with the franchise's top-overall pick since 2003. Taylor, a former quarterback at Nebraska, had a 9-inch hand measurement at the 2007 combine.

Of the 35 quarterbacks drafted in the first round since 2008, 9 7/10 inches is the average hand size, according to ESPN Stats and Information. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who led Kansas City to victory at Super Bowl LIV and was named the game's MVP, registered at 9 1/4 inches in 2017.

Over the last 10 years, a mere three quarterbacks with 9-inch hands have attempted more than 300 passes -- Goff, Tannehill and Chad Henne. During that span, none of them have a Total QBR above 55.

Burrow enters this week's scouting combine as the overwhelming favorite to be the top overall pick. The former LSU quarterback won the Heisman Trophy and led the Tigers to a national championship in his final year of college.

Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon's Justin Herbert were measured with 10-inch hands. Along with Burrow, they are expected to be two of the top quarterback prospects available in the upcoming draft.

THE WEARY GROUP trudged across the tarmac and onto the team plane at Philadelphia International Airport.

Awaiting the Los Angeles Lakers at the end of their 10-day, five-game road trip was a cross-country trek back to L.A., with an 11 a.m. ET departure time allowing for a 2:05 p.m. PT scheduled arrival time. This meant their Sunday was supposed to be salvaged by some semblance of an off day in Southern California, after touring through Houston, Boston, New York and Philly amid the chill that comes with late January in the Northeast.

The traveling party filed in -- broadcasters, media relations and team support staff in the back; coaching staff, training staff and players in separate sections going from tail to cockpit. It was one of those flights where those in window seats pulled the shades down as soon as they sat down, looking to doze off before the plane even took off.

But not everyone could sleep.

A few hours into the flight, as the plane hovered above the Midwest, Lakers coach Frank Vogel's face was lit by the glow of a screen as he pored over game tape from the team's 108-91 loss to the 76ers the night before.

The poor performance had soured a night in which LeBron James had eclipsed Kobe Bryant for No. 3 on the all-time NBA scoring list -- in Bryant's hometown, no less.

As Vogel watched clip after clip of the Sixers dismantling his squad, he was approached by Lakers director of media relations Alison Bogli. She had seen a news report on her phone: Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter accident.

"There was that uncomfortable time, feeling like, 'This is a crazy report,'" Vogel says. "Like, 'This is not true. There's no way.' My expectation was to hear that it was a false report."

Bogli, whose Lakers career dates back to the late 1990s, was texting with team personnel back in California, trying to gather information. It wasn't long, sources say, before Lakers controlling owner and president Jeanie Buss replied. It was true. Kobe was gone.

"That's when I decided if it's 100 percent true, then [the players are] all seeing reports and wondering," Vogel says. "I felt like, as their coach, as their leader, I just instinctually felt like they should hear it from me immediately."

MORE: Stories from those close to Kobe

ANTHONY DAVIS WAS another restless passenger.

"I can't sleep on planes, and I'm watching my iPad," Davis says.

Out of the corner of his eye, the Lakers' star big man saw a phone screen flash in one of the rows surrounding him -- a sign of activity amid the slumbering basketball squad, but nothing noteworthy enough to call his attention away from "Avengers: Endgame."

Only the activity grew.

When Davis next glanced away from his screen, his eyes focused on Dwight Howard and DeMarcus Cousins, waving their hands in his direction, their urgency muted by Davis' noise-canceling headphones.

"So I remove one of my headphones, and I look," Davis says. "And Dwight tells me, 'Man, Kobe died.' And me thinking as invincible as Kobe Bryant is, I'm like, 'Kobe who?' Because I'm like, that's not -- it's not Kobe Bryant.

"And he was like, 'Kobe.' And I was like, 'OK. Kobe who? I'm not sure who you're talking about.' And he was like, 'Kobe Bryant.' And at this time, Bron is still asleep. So I was like, 'Wait, what? How? Like, I need details, like, tell me.' And he was like, 'Man, helicopter crash.'"

Davis jostled the resting James.

"And I just like, start shaking Bron, like, 'Wake up! Wake up!'"

The players section, quiet moments ago, began to stir, members of the team scrambling to log on to the in-flight Wi-Fi.

"By this time, all the players have woken up," Davis says. "Everybody's trying to get to the internet to get on their phone and see what's going on. 'Is it true?' Or, 'What's going on?'"

"It didn't hit me. So I turned my Wi-Fi on just to see," Lakers guard Quinn Cook said on the Inside the Green Room podcast, hosted by fellow L.A. guard Danny Green. "I got 200 messages. Twitter is just going crazy."

Jared Dudley, from the air, became the first member of the organization to comment on the tragedy.

Speechless on this plane ride home! A sad day bruh! RIP Kobe Bean Bryant! Prayers go to his family and loved ones ?????? This doesn't even feel real man..

— Jared Dudley (@JaredDudley619) January 26, 2020

Meanwhile, James, like Davis and Vogel before him, could not accept what he was hearing.

"I remember the first thing Bron said to me was, 'Man, y'all stop playin -- like, stop playing with me,'" Davis says. "And I'm trying to get on the internet. And Dwight, like, you can see him start crying. He was like, 'It's true.'"

For Howard, whose first stint playing for the Lakers had been marred by a rocky relationship with Bryant, the emotions came swift and hard.

"It was like a movie scene when it happened," he says. "I was extremely hurt."

Howard folded his 6-foot-10, 265-pound frame into the nearest bathroom stall. And there the big man began to weep.

IN 2011, PHIL HANDY, a respected player-development trainer, had joined the Lakers' coaching staff after carving out a career playing internationally. He had been part of the team of trainers tasked with the job of keeping Bryant's battered body running through the end of his career.

After working in similar roles on the Cleveland Cavaliers' championship team alongside James in 2016 and with the Toronto Raptors' title team alongside Kawhi Leonard in 2019, Handy was hired back by the Lakers last summer as an assistant coach under Vogel -- no longer just a workout guru, but a trusted voice in team strategy.

Vogel woke Handy up on the plane to let him know what had happened to Bryant.

"I looked at Frank, and I almost fell out of my seat," Handy recalled on the Inside the Green Room podcast. "It's one of those things you can never be prepared for. It's not what you expect when you wake up. Just the last thing; your mind is not even there.

"I got up and went to the bathroom, and Kyrie [Irving] started calling me. He called me about 10 times, and I couldn't pick up the phone. I knew he was crushed."

Even if Handy had been able to hold it together enough to talk to Irving -- who considered Bryant a mentor and who was coached by Handy in Cleveland -- there was no use trying to ring the Brooklyn Nets guard. When your plane is nearly 38,000 feet in the air, there's no cell service to make a call.

With information still sparse and calls impossible, some members of the broadcast crew in the back of the plane had logged on to the Delta app to stream live television coverage of the crash.

When a member of the team's security, who had worked with Bryant both when he was a player and during his post-playing days, heard that the helicopter had come down in Calabasas, California, he thought of the familiar flight route from Bryant's home in Newport Beach to his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks. His mind darted to Bryant's daughter Gianna and her typical weekend games at the facility, fearing the worst.

Vogel, through Bogli, knew the painful details when he approached the players: Kobe, Gigi and seven other victims had been lost forever.

ONE BY ONE, the coach made his way through his players to deliver the incomprehensible news.

"It was just a daunting task of just grabbing each guy one-on-one and letting him know," Vogel says.

Some players had already discussed the report as Vogel came to verify it.

"Everybody was crying," Davis says. "It was just like something that we didn't believe, something that was shocking to all of us. Because Kobe, he's touched so many, you know -- players on this team, staff members. You know, Judy [Seto], his trainer; Rob [Pelinka, his] agent; Robert Lara, security. He touched so many people."

James, who had fielded a congratulatory phone call from Bryant that very morning before boarding, gathered the players together.

In the same spot on the plane -- among the mismatched blue and maroon vinyl seats -- where the players had posed for a group photo after a perfect December road trip had pushed their record to 20-3, the group embraced.

James, who had scribbled "Mamba 4 Life" on his sneakers the night before, led the team in prayer.

"It was just off the top off my head, just off the cuff," James says. "I think it was needed for us to come together and just give thanks to the man above.

"Even though at times we question him and question why he do some of the things that he do, know that he's never made a mistake. And just hope that he has his hands on top of Vanessa [Bryant] and the kids at that time, and hope that he continues to watch over all of us. So, I don't know, it wasn't something I thought about. It was something that just kind of came to me, and I said my piece."

IF NOT FOR an emphasis on sleep science, the Lakers would have already been in L.A. and dispersed back to their individual homes by the time Bryant's helicopter went down. Only recently has the team started staying overnight at the end of a road trip.

And so they were all together with more than two hours of flight time to go once the initial report had pinged on Bogli's phone.

The remainder of the trip was enveloped by what one passenger describes as "suffocating silence," outside of the sounds of muffled tears.

As the plane continued west, Cook scrolled through his photo archive, trying to find snapshots of him and Bryant together. Handy says he spent nearly an hour in the bathroom before emerging.

The pain was palpable for everyone on board. Some found purpose in comforting others -- particularly someone like Seto, whose ties to Bryant ran deep.

But all they knew, for sure, was that they would land into a world that was irreversibly changed.

"We were just like, we just need to get off this plane," Davis says. "We just want to get off the plane. And be with your families and, you know, just get back home."

American teenager Coco Gauff has broken into the world's top 50 for the first time.

Now ranked 49th in the world, Gauff is the first 15-year-old in 15 years to reach the women's top 50.

Gauff's breakthrough was when she defeated Venus Williams on her way to reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2019 in her first Grand Slam.

Last month she lost to Sofia Kenin in the Australian Open fourth round in only her third Grand Slam appearance.

Gauff finished 2019 ranked 68th, having also reached the third round at the US Open where she lost to defending champion Naomi Osaka and winning her maiden WTA title at the Linz Open in October.

She has climbed the rankings at a rapid rate, having started 2019 ranked number 686.

Bulgaria's Sesil Karatantcheva, now 30, was the last 15-year-old to break the world's top 50 in August 2005.

Australian Ashleigh Barty, 23, remains number one in the world.

Cori 'Coco' Gauff will be 16 on 13 March 2020.

Winner books wild card spot for next year
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

This year’s Wildcard Challenge at the St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic features two extremely talented English players, Tom Ford and Joe Lee, who have returned to action after extended absences caused by injuries and illness.

They will take to the court at the East Wintergarden for a head-to-head battle immediately before the final, which takes place at 19:30 (GMT) on Friday, March 13.

The challenge match is yet another innovation pioneered by London’s biggest professional squash tournament, and offers the winner a coveted place in next year’s main draw of this PSA World Tour Gold event.

Both Lee and Ford have overcome enormous physical and mental hurdles to return to action. Lee suffered a prolapsed disc in his lower back, which caused further complications in his back and hips.

Ford took an enforced break from the game as he came to terms with the effects of chronic fatigue.

Ford revealed: “There are many reasons why I took a break from the game, but the thing that really forced me to stop is chronic fatigue, which I am still recovering from.

“Ultimately, I had to go through the process of trying to get to the root causes of what led me to burning out and addressing them. These were physical, mental and emotional.

“There were plenty of setbacks, and still are, as I continue to build myself back to full health. I have overcome them by learning to ask for help and get support where needed.

“Seeing an osteopath and acupuncturist regularly helps tremendously with my energy levels. Seeing a sports and clinical psychologist helped me to piece together the psychological work I had done by myself.”

Lee added: “I had a prolapsed disc in my lower back, which was irritating my sciatic nerve and causing discomfort both in the back and hip.

“It was around four months between first feeling the symptoms and having an MRI which confirmed the prolapsed disc. I was playing some of my best squash at the time, which masked it to some degree.

“After a year of rehab with little progress the decision was made to have surgery to tidy up the disc. Unfortunately this took two attempts, but since the second operation I have gone from strength to strength.

“While my doctor, physios and trainers have always been confident I could return to playing, it was unknown how my body would recover and respond to all the different elements of training.

“I have adapted my technique and movement with my coach Danny Massaro. Due to all of the physical work I have done I am much more robust and I feel that I am now hitting and moving in a way that is less stressful on my body.”

Both players have enjoyed keeping in touch with the game through coaching, and, after the hard road of recovery, they are looking forward to appearing on the glass court in front of a sell-out crowd at Canary Wharf.

Ford added: “The draw looks pretty amazing, with 13 of the top 16 players in the world, including all of the top four. It’s a dream for the organisers, and the spectators. It’s an honour to be part of it.”

All of the action from East Wintergarden will be streamed live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and the official PSA World Tour Facebook page (excluding Europe and Japan), while the semi-finals and final will also be shown live on multiple mainstream broadcasters around the globe.

St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic tournament website 

Pictures courtesy of KIM ROBERTS and PSA