Alex DeBrincat has been known as a smaller player with a big game. Now he has a paycheck to match that game.

The Chicago Blackhawks announced Thursday that they have signed the 21-year-old to a three-year extension with an annual average value of $6.4 million. DeBrincat is in the final year of his entry-level contract with an AAV of $894,166.

DeBrincat is coming off a season in which he scored 41 goals and added 35 assists. He became the first Blackhawks player to score 40 or more goals at age 21 or younger since Jeremy Roenick in 1990-91.

The Cat is BACK!

Alex DeBrincat has signed a 3-year contract extension that runs through the 2022-23 season, with an AAV of $6,400,000. #Purr #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/rF4ztP9YON

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 3, 2019

During his rookie season in 2017-18, DeBrincat led the Blackhawks in goals with 28.

Despite gaudy offensive numbers in the minors -- during which he skated on the same line with Connor McDavid for a time -- DeBrincat slipped to the second round of the NHL draft because of his 5-foot-7 stature. That size hasn't stopped the Farmington, Michigan, native from becoming one of the top snipers in the NHL.

The Blackhawks open the 2019-20 season Friday in Prague, Czech Republic, against the Flyers.

Brooks Koepka is the No. 1 player in the world.

Rory McIlroy is the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year.

But there is only one man who transcends the game into pop culture.

Cardi B, one of the world’s biggest music stars, said on Instagram Live that she was going to name her next album “Tiger Woods.”

Her reasoning? “Because, remember when everybody was talking (expletive) on Tiger Woods, like ‘Oh blah blah, blah blah this, blah blah that,'” she said, “and then he (expletive) came and won that green jacket? That’s what I’m going to name my album.”

We do remember, Cardi B. We do.

Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has blasted Borussia Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke and labelled him a "clown."

Watzke said Aubameyang left Dortmund for Arsenal in January 2018 due to financial reasons.

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The Dortmund CEO told Suddeutsche Zeitung: "Aubameyang, who plays great at Arsenal, will probably be warm-hearted when he looks at his bank account, but on Wednesdays will be saddened when he has to watch the Champions League on television."

Aubameyang responded on Wednesday and questioned Watzke for selling Ousmane Dembele to Barcelona in 2017.

Better for you I never talk about why I really left Dortmund Mr Watzke you such a clown ? I remember that time you said we never gonna sell Ousmane then you saw more than 100M you were the first to take that money ????don't talk about money please!!! Leave me alone pls ??

— Aubameyang P-E (@Aubameyang7) October 3, 2019

"Better for you I never talk about why I really left Dortmund Mr Watzke you such a clown," he said on Twitter.

"I remember that time you said we never gonna sell Ousmane then you saw more than 100M you were the first to take that money. Don't talk about money please!!! Leave me alone pls."

Dortmund initially rejected a bid from Barcelona in the region of €100 million for Dembele, but later accepted an initial fee worth €105m.

Aubameyang scored 141 goals during a five-year period at Dortmund and won the DFL Pokal Cup in 2017.

The Gabon international has enjoyed a fine start to the new season, having scored eight goals for Arsenal in competitions so far.

Ajax defender Sergino Dest has said he rejected the opportunity to join up with the United States and Netherlands national teams in order to concentrate on his international future.

Dest, 18, has dual nationality and did not feature in the U.S. 26-man team for the upcoming CONCACAF Nations League matches later this month.

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The teenager was also not called up to the Dutch squad and said he made himself unavailable for selection.

"I don't want to talk about that [the whole subject] yet at this moment," he told Fox Sports Netherlands. "I definitely have not chosen. But I still need to think longer about both options.

"I just said that I don't know it yet and that's why I overlooked both. It is a decision I have to make for the rest of my life and I want to handle that carefully.

"That is why I've let it pass this time and next month you will hear more. Hopefully next month if I've made up my mind, but if I need longer I will take more time."

Dest made two friendly appearances for the U.S. senior team but an appearance in the Nations League would tie him to Gregg Berhalter's side permanently.

The defender helped Ajax to the top of their Champions League group with a 3-0 win away at Valencia on Wednesday.

The David Moyes era at Manchester United didn't last long and yet, it just ended.

You know the details by now. Sir Alex Ferguson retires as the most successful British manager of all time. He hand-picks his successor before he leaves, tipping his fellow Scotsman to be the club's next longtime steward. After taking Everton from relegation-fighter to Champions League qualifier, Moyes makes the move to United and brings Marouane Fellaini along with him.

Moyes bans fish and chips from the Carrington. Fans unfurl a banner for their new coach with the words: "The Chosen One" but he turns out to not be Ferguson because no-one is, nor ever will be. The team finishes seventh a year after finishing first. By the spring, the banner turns into: "The Wrong One." Moyes gets fired before the season ends and his ensuing managerial career resembles a two-dimensional video game character bouncing down a gigantic staircase, a series of thudding, often-comic and exponential disappointments.

Moyes hasn't coached since 2018, but his initial deal with United expired just three months ago. His contract was set to be for six years, running through June 30, 2019, and despite getting rid of him, United haven't made any real on-field progress since. In Moyes's one season with the club, they reached the Champions League quarterfinals, won 19 games and finished outside the top four. In what could've also been Moyes's last year with the club in an alternate universe, they reached they reached the Champions League quarterfinals, won 19 games and finished outside the top four.

Revenues keep growing, the players keep changing, the managerial chairs keep getting shuffled and the team's performance remains the same. So what if Manchester United had never fired David Moyes and instead allowed him to see his six-year contract through to the end? It couldn't be any worse, right?

Among the six post-Ferguson seasons, Moyes's one year with United ranks last in points (64), but that's perhaps slightly unkind. That team scored more goals (64) than all but two of the others and allowed more (43) than all but one. Their goal differential (plus-21) was the fourth-best of the post-Fergie years. They may have even been slightly unfortunate to finish where they did. Injuries limited Robin van Persie, who'd scored 56 goals in the previous two Premier League seasons, to just 1,579 minutes. And according to TruMedia data, United's expected-goal differential under Moyes was fifth-best in the Premier League in 2013-14.

It's true that "but our underlying statistics suggested we were the fifth-best team in the league!" would be a pathetic rallying cry, especially for one of the three richest clubs on the planet. To judge the success of a manager, then, the consultancy 21st Club looks at two things: Did a team's performance level improve under that coach (based on 21st Club's World Soccer League ratings)? And how did the team's performance compare to what we'd expect based on their resources?

The context is important because if you coached Real Madrid and Pep Guardiola coached, say, Oxford United, well, your team would likely win more points, but that wouldn't make you a more effective manager. Some of the names that grade out best according to this method: Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino, Julian Nagelsmann and Jurgen Klopp.

But what about what we've seen at United, post-Ferguson? The club has not once exceeded -- let alone met -- their spend-related expectations and none of their managers have left the club with a higher rating than when they arrived. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has now been in the job for longer than Moyes and the team has declined since he took over, too.

"Relative to all other managers, Jose Mourinho oversaw the largest increase in quality: his peak being in the early months of the 2017-18 campaign," said AJ Swoboda, managing director for the Americas at 21st Club. "But compared to Moyes or Louis van Gaal, Mourinho ultimately left the club in a worse-off position relative to when he started."

Before arriving at United, Moyes oversaw an improvement in performance and an over-performance at Everton: that's why he got the job. After leaving Old Trafford, his Real Sociedad team declined in performance but outperformed their resources. At Sunderland, neither indicator was positive and the team was relegated but at West Ham, the team did improve, although not enough to match their wages. There are a select few managers who improve performance, another select group who hurt performance, while the majority don't have much of a long-term impact on a team's fortunes at all. Moyes probably falls into that big group in the middle.

"You could argue Moyes was a roughly average manager among 'Big 5' managers," Swoboda said. "And so you would have expected him to have as good of results as United's front office 'would have allowed' had he not been sacked."

That front office is, of course, led by Ed Woodward, a former investment banker who helped the Glazer family buy the club and has no previous experience running a soccer team. He's grown the sponsors list to an absurd degree; the club has an Official Global Lubricant Partner, an Official Transformation Partner and an Official Denim Partner. (If you really support Manchester United, you must wear True Religion jeans.) Except not one of the club's major signings from the Woodward Era has been an unmitigated success: five of the 15 most expensive transfers no longer player for the club and most of the ones who've stayed have struggled to even maintain a starting spot.

With Woodward seemingly still leading the way, United still doesn't have the kind of modern front office structure that have helped enable the rise of their major rivals, Liverpool and Manchester City. While Liverpool have invested in analytical decision making, United still don't even have a Director of Football.

"In United's case, there is a pretty big question of what is really driving inefficiency -- i.e. the coach or front office operations?" Swoboda said. "I'd be inclined to argue the latter given all the coaches that have come through since."

The transition from Ferguson's incredible tenure was bound to be complicated. He's arguably the most successful manager in the history of the sport and he turned United into a powerhouse at the tail end of an era when the word "manager" still meant something different than it does now. You weren't just the coach; you managed all of the club's affairs. On top of that, he handed off a team that seemed bound for regression (they scored 86 goals on 78.65 xG in 2012-13) and was relying on an aging core, with stalwarts like Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra,\ and van Persie all soon aging into their 30s and out of their peaks.

However, United have been in the top four of global revenue in every year since SAF stepped down, and they've spent at least £77 million on transfer fees -- to go along with higher salaries than just about any other club -- in every season since he left. Despite the continued financial advantages, five of the six most recent seasons have produced point totals that were lower than any of the club's 21 Premier League campaigns under Ferguson. Given their resources, the expectations for United are "one of the three or four best teams in the world". Instead, right now, they might not even be one of three or four best teams in their own country.

Barring some kind of self-sabotage or large-scale internal mutiny, it's hard to envision a team with Manchester United's money being any worse than they've been since 2013.

Would a more patient approach with Moyes have prevented that decline? Maybe the club would've continued to invest in proven Premier League performers like Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata, rather than chasing big names like Falcao and Angel Di Maria whom they quickly got rid of. Maybe Adnan Januzaj would've become the star he looked like at times during the 2013-14 campaign. Hell, maybe the team would've even crested during the strange 15-16 season when it only took 81 points to win the Premier League.

The most probable outcome, though, is that Moyes, like van Gaal, Mourinho, and Solskjaer, would've piloted the team to the same level they're at right now.

Another arrest has been made in the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) betting controversy with the police taking into custody Bhavesh Bafna, who played the drums at the grounds during matches in the tournament. Bafna was arrested in Bengaluru this week by the crime branch of Karnataka Police after his name was revealed by Asfak Ali Thara, the Belagavi Panthers owner whom the police arrested last month on charges of alleged betting in the T20 league.

According to Sandeep Patil, the joint commissioner (crime) of Karnataka Police, Bafna, along with another bookie named Sanyam, allegedly approached a player from Bellary Tuskers to "fix" games during this KPL. "In a major breakthrough in the ongoing investigation in KPL match-fixing scandal, [an] FIR [has been] registered against two bookies Bhavesh Bafna and Sanyam, for trying to fix matches," Patil said. "They approached a Bellary Tuskers bowler to give more than ten runs per over, but the bowler refused."

Patil said the police are on the lookout for Sanyam, who is allegedly Delhi-based. Bafna's alleged involvement would be closely monitored by the BCCI's anti-corruption unit, too, since he played drums during the IPL at the home matches of Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Thara revealed the alleged involvement of Bafna and Sanyan after he was arrested. Thara has been released on bail but would need to be present for questioning as and when the police need to interrogate him further.

Earlier this week the KSCA suspended Thara as well as the Panthers franchise until the police arrived at a final conclusion in the case.

Featuring in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) is going to be "a fantastic opportunity" for Nida Dar after she became the first Pakistan women's player to be signed for the league, by Sydney Thunder. The opportunity, she says, will help her raise her game as the Women's T20 World Cup is less than six months away.

Dar, 32, has played 96 T20Is and 71 ODIs, her last series being the T20I matches in South Africa where she finished with five wickets and scored 192 runs in five matches. Her T20I strike rate of 96.27 is the highest for a Pakistan women's player among those who have batted at least five times in the format.

"This is a great honour to represent Pakistan in a league where all top cricketers are playing in Australia," Dar told ESPNcricinfo. "Being a first Pakistani to be there is wonderful for me and for the country. It's a fantastic opportunity for me and I will the make best out of it. This is not only going to help me raise my game personally but I will be learning a lot…game plans, thought process and all my experience is going to help my [Pakistan] team-mates.

"The basics of cricket are the same everywhere but it's the standard and the competition level that makes a difference. Big Bash is an amazing league and playing in it with all the top players in the world in one place is what any player dreams of. The standard indeed is one step ahead of us in Pakistan so with this opportunity I know I have to play hard and after the season I will bring back a lot of experience which is going to help everyone here."

The door opened for Dar after India's T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur didn't renew her ties with the Thunder as India's month-long tour of the Caribbean is going to clash with the WBBL, and the Indian players, including Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues, wanted to manage their workload before the T20 World Cup early next year. Harmanpreet had been a key player in the Thunder line-up since the 2016-17 season.

"I have a great regard for Harmanpreet Kaur…she is a top player and someone I look up to," Dar said. "I know I am going to replace her in the squad and I understand the level of expectations from me. I have worked so hard over the years and I'm in my prime form. The balance between my batting and bowling is very important. I do enjoy my batting but it's more about the role what I am asked to play. I adapt quickly. Harmanpreet is a wonderful player with sound technique and her power-hitting is amazing. I know the challenge and filling in for her will be a great responsibility and I will try not to make them miss her.

"The grounds [in Australia] are a lot bigger and one has to adapt to that. But the ball skids very fast there too, with the bounce and that is ideal [for batting]. You don't need to push hard while batting, it is about technique and timing the ball. I am prepared for the challenge."

Dar is one of Pakistan's most experienced players, having made her international debut in 2010, and has been one of their main players in the last decade. No Pakistan woman has taken more T20I wickets than her 88, and she ranks fourth in ODIs with 66 wickets after Sana Mir, Sadia Yousuf and Asmavia Iqbal.

"I am in the 30s now but with the kind of exposure I have, I am more sensible and in control of my game," she said. "It's not about age actually, it's about the passion and fitness required for the game and the guidance by my coaching staff. That is pushing me in the right direction. Fitness has become a top priority these days and no matter what age you are, you have to be fit.

"Fitness is going to dictate how long you can play. I have lost weight recently, I was 62.5kgs and I have lost almost 6.5kgs in one week and now I am more active than ever."

Pakistan women's next assignment is against Bangladesh - from October 26 to November 4 - and the PCB has exempted Dar from the series so that she gets T20 exposure with international players in the WBBL ahead of the T20 World Cup in 2020.

After months of speculation, the first clear details of The Hundred, the ECB's new 100-ball competition, have been revealed, with each team's name, logo, and kit launched alongside the announcement of the first five players recruited for each squad.

There were no surprises in terms of team names or the destination of England's Test players, though a handful of the selections in the 'local icon' draft were unexpected.

ALSO READ: Central contract and local icons drafts explained

That means that the Leeds team, Northern Superchargers, picked Ben Stokes over Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, with those two headed to Cardiff (Welsh Fire) and Nottingham (Trent Rockets) respectively.

The local icon draft saw all of England's white-ball contracted men selected by their respective team, as well as a handful of young county players. Perhaps the most eye-catching was Tom Banton's £100,000 deal to play for Welsh Fire alongside Glamorgan's T20 captain Colin Ingram, as revealed by ESPNcricinfo.

Dan Lawrence (London Spirit, £60,000) was selected ahead of Ravi Bopara and Dawid Malan, while Pat Brown (Birmingham Phoenix, £60,000) was picked as confirmation that his stock has risen exponentially over the past two seasons.

Saqib Mahmood and Matt Parkinson (Manchester Originals, both £75,000) were selected ahead of Liam Livingstone by head coach Simon Katich, to continue a good end to the season which also saw them picked to tour New Zealand as part of England's Test and T20 squads.

Oval Invincibles plumped for Tom Curran (£75,000) and Jason Roy (£125,000), meaning that Sam Billings, Joe Denly, and Ollie Pope will all be available in the main draft. Southern Brave opted for James Vince (£100,000) and Chris Jordan (£75,000), leaving Phil Salt, Luke Wright and Liam Dawson among the player pool for the full draft on October 20.

James Anderson and Stuart Broad were confirmed in non-playing roles at Manchester and Trent respectively, where they are expected to be involved in mentoring and promotional activities.

In the women's draft, England captain Heather Knight was picked up by London Spirit alongside Western Storm team-mate Freya Davies, while Manchester Originals and Trent Rockets look to have done best out of the picks, selecting Sophie Ecclestone and Kate Cross, and Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver respectively.

As part of the ECB's tie-in with KP Nuts, each team will wear the logo of a brand of crisps on their shirt - so Welsh Fire's all-red strip features a yellow Hula Hoops ring on the front, while London Spirit's navy blue number is emblazoned with Tyrrell's.

Having registered a trademark application for "Western Fire" in a bid to win over Somerset and Gloucestershire fans, the ECB's U-turn on the Cardiff-based team was revealed in full: Welsh Fire will wear red, while their badge features the words "Tân Cymreig", the Welsh translation of the team's name.

Northern Superchargers (Headingley) - Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Lauren Winfield, Linsey Smith
Manchester Originals (Old Trafford) - Jos Buttler, Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson, Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross
Trent Rockets (Trent Bridge) - Joe Root, Alex Hales, Harry Gurney, Katherine Brunt, Nat Sciver
Birmingham Phoenix (Edgbaston) - Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, Pat Brown, Kirstie Gordon, Amy Jones
Welsh Fire (Cardiff) - Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Colin Ingram, Bryony Smith, Katie George
London Spirit (Lord's) - Rory Burns, Eoin Morgan, Dan Lawrence, Heather Knight, Freya Davies
Oval Invincibles (The Oval) - Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Jason Roy, Fran Wilson, Laura Marsh
Southern Brave (Ageas Bowl) - Jofra Archer, James Vince, Chris Jordan, Anya Shrubsole, Danni Wyatt

With five months left to the women's T20 World Cup, Pakistan's head coach Mark Coles has resigned citing family commitments. The PCB has handed temporary control of the team to Iqbal Imam, the team's batting coach, and his first assignment will be the home series against Bangladesh starting on October 26 in Lahore.

"It is with a very heavy heart that I have decided to step down from my coaching role, something which I had enjoyed tremendously," Coles said. "However, at this time, my family responsibilities are such that they need my undivided attention and focus. I have been thinking about this for some time and taking into account Pakistan has some critical assignments in the next few months, I thought it was fair to the side I convey my decision to the Pakistan Cricket Board so that they have enough time to find a replacement."

ALSO READ: Indian coaches of Bangladesh women's team won't tour Pakistan

Coles was appointed in 2017, ahead of the series against New Zealand in the UAE, as part of the PCB's efforts to make women's cricket professional. Until then, they had been content bringing in coaches on a series-by-series basis and had even gone into the last 50-over World Cup with Sabih Azhar only a few weeks into his job.

Coles, who is from New Zealand, arrived with the experience of playing only six List A games but he had been a high-performance manager for the women's teams of Western Australia and Wellington and won a domestic T20 title in 2013 with Wellington Blaze. Coles had been living in Lahore ever since his appointment as the Pakistan coach and he left confident that the players he had coached for the past two years would have success going forward.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Lahore and working with the women's team as well as all those who are associated with women's cricket," he said. "It has been particularly pleasing to see some of the girls grow in stature and make their team and country proud. I will miss working with all these girls and will always remain their supporter and well-wisher. I have no doubts the Pakistan national women's team will continue to make upward progress."

Every team in women's cricket is building towards the T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia in February next year. Pakistan underwhelmed at the previous edition last year, winning only one out of four games, but they are looking ahead to this one with T20Is against Bangladesh and England forming a part of their preparations.

Coles was originally appointed on a trial basis and helped Pakistan to nine wins in 28 ODIs, including a first-ever series victory over West Indies in 2019, and 12 wins in 30 T20Is. He is expected to leave the country next week with the PCB getting ready to find his replacement.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board will not send its women team's Indian support staff members - head coach Anju Jain, assistant coach Devika Palshikar and trainer Kavita Pandey - to Pakistan for a tour featuring ODIs and T20Is. The BCB wanted to avoid potential visa-related difficulties given the current political tensions between India and Pakistan. The three India nationals will instead be in charge of the Bangladesh women's A team during their home series against India A that begins on October 4.

"There will be a lot of formalities because of the current situation, which is what we wanted to avoid. We have two women's series concurrent, so they will be in charge of the Bangladesh women's A side," chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury said.

The senior women's team will depart from Dhaka on October 23 and are scheduled to play two T20Is and three ODIs from 26 October to 4 November, all to be hosted in Lahore. This is yet another step towards bringing international cricket back in Pakistan after the 2009 terrorist attack. Earlier this year, Karachi had hosted West Indies women for three T20Is, while Sri Lanka men's team is currently in Pakistan for three ODIs and as many T20Is.

Meanwhile, India A will play three one-day matches and as many T20s in Chattogram and Cox's Bazar, with the tour concluding on October 14.

Dipu Roy Chowdhury, who coached the women's side between 2009 and 2012, will be the interim head coach of the senior women's team, while Emdadul Haque will be the assistant coach. Anwar Hossain Monir is the trainer and Javed Omar will be the team manager.