Brad Marchand is ready for his Florida debut.

The Panthers said Marchand -- who, because of an upper-body injury, hasn't appeared in a game with Florida since being acquired in a trade with Boston three weeks ago -- will be in the lineup Friday night when the team hosts the Utah Hockey Club.

It will be the first time in 1,091 NHL games, 1,248 when adding in playoff contests, that Marchand takes the ice in something other than a Bruins sweater. The plan is for Marchand to jump into Florida's second line with Sam Bennett and Mackie Samoskevich -- who grew up in New England watching Marchand play for the Bruins.

"It's been a lot of fun," Samoskevich said of playing with Marchand. "He's such a good player. So silky. I feel like when he has the puck, he sees you -- he's got eyes in the back of his head. It's a lot of fun. Excited for the future with him. He's such a good guy off the ice, too."

Marchand had 21 goals and 26 assists in 61 games with the Bruins this season, and Panthers coach Paul Maurice said when the deal got done that Marchand, he believes, helps fill what Florida will need in its playoff run and its quest to win a second consecutive Stanley Cup.

"He's had an incredible career," Maurice said. "He's a Stanley Cup champion, 1,000 games, 1,000 penalty minutes, lots of points. I don't want to see it all in one game. ... You know how tenacious this guy is, how physical he is, how hard he plays. Then you get him in practice and you're like, 'Oh my God, he's got hands on him.' And you start to realize how good the skill level is there."

It might have been strange at first, with the former captain of the Bruins wearing Florida colors after those teams had tough playoff battles -- both won by the Panthers -- in 2023 and 2024. But by all accounts, Marchand has fit perfectly into the Florida mix.

"He brings a lot of energy to the locker room, a lot of compete on the ice," Panthers defenseman Gus Forsling said. "A huge veteran that's going to be big for us."

Luke Shaw has returned to training with Manchester United after nearly four months on the sidelines.

Shaw trained with Ruben Amorim's squad at Carrington on Friday morning. He hasn't featured since the 4-0 win over Everton on Dec. 1 because of an unspecified muscle injury.

The 29-year-old has only made three appearances for United since February, although he did start the Euro 2024 final for England against Spain in July.

He was able to make three appearances at the tournament in Germany despite missing the end of United's season because of another muscle problem.

Amorim's squad have a free weekend following their FA Cup exit to Fulham. They're next in action against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Tuesday.

As well as Shaw, Amorim also had defenders Harry Maguire and Leny Yoro back in training on Friday. Maguire has missed the last three weeks through injury while Yoro has been absent since being forced off at half-time during the 1-1 draw with Arsenal on Mar. 9.

Ayden Heaven is still recovering after he was stretchered off during the 3-0 win over Leicester City before the international break. The 18-year-old has made four appearances since his January move from Arsenal, but looks set to miss the trip to Forest.

Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano has said that Lionel Messi will likely be called up for the MLS match against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday, which would see him return to the field for the first time since March 16.

Messi suffered a muscle strain when playing against Atlanta United FC, featuring the entire 90 minutes before leaving the stadium with a hurt hamstring.

Due to the pain, the star forward was left off the Argentina national team for the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Brazil.

Now, he's expected to return at some capacity with Inter Miami.

"Leo is good, God willing and if nothing weird happens, he will be named to the matchday roster," Mascherano said.

The club took a cautious approach to the player's rehabilitation process, slowly reintroducing him to training alongside Inter Miami teammates.

"Well, we've been taking it progressively. Leo is a very special player in that sense, a player who, well, obviously sometimes needs to be restrained so he doesn't take risks, but he also knows his body very well, and the reality is that he's been training progressively more and more." Mascherano said. "He's been doing more training sessions with us, and today, god willing, he'll do the entire training session."

Inter Miami player Yannick Bright went on to confirm that Messi had previously been doing work separately, recently joining the rest of the squad for 15 minutes only before going off to do individual work.

"He trained with us for the first 15 minutes but he didn't do much so that's up to the coaches and trainers. I haven't seen him but he looks good," Bright said.

Messi participated in the first 15 minutes of training open to the media on Friday morning.

Inter Miami faces Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia Union for the first time in 2025, hosting the opponent at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Bayern Munich said they are considering legal action against the Canadian soccer federation following Alphonso Davies' serious knee injury in a match of little importance.

"We're demanding a full investigation into the events from Canada Soccer and expressly reserve the right to take legal action," Bayern chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen told the Bild on Friday.

Davies tore a ligament and sustained other damage in his right knee during Canada's 2-1 win over the United States in the third-place decider for the Concacaf Nations League tournament on Sunday.

Davies returned to Munich where the full extent of the injury was determined on Wednesday. The left-back underwent surgery and "will be out for several months," Bayern said.

The club allege that Canadian officials did not provide appropriate care for the player.

"Sending a clearly injured player with a damaged knee on a 12-hour intercontinental flight without a thorough medical assessment is, in our view, grossly negligent and a clear breach of medical duty of care," Dreesen said.

He said Davies should not have been playing at all.

"The participation of Davies, who already had muscular problems before the game, in a match of no sporting significance is incomprehensible from our point our view," Dreesen said.

Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund agreed, saying the treatment of Davies after his injury was "incorrect."

Freund said Davies had complained of fatigue after Canada's prior game but still played.

"He is the captain, a young man who wanted to help his team but it was borderline," he said.

"The second issue is the injury after 12 minutes. Then Phonzy [Alphonso] flies back on a 12-hour flight and we all assume it is not a serious injury but then we have this," Freund said of the discovery he had an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear in his right knee.

"That is sloppy. It is not professional and we need to talk and clear it up. We are the employers, we pay the players, so we will be looking into what happened."

Davies is out for the rest of the season and will miss Bayern's final games as they bid to wrap up the Bundesliga title and reach the Champions League final at their home stadium in Munich. Bayern face Inter Milan in the quarterfinals.

Bayern can claim some compensation for Davies' salary from FIFA's insurance policy covering national team players' injury risk, up to $7.5 million per case.

France defender Dayot Upamecano also returned from Nations League duty with a knee injury, denying coach Vincent Kompany another option in defense with South Korea's Kim Min-Jae already out injured.

Bayern, who host St Pauli in the league on Saturday, have gone two games without a Bundesliga victory and their lead over second-placed Bayer Leverkusen has been cut to six points.

Coach Vincent Kompany said his team had enough quality to fill the absences and there were would be no excuses.

"It is a pity first of all for Phonzy and Upamecano, who cannot be with us at this crucial period of the season," he said.

"This season we had to compensate for other absences. Hopefully it will bring the group tighter together ... The reaction is what's important. There are no excuses for me. Just to win the next game and keep improving."

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.

Osasuna filed an appeal with the Spanish football federation (RFEF) on Friday stating Barcelona should not have fielded defender Iñigo Martínez in their LaLiga game over a technicality as he sat out Spain's matches with an injury.

Martínez, who withdrew from the Spain squad for their Nations League games due to a swollen right knee, played the full 90 minutes in Barcelona's 3-0 win on Thursday which moved the league leaders three points clear in LaLiga.

"The club understands that the participation of Iñigo Martínez in yesterday's match violated article 5 of Annex I of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players," Osasuna said in a statement.

"[It] specifies that a player who does not join or leaves his national team for medical reasons may not play matches for his club during the five calendar days following the end of the international period.

"Osasuna believes that Iñigo Martínez, whose absence from the Spanish national team was due to a medical leave, was not eligible to play in yesterday's match in accordance with FIFA regulations."

The result left Osasuna 14th in the table, six points clear of the relegation zone.

Barcelona were originally meant to play Osasuna on March 8 but the death of Barcelona club doctor Carles Miñarro García forced the game to be rescheduled to March 27, just four days after Spain's match as there was no other date available.

Both clubs had appeals for the fixture to be postponed rejected, with Barça unable to field some of their players such as one of their top scorers Raphinha, who had just returned from international duty.

RFEF regulations state in the instance of a club fielding a player who does "not meet the requirements to participate" the club shall forfeit the match and the opposition will be declared the winner.

SPOKANE, Wash. -- UConn guard Paige Bueckers confirmed to former Huskies star and ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo on Friday that she will enter the 2025 WNBA draft.

There had been rumors that Bueckers did not want to play for the Dallas Wings, who have the No. 1 overall pick. She is projected to be the top selection. After the draft lottery in December, a source indicated to ESPN that Bueckers' preferred destination would be the Los Angeles Sparks, who received the second pick in the lottery but later traded it to the Seattle Storm in the blockbuster Jewell Loyd-Kelsey Plum deal.

That led to speculation that Bueckers could return to school or even play for the Unrivaled League for a year.

There were also questions of whether Bueckers would want to wait to join the WNBA until after a new collective bargaining agreement was agreed upon.

But Lobo posted on social media that Bueckers will indeed enter the upcoming draft.

Bueckers has indicated multiple times that this would be her final season at UConn and she would be going pro. She is having another big season, averaging 19.2 points on 54.2% shooting with 4.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game.

Bueckers and the Huskies are making an NCAA tournament run and face Oklahoma in the Sweet 16 on Saturday.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Veteran wide receiver Stefon Diggs says he took just one free agent visit -- to the New England Patriots -- before officially signing his three-year contract with the team Friday.

"I was considering a couple other places, but that's all in the past now," Diggs said at Gillette Stadium.

Diggs' contract is worth $69 million, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter, which is the range the wide receiver said he expected in terms of average per season, in part because he is coming off a torn ACL in his right knee sustained Oct. 27 while playing for the Houston Texans.

"I kind of figured [the contract] was going to be around that area, considering I'm coming off the injury, but also the fact that I'm one of the only receivers that had six 1,000-yard seasons consecutively [prior to the injury]," he said. "The production, it's always been here. I can move the chains. I can do intermediate. I can go deep. I did that all throughout my career. My résumé probably speaks for itself, but it was more so the injury that would deter or make the money is what it is.

"I look at it definitely as an opportunity. What could've been, could've been. At this point I am where I am, and I'm thankful."

Diggs, 31, was introduced by the team Friday and was joined by his mother, Stephanie, who sat in the front row as he answered questions from reporters.

He stopped short of setting a timetable for when he will be ready to practice but sounded encouraged with how his knee has responded.

"I'm ahead of schedule. I'm trying to stay ahead of schedule," he said. "I've been pretty serious about the grind process, as far as the rehab and everything."

Diggs said he has had only brief contact with second-year quarterback Drake Maye but is eager to begin developing a rapport with him, similar to how he did with Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen from 2020 to 2023.

"It's crazy because, when you ask around, people say he acts a lot like Josh. And you know, that was my guy," Diggs said. "We played him last year, and he showed a lot of fight. He has that fiery quarterback 'I want to win' mindset. So that's something I get excited about and love to be around."

Patriots coach Mike Vrabel told the "Green Light" podcast, hosted by former NFL player Chris Long, that signing Diggs was a move made with Maye in mind.

"Just trying to make sure we're supporting Drake and supporting the football team," Vrabel said. "This is a highly competitive, confident receiver that's produced throughout his career and multiple ways. He's got a play strength to him. He can play physical, [has] route craft, good at the catch point, has been good in the red zone. There's a play style to him that I've always appreciated. ... His conversation, his demeanor, his attitude and his presence have been great through our conversations."

SPOKANE, Wash. -- UConn coach Geno Auriemma reiterated his disdain for the two-host regional system for the women's NCAA tournament, saying Friday that "whoever came up with this super regional stuff -- and I know who they are -- ruined the game."

"Half the country has no chance to get to a game in person. But you're making billions off of TV. Well, actually you're not; that would be the men's tournament," Auriemma said a day before his No. 2 seed Huskies face No. 3 seed Oklahoma in Spokane. "So yeah, there's a lot of issues that they need to fix. And again, we could get our ass beat tomorrow and that won't change my feelings."

The NCAA moved to two regional sites for the women's tournament in 2023, after previously hosting games at four locations. The women's March Madness event will have two regional sites through 2028: Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, California, next year; Philadelphia and Las Vegas in 2027; and Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., in 2028.

Auriemma's Huskies have had to come out to the West Coast each year since 2023 for the regionals. They were a No. 2 seed in Seattle that year, falling to Ohio State in the Sweet 16, and were a No. 3 seed in Portland last season, when they beat USC to advance to the Final Four.

"In a normal world, run by normal people, there would only be four teams here," Auriemma said, revealing that because there are eight teams at the Spokane super regional, his squad had to get up at 6 a.m. for a one-hour 8 a.m. practice window, and Saturday the team has to wake up at 5 a.m. for a half-hour 7:30 a.m. shootaround.

The Spokane 1 regional games will be held Friday and Sunday, while Spokane 4 contests will take place Saturday and Monday, making for four straight days of games at Spokane Arena.

"Takes us longer to get through security than to actually be on the court," Auriemma quipped.

If they win Saturday, the Huskies would play Monday night in the regional final, and then if they punch their ticket to the Final Four in Tampa, Florida, they will have to "fly cross-country, which is all day Tuesday, then they have two days, Wednesday and Thursday, to play the biggest game of their life."

The national semifinal and championship games had long been held on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively, until switching to a Friday/Sunday schedule starting in 2017.

"There's a lot of people in the women's basketball community that think they're smarter than [how they run things in men's basketball]," Auriemma said.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley was also asked about the two-regional system in Birmingham, Alabama, where her Gamecocks are a No. 1 seed.

"[Juggling practice schedules] is probably it," Staley said of any complications. "You don't get a shootaround time at a reasonable hour. Other than that, I mean, I actually like the two regions. I like having seven other teams that's trying to advance to the Elite Eight and advance to the Final Four right in one place.

"I do think it allows our fans, fans of women's basketball, to gravitate to one spot. I know the attendance will be up because of it. So bottom line, we need to drive revenue as much as possible."

Auriemma also said Friday that he supports opening the transfer portal after the NCAA tournament. This year, the portal opened Monday.

"There's just a lot of things going on right now that take away, I think, some of the focus of the players, some of the focus of the coaches, obviously," Auriemma said. "The portal has become a big cloud that hangs over everything. ... It's got to be when the schools have finished playing. There's got to be some sort of way to track and monitor and penalize tampering, like there is in the NBA. There's got to be a guideline of what you can do in free agency, which is basically what it is. The two windows, yeah, I'm in favor for anything that doesn't interfere with what you're trying to do as a coach with your team."

Colorado coach Deion Sanders has earned a five-year, $54 million contract extension that runs through the 2029 season, making him one of the highest-paid coaches in the country, according to a copy of the contract obtained by ESPN on Friday.

Sanders' base salary will increase to $10 million in 2025, making him the highest-paid football coach in the Big 12 and among the top-10 highest-paid football coaches in the country. According to the contract, Sanders will earn another $10 million in 2026, $11 million in 2027, $11 million in 2028 and $12 million in 2029.

If Sanders accepts another coaching job before the end of the contract, his buyout starts at $12 million for the rest of 2025, followed by $10 million in 2026, $6 million in 2027, $4 million in 2028 and $3 million in 2029. He can retire from coaching, though, without having to pay damages to the university -- as long as he doesn't then return to coach somewhere else.

Sanders, who inherited a program that went 1-11 in 2022, has led the Buffaloes to 13 wins, including nine last season and a bowl berth. According to Colorado, which announced Sanders' extension Friday, the football program has been one of the most-watched teams in sports with over 54 million viewers in the 2024 season. That includes 8 million viewers who watched Colorado lose 36-14 to BYU in the Alamo Bowl, the highest viewership in the 32-year history of the event.

"I'm excited for the opportunity to continue building something special here at Colorado," Sanders said in a statement. "We've just scratched the surface of what this program can be. It's not just about football; it's about developing young men who are ready to take on the world. I'm committed to bringing greatness to this university, on and off the field. We've got work to do, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here, making history with these incredible players and this passionate fan base. Lastly, anybody got at least a five-bedroom home with acreage for sale?"

The university cited Sanders' impact on the school and its community, noting that applications have increased 20% from a year ago to over 67,000, including an 18% increase in applications from out of state. According to the school, applications from prospective students who identify as Black/African American increased 50.5%, and applications from prospective students who identify as non-white increased 29.3%.

Colorado sold out all but two home games last fall, marking the first time the Buffaloes have sold out four or more games in back-to-back seasons since 1995-96. Last season, home football games generated a combined $93.9 million in direct economic impact to the city of Boulder and $146.5 million in total regional economic impact, according to the university.

"Coach Prime has revolutionized college football and in doing so, has restored CU football to our rightful place as a national power," Colorado athletic director Rick George said in a statement. "This extension not only recognizes coach's incredible accomplishments transforming our program on and off the field, it keeps him in Boulder to compete for conference and national championships in the years to come."

Sanders and Colorado also agreed to meet and "confer in good faith at the conclusion of the 2027 season to discuss any potential extension of this Agreement."

DETROIT -- Detroit Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham is missing a third straight game with a bruised calf.

The Pistons announced Cunningham would not play against the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night, adding the All-NBA candidate is day to day.

He hurt his left calf last week in a game at Dallas.

Cunningham has been the key player during Detroit's turnaround, leading a team vying for home-court advantage in the first round of the NBA playoffs after having the league's worst record the previous two seasons.

The Pistons set a single-season record with 28 straight losses last year and finished with 14 wins, a year after winning just 17 games.

With two-plus weeks before the postseason, they guaranteed this season wouldn't end with a losing record.

Cunningham, the No. 1 pick overall in 2021, has had a lot to do with that, averaging 25.7 points, 9.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds a game.