HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – Erik Jones has signed a contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing to remain in the No. 20 Toyota Camry for the 2020 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

The news comes less than a week after Jones earned his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory during the Bojangles Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

“I’m so happy to finally have my plans for 2020 confirmed and to talk about it,” said Jones. “I’m excited to be staying with Joe Gibbs Racing and the 20 team and to continue the success that we have built over the last two years in the Cup Series. I put my heart and soul into this and this race team. This is my living and how I want to make a career and what I want to do. I’ve been racing with JGR since 2014 and it’s really cool to be able to continue with the foundation we’ve built over the years and hopefully win more races and contend for championships together.”

In his third full-time season in the Cup Series, Jones has two wins, 23 top-five finishes and 45 top-10 finishes in 100-career starts in the series. Jones captured his first win at Daytona Int’l Speedway on July 7, 2018 after battling current teammate Martin Truex Jr. for the win.

“Erik has accomplished so much in our sport already and yet, he really is just at the start of a long career,” said Joe Gibbs, owner of Joe Gibbs Racing. “He’s been a part of Joe Gibbs Racing for almost his entire professional career and we’re excited to see what the future holds for him.”

“All of us at Toyota and TRD (Toyota Racing Development) are thrilled to have Erik extend his relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 20 Camry,” said David Wilson, president of TRD, U.S.A. “Erik has been a part of the family since 2013 and we’ve been fortunate to see him advance and develop as a race car driver and a person. From a Truck Series champion to a Playoff contender and race winner in the Cup Series, we’re honored to be a part of his journey. Without a doubt, we know his recent Cup Series success is just the beginning of what is sure to be many more wins and championship-contending seasons to come.”

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Joe Thornton is coming back for another season at age 40, signing a one-year, $2 million contract with the San Jose Sharks on Friday after briefly contemplating retirement at the end of last season.

Thornton decided in the offseason that he wasn't ready to hang it up after 21 seasons in the NHL, saying he'd only play in San Jose. The Sharks were eager to bring Thornton back, but it took until a week before training camp for the finalized contract.

"Words cannot equate the impact that Joe has had on this franchise since his arrival in San Jose in 2005," general manager Doug Wilson said. "Joe is a generational player who seemingly blazes past an existing Hall of Famer with each game he plays. His leadership and dedication to the organization and his teammates is inspiring. He has the rare ability to make the players around him better and we're excited to see him healthy and back wearing the Sharks crest."

Thornton arrived in San Jose in a franchise-altering trade from Boston on Nov. 30, 2005, turning the Sharks into a perennial Cup contender that never quite wins it all.

He quickly became the face of the franchise, winning the Hart Trophy as MVP in his first season, leading the team to back-to-back conference finals appearances in 2010-11 and a run to the Stanley Cup Final three years ago before a loss to Pittsburgh.

The Sharks hoped to give Thornton a championship last season when teammates and coaches openly talked about wanting to "Win for Joe." But San Jose lost in six games in the conference final to eventual champion St. Louis.

Thornton hurt his groin in the first game of that series and his play suffered for it, despite his two goals and one assist in a Game 3 win. The Sharks then lost the final three games to end the season.

Despite that late injury, Thornton was mostly healthy after undergoing major reconstructive surgery on both knees the previous two years. He played the final 71 games of the regular season and didn't need rehab this summer, which contributed to his decision to return.

Thornton's role diminished last year as he played mostly as a third-line center and often wasn't part of the top power-play unit. But his line with Kevin Labanc and Marcus Sorensen was San Jose's most effective down the stretch and he finished the season with 16 goals and 35 assists.

Thornton had 10 goals and 23 assists in his final 39 games, ranking third on the team in points during that span.

He has always been a leader in the dressing room for the Sharks and his role could be more important this season after captain Joe Pavelski left for Dallas in free agency.

Thornton has 413 goals and 1,065 assists in 1,566 career games with Boston and San Jose. He ranks 14th all time in points and needs just 22 to reach 1,500 for his career. He's eighth in assists and needs 15 to pass Adam Oates. Thornton will move into the top 10 in games played in a career with 49 this year.

The NHL for the first time has selected four female officials to work on the ice at several prospect tournaments being held this weekend.

Katie Guay and Kelly Cooke have been selected as referees, while Kirsten Walsh and Kendall Hanley will work as linesmen, the league announced Friday. The four were selected out of group of 96 officials, including 11 women, who participated in the league's annual officials exposure combine in Buffalo, New York, last month.

This will mark the first time women have officiated at the pre-training-camp prospects-tournament level, and marks the next step in the league's bid to have women officiate at the NHL level.

Without providing a timeline, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman previously said he envisions a woman officiating at the league level.

Guay is the most experienced of the four, having refereed women's games at the Winter Olympics last year. She has been assigned to work the Anaheim Ducks-hosted tournament in Irvine, California.

Cooke, who this past year officiated at the women's world hockey championships, has been assigned to work the Predators' tournament in Nashville, Tennessee.

Hanley, who has spent 11 seasons officiating at the NCAA Division III level, will work the Detroit Red Wings' tournament in Traverse City, Michigan. Walsh just completed her collegiate playing career at Robert Morris, and will work at the Sabres' tournament in Buffalo.

The San Jose Sharks have gone out of the box in looking for front-office talent, adding former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti as a scout.

"Ned has an extensive background working in professional sports and talent evaluation and he will bring a fresh perspective to our organization's evaluation process," Sharks GM Doug Wilson said in announcing the move. "This was a unique opportunity to add someone of Ned's experience to our staff."

Colletti, 65, had a 35-year career in baseball, working in the Cubs front office and as an assistant GM for the San Francisco Giants before being named general manager of the Dodgers from 2006-14. He later left to join the Dodgers broadcasting team.

But before that, Colletti covered the Philadelphia Flyers as an NHL writer for the Philadelphia Bulletin in the early 80s. Bobby Clarke was the captain of those Broad Street Bullies, and Billy Barber, Reggie Leach and Rick MacLeish were all on the squad. Colletti says he has maintained close connections with several key figures in the sport. A native of Chicago, Colletti grew up as a Blackhawks fan.

"It was the Original Six era, and Bobby Hull and Mikita and Glenn Hall, Kenny Wharram, Doug Mohns, I remember most of the team to this day," he told LAKings Insider in 2013. "It just became something that I loved doing. I loved watching and playing and played into my later years, for a long time... I played in leagues really into my late 30's, early 40's."

There are few sports that provide as rich and diverse a development pool as hockey does. As a global sport, there are so many routes for players to take on their way to the NHL. There's no real "right way" to get to there. If a player is good enough, it's almost impossible for him to slip through the cracks, and if someone is not found in his draft year, there's always free agency for the late bloomers. One way or another, the best players get there.

But what are the most-traveled routes? Which leagues and teams produce the top prospects? We looked at 15 years of data to find the most common prospect tracks for NHL talent. To get a pool of players to look at, we first eliminated anyone draft-eligible before 2005. Then we set the following criteria for inclusion:

• A forward who registered at least 0.5 points per game in his career (minimum 82 games)

• A defenseman who averaged 19 or more minutes (minimum 82 games)

• A goaltender who made a minimum of 62 career appearances

That provided a list of 286 players -- from Sidney Crosby to Rasmus Dahlin -- with only a few who I'd subjectively term as outliers. The goal was to provide a snapshot of players you could easily say provided a measurable impact to their team, as a relatively consistent offensive producer, top-four defenseman or starting goalie. Let's look at where those top NHL talents came from.

Note: As a caveat to all of this, players move around after their draft, so there is room for debate for which teams get to lay claim for actually developing the talent. Statistics come directly from the NHL's website, and the teams and leagues utilized in this report are those provided by the NHL's draft records database.

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It's not shocking that 148 players, or nearly 52% of 286 players who meet the criteria, were first-round draft picks. Nearly 41% of the players (117) were selected in Rounds 2-7, and 7% (21) were never drafted. It's perhaps less shocking that 121 of the 286 players are Canadian, leading the way in nationalities.

Michael Owen has told ESPN FC that Mohamed Salah is a "selfish" striker, but the former Liverpool forward said the Egypt international's recent spat with teammate Sadio Mane will not disrupt the pair's prolific partnership.

Mane reacted angrily after being substituted during Liverpool's 3-0 Premier League victory at Burnley last Saturday, with the Senegal forward unhappy at Salah's failure to pass to him on at least one occasion when in a goalscoring position at Turf Moor.

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Manager Jurgen Klopp played down the incident after the game and Owen, who scored 158 goals in 297 appearances for the club during a seven-year spell at Anfield, said the Liverpool boss must ensure Salah and Mane find a way to set aside any differences.

"When you look at Liverpool's front three, you have Roberto Firmino, who is probably the most unselfish player in the world -- he would lay on anything -- so would be a dream to play with," Owen told ESPN FC.

"At the other end of the spectrum, you have Mo Salah, who is just focused on scoring and wanting to be the goalscorer. Then you have Sadio Mane, who sits in between -- he likes scoring and is selfish when he needs to be -- but he's also quite generous in his passing.

"I think you have a great balance there, but it just boiled over the other day. I was doing the [Burnley-Liverpool] game for television and I said at the time, 'Have you seen that? There are a couple of times he [Salah] should have been passing.'

"Of course, it all blew up and I saw it coming in many ways. These problems happen all the time and it's Jurgen Klopp's job to smooth them over. But I do think that, as a striker, there is a balance in everything.

"There has to be one that's unselfish and one who is selfish, otherwise you are never going to get any goals. I was always at my best with Emile Heskey -- he was really unselfish and I was a really selfish so-and-so.

"But put me with another selfish player -- another striker who was hungry for goals -- and you wouldn't necessarily hit it off the same."

Salah and Mane both won the Premier League Golden Boot last season, with the two forwards netting 22 goals to share top spot alongside Arsenal's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Salah is one ahead of Mane so far this season, with the former Roma man scoring three league goals, while his teammate has two. Manchester City's Sergio Aguero tops the charts with six goals.

And although the Liverpool pair are likely to battle it out for the Golden Boot once again, Owen said he believes that Salah will be more aware of Mane next time the chance arises to tee up his strike partner.

"I don't think it will be a problem that will last," Owen said. "Next time Salah gets the ball, he will probably be more conscious that he has to pass sometimes, if there is a better opportunity.

"If he does, I guess it will be forgotten about, but these players are playing right on the edge at the very highest level and little things can just happen like that. It's fine. These things happen all the time in every dressing-room -- you get arguing all the time.

"Unfortunately for Jurgen Klopp, it happened in front of the cameras and he had to dampen it down, but things like that happen all the time at every club. Sometimes having an argument is quite a good thing because it keeps everyone on their toes.

"You are talking about 25 men in a squad who live in each others pockets for nine-10 months a year, so you are always going to have arguments, scuffles. Not everyone will get on, but it's the manager's job to piece it all together."