APCarolina Hurricanes fans can exhale, put down the whiskey bottle and look forward to training camp: Eric Staal isn’t going to miss significant time after the knee-on-knee hit from Alex Edler of the Vancouver Canucks during the Canada/Sweden IIHF World Championships game on Thursday.

According to the Hurricanes, an MRI on Staal’s right knee “revealed a third-degree sprain of the medial collateral ligament (MCL). Surgery will not be required to repair the ligament, and Staal’s rehabilitation should last three months. It is expected that he will be healthy and ready to play to start the 2013-14 season.”

To say it looked a lot worse would be an understatement.

Staal needed to be helped from the ice after writhing in pain for a few minutes following the collision with Edler, the Team Sweden defenseman who was given a 5-minutes major and a game misconduct, and then was suspended for the rest of the tournament.

Getty ImagesIn 2012, the Chicago Blackhawks’ penalty kill failed them in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

They gave up 4 goals on 19 chances in a loss to the Phoenix Coyotes, who entered the postseason with the 29th best power play in the NHL. The Hawks had the 27th best PK in the regular season; those struggles continues in the playoffs.

So they remedied that in the offseason, bringing in Los Angeles Kings assistant coach and penalty kill architect Jamie Kompon. After the lockout ended, they converted offensive forwards Marcus Kruger and Michael Frolik in special teams defenders.

The results were stunning: The PK provided the backbone for the Blackhawks’ 24-game streak with at least one point earned, and the team gave up the fewest power-play goals in the regular season (18) while finishing with the third-best penalty kill (87.2 percent).

In the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs … well, it’s been perfect: 20 times shorthanded, 20 kills, including a perfect 17-for-17 in Round 1 against the Minnesota Wild (17.9 percent in the regular season.

Sweet thirtysomething swing (USAT)

It's a casual Friday. All bullets, all the time.

• The Arizona at Miami game got out of hand quickly, as the Snakes posted six runs in the first three innings and turned the game into a rout. Paul Goldschmidt clocked a couple of homers, because that's what Goldschmidts do, and I'd like to burn every nice thing I said about Kevin Slowey this spring.

But let's try to find an actionable item here. Say hello to Arizona's cleanup man, Eric Chavez.

The veteran lefty swinger filled the box score nicely, with three singles and a homer over five trips. Chavez knocked in two runs and is slashing .337/.398/.584 on the year. He's still a useful player at age 35, worthy of a fantasy audit.

A decade ago, the Chavez story was much different. He was one of the superstars on the Oakland juggernaut of the early 2000s, one of the players Moneyball more or less ignored so we could all learn to appreciate Scott Hatteberg. Chavez offered a nifty mix of power and patience, and he also bagged six Gold Gloves in a row. Durability wasn't an issue back then, as Chavez logged 151 games or more in five of six seasons.

Alas, the wave broke in Chavez's late 20s, when his body began to betray him. He missed a month of time in 2006 and things got progressively worse; from 2007-2010, he never played in more than 90 games. A career on a possible Hall of Fame trajectory quickly spiraled out of control.

Steve Alford (Getty Images)

New Mexico and Steve Alford have reached a deal on a separation agreement.

Alford and UCLA will pay $300,000 to New Mexico to satisfy a buyout clause in his contract with his former employer. New Mexico had initially demanded a $1 million buyout when Alford was hired by UCLA in late-March.

Alford left New Mexico on March 30 just 12 days after agreeing to a new contract with New Mexico that was scheduled to take effect on April 1. Alford maintained that he was not responsible for the $1 million buyout in that new deal because he was hired by UCLA before it went into effect.

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

Anticipation is through the roof for the Halifax-Portland matchup. What more can one say to gild the lily? (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

Ty Rattie, the only player with 50 career Western League playoff goals, is finally playing in the big year-end touranment. Yeah, that could be enjoyable to watch. (Regina Leader-Post)

Why the Memorial Cup is, in fact, better than college basketball's Final Four. (The Columbian)

The Blades' one-goal loss to London is not a huge faith-shaker for the hometown fans, writes Kevin Mitchell. (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

Saskatoon's Josh Nicholls got a vibe that the London Knights "escaped with one." (Saskatoon StarPhoenix)

OHL

The London Knights played just well enough to win, that is all. (London Free Press)

Lots of Lulz in Toronto right now (Getty Images)

On Saturday morning Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Toronto Raptors were hot to trot for Denver Nuggets personnel chief Masai Ujiri, which is a smart trot to be hot for, considering that Ujiri once worked for the Raptors, and the reigning NBA Executive of the Year. Prior to that news, though, the team was leaning on stranger outfits to guide their search.

The Toronto Raptors had been rumored to be hot on Phil Jackson’s trail, not as a head coach, but for a job running the team’s front office. They’re also trying to figure out the direction of the franchise after yet another year lost to the middling depths of the low lottery, while sussing out a payroll that currently is set to send them into luxury tax territory next season. They also have until Monday, because of a contract deadline, to determine whether or not current general manager Bryan Colangelo will be the man to lead them out of the mess that, um, Bryan Colangelo just made.

It’s clear that Tim Leiweke (the new CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) needs some help in figuring out what to do with the team his company owns, and any outside help is appreciated. Instead of going with a basketball mind, someone who has been there before or someone who is willing to think in hoop-related terms while minding this mess, MLSE has gone elsewhere. They’ve hired a head-hunting firm, weirdly. From the great Doug Smith at the Toronto Star:

While not officially on the job yet, Leiweke has been given all responsibility to determine Colangelo’s fate. The two men have met and discussed plans for the Raptors future but neither has spoken publicly about their feelings.

Michael Vick is at a career crossroads. (Getty Images)

According to reports, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick showed up to the first practices under new head coach Chip Kelly 'noticeably bigger' and very enthused about Kelly's high-tempo offensive system. Apparently, Vick also arrived with a point to prove, and a burr in his saddle when it comes to the criticisms levied against him regarding the sandlot nature of his game. On Wednesday, Vick went on Philly radio station 97.5 The Fanatic and laid it out to those who wonder if he'll ever play consistently and with the right kind of mechanics, as opposed to winging it and letting his athleticism rule the day.

“I’m really tempted right now to just say no comment to that because like I said a second ago, you don’t last 12 years in the NFL not being able to read the defense,” Vick told the station, via Sheil Kapadia of Phillymag.com. “Those people who are talking and saying that are just ignorant, and they know nothing about football. Unless they turn on the film and watch my game and see what goes on, then they’ll replace those comments with the right comments.”

But there are those who do watch tape, and are fairly informed on the subject, who believe that Vick holds on to the ball too long, fails to read defenses completely, doesn't correctly anticipate pressure, and runs himself into sacks that shouldn't happen. It's why Vick has started all 16 games in a season just once in his career, and it's why Vick was so turnover-prone in 2012, giving the ball up 11 times on fumbles. Vick led the NFL in fumbles in 2004 and 2010, but he doesn't want to hear the talk about the holes in his game.

“It’s incorrect. Without getting sensitive about it, it’s incorrect. So I’d rather not talk about it.”

Well, that's not entirely true.

Sports editor Josh Lewis of the Estevan Mercury in Saskatchewan is a big Toronto Maple Leafs fan. The kinds that had his hopes and dreams crushed by a three-goal rally by the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

Alas, Lewis is also the kind of Leafs fan who was willing to make a bet with a coworker at the weekly paper: Chad Saxon, an editor and a massive Boston Bruins fan. So after seeing the Leafs lose Game 7 in embarrassing fashion, Lewis suffered another embarrassment, as per the wager:

Ouch.

From Saxon, via email:

We bet on the series and the punishment was the loser had to wear a sandwich board and stand on the boulevard of our busiest street for half an hour at noon. The winner got to choose what went on the sign.

Obviously it was looking like I was pretty much screwed up until the comeback. Josh, who we had under suicide watch for a couple of days was a good sport and paid off his debt on Friday.

But wait, there’s more:

Writes Saxon:

“We are big