Colorado Avalanche star center Nathan MacKinnon, who was bloodied on a hit Wednesday, has been diagnosed with a facial fracture and concussion, coach Jared Bednar confirmed Friday.

Sources told ESPN's Emily Kaplan on Wednesday that MacKinnon has a broken nose.

MacKinnon left the ice in the first period of Wednesday night's 4-3 victory over the visiting Boston Bruins and did not return.

The Avs said MacKinnon suffered an upper-body injury as he absorbed a shoulder shot from the Bruins' Taylor Hall.

The hit caused MacKinnon's own stick to snap back into his face. Blood gushed from his nose to the ice as MacKinnon lay facedown.

MacKinnon, a five-time All-Star, was able to skate off on his own but didn't return.

Hall was originally given a five-minute major, but it was reduced to two minutes after a video review.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Evander Kane knows he will not be universally loved by by fans of the Edmonton Oilers.

Edmonton is the fourth franchise for the 30-year-old forward whose contract was dumped by the San Jose Sharks. There will be questions about his past, from suspensions due to violations of COVID-19 protocols, a bankruptcy and self-confessed gambling problems. Allegations of abuse lodged by his ex-wife were not proven in court.

Kane met with the media Friday for the first time since landing a deal for the rest of the season.

"I want to clear up a lot of the misinformation, a lot of the storylines painting me in a certain light that are completely untrue, inaccurate and false," Kane said. "I would encourage (fans) to be open-minded, to allow me to do what I do best and get to know me on the ice, off the ice, around the rink, in the community, and see what I bring to the table.

"Every city I've been in, I've always worked in the community and done what I can to help make that city, that community a better place."

There is no denying Kane's talent with 506 points in 769 games. But Kane has continually generated headlines for the wrong reasons.

Last fall, he was suspended 21 games for violating COVID-19 protocols by submitting a fake vaccine card. He was investigated by the league for another alleged violation this season that concluded earlier this week.

Kane declared bankruptcy in 2021, with more than $26 million in debts. He's publicly admitted he has a gambling issue, but has denied that he bet on or influenced NHL games.

"I take responsibility for things I've done wrong," Kane said. "But I'm definitely not taking responsibility for things I haven't done...

"It's funny that people think that I am going to come in, like some kid on the playground, and disrupt everything. That's just not the case," he said. "I've had a lot of experience on and off the ice, I've been in this league a long time, and I try to share those experiences with my team, and try to help them prevent making the same mistakes that I have."

Oilers president of hockey operations and general manager Ken Holland said he has done his homework on Kane.

"I talked to people in our organization, I talked to people outside the organization," Holland said. "In the end, you're talking about chemistry. When it comes to his talent, his skill set, obviously he's a very, very talented player that's going to make us better."

Holland, coach Dave Tippett and Kane had dinner in Vancouver earlier this week, when the Oilers were in town to play the Canucks. They met for two and a half hours.

"I left that dinner feeling that Evander would be a real positive addition to our hockey team," Holland said.

Kane is expected to make his Oilers debut when the team faces Montreal on Saturday night.

He said "quite a few teams" showed interest in signing him after he and the Sharks parted ways.

"I had to make a decision that was going to be the best for me, and those teams continued to dwindle down, and we got to a number where Edmonton was obviously in the mix," Kane said. "It just became more and more evident that this was the best fit for me."

Kane is a two-time 30-goal scorer and has surpassed 20 in a season five other times.

Juventus have signed Dusan Vlahovic from fellow Serie A side Fiorentina, it was announced on Friday.

Vlahovic, 21, was one of the most in-demand players in world football following a stellar 2021 in which he scored 33 goals and is Serie A's joint leading scorer with 17 this campaign.

- Grades: Juve get A+ for Vlahovic deal
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Fiorentina have signed Brazilian striker Arthur Cabral from Swiss side FC Basel as a replacement.

Not Wordle, just Dušan Vlahović.#DV7

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) January 28, 2022

He has been linked with a move to Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur but once reports emerged that he was close to joining Juventus, it led to an angry response from Fiorentina with racist and threatening banners erected outside the Artemio Franchi Stadium.

In October, Fiorentina released a statement which said Vlahovic would not be renewing his contract, which led to tension between the 21-year-old and the club's hardcore support.

Less than three weeks after the release of the statement, Vlahovic refused to take a penalty against Cagliari which had been awarded in front of the ultras section of the crowd. He could be seen mouthing: "I'm not feeling it" to a teammate.

Fiorentina have a long-standing rivalry which Juventus and history of letting their best players go the Bianconeri, which has often left to angry reactions.

In 1990, Roberto Baggio was transferred to Juve for $10.8 million which led to angry demonstrations in the street while more recently, in 2020, Federico Chiesa moved on loan with the obligation to complete the deal for €40m plus €10m in variables."

CINCINNATI -- Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow knows that his ears will probably be ringing on Sunday.

One of the loudest stadiums in the NFL has been a main topic of conversation as Cincinnati prepares for Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Burrow said it's par for the course this deep in the postseason.

"It's always going to be a topic when you're playing on the road in the playoffs," Burrow said. "It was loud last week. We handled it OK. We had a couple of mistakes.

"But I think we've had a good week of practice within that noise. I think we're going to be more well prepared for it."

All week, the Bengals have prepared for the expected decibel levels at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. Cincinnati piped in artificial crowd noise for practices inside Paul Brown Stadium that could be heard from blocks away.

During a Monday Night Football game in 2014, the crowd for Kansas City's win over the New England Patriots set a mark recognized by the Guinness World Records for the largest crowd roar at a stadium at 142.2 decibels.

However, the stadium capacity is smaller than several college football stadiums, including those in the SEC.

"I think a lot of the guys, and specifically Joe, is ready for that because guys like him and (Ja'Marr) Chase and guys who played in the SEC played against opponents where it was hundreds of thousands of fans in the stadium," Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd said.

Still, the Bengals should be well prepared for the potential pre-snap disruption in Kansas City. Cincinnati has spent the week working on its nonverbal communication in anticipation of all the noise.

Cincinnati committed two false start penalties in the team's road win over Tennessee in last week's divisional playoff game. Bengals left tackle Jonah Williams, who played college ball at Alabama, said both stadiums can be plenty loud.

"It's a big deal," Williams said. "I don't think that these things are mutually exclusive. I think the SEC [stadiums] can be loud and Arrowhead can also be loud. I don't think anyone means to slight them by saying that."

The fourth-seeded Bengals are looking to block out the noise, upset Kansas City and advance to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1989. Williams added that at a certain point, all noise eventually falls on deaf ears, no matter the volume.

"It could be 140 decibels," Williams said. "It could be 300 decibels. It doesn't matter. You can have no ear drums. But as long as you're communicating nonverbally and have a good understanding of the scheme and how to work together, that's our plan."

PITTSBURGH -- Longtime Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert will step down after the 2022 NFL draft in April, team owner Art Rooney II said Friday.

"We have left the door open, Kevin and I, to possibly have him fill an ongoing role after the draft," Rooney said. "We will be conducting a search for a new GM starting immediately. Probably won't make a hire until after the draft. We will be interviewing people. We've already interviewed two of our in-house candidates: Omar Khan and Brandon Hunt."

Colbert's imminent departure will leave coach Mike Tomlin as the lone standing member of the longtime nucleus of the Steelers. Tomlin signed a three-year extension with the team last year, and Rooney said Friday that Tomlin's role will not expand or change under a new general manager.

"I don't expect to make dramatic changes in terms of those responsibilities, coach versus GM," Rooney said. "I think it's worked well, and we're not really trying to make a big change there."

Rooney said that Colbert will hold his "normal role" through the draft and, because of that, that it's not critical for the Steelers to have their next general manager on board before the draft.

Colbert is going on with business as usual in draft preparation, Tomlin said last week.

"My plan and our plan is to proceed in the short term like we always do," Tomlin said. "He's already bringing me up to speed with draft availability and value in that space and planning about how we're going to move. ... We have big-time continuity and understanding within our relationship, and it's been great. It needs to be great as we get into this offseason work."

Colbert has worked on year-to-year deals since the end of the 2019 season and often maintained that he would be around as long as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger announced his retirement after 18 seasons on Thursday.

Like Tomlin, Rooney said the organization is looking at all options to replace Roethlisberger, including in-house candidates Dwayne Haskins and Mason Rudolph. Even with the change at general manager, Rooney doesn't anticipate being more involved in the quarterback search than in previous player searches and evaluations.

"You have to take advantage of whatever opportunity you have to get the best quarterback you can find," Rooney said. "And you don't always have the luxury of saying, 'I want A, B and C and go to the grocery store and order a quarterback.' We'll evaluate all the options we have.

"Certainly, mobile quarterbacks are the wave of the future, and having mobility at that position is something that would be desirable. The other thing that's desirable is somebody that can read a defense and complete a pass downfield. There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle that you have to put together, and you don't always get someone that meets every criteria you might want. You just have to get the best player, plug them in, put the best players around them and try to put everybody in position to be successful."

Though the Steelers often prefer to keep hires in-house, Rooney said the organization would evaluate outside candidates for the general manager position, along with other openings on staff, such as defensive coordinator.

"We're going to fill these positions with the best people we can find for the job, whether they're internal or external," Rooney said. "We're certainly not afraid to bring somebody in from the outside if need be. When we hired Coach Tomlin, we had some good internal candidates in that round and wound up hiring somebody from the outside. We just don't try to get too much of a narrow focus and really try to get the best person for the job wherever they're coming from."

Internally, Khan, the team's vice president of football operations and business administration, and Hunt, the pro scouting coordinator, are top candidates for the job. Both have interviewed for other general manager vacancies around the league this offseason. Khan has been with the Steelers for 21 years, while Hunt has been with the team for 14.

Colbert, who has been with the Steelers for 22 seasons, took over as general manager in 2010 after a decade as the director of football operations. He has been with the team for two Super Bowl titles and three AFC championships.

He served as the pro scouting director for the Detroit Lions from 1990 to 1999.

NEW YORK -- Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden, who missed one game with left hamstring tightness, is "ready to go" against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, coach Steve Nash said Friday.

Harden was a late scratch against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday because of the hamstring injury.

The Nets, who come into Saturday's game having lost three straight, are counting on Harden to provide offensive stability over the next few weeks as the group tries to continue to weave Kyrie Irving back into the lineup -- while still playing without star Kevin Durant, who is expected to miss several more weeks because of a sprained MCL in his left knee.

Nash said Irving "needs the time" on the upcoming five-game road trip to keep building up his rhythm after not playing NBA basketball for almost three months.

Irving, who is not vaccinated against COVID-19, is not currently allowed to play in home games because of a New York City vaccination mandate.

"He's still trying to find his game," Nash said. "His level's so good that it's hard to tell, but we can tell, he can tell. He knows that he's not fully back yet. He's right there, and he has patches, but he needs the time. ... He needs reps. And games are reps for him right now. So it's great for him individually. And as a group, it's great to get more comfortable with him, to spend more time with him. To get him reincorporated with the things we're doing and try to move this thing forward."

The issue of how to integrate a star player back into the lineup is one shared by the Nets' opponent on Saturday. The Warriors are working to get their rhythm back with Klay Thompson, who returned earlier this month after missing close to 2½ years while rehabbing separate ACL and Achilles injuries.

"Knowing Klay, it's a little deeper one for me in that I know how much he loves the game," said Nash, who spent five seasons with Golden State as a player development consultant after his own Hall of Fame career ended. "And to have him have back-to-back season-ending injuries more or less was devastating for him personally, so to see him back playing where he needs to be, where he should be, where he wants to be, is a beautiful thing."

Nash said he's been impressed by what he's seen from Thompson after so much time off.

"Missing any extended period of time, it's not straightforward coming back," Nash said. "You have to find your rhythm, you have to find your timing, you have to get your legs back under you. So two years is like an eternity ... that's some people's NBA careers. So for him to come back and play at the level he's playing at is really impressive, and he'll continue to get better."

The Warriors (36-13) are second in the Western Conference standings entering Saturday's game.

"They have that championship experience and pedigree," Nash said. "You also have a bunch of guys that are hungry. They're used to doing that. So Klay, how hungry do you think he is right now? Steph [Curry], after their last couple years, how hungry do you think he is? I think Draymond [Green], as much as anybody's come back this year, [is] in incredible form. So they're hungry, they're motivated. They have that history, and knowing and corporate knowledge."

The Sacramento Kings -- one of the most aggressive teams in the trade market and once an eager suitor for Philadelphia's Ben Simmons -- have ended their pursuit of a deal with the 76ers and turned elsewhere in trade talks, sources told ESPN on Friday.

Inside of two weeks until the Feb. 10 NBA trade deadline, the Kings believe the asking price is too steep and that a pathway to a trade agreement with the Sixers doesn't exist, sources said.

The Kings, who have lost five straight and sit 13th in the Western Conference, are determined to reshape their roster and remain engaged on other fronts, sources said.

Sacramento has several players who could potentially be traded, including forward Harrison Barnes, guard Buddy Hield and center Richaun Holmes.

The Kings' roster represented one of the Sixers' best options for a Simmons deal ahead of the trade deadline. Losing them in the marketplace somewhat diminishes the chances of an in-season trade, although the Sixers still believe there are potential avenues to a deal, sources said.

With the Kings exiting talks and sources saying the Brooklyn Nets will not engage on a James Harden trade, it becomes increasingly possible that 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey will be willing to advance the Simmons discussions into the offseason.

Morey and the Sixers have long believed that the offseason could bring higher-profile players into the trade market for Simmons. Along with free agency, playoff disappointments often give teams and star players reason to pursue change, which could offer the Sixers a wider spectrum of options.

The Sixers' public and private threshold for a Simmons deal has consistently been stated as a return that would keep them as NBA championship contenders.

Simmons is signed through the 2024-25 season, and the Sixers believe that gives them leverage to wait on a deal. Simmons has sought a trade and declined to play, citing mental health reasons, as center Joel Embiid has turned into an MVP favorite while leading the Sixers to a 29-19 start -- two games behind first-place Miami.

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Exeter Chiefs' decision to end their Native American branding has been described as "bold" and "courageous" by the President of the National Congress of American Indians.

It came after pressure that it was disrespectful to Native Americans.

"There are definitely positive impacts to a decision that demonstrates courage and demonstrates bold corporate action," Fawn Sharp told BBC Sport.

"It puts Exeter in a space that it might not otherwise have been able to occupy, in a spotlight that it might not otherwise have even known or seen and have new friends, new allies and new supporters."

Exeter's new brand will see the club keep their Chiefs name and instead use imagery from the Celtic Iron Age Dumnonii Tribe, who historians believe occupied Cornwall, Devon and parts of Somerset for what the club describes as "many hundreds of years before the Roman occupation from 43 AD".

As well as a Native American on their badge, Exeter also have a totem pole in their reception area and places such as the 'Wigwam Bar' and 'Campfire Grill' in their Sandy Park ground.

Exeter estimate it will cost the club about £500,000 to change all their branding, but Sharp says the decision was the right one considering the effect the incorrect use of Native American imagery has on indigenous people.

"It's long proven that it has a devastating psychological and social impact to our community," she said.

"When you look at our Native American regalia that we wear, it's very sacred, they're not just simply gifted out, you have to earn certain places within our community.

"So for others just to take on and don our sacred regalia, do chants that from our perspective mock our sacred songs and ceremonies, it really does have as devastating impact to our community at large."

In the United States Washington's American football team dropped their controversial Redskins name and logo, while Cleveland's baseball team changed its name from the Indians to the Guardians.

"With recent activities in the United States, with the murder of George Floyd, it's ignited the average citizen in the United States to understand that we still have a long way to go for truth and reconciliation, especially with the first Americans, the natives in this country," Sharp added.

"As we've watched different ball clubs in sports, whether that's at a high-school level, a collegiate level or even professional sports, the conversations have gone from outright pushback to 'Let's have a conversation, let's listen, let's hear,' and we're seeing this broader educational effort and campaign where people are finally starting to get it and understand."

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Sabres are potentially down to their sixth option at goalie after Michael Houser was placed in the NHL's COVID-19 protocol Friday.

Houser's unavailability makes it unclear who will start or even serve as Buffalo's backup Saturday, when the team opens a three-game western road swing at Arizona.

Season-opening starter Craig Anderson and backup Dustin Tokarski are traveling with the team but have yet to be cleared to play, leaving open the possibility that the Sabres will have to sign another goalie.

Anderson resumed skating with the team this week after missing 32 games with an upper-body injury. Tokarski has missed 20 games while recovering from COVID-19.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (lower body) and Malcolm Subban (upper body) have each missed seven games since they were hurt in a 6-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 11.

Houser was essentially considered the Sabres de facto starter after the NHL on Wednesday suspended Aaron Dell for three games for a body check that injured Ottawa rookie Drake Batherson on Tuesday.

The Sabres had signed Houser to an NHL contract two weeks ago after he was playing on a minor league deal in the team's farm system.