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Connor Bedard is back. The Blackhawks captain makes his season debut tonight in Pittsburgh after missing the start of the year recovering from shoulder surgery. Bedard says he's happy to finally be back on the ice, and Chicago will be counting on their franchise centerpiece to spark a team that's been grinding without him.
Shifting to the NFL, the Rams have cut kicker Harrison Mevis following a rough overtime loss to the Bills, bringing in Blake Grupe off the Jets' practice squad to replace him. This is now a deeply familiar story in Los Angeles — Sean McVay has cycled through kickers at a rate that would make a revolving door dizzy, and the pressure is on Grupe to end the carousel once and for all.
And a story with serious weight — lawyers for Brian Flores say an unsealed recruiting memo is loaded with racial stereotypes that NFL teams use when evaluating Black coaching candidates. The document adds significant fuel to Flores' ongoing discrimination lawsuit and puts the league's hiring practices squarely back under the microscope at a moment when the NFL can least afford the scrutiny.
That's your play-by-play. Sports Desk, back to the booth.
