Former A’s great Giambi favors team’s move

to Las Vegas

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy available for comment.

LAS VEGAS – The debate about the future home of the Oakland Athletics was on full display Saturday as the A’s lost, 10-9, to the Cincinnati Reds in the first game of Big League Weekend at Las Vegas Ballpark.

The A’s are looking to build a new ballpark to replace their current home, RingCentral Coliseum, which has been deemed inadequate by Major League Baseball and the A’s.

Sharks

recall two defensemen; could one play in his first NHL game in nearly two years?

AgenCy

Tribune ConTenT

The San Jose Sharks have recalled defensemen Nikolai Knyzhov and Nick Cicek from the Barracuda for their three-game road trip, which begins Monday against the Winnipeg Jets.

The Sharks finished Saturday’s game against the Washington Capitals with just five defensemen after Radim Simek left with an undisclosed injury after two periods. In what was just his third game back after he missed two months with a concussion, Simek, 30, played just 8:20 in what became an 8-3 Sharks loss to the Capitals.

Simek, who has aver- aged 14:29 of ice time in 34 games this season, did not travel with the Sharks to Winnipeg on Sunday.

Knyzhov’s recall opens the door for him to play in his first NHL game in close to two years. Knyzhov’s last game with the Sharks came May 12, 2021, at the end of the pandemicshortened season, as he’s been hampered by multiple injuries and setbacks.

Knyzhov, 24, had surgery to repair a torn right Achilles tendon in August and after a painstaking rehabilitation, joined the Barracuda in late January. He played 12 AHL games but did not have a point.

“His play is getting better,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said Friday of Knyzhov. “He’s such a good kid, but he’s hard on himself. No matter who you are, if you take 18 months from competitive hockey, you’re not going to step back in

A current player, pitcher Paul Blackburn, said he’d prefer that the team remain in Oakland after its current lease expires after next season. But former A’s great Jason Giambi, a longtime Las Vegas resident, said he’s excited about the possibility of the A’s relocating here.

A’s owner John Fisher was at Saturday’s game, which drew an announced crowd of 8,805, but was not made

The team is working with the city of Oakland on a $12 billion Howard Terminal proposal that would include a 35,000seat ballpark. They also are looking at three ballpark sites in Las Vegas, where they could relocate to build a $1 billion, retractable roof stadium.

A’s manager Mark Kotsay said the relocation talk doesn’t impact the team, and that wherever they end up the team will go on nonetheless.