k, hoping the overseas trip will help create some chemistry in a squad filled with new faces and without Kevin Durant.In Spain, practice

Defenseman Aaron Ekblad and the Florida Panthers have agreed to an eight-year, $60 million extension.?The news was first reported by the Miami Herald and confirmed by ESPNs Craig Custance. The final details are still being worked out and the deal likely wont be official until next week, the source told Custance.I dont think its any secret, Panthers general manager Tom Rowe said.Hes a guy we want in the fold for a long time to come. Ekblad was an All-Star in each of his first two years with Florida, and now clearly becomes a face of a franchise that believes it is getting closer to finally hoisting the Stanley Cup.Couldnt be happier, Ekblad wrote on Instagram as he posed in a Florida jersey. He was the No. 1 pick in the 2014 draft and already is Floridas franchise leader with eight career game-winning goals.An exceptionally skilled, intelligent and mature young player that is a difference maker for our team both on and off the ice, Rowe said.The Panthers won the Atlantic Division last year, reaching the playoffs for just the second time in 15 seasons. The ownership group led by Vincent Viola has made no secret that it is driven by winning a championship, and Florida is starting to look like a real potential contender.He bought the team to win a Stanley Cup and the players that weve got here all want to win a Stanley Cup, Rowe said. We felt what we did today gives us a better chance of doing that.There were other moves, including the signing of goaltender James Reimer to a five-year, $17 million deal to share the workload with starter Roberto Luongo.Reimer has spent six seasons in the NHL, mostly with Toronto. He also appeared in nine games --eight regular-season, one playoff --with Stanley Cup finalist San Jose this past season.Reimer came to South Florida to see the Panthers facilities Friday and was quickly convinced he was making the right decision.Weve got a great team and great management and ownership, theyre passionate about winning, Reimer said. As a player, thats the organization you want to be a part of.Luongo is still one of the best in the NHL, but the Panthers have been mindful of not overusing their 37-year-old goalie. Hes sat out roughly one of every four Florida regular-season games in each of the last two years and had offseason hip surgery. The Panthers made a trade for former Colorado backup Reto Berra late last month. If Luongo isnt ready for opening night, Berra would begin as Reimers backup.Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.?L.C. Greenwood Steelers Jersey . 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Jerome Bettis Jersey . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments.MADRID -- The Oklahoma City Thunder couldnt have picked a better occasion for a trip to Europe.Needing to bring together a new group of players, the revamped Thunder play two preseason games in Spain this week, hoping the overseas trip will help create some chemistry in a squad filled with new faces and without Kevin Durant.In Spain, practice and game results wont matter as much as team meals, sightseeing tours or watching a soccer match played by Cristiano Ronaldo.This week is about how we utilize the trip to spend more time with each other, to connect, and to bond with one another, coach Billy Donovan said Sunday. When you are in training camp and you are home in Oklahoma City, guys are going home to their wives and family. But now as weve all left to come over here to Spain, its an opportunity for all of us to be together, so hopefully we can maximize this time together.The Thunder will play against nine-time Euroleague champion and 33-time Spanish League champion Real Madrid on Monday, and against 18-time Spanish League champion and two-time Euroleague champion FC Barcelona Lassa on Wednesday.Its important, guard Russell Westbrook said. It gives us an opportunity to obviously be together, but not just that, an opportunity to learn about each other in different ways.Russell and most of his teammates watched Ronaldo and European champion Real Madrid draw Eibar 1-1 in a Spanish league game at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Sunday, in one of the group outings planned for the players this week.Chemistry is a big factor in sports, so with a trip like this it really does bring the team together, said forward Kyle Singler, whho played professionally in Spain early in his career.dddddddddddd We are doing things. Those shared experiences go a long way. We are in another country together, that alone is pretty cool.Singler said the new group has gelled well together but it will take time for the team to fully develop.I think its going to take time to build that chemistry, but once weve figured it out, we will be fine, Singler said. We are not the team that we are going to be at the end of the year, so we have to keep that in mind, and make sure that we take the entire season to learn what we need to get better at. We are going to be a playoff-contending team. Thats our goal.Singler is one of five Thunder members who played in Spain at some point, along with Ersan Ilyasova, Alex Abrines, Domantas Sabonis and Joffrey Lauvergne.Its good to be outside Oklahoma, Lauvergne said. You are going to play against a different kind of basketball than what we are used to playing in the NBA. Its something good.Last season, the Thunder made their fourth Western Conference finals appearance in six years.Oklahoma City played a pair of European preseason games in 2013, against the Philadelphia 76ers in England and against Fenerbahce Ulker in Turkey.Also part of the NBA Global Games 2016, the Houston Rockets and New Orleans Pelicans will play preseason games in Shanghai and Beijing on Oct. 9 and Oct. 12, respectively.---Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/tales-azzoni ' ' '