Ducks sign Kunitz to contract extension

Heading off any contractual issue before his current deal expires after the coming season, the Ducks signed left wing Chris Kunitz to a four-year, $14.9-million extension Monday that will kick in in 2008-09.

Kunitz, 27, slated to make $1.15 million this season, would have become an unrestricted free agent next July if he chose to test the market. Instead, the Ducks have one of their top scorers under contract for the next five seasons.

General Manager Brian Burke called Kunitz a “critical” player for the team’s future and was pleased to finish negotiations that lasted two weeks.

“He’s one of our Swiss army knives,” Burke said. “He’s good enough to play on the top line and tough enough to play on the fourth line. And he can do almost anything in between.”

Kunitz reached career bests of 25 goals and 60 points and added a goal and five assists in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He sat out most of the Western Conference finals against Detroit because of a broken finger but returned in Game 3 of the Cup finals.

According to a source close to the negotiations, Kunitz will make $3.5 million in 2008-09, $3.6 million in 2009-10, $3.8 million in 2010-11 and $4 million in 2011-12.

Burke said there is nothing new regarding captain Scott Niedermayer and forward Teemu Selanne, who are seriously contemplating retirement. Burke said he intends to speak to both in the next day or two.

--Eric Stephens

The Colorado Avalanche signed defenseman Brett Clark, 30, to a two-year contract extension through the 2009-10 season.

JURISPRUDENCE

Iverson’s stepfather

indicted on drug counts

Denver Nuggets guard Allen Iverson’s stepfather was indicted on federal drug distribution charges in Norfolk, Va., after police said they found crack cocaine in his car in April.

Michael Andre Freeman, 51, will remain jailed until his bond hearing Friday. He was to have been in court Aug. 24 but the hearing was postponed to give him time to find a lawyer.

State drug charges were dropped last week as the federal prosecution proceeds.

A man charged with fatally shooting a Kentucky football player as he celebrated his 21st birthday on a porch near campus pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Lexington.

In the plea agreement, Shane Ragland was sentenced to time served -- six years, including credit for 14 months of house arrest -- for the 1994 shooting of Trent DiGiuro. Ragland was accused of targeting DiGiuro in revenge for keeping him out of a fraternity.

Ragland was convicted of murder in 2002 and sentenced to 30 years in prison, but he won a new trial after the state Supreme Court agreed that the prosecutor had made an inappropriate comment during trial and used inadmissible evidence concerning a bullet.

Ragland would have faced a retrial but pleaded guilty to manslaughter instead.

MISCELLANY

Indiana rallies from

WNBA’s biggest deficit

Tamika Catchings had 30 points and 13 rebounds, and the Indiana Fever made the biggest comeback in WNBA history to defeat the Connecticut Sun, 93-88, in overtime and advance to the Eastern Conference finals. The Fever overcame a 39-17, second-quarter deficit to win the best-of-three series, 2-1. The previous record was 21 points.

Vickie Johnson scored an easy layup on a pass from Becky Hammon with half a second left to send the San Antonio Silver Stars to the Western Conference finals with an 80-78 victory over the Sacramento Monarchs.

Nevada’s Lyndale Burleson, the leading candidate to become the starting point guard next season, was declared academically ineligible for the fall semester, Coach Mark Fox said. Burleson, a junior, averaged 1.7 points and 2.2 assists last season.

Kevin Morsching, a 21-year-old pitcher on the South Dakota State baseball team, died a week after being injured in a skateboard accident in Sioux Falls.

PASSINGS

Spinks, teamed with

Bradshaw in college

Former Louisiana Tech All-American wide receiver Tommy Spinks, who teamed with Terry Bradshaw in the 1960s to form one of the most feared tandems in college football, died at his home in Arlington, Texas, following a short illness. He was 58.