NHL Notes: Maple Leafs land Mike Babcock

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have hired Mike Babcock as their new head coach.

The team announced Wednesday that Babcock will be introduced at a news conference Thursday morning. Babcock spent the last 10 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, where he won the Stanley Cup in 2008.

His contract with Detroit expired at the end of June but the Red Wings had given him permission to negotiate with other teams. The Leafs must send a third-round pick to Detroit as compensation.

Babcock had not ruled out staying in Detroit, and also interviewed with the Buffalo Sabres.

The 52-year-old also coached Canada to Olympic gold medals in 2010 and `14.

The Leafs fired Randy Carlyle in January, and replaced him on an interim basis with assistant Peter Horachek. 

Bruins: Sweeney named GM
BOSTON — The Bruins made longtime defenseman Don Sweeney the general manager on Wednesday, replacing fired GM Peter Chiarelli with his former assistant and Harvard teammate.

Sweeney has spent the past six seasons as the assistant GM to Chiarelli, who was fired last month after the team missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years and four years after a Stanley Cup championship. Sweeney played for the Bruins for the first 15 of his 16 years in the NHL.

An eighth-round draft pick in 1984, Sweeny played four years at Harvard, graduating one year after Chiarelli. He played in Boston from 1988-2004 and still ranks third on the team's games played list.

He also ranks in the top ten of the club's all-time lists for goals, assists and points by a defenseman.

Sweeney joined the front office in 2006 as director of player development and worked his way up to assistant GM three years later. In that role, he oversaw the development of the team's drafted prospects and ran the team's hockey department.

Last year, he was appointed GM of Boston's AHL affiliate in Providence.

Senators: Goalie Hammond signs 3-year deal
OTTAWA, Ontario — The Ottawa Senators have signed goaltender Andrew Hammond to a $4.05-million, three-year contract.

Hammond, whose spectacular late-season run got the Senators into the playoffs, will make $1.2 million next season, $1.35 million in 2016-17 and $1.5 million in 2017-18.

Nicknamed the "Hamburglar," he will count $1.35 million against Ottawa's salary cap over the length of the deal.

Hammond made his first NHL start at age 27 in January, then went 20-1-2 with a 1.79 goals-against average and .941 save percentage to lead the Senators on an improbable run to the playoffs.

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