The National Hockey League will no longer pay transfer fees for European free agents.

The new policy comes after the player transfer agreement between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation expired Sunday after more than a decade of guiding the movement of players between Europe and the NHL.

Without an agreement with non-North American affiliates of the IIHF, the NHL will no longer pay a $200,000 transfer fee to sign players who were not under contract.

The change could save NHL teams a combined total of about $11 million a year to sign between 50 and 60 young players from six European leagues affiliated to the IIHF.

More hockey

Peter DeBoer, a highly touted junior coach from the Ontario Hockey League's Kitchener Rangers, is hoping to offer a fresh start to the Florida Panthers as their new head coach. DeBoer, 40, has no previous NHL coaching experience.

• The Nashville Predators signed defenseman Ryan Suter to a four-year, $14 million contract. Suter set career highs for assists (24), points (31) and penalty minutes (71) this past season.

• Ray Getliffe, the hard-hitting forward credited with giving Montreal Canadiens teammate Maurice Richard the nickname "The Rocket," has died. He was 94. See Obit, Page A-11.

Media

After long and contentious negotiations, cable giant Comcast and the Big Ten Network are close to agreeing on a deal that will bring conference football and basketball games for the upcoming seasons to the standard cable package in an eight-state region that includes the Pittsburgh market.

A key to the deal, which is expected to be formally announced later this week, is Comcast's right to permanently move the BTN to a more expensive digital tier after the basketball season. .

The other tripping point had been the BTN's demand that Comcast pay $1.10 per subscriber per month for the service. It has been reported that Comcast will pay about 70 cents per subscriber per month.

The deal will add about five million subscribers in the eight-state area that encompasses the conference to the BTN.

College football

Starting in 2010, the Big Ten will institute an open week during the conference football schedule, pushing back the end of the regular season past Thanksgiving. Penn State's open week is scheduled for Oct. 16 in 2010 and the first week of November in '11 and '12.

College basketball

Former Geneva standout Amy Russin has been named interim women's coach, replacing legendary coach Ron Galbreath. Galbreath is taking a year off due to health concerns.

• North Carolina underclassmen Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green will return to Chapel Hill next season after removing their names from the NBA draft. Other big-name players withdrawing were Texas guard A.J. Abrams; Robert Dozier of Memphis; Jeremy Pargo of Gonzaga; and UAB guard Robert Vaden.

• Former Santa Clara coach Dick Davey was hired to be one of the assistants on new Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins' staff. Davey is a four-time West Coast Conference coach of the year, who led Santa Clara to 251 wins and three NCAA tournament appearances.

Soccer

Germany captain Michael Ballack scored on a wicked second-half free kick for a 1-0 win against Austria in Vienna, Austria, and a place in the quarterfinals of the European Championship. ... Ivan Klasnic, the first kidney transplant recipient to play at the European Championship, scored to give Croatia a 1-0 win against Poland in Klagenfurt, Austria.

• FC Dallas has hired SMU's Schellas Hyndman as its new coach. Hyndman entered the 2007 season second among active Division I men's soccer coaches with a record of 466-123-49. His teams made the NCAA tournament 30 times in 31 seasons.

High school crew

The Fox Chapel Crew Women's Lightweight 8+ captured eighth place in the USRowing Youth National Championship against a field of 16 of the nation's leading Club and high school crews in Cincinnati.