ST. LOUIS (AP) — Dillon Dube, the only remaining unsigned player among the five members of Canada's 2018 world junior team who were acquitted of sexual assault in the high-profile case, has agreed to an American Hockey League professional tryout with the St. Louis Blues.
General manager Doug Armstrong announced the deal with the 27-year-old on Wednesday. Dube, fellow forwards Michael McLeod and Alex Formenton, defenseman Cal Foote and goaltender Carter Hart were found not guilty by a judge in London, Ontario, after being charged in connection to an incident there in 2018.
Hart with the Vegas Golden Knights is the only one who has played in the NHL since the trial ended last summer and all five were reinstated. Foote signed with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves last week, while Formenton is playing in Switzerland and McLeod in the Russia-based KHL.
The Blues said Dube would report to the Springfield Thunderbirds after receiving his work visa. Dube played 42 games with Dinamo Minsk of the KHL last season. He was with the Calgary Flames from 2018-24.
Also Wednesday, St. Louis brought back Robby Fabbri on a deal that pays him the prorated league minimum of $775,000 when he's in the NHL and $300,000 in the AHL. Fabbri played parts of his first four seasons with the club before getting traded to Detroit and playing last year with Anaheim.
Fabbri's signing came as the Blues put forward Jordan Kyrou on injured reserve. Kyrou was listed as week to week with a lower-body injury.
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FILE - Calgary Flames center Dillon Dube (29) skates against the Detroit Red Wings in the first period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union countries must funnel their energy aid chiefly to vulnerable households and industries or risk wasting billions of euros as the Iran war hits oil and gas prices, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Wednesday.
The U.S.-Israel war, combined with retaliation from Iran such as choking the Strait of Hormuz, is costing the EU almost 500 million euros ($600 million) a day, raising prices at the pumps and fears of a jet fuel shortage within weeks.
Von der Leyen said the world’s biggest trading bloc must draw on the lessons of the 2022 fuel crisis – when Russia used its energy might against European countries to undermine their support for Ukraine – to avoid further hurting their economies.
More than 350 billion euros “were spent on untargeted measures and this had a huge impact on member states finances,” she told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France. “So let us not make the same mistake again, and let’s focus our support where it matters most.”
Just as Europe broke its energy dependency on Russia, the bloc must now end its reliance on supplies from the outside world, by making better use of renewable sources like wind and solar, as well as nuclear power, von der Leyen said.
“Our over dependency on imported fossil fuels makes us vulnerable,” she said.
Since the war started in 2022, Russian gas imports into the 27 nations have fallen from 45% to 12% last year. Coal imports were banned by sanctions, and oil imports shrank from 27% 2022 to 2%, with only Hungary and Slovakia continuing to buy from Russia.
Von der Leyen said the impact of the Iran war “may echo for months or even years to come” and that the path to energy independence lies in “homegrown, affordable, clean energy supply from renewables to nuclear.”
She urged EU countries to use more electricity generated by renewable sources and nuclear sources to power transport and planes, heat homes, and undercut the dependency on fossil fuels in industry.
Electricity makes up less than a quarter of the bloc’s energy consumption.
EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen warned last week that the Iran war has not just produced “a short-term, small increase in prices. This is a crisis that is probably as serious as the 1973 and the 2022 crises combined.”
He said Europe has been forced onto the defensive and has little control over events.
“Even in a best-case scenario, it’s still bad,” Jørgensen said. “Whether or not we will be in a security of supply crisis is primarily a result of what goes on in the Middle East. What we can do is to try and prevent, and limit” the damage.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, center, arrives for the EU Summit in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, April 24, 2026. (Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP)
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides, center, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, left, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pose after signing the "One Europe, One Market" roadmap during the EU Summit in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, April 24, 2026. (Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a press conference after the EU Summit in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
