ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — The Anaheim Ducks have signed promising young defenseman Tristan Luneau to a six-year contract extension worth $43.2 million after just 14 NHL appearances.
The Ducks announced the deal Thursday with the 22-year-old Luneau, whose promising career has been slowed by injury. Now healthy and ready for a full-time NHL role, he inked a long-term deal with the team that drafted him in the second round in 2022.
Luneau was the Quebec major junior league's top defenseman in the 2022-23 season and he made the Ducks' roster out of training camp the next fall. But Luneau came down with a viral infection that winter while practicing with Canada's national junior team, forcing him to miss the rest of the year.
Anaheim took a deliberate approach with Luneau's health for the past two seasons, keeping him with its AHL affiliate in San Diego for most of that time. But the Ducks never wavered in their belief that Luneau will be an above-average defenseman, and they proved it with a long-term contract for a player who suited up in just one game for the NHL club last season.
Luneau will be expected to play a significant role this season for the Ducks, who lost four veteran defensemen — Jacob Trouba, captain Radko Gudas, John Carlson and Olen Zellweger — from last season's already mediocre blue line group over the summer.
Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek moved aggressively to lock up Luneau after being burned repeatedly in restricted free agency over the offseason.
Verbeek spent months failing to reach a deal with center Leo Carlsson, who then signed a $90 million offer sheet with Philadelphia that briefly made him the NHL's highest-paid player before Anaheim matched it. Carlsson is among the best young centers in hockey, but his deal is worth much more than he was expected to get as a restricted free agent — as is the five-year, $36 million deal given to Pavel Mintyukov by Verbeek after other teams began to sniff around the Russian defenseman in the wake of Carlsson's massive offer sheet.
Verbeek then signed high-scoring forward Cutter Gauthier to a six-year, $81 million extension last month, but the resulting salary cap constraints from Verbeek's summer of misadventure effectively forced the Ducks to waive 22-goal scorer Chris Kreider, damaging their depth.
Luneau will join Jackson LaCombe and Mintyukov as the new core of the Ducks’ defense. Rising star LaCombe agreed to an eight-year, $72 million extension a year ago.
Anaheim ended a seven-year playoff drought last spring, advancing to the second round under coach Joel Quenneville. The Ducks open the regular season Friday at Vegas before their home opener Sunday against Florida.
See AP’s full NHL coverage here
FILE - New Jersey Devils' Brett Pesce, left, defends Anaheim Ducks' Tristan Luneau during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Newark, N.J., Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Rapper Rick Ross was arrested in Miami Beach early Thursday and charged with battery related to a domestic violence accusation, authorities said.
Ross, whose legal name is William Roberts II, faces a felony charge of battery by strangulation, as well as a misdemeanor battery charge, according to online court records.
An attorney for Ross, 50, said in a statement that his client is being wrongfully accused by an ex-girlfriend whose true motivations are unclear.
“The ex did not even file a police report until a month after the claimed incident allegedly took place,” defense attorney Steve Sadow said in the statement. “Mr. Roberts is innocent and has pled not guilty to the charges. He respectfully requests that his friends, fans and the general public not prejudge the situation and allow the judicial process to run its course.”
Ross was released from jail on a cash bond later Thursday, according to court records. An arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 22.
According to an arrest report, a woman told Miami Beach detectives that she had been living with Ross on Aug. 28, when he accused her of cheating on him and struck her multiple times. She said Ross also choked her with the collar of her shirt and slammed her into a wall. The woman said she was eventually able to leave the home and then returned later — after Ross left — to collect her belongings.
The woman filed a report with police on Tuesday, and Ross surrendered himself at the Miami Beach Police Station on Thursday morning.
Ross pleaded no contest in 2017 to aggravated assault after he was accused of forcing a man into a guesthouse at his suburban-Atlanta mansion in 2015 and beating him with a handgun, according to Georgia court records. Under a first-offender program in Georgia, the court issued an order exonerating Ross of guilt on that felony count.
Ross is a longtime South Florida resident who gained prominence in 2006 with his debut single “Hustlin'.”
The rapper and entrepreneur helped put Miami on the musical map in the early 2000s, when most hip-hop fans looked to Atlanta and Houston as Southern rap headquarters. “Hustlin'" was certified platinum twice by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and sparked a bidding war for Ross. He eventually signed with Def Jam Records, headed by Jay-Z.
Ross’ debut album, “Port of Miami,” also went platinum, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. It was the first in a series of chart-toppers, including 2008’s “Trilla” and 2009’s “Deeper Than Rap.” He has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards.
In 2008, he founded the influential label Maybach Music Group (MMG), boosting the careers of signees like Wale, Meek Mill and French Montana.
His most recent album, “Set In Stone,” was released in July.
This story was first published Oct. 1, 2026. It was updated Oct. 1, 2026, to remove information about an unrelated prior case involving Rick Ross because details weren’t immediately clear. Updates of that previous case are included in this version.
This booking photo provided by the Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, shows Rick Ross. (Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP)
FILE - Rick Ross arrives at the BET Awards on June 28, 2026, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Rick Ross performs during the BET Awards in Los Angeles on June 28, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
