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Good morning! The poll results are in.

2 Nations Left: Cancel your Thursday plans

The U.S. lost to Sweden last night, 2-1, but the result didn’t matter much. The Americans had already clinched a spot on the 4 Nations final heading into the game. 

You know who did win last night, though? Hockey, which took a victory lap on the NBA’s All-Star festivities (more on that in a bit). The U.S. is set for a rematch with Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off title game, which will be must-watch TV. Here is a game even star players are calling bigger than the Stanley Cup. Pretty remarkable for a mid-season tourney.

Two things: 

• In the early game, Canada outpaced Finland 5-3 to reach said title rematch against the Americans. The Canadians sprinted out to a 4-0 lead, though the Finns closed that to 4-3 within the final minute of play. Sidney Crosby redeemed himself after a bad game against the Americans on Saturday.
  
  
• One thing to worry about for the U.S.: injuries. Brady Tkachuk left last night’s game after a hard slide into the net. His brother Matthew sat out the game with a lower-body injury suffered in the first game against Canada. Either would be hugely missed in the championship contest. 

It sets up what should be a fantastic final Thursday (8 p.m. ET). We’ll have more. I can’t wait. Let’s keep going:

Feedback Loop: Woof, ASG

There is solemn solace in being right about a bad thing. The results from yesterday’s poll confirm that, as most of you were not even interested in the All-Star Game. It’s a sad thing, really. 

We’re not alone in this, either: 

• Warriors star/firebrand/podcaster Draymond Green thinks the new All-Star Game format “sucks.” I wouldn’t use such harsh terms, but he’s not wrong. Changing the tenor of this game feels like flailing at this point.
  
• The Athletic’s David Aldridge was a little nicer, arguing the game was better than last year — but major issues remain. Players don’t want to get injured in an exhibition game. It makes sense. 

I will root for a USA vs. The World best-on-best format going forward. Give everyone else a week off and profit. 

Thank you, as always, for voting.

News to Know

Lawrence nixes Pittsburgh
Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said he will not be heading to the Steelers in a trade, despite a rumor to the contrary last week. Lawrence has a no-trade clause in his contract and said he has no interest in leaving Jacksonville, especially with new coach Liam Coen coming in. See his full comments here.

Trout’s position swap
Mike Trout, the wildly talented yet oft-injured three-time MVP, is moving from center field to right field, he announced yesterday. “I’m trying to preserve the legs,” Trout said, and I fully support the notion. He’s played more than 100 games once in the last four seasons. Any baseball fan should want to see Trout, 33, healthy again for an entire season before his prime wanes. Read more here.

More news

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Serious Matters: A tennis star and a troubling relationship

In tennis, there may be no relationship more sacred than the one between player and coach. Anyone can teach mechanics, but these coaches travel with players. Know their ticks. Know when to push and when to pull back. They have to know the player better than most, if not all. 

Elena Rybakina is one of the world’s best women’s tennis players, yet her fraught relationship with her on-and-off-again coach, Stefano Vukov, is testing the limits of what is appropriate or even healthy when it comes to this special bond. 

Anyone who follows Rybakina, 25, on social media knows Vukov has been in and out of her circle, but according to an intense investigation from The Athletic, the issues go much deeper. 

Two things that struck me: 

• Multiple people have noticed the concerning way Vukov allegedly treats Rybakina, the world No. 4 player who represents Kazakhstan. Among multiple incidents detailed in the story, Vukov allegedly insulted Rybakina’s intelligence, threw balls at her, and said she would be “picking potatoes” in her native Russia without him. Yikes.
  
  
• Rybakina at one point fired Vukov and had to rebuff his repeated attempts to regain her trust in the last two years. Friends and colleagues worried about her in the interim period. Then, suddenly, Vukov was back in the fold … and apparently involved with Rybakina romantically. 

According to a WTA ruling, Vukov is serving a one-year ban from the sport over his “mental abuse” of Rybakina, who has repeatedly defended Vukov’s actions since reuniting with him. 

I urge you to read the full investigation for more on a very messy, but nuanced situation. It has the potential to affect how the sport of tennis polices itself.

Watch and Listen

📺 Soccer: Feyenoord Rotterdam at AC Milan
12:45 p.m. ET on Paramount+
Rich storylines here. Feyenoord is up 1-0 on aggregate, but Milan — led by USMNT star Christian Pulisic — remains the favorite in this matchup. Win by two and move on. 

📺 NCAAM: No. 7 Purdue at No. 11 Michigan State
7 p.m. ET on Peacock
Sparty remains one of the best teams in the Big Ten but is on somewhat of a cold streak right now, and Tom Izzo is riding the high of topping Bobby Knight’s record over the weekend. 

Get tickets to games like these here.

🎧 The Total Soccer Show has a great MLS season preview today. Get the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Pulse Picks

The Luka Dončić trade still boggles most, but if you talk to people close to Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison, it wasn’t that shocking. Super interesting insights in this exclusive report from yesterday.  

Big Ten and SEC leaders are meeting this week to “move forward with a full-on takeover of the College Football Playoff.” It is arrogant and pointless, as Stewart Mandel writes. 

How did the Red Sox finally land Alex Bregman? Jen McCaffrey has the definitive story of their successful pursuit. He looks weird in a Sox uniform, and I mean that nicely. 

Speaking of: Ken Rosenthal wrote earlier about the Cubs’ flailing offseason, which includes missing out on Bregman. Tough. 

Rose Zhang, rising women’s golf superstar, sounded off to Gabby Herzig about her TGL involvement and the slow-play issue everyone’s talking about. Read her interview. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Potential big-name NFL salary cup cuts. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: ☝️

(Top photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)