In Brief

PRO HOCKEY

Capitals fire Boudreau, name
former captain Hunter coach

Tuned out by his players, coach Bruce Boudreau was fired by the Washington Capitals on Monday.

Boudreau reached 200 wins faster than any coach in modern NHL history, but his team stumbled regularly in the playoffs despite a talent-laden lineup featuring two-time league Most Valuable Player Alex Ovechkin.

Boudreau was replaced by former Capitals captain Dale Hunter, who was greeted by loud cheers from more than 100 fans when he skated onto the ice at practice. Hunter, never before a coach in the NHL, will make his debut behind the bench tonight when Washington hosts the St. Louis Blues to begin a three-game homestand.

"This was simply a case of the players were no longer responding to Bruce. When you see that, as much as you don't want to make a change, you have to make a change," general manager George McPhee said.

Also: The last-place Carolina Hurricanes fired coach Paul Maurice for the second time in less than a decade and replaced him with former All-Star Kirk Muller.

Muller begins his first NHL head coaching job with a slumping team that has made one playoff appearance since 2006 and has lost 10 of 13 games. He was in his first season coaching the Nashville Predators' AHL affiliate in Milwaukee after spending five seasons on the Montreal Canadiens' staff.

Carolina dropped to 8-13-4 following Sunday night's 4-3 loss at Ottawa, its third in a row.

Philadelphia defenseman Chris Pronger will undergo surgery on his left knee today and be out of the Flyers' lineup for at least a month.

BASEBALL

World Series champ Cardinals
get $323,170 per full share

A full postseason share for the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals was worth $323,170, up slightly from last year but still below the record set in 2009.

A full share was worth $317,631 on the 2010 San Francisco Giants and $350,030 on the 2009 New York Yankees.

The commissioner's office said a full share on the losing Rangers was $251,516, up from $246,280 on Texas last year but down from $265,358 for the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies.

The players' pool was $57.3 million, up from $54.9 million last year but below the record $59.1 million in 2009. It includes 60 percent of the ticket money from the first three games of each division series, and the first four games of each league championship series and the World Series.

St. Louis awarded 51 full shares, 11.962 partial shares and eight cash awards. Texas players split their money into 47 full shares, 6.5 partial shares and 19 cash awards.

Also: Atlanta Braves pitcher Tim Hudson is expected to be ready for spring training after having surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back. The surgery was performed by Dr. Stevan Wray in Atlanta.

The Braves said the right-hander has had discomfort in his back the past two seasons. The surgery was scheduled after the pain became worse during his offseason workouts.

The 36-year-old Hudson was 16-10 with a 3.22 ERA for the Braves this year.

Catcher Jose Molina and the Tampa Bay Rays agreed to a $1.8 million, one-year contract.

Molina gets a $1.5 million salary for next season under the agreement, and the Rays hold a $1.8 million option for 2013 with a $300,000 buyout. The 36-year-old hit a career-best .281 this year for Toronto, with three homers and 15 RBIs in 55 games.

miscellaneous

Pro Football Hall of Famer
Taylor sued by teen sex victim

Pro Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor is being sued by the teenage girl he admitted having sex with in the case that led to his guilty plea to misdemeanor charges earlier this year.

Cristina Fierro filed suit in federal court in New York. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial.

Taylor was sentenced to six years' probation under a deal to plead guilty to sexual misconduct and patronizing an underage prostitute. The former New York Giants star linebacker was initially charged with third-degree rape, among other counts. Fierro was 16 when the crime occurred in May 2010.

Also: The plane involved in the crash that killed Oklahoma State women's basketball coach Kurt Budke and three others banked to the right and disappeared from radar before its nose dipped sharply, according to a preliminary federal report.

The report by the National Transportation Safety Board cites witnesses who saw the single-engine plane flying at a low altitude and making turns before its nose dipped and the plane crashed into a wooded area of the Ouachita National Forest on Nov. 17 near Perryville, Ark. The crash killed Budke, assistant coach Miranda Serna, pilot Olin Branstetter and his wife, Paula.