In Brief

HOCKEY

Sharks trade Heatley
to Minnesota for Havlat

The San Jose Sharks traded forward Dany Heatley to the Minnesota Wild for forward Martin Havlat.

The trade Sunday is the second major deal this offseason between the two teams. San Jose acquired All-Star defenseman Brent Burns from Minnesota late last month for a package headlined by Devin Setoguchi.

The 30-year-old Havlat had 22 goals and 40 assists in 78 games last season. He has 209 goals and 303 assists in a 10-year career with Minnesota, Chicago and Ottawa.

The Sharks acquired Heatley two years ago, hoping he would be the piece that lifted them to the Stanley Cup. He had 39 goals his first season but only 26 last season. He also scored five goals in 32 playoff games with San Jose.

Also: Goaltender Thomas Vokoun signed a one-year contract with the Washington Capitals worth $1.5 million, adding some veteran insurance to a team that appeared ready to cast its lot with youngsters Michal Neuvirth and Braden Holtby in its push for the Stanley Cup.

Vokoun’s contract is a relative bargain, especially for a two-time All-Star who has played 13 NHL seasons.

Vokoun, 34, has played for Montreal, Nashville and Florida, spending the last four seasons with the Panthers. He was 22-28-5 with a 2.55 goals-against average in 57 games last season and is tied for the best save percentage (.922) in the NHL since the 2005-06 season

He also led the Czech national team to a gold medal at the 2010 world championships.

CYCLING

Norway’s Hushovd takes
lead in Tour de France

Thor Hushovd of Norway captured the overall lead at the Tour de France on Sunday after his Garmin-Cervelo team won the time trial in the second stage of the race in Les Essarts, France.

Hushovd took the yellow jersey from Philippe Gilbert of Belgium, the winner of Saturday’s opening stage, as defending champion Alberto Contador lost more time to his main rivals.

Hushovd seized the coveted yellow shirt for the third time of his career, ahead of teammate David Millar, with whom he shares the same time in the overall standings. Cadel Evans of Australia is third, just a second behind.

The Garmin-Cervelo team finished in 24 minutes, 48 seconds around the 14.3-mile flat stage in the Vendee region of western France, at an average speed of 55.645 kilometers per hour.

Contador’s Saxo-Bank team posted a time of 25:16. The three-time Tour champion had already lost more than a minute to his rivals during the first stage after being slowed down by a crash. He now stands 75th, 1:42 behind Hushovd.

MISCELLANEOUS

Ex-Duke star Scheyer
joins top Israeli team

Former Duke basketball star Jon Scheyer joined Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv, saying his college experience prepared him well for coping with high expectations.

Because he is Jewish, Scheyer is eligible to become an Israeli and not count against a league cap on foreign players. He is expected to take a leading role for the defending Israeli champion, which lost the title game of this year’s European championship to Greece’s Panathinaikos.

The 6-foot-5-inch guard was passed over in the NBA Draft last year, then sustained a freak injury when he was poked in the eye with the Miami Heat’s summer league team. He suffered an injury to the optic nerve, along with a tear in the retina of his right eye.

Also: Michael Phelps handily won the 100-meter butterfly at the Canada Cup in Montreal.

Phelps led from wire to wire and won in 51.32 seconds. He also won his only other event at the Olympic Pool, the 200-meter freestyle, on Saturday.

The three-day meet was billed as a tuneup for the world championships beginning July 16 in Shanghai, which itself is a test leading into the 2012 Olympics in London.