REGION

REGION
Blue Jacketssend back Brule
COLUMBUS -- The Columbus Blue Jackets will send top prospect Gilbert Brule, who has played well in the brief times he hasn't been injured this season, to his old junior team in Vancouver next week for more seasoning, the NHL team said Thursday.
Brule, who turned 19 on Jan. 1, was the sixth overall pick by the Blue Jackets last summer. He has two goals and two assists in seven games with Columbus.
The 5-foot-10, 180-pound center, considered one of the franchise's best young talents, sustained a broken sternum in the Blue Jackets' home opener. He returned and played five more games before suffering a broken leg that has sidelined him for the past six weeks.
Brule began skating with Columbus on Wednesday and was expected to rejoin the team soon.
The Blue Jackets had to decide quickly whether to send him down because if he plays in 10 NHL games the first year of his three-year, entry-level contract, it will count as a full year of service toward the seven required for free agency.
Also, the Blue Jackets activated defenseman Aaron Johnson off injured reserve and assigned him to the club's American Hockey League affiliate in Syracuse.
Johnson, 22, has appeared in three games with the Blue Jackets this season, scoring one goal with one assist. He sprained a knee against Nashville on Dec. 23.
Johnson was Columbus' fourth pick, 85th overall, in the 2001 draft.
Penguins return Sabourin
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins reassigned goaltender Dany Sabourin to their Wilkes-Barre farm club Thursday after he gave up goals on the first two shots he faced in a 6-1 loss in Columbus.
Sabourin, playing his first NHL game since going 0-3 in four games with Calgary in 2003-04, was lifted after allowing four goals on 14 shots in slightly more than one period of play Wednesday. He was recalled from Wilkes-Barre earlier in the day, after the Penguins learned goalie Jocelyn Thibault may miss the rest of the season with an injured hip.
The 25-year-old Sabourin is 15-1-1 with a 1.78 goals-against average at Wilkes-Barre of the AHL this season.
For now, the Penguins will go with 2003 top draft pick Marc-Andre Fleury and Sebastien Caron as their goalies.
NATION
Bills coachresigns
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Mike Mularkey submitted his resignation to the Buffalo Bills on Thursday, a person familiar with discussions between the coach and the team told The Associated Press.
The Bills will formally announce the coach's resignation during a press conference scheduled for this morning.
ESPN.com, citing unidentified sources, first reported that Mularkey had reached a settlement with the team to cover the final three years of his contract. ESPN.com also reported that Mularkey's decision to leave the team was because of undisclosed family reasons.
The former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator, who completed his second season with Buffalo, is married and has two boys.
Palmer's damage'devastating'
CINCINNATI -- Carson Palmer's knee injury was "devastating and potentially career-ending," involving numerous ligament tears, a shredded ligament, damaged cartilage and a dislocated kneecap, his surgeon said Thursday.
The Cincinnati Bengals quarterback tore ligaments in his left knee when he was hit by Pittsburgh's Kimo von Oelhoffen on his first pass during the Steelers' 31-17 playoff victory Sunday.
The team announced that he had torn the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments. The damage was much more extensive and severe, but Dr. Lonnie Paulos said surgery went well and Palmer could be back for the start of the season.
Palmer had surgery Tuesday in Houston. Doctors used grafts from other parts of his body and donated tissue to fix the damage during an operation that lasted more than two hours. Palmer headed back to California on Thursday to do his rehabilitation.
Wie walloped
HONOLULU -- After Michelle Wie signed for her highest score on the PGA Tour, one that sent her to the bottom of the leaderboard at the Sony Open, she struggled to keep her voice steady while explaining what went wrong.
Three double bogeys. Two three-putts. And late in a blustery round at Waialae, one shot was so off-line that her agent held up his leather-bound notebook to keep the ball from hitting him.
Unable to stop the slide in gusts up to 35 mph, Wie stumbled to a 9-over 79 that left her tied with John Cook for last place with virtually no hope of becoming the first woman in 61 years to make the cut on the PGA Tour.
Vindicator staff/wire reports