Digest: Capitals' Johansson asks for $5.25 million in arbitration; will have hearing Tuesday

Before his scheduled arbitration hearing in Toronto on Tuesday, forward Marcus Johansson submitted an initial request for a $5.25 million-per-year contract, while the Washington Capitals countered with an offer of $3.85 million, an individual with knowledge of the situation confirmed.The arbitration hearing will be for a one-year deal, and Johansson will be an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of it. The asking prices were first reported by Sportsnet.Johansson's agent, J.P. Barry of CAA Sports, said last week that he and the Capitals would likely talk again after the two sides exchanged pre-arbitration briefs and saw how far apart they are. Johansson's $3.75 million contract for one year was an arbitration award last summer, falling roughly between the $3 million requested by Washington and the $4.75 million filed by Johansson in the pre-arbitration briefs.If Johansson and the Capitals don't negotiate a deal prior to his July 20 hearing, he'll become the first player since 2006 to have a hearing twice. According to generalfanager.com, Washington has about $8 million left in salary cap space, and it has also yet to re-sign restricted free-agent defenseman Dmitry Orlov, who did not elect for arbitration.The Capitals would have the option to walk away within 48 hours of the arbitration verdict, but the team would not get any return on an asset, and Johansson would face unrestricted free agency later this summer.OlympicsUMB law attendee Farmer named to U.S. women's rugby teamCarmen Farmer, a Maryland resident who attended law school at the University of Maryland, Baltimore after graduating from Virginia Tech in 2003, was one of 12 players named Monday to the U.S. women's rugby team that will compete in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Rugby is returning to the Games with the &quot;sevens&quot; version of the sport, which has fewer players and more wide-open action. This summer will mark the first time women's rugby will be played at the Olympics, with all matches to be played at Deodoro Stadium from Aug. 6-8. Farmer, a softball player in college who started playing rugby in 2012 for Severn River in Annapolis and earned her first cap for the USA Eagles at the 2013 International Rugby Board Nations Cup, joined the residency program at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., in early 2015 and earned a spot on the NACRA Sevens Championship-winning team. Separate tours with the development USA Falcons preceded her selection to a World Rugby Seven Series team, and she made two appearances at the end of the 2015-16 season. Based on past results on the World Rugby Sevens Series, the U.S. was drawn into Pool A with Australia, Colombia and Fiji for the Games. On the men's team, New England Patriots safety Nate Ebner, who temporarily left football to chase his Olympic dreams, made the 12-man roster. The special teams standout had played elite rugby as a youth before switching to football at Ohio State. He plans to return to the NFL in late August. A full broadcast schedule for the Rugby Sevens competition will be announced by NBC at a later date.Et ceteraReport: O's had 3rd-highest local TV ratings in first halfThe Orioles posted major league baseball's third-highest average ratings for their local game broadcasts through the All-Star break this year, according to SportsBusiness Journal's review of Nielsen data for regional sports networks. The first-place Orioles' rating of 7.16 is up 27 percent compared with this point last season and trails only those for the Kansas City Royals (12.23) and St. Louis Cardinals (8.05). The Oakland Athletics (0.75) are the only team in baseball with a sub-1.0 rating. A ratings point itself represents 1 percent of all households with the team's local sports network. In Baltimore, by comparison, the race portion of May's Preakness drew a 19.7 local rating. The Orioles drew a 5.35 average household rating on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network last season, according to SportsBusiness Journal, which was unchanged from 2014 late-season data. The figure ranked fifth in baseball.—Jonas ShafferNBA: Veteran center Zaza Pachulia turned down a two-year, $20 million deal with the Washington Wizards before he signed a one-year, $2.9 million deal with the Golden State Warriors earlier this month, according to a report Sunday from Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. The 32-year-old Pachulia averaged 8.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game last season with the Dallas Mavericks. Washington signed center Ian Mahinmi to a four-year, $64 million earlier this month.Men's college basketball: Will Holland, Julian Boatner and Graham Bousley were named assistant coaches at Mount St. Mary's. Holland, a 2010 Mount St. Mary's graduate, served as an assistant at Saint Francis the past three seasons. Boatner spent the past two seasons as a graduate manager at Indiana and Bousley was the director of operations at Rice the past two years.Sun staff and news services contributed to this article.

Digest: Capitals' Johansson asks for $5.25 million in arbitration; will have hearing Tuesday

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