The Red Sox and Josh Beckett announced the completion of a four-year, $68 million extension that will keep the pitcher in Boston through the 2014 season on Monday afternoon. There is little question that, had Beckett reached the open market after 2010 (presuming that he stayed healthy), he could have seen more guaranteed years and money in a deal. The five-year, $82.5 million deals signed by both Sox teammate John Lackey and Yankees starter A.J. Burnett suggest as much.

Yet Beckett made clear that he had no reservations about the possibility that he was not seeking every available guaranteed dollar.

“I guess I look at it differently than most people do. A lot of people look at what you could lose, or what you lost. I look at what I gained here,” said Beckett. “I gained four years more of stability knowing that i’m going to be in an organization that’s going to put a competitive team out...

The NHL announced on Monday that Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask was named the NHL's Third Star of the Week. Rask posted a 2-1 record with a .055 goals-against average, .977 save percentage and had one shutout in four appearances. Rask shutout the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday and claimed and overtime win against Toronto on Saturday for the two wins. Rask leads all NHL goaltenders with a 1.96 goals-against average and .931 save percentage.

Montreal's Jaroslav Halak was named the First Star and Anaheim's Saku Koivu picked up the Second Star.

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