导出博客文章The Minnesota Wild are a pretty good hockey team.
Vans Shoes Outlet Uk . In order to be a great team, they need one more top-end player.The Wild are in third place in the difficult Central Division and sport the best goal differential (plus-15) in the Western Conference. Those results are nice and new head coach Bruce Boudreau has added a needed boost to their play, but questions still linger over whether Minnesota has enough talent to get past the first or second round, something that has plagued them since signing Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to mega deals. In the past four seasons, the Wild have been eliminated from the first round twice, and the second round twice.With a roster that is similar to the quickly eliminated teams of the past, the Wild have still struggled to be offensively threatening. They have won on the back of great goaltending so far this season. Netminder Devan Dubnyk has an insane (and unsustainable) .946 save percentage. Minnesotas group of skaters has not done much that statistically reflects a Cup-caliber team. While Boudreaus teams have often won despite lacking an impressive shot differential, a rank of 22nd in Corsi for percentage is not a great sign. The Wild are ninth in goals for per 60 minutes at even strength, 16th on the power play and 13th in penalty kill. All decent stats, but nothing eye-popping.As the Wild race against the fading primes of Parise and Suter, they should be willing to take risks to win now. In this case, the risk should be dealing one of their defenseman for more scoring talent. But who should they target, and who should they give up to make it happen?
Vans Wholesale Uk .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre.
Wholesale Vans Shoes . He just needed to be his best twisting, turning acrobatic self. "I didnt need to be anybody else, I just needed to be myself and be aggressive," said Burks, who scored a career-high 34 points to spark the Utah Jazz to a 118-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.
http://www.vanssaleuk.com/ . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months.ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Batted balls. Wounded ducks. Interceptions. Passes into the turf. The Oakland Raiders opened their three-day mandatory minicamp on Tuesday with a passing offence that looks far from a finished product. From presumed starter Matt Flynn to the only returning quarterback Terrelle Pryor to rookie Tyler Wilson, none of the quarterbacks fighting to replace Carson Palmer as the starter in Oakland are standing apart from the competition. With more than six weeks until training camp and nearly three months until the season opener, none of the competitors or coach Dennis Allen seemed overly concerned at this point. "Each and every day were going to want to come out and complete every pass and throw 10 touchdowns," Flynn said. "But realistically right now everyone is still learning, everyone is learning each other, everyone is learning a new playbook. Things are coming. Things are formulating. But we have a long time until game one." Flynn said he has seen lots of progress in how receivers are learning to adjust routes against certain coverage, the communication between the quarterbacks and offensive linemen about protection schemes and the ability to get in and out of the huddle more quickly. Allen said the biggest issue so far through three weeks of OTAs and now the start of minicamp has been establishing consistency, especially in a passing offence working with its third co-ordinator in as many years with Greg Olson now in charge. "I dont allow that to frustrate me," Allen said. "I understand where were at in the season. I understand that weve got a lot of new pieces, a lot of new guys working together and I dont concern myself with that. I know weve got a lot of work to do, but the way our guys are working, were going to get where we need to be." For most of the veterans in Oakland, they are learning a third offensive system in as many years after spending last year with Greg Knapp and the previous two with Hue Jackson calling plays. There were few passes completed downfield by any quarterback during team drills Tuesday. Two of those came on fluttering passes down the sideline by Flynn that Marcel Reece and Denarius Moore managed to catch after leaping over defenders. Much more common were passes that were batted down at the line by defenders, others that wentt into open space after miscommunications between quarterback and receiver and others that were off-target or into coverage.
Cheap Van Shoes Wholesale. Pryor said he had four balls tipped at the line and Flynn had two in what he called a "nerve-racking" experience. But he said that is bound to happen when linemen arent in pads and are unable to get down low and whats most important at this time of year is making the correct decision. "It kind of makes you mad but, at the end of the day ... as long as the ball is going to the right spot, its good," Pryor said. "In terms of our movement, getting in and out of the huddle, for all of us, we did a great job with protection calls, getting the guys going. But blocked balls, it was a factor today." Pryor started the season finale a year ago when Palmer was hurt and went 13 for 28 for 150 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in a 24-21 loss to the Chargers. He also ran for 49 yards and a score and looked more than capable running the offence. But even though Palmer is gone, Pryor is not expected to be the starter after the Raiders traded for Flynn in the off-season. But a year ago at this time, Flynn was the presumed starter in Seattle after being acquired by the Seahawks in the off-season but ended up being beaten out for the job by rookie Russell Wilson. "Its still a long time before even the first preseason game," Pryor said. "So, that talk is nonsense. It doesnt matter right now, as long as were helping each other, and were getting better and building team chemistry. Thats the main thing, working with each other. Right now, not knowing who the starting quarterback is going to be and whos getting talked about, thats the thing thats not very important right now, to me." The third quarterback in the mix is Wilson, a fourth-round pick out of Arkansas who might have the strongest arm in the group. But Wilson is still adjusting to the speed and complexity of the NFL game. "Theres a lot being thrown at us," he said. "Obviously, the defence is doing some things, and the offence is trying to put a lot on the table and see what sticks. Its a process for all of us going through it, and its good. I think we made plays on both sides of the ball today. On the offence, sometimes it wasnt pretty, but we got through it, we made plays." ' ' '