Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
APNorris Trophy (best defenseman)
Nicklas Lidstrom
Detroit Red Wings
As long as he stays healthy the Swede will win this award for the seventh time in the last eight seasons. I believe his numbers will be better than they were last season when in 76 games he had 70 points (10 goals and 60 assists). With his superb passing and wise shot selection, Lidstrom is an integral part of a Red Wings’ power play that should be overwhelming with the addition of free agent winger Marian Hossa. And Detroit’s offense will be an overpowering one.
I also expect that Lidstrom’s plus-minus will be better, which is really saying something as he finished second to teammate Pavel Datsyuk in this category last season (Datsyuk was plus 41, Lidstrom was plus 40).
Lidstrom, who turns 39 next April, will get competition for the Norris from Chris Pronger of Anaheim and Dion Phaneuf of Calgary but if he stays healthy the only way he doesn’t win this award will be if Detroit coach Mike Babcock paces him for another Red Wings’ run at the Stanley Cup.
Now that Detroit has gotten Brad Stuart’s signature on a four-year contract no team can boast a top six on defense (Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall, Stuart, Brett Lebda and Andreas Lilja) as good as Detroit’s. Lidstrom averaged 26 minutes and 43 seconds a game of ice time last season but with such a strong unit of blue liners Babcock does not have to play Lidstrom the amount of minutes he did last season. So if Lidstrom happens to average around 25 minutes a game his numbers could be impacted and so could his chance at taking home another Norris. But Lidstrom’s physical conditioning is incredible so Babcock might not have to drop his minutes much if at all.
Adams Award (best coach)
Barry Melrose
Tampa Bay Lightning
I was torn on this one between Ken Hitchcock of Columbus and Barry Melrose of Tampa Bay. The Lightning along with the Kings finished with the fewest points (71) in the league last season. But this season I see Tampa Bay making the most improvement in its point total of any team and threatening for a playoff spot so I’m going with Melrose to win the Adams.
With his return to coaching the biggest learning curve Melrose will have will be getting to know his own players. When it comes to the league, well, there aren’t many people who watched more hockey than Melrose did while he was at ESPN so he doesn’t need to learn about the opposition.
Melrose is a players’ coach, who is a good communicator. I expect that the majority of Tampa Bay players will flourish under Melrose and he should do a fantastic job in his first season with the Lightning. After year one, the challenge for Melrose will be to see what kind of staying power his style of coaching will have with the Lightning.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Check out highlights from the Rangers 3-2 win over the Capitals.
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Ovechkin, Brodeur award speeches June 12: The Capitals' Alexander Ovechkin wins the Hart Trophy as MVP, while the Devils' Martin Brodeur takes home another Vezina Trophy as top goalie. |
ProHockeyTalk headlines |
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 NHLI via Getty Images |
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 | NHL All-Stars Take a look at the players who competed in Team Chara's 12-9 victory over Team Alfredsson. more photos |
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.