Dein erstes Forum » them, whereas even five years ago, you were,

The St. Louis Blues brought in the premier unrestricted free agent centre, and did it without breaking the bank. Numbers Game looks at the Blues signing of Paul Stastny. The Blues Get: C Paul Stastny. Stastny, 28, has been a strong two-way centre, capable of putting up points and, more recently, taking on tougher assignments while remaining productive. Since arriving in the league in 2006-2007, Stastny has 458 points in 538 games, which ranks 34th. While his possession stats havent been dominant, it needs to be considered that they have been accrued in Colorado, where theyve been strong in relative terms, and hes among a select group of forwards to face quality opposition and start more of his shifts in the defensive zone, yet still have strong relative possession stats. Joining St. Louis is a terrific situation for Stastny too. The Blues had a contending team last season that could have used an offensive boost and Stastny ought to provide that and with last years top line -- Alex Steen, David Backes and T.J. Oshie -- capable of handling a lot of heavy lifting (tough matchups, defensive zone starts), Stastny should be freed up for more of an offensive role than the all-around responsibility he had with Colorado. Also working in Stastnys favour is that by moving to a team with much better puck possession stats, there will be more opportunity for Stastny to play in the offensive zone and if he ends up with rising young wingers Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko (or fellow U.S. Olympian T.J. Oshie), it would be easy enough to forecast that line being very productive. Theres also some shuffling to do among Blues forwards, as they have signed C Jori Lehtera and that could mean Patrik Berglund and David Backes shifting to wings, leaving Vladimir Sobotka and Maxim Lapierre in the third and fourth-line spots. The team that Stastny is leaving, the Colorado Avalanche, will have their hands full trying to match their 2013-2014 regular season success, but the team does at least have options down the middle, with Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon more than suitable on the top two lines, and they have Ryan OReilly (who shifted to wing last season) available if needed. Losing Stastny means tougher minutes for those guys, but the Avalanche at least have the personnel to withstand a loss at centre. The ideal part of this deal for St. Louis is that they didnt have to get into an outrageous deal in order to acquire the player who was clearly the best free agent centre on the market. Stastny wanted to go to St. Louis and was willing to take a shorter term than he might have made elsewhere. Signed for four years and $28-million, Stastny gets a raise on what he was making in Colorado, joins the team with which his father, Peter, finished his career and its not an unreasonable price for what Paul Stastny provides. If Stastny can thrive in an offensive role, hell give the Blues a legitimate chance to get into the discussion with the best teams in the Western Conference and thats all that can be asked from a contending team when they dip into the free agent pool. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Vans Old Skool Sale Cheap . The team reported the signing on its website Thursday, but said Friday the deal was off in "a mutual parting of the ways that had to do with the language of the contract. Vans Old Skool Best Price Uk . Bowditch, the 30-year-old Australian seeking his first PGA Tour title, shot a 4-under 68 to reach 12 under at TPC San Antonio. Matt Kuchar and Andrew Loupe were tied for second. Kuchar shot 65, and Loupe had a 70. http://www.oldskoolclearanceuk.com/ .com) - Semyon Varlamov more than earned his third shutout of the season as he made a career-high 54 saves to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 2-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. Vans Old Skool Outlet Uk .Y. - Alex Rodriguez paid $305,000 for evidence that could be used in the case involving the Biogenesis of America drug clinic, the Daily News reported Saturday. Cheap Vans Old Skool For Sale .That means, of course, that John Wall beat the Spurs for the first time ever — within weeks of his first wins in head-to-head games against nemeses Chris Paul and Derrick Rose.FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Steve Belichick would sit in his booth above the field with his pencils and charts as he watched Navys future opponent through binoculars.More than half a century later, the son of the renowned scout gets video just hours after his next opponents game ends.That certainly will speed the process once coach Bill Belichick finds out which team will face his New England Patriots in the playoffs.If Baltimore beats Pittsburgh on Saturday night, the top-seeded Patriots will host the Ravens in an AFC divisional game Jan. 10. If the Steelers prevail, the winner of Sunday afternoons game between Cincinnati and Indianapolis will visit Gillette Stadium.Soon after the opponent is determined, video of its game will be scrutinized in Foxborough.Certainly by the next morning, Belichick said. Depending on when the game is, maybe even later that evening.How much would it help in this era if a scout watches games in person, like his dad did during 33 years at Navy when he rarely saw the Midshipmen play because he was elsewhere on a scouting assignment?Less than one per cent, Belichick said. Now you can get the film just as quickly.But watching games live would be more valuable than on television, he said, especially if thats all you had, which isnt really the case for us. But there was a time ...A time when Steve Belichick, who literally wrote the book on football scouting, would travel great distances to watch, take detailed notes and analyze teams on Navys schedule, and then report back to the coach and his players.I grew up watching my dad scout games live, Belichick said. They played on Saturday. Sometimes they wouldnt get the films until Monday (by) Sunday air shipping from wherever the college team was located, Starkville, Mississippi, or wherever the film was coming from.By attendding the games, Belichick said, his father had that information pretty instantaneously: Here are their substitutions, these are the plays they ran diagrammed, heres the defences they ran, heres how they handled these different situations.dddddddddddd He had it when the game was over.Steve Belichick, who died in 2005 at age 86, wrote the widely praised Football Scouting Methods in 1962.Today, massive amounts of data are readily available.You can get a lot of information now thats already preset for you, Belichick said. If you just want to watch all the plays with No. 79, you can click it and youve got them, whereas even five years ago, you were, Is that 78? Is that 79? Thats the guy with the tape on his left hand.Patriots cornerback Brandon Browner plans to pick up tips while watching this weekends playoff games on television. Hell be guarding receivers from Indianapolis, Cincinnati or Baltimore in his next game.Bills looking at it as a coach. Hes got to watch 22 guys or 11 guys at one time, Browner said. Im watching the receiver and maybe the DBs so I can watch my keys. ... You want to key these guys releases. Youve got some guys who are quick at the line then youve got some guys who are big and strong who use their strength.Steve Belichick got to watch that in person. His son still sees value in that.When you do it yourself, you really know what it is and you remember it, Belichick said. Theres still a lot to be said for grinding it out, doing the little things and really processing the information internally as opposed to just looking at it and being able to remember everything that you see at one glance.Thats the faster way, thats the way to cut the corner, he said. In the end, is it better? Im not sure.___AP NFL websites: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '