Gästebuch » matters worse, skipper Scott Pendlebury lim

The Tampa Bay Lightning made an aggressive move to fill the void created when they bought out Vincent Lecavalier. Numbers Game looks into Tampa Bay signing Valtteri Filppula. The Lightning Get: C Valtteri Filppula. Filppula, 29, is coming off a season in which he scored 17 points in 41 games, his lowest per-game (0.41 ppg) point production since his rookie season of 2006-2007, yet he put up his best possession numbers, so there was a certain amount of bad luck involved in that scoring dive. One of the challenges that Filppula will face in Tampa Bay is that he spent most of the past couple seasons in Detroit playing on a line with Henrik Zetterberg, one of the games premier puck possession players and, no matter how skilled his linemates in Tampa Bay, they probably wont be as complete as Zetterberg. Signed for five years and $25-million, Filppula is going to be expected to replace Vincent Lecavaliers production in the Tampa Bay lineup. Filppula could be a productive secondary scorer; he notched a career-high 66 points in 2011-2012, but thats the only time in his career that hes scored more than 40 points in a season. How many times, in seasons when he will be aged 29 through 33, should he be expected to surpass that threshold over the course of his five-year deal? Based on Filppulas track record, getting more than 40 points three times would qualify as a success. Had the Lightning not signed Filppula, they could have had AHL MVP Tyler Johnson penciled in as the second line centre for next season. The 5-foot-9, 22-year-old had 65 points in 62 regular season games, adding 21 points in 18 playoff games, in addition to six points in 14 games with the Lightning, but now his path to playing time in Tampa Bay appears more complicated. The Red Wings replaced Filppula with Stephen Weiss and, given the similarity in their contracts (five year, $24.5-million for Weiss), it sure looks like the Red Wings chose what they perceived as an upgrade for that second-line centre position. Certainly, Lightning GM Steve Yzerman is very familiar with Filppula from his time in Detroit and Tampa Bay has enough skilled forwards to give Filppula a chance to produce, but he wasnt consistently productive while playing for the Red Wings, so its not easy to forecast better things for him with the Lightning. 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. Gerson Bautista Mariners Jersey . Still, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke thought taking him out before the fifth inning was an unusual move. "Im looking up at the board and hes got two hits given up and one run, and Im taking him out after the fourth inning," Roenicke said. Dave Niehaus Mariners Jersey . Tuesdays surgery at Atlantas Piedmont Hospital was performed by Dr. Xavier Duralde and Hawks team physician Dr. Michael Bernot. https://www.cheapmariners.com/735k-kyle-lewis-jersey-mariners.html .Y. - Rob Manfred was promoted Monday to Major League Baseballs chief operating officer, which may make him a candidate to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner. Seattle Mariners Pro Shop .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Mark McLemore Jersey . -- Stanfords Kevin Danser knelt on one knee and hardly moved on the sideline as Michigan State celebrated its Rose Bowl victory and his Cardinal teammates made their way to the locker room. Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley didnt try to hide his disappointment after his Magpies delivered what he felt were the worst three quarters on their season in Friday nights loss to Richmond.And to make matters worse, skipper Scott Pendlebury limped from the MCG with an ankle injury that could keep him out of next Fridays clash against the Western Bulldogs.Pendleburys departure proved a telling moment in a contest where Buckley felt let down by a host of his more experienced players, with his forward line copping the brunt of his wrath.We just had too many blokes who had mares, Buckley said after the 15-point defeat.Our finish - to be able to win one on ones - was poor in the front half, we couldnt win a ball at ground level and then our compplete inability to pressure their backs on the way out was probably the biggest challenge that we had.ddddddddddddOur forwards were poor - beaten in contested play and out-positioned by their defenders and then outplayed when Richmond defenders had the ball.We got very little out of our forward line. We took the ball inside 50 nine more times and scored three goals less.Buckley said it was too early to provide an accurate update on Pendleburys injury, but he wasnt optimistic.Its sore and he wasnt able to come back on and that tells me that something is amiss, he said.Well find out more in the next couple of days. ' ' '