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.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has 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.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
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.
Getty ImagesA net gain on the attack
The Rangers began the season by struggling mightily on offense. The pieces didn’t fit the puzzle the way management was hoping. Drury and Gomez got off to slow starts. It was musical chairs for a while as different line combinations were tried out. Seven months after the first puck dropped on their regular season, the Rangers are scoring better.
Slowly but surely their attack has improved. Renney stopped trying to fit Gomez and Drury with Jagr, who instead has played the most with rookie Brandon Dubinsky, a combination that makes the superstar comfortable and one that has really clicked. Add either Martin Straka or Sean Avery to that line and the Rangers get a pretty consistent burst of offensive punch. With Jagr on the ice, opposing defenses always feel threatened and that’s even more so when the Czech scoring machine is meshing well with his linemates.
The Rangers younger players upfront have done a solid job. Three rookies have burst upon the scene. Dubinsky has good speed and great tenacity and just a love of the game. He is not afraid to take chances and be creative, but he never seems to sacrifice defense when doing so. The two other rookies worth noting for their fine efforts are Nigel Dawes and Ryan Callahan, both of whom play with a great amount of energy and the team’s veteran stars feed off it.
What’s next for Jagr?
During the lockout of 2004-05 Jagr played in the southwestern Siberian city of Omsk for a team -- Avangard-Omsk -- of the Russian Super League. Apparently he came away from that experience feeling he would someday like to play in Omsk again. He’s likely to explore such an opportunity this month when Anatoly Bardin, the general manager of Avangard-Omsk, visits New York on business – the top item of which is to meet with Jagr, an unrestricted free agent this summer, and discuss a possible return by the Czech to the Siberian team.
That Jagr -- on the brink of the start of the playoffs -- would publicly confirm he will be meeting with Bardin speaks to the superstar’s complex personality. The timing of this meeting is strange – and strange is a good word to describe Jagr. I challenge anyone to say they have truly figured Jagr out despite his being in the NHL since 1990.
If Jagr is seriously considering playing in Siberia, he will want to leave the NHL on a positive note. The one thing for certain about him is that he takes pride in his numbers. This was only the second time in Jagr’s 16 NHL seasons that he didn't score 30 goals. If he can put this negative stat behind him by accomplishing something significant in the playoffs, then he may find it much easier to bid farewell to the NHL.
The mystery at this point is how much the Rangers would be willing to pay Jagr to keep him in New York? Renney has a special relationship with Jagr and the coach will go to bat for his superstar in a big way. Rangers general manager Glen Sather brought Jagr to New York and Sather believes teams win when they have star players. But in the end will the Rangers’ brass believe Jagr can help the team win enough games in the future that it will pay him what it takes to keep him in New York?
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Knowing Jagr figure his decision will come down to money. A Rangers’ offer of between $4 and $6 million a year for two years might well be expected. What also might well be expected is for Bardin to top that offer leaving Jagr with one tough choice to make.
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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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.
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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.
