lly confident that our game has the best package and we dont ne

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.Wholesale Patriots Jerseys . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. New England Patriots Shirts . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. https://www.patriotsjerseysale.com/ .35 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. New England Patriots Gear . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying. Stitched Patriots Jerseys . A big centre with all the tools to be an elite player, Johansen paced the Blue Jackets with a standout game Saturday night. He had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points as Columbus beat the New York Islanders 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak.Netball Australia has ruled out introducing a two-point shot in next years revamped national league, but says it remains on the table for future seasons.A two-point scoring zone was touted for the new Australian competition but the innovation received a mixed response from those in the game.A Netball Australia survey of players, coaches, umpires and fans found there wasnt enough support to implement the change in 2017.However, the rule will be trialled.There was sufficient support to warrant further exploration of the two-point concept for possible introduction in future years, a statement from Netball Australia said.It will conduct trials of the two-point shot for potential introduction in the second or third year of the new league.Queensland Firebirds coach Roselee Jencke was one vocal critic of the mooted change, saying her teams thrilling extra-time grand final against NSW was proof the sport was best left untouched.dddddddddddde should be really confident that our game has the best package and we dont need to change anything because everybody loves it as it is, she said last month.Next years eight-team national league will feature the five current Australian teams plus franchises backed by Collingwood and Greater Western Sydney and Melbourne Storm on the Sunshine Coast.Netball Australia says the only likely rule change for 2017 will be the introduction of a tactical time-out, allowing coaches the chance to provide strategic input twice during a match. ' ' '