The Ottawa Senators made a low-risk investment, both in terms of picks and contract, in an effort to boost their offence. Numbers Game looks at the Senators getting Ales Hemsky from the Edmonton Oilers for a pair of draft picks. The Senators Get: RW Ales Hemsky. Hemsky, 30, is not the two-time 70-point scorer that he was earlier in his career, but there are some factors working in his favour, at least in terms of producing more offensively. For one thing, he has good possession numbers while facing high-quality opposition and starting an unsually-low (43.9%) percentage of his shifts in the offensive zone. If the Senators plug Hemskys playmaking skill alongside Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek, that would have to be considered a much better situation for an offensive player than Hemskys role in Edmonton this year, where his most common centre was checker Boyd Gordon. The Senators are in tough to try and get into the playoffs -- four points out with 20 games remaining -- but its not impossible and adding Hemsky does give them a decent chance to have a second productive scoring line. Perhaps the real coup of the deal for the Senators is that they convinced the Oilers to retain half of Hemskys salary and while thats not a huge deal for a pending unrestricted free agent, it makes for a cheap addition of a top six forward. The Oilers Get: A fifth-round pick and 2015 third-round pick. The net return on this deal is remarkably little for the Oilers. Cumulatively, a fifth and third-round pick brings approximately a 36% chance of landing an NHL player, and that player is likely not going to be in the league for three or four years, at least. Its one thing to roll the dice on a few picks, but to also pick up half of Hemskys cap hit is a tad generous, but this is likely a function of how the Oilers have used Hemsky this season. If he was played in an offensive role throughout the year and put up points, there would be greater demand for his services which would obviously bring a better return. Since Hemsky was effectively playing on the Oilers third line, there is room to plug in the likes of Ryan Jones or Jesse Joensuu to fill the spot. Presumably there will be an attempt in the offseason to find a more suitable top nine forward to fill the void created by Hemskys departure. In any case, the Hemsky Era in Edmonton is over, after 477 points in 652 games, and hes going to have a decent shot to rehabilitate his offensive image before hitting free agency in the summer. 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. .com) - The Miami Heat stopped a four-game losing streak last time out and thats the same length slide their opponents Wednesday night, the Denver Nuggets, will try to halt when the two teams meet at the Pepsi Center. . The 25-year-old native of Milford, Conn., has 18 points in 41 games this season. The five-foot-eight 166-pound centre also has 28 points (10-18) in 15 games with AHL Oklahoma City.
http://www.cheapblazersjerseysauthentic ... kic-jersey. -- Catriona Matthew remained atop the Airbus LPGA Classic leaderboard Friday, birdieing four of the last seven holes to take a one-stroke advantage over Charley Hull into the weekend. . The 24-year-old right winger has one assist in nine games this season with the Sabres. In his career, he has three goals and six assists in 43 NHL games. . Nine-year veteran Danny Granger did not make his debut with the Clippers because of a technicality on the teams active list, which is signed by coach Doc Rivers before every game and relayed to the officials. Grangers name was printed by hand by a member of the public relations staff under the heading: "Updated Roster Additions," but the number on the sheet was not circled along with the other active players by the required deadline of 6:30 p.HOUSTON -- Tim Visser scored a try in the 14th minute, and Scotland added a penalty try later in the first half in a 24-6 victory over the United States on Saturday night at BBVA Stadium. Scotlands Greg Laidlaw made one of two penalty kicks and all three conversions, and Stuart Hogg added a try in the second half. "The most important thing to come out of the game is that we did not get scored against," Laidlaw said. "That was very important. We are happy to get the win. We left a couple tries out there. We did our talking on the field, and we are pleased to get off to a good start on the tour." Chris Wyles connected on two of three penalty kicks for the Americans. "I think the game tonight never really picked up momentum, certainly not from our side, but I mean in general, there were many stop-starts there," U.S. coach Mike Tolkin said. "We needed to add more urgency to it. The first half we were too aggressive where we shouldnt have been and got stupid penalties. Early on we werent aggressive where we needed to be. Overall, we didnt do a good job of holding on to the ball." Scotland controlled the possession and kept the U.S. away from the try-zone for most of the match The match was the first for Vern Cotter as Scotlands coach. Cotter was pleased to see his team score several tries without giving up any. "We are happy to get a win in difficult conditions," Cotter said in reference to the temperatures in the 80s. "I thought we showed good struccture in the first part of the first half and gave ourselves a few opportunities to score a couple of tries.dddddddddddd Our scrum got the better of their scrum, which gave us an area to get a good grip of the game and gave us points as well. I was pleased to see the opportunities we created." Visser put Scotland ahead 10-3 in the 14th minute, breaking free and scoring a try before Laidlaws conversion. After Visser dropped the ball twice close to the try-zone, Scotland was finally able to get in, scoring on a penalty try in the 32nd minute, and Laidlaw added the conversion to up Scotlands advantage to 17-3. After Laidlaw missed a penalty kick off the upright in the fourth minute, he connected on a penalty kick from inside the 22 metre line to give Scotland a 3-0 lead in the sixth minute. Wyles tied it at 3 with a penalty kick in the 11th minute, and he cut Scotlands lead to 17-6 with a penalty kick from outside the 22-meter line in the 51st minute, but that would be as close as the Eagles would get. "It was tough," U.S. captain Todd Clever said. "When we tried to put some things together in their territory, it just wasnt there." Scotland upped the lead to 24-6 in the 66th minute with Hogg breaking free along the left sideline and scoring a try and Laidlaw added the conversion. Clever had the Eagles best chance at scoring a try in the 34th minute, touching the line, but after being reviewed, Clever was ruled to have done a double move, and the try was negated. ' ' '
