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.
APQ. Where will Marion Gaborik be playing next season?
— Ted from Fargo, N.D.
A. Wherever it is, Ted, the talented Slovak winger will be making around $9 million a year, if not more, and he'll be locked in to a long-term deal — perhaps seven years or more.
Now, will he still be in St. Paul? I have my doubts. Not impossible, but also not likely.
This is the start of Gaborik's eighth season with the Wild, and GM Doug Risebrough tried over the summer, and even before, to hammer out a contract extension with him. Thus far, nothing, and the growing feeling around the Xcel Center is that the 6-1, 200-pound star is intent on playing somewhere else. Remember, he will turn 27 years old in February and, more important, becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Risebrough cannot afford to let Gaborik walk for nothing. Now with slightly more than four months to go before the February trade deadline, the GM, if convinced this is the end of Gaborik's Wild tour, will have to find his best deal and simply move him off the books.
Takers? There will be many. To maximize his return, Risebrough must act sooner rather than later. A handful of likely trade partners would include: Los Angeles, San Jose, Chicago, NY Rangers, Canadiens and Islanders. And since you asked for a pick, I'll go with the ’Hawks, either by trade or free agency.
Q. How is Richard Zednik progressing with the Panthers? Has he talked much about his freakish injury?
— Larry Biggs from Waukegan, Ill.
A. Happy to report, Larry, that the 32-year-old Zednik is back as a regular in the Panthers lineup. He logged an average of slightly better than 15:30 of ice time in their first two games this season, and picked up a pair of assists in his second game.
Not bad for a guy who came perilously close to death when his throat was slashed eight months ago by then teammate Olli Jokinen's skate blade. Skating deep into the offensive end at Buffalo, Jokinen was upended by the Sabres' Clark MacArthur, sending the Finnish forward tumbling head-first toward the ice. As Jokinen fell, both of his fleet flew up in the air, and one of his skate blades sliced nearly completely through Zednik's carotid artery.
''I felt like somebody stabbed me,'' Zednik said days later, following emergency surgery at Buffalo General Hospital.
This season, Zednik has carried on with his business as usual and has said little about his mishap. What better measure of his recovery?
Q. Why has it taken Pat Quinn so long to get back into coaching?
— Alex from Hamilton, Ontario
A. Quinn, who will turn 66 years old in January, was mentioned for a number of coaching vacancies in the off-season, but when the music stopped, he still remained out of work. He hasn't worked behind an NHL bench, or in a front office, since being dumped by the Leafs in favor of Paul Maurice following the conclusion of the 2005-'06 season.
Without question, Alex, age has something to do with it. The NHL each year becomes a sport of the faster and younger, and most GMs prefer to go with a coach who better fits the players' demographic. Fair? Maybe not, but that's how the business works, at least nowadays. Of course, if Scott Bowman ever wanted to return to the behind-the-bench brotherhood, I would imagine at least a dozen NHL clubs would scramble to get him under contract.
In the summer of '06, Quinn was widely rumored to be going to Boston, where new GM Peter Chiarelli opted not to keep Mike Sullivan on the job. But in short order, Chiarelli opted for Dave Lewis, only to dump the ex-Red Wings assistant after one season. Chiarelli then opted for a second time not to hire Quinn, instead choosing Claude Julien to run the bench.
If Quinn makes it back to NHL duty, I suspect it would be in an interim role, brought in to help tidy up some club's disaster of a season. If the club showed some spark, perhaps he would be retained beyond that bailout opportunity. I especially liked how Quinn's Toronto squads traded chances, rather than resort to boring and defensive ''trap'' hockey. He may not be current, in terms of his birth certificate, but I like his coaching style.
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.