of going for gold in Tokyo 2020. | Forum
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Nov 14 '17
When Chris Phillips suits up for his next game, he will move into a tie with Jean Beliveau on the NHLs all-time games played list. Vince Williams Jersey . Beliveau played his entire career with the Montreal Canadiens and up to this point, Phillips has played all 1,124 games of his career with the Ottawa Senators. But there is no guarantee that Phillips will be in the Ottawa lineup on Tuesday night in Edmonton, as his future with the team is up in the air. Phillips has reportedly been offered a one-year contract extension by the Senators, but its believed the 35-year-old defenseman is looking for a multi-year deal. If the two sides cannot come to an agreement on an extension in the next 48 hours, there is a very realistic chance that Phillips will be moved by Wednesdays 3pm ET trade deadline. And while Phillips has been able to control his fate in the past, he no longer has the luxury of holding the hammer with a no-trade clause this time around – which means general manager Bryan Murray can move him to any team in the NHL that is willing to offer suitable compensation. If Phillips is moved by the trade deadline, he will join the likes of Daniel Alfredsson and Jarome Iginla as players who left Canadian cities after spending the majority of their careers with one team. A couple of years ago it seemed unfathomable that all three of these players would pack up and leave. But playing an entire career in one Canadian city has been virtually impossible since the NHL expanded in 1967. That ended the Original Six era when players like Beliveau and the Richard brothers played with only one Canadian franchise for the duration of their careers. Since that time, only one player – Bob Gainey – played more than 1,000 games and spent his entire career with one Canadian team. As it stands right now, Phillips and Gainey are the only two members in that exclusive club – although that could change in the next couple of days. (Other players like Thomas Steen and Stan Smyl spent their entire career in one Canadian city, but did not meet the 1,000-game threshold) At the same time, its a lot easier to find players who fit these criteria in American cities. Whereas the Canadian list of players includes just Gainey and Phillips (for now), the American list includes the following 14 players: Nicklas Lidstrom – DetroitSteve Yzerman – DetroitMartin Brodeur – New JerseyKen Daneyko – New JerseyGilbert Perreault – BuffaloDenis Potvin – NY IslandersBobby Clarke – PhiladelphiaPatrik Elias – New JerseyDave Taylor – Los AngelesCraig Ramsay – BuffaloWayne Cashman – BostonPatrick Marleau – San JoseTomas Holmstrom – DetroitMilan Hejduk - Colorado So just by comparing the two lists, it seems significantly more difficult to spend your entire career in one Canadian city – even when you adjust for the fact there are roughly three times as many American teams in the NHL. This dates back almost 30 years, when players from the Montreal Canadiens dynasty moved along to other teams to close out their careers. Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe and Steve Shutt all joined other teams after the Canadiens stopped winning Stanley Cups. And all of the pieces of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty found new homes as well, with most of them ending up with the New York Rangers at some point in their careers. This trend also includes players who didnt play for winning teams, but were considered to be mainstays with their Canadian teams. Borje Salming played the first 1,099 games of his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but in a prelude to what Alfredsson would later do, he signed a free agent contract with the Detroit Red Wings to finish off his career. Even popular players who were deemed to be the "face of the franchise" by the fans and media in the 1990s were moved along, like Trevor Linden, Wendel Clark and Ryan Smyth. All three players eventually returned to their original teams to close out their careers, but were unable to stay for several years during their prime. And the recent examples of Alfredsson and Iginla highlight the challenges of staying with one Canadian team in this current climate. The Sedin twins recently signed long-term extensions that should keep them in Vancouver for the rest of their careers, but dont be surprised if they leave to chase a Stanley Cup at some point if the Canucks dont have a legitimate chance at winning in two or three years. There are certainly more challenges that make playing in a Canadian market extremely difficult. In some cases, the players feel suffocated by a rabid media and fan base and yearn for a chance to spend a couple of seasons in a fresh place. In other instances, the players fail to live up to the expectations of a contract and are forced to a new destination because public pressure becomes intolerable. Often a player just wants a chance to win a Stanley Cup and doing so has been impossible for Canadian teams since 1993. And we are all well aware of how Canadian cities have colder climates and higher taxes that make American destinations seem more appealing at times. Whatever the reasons – and most need to be judged on a case-by-case basis – it appears virtually impossible to spend your entire career in one Canadian city. If Phillips signs an extension in Ottawa, he will join Bob Gainey on this list of post-expansion players to spend their entire careers with one Canadian team and play more than 1,000 games. But as history shows, its more likely that Phillips will be moving on to a different destination to close out his career. Jesse James Jersey . Betancourt was 2-5 with a 4.08 ERA and 16 saves for the Rockies last season before tearing a ligament in his pitching elbow. He considered undergoing platelet-rich plasma therapy to fix his arm, but announced in August his decision to have Tommy John surgery. Dan McCullers Jersey . - The Toronto Blue Jays have optioned pitchers Kyle Drabek, Chad Jenkins and Sean Nolin to triple-A Buffalo.Ben Ransom gets a behind-the-scenes look at the facilities that the British Olympic Association hope will be the launch-pad to another record-breaking medal haul. Be prepared or prepare to fail.Its an old cliché but its one that Team GB are living by as they get ready for Rio 2016. The plans are certainly impressive, with the British Olympic Association (BOA) putting more money than ever before into the preparation for an overseas Games. £1.6m of lottery funding has been set aside by UK Sport to fund the biggest pre-Games training camp a British team has ever had. In fact they believe its the biggest and most extensive training camp of any of the other nations competing in Rio. Lofty ambitions indeed.Two weeks before the opening ceremony, British athletes will begin boarding flights to Brazil, but having landed at the host city of Rio de Janeiro theyll jump straight onto another plane and fly 45 minutes north into the mountains. Belo Horizonte is a city that conjures up painful sporting memories for those who follow England, and in particular English football. Not only was it the scene of one of their most humiliating ever World Cup results in 1950 when they were beaten by a team of amateurs from the USA, the return 64 years later saw Roy Hodgsons England crash out of the 2014 competition after a lacklustre goalless draw with Costa Rica.Thankfully its a unified British team that will be touching down later this summer and when they arrive theyll be greeted by the best training facilities found anywhere in Brazil. The athletics track has the exact same surface as the Olympic Stadium in Rio, while Belo Horizonte is also home to Brazils only other indoor 50-metre swimming pool to meet international standards. Team GB will have access to a 50-metre swimming pool, one of only two pools to meet the international standard in Brazil Each and every competing sport will enjoy a similar level of meticulous preparation, with a fleet of shipping containers crossing the Atlantic right now bringing with them everything from canoe slalom start gates to full-size Olympic boxing rings. Even the hotel rooms here will get the Team GB treatment to make sure athletes feel right at home - with patriotic posters and Union Flag cushions on the sofas.Paul Ford is the Head of pre-Games training and explained to Sky Sports News HQ why theyre going to all of the trouble.Technical training is the first most important thing and after that were then looking at how we can best acclimatise, Ford said.Were only 45 minutes flight away from Rio so its got exactly the same climate, which allows the athletes to go through the process of that four-hour time zone shift and get used to being inside Brazil before they go into the village and do their competition.The other key part of it is bringing together Team GB because they might come here as British Judo or the British fencing team, but they leave here as part of Team GB ready to take on the world. The running track Team GBs athletes will train on at Belo Horizonte will be the exact same surface found at the Olympic Stadium in Rio In 2010 the BOA wouldve been forgiven for putting everything into making sure London 2012 lived up to all the hype. Mike Wagner Jersey. However, in addition to focusing on their own backyard, a delegation was also more than 5,000 miles away visiting the training venues here in Belo Horizonte. To put it into some perspective, recent media reports in Brazil questioned why the home nation had not secured the facilities in Belo instead to give themselves the best chance of success this summer.Brazils loss is Britains gain and rather than looking at it as an expensive gamble, Team GB are confident the investment of time and money will pave the way for their most successful ever overseas Games. To do that they have to get a total of 48 medals, one more than they achieved in Beijing 2008. But having spent three days travelling around with the BOA delegation theres no sense of settling for that figure. Instead theres optimism that British performances in Rio could even push their greatest ever Olympic medal haul - when Team GB landed a total of 65 medals, including 29 golds in London. Sky Sports Orla Chennaoui brings us the latest news from Belo Horizonte where Team GB will soon begin their preparations for this summers Olympic Games As was the case in the build-up to London 2012 there are also negative headlines. Brazil is a country facing huge political and social problems, as well as a battle with the well-publicised Zika virus. Team GB want to leave their own human legacy in their home from home. Much of the training equipment being brought out and paid for by UK Sport will then be donated to local sports clubs in Belo Horizonte. And who knows, it might even be the small act of trans-Atlantic kindness that allows a young Brazilian athlete to fulfil their dream of going for gold in Tokyo 2020.That truly would be a legacy of Olympic proportions. Also See: Schedule/Results Ones to Watch Photos Athletics Video Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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