The Washington Capitals overhauled their defence, by paying huge money to a pair of former Pittsburgh Penguins. [url=http://www.

The Washington Capitals overhauled their defence, by paying huge money to a pair of former Pittsburgh Penguins. Wholesale Jerseys From China . Numbers Game breaks down the signings of Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik. The Capitals Get: D Matt Niskanen and D Brooks Orpik. Niskanen, 27, picked a terrific time to have the best year of his career, scoring a career-best 10 goals and 46 points while playing a career-high 21:18 per game. He was also a career-best plus-33, which is all well and good, but he was one of six regular defencemen (minimum 62 games played) to have a combined on-ice save percentage and on-ice shooting percentage (PDO) at 5-on-5 of 103.0 or better. An on-ice shooting percentage over 10.0% is difficult for any defenceman to sustain, but Niskanens 10.32% was the third-best of his career; basically, its the kind of good fortune that shouldnt be expected, but its not out of the realm of possibility from season to season for Niskanen. Where the puck luck really stuck with Niskanen last year, was that he also had a .928 on-ice save percentage during 5-on-5 play, so getting favourable percentages at both ends of the ice during the same year contributed to that strong plus-minus. That shouldnt diminish the evaluation of Niskanen entirely, though, because he has consistently been on the right side of the puck possession ledger, and that makes him an asset to any team that acquires him. While Niskanen hasnt typically played hard minutes, and in some years has been excessively sheltered, hes likely to face more difficult matchups now that hes the highest-priced defenceman on the Capitals roster. Signed for seven years and $40.25-million, Niskanen landed the biggest free agent contract of the year. There was probably an element of paying for the good fortune that Niskanen experienced last year, and it is a gamble that Niskanen is going to be able to live up to the money involved in that contract, but if a team is going to swing for the fences on a free agent defenceman, doing so on a guy with consistently strong possession numbers is at least a reasonable foundation on which to make that investment. Which brings us to Brooks Orpik, a 33-year-old who has made his bones as a physical, hard-hitting defenceman, registering more than 200 hits in five of the past seven seasons. The unfortunate part, however, is that Orpik in position to hit so much -- particularly in recent years -- because his team doesnt have the puck as often when hes on the ice and the problem with a defensive defenceman who is already on the wrong end of the possession game is that hes certainly not likely to get better as he gets older. For example, in the 2013-2014 season, there were seven defencemen that were over 35 and scored fewer than 20 points (as Orpik has in every season of his career, except one). Its an okay list, some useful players, but six of the seven were 35 or 36. Orpik is signed through his age 38 season and the only -- the only -- NHL defenceman that played more than 60 games without scoring more than 20 points last season was Tampa Bays Sami Salo, who has never played the kind of physical, banging style that characterizes Orpiks game, in part because Salo was always hurt anyway. This doesnt offer much encouragement that the Capitals wont have massive regrets about the Orpik signing; the only question is how soon will those regrets occur? Can he give the Capitals a couple of solid years, maybe facing lower-calibre of competition than he did in Pittsburgh? Thats probably the best hope, but its a longshot that the last two, maybe even three years, wont have the Capitals paying big money for a spare part on their blueline. Orpik is signed for five years, at a cap hit of $5.5-million per season. Big money, long term. Pittsburgh anticipated that they would lose both Niskanen and Orpik and, in addition to having an opening or two for some prospects, they also signed Christian Ehrhoff to add stability to their defence. Its entirely understandable for the Capitals to make a move to upgrade their defence. They allowed 33.5 shots per game, ranking 27th in the league, last season, so the defence needed to get better. Ultimately, the Capitals are better today after adding Niskanen and Orpik, but that should never be up for debate when committing close to $11-million annually to two players. What has to matter is how much better they are, whether the money spent is worth it and what the fall-out will be. The Capitals dont have to make any moves --- they are under the $69-million salary cap -- but they have $28,762,500 committed to their defence, according to Cap Geek. The only teams spending in that neighbourhood for their defence are Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, who have Chris Pronger and Mattias Ohlund, respectively, on long-term injured reserve. St. Louis and Chicago are spending in the $24-million-to-$25-million on their respective bluelines right now, so its hard to imagine that the Capitals maintain the status quo, leaving a hole at second line centre while sticking with the most expensive defence corps in the league. We will see what other moves the Capitals have in mind this summer but, right now, it appears that they spent a lot of money to get better in the short-term; signing deals that appear to have more downside risk because of the long terms involved. 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. Supply NFL Jerseys . -- Adrian Peterson remained in a walking boot to treat a high ankle sprain on his left leg on Wednesday, and coach Leslie Frazier said he will not play on Sunday against Atlanta if he cant hit the practice field in the next two days. Cheap NFL Jerseys Shop . Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel also accused Pistorius of tailoring his testimony to fit the evidence at the scene. Pistorius denied the accusations. Nel alleged that the Olympic runner changed his aim with his 9 mm pistol to ensure that he hit Steenkamp as she fell back against a magazine rack in a toilet cubicle. http://www.wholesalechinajerseys.net/ . - Rookie Kyle Larson will start from the pole position Saturday night in the NASCAR race at Richmond International Raceway after a thunderstorm arrived just in time to wash out qualifying.COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. - Joe Torre still needs a pinch or two, just to make sure. "Its still sort of unbelievable," he said. "Cooperstown was always something way out there. OK, I know where it is. Doesnt mean Im going there to visit, much less be inducted. I never had a goal of getting to the Hall of Fame." Thats exactly where hes headed Sunday. Torre will be inducted with fellow former managers Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa in what is a banner year for the baseball shrine. Pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and slugger Frank Thomas also will enter. Torre, La Russa, and Cox were unanimously elected in December by the Halls Expansion Era committee. It was a tense time for Torre. "I sort of was torn emotionally with the fact that Bobby and Tony were on the ballot," he said. "I remember having dinner with Tony the night before the announcement. Whoever gets in, if the other one doesnt get in, its sort of going to feel unfair. Our three careers just really mirrored each other." "When the three of us got in, I think it just made it that much sweeter. It was probably the first time we stopped lying to each other," he said. Theres always been a mutual admiration among La Russa, Cox and Torre, contemporaries who rank third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in all-time managerial wins. "I always felt like Joe was the best at teaching a team the right way to win and lose," said La Russa, who compiled 2,728 wins in 33 seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland and St. Louis, behind only Connie Mack (3,731) and John McGraw (2,763). "A loss, they never made excuses. Just got beat." "But they won. They won a lot, and they never showed up the other side," La Russa said. "They never embarrassed you because they beat you, and I cant say the same for other teams and other managers." While Torre excelled as a player — in 1971 he won National League MVP honours with a signature season that included 230 hits and a .363 average, 97 runs, and 137 RBIs for the Cardinals — he became something special in the New York Yankees dugout. Despite mediocre stints managing the New York Mets, Atlanta and the Cardinals (five winning seasons in 15 years), Torre was hired by the Yankees prior to the 1996 season. "That was a good sign for me, trust me," said Torre, the only man to amass more than 2,000 hits (2,342) as a player and win more than 2,000 games (2,326) as a manager, according to STATS. "After youve been fired three times and then you get hired by the Yankees, that was a good sign. I figured it was all said and done by that point in time," he said. Ever the diplomat, Torre somehow managed to assuage the most demanding of owners in George Steinbrenner, maintaining his coolness amid all the Bronx craziness while keeping all those egos in check. The result: 10 division titles, six AL pennants and four World Series triumphs in 12 years as he helped restore the lustre to baseballs most successful franchise. Heady territory for a guy who never played in the Fall Classic. "It was magical. I never took it for granted," said Torre, who today serves as Major League Baseballs executive vice-president for basebaall operations. Authentic Cheap Jerseys. . "I just think its so important to respect this game, just the fact that you can leave your mark and possibly wind up in a place like this, even though thats not why you play the game. Its just been an amazing ride for me." La Russas teams finished first 12 times and won six pennants, and he was picked as Manager of the Year four times, finishing second in the voting five other times. He went to the World Series three straight years from 1988-90 and also lost in the 2004 World Series when his Cardinals were swept by the Boston Red Sox. That La Russa found success in the dugout and not as a player is not a surprise. He made his big league debut as a teenage infielder with the 1963 Kansas City Athletics and appeared in just 132 games over six seasons, hitting .199 with no home runs and seven RBIs. "How lousy I was, I was hoping the guy wouldnt call me in to play. Thats the truth," La Russa said. "Then I got to thinking, I cant make a living, so I went to law school." La Russa tried to finance his way through law school as a player-coach in the White Sox organization, and quickly learned there was a lot more to managing than simply making out a lineup card. That allowed La Russa the opportunity to question and second-guess and it all "got my fires going." After graduation, La Russa decided to see if he could manage in the minors to get the bug out, with the ultimate goal of becoming a lawyer. The White Sox gave him Double-A and Triple-A assignments, and he was hooked, becoming a devoted student of the game. In 1983, he managed the White Sox to their first post-season berth in 24 years, and 13 years later he rewarded new Cardinals owners with a division title in his first season in St. Louis (1996). That ended the franchises nine-year post-season slump, and they made it to the playoffs nine times in 16 seasons overall. La Russa also had 70 postseason victories, trailing only Torres 84, and he and his role model, Sparky Anderson, are the only managers to win the World Series in both leagues. La Russa credits early conversations with Anderson, Paul Richards, Earl Weaver, Chuck Tanner, Gene Michael, and Billy Martin for much of his success. "We watched all these masters," La Russa said. "We would study the managers, and there was this one guy in Toronto that after the second series we played against him we agreed, Hey, this guy is as good as any of them. His name was Bobby Cox." The fiery Cox — he was ejected a major league record 161 times — guided the Braves to an unprecedented 14 straight division titles and 15 playoff appearances. Many of those wins came with Maddux and Glavine on the mound for him. When Cox, who also spent four years in Toronto, retired after the 2010 season he was the fourth-winningest manager with 2,504 victories in 29 seasons. To be sure, induction day will be one to remember. "The entire thing can never happen again in a million years, I dont think," Cox said. "A manager being able to go in with two of the greatest pitchers in the history of baseball, and then going in with two fellow managers at the same time. I dont think thats ever, ever going to happen again." ' ' '