n, it has been an equal match to ANX. In addition, the roster has barely changed since then, with Alexei LeX Kitsak joining the fray.Vega may be the blue shell to squads not named Kongdoo Monster or Samsung Galaxy, and ev

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- With the new franchises prospects on the ice in front of them at the teams first rookie camp, Minnesota Wild general manager Doug Risebrough sat down next to director of hockey operations Tom Lynn and asked for an initial assessment.The good news was veteran coach Jacques Lemaire looked energized in his return to the NHL bench for the 2000-01 season.The bad?Well, hes got the best shot out there, Lynn quipped to Risebrough.Such was the state of a first-year team, pieced together with experienced players the rest of the league didnt need and newbies with largely unfulfilled potential. The Wild that season had plenty of Casey Stengel moments, Lynns label in reference to the manager of the 1962 New York Mets. They lost 120 games in their Major League Baseball debut.The Wilds first edition wasnt that bad, but they finished 14th out of 15 teams in the Western Conference. That was one spot behind the Columbus Blue Jackets, who with the Wild were the last clubs to enter the league until the recent award of a franchise to Las Vegas.Next year, that yet-unnamed team will build a roster from scratch, just like the Wild and Blue Jackets did 17 years before them. Not only will Las Vegas be the first addition to the NHL in 17 years, but it will become only the third new club since then in any of the countrys four most prominent professional sports leagues. Houston joined the NFL in 2002, and the NBA added Charlotte in 2004.Las Vegas will have some advantages over Columbus and Minnesota, which followed Nashville (1998) and Atlanta (1999) in the previous wave. The salary cap floor, for one, has risen to $54 million. Columbus general manager Doug MacLean had a $17 million payroll to work with on his first roster in the pre-cap era.The advent of analytics has given front offices more tools with which to evaluate players. Theres a higher caliber of prospects reaching the league now, too, fueled by elite skills camps and national development programs.Youre not going to have someone slip through the cracks where youre going to be rolling your eyes and going, `Oh, howd he end up in camp? said Lynn, who was promoted to assistant general manager after two seasons with the Wild and held that role for nearly seven years. Hes now a player agent. Rather than avoiding potholes, your fight will be to avoid mediocrity.The Blue Jackets and Wild also had to fight with each other. With two teams starting simultaneously, the expansion draft pool was further diluted.There were very few players you really wanted, MacLean said, adding: It was a fun process to go through, but at the end of the day you get your list and you say, `Oh, this is it? This is it for $80 million?Thats what the fee was for those teams to join the league. The price tag for Las Vegas is $500 million. Thus, MacLean said, its only fair that the new franchise will start with a stronger talent base.Columbus grabbed left wing Geoff Sanderson, a 30-goal scorer that first season, but netted little else from the expansion draft. In a nontraditional hockey market like Columbus, Blue Jackets brass felt pressure to win faster. They didnt make the playoffs until their eighth season, though, and have only qualified twice.Minnesota, fueled by a states rich history of high school and college programs and pickup games on frozen ponds, took a different tack. Patience was expected from a passionate fan base that lost the North Stars to Dallas in 1993. Complementing top draft picks Marian Gaborik and Nick Schultz, Risebrough focused on hard workers who would respond to Lemaires stern, wise leadership.Having good character players was of the highest importance, Lynn recalled, more important than their physical skills.Darby Hendrickson, a native of Minnesota, had finished his sixth NHL season with Vancouver when he found out the Wild picked him. Fishing by himself at his lake home up north, he had some initial hesitations. The pressure of playing at home was one. The rather dim outlook was another.You dont know with expansion if youre going to be, like, losing every game, said Hendrickson, whos now an assistant coach for the Wild.Hendrickson, fellow center Jim Dowd and defenseman Filip Kuba were among the players fetched in that expansion draft. By year three, they were part of a resilient team that reached the Western Conference finals.Even in that uphill first season, highlights werent hard to come by. The Wild beat Dallas 6-0 in their first matchup against the states old team. The first exhibition game brought a goosebump-inducing standing ovation that still resonates with Hendrickson.I was just like, `Here we go, Hendrickson said, and you knew that the state was going to be behind hockey being back.---AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in Washington contributed to this report. Vapormax For Sale . There was no hesitation from the 40th-ranked Pospisil, from Vernon, B.C., who admitted that he cut back on his training sessions over the last few days to conserve energy as the long ATP season finishes next week at the Paris Masters. Clearance Air Vapormax . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. https://www.cheapvapormaxoutlet.com/ . With his new coach and six-time Grand Slam singles champion Boris Becker watching him during an official match for the first time, Djokovic appeared tentative early against the Slovakian player, who often appeared content to keep the ball in play. Fake Vapormax . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. Vapormax From China .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. The League of Legends offseason is still ongoing for many squads, but vacation time is over for others. As the Intel Extreme Masters in Gyeonggi, South Korea looms, eight teams take on one another for a chance to qualify to IEM Katowice, a distant matter in esports terms. However, the stakes lie outside of the ticket to Katowice. Riots latest balance patches as well as roster changes constitute challenges that need overcoming, and IEM is a step towards both.Group AVega Squadron Samsung Galaxy Immortals J teamGroup BDark Passage Kongdoo Monster Team Liquid Giants GamingSamsung and Kongdoo lead the packContestants have a tough ordeal ahead of them as they face World Championship finalists Samsung Galaxy and Kongdoo Monster, the squad that took a second-place finish at the 2016 KeSPA Cup Finals.The two teams have retained the core of their lineups that have allowed them to reach their objectives in 2016; Samsungs starting lineup took SK Telecom T1 to the brink in the World Championship finals (losing 3-2), and Kongdoo dispatched ESC Ever 3-1 to qualify for the LoL Champions Korea Spring 2017.The two teams have bullseyes drawn over them as they are favorites to qualify from their groups, if only due to team chemistry and skill levels. However, recent balance patches may throw a wrench in Samsung Galaxys takeover plans, should their playstyle no longer fit the mold of the ever-changing metagame.Changes aboundIEM Gyeonggi hosts a number of teams that have undergone changes to varying degrees. Taiwans representative, J Team, is the least affected team, with Chen Achie Chen-Chi switching roles and taking over Chen REFRA1N Kuan-Tings spot, adding an element of mystery to the squad.On the other hand, Team Liquid, Dark Passage and Giants are rebuilding around their core members -- either out of necessity or willingly -- whereas Immortals have pressed the rebuild button and are fielding a new roster around Eugene Pobelter Park.Among them, Team Liquids roster seems most promising on paper, with 2017 NA LCS Summer MVP Kim Reignover Yeu-jin leading the charge and helping Samson Lourlo Jackson, Greyson Goldenglue Gilmer and Chaee Piglet Gwang-jin leverage advantages throughout the game.dddddddddddd The squad may show early signs of strength, provided Goldenglue holds his own, which may be challenging against players of Lee Crown Min-hos caliber.Dismissing Immortals as nonfactors would be a great slight, as they house the up-and-coming Cody Sun as well as proven veteran Lee Flame Ho-jong, former Hong Kong Esports support Kim Olleh Joo-sung, and emerging star Joshua Dardoch Hartnett. Such a squad may not be as gun-shy as its previous iteration outside of the top lane.As for Giants, some of their players have an opportunity to make a name for themselves. The opportunity for Olof Flaxxish Medin to test his mettle against Flame, Samsung Galaxys CuVee, and others may represent a milestone in his career, but he may rely more on NighT and Hustlins mayhem-creating prowess across the map. If Mightybear is on par with Nubar Maxlore Sarafian, and if Elias Upset Lipp proves devastating outside of the European Challenger circuit, observers might be in for a treat.Did someone say Wild Card?The 2016 World Championship may have taught squads at large that the Wild Card teams like Albus NoX are not to be trifled with. Now for something potentially scary: since Russian squad Vega Squadron acquired Edward Edward Abgaryan, it has been an equal match to ANX. In addition, the roster has barely changed since then, with Alexei LeX Kitsak joining the fray.Vega may be the blue shell to squads not named Kongdoo Monster or Samsung Galaxy, and even then, squads may need to worry should they concede early advantages. In fact, the Russian team faces Samsung on its first day.The same cannot be said about Dark Passage on paper, as they have lost their ace, Rasmus Caps Winther, during free agency, and are fielding temporary substitutes in the jungle, top lane and AD carry spots. Their presence does remain noteworthy considering their road to IEM Gyeonggi, as they went undefeated throughout their matchups against Rampage and the Saigon Jokers. ' ' '