PC Games » "My goal right now is to empower others

Former Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma is among six front-runners the Florida Panthers will be sitting down with this week to discuss the vacant head coaching job, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The Panthers braintrust is in New York City to interview Bylsma for the first time this week, while the other five candidates have all met or spoke to general manager Dale Tallon about the position. According to the paper, this weeks interviews will also include team co-owners Vinnie Viola and Doug Cifu, as well as CEO and President Rory Babich. As mentioned by TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger last week, the other leading candidates are believed to include Ron Wilson, Canadiens assistant Gerard Gallant and Red Wings assistants Tom Renney and Bill Peters. The Panthers fired interim coach Peter Horachek in April after Florida went 26-36-4 under him this past season. Horachek had no previous NHL coaching experience before replacing Kevin Dineen on Nov. 8. The Sun Sentinel also reported on Tuesday the Panthers were leaning toward selecting OHL Barrie Colts defenceman Aaron Ekblad with the first overall selection in the NHL Draft on June 27 because hes considered the most NHL-ready of the prospects. "Ekblad is this years player most likely ready to step in and play in the NHL, Scott Luce, the Panthers director of scouting, told the Sun Sentinel last week. "Hes physically mature and has lots of mileage underneath him at the OHL level. The Panthers finished 29th in the standings and had an 18.8 per cent chance of winning the lottery, behind only Buffalo (21-51-10), which had a 25 per cent shot. The draft will be held in Philadelphia on June 27-28. Andrew Copp Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Brandon Tanev Jersey .com) - Markus Granlund scored the game-winning goal as the Calgary Flames used an early offensive flurry to defeat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1, on Monday. http://www.cheapwinnipegjetsjerseys.com/...j-ehlers-jersey. After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys ... maybe even more than that. Maybe all season I have to take a few blows. Bryan Little Jersey . The win puts Arsenal four points clear of Everton in fourth place with two games to play in the Premier League, a position which would qualify the club for Europes top competition for the 17th straight year. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Jason Kidds shirt read "GOLF," which he said was more random wardrobe choice than upcoming itinerary. He has plenty of time for that hobby with his first season as an NBA coach over, but it wont be all fun for the Brooklyn Nets this off-season. Not with the potential for surgery for Deron Williams and decisions to make for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, who infused the Nets with a winners mentality when they came from Boston last summer. The Nets and their roster worth nearly $200 million in salaries and taxes couldnt reach their lofty expectations, falling to the Miami Heat in five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals. But they surpassed where it appeared they were headed after a 10-21 start and the season-ending loss of All-Star centre Brook Lopez. So even facing some big questions, they like where they sit. "I do think weve got Brooklyn being a place where players want to play and weve got a coach that players want to play for," general manager Billy King said. "I think we play a good style, so I dont look at it as the sky is falling as much weve got some assets and things to do and well work at it." Pierce will be a free agent and showed he can still provide a team with scoring punch at 36. Garnetts game is further gone as he prepares to turn 38 next week. He remains a strong defender and team leader, but averaged a career-low 6.5 points in 54 games, missing a large chunk of the season with back spasms and playing just 20.5 minutes per game as Kidd tried to keep him fresh for the playoffs. Garnett has a year and $12 million remaining on his contract, and the Nets want him back. King said he told Garnett to take some time when they spoke on the plane ride home from Miami, but Kidd realizes Garnett will have to consider walking away from guaranteed money, just as he did when he retired last season. "Hes done it for a long time at a very high level and the biggest thing and concerns that Ive talked to him about is you dont want to leave with someone carrying you off the court," Kidd said. "I mean, its 19 or 20 years thhat hell been playing and also being judged on what youve done, or some people holding you to where if you were 25, which can be unfair at times.dddddddddddd But thats just part of the gig, so hes got to make a decision, but the big thing is we want him back because we understand the importance that he brings to this franchise." Neither Pierce nor Garnett spoke when the Nets met with reporters at their practice facility. Andrei Kirilenko, Andray Blatche and Alan Anderson all have player options on their contracts. Shaun Livingston will be a free agent, having to decide if hes found a home with the Nets, or if he can get the lucrative payday that once seemed a cinch but never came after the former No. 4 overall pick wrecked his knee in his third NBA season. Then theres Jason Collins, who became the NBAs first openly gay player when he signed with the Nets in February. He said he doesnt know what his basketball plans are, but he will have far better and more influential options than being a 35-year-old backup centre. "My goal right now is to empower others and also support those like Derrick Gordon, Michael Sam, Robbie Rogers, and over the next months, years, whoever else joins that list of out, active players," Collins said. Williams plans to have an MRI on his ankles that have slowed him the last two seasons and he may end up surgically repairing them in hopes of relocating his game and his confidence. "It just took a beating on me," the two-time Olympian said. "Just couldnt do what I wanted to, cant finish the way I want to finish. You just start thinking about things. So that was just the main thing. Confidence-wise, its hard to get back to where I was." If he gets back to form, Lopez does as well after surgeries on his broken right foot and left ankle, and Pierce and Garnett return, the Nets believe they will be fine next season. After two years of roster and coaching changes, King thinks the Nets biggest need might just be continuity. "Next season, we pick up right where we left off!" owner Mikhail Prokhorov said in a statement. ' ' '