twice and missed five others despite suiting up. Mov

Sam Gagner had heard his name in trade talk for quite some time, but even he couldnt have expected this. Gagner was traded twice Sunday, first from the Edmonton Oilers to Tampa Bay and then from the Lightning to the Arizona Coyotes. Edmonton got Teddy Purcell, the Lightning got a sixth-round pick and salary-cap space and the 24-year-old centre got to experience a "roller-coaster of emotions." "I was talking to my agent, and he had said when Tampa traded for me that there might be something else going on," Gagner said. "So it was something I was prepared for. I wasnt really expecting to be traded (again) today. But its one of those things that happens in sports, and I guess youve got to be ready for it at all times." Trading Gagner, who has two years left on his contract at a cap hit of $4.8 million, now was important to Edmonton because his no-trade clause was set to kick in July 1. Coyotes general manager Don Maloney said he got a call from Oilers counterpart Craig MacTavish early Sunday, but by the time he called back to discuss Gagner there was already a verbal agreement with Steve Yzerman on a trade to Tampa Bay. By sending Purcell, a 28-year-old winger, to the Oilers, the Lightning shed themselves of his $4.5 million cap hit over the next two seasons. The St. Johns, N.L., native has 228 points in 401 regular-season games and 18 in 22 playoff games. The Lightning were prepared to buy out Gagners contract, but that plan was put on hold when Maloney expressed interest in the London, Ont., native whom the Coyotes coveted for some time but saw his salary as a bit too rich for their blood. Still, they wanted to get something done. "(The Lightning) were trying to free up some cap space to do some other things, which obviously they did when they traded Teddy Purcell," Maloney said on a conference call late Sunday night. "Basically we hung up the phone, I said (to Yzerman), Im going to have a beer, you go have a glass of wine and if you can come up with an idea, call me back." Maloney and his staff came up with the idea of putting gritty winger B.J. Crombeen and his $1.15-million cap hit in the trade, and it got done once Tampa Bay agreed to retain one-third of Gagners salary and cap hit, which would have been the price had he been bought out. The Coyotes could have waited for Tuesdays start of the free-agent signing period to take a run at Gagner, but that wasnt a risk Maloney was willing to take. "That concerned me," he said. "As were looking and exploring how we help our centre ice and whats happening right now, it scared me to death." So the Coyotes paid a small price in the form of a sixth-rounder in next years draft to make it happen and not worry about paying a free-agent premium or losing Gagner to another team. "It came together in a hurry," Maloney said. "I think theres three of us that feel pretty good about our day so far." None of the three general managers involved in Gagners moves Sunday are finished. MacTavish shipping Gagner out of Edmonton, though, was no small step forward in his retooling effort. Gagner, the sixth overall pick in 2007, seemed to be just outside the Oilers core, which includes Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle. He has 295 points in 481 games, all with the Oilers, including 10 goals and 27 assists last season. That kind of production isnt something Gagner is proud of and is hoping for a bounce-back season. The setting for that will now be the Arizona desert. Edmonton moving on from Gagner wasnt terribly surprising to him, given the franchises playoff drought that pre-dates his entering the league. "You have to expect things to happen when the team hasnt done well," Gagner said on a conference call. "Theres going to be change when things dont go well. I expected that at some point I might be part of it." Drafting big German centre Leon Draisaitl third overall Friday night might have been enough to convince MacTavish it was time to move Gagner. "I think (Draisaitl) helps us fill a need, gives us an opportunity to have a strong centreman with some size that can play ahead of or behind the Nuge, whatever way it works, and well give him that opportunity," director of amateur scouting Stu MacGregor said Saturday in Philadelphia. In Arizona, Gagner will get the opportunity to replace Mike Ribeiro, who was bought out of the final four seasons of his contract for what Maloney called "behavioural issues." Gagner should get power-play time and a chance to provide the hard-working, well-coached Coyotes with an offensive spark. "We got him for his offensive instincts and creativity," Maloney said. "Players can learn to play better defence. Its very difficult to learn to be more intelligent and more creative." At 24, Gagner could still have room to grow. Maloney hopes he can become more than just a 40-to-50-point player along the way. Thats what Gagner was with the Oilers, who did not make the playoffs in any of his seven NHL seasons. He would have liked things to work out in Edmonton but understood something had to give when they didnt. "We didnt have much success as a team and theres going to be a lot of changes that comes from that," he said. "It doesnt work out everywhere all the time." It wasnt going to work out in Tampa, where the Lightning were manoeuvring for free agency with a series of moves Sunday. In addition to sending Purcell to Edmonton and Gagner and Crombeen to Arizona, they traded forward Nate Thompson and his $1.6-million cap hit to the Anaheim Ducks for fourth- and seventh-round picks in next years draft. All told and including retaining a portion of Gagners salary, Tampa Bay cleared $5.65 million in cap space. Its believed that Yzerman is looking for a right-handed-shooting defenceman and could also be targeting a winger to play alongside Steven Stamkos. That will have to wait until Tuesday when teams are able to sign free agents. By the time Sunday was over, three teams got to be satisfied with their respective hauls. "Obviously Edmonton got what they needed, what they wanted and a real talented player in Teddy Purcell," Maloney said. "Tampa received what they needed to free up a lot of cap space, they get a draft asset and we got what we wanted, and were searching for is a young, skilled centre-iceman in Sam Gagner and really a guy weve coveted for a while in B.J. Crombeen." James White Jersey . -- The Washington Redskins coaching staff distanced itself from other coaches Thursday by siding with ownership -- and not the players -- in the NFLs labour dispute. Tedy Bruschi Jersey .Fucale will not only be one of the local boys, he is also a Montreal Canadiens draft pick and will have a huge cheering section when Canada opens the tournament Dec. http://www.patriotsauthenticshop.com/Patriots-Kevin-Faulk-Draft-Jersey/ . Left-handed reliever Boone Logan agreed to a $16.5 million, three-year contract on Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. Cordarrelle Patterson Jersey . Portuguese sides Benfica and Porto also advanced to the last eight while Basel overcame an early red card to win 2-1 at Salzburg and progress from a last-16 second leg that was briefly suspended because of crowd trouble. Lyon, Valencia and AZ Alkmaar will also be in Fridays draw in Nyon, Switzerland, where the team to avoid will be Juventus -- even though the Italian champions made heavy work of their all-Italian last-16 match against Fiorentina. David Andrews Jersey . Directly ahead was open field, the end zone and the Seattle Seahawks place in the NFC championship game.PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles will likely be without veteran outside linebacker Trent Cole when they face a must-win game against the Redskins on Saturday.Cole suffered a broken hand in the Eagles 38-27 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Sunday night. Defensive co-ordinator Bill Davis said it doesnt look good for the veteran to play Saturday.Theres some things he has to decide, Davis said.Cole has not decided yet if he is will have surgery on the hand, which would likely end his season. As far as playing this week, the 10-year veteran said he still has time to decide.Its all up in the air, he said. Well see. We still have time to decide.Brandon Graham, who will start in place of Cole, will make his first start since the 2012 season when he was a defensive end in a 4-3 alignment.Last year, under Davis, the Eagles switched to a 3-4 and Graham became the teams backup outside linebacker to Cole and Connor Barwin.Graham said Tuesday hes ready to play with the same intensity as Cole.Weve been together for five years now — I cant believe its been five years already — but Ive learned a lot from him in those years and Im ready, Graham said.Graham averages between 25 to 30 plays a game in a rotation with both Cole and Barwin. Now, hell be out there for almost every snap.Seldom-used first-round pick Marcus Smith becomes tthe No.dddddddddddd3 linebacker.It helps a lot that Ive been playing the amount Ive been playing, Graham said. If I wasnt playing at all, that would be tough.Graham has played in 38 per cent of the teams defensive plays this season, compared to 75 per cent for Cole and Barwins 86 per cent. Hes managed 5 1/2 sacks, 13 quarterback hurries and a team-high four forced fumbles.Theres no doubt what Trent means to our pass rush, Davis said. He moves the quarterback off the spot. A lot of the sacks we get are because of Trent. But we have a lot of confidence in B.G.Cole, who is second to Reggie White on the Eagles all-time sack list with 85 1/2, has started and played 56 straight games. The last game he missed was at Washington in 2011 when he had a calf injury. Eight of his 85 1/2 sacks have also come against the Redskins.Moving Graham in for Cole isnt as huge of a drop off as the next step, which is Smith moving up to the No. 3 spot.In the teams 14 games, Smith has been inactive twice and missed five others despite suiting up. Moving back and forth between inside and outside linebacker, hes played a total of 68 plays all season. His game high 16 came in the Eagles first game against Washington.By moving him around, we kind of hurt his progress, Davis said of Smith. Well have him back outside this week. Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '