RALEIGH, N. Authentic Blake Hillman Jersey .C. -- Jim Rutherford stepped down as general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday, and the team promoted Hall of Fame player Ron Francis to replace him. In a series of moves, the Hurricanes also hired Mike Vellucci as assistant GM and director of hockey operations and promoted Brian Tatum to assistant general manager. Rutherford, who also owns part of the team, will remain in an advisory role as team president. He assembled the teams that won one Stanley Cup, played for another and reached the Eastern Conference final in 2009. The Hurricanes havent made the playoffs since then, the longest active drought in the East. "I look at this as a fresh start," Francis said. "I dont want to just kind of build a team that gets into the playoffs for one year. I would like to build it so that its a very solid franchise and we can do it on a yearly basis." Francis had long been considered the teams GM-in-waiting. The former team captain holds team records with 382 goals, 793 assists and 1,186 games played. He has been the teams vice-president of hockey operations since June 2012. He took over as the teams director of player development in 2006 and was an assistant coach under Paul Maurice from 2008-11 before returning to the front office that June as director of hockey operations. Now that hes running a team for the first time, it remains unclear just how much financial flexibility Francis will have. The four highest-paid players -- forwards Alexander Semin and Eric and Jordan Staal, and goalie Cam Ward -- are coming off subpar seasons. They made a combined $28 million last year and will do so again in 2014-15. "This year we were at the (NHL salary) cap, I believe. Didnt make a heck of a lot of difference, did it?" owner Peter Karmanos Jr. said. "Well set the budget wherever we think we can have the most competitive hockey team." One of Francis first jobs will be deciding whether Kirk Muller will receive a fourth year as coach. Muller is 80-80-27 in three seasons and the Hurricanes finished 13th in the 16-team East this year with a 36-35-11 record. "In fairness, I think its a decision that kind of needs due process," Francis said. Rutherford, 65, is a former NHL goalie who spent two decades as the clubs GM, and helped shepherd its move from Hartford to North Carolina. He said he and Karmanos casually discussed stepping aside and those talks grew increasingly more serious beginning in January and February and continued through the early off-season. "Twenty years is a long time for me," Rutherford said. "Ive thought about this for a few years, and certainly the time is right now." Vellucci, 47, will oversee the teams scouting and player development after spending the past 14 seasons as head coach and general manager of the Plymouth Whalers -- the Ontario Hockey League team owned by Karmanos. Tatum, 40, is entering his 17th year with the team and has been its vice-president of team operations since 2012 after spending five years as its senior director of team operations. Authentic Brent Seabrook Jersey . The defending champions sent their preliminary list to FIFA on Tuesday, with coach Vicente del Bosque to announce the final 23-man squad on May 25. Costa is set to lead the attack in his native Brazil, with Atletico Madrid teammate David Villa and Chelseas Fernando Torres also included, while David de Gea replaces injured goalkeeper Victor Valdes. Authentic Jordan Schroeder Jersey . Amaro broke the NCAA all-time record for receiving yards in a season for a tight end with 1,352 during his junior campaign, eclipsing the mark of 1,329 set by Rices James Casey in 2008. http://www.cheapblackhawksjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-erik-gustafsson-jersey . CBS Sports Jon Heyman is reporting that Santana will sign a one-year deal, likely in the next two days with one of a trio of suitors, with the Toronto Blue Jays believed to be heavily involved.(SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of teams near the bottom of the NHL standings will meet Saturday afternoon in the City of Brotherly Love when the Philadelphia Flyers welcome the Edmonton Oilers to the Wells Fargo Center. Philadelphia is ranked 29th out of 30 NHL teams with just nine points this season on a 4-10-1 record. Edmonton has 10 points, but, at 4-11-2, the Oilers have played two more games than the Flyers. This is Edmontons first game in Philadelphia in over two years. The Oilers last visited the Wells Fargo Center on March 8, 2011 and dropped a 4-1 decision to halt a four-game road winning streak in this series. Edmonton is 7-1-0 with a tie in the past nine overall meetings against the Flyers. While in Philadelphia, Edmonton announced the signing of former Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, whose tumultuous tenure in the City of Brotherly Love ended this summer with a massive buyout. Bryzgalov, who has yet to play this season in the NHL, agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Oilers on Friday. According to reports, the 33-year-old Russian will spend time with the Oilers AHL affiliate in Oklahoma City for conditioning before joining the big club. Bryzgalov joined the Flyers in the summer of 2011, signing an 8-year, $51 million deal. However, perceptions of inconsistent play along with off-ice and locker-room behavior issues contributed to the buyout -- one which saved the current basement dwellers in the Metropolitan Division an estimated $6 million on the salary cap for the remaining six years of the deal. "We get a goaltender that has a history of being a high performer in parts of his career, and we get a guy thats very motivated and hes going to have a chance to be a good goalie," said Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish. Edmonton starting goaltender Devan Dubnyk has struggled to a 3-6-1 record, 3.80 GAA and .878 save percentage this season. Backups Richard Bachman and Jason LaBarbera have combined to go 1-5-1 in their nine appearances. The Flyers enter Saturday having lost two straight and four of their last five games. Philadelphia has scored a total of four goals over that five-game stretch and is dead last in the NHL with an average of 1.47 goals per game this season. Philadelphias most recent setback, a 3-0 home loss Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils, prompted a playerrs-only meeting to be called by team captain Claude Giroux, who is still without a goal in 15 games this season. Authentic Pierre Pilote Jersey. "Well, were definitely frustrated, but the bright side is we have a good group," said Flyers goaltender Ray Emery after Thursdays loss. "We have a lot of guys who really enjoy playing together." Emery was outdueled Thursday by Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, who posted a 22-save shutout against the punchless Flyers. Adam Henrique, Cam Janssen and former Philadelphia forward Jaromir Jagr each scored a goal for New Jersey. The Devils had been shut out in their previous two games, including a 1-0 defeat to the Flyers last Saturday. Emery, who had blanked the Devils on Saturday, stopped 22 shots for the Flyers in Thursdays setback. Philadelphia went 0-for-3 on the power play against the Devils and has scored just once on 17 chances with the man advantage over the last four games. The Flyers are ranked 27th in the league with a 10-percent success rate on the power play this season. "On a consistent, nightly basis you have to outwork the penalty killing of the other team and you have to create momentum for your team, and they did not do that tonight," said Flyers head coach Craig Berube. Edmonton enters Saturday as the bottom team in the Western Conference standings and has dropped six of its last seven games. The Oilers, who are making the third stop on a four-game road trip this afternoon, last played on Thursday in Tampa and lost a 4-2 decision to the Lightning. Steven Stamkos victimized Edmonton for two goals, as the Oilers fell to 3-6-2 as the visiting team this season. "We made three mistakes tonight and two of them went to the wrong player," Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins said, referring to Stamkos. Edmonton did manage to fire 40 shots on net Thursday, but Ben Bishop turned aside 38 of those attempts to frustrate the Oilers offense time and again. "Its one of those nights where I loved the way we played. We played with passion," Eakins added. Taylor Hall returned from a knee injury to register one of Edmontons two tallies, with Taylor Fedun accounting for the other. Dubnyk stopped 22- of-25 shots in the loss. The Oilers are set to close their four-game swing Sunday in Chicago. cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '