Barcelonas international brand and a host of other intangible concepts that t

NASHVILLE -- The Nashville Predators signed centre Olli Jokinen on Wednesday in their latest attempt to boost an offence that has lacked punch. The 35-year-old Jokinen had 18 goals and 25 assists in 82 games last season for the Winnipeg Jets. He signed a one-year deal worth $2.5 million. "Olli is a guy that all through his career has played against the top lines," Predators general manager David Poile said during a news conference. "Hes a big, physical player that can play against the best players in the National Hockey League. His record speaks for itself. Hes a guy thats scored a lot of goals in his career. We expect that this is another guy thats going to help us increase our offensive production." The Predators ranked 19th in the league with 2.61 goals per game last season and missed the playoffs for the second straight year. After the season, the Predators fired Barry Trotz -- the only coach in franchise history - and replaced him with Peter Laviolette. Laviolette and Poile have discussed the Predators hopes of improving the teams offence. The Predators off-season moves have reflected that desire. The Predators acquired forward James Neal in a Friday trade that sent forwards Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Neal had 27 goals and 34 assists in 59 games this season, which marked the sixth straight year he scored at least 20 goals. Now theyve added a veteran presence in Jokinen, who has 317 goals and 423 assists in 1,169 career regular-season games that have taken him all over the NHL. Jokinen had two stints with Calgary and also played with the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes and New York Rangers before coming to Winnipeg in 2012. Jokinen, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound centre, has scored at least 20 goals in seven seasons and has reached the 30-goal mark four times. Jokinen was an NHL All-Star in 2003, and he has been a team captain or alternate captain in eight of his last 11 seasons. Poile cited Jokinens experience and versatility should help the Predators. Poile said the Predators are penciling Jokinen in at centre but also believe he can play wing. "With all the young players that we have here, I think the idea of adding that veteran forward presence was the right thing to do," Poile said. Cheap Wholesale Basketball Shoes . Right-hander Todd Redmond took the loss. Jose Bautista hit his second home run of the spring. Here are a handful of tidbits from around camp: Hutchison impressive The Blue Jays are being cautious when talking about their young arms but internally, excitement is building over the way Drew Hutchison is looking and performing this spring. Discount Basketball Shoes Online . - Mike Magee converted two penalty kicks in a 10-minute span of the first half and the Chicago Fire beat Sporting Kansas City 2-1 on Sunday. http://www.basketballshoeswholesale.com/ . For Sweed, a second round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008, this will be his second go around in the CFL after previously having spent time with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Basketball Shoes Wholesale . He never mentioned anything about his hitting. The 33-year-old right-hander had success with both Sunday, pitching six solid innings and helping the offence-starved Mets with an RBI single as New York salvaged a doubleheader split with a 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Wholesale Basketball Shoes Free Shipping . The first baseman hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to lead the Mets to a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.The dust settled, the hangovers were finally a distant memory, but the smiles remained. For Manchester City fans the score line was magnificent, a chance for the fans of the blue side of the city to stick it to their red neighbours and preach their triumph. Nothing could be better than that score line, they thought. Or could it? When it was time for reflection this week it turned out there was. The performance. When they won 6-1 against Manchester United two years ago they had played well, but it was against 10 men with three goals scored very late. This time they didnt play well, they played great. Deep down this is what City fans will keep to themselves, for now: The dawn of a new era where their marquee players stepped up for the new man in charge. Citys 4-1 thumping over rivals Manchester United on Sunday was of significant importance for the fans, but it was even bigger for the clubs new manager. When he was hired, Manuel Pellegrini was simply not a household name in England, despite having a very impressive coaching resume in Europe. Yet, here he was put in charge of one of the biggest clubs in the land where anything other than a Premier League trophy would be a disappointment. Following the game the Chilean was his usual charming self to the press, talking about the performance, but then he slipped in this little nugget mid-sentence: "We must continue improving, trying to play another way, change a lot of things, every day we are improving." It was a phrase lost on the interviewer, who wanted to talk how great City were but it will not have been lost on the men in charge of the club. Contrast Pellegrinis comments to what Jose Mourinho is currently doing at Chelsea. Suddenly, the world knows about Mourinhos desperate desire to change the teams style, because Mourinho continues to tell the press about it. Mourinho talks about how he didnt like how Chelsea played before and how the clubs Player of the Year last season, Juan Mata, must watch and learn to adapt to his style. Whether Mourinho is right or not is not the point at the moment. The point is the general consensus throughout the world is that this is Joses team and when/if Chelsea succeed it will be because of him... A manager who wont play one minute in the Premier League this season. Meanwhile, at Manchester City, Pellegrini is quietly going about his business making changes that will bring the best out of his players and allow what happens on the pitch, not in the media room, to dictate the clubs identity. This is one of the main reasons why Pellegrini was hired, Roberto Mancini was fired and why Mourinho was never considered for the City job by Chief Executive Officer Ferran Soriano and Director of Football Txiki Begiristain. Sorianos intellect and business acumen combined with Begiristains football intelligence makes them a dynamic duo not to be ignored inside the landscape of English football. To understand their beliefs and attitudes it is important to know the roles they played at Barcelona and, in this case, specifically in the recruitment of a new manager. At the end of the 2006-07 season Barcelona - a year after winning the Champions League and La Liga - lost their domestic league on goal-difference to Real Madrid. Their manager Frank Rijkaard could not lose his job just 12 months after conquering Europe, but deep down Barcas Director of Football, Begiristain, kknew he wasnt the man to take them forward.dddddddddddd. In Graham Hunters excellent book Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World, it is revealed that he began to search for the Dutchmans replacement as early as October 2007, despite the change not taking place until the summer of 2008. In a discussion about considering Jose Mourinho for the Barcelona job, Soriano tells Hunter: “The first board discussion about Mourinho was in December 2007. Retaining Rijkaard had proved a mistake.” A mistake the pair have clearly learned from and one that helped prompt the sacking of Mancini and the hiring of Pellegrini. It was also a decision most fans were against and most media thought was premature. The rest of the chapter offers a fascinating look at Mourinhos attempts to persuade Barcelona to hire him including Begiristains reasons for not hiring him. After reading this it is clear why the former Spanish international had grown frustrated with Mancini at City. Hunter wrote: Begiristain couldnt imagine Mourinho understanding the club didnt want or need outbursts in the media two or three times a week. Whats more, the Basque felt that the Barca he was trying to build valued respect for the opponent, honour in defeat, dignity and other fragile concepts more highly than Mourinho did at that time, or perhaps ever would. Now Mancini is certainly no Mourinho when it comes to loving the sound of his own voice and Barcelonas players are certainly no choir boys to opponents or referees when things go against them, but the point is how highly Begiristain values these traits. This is a brilliant football mind who thinks about a club from top to bottom, who thinks a clubs branding should start with its name and badge, followed by its players, not what was happening at City last season and currently with Mourinho at Chelsea. More from Hunter on Begiristain: He was 100% sure, and remains to this day, that Barca would have trained well, played decent, if pragmatic, football and won trophies under Mourinho. However, he was equally sure that these would become pyrrhic victories compared with what Mourinho would cost the socios, the board, Barcelonas international brand and a host of other intangible concepts that the club saw intrinsic. Begiristain feared that Mourinho felt he was more than the club. Manchester City on the field simply didnt meet their standards last season (with no wins in the Champions League, an FA Cup final loss to Wigan and not coming close to contending for the title) but it was off the field that revealed even more concerns, with constant negative stories in the press surrounding the likes of Mancini, Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez. City needed a new identity with a strong spine coming via a professional manager who wouldnt become bigger than the club itself. They didnt need Mourinho and his current antics at Chelsea will bring smiles inside the Manchester City boardroom. Just like that, there is a new distraction in town. City can go quietly about their business on the field and thanks to Pellegrini, Begiristain and Soriano, its now the players, evolving under a new regime, who will make the headlines… and thats the way it should be. Join Alastair Connolly and myself live on TSN and TSN2 at 9:30am et as we get you set for Aston Villa vs. Manchester City and Manchester United vs. West Bromwich Albion. ' ' '