ST. Nike NBA Jerseys . PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Wilds 14-year existence has revolved mostly about mediocrity. The narrative has finally taken a turn for the better.There is more confidence. There are fewer concerns. Advancing deep into the playoffs and, dare that ultimate goal be voiced, challenging for the Stanley Cup have trumped past hopes of simply playing a few bonus games in April.Every year you feel good about your team, but its just a little different. You feel like theres unfinished business, owner Craig Leipold said.Last season was far from smooth. The Wild lost their sixth straight game on New Years Eve. Coach Mike Yeo was on tenuous footing with an expiring contract, though Leipold said in a recent interview he really wasnt on the bubble.But despite foot injuries to Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise that kept them out for a total of 32 games, the Wild were at their best when they were the most vulnerable. The biggest health problem was between the pipes, where four different goalies were called on to start 19 or more games. After Darcy Kuemper picked up the slack for Josh Harding, who had taken over for Niklas Backstrom, Ilya Bryzgalov was there down the stretch to fill in for Kuemper.So here they are with every key player back from the group that upset Central Division champion Colorado in the Western Conference quarterfinals and reached the second round for just the second time in franchise history. Theres also an important addition in left wing Thomas Vanek.Mikael Granlund, who will centre the first line with Parise and Jason Pominville, now has a full year of NHL experience. Two other 22-year-old forwards, Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter, combined for 76 points last season. The speed of third-line centre Erik Haula, who is 23, was a revelation in the post-season with four goals in 13 games. Parise, Pominville, Vanek, Koivu, Matt Cooke and ironman defenceman Ryan Suter form a proven core of veterans.The pieces are in place. Yeo has a new deal. Now its up to them to fulfil that potential.Id have a hard time listing the teams that I know are better than we are, Leipold said. Theres probably a couple of them, but if we have a couple of our players step up like we hope we will this year that gap is going to get narrower.Here are some key nuggets to know about the Wild this season:GOAL SETTING: Harding is out indefinitely with a broken foot, leaving Backstrom and Kuemper to compete for time in the net. This is unquestionably the biggest issue to resolve, likely the hinge between status quo and a step forward in the playoffs. Thats one reason why Bryzgalov was invited to training camp on a tryout contract and the Wild have not ruled out keeping three goalies on the roster. I know its repetitive, but were just going to kind of evaluate every day, Yeo said. So I dont want to go in and say one guys got the edge over another right now.WINGMAN: The emergence of Granlund and Haula allowed the Wild to slide Coyle over to right wing, where hell start the season on a second line with Koivu and Vanek. Yeo declined to declare the move permanent, but the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Coyle has the presence and skills to make that a long-term fit if hes not needed again as a fill-in at centre.DUMBA ON Defence? Theres a top-six opening on defence, and prospects Matt Dumba and Christian Folin have been getting a long look during training camp. Dumba was the teams first-round draft pick in 2012. Nate Prosser was brought back this week via waiver claim for more depth.GRAND CENTRAL: The Wild pushed for realignment as much as any team in the league, desiring more road games in their own time zone to increase television ratings and more regional rivalries in their division to enhance ticket sales. In a classic be-careful-what-you-wish-for case, the Wild have found themselves in a brutally difficult division. They went 14-12-3 against the Central in 2013-14 and despite matching the second-highest point total in franchise history finished in fourth place. Only two of the 14 teams that missed the 2014 playoffs came from the Central, Nashville and Winnipeg.FAMILIAR FOE: The Wilds opener is at home against the Avalanche on Oct. 9 in a reprise of that epic seven-game series, and theres a rematch two days later in Denver. NBA Jerseys China . Neither made it that far in 2013. Not even close. Federer lost his second match at the All England Club. Nadal exited in the first round, a year after bowing out in the second. Wholesale NBA Jerseys .com) - Maria Sharapova reached her 10th career grand slam final after beating Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets at the Australian Open on Thursday. ORLANDO, Fla. -- The NFL officiating department will help referees rule on instant replay reviews starting next season. League owners passed a rule Tuesday allowing referees to consult with director of officiating Dean Blandino and his staff to help determine whether a call should be upheld or overturned. NFL officials said the change should speed up the process. Blandino and other staff will be monitoring the games from league offices in New York, and they will immediately begin reviewing challenges before the referee even gets to his monitor. They can make recommendations on what replays to look at, but the referee still will make the final decision. Rich McKay, Falcons president and co-chairman of the influential competition committee, called it "kind of a proof of concept to see how this works. We feel pretty comfortable with it, though." "What we do like is we take the true experts in replay, those in New York, to be able to communicate with the referees who have the ultimate decision," McKay said. "We just think we get a more consistent decision-making process." Blandino said the new process will be faster and make more eyes available to help in the reviews. "Well be reviewing all the angles the network is providing, in essence finding what is the best reviewable aspect, and getting a baseline for the referee," he said. "Then we will begin the communication process with the referee once he is done speaking to the coach and announcing the challenge. "Consistency is what we are striving for in officiating and this will definitely help us in that area." One coach, Cincinnatis Marvin Lewis, a member of the competition committee, believes the entire procedure has been upgraded. "By consulting with New York, they can speed up the review process while they talk to the referee," Lewis said. "They can tell the rreferee: Here are the shots all set for you to look at. NBA Jerseys Store. " Blandino wasnt sure this change would lead to more challenges, noting that coaches will still lose a timeout for an incorrect challenge. Players no longer will be allowed to dunk the football over the crossbar of the goalposts in celebration. Blandino said the NFL is making a clarification of the rules for mutual respect and sportsmanship. "We put a rule in several years ago about not using props on the football field: the football, the pylon," he said. "This is just expanding upon that rule to include the crossbar of the goalpost. We had the situation with (Saints tight end) Jimmy Graham knocking the uprights off kilter last season and it delayed the game. "We have a potential rule change where we could raise the uprights, so you may have more issues with that if guys are dunking." The owners also banned roll-up blocks to the side of a player. In the past, the rule only barred such blocks from behind. "We saw some plays on tape that we just felt like we needed to expand that protection," McKay said. Commissioner Roger Goodell believes small changes like that one, along with other recent rule changes, have made the game safer. "We went through that (data) in greater detail with the outside firm thats been tracking that for us and its very clear that the rule changes we have made had the positive impact that we intended," Goodell said Monday. "While there are some that say it has had a negative (impact) -- as an example, ACL injuries being up -- thats not the case. What weve seen is that players have adjusted to the rules and they are finding that target zone and it is a safer, better game because of it." A dozen other proposals for rules or bylaw changes were being considered by the owners, with votes on them expected Wednesday. ' ' '