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PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers have designated linebacker Jason Worilds as the teams transition player for 2014. Dan Koppen . Worilds was set to become a free agent next week, but now the Steelers will have five days to match any offer he receives. Free agency begins March 11. The transition tag for linebackers is $9.754 million. Worilds was drafted in the second round (52nd overall) in 2010 out of Virginia Tech. Hes started 21 of 57 regular-season games in which hes played and has 121 tackles (90 solo), 18 sacks and three forced fumbles. Last season he set career highs in starts (11), tackles (54), sacks (8) and forced fumbles (2). Pittsburgh is nearly $6 million over the salary cap of $133 million that goes into effect next week. Malik Jackson .Y. -- High hopes have given way to high anxiety in New York.Chris Clark . "We dont have any right, yet, to overlook anyone," Casey said after the Raptors defeated the lowly Milwaukee Bucks 116-94 at Air Canada Centre on Monday night. "This is a tough league and were still building, were still getting there, so I cant allow our guys to have that in their thought process.When the Senators stumbled out of the gate with a slow start this season, much of the blame was directed at the clubs inconsistent goaltending. In particular, Craig Anderson was singled out for not playing as well as he did during the 2012-13 campaign, when many suggested he was the best goalie in the league before he suffered an ankle injury partway through the lockout-shortened campaign. Anderson really struggled in November, winning just two of his seven starts and posting a 4.00 GAA and a .866 save percentage. He lost a grip on his job as the No. 1 goaltender, as he was alternating starts with Robin Lehner for a good portion of December. But then suddenly, Anderson re-discovered his game in the past couple of weeks and heading into Wednesdays game in Denver, the netminder had reeled off five consecutive victories. However, we shouldnt be too surprised that Anderson is heating up as the calendar flips to January, because his career numbers have always been better in the second half of the season. A look at Andersons career splits by the month, illustrates a goalie who often comes out slow and then catches fire: MONTH GP SAVE PCT. GAA October 47 .913 2.90 November 51 .902 3.09 December 62 .904 3.00 January 58 .925 2.37 February 50 .922 2.64 March 50 .918 2.78 April 29 .916 2.43 In his breakout season with the Avalanche in 2009-10, he posted a .897 save percentage and a 3.19 GAA in 12 starts in the month of November. But when January rolled around, Anderson had a .946 save percentage and a 1.72 GAA andd rode that momentum down the stretch where he was the biggest reason why the Avalanche made the playoffs. Chris Kuper. In Andersons first season with the Senators, this pattern continued – as he came out with save percentages of .881, .903 and .907 in the first three months of the season. But then a switch was flipped in January and he went 8-5-1 with a .933 save percentage and a 2.24 GAA. Those strong numbers down the stretch continued – with the exception of a brief hiccup because of a sliced finger – and the Senators ended up making the playoffs. Andersons dominance in January extended to last season – even though there was a lockout that meant the first three months of the season were wiped out. He went 5-0-1 with a .967 save percentage and a 0.99 GAA to start the season, further cementing the fact that January is his favourite month – no matter when the NHL season starts. A look at Andersons career save percentage in the month of January reveals that he is ahead of all other goalies in the Eastern Conference: CAREER JANUARY SAVE PERCENTAGE (MIN. 25 GP) GOALIE SAVE PCT. Craig Anderson .925 Ryan Miller .922 Jimmy Howard .921 Tim Thomas .921 Henrik Lundqvist .920 Martin Brodeur .917 Cam Ward .914 Tuukka Rask .913 Marc-Andre Fleury .910 Carey Price .908 If Andersons career pattern continues again this season, the Senators will have an excellent chance of making the post-season. And in all likelihood, Anderson will re-establish himself as the clubs No. 1 netminder for the stretch drive. ' ' ' |
