Making a push to win now, and dealing with substantial prospect depth, the Minnesota Wild went out and acquired a proven veteran scorer from the Buffalo Sabres. wholesale nfl jerseys . Numbers Game looks at the Wild adding Jason Pominville. The Wild Get: RW Jason Pominville and a fourth-round pick in 2014. Pominville, 30, is a versatile and consistent performer who has scored at least 20 goals and 50 points in each of the past six seasons, topping 60 points in five of those seasons. This year, Pominville has 10 goals and 25 points, with a plus-1 rating while playing a career-high 20:54 per game in 37 games. While the Sabres have struggled as a team, it has been difficult for anyone (perhaps aside from Thomas Vanek) to produce consistently. After opening the season with 14 points in the first 10 games, Pominville has managed 11 points in 27 games since. Going to Minnesota, Pominville could have an opportunity to move into a first-line spot alongside Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise. Its not as if rookie winger Charlie Coyle hasnt been strong in that spot, but the 21-year-old doesnt have Pominvilles track record for point production and Coyle can still use his size and strength even if hes bumped down the depth chart. That is, if that is how the Wild choose to deploy Pominville, who can also play the point on the power play and kill penalties. With one year remaining on his deal, at a cap hit of $5.3-million, Pominville is fairly priced for his role as a first-line forward, as long as he can produce like a first-line forward. (The Wild are already paying first-line forward money to Dany Heatley, who is not producing like a first-line forward.) The Wild paid a significant price, in terms of assets, to get Pominville, but it shows a commitment to winning now and is the kind of deal made possible by the Wilds deep crop of prospects. The emergence of goaltender Darcy Kuemper, for example, helped make Hackett expendable, and Minnesota has young forwards like Mikael Granlund and Jason Zucker who are still clamouring for regular roles in the NHL. The Sabres Get: RW Johan Larsson, G Matt Hackett, a first-round pick in 2013 and second-round pick in 2014. Larsson is a highly-regarded prospect that the Wild selected in the second round of the 2010 draft. The 20-year-old winger is in his first North American pro season and has 15 goals and 37 points, with an even rating, in 62 AHL games. Hell have a chance to play in a top-six role for the Sabres and maybe not too far in the future, given the current state of the Sabres roster. 23-year-old Matt Hackett has been a quality goaltending prospect and is in his third pro season. Hes posted a .913 save percentage in 132 AHL games and a .914 save percentage in 13 NHL games with the Wild. That doesnt mean that hes a sure thing as an NHL goaltender, but hes a very strong insurance policy for the Sabres, who could still consider dealing incumbent starter Ryan Miller in the offseason. Hackett will be a restricted free agent this summer. Getting a first-round pick from Minnesota, in what is considered a strong draft, is a valuable chip too. If the draft picks yield a future NHLer and even one of Larsson or Hackett becomes an NHL regular, then thats more than a fair return for the Sabres. Its a tough pill to swallow, dealing away their captain and getting the uncertainty of prospects and picks in return, but if the Sabres are going to rebuild, then moving a 30-year-old veteran for a pair of prospects in their early 20s, plus a couple good draft picks, is a strong package to get in return. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. cheap nfl jerseys . 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Despite leading on the road for much of Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, they couldnt extend their season after giving Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki a second chance. Nowitzki hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:14 left, after Russell Westbrook couldnt handle the rebound on the first missed 3, and the Mavericks went on to a 100-96 victory Wednesday night to advance to the NBA finals. "Its kind of shocking that our season is over with," Kevin Durant said. "But we fought hard all season. I tried to keep it positive and tell the guys, Hey, we had a great year. Collectively, weve got to keep working." Until Nowitzkis second-chance three-pointer, the Thunder had been behind for only a minute of the second half and appeared poised to win in Dallas for the second time in the series. "I just think we played hard and just couldnt come up with the win," said Westbrook, who scored 31 points. Instead of going home for another game, the team filled with 20-something stars will go home thinking about what could have been. The Thunder are sure to remember the disappointment of how this series ended. They blew a 15-point lead in the last 5 minutes of Game 4 at home, then couldnt hold on with a late lead when facing elimination. But at some point they might look back at the series against the Mavericks, a veteran-filled team focused on another championship chance, as a big learning experience. "We want to win a championship. We respect the process that it takes to win one, and our guys do the same thing, they respect the heck out of the game," coach Scott Brooks said. "You cant skip steps. I dont know how soon we were going to get there, but I can tell you this, those guys are not going to hope to get there, they are going to work to get there." After taking the Los Angeles Lakers to a Game 6 in the first round of last seasons playoffs before a one-point loss ended their season, the Thunder won two rounds this year -- knocking Denver out in five games and needing seven games to get past Memphis. "Its a different feeling (this year). All of us expected to go far," Durant saidd. ... Seabrook Blackhawks Jersey Canada. "We had high expectations for ourselves coming into this year. ... After a good first round, hard-fought second round, we put ourselves in good position to fight for a finals appearance and thought we had a good chance." Oklahoma City did better against Dallas this month than the two-time defending champion Lakers. Los Angeles was swept in its second-round series by the Mavericks, including a 122-86 loss in the same building in the ending game of that series 2 1/2 weeks ago. "I just know that we played together as a team throughout the whole series, and just couldnt come up with the wins," Westbrook said. "Were not just worried about Dallas. Weve got a whole next year to come up to worry about other teams. Were going to come in and just get better." Westbrook and Durant are 22-year-old standouts for the Thunder, whose oldest starter for Game 5 was 27-year-old guard Thabo Sefolosha. The Mavericks youngest starter was 28-year-old Tyson Chandler, in his 10th NBA season. "Next year when theyre 23, theyre still going to be young. Were not going to use it as an excuse," Brooks said. "I know our guys, they improve all the time. Theyre real committed to each other. Ive never been on a team other than my high school team that we had a closer group of guys and they are all the same age and theyre fighting to get better." Durant and James Harden scored 23 points apiece. Durant, who after Game 4 apologized to Thunder fans for letting them down, was 8-of-20 shooting with a long drought in Game 5. Oklahoma City had an 88-83 lead when Brooks called timeout with six minutes left. After Nick Collison drove for a dunk, the lead was seven points. Durant, who missed his only shot in the second quarter and missed his first five in the second half, scored on a driving one-handed fadeaway shot with 4 1/2 minutes left to make it 92-86. The Thunder couldnt hold on from there. "It was a difficult loss for us. We played so well in that game but didnt make enough plays down the stretch," Collison said. "We learned that were talented enough to play for a championship. But we have to play basketball better. We need to learn how to win games better, and thats difficult." ' ' '