ERST LESEN! » Dvorak, who are thought of quite highly by some. CR

CALGARY - Players on both sides of the football look to either establish or re-establish themselves as impact players in the CFL when the Calgary Stampeders host the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday. Calgarys Bo Levi Mitchell and Montreals Troy Smith will be the starting quarterbacks in a CFL season-opener for the first time in their careers. Both want to reinforce their No. 1 status. You can watch the game live in the first half of a doubleheader on TSN and TSN GO at 3:00pm et/Noon pt. or listen to the game live on TSN Radio 690 Montreal. Former NFL star Chad Johnson will begin the revival of his football career as an Alouettes receiver. Prominent Stampeder receiver Nik Lewis is back after missing over half of last season with a broken leg. The 32-year-old slotback feels he has something to prove. The sentiment can also apply to Tom Higgins, who returns as a CFL head coach with Montreal after six years working as the leagues director of officiating. His last coaching stint was with the Stampeders from 2005 to 2007 and Calgarys record in his final season was 7-10-1. Its serendipitous his first game back will be at McMahon. "When you think about, why not?" Higgins said Friday. "I knew how to get here. The bus driver went the wrong way and I said no, no, you make a right here." Theres also players still feeling out their new teams such as Josh Bell, a former Lion who will make his Stampeder debut at starting safety Saturday. "I want to see how we adjust really when we have success and when we dont have success," Bell said. "How do we adjust? Thats the biggest thing in football." The Stampeders topped the CFL with a 14-4 record last season, but were upset 35-13 at home in the West Division final by the eventual Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Montreal Alouettes went 8-10 and lost 19-16 in the East semifinal to Hamilton. Star quarterback Anthony Calvillo missed the final 10 games of the season with a concussion and subsequently retired in the off-season. Smith, a former Heisman Trophy winner with Ohio State, got a crash course in CFL football going 2-1 to conclude the season. "What you do know about Troy is he brings a level of leadership, he has a very strong arm and hopefully he has a cast around him that he doesnt have to carry the football team," Higgins said. "If we do our job properly, hopefully we can spread that football around enough that he doesnt always feel he has to be on top of his game for us to win." Mitchell won his three starts and came off the bench to win another in 2014. Stampeders coach and general manager John Hufnagel handed the 24-year-old the ball for the opener, but indicated he could have just as easily given it to Drew Tate. "It was a photo finish between he and Drew," Hufnagel said. "I said earlier in the week when I made the decision both quarterbacks will play football for us this year. It just so happens Bo is getting the first start." "He has earned the opportunity to play. Hes won every game hes played as a Calgary Stampeder, so thats not a bad track record." Both Mitchell and Smith recognize opportunities to be a CFL starter are limited and they must perform to earn more. "Every game, every play, every snap, every rep is concreting or cementing who you are," Smith said. Added Mitchell: "Now that Ive been given the job, Im going to make sure I keep it, run with it and have a lot of fun." Lewis broke his fibula Aug. 17 and did not play again in 2013. It was the first time in a decade as a Stampeder he was unable to produce over 1,000 receiving yards. Lewis was annoyed Friday that hed been made a designated international for Saturday, which could limit the slotbacks playing time because he cant replace a Canadian on the field. "I dont make these decisions. I just play football," Lewis said. "In this business, its what have you done lately. Last year, I wasnt able to play, so Ive got to continue to go out and get better and prove that I can play. "Ive never had an injury like I had last year, so I am so motivated to get back on the field and just show it is possible. Maybe Week 1, well unleash the beast." Stampeder offensive lineman Dan Federkeil will sit out Saturdays game. He took a hit to the neck in practice this week and has had a concussion before. Hufnagel wants to be cautious with the Medicine Hat, Alta., native. So with internationals Stanley Bryant and Edwin Harrison both suiting up on the offensive line, Hufnagel said "it disrupted our ratio a little bit." "I had to make one of our receivers the DI," Hufnagel explained. "Nik will be the DI, but were still going to have three on the field and they all are going to have their roles. Its not like Nik wont be playing the game." Lewis is considered one of the CFLs colourful, and at times controversial, players. Montreals Johnson could join him in that category. The six-time Pro Bowler and one-time "Dancing With the Stars" contestants Twitter posts often include "sensitive material" warnings. He changed surname to Ochocinco in 2008 only to return to Chad Johnson in 2012. He spent 10 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, but hasnt played a game since 2011. The 36-year-old wide receiver wasnt among the handful of Alouettes available to the media at McMahon on Friday. Smith indicated Johnson is still adjusting to the Canadian game. "Chads OK, man hes done great," the quarterback said. "Hes accepting the different nuances of the game and tried to perfect them the best he could, but his backbone and his foundation will be guys like S.J. Green, guys like Duron Carter and guys like Brandon Whitaker who can give him the ins and outs . . . on things he can do during the game if hes not feeling too up to par with whats going on. "We have an incredible group of veteran guys who do nothing but help tremendously and Ive relied on them also." Vapormax Schwarz Herren Schweiz . The 23-year-old Neustaedter will move at the end of the season when his contract with Moenchengladbach expires. He signed a four-year deal with Schalke. Air Max 200 Outlet . He will be practicing with the Norfolk Admirals (AHL) on a conditioning assignment. - @AnaheimDucks Corey Perry has a knee sprain and will miss the next three to four weeks. http://www.vapormaxkaufenschweiz.com/air-max-97-schweiz.html .C. - Phoenix Suns coach Jeff Hornacek says guard Goran Dragic will return to the starting lineup against the Charlotte Hornets after missing the last two games with a strained back. Vapormax Weiß Damen Schweiz . -- Falcons running back Steven Jackson, who has missed the last four games with a hamstring injury, is expected to practice on Wednesday. Vapormax Herren Outlet . -- Another baseball tradition is about to largely disappear: a manager, with a crazed look in his eyes, charging the field and getting into a face-to-face shouting match with an umpire.Scott Cullen takes a look at the top stories from January 10th through January 16th, including All-Star Game rosters, Pekka Rinne hurt, numbers retired, Boston bouncing back and more. ALL STARS As the NHL prepares to hold its All-Star weekend, January 24-25 in Columbus, the rosters were filled out, with 36 players joining the six voted-in starters -- Chicagos Corey Crawford, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Buffalos Zemgus Girgensons. Also named to the All-Star game: Forwards: Patrice Bergeron, Sidney Crosby, Patrik Elias, Nick Foligno, Ryan Getzlaf, Claude Giroux, Ryan Johansen, Tyler Johnson, Phil Kessel, Anze Kopitar, Evgeni Malkin, Rick Nash, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Alex Ovechkin, Bobby Ryan, Tyler Seguin, Steven Stamkos, Vladimir Tarasenko, John Tavares, Jakub Voracek, Radim Vrbata Defence: Brent Burns, Dustin Byfuglien, Drew Doughty, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Justin Faulk, Mark Giordano, Erik Johnson, Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan Suter, Shea Weber Goaltenders: Sergei Bobrovsky, Jimmy Howard, Roberto Luongo, Carey Price, Pekka Rinne. Then, with Howard and Rinne injured, Marc-Andre Fleury and Jaroslav Halak were selected to play in the game. The captains, for the draft proceedings of the event, will be Jonathan Toews and Nick Foligno, representing the host Columbus Blue Jackets. As with any All-Star proceeding, there is also the matter of which players were snubbed, or at least those that deserved the honour and, for whatever reason, were not selected. In the case of the NHL, trying to include a representative from every team leads to some dubious choices. So, who else might have warranted a spot? Up front, Joe Pavelski, Nicklas Backstrom, Filip Forsberg and Jamie Benn would all have a reasonable claim. On defence, P.K. Subban, Erik Karlsson and Alex Pietrangelo would not be out of place. They probably rectified a goaltending miss by including Marc-Andre Fleury, who is having the best year of his career. Braden Holtby or Craig Anderson might be the closest thing to a snub by the time we get through eight goaltenders already named to the game. RINNE HURT The frontrunner for the Vezina Trophy as the leagues best goaltender, and a viable Hart Trophy candidate as league MVP, Nashvilles Pekka Rinne is out for the next 3-5 weeks with a knee injury. While Rinne (29-6-2, 1.96 GAA, .931 SV%, .945 EV SV%) has been the best puckstopper in the league this season, and there is a notable drop-off in quality from Rinne to Carter Hutton and Marek Mazanec, the Predators have improved enough in other areas that they shouldnt be a complete wreck without Rinne. They have improved from a 48% possession team last season to nearly 53% this year, and have more scoring than they have in years past -- theyre 3.00 goals per game this season is their highest rate since 2006-2007 (3.24). Given the quality of their division, the Predators wont have to collapse to still lose their spot at the top of the Central, but they should be able to survive the next month or so without their best player this season. TEEMU TIME The Anaheim Ducks honoured Teemu Selanne, raising his No. 8 to the rafters. In 966 career games with the Ducks, Selanne scored 457 goals and 988 points and his two tours of duty with the Ducks (1995-2001 and 2005-2014) provided many of the finest moments of his career, including a Stanley Cup in 2007 and five seasons with at least 40 goals, leading the league in both 1997-1998 and 1998-1999. Over the course of his career, Selanne scored 684 goals (ranks 11th all-time) and accumulated 1457 points (ranks 15th) in 1451 games. On top of all that, Selanne is universally-praised by players and media alike as a great guy. Rave reviews all around for a future Hall of Famer. DOMINATOR HONOURED The Buffalo Sabres retired Dominik Haseks number 39, an honour that may seem a little overdue, given his importance to the franchise. Buffalo acquired Hasek from the Chicago Blackhawks for goaltender Stephane Beauregard and a fourth-round pick (which turned out to be Eric Daze) in 1992. He had two unremarkable seasons with the Sabres before emerging as the clubs starting goaltender in 1993-1994. From that season through 1998-1999, there was no goaltender on the planet that was in Haseks league and he nearly dragged the Sabres to a Stanley Cup in 1999. Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur were the closest to Hasek in save percentage over those years and they werent particularly close. Using Hockey References Goals Saved Above Average measure, Hasek saved more than 295 goals above average in that six-year span. Roy (140) and Brodeur (102), while great, were a long way from having that kind of impact. Following his time in Buffalo, Hasek had some good years with the Detroit Red wings, winning the Stanley Cup in 2002 and earning another Cup ring -- making four playoff starts as a 43-year-old -- in 2008. He last played professionally with Moscow Spartak in the KHL in 2010-2011, playing in 46 of 54 games as a 46-year-old. He was acrobatic, quirky, and the best goaltender in the world in the 1990s. BRUINS ARE BACK It wasnt the easiest first half of the season for the Boston Bruins, who had won 19 of 40 games as of Januaryy 4, struggling while they missed defenceman Zdeno Chara and centre David Krejci for stretches due to injuries.dddddddddddd Now, however, the Bruins have won five straight, and have two regulation losses in their past 16 games, climbing into playoff position in the Eastern Conference -- something that was assumed before the season started, but had been cast into doubt as the Bruins failed to generate consistent results. Goaltender Tuukka Rask is playing better and the Bruins are relatively healthy, but theyve also received a boost in the form of 18-year-old rookie winger David Pastrnak, who had back-to-back two-goal games last week. Pastrnak somehow lasted until the 25th pick in last summers draft and he has already shown that he has high-end skill not befitting a late first-round pick. He had 27 points (10 G, 17 A) and 74 shots on goal in 24 AHL games, and managed one assist in an earlier five-game trial with the Bruins before he was loaned to the Czech team at the World Junior Hockey Championships. After scoring seven points (1 G, 6 A) in the World Juniors, Pastrnak returned to Boston, where hes taken up the right wing spot on a line with Milan Lucic and David Krejci. Its a lot to ask for an 18-year-old to play a signficant role on a contending team, but in his very small NHL sample, Pastrnak has passed the eye test and the analytics test, carrying better than 60% of shot attempts during 5-on-5 play. Even if hes not going to keep piling up two-goal games, he should be able to play a regular role with the Bruins for the rest of the season. VALUE PLAY Winnipeg signing free agent C Mathieu Perreault to a three-year, $9-million contract last summer is turning into one of the best decisions made by this franchise. The smallish centre, who has moved to play wing with Michael Frolik and Mark Scheifele, scored four goals in an 8-2 win over Florida Tuesday. Whats so remarkable is how dramatically Perreaults numbers jumped after a slow start to the year, as he opened the year with no goals and three assists in 19 games, then followed with 26 points (15 G, 11 A) in the next 25 games. All this production caught the attention of smart guys (and wise guys). THE WILD LIFE Coming into the season, expectations were relatively high for the Minnesota Wild, who lost in the second round of last years playoffs to the Chicago Blackhawks. They opened the year as a dominant possession team (a league-leading 57.3% score-adjusted Corsi in October), but their goaltending was a mess and its only become more of a problem now that the possession numbers have been in steady decline (50.3% since November 1). Prior to Thursdays 7-0 win at Buffalo, the Wild had two regulation wins in the previous 16 games and, falling out of the playoff race, speculation has been heating up about the future of head coach Mike Yeo. The biggest problem for the Wild, which affects Yeos job security, has been goaltending, as Darcy Kuemper, Niklas Backstrom and John Curry have combined to give the Wild the leagues worst save percentage (.898) during 5-on-5 play. As a result, the Wild traded a third-round pick to Arizona this week for Devan Dubnyk, who has rebounded after a miserable 2013-14 season. Even if Dubnyk does stabilize the situation in net for Minnesota, they are now seven points out of a playoff spot, so they are starting an uphill climb. FIRE SALE IN THE DESERT After the Coyotes dealt Dubnyk, reports surfaced that would be the first of several changes to come for a team with new ownership and virtually no chance at the playoffs. With no postseason on the horizon, its a given that pending unrestricted free agents like centre Antoine Vermette and defenceman Zbynek Michalek could be moved, but if the Coyotes decide to make defenceman Keith Yandle available, that would drive some interesting, high-stakes trade discussion. In any case, the Coyotes can focus on their future, which will include a high first-round pick in 2015 as well as prospects Max Domi and Christian Dvorak, who are thought of quite highly by some. CRAIGS LIST TSNs resident scout Craig Button offered up his top drafted NHL prospects, with Domi leading the way after his strong showing at the World Juniors. That might raise some eyebrows, given that Domi was the 12th overall pick in 2013, but there will be a lot of time for these players to establish their games, and values, at the NHL level. I know, as well as anyone, how rankings are not met with universal acceptance, but come on, Craig, wheres Pastrnak? (I kid.) CHANGING LEAFS The immediate returns for new Maple Leafs head coach Peter Horacheck have not been ideal. On one hand, the Leafs have gone from a 44% possession team under Randy Carlyle to 47.6% in five games under Horachek, but the Leafs have managed just one win and scored a total of eight goals in those five games. To be reasonable, expectations should not have been high for a struggling (and injured) Leafs team going to California, and they lived down to those expectations, but the fanbase isnt reveling in improved possession if they arent able to score or, at least once in a while, win. Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '