NEW ORLEANS -- Jimmy Graham insists he isnt miffed about his lack of a contract extension, even as his highlight-reel catches and gaudy statistics put him on track to be one of the best tight ends the NFL has seen. Shoes NZ 2020 . Then again, if Graham were angry, it might not be such a bad thing for the New Orleans Saints. Graham, wholl seek a third-straight 100-yard receiving game when New Orleans (3-0) hosts the Miami Dolphins (3-0) on Monday night, says he thrives on anger on the field. That would explain the force of nature hes resembled in the Saints air attack since Tampa Bays attempts to intimidate him backfired so badly a couple weeks ago. You can watch the game on TSN and TSN Mobile TV at 8:30pm et/5:30pm pt. "If somebody hits me big, you can probably tell Im probably jabbering a few things back at him, telling him that, Im going to be here all day," the 6-foot-7, 265-pound Graham said. "I find it as a challenge and I invite all of it. ... It gets me angry, which is good." In helping the Saints to victories over the Buccaneers and Cardinals in Weeks 2 and 3, Graham made 19 catches for 313 yards and three touchdowns. Much of that production came after Graham was folded backward on a penalized blast to his head by Tampa Bays Ahmad Black. What looked at first like a knockout blow produced an opposite result. Now, stopping Graham has become the problem of another Florida team. "His production over the last two weeks has been off the charts," Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said. "He obviously has great size and weight. He seems to be a natural running down the field and going up and catching the ball. He can catch the ball in traffic. He can catch the ball when he gets hit. He has excellent concentration and hands. His size and length are an issue, and its a concern when you go play him." Many Miami sports fans are familiar with Grahams character and toughness. He was abandoned as a child before being adopted by a woman who counselled Grahams youth group at a North Carolina church. The stability his adoptive mother provided helped him earn a basketball scholarship to Miami. He was a physical power forward, and now offers a self-effacing smile while describing himself as a player who had more fouls than points. He thrived as a student and athlete at Miami, and Hurricanes fans, including university president and former Clinton cabinet member Donna Shalala, held him up as an inspiration. Football coaches saw his ability to run the floor and grab rebounds, and figured hed make a great tight end. He gave it a shot in 2009, his final year of NCAA eligibility, and Saints scouts werent the only ones who noticed. He could have become a Dolphin if Saints coach Sean Payton hadnt taken Graham off the market in the third round of the 2010 draft. Paytons mentor and former boss, Bill Parcells, was an executive with Miami at the time and had his eye on Graham. "I do remember 30 seconds after the selection, getting a phone call from Parcells," Payton said, adding he could tell Graham was someone Parcells targeted. "That makes you feel good, rather than him saying, What did you take him for? To Jimmys credit, hes come in and his transition has been fairly quick with maybe the lack of experience that a lot of players would have in college." Since 2011 (including playoffs) Graham leads NFL tight ends with 219 catches for 2,808 yards, and leads NFC tight ends with 27 TDs. His numbers might have been even better if not for a wrist injury that led to what would be considered a down year by Grahams standards in 2012: 85 catches, 982 yards, nine TDs. "It feels good to be healthy. I cant lie about that," Graham said. "This off-season is the hardest that Ive worked in not only rehab but just on little things -- you know -- film room. But I think more than anything, Im playing with more emotion than I ever have." The Saints want to lock down Graham long term, but general manager Mickey Loomis tends to be a deliberate and patient negotiator. The Saints could use the franchise tag to prevent Graham from leaving. Graham could have held out, but noticed a collective sense of purpose at Saints headquarters as Payton returned from his 2012 bounty ban, and he wanted to be part of it. And like quarterback Drew Brees in 2011, Graham has faith the Saints will ultimately treat him right. "For me, it really is all football," Graham said. "Im a very hungry player right now." Shoes NZ Outlet . Chan captured two silver medals at last months Sochi Winter Games — mens singles and the inaugural team event. But he doesnt have the urge to resume training to defend his world title when the event is held in Saitama, Japan, later this month. Shoes NZ Online . Although head coach Randy Carlyle jokingly wondered how much actual training Bolland got done while in London. "I dont know how much training goes on when you go back to the junior team that you played for so I wouldnt read too much into that," laughed Carlyle after the Maple Leafs were put through an up-tempo practice that concluded with a 10-minute bag skate on Thursday. https://www.shoesnzonline.com/ .Y. - Sven Andrighetto scored once and set up two more as the Hamilton Bulldogs hung on to defeat the host Adirondack Flames 5-3 on Tuesday in American Hockey League action.A few weeks back, I looked into the scoring chance tracking done at War on Ice, comparing scoring chance rates to shot attempt rates for individual players. Now, for more of a macro look at team-level results, comparing goals for and against, scoring chances for and against, and shot attempts for and against to see if its possible to get a better grasp on the ever-elusive shot quality. Ive compiled some ratios, looking at goals, scoring chances and shot attempts, using colour scales to help identify outliers. (All measures during 5-on-5 play) (G - Goals, SA - Shot Attempts, SC - Scoring Chances) When it comes to goals per shot attempts, its not a surprise to see non-playoff teams languishing near the bottom, but San Jose, Los Angeles and Boston are also at the bottom of the range. Given that L.A. and Boston are in the Top 10 of shot attempt differential, the low-percentage finishing has an impact on their offensive production. On goals per scoring chance, the Rangers, Predators, Blues, Avalanche and Panthers are getting goals at the highest rate per scoring chance, but that could reveal a little something about their respective attacks. Nashville, for example, has 22 even-strength goals from their defencemen, while Carolina has seven. Given the qualifications for scoring chances, teams that get more goals from the point could have a higher percentage of non-scoring chances that ultimately result in goals. Otherwise, San Jose, Los Angeles and Boston remain in the lower tier, not taking advantage of opportunities. As for scoring chances per shot attempt, the Tampa Bay Lightning are far and away the leaders in percentage of shot attempts that count as scoring chances. That offers some support for converting the highest percentage of 5-on-5 shot attempts into goals and backs them up as the leagues highest-scoring team. Theyre high-percentage finishers, but not outrageously so and the quality of opportunities suggest that they should score on a relatively high percentage of shot attempts. Notably, both Dallas and Toronto ranked highly in terms of goals per shot attempt and scoring chances per shot attempt. The Stars are one of the highest-scoring teams in the league and the Maple Leafs were before their pre-All-Star drought. At the bottom of scoring chances per shot attempt chart sits the Florida Panthers, which is interesting because of the juxtaposition. The Panthers are one of the leagues lowest-scoring teams but, as noted above, they actually finish on a relatively high percentage of their scoring chances, rare as they may be. Thats the offensive side. How does it look in terms of goals, scoring chances and shot attempts allowed? Defensively, Nashville, Montreal, Calgary, Winnipeg and the Rangers allow the lowest percentage of goals per shot atttempt. Shoes NZ Nike. Certainly something to be said for quality goaltending. But if good goaltending can save teams, the opposite is true at the bottom end of the chart. Minnesota, Edmonton, Arizona, Columbus and Dallas are allowing the most goals per shot attempt during 5-on-5 play. For the most part, those teams have had poor goaltending this year. Minnesota and Edmonton stand out, in the wrong way because they are middle of the road in terms of scoring chances allowed, but goals per scoring chance and goals per shot attempts are right at the bottom. Lets not attribute all of this to goaltending, though, because part of this exercise is to look at shot quality, at least in terms of recorded scoring chances. The teams allowing the lowest goals-per-scoring chance arent especially surprising. Nashville, led by Pekka Rinne, and Montreal, led by Carey Price, are 1-2 again, with Colorado, Winnipeg and St. Louis rounding out the Top Five. The contributions of rookies Calvin Pickard, in Colorado, and Michael Hutchinson, in Winnipeg, have been positive in relatively limited playing time. Most of the teams allowing more goals per scoring chance are teams that have allowed a lot of goals overall but, again, the Florida Panthers stand out. The Panthers have a middle-of-the-road defensive record this season, allowing 2.64 goals per game (tied for 16th) and 30.3 shots per game (20th), but they are among the worst in terms of goals-per -scoring-chance-allowed ratio. What makes this fascinating is that the Panthers also happen to surrender the lowest percentage of scoring chances per shot attempt. If we combine this with the offensive findings, it appears that the Panthers are somewhat fortunate despite few scoring opportunities, while they are a legitimately strong defensive team that is, unfortunately, surrendering goals on a high percentage of the relatively few scoring chances that they do allow. Which brings us to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team that is far-and-away allowing the highest percentage of scoring chances per shot attempt. While Florida, Nashville, the New York Rangers, Anaheim and Ottawa are allowing the lowest percentage of scoring chances, relative to shot attempts, the Leafs are in a class of their own at the bottom behind Tampa Bay, Carolina and the New York Islanders. This is where trouble comes home to roost for the Leafs, though. Not only do they allow a high-percentage of scoring chances -- thats bad enough -- but they also allow more shot attempts than any non-Buffalo-Sabres entry. A poor shot attempt differential is one thing, and important in its own right, but getting further burned on shot quality is utterly crushing. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com. Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '