The New York Islanders made a surprise move, re-uniting a pair of linemates with big free agent contracts. LeBron James Shoes Sale . Numbers Game looks into the Islanders getting Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin. The Islanders Get: C Mikhail Grabovski and LW Nikolai Kulemin. Grabovski, 30, has been a productive centre, scoring 160 points in 261 games over the past four seasons, which ranks 98th among NHL forwards. While that alone is a decent indication of Grabovskis ability to contribute as a second-line centre, hes put up terrific relative possession numbers in four of the last five seasons, the only exception being in 2012-2013 with the Toronto Maple Leafs, when he was effectively buried in a defensive role. That led to his being bought out by the Maple Leafs in one of the more ridiculous decisions in the history of NHL contract buyouts. One year after he was bought out by the Maple Leafs and could only drum up enough interest to secure a one-year, $3-million deal as a free agent, Grabovski signed for four years and $20-million with the Isles. Going to the Islanders should offer Grabovski an opportunity to get favourable matchups, with zone starts tilted towards the offensive zone and softer opposition while opponents send their best at John Tavares line and the Islanders put Frans Nielsens line out for the toughest defensive assignments. Grabovski has scored 20 or more goals three times and topped 50 points twice. His career points per game of 0.59 works out to 48 points over an 82-game schedule, so maybe something around a 50-point season is the best-case scenario, but if Grabovski can put up between 40 and 50 points with typically strong possession stats over the course of his contract, he will be a solid addition for the Islanders. Grabovskis departure from Washington leaves a hole at second-line centre, one that still needs to be filled, unless Marcus Johansson or Evgeny Kuznetsov fit into that spot. Kulemin is a 27-year-old winger who scored 30 goals and 57 points riding shotgun with Grabovski for the Maple Leafs in 2010-2011, but has failed to generate much offence since, scoring 23 goals and 71 points in 188 games. But, to be fair, Kulemin has been stuck in a defensive role for the past couple seasons, with primarily defensive zone starts against quality opposition. While Kulemin hasnt scored a bunch in the NHL, particularly recently, hes produced enough to believe that there is more offence to be uncovered. He has 11 points in 20 games for Russia at the past two World Championships and 38 points in 36 KHL games while playing alongside Evgeni Malkin, so its not like Kulemin cant find his way around the offensive zone, but he likely needs a centre that will be the creator offensively. With the expectation that Kulemin will skate with Grabovski, he too should benefit from more offensive zone starts and favourable matchups. Maybe that results in Kulemin scoring 35-to-40 points (that 57-point season in 2010-2011 sure appears to be an aberration) and if that comes with solid two-way play then, even at his lofty price, Kulemin can be a worthy acquisition for the Isles. Toronto didnt seem to be in position to pay Kulemin, and they shouldnt have, based on how he was being used. Wingers that are deployed like Kulemin dont tend to get paid. Kulemins contract also runs for four years, paying him $16.75-million, which is a lot given his recent production, but if he gets more of an offensive opportunity, Kulemin has a decent shot at producing enough offensively to justify that price, which is fair for a second-line winger. All in all, this is an aggressive move by the Islanders and suddenly gives them terrific depth up front. So much that they likely need to find room on the wing for young guns like Brock Nelson and Ryan Strome, but its an enviable problem to have so much talent that some of your centres need to find room to play on the wing. Their defence can still get better, but these signings put the Islanders into the mix among playoff contenders for next season. 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. Salomon Shoes Sale . In their first meeting for six years, the Frenchmen dropped serve twice in the first set, but Giquel broke Simon two more times in the second. Gicquel moves on to face sixth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who advanced with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) win against wild card Pierre-Hugues Herbert, despite the Frenchmans 23 aces. Asics Shoes Sale . Perhaps their first trip to the city of Winnipeg in 16 years can serve as the shakeup they need. https://www.wholesaleshoesforcheap.com/nike-roshe-sale/ . Cruz set the tone with a two-run homer in the first inning, and Baltimore scored eight times in the eighth to pull away for a 12-3 victory in Game 1. The major league leader with 40 homers during the regular season, Cruz added an RBI single to his early blast off Max Scherzer.MOSCOW - The Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League saw itself as the oil-rich rival to the NHL, offering a tempting, if less prestigious, alternative to playing in North America.As the league planned to expand as far as Britain, the money on offer even attracted Russian stars like Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Radulov, who walked out on lucrative NHL deals to return home.Then came the crash of the ruble this week.The financial crisis has threatened the plans of players like former Vancouver Canucks goaltender Curtis Sanford, who came to Russia to save for his retirement.Its just really happened all of a sudden, the 35-year-old Sanford told The Associated Press. These are some things that you dont expect when you sign a contract. Right now, you just have to ride the rolls of how its going and hopefully it stabilizes and gets better.The ruble had been sliding against the dollar for most of the year against the backdrop of low oil prices and economic sanctions against Russia, but went into freefall Monday and Tuesday. Following a slight recovery, it has still lost almost half of its value against the dollar this year.With KHL rules stipulating ruble-only contracts, that is bad news for the many U.S., Canadian and European imports on the rosters of the leagues 22 Russian teams. Russias economic woes are starting to spread into neighbouring nations like Belarus and Kazakhstan, potentially shrinking the incomes for players on KHL teams there.Some players have already started to rebel. Revealing that he had not been paid for three months at Russian club Yugra Khanty-Mansiisk, except small amounts to buy food, forward Ilari Melart told the Ilta Sanomat newspaper in his native Finland that he was not in Siberia for charity.Another Finn, goaltender Mikko Koskinen, was accused by Russian media earlier this month of having refused to play for Sibir Novosibirsk because his ruble salary had dropped. Koskinen, who denies the claims, was traded to SKA St. Petersburg two days later.For the first time since the league was founded in 2008, KHL management has been forrced to deny the league could collapse. Air Max 2002 Sale. The leagues financial situation is stable and were looking calmly at the current economic situation. The season will be finished as planned, league president Dmitry Chernyshenko told local media after meeting with club heads Thursday. He also dismissed rumours the league could enforce across-the-board pay cuts for players.Chernyshenko, who led the organizing committee of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, did suggest that some clubs could be removed from the league if they lacked the money to function properly.There are completely clear criteria for taking part in the league, including financial guarantees, he said. Well demand . that the financial guarantees are provided and not just that some pieces of paper are handed in.Smaller KHL teams like Yugra, which depend on the generosity of benefactors in Russian regional government and state-run companies, have long struggled financially. Delays in paying players have been common in recent years, but have reportedly increased this season as government budgets come under strain and Russian state oil and gas companies struggle with low prices for their products.Without large-scale subsidies, many clubs could become financially unstable. Compared to players wages, income from ticket sales and TV rights is typically far from enough to keep a club viable. Despite posting league-record crowds last season and reaching the KHLs Gagarin Cup finals, Czech team Lev Prague withdrew from the league for financial reasons in July.Sanford, who tends goal for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, says he has received all his pay on time. Regardless of what happens to the ruble, Sanford will be heading back to Canada soon. He plans to retire at the end of the season and acknowledges that the falling currency is playing on his mind.My wife and I, we try to do our best with how we save and how we use our money, Sanford said. Weve done pretty good concerning that and obviously well have to try and do even better for the foreseeable future and just try and hope things work out. ' ' '