l. As far as improving the rest of the on-ice product wit

CHICAGO - When Mark Buehrle toes the rubber at U. NHL Jerseys .S. Cellular Field on Saturday night, hell not only be returning to where his career began. Hell be pitching where he flourished for 12 seasons and placed himself in the conversation amongst the best White Sox of a generation. "Im sure itll be different," said Buehrle. "Im going to try to make it not too different for myself, going to treat it like its another game. Im sure theres going to be some emotions, just different feelings, obviously pitching and getting on that mound for the first time in a couple of years. Im just going to go out there and try to get outs." Buehrle pitched in Chicago from 2000 to 2011. Here are the most obvious points in his long list of accomplishments: - 161 wins- World Champion, 2005- August 18, 2007: No-hitter versus Texas.- July 23, 2009: Perfect game versus Tampa Bay He has gained the respect of his manager, coaches and teammates in Toronto for being a down-to-earth veteran, someone whos willing to help younger players better acclimate to the major league experience. Judging by the size of the media horde which welcomed him on Friday afternoon, hes clearly missed for many of the same reasons hes come to be appreciated in Toronto. His mound opponent on Saturday, John Danks, is six years Buehrles junior and broke in with the White Sox in 2007. The two were teammates for five seasons. They texted often as the game approached. "Hes trying to make bets," said Buehrle. "I told him betting was illegal in baseball." Niceties aside, Buehrle is looking to turn around a season which, for both himself and his team, began so promisingly. The left-hander won his 10th game on June 1 and has but one victory since. In his last 12 starts dating to June 7, Buehrle is 1-7 with a 4.76 ERA. Of late, hes been worse, throwing into the fifth inning only once in his last four outings. "Hes not doing a lot of things differently," said pitching coach Pete Walker. "I think a lot of the balls seem to be finding holes to be honest with you. I think hes left the ball up a little bit more than he was earlier in the year. Maybe there was a little bit of fatigue at some point." The Blue Jays entered Saturdays action four games behind the Mariners for the American Leagues second wild card spot. Detroit was in between; the Jays trail the Tigers by three games. As many clubs as Toronto is chasing, there are more nipping at the Jays heels, including the Yankees, Indians and Rays. Of the three, Tampa Bay is furthest back of Toronto, trailing the Jays by merely one-and-a-half games. With the team in a 3-10 tailspin for the month of August, Buehrle needs a bounce back start to inject life into a team that appears to be on the brink of a freefall. Cheap NHL Jerseys . Bjoerndalen, who had failed to win any major race for two years before Sochi, writes in a Facebook entry that he is "full of energy and inspiration" after winning the 10-kilometre sprint and mixed relay at last months Olympics. Authentic NHL Jerseys . Since coming to the big leagues in late May, La Stella is 6 for 7 with the bases loaded, driving in 13 runs in those at-bats. https://www.cheapnhljerseysjustwholesale.com/ . Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.TORONTO -- Change was on Brendan Shanahans mind when he took over as president of the Toronto Maple Leafs. After taking some time to assess the organization, he made his first major change to the front office Tuesday, firing assistant general manager Claude Loiselle and vice-president of hockey operations Dave Poulin, and hiring 28-year-old Kyle Dubas as the teams new assistant GM. The move represented a shift in philosophy to shape the Leafs more in Shanahans image. "Hes not tied to any old ideas," Shanahan said of Dubas. "I believe we have people in our organization who have maybe been afraid of certain words and certain information who, once you speak with Kyle, I think he makes it seem much more logical and easy to apply." For some time, the Leafs have been considered behind the times with advanced statistics and even the way NHL rosters are shaped. Truculence was and still is a Brian Burke buzzword, and long after his departure Toronto has remained under GM Dave Nonis and coach Randy Carlyle a team that prizes intangibles and toughness perhaps more than the rest of the league. Hiring Dubas doesnt immediately mean that will end, especially given that most of the off-season moving and shaking is over. But the former Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds GM brings fresh ideas and could make the Leafs more willing to embrace different philosophies. "I think every organization rightly or wrongly changes every day," Dubas said during his introductory news conference at Air Canada Centre. "If youre not changing, everything around you is and thus youre going to change in not a great way. Ive got the impression in talking to Brendan and talking to Dave that theyre certainly open to any and all ideas, and that was one of the things that was most enticing about the situation here for me." Shanahan said he began this process just "polling the hockey world" looking for rising stars and innovators to talk to, not specifically a person to hire as an assistant GM. A conversation with OHL commissioner David Branch and others led to Dubas emerging as the top name. Over some time, Shanahan began to see Dubas as not just a source of knowledge but someone hed like to apply that to the Leafs organization. An expected two-hour meeting became seven and became dinner as the two men not only bonded over the shared experiences of being criticized in new jobs but challenged each others preconceived notions about hockey. Dubas, who served as a Greyhounds scout as a teenager before becoming the youngest NHLPA certified agent and the second youngest GM in OHL history, made a strong impression on Shanahan. "I think our view on hockey and how its being played and how it should be played are very similar," Shanahan said. "But immediately for a young guy to come in and have his first meeting with me and challenge thoughts and ideas, I thought that was maybe the most encouraging sign. Thats what I want, I always want our group to be a group where thoughts and ideas are challenged and you come out together as a team." Asked what changes hed like to make to the Leafs, Dubas played the card that hell do what hes asked. But what drew him away from his hometown Greyhounds -- not a "slam dunk" -- was an ability to make an impact. "I was enthused with my talking to Brendan, then even more enthused with my discussions with Dave and where he sees the game goingg and the game evolving," Dubas said. NHL Jerseys 2020. "That, to me, was one of the more exciting parts of the entire process: Knowing that Id be able to come in and be heard and help out as much as possible." Shanahan also thinks Dubas will be able to teach older members of the organization a few things, lauding his personal skills to be able to communicate and convince without being overbearing. With the 50-year-old talking so much about changing the Leafs "culture," Dubas is a step in that direction. "I can certainly say that anybody in our organization, regardless of what they were asked in the past or past years, their opinions, a little bit of time with Kyle can change those opinions and change those views," Shanahan said. "He is not an in-your-face kind of guy, hes logical, hes thoughtful." Asked if logic was something that was missing, Shanahan said it was "something that we obviously felt needed to be improved upon." Even amid his excitement about hiring Dubas, Shanahan said it was a difficult day to let good people go. Poulin had been around since 2009 and Loiselle since 2010. Each originally hired by Burke, Poulin and Loiselle didnt fit with the new regime of Shanahan, Nonis and now Dubas. "I think that there wouldve been some redundancies there had they stayed and there wouldve been some changes to their role that I dont think was necessarily going to be a proper fit for them," Shanahan said. Shanahan added that Dubass specific duties for the Leafs were ironed out at dinner with Nonis on Monday night. Though Dubas has salary-cap and CBA experience from his past career as an agent, the team is expected to hire another assistant GM for some of that day-to-day work as well as potentially someone else in the front office. "We want to make sure that everybodys in their most comfortable place and a place in which were as efficient as we can be as a club," Shanahan said. Even with another assistant GM around, Shanahan expects Dubas to influence the organization as a whole. "Information is power and Kyle is great at gathering information," he said. "Its not just one specific job for him. I think hes somebody that really wants to sort of be involved in a lot of things." Dubas spent the past three seasons as GM in Sault Ste. Marie, and the Greyhounds made the playoffs twice after a rocky start. Concerned with his own team, Dubas didnt get a chance to watch the Leafs much but caught some replays recently once the possibility grew that hed be moving to the NHL. Living in Ontario, Dubas couldnt avoid hearing about the Leafs. And though his only connection to the coaching staff is knowing assistant Steve Spott, hell have a chance to learn more in time. "I know what a lot of the criticisms and a lot of the positives are surrounding the team and now its just going to be about really digging into it and breaking it down that Im working here," Dubas said. Later Tuesday, the Leafs signed left-winger David Booth to a US$1.1-million one-year contract. They still need to figure out what to do with restricted-free-agent goaltender James Reimer and sign restricted-free-agent defenceman Jake Gardiner to a new contract, things that Shanahan said Nonis has under control. As far as improving the rest of the on-ice product with the Leafs, Shanahan said: "Were working on it." ' ' '