h movement, and if theres a franchise that has earned the benefit of the doubt, its this one.The media wants a young game, they want the speed, they want the addiction, Ott said, before being in

PARIS -- Novak Djokovic heads into the Paris Masters with his No. 1 ranking under serious threat from Andy Murray, and in the rare position of being second favorite.Djokovic is looking to win the tournament for the fourth straight year and fifth time overall. But he has been in erratic form over the past few months and is not playing with the confidence he showed here last year, when he crushed Murray 6-2, 6-4 in the final.On current form Murray has the edge, and the second-ranked Scot can overtake Djokovic if he wins and the Serb doesnt reach the final.Youve got to give him (Murray) credit for what hes done in the last three or four months, the second part of the year is quite incredible, Djokovic told reporters Sunday on the eve of the tournament. Hes playing maybe the best tennis hes ever played, very consistent, very strong. He definitely deserves to be in the position of being No. 1 at the end of the year. But that doesnt just depend on him.Djokovic guarantees to keep No. 1 if he reaches the final, and Murray is not overly optimistic of knocking him off his perch.Obviously he could win the event and, if I lose in the first round, then I am a long way from being No. 1, said Murray, who trails Djokovic 10-24 in career matches. Ive never won (the Paris Masters) before, so to just expect that youre going to win the tournament would be silly.Murray won the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Sunday for his third straight tournament win and career-high seventh of the year.In some other years, a year like this would easily (have) been enough to be No. 1 in the world, Murray said. But I am obviously getting closer.Murray, who has a first-round bye, will start his tournament against Spaniard Fernando Verdasco or Dutchman Robin HaaseLike Murray, Djokovic also has seven titles this year, matching his tally from 2013 and 2014, but will fall short of the 11 he won in an utterly dominant 2015.The 29-year-old Djokovic owns a record 30 Masters titles. He is a 12-time Grand Slam champion and has won all four majors.But after winning the elusive French Open for the first time in June, his form evaporated.Winning the French Open brought a lot of joy to me, but on the other hand has taken away a lot from me, he said. I felt a little bit exhausted, I must say, and maybe less motivated. So I had to rediscover that feeling of being on the court and pushing myself.He lost in the third round at Wimbledon to American Sam Querrey and in the first round to Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina at the Olympic Games.Although Djokovic won the first set in the U.S. Open final, Stan Wawrinka rallied to beat him.At the Shanghai Masters two weeks ago, Djokovic lost 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals to Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, an opponent he had beaten in five previous meetings.The last couple of months were not easy, Djokovic said. Mentally I just had to redefine my goals, things that are happening on and off the court.Djokovic clearly needed to gather his thoughts.Its important to take time, he said. Really understand what the next step is going to be, professionally, privately.He feels much better now.I feel great and rejuvenated, very happy to be back in the city where I have wonderful memories, he said. It gives me a lot of emotions and butterflies in my stomach when I think about the last time I was here.Djokovic, who also won here in 2009, faces either Nicolas Almagro of Spain or Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the second round.Milos Raonic, who also has a first-round bye, is still feeling the effects of ankle injury that forced him to withdraw ahead of his China Open semifinal three weeks ago.Its a partial tear, said the big-serving Canadian. Its still a little bit of an issue ... I tape it up to limit how much my ankle can move.---Associated Press writer Eric Willemsen in Vienna contributed to this report.Air Max 270 Outlet . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said. Cheap Nike Air Max 270 Shoes From China . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. 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Discount Air Max 270 . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.DETROIT -- When?Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland sat down this past offseason to plan out his approach, he had one simple goal:He wanted to win.I know, weird.His team has made the playoffs for 25 consecutive seasons, a streak unheard of in hockey these days. In all of sports, really. Holland wants a 26th. He just wasnt willing to concede the Eastern Conference to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals or?Pittsburgh Penguins?-- or willing to make way for young teams making strides in the East like the?Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres.So when Pavel Datsyuk left after 14 seasons as a Wing, Holland replaced him with?Frans Nielsen. When he saw a weakness in his teams power play, Holland addressed it by adding Thomas Vanek. The GM thought his dressing room needed more personality and spark. Enter Steve Ott, who has both oozing from his pores. Constantly.A rebuild? No thanks. Thats not something Holland is interested in undertaking.There are no guarantees with rebuilds, Holland said after the Red Wings practiced on Wednesday. There are no guarantees youre going to come out the other side and youre going to be elite.Rarely do playoff teams initiate their own rebuild. Rebuilds are the result of a team petering out for some reason, a franchise that has reached the end of the line. Not a team with a rich history of success that is the result of decades instilling a culture of winning and playing the right way into every player who enters the organization.In Detroit, its a culture of winning that has been handed down from Steve Yzerman to Nicklas Lidstrom to Henrik Zetterberg and now to?Dylan Larkin, Petr Mrazek and Andreas Athanasiou.You can excuse Holland and the Red Wings if theyre not overly eager to rip out that fabric of success in exchange for the opportunity to draft somewhere closer to the top.But Ill admit that Ive wondered if a few down years might do the Red Wings some good. Ive suggested as much. Ive wondered what this organization could do if it added a couple of top-10 picks to its talented young core. I certainly understood why some fans were puzzled the past couple of years that Detroit brought in guys such as?Mike Green, Vanek and Ott instead of young players who might be able to do the same thing much more cheaply, gain experience, lose a few more games and help improve the draft odds.Holland has done the analysis -- and decided that the cost and risk of going down that path far outweighed a possible reward.Theres now a lottery. The first four picks are lottery picks. You can be the worst team in the league and get the fifth pick in the draft, Holland said. Each year, we go forward, it becomes more and more a parity league. Why is that? Players come out of the entry level and they go from entry-level contracts to $5-$6 million.This isnt the same system that that Penguins and Blackhawks had to navigate on the way to landing elite players -- and neither are the contract structures.Chicago, for example, won a Stanley Cup with?Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews?still playing on their entry-level deals. Then they got matching contracts for five years and $6.3 million. Then came the monster deals worth $10.5 million per season. To land those players, Chicago fans had to endure a decade in which the Blackhawks made the playoffs just once. Teams dont have to do that anymore.Besides the changes to the draft lottery, young players are getting bigger contracts earlier, which lends itseelf to more parity.dddddddddddd The?Edmonton Oilers, you can be sure, are planning on?Connor McDavids next contract looking much more like Kanes and Toews current ones than their second deals. And thats if youre lucky enough to land McDavid during your rebuild in the first place. Only one team every decade gets to do that.The Red Wings have considered all that as they march forward. Their solution is to keep doing what theyve always done: just keep winning. Draft well from the position in which youre placed and make the kids earn the playing time.Detroit signed Green last year, and he has seven points in eight games this season. Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said Greens teammates are learning how to play to his strengths more, to take advantage of his skating.Green said it took him half a season to get comfortable on a new team. Now, here he is.Weve changed up a few things, but mostly its a confidence thing, Green said. We are detailed in our assignments, and it has shown this season.Both Holland and Blashill phoned Vanek when he was a free agent and made their pitch to get him to Detroit. They wanted him playing in front of the net. They loved the idea of another right-handed shot. They realize hes not a guy who needs 18 minutes per game to put up points. Right now, hes averaging 13:11, the lowest of his career. He has eight points in seven games. Its been a great fit.Am I as fast as Larkin or McDavid? Not even close, Vanek said. I never was and never will be. But I can read the game, I have hockey IQ -- which, to me, is something that is leaving the game a little.The Red Wings have started 6-2-0, in large part because of veterans Vanek and Green. Its important to note that while their even-strength save percentage and shooting percentage are near the top of the league, that wont continue. Detroit controls only 45.6 percent of its even-strength shot attempts, a rate that has to improve for it to keep winning. So, despite the early success, there are red flags for the Red Wings.But on Tuesday, Larkin joined the party with a two-goal game against the?Carolina Hurricanes.?They were his first goals of the season. Athanasiou scored for the second consecutive game, showing what it can look like when all generations are contributing for the Red Wings.Detroit has opted not to go all-in on the youth movement, and if theres a franchise that has earned the benefit of the doubt, its this one.The media wants a young game, they want the speed, they want the addiction, Ott said, before being interrupted momentarily.Dont blame it all on us, Steve.No, I think its true, he continued. Who is the model that built completely young and won everything? It hasnt happened. Why has that not happened? You tell me.Because successful teams need a mix of youth and experience. Its early, but the Red Wings believe they have the right mix. Theyre winning with veterans and young guns, they have a kid in forward?Anthony Mantha, who is banging on the door with six goals in five AHL games. They dont think Tyler Bertuzzi is too far behind him. Eventually Evgeny Svechnikov will be there, too.Theres a plan in place to keep the success going. No, the Red Wings are not interested in tearing it down. Just winning, as theyve done for two and a half decades. Perhaps, in Detroit, theyve earned the right to keep trying. ' ' '