-Edouard Vlasic, who was injured in Ga

TORONTO – Tim Gleason and his wife, Candice, woke up on the first day of 2014 and made a life-altering decision that would send the 30-year-old and his family to the city of Toronto. Gleason, who had spent eight seasons in the Carolina Hurricanes organization, decided to waive his no-trade clause and switch teams for the first time since 2006. "We contemplated it for a week or a couple weeks on and off and we just looked at each other and said enough is enough," Gleason explained, "because its an everyday thing of handling whether they want you there or they want you out, if it was better for my career to move on. We woke up and just said weve got to do it and so thats what we did." Gleason was sent to the Maple Leafs in exchange for John-Michael Liles and defensive prospect, Dennis Robertson. He had been a member of the Hurricanes since the fall of 2006 when he was flipped from the L.A. Kings, alongside Eric Belanger, in a deal for now-Columbus defender Jack Johnson and Oleg Tverdovsky. His state of being was considerably different back then. He wasnt married for one and didnt have three young kids, two girls and a boy, to think about. Nor did he own the no-trade clause which allowed him to determine where he wanted to continue his career – there were a handful of teams that he was considering. "Theres a lot more that has to do with [it] than just picking up yourself and going," said Gleason, who averaged 16 minutes this season, down from nearly 20 per game last season. "You want to go to a place where theres an opportunity, obviously and a place where you can fit properly." That fit had evidently run its course with Kirk Muller and the Hurricanes, the end seemingly beginning during a Sept. 21 preseason game in Montreal. Gleason squared off that night with Jarred Tinordi and suffered a concussion from the scrap. His role, upon return from the injury, dwindled with rookie Brett Bellemore assuming increased opportunity from the Carolina coaching staff. A fiery presence, who better fits the Randy Carlyle mold than Liles, Gleason is hoping to reignite his career in Toronto. "Its kind of a laid-back situation there," said Gleason of Raleigh, North Carolina, "easy-living, good weather, beautiful place to play. But hockey career-wise, it was a decision that had to be made. This is the hockey place where you want to play." With an injury to Carl Gunnarsson (elbow) and the embarrassment of a 7-1 loss to the Rangers on Saturday evening, a door has opened into the Leafs lineup for the Michigan native. He is likely to step right onto the teams top pairing with Dion Phaneuf. "Were asking Tim Gleason to play the way hes accustomed to playing," Carlyle said of the former Windsor Spitfire last week. "Hes etched out an NHL career being a strong, physical defensive defenceman. We think that he has something to offer to our group." Carlyle was suitably displeased with the performance of his group in its most recent lopsided defeat and singled out the lack of compete as a trait to be improved upon heading into Tuesdays game against the Islanders. "Were not going to have success unless were prepared to go in and win our share of battles in those areas and quite frankly, we didnt do enough of it in the last game," said Carlyle, who is considering a juggling of the entire defence for the game against New York. Described by Leafs general manager Dave Nonis as "very competitive" on the day of the trade, Gleason should, at the very least, be of some help in that regard. It remains to be seen how much aid he can offer to a club thats struggled badly to defend all year and especially of late. The Leafs have allowed 40 shots or more in four of the past five games, including 50 against the Rangers on Saturday. Larry Johnson Jersey . 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Joe Montana Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings and guard Jimmer Fredette have completed a buyout of his contract, clearing the way for the former BYU sensation to become a free agent.The Penguins get by the Blue Jackets, the Wild and Kings force Game Sevens. Notes on Malkin, Crosby, Johnson, Dubinsky, Parise, Kopitar, Williams, Stalock and more. PENGUINS GET PAST BLUE JACKETS Pittsburgh looked like they were free and clear after racing out to a 4-0 lead, led by Evgeni Malkins hat trick, but then the Blue Jackets scored three goals in a 4:52 span in the third period to make for a heart-stopping finish. In the end, the Penguins held on to win 4-3, taking the series in six games. Malkin, who took some criticism for his lack of production, finished the series with seven points in six games. Not bad at all. After being on the ice for 71.2% of 5-on-5 shot attempts in Game Six, Malkin finished the series with an impressive 59.2% Corsi percentage. Malkin was the driving force for Pittsburgh in the deciding game, as was D Kris Letang, who was on for 21 5-on-5 shot attempts for and seven against. Penguins D Matt Niskanen contributed a couple of assists, giving him eight points for the series. That tied D Paul Martin for the Penguins scoring lead. The ever-disappointing Sidney Crosby (I kid, I kid) had six assists in six games and was on the ice for 61.3% of 5-on-5 shot attempts. If thats a Crosby worthy of criticism, rue the day that he starts playing to his typical level of excellence. Columbus attack was paced by a couple of defencemen. Fedor Tyutin, with a goal and an assist, and Jack Johnson, with two assists, led the charge. Johnson finished the series with a team-leading seven points, despite struggling in puck possession terms. While Johnson struggled in terms of possession, James Wisniewski fared pretty well in that regard, at least in relative terms. Centres Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Johansen each had six points for the Blue Jackets, while rookie LW Boone Jenner had five. Dubinsky had 40 hits over the course of the series, a total that leads the NHL postseason. That the series proved to be competitive should come as no surprise, but it should also come as no surprise that the Penguins had the high-end skill to overcome a spirited challenge from Columbus. WILD FORCE SEVEN Fighting for their playoff lives, the Minnesota Wild jumped out to a 2-0 lead, gave it back, then scored the winner with 6:29 left in third period, before adding a couple of empty-netters to ice a 5-2 victory in Game Six, forcing Game Seven back in Denver. Wild LW Zach Parise had a huge game, netting the game-winner as part of a two goal, two assist performance. Parise now has 10 points in the postseason, tied with Colorados Nathan MacKinnon for the playoff scoring lead. Ryan Suter and Mikko Koivu each had twoo assists and Jason Pominville had a goal and an assist.dddddddddddd Wild LW Nino Niederreiter had quite a game in possession terms, on for 15 shot attempts for and three against (83.3%). With Niederreiter off the ice, the Wild had 38.2% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. Though they came out on the losing end, Colorado did get C Matt Duchene back in the lineup and he contributed an assist in 18:52 of ice time. RW Ryan OReilly assisted on both Colorado goals. That this series is going seven games is rather fortunate for the Avalanche. The Wild have the best Fenwick Close in the playoffs which, naturally, means Colorado has the worse and that 60-40 disparity in even-strength shot attempts is difficult to overcome. The Avalanche have overcome shot deficits all season, leaning heavily on G Semyon Varlamov, so that is likely what they will need if they are going to get through Game Seven. The Avalanche can also take some comfort in the fact that the home team has won every game in this series. KINGS PUSH SHARKS TO SEVEN Faced with the prospect of losing their three-games-to-none lead in the series, the San Jose Sharks were forced to go into Game Six without top defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who was injured in Game Five, and then made the decision to start backup goaltender Alex Stalock in place of Antti Niemi. The result? A 4-1 Kings win, sending the series to Game Seven back in San Jose. Tied at one, with 8:04 remaining, Kings RW Justin Williams scored the winning goal, pushing Stalock back towards the Sharks net, jarring the puck loose and into the net. As controversial as that goal was, the Kings tacked on two more in short order, both by C Anze Kopitar, in the next 2:46 to put the game away. Kopitar added an assist, giving him eight points in the series, to the lead the Kings, while D Drew Doughty added a couple of assists, giving him six points in six games. Williams finished with two goals and an assist to lead the Kings. This series has been very even, with the Sharks holding a 132-128 edge in unblocked shot attempts with the score close (within a goal for the first two periods, tied in the third/overtime). Thats close enough for goaltending to make the difference and, given the uncertainty in that respect with the Sharks, Jonathan Quick is more appealing. Even so, the Sharks do get home-ice advantage in their attempt to avoid being the fourth team in NHL history to lose a series in which they led three games to none. 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. 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