uins with six shots on goal, though he was minus-

BOSTON -- The New York Rangers have won the Jimmy Vesey sweepstakes.Vesey, 23, the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner, agreed on a two-year, entry-level deal with the Rangers, the team announced Friday.Vesey became a free agent at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. In addition to the Buffalo Sabres, who owned exclusive negotiating rights from June 20 to this past Monday, Vesey entered the market with a list of seven teams he considered, and he met with those organizations over a two-day period in Boston, along with his agents, Peter Fish and Peter Donatelli.Vesey said the history of the Rangers organization and its status as an Original Six franchise had a lot to do with his decision.This week I did do a lot of meetings, and it was definitely a tough decision, but myself, my agent and my family were very impressed with the Rangers in our meeting, Vesey said. Talking with coach [Alain] Vigneault and [general manager] Jeff Gorton and Chris Drury, I was really impressed with those guys, and I just thought that New York was somewhere I could play and hopefully stick in the NHL.The thing that jumped out at me was they seemed to really want me, and from talking to them it seemed that they really needed to have me in their lineup and it seemed like they believe in me, so that was something I was looking for, and based on our talks, New York was the right fit.During the process, it was clear that Vesey wanted to play for a team that would give him the opportunity to play in a top-six role. Asked where Vesey would fit into the Rangers lineup, Gorton said its too soon to discuss that.Its hard to say. Hes got an ability to score. He can make plays. Hes a very talented player. Where? What number? What line? I wouldnt want to go down that road and say yet, but he can come in and play, Gorton said. Hes going to come into training camp and do his best to try to fit in as high as he can in our lineup, and thats what were looking for.Vesey met with the the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he entertained the Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks and finished with his hometown Boston Bruins, who gave the prospect an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of their new practice facility set to open this season.During those meetings, the teams pulled out all the stops to woo Vesey.The Blackhawks Patrick Kane was in Boston for Chicagos meeting with Vesey. The Devils Cory Schneider and Kyle Palmieri spoke with Vesey, too. The Rangers Kevin Hayes, a Boston native, has talked with Vesey numerous times this summer while both work out together. The Islanders John Tavares was also in Boston on Tuesday to make his pitch on behalf of the organization. When the Bruins hosted Vesey at the teams new practice facility, numerous Bruins players were in attendance to greet him. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby also reached out to Vesey.The Sabres Jack Eichel, who is a close friend and has been working out with Vesey all summer, also has given his advice about the Buffalo organization.Vesey and his agents started discussing all the options on Thursday afternoon and finally came to a decision on Friday evening.Vesey was originally drafted by the Nashville Predators in the third round (No. 66 overall) in the 2012 NHL entry draft. He played four seasons at Harvard from 2012 to 2016 and finished with 144 points in 128 games for the Crimson. He served as team captain his senior season.The Predators expected to sign the 23-year-old prospect, but Vesey, by his CBA rights, elected to test the free-agent market. At the time, Nashville general manager Dave Poile said the organization already had received confirmation from Vesey that he would sign after his collegiate season concluded.However, Veseys agents said the organization was told before the Feb. 29 NHL trade deadline that their client would not sign and thus become a free agent after Aug. 15.Nashville traded Veseys rights to the Sabres on June 20. Even though Buffalo had exclusive negotiating rights until midnight on Monday, the Sabres knew of Veseys desire to hear other offers. Custom Kerry Wood Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Kosuke Fukudome Jersey Large . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. http://www.customcubsjersey.com/ . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4. Kerry Wood Jersey Large . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. Cubs Jerseys China . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Fog prevented downhill racers from getting their Olympic dress rehearsal.Brent Seabrook scored in overtime, again, and the Chicago Blackhawks won Game Four, 6-5 over the Boston Bruins, evening the series at two games apiece. Seabrook, who has three goals and four points in the entire playoffs, has two overtime winners, his earlier one coming in Game Seven of the second round against Detroit. The Blackhawks outshot the Bruins 47-33, tying Bostons worst shot deficit (-14) in a game this postseason. The Bruins had a shot deficit of minus-14 or worse twice in the 2013 regular season. Chicago shook up their lines heading into Game Four, putting Patrick Kane on the right side with Jonathan Toews at centre and Bryan Bickell on the left wing. The results were favourable, as Kane had a goal and an assist, Bickell had two assists and, not only did Toews score a goal, but his positioning in front of the Boston net was instrumental to Seabrooks game-winning goal. Kane, Toews and Seabrook were plus-2 for the game, while Bickell and Duncan Keith were both plus-3. As the Blackhawks basically didnt use D Nick Leddy, playing him a total of 2:37, it was imperative to get a strong performance from veteran Michal Rozsival, who had two assists, was plus-3 and had strong possession numbers while playing 26:36, second-most on the Blackhawks, behind Keiths 32:37. Bruins D Andrew Ference struggled in the possession Game Wednesday, spending most of his night matched up against Chicagos second line of Patrick Sharp, Michal Handzus and Marian Hossa. Sharp had a game-high eight shots on goal and scored the Blackhawks fifth goal. Bruins C Patrice Bergeron scored twice and ledd the Bruins with six shots on goal, though he was minus-2.dddddddddddd. RW Tyler Seguin, LW Brad Marchand and D Zdeno Chara were minus-3 for the game. Chara was a minus-3 once in the regular season and its the first time in the playoffs hes finished worse than minus-1 in a game. Chara and Bruins RW Jaromir Jagr each contributed a pair of assists. On for two goals for and still minus-3, Chara was on the ice for five goals against. Bickell led the Blackhawks with six hits; Bruins LW Milan Lucic had a game-high eight hits and D Dennis Seidenberg registered seven. With the series now even, and heading back to Chicago, the advantage slides to the Blackhawks, but its ever so slight. There is such a razor-thin line between winning and losing in a series that has seen three of the first four games go to overtime, that neither team has a decided edge. The Blackhawks simply have to like being even in the series with the opportunity to get matchups on home ice in two of the remaining three games in the series. If they also happened to figure out how to beat Bruins G Tuukka Rask (who still leads the playoffs with a .941 save percentage), that could play in their favour. This series has been all about ebbs and flows, though, with momentum gained and lost over the course of single games. Its a wonderfully competitive matchup, so pretty great that there will be at least two more games between Boston and Chicago. 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. ' ' '