OTTAWA - The Ottawa Senators are once again turning to a young Swede to lead the organization. Wholesale Supersonics Jerseys .The Senators named star defenceman Erik Karlsson as the ninth captain in franchise history on Thursday. The announcement came 15 years after Daniel Alfreddson started his long and successful run wearing the C in Ottawa.Karlsson takes over the leadership role from Jason Spezza, who was captain for just one year before being traded to the Dallas Stars this summer.The Senators added to the days excitement announcing a new US$50.75 million, seven-year contract extension for forward Bobby Ryan.Karlsson was the odds-on favourite to become the new captain, as theres little debate that he is now the face of the franchise.At 24, Karlsson appears poised to embrace the new responsibility.Its an incredible opportunity, Karlsson said. Its a task thats very rare and its not something that you can prepare for really. Its a little bit surprising to me as well and its a bit overwhelming, but Im ready for what is to come.Im really looking forward to what it has to bring and Im excited about the team and about the upcoming season and even beyond that. Im just very, very thrilled right now.Chris Phillips and Chris Neil will remain as alternate captains.Speculation as to who would be the new captain began as soon as Spezzas trade was announced. The Senators said they were in no rush to name a replacement and wanted to take the time to make the right choice.In the end general manager Bryan Murray said the decision was clear.We knew in the very near future he was going to be (captain) and we finally just decided that if hes going to be it why not be it now, Murray said. I think his growth off the ice, his attitude, the conversations weve had since last year and the fact hes back to full health and really wanting to be a focal point of this hockey team a€” all those reasons. The most important one obviously was we just felt he was the right guy because he had that personality to step up and take charge and be forceful, but considerate of his teammates.Murray said consideration for Karlsson to take on a greater leadership role began as far back as last years exit meetings.There was a tough decision to make here, Murray said. We had a couple other guys that are very responsible, good veteran players, but we just felt we had to turn the team over to a guy that could carry this team for a number of years and not be changing every year or two the captains role or whatever.Erik really indicated to me, and over the summer the few times that we talked, that he sure sounded like a guy who wanted responsibility, wanted to be a different team than last year and he came into camp and I think hes shown that.I think hes back to where he can be as a player and hell show that he can take charge of helping us be a real good team over the course of time.Karlsson was far from his best last season as he dealt with personal issues and the recovery from a lacerated Achilles tendon the previous campaign. Despite that he still managed to score 20 goals and add 54 assists.Karlsson was approached Wednesday about taking over the captaincy. He said he was honoured to be asked and didnt hesitate to accept the offer.The 2012 Norris trophy winner knows he will be under greater scrutiny, but says he was fortunate to have spent time playing under both Alfredsson, one of his best friends, and Spezza.Ill never be Alfie, Ill never be Spezz, Ill be myself and Ill lead probably in a different way than other players will and thats how it is for everyone, Karlsson said. No one can or should shape themselves exactly after someone else. We are who we are and I was fortunate to be around Alfie and learn from him and take the best things from him and also from Spezz and Philly (Phillips) and Neiler (Neil) as well. Just being around a lot of experienced, good guys it helps you shape yourself into who you want to be.Karlsson shared the news with Alfredsson prior to the official announcement and said the former captain was pleased for him.The signing of Ryan solidifies the Senators lineup as they now have Karlsson, Kyle Turris and Clarke MacArthur signed to long-term deals.Ryan, who was acquired after Alfredsson chose to sign with Detroit as a free agent in the summer of 2013, has been a fan favourite from the start and says choosing to commit long-term was a no brainer for he and his fianc??e.I love the city. I love the fans. Everybody has been so embracing and genuinely good-hearted hockey fans and I like being surrounded by that and on top of that I think the team is on the uptake obviously, he said. Say what you want on the outside of things, but I think a lot of people in the room are very, very happy with where were at and where were going to be over the course of my next seven years, but ultimately overall.Murray said it was always the organizations intent to sign Ryan to a long-term extension and was pleased to get it done sooner rather than later to avoid it becoming a distraction.We had been talking to Bobby for quite some time, Murray said. He just wanted to take a little bit of time and make sure for him that he was comfortable where he fit here and obviously he is.Only Phil Kessel has more goals than Ryan among American players since 2008-09. Kessel has 192 goals through 434 games, while Ryan has 165 goals in 425 games.We know hes a good player; we know hes an important player for us; we know goals are hard to come by in the NHL and if you dont have that kind of player in your lineup over the course of time it makes it difficult to win games, Murray said. I think Bobbys shown he can be the goal scorer in the moment of an important part of a game that can help us win.Defenceman Marc Methot remains the lone player who has yet to be re-signed as he enters the final year of his contract, but Murray said a new offer has been sent to Methots agent, Larry Kelly.We are trying to indicate to Marc that wed really like to keep him and sign him here, Murray said. Theres no other intent on our part, but I havent heard back from his agent. Paul Westphal Jersey . Ryu (8-3) allowed a run and three hits in six innings and struck out six in his 13th start. In his first 13 starts last season -- his first in the major leagues -- the left-hander was 8-5 with a 2.85 ERA. This was the ninth time this year that Ryu has allowed fewer than three earned runs, and he is 7-0 in those games. Gary Payton Jersey . Dane Dobbie and Shawn Evans each had two goals and two assists for the Roughnecks (8-5), who outscored Minnesota 6-2 in the fourth quarter after being tied through 45 minutes. Curtis Dickson scored once and set up three more for Calgary and Dan MacRae, Geoff Snider, Tor Reinholdt, Karsen Leung and Matthew Dinsdale. https://www.supersonicsjerseys.com/360s-derrick-mckey-jersey-supersonics.html . His second visit, not so much. Roark (7-5) allowed four runs on 10 hits and one walk over six innings in a 7-2 setback in front of several friends and family members, as the Cubs snapped his personal streak of four consecutive victories on Friday.MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Vikings have been in transition all year.Rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is learning on the job. Coach Mike Zimmer is shaping his new teams mindset. Dave Mansell is making sure a 970-foot steel roof truss will be in place on time and within budget, along with tens of thousands of other tasks.Whatever happens on the field this season and next will ultimately be a mere speck on the horizon of this franchises 54-year history. The stadium under construction, set for completion in the summer of 2016 as the next NFL venue to open, will become just as much of an icon for the Vikings as any player or coach.With the Vikings playing a couple of miles away at the University of Minnesota, the modern-style stadium has begun to rise. It will feature giant glass front doors, a see-through roof and a sharp-angled asymmetrical shape not-so-vaguely resembling the ships that once carried the original Vikings across the seas of northern Europe.The yet-to-be-named, 65,000-seat facility will look like nothing else in the league when its finished.When they walk through that bowl, theyre going to be like, Holy wow, said Mansell, the general superintendent for Mortensen Construction, the local company hired to build the stadium over 1.75 million gross square feet with a total price tag of a bit over $1 billion.Mansell managed construction for several other sports venues around town and around the country, at the request of Allen Troshinsky, the vice-president of operations for Mortensens sports group. They have taken the plans devised by the architects led by Bryan Trubey at HKS in Dallas, the firm that designed AT&T Stadium for the Cowboys and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the Colts.These guys are used to big, high-tech and bold.This one, though, is headed for the front of the portfolio.The job is just awesome. It sort of exceeds the experience that almost anybody working out here has ever had, said John Wood, a Mortensen senior vice-president who oversees the sports group. Its the biggest project ever built in the state of Minnesota, and so for almost all of us its the biggest thing weve ever done in our careers.The blueprints Mansell and his seven lieutenants inherited came from Trubey and his team, the result of extensive cultural and climatological research.This, after all is Minnesota, where the Vikings were forced out of their previous home at the end of the 2010 season following a massive snowstorm that toppled the Metrodome roof. All those fancy features are useless if the stadium isnt functiional through the winter. Shawn Kemp Jersey. The pitch of the roof will be steep so the snow doesnt pile up. The peak will be more than 300 feet, about 30 stories, above the field. The building will be largely translucent to match the citys pattern of design. The stadium will feature five 95-foot-tall pivoting glass doors facing the skyscrapers of the central business district and sunlight over the entire playing field. The south half of the roof will be built with the largest span of ETFE in the nation, a lightweight, glass-like substance formally called ethylene tetrafluoroethylene.The multi-purpose facility, which will host the Super Bowl in 2018, also has landed the NCAA mens basketball Final Four for 2019. In addition to college basketball, it also was designed to host major soccer, college baseball, concerts and any number of other events year round.A striking, modern, very progressive, edgy building, Trubey said. Its a very future-oriented culture there.Before the future arrives, there is much work to be done. But not out of panic.Mortensens on-time record has helped the companys sports group flourish, with major venues in Denver, Kansas City, Memphis and many other locations beyond Minnesota. This is the result of careful, confident planning, ever more important with the standards of such buildings increasingly cutting edge and complicated.To try to rush it, it would only lead to safety and quality issues, Troshinsky said. So as often as youre encouraging people forward, sometimes youve got to pull those reins back too so they dont get ahead of their skis.Mansells workdays are often 12 hours. Hes a blunt-speaking busybody more comfortable next to machines than in meetings. Still, his hardhat sits idle on Sundays.Were here to make a living to support our families and it doesnt do us any good if were not with our families, he said, adding: We dont plan these jobs seven days a week. When you go by these construction sites and theyre working seven days a week, I guarantee you its a train wreck.The number of workers on site these days is around 750. Many of them will come back to watch a game in a couple of years. Troshinsky and Mansell always enjoy opening days with their families, but theyre hardly regulars in the seats. Looking around can sometimes feel too much like work.We didnt do it on our own, boy, Mansell said. It takes a lot of dedicated men and women showing up here every day to do the grind right alongside us.___AP NFL websites: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/DaveCampbellAP ' ' '