It might have been overshadowed by the Shea Weber-P.K. Subban deal, but its possible that the New Jersey Devils offseason acquisition of former No. 1 overall draft pick Taylor Hall from the?Edmonton Oilers?for emerging young defenseman Adam Larsson will end up being the most impactful offseason move in the league.The Devils, who are finally beginning to look like a Ray Shero team, hung around the edge of the playoff picture last season far longer than most had expected them to. But with?Michael Cammalleri?hurt, New Jersey lacked that go-to offensive guy, as it finished dead last in goals per game. In Hall the Devils have one of the top left wingers in the game. And, at age 24, he should be the centerpiece of New Jerseys offense for years to come. It cost him, but Shero has accelerated the process of rebuilding the barren cupboard he inherited when he became the Devils general manager in May 2015.We had to take a bit of a step back to be a better team, Shero said in a recent interview. We needed more talented players, younger players.Among the positive elements for New Jersey is ownership thats committed to winning and to spending to win, a sudden plethora of draft picks, and cap space. So stay tuned if the Devils are close come the trade deadline.Best new facesUm, did we mention Taylor Hall? Four times in his young career, Hall has topped 20 goals -- and now thats hes playing in a more structured offense, likely with his former Windsor Spitfires junior teammate?Adam Henrique, look for Hall to be north of 30, and maybe closer to 40, goals if he stays healthy.Shero didnt want to give up on Larsson, whose absence leaves a sizeable hole on the blue line, especially when you factor in the departure of the underappreciated David Schlemko. But look for a rejuvenated Ben Lovejoy, fresh off a steady turn for the Stanley Cup champion?Pittsburgh Penguins?last season, to help stabilize the blue line. Veteran Kyle Quincey was signed during training camp, adding to the teams blue-line depth.Beau Bennett, whom Shero drafted in Pittsburgh, may be looking at his last chance to revive his injury-marred career up front, while Vernon Fiddler, an important glue guy, could add veteran leadership on a team that shed a bevy of aging players, including?Tuomo Ruutu, Stephen Gionta and Jordin Tootoo, and presumably Patrik Elias, the Devils all-time leading scorer who is?still recovering from offseason surgery on his right knee and remains unsigned.Biggest unknownsLets start with Cammalleri, who is reportedly at full strength after a wrist injury kept him out of action from the All-Star break on. His absence was a killer for a Devils team that was not particularly deep up front. When hes healthy, Cammalleri is one of the most creative, productive players in the game. But the 34-year-old has struggled to stay healthy in recent years. If hes in the lineup, the Devils offensive depth goes up exponentially.How will Hall fit in? He wasnt happy about being traded, and if you assume hes motivated to prove Edmonton wrong, this should be good news for New Jersey. Shero has been candid in saying he wished he didnt have to trade Larsson, who was finally emerging as a top-four defender. Now the Devils have to hope they can fill that gap by committee as the teams identity continues to coalesce.Sure thingsCory Schneider didnt get much of a shot for Team USA at the World Cup of Hockey -- he played one period in the tournament -- but hes an elite netminder, and if the Devils are going to jump into the top eight in the Eastern Conference, Schneider will have to shoulder a mighty load. Schneiders U.S. teammate Kyle Palmieri had a breakout season for the Devils in 2015-16, scoring 30 times and adding 27 assists. He could get a look on the top line with Hall, but either way his work ethic and determination are as important to the team as is his goal production.OK, almost as important. The Devils were eighth in goals allowed per game and on the penalty kill and surprisingly ninth in power-play efficiency last season, a testament to the game plan implemented by first-year head coach John Hynes. Hynes comfort level with this team should increase his second year.PredictionThe Devils are close, maybe closer than people give them credit for being, and if they can stay healthy, theyre going to be in the hunt for a postseason berth next April. Sixth in the Metropolitan Division. Cheap Nike Air Max Outlet .5 million, one-year contract on Friday. Hawkins, who turns 41 in December, will compete with Rex Brothers for the closers role at spring training. 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LOS ANGELES -- He took the field wearing generic baseball clothes -- white pants, navy shirt, navy cap -- looking like a guy in a commercial for a product that is not an official sponsor of Major League Baseball. He ran fast, especially for a 255-pound man with, as the press information helpfully included, 7.3 percent body fat. He threw the ball from the outfield about like an above-average high school player, and he caught fly balls with two hands, as you no doubt expected he would.This is Tim Tebow, in front of talent evaluators from 28 major league teams, standing alone on the USC baseball field with the sun beating down on him, trying to do something it would be all too easy to ridicule.The event was suffused with an unearned air of seriousness. More than 200 people -- scouts, media, helpers -- strode onto the outfield grass to watch him run a 60-yard dash. They stood in center field and down the left-field line while he fought his own feet and muscled his way through a series of throws from right field. They wrote stuff down. They thought about it. They said things like, Hes clearly very athletic, even though that wasnt ever the question.And afterward, his coach Chad Moeller testified to Tebows determination and commitment, as coaches have been doing for more than a decade, and marveled at the effort it takes to get the bat out of his hands when he has had enough for the day. At one point, to demonstrate his commitment to the cause, Tebow opened his hands to allow doubters to gaze upon his bat-callused palms.?Its probably best to leave that symbolism alone.The one thing everybody wanted to know can be condensed into one word: Why? Why would a 29-year-old football icon who hasnt played baseball since his junior year in high school put himself through this? Why would he enter the public forum and subject himself to the snide and withering comments of people who know how hard it is to play this game for money?In some form or another, he was asked those questions. As you might expect, he issued a passionate and fierce rendition of, Why not?The goal would be to have a career in the big leagues, he said. The pursuit of it is to give it all you can, be the best you can, be someone to pursue what I feel passionate about. People will say, What if you fail? What if you dont make it? Guess what? I dont have to live with regret. I did everything I could. I pushed it. I would rather be someone who can live with peace and no regret rather than being so scared I didnt make the effort.Once he got rolling, even the most skeptical among us was at least glancing at the cage, wondering if we should grab a bat and give it a try. Asked about the skeptics, those who question his motivation or suggest a thirst for publicity, those who decry the fact that 28 teams sent people to watch a 29-year-old guy who hasnt played since his junior year in high school when players with real talent cant get a look, Tebow said, Im thankful they dont get to make the choices for my life.He kept going. Its what he does. He didnt have to either, because he could have mouthed a few platitudes and it probably wouldnt have affected the decision of some team to put him in a minor league uniform for a few months, if only to sell a few million dollars worth of T-shirts.With Tebow, youre encouraged to distrust your eyes. Yeah, he looked like a tight end in the outfield, falling down at one point picking up a ball off the warning track. He couldnt pull a pitch from former big leaguers Chad Smith and David Aardsma. He two-hopped a throw from medium right to third base, and it was up the line, too.But then the man staarts talking, and you wonder if maybe you were wrong.dddddddddddd. Maybe you were being too harsh. After all, he did hit a few batting-practice fastballs high into the trees beyond right field. Maybe this, this mixed bag of results at the end of several months of work, is just the first step toward this man proving everyone wrong. You come away thinking, Damn, does this guy ever try. And does he ever care. He is the most overtly trying-est and caring-est dude of his generation.If you fail, if you fall on your face, thats OK, he said. When did that become such a bad thing? When did pursuing what you love become a bad thing, regardless of the result?In January, Tebow was working out on the USC practice football field, next to the baseball field. After he finished his workouts with quarterback coach Tom House, Tebow would wander over to the baseball field, where a group of major and minor league players were getting ready for spring training.Ryan Rowland-Smith, a former Seattle Mariners reliever, was one of the players working out. They werent really interested in Tebow; they were there to get ready for spring training. It was serious business. But Tebow kept hanging around, picking up bats and wondering if he could take a few swings.I could tell he wanted to have a hit, Rowland-Smith said. He kept asking. You know, guys are trying to get their work in. They want to face good hitters to get ready. He just kept talking about the itch.Its impossible to know what was going on over on the football field with Tebow and House going through drills to improve Tebows delivery for roughly the millionth time. Quick release, elbow up -- whatever it was, you have to figure, in the quiet of January, those drills pushed Tebow closer to the realization that he would never again play quarterback in the NFL. And so he drifted over to the baseball field, with nothing more than high school credentials to his name, asking for a turn.And one day Rowland-Smith relented. Like a guy letting his little brother have a turn, he told Tebow to get in the batters box. He threw him a few fastballs at about 80 percent, and when Tebow squared one up, Rowland-Smith, a left-hander, broke off a curve.He missed it by three feet, Rowland-Smith said. He was serious, and so was I. I wanted to get my work in, so I threw a breaking ball. Not a great one, not a bad one. When I face hitters, 30 seconds into it I can tell the difference between a pro hitter and someone who isnt.He lets that hang there. Hes not making judgments, just telling a story. If he wasnt Tim Tebow, there wouldnt be people out there to watch him, Rowland-Smith says. But more power to him. People are drawn to him.Tebow might have given up on that curveball, but that doesnt mean he gave up. After all, Tebow never gives up. Thats why he went to camp with the Jets, and camp with the Patriots, and camp with the Eagles. Its why he enlisted Moeller to coach him and the powerhouse agents at CAA to represent him. Its why he didnt work out in private and then sign with an independent league team.Does he refuse to give up because he cant? Because hes addicted to the rush, to the adulation, to the idea that he can do precisely what all those believers believe he can, and all those detractors believe he cant? Thats the part of why even he cant answer, and its exactly why its hard to shake the image of the guy at USC on those January days, sensing on one field the end of something, and on the other the beginning of something else. ' ' '