It turns out Tim Thomas meant what he said about taking a year off. The former Boston Bruins goaltender could be on his way back to the NHL next season, after his agent - Bill Zito - tweeted "Tim Thomas has asked me to explore possible options for next season." Thomas took a year-long break from his NHL career over the 2012-13 season after a tumultuous 2011-12 in Boston. The 39-year-old was a media favourite during his last NHL campaign, often finding the spotlight for expressing his personal political beliefs on Facebook. He stated his intention to take a year-long break from hockey mid-way through the 2011-12 season and confirmed his intention to take a year off in June of 2012. The Bruins would suspend Thomas for not reporting to training camp in 2013 and would later trade his rights were traded in the middle of the 2012-13 season to the New York Islanders for a conditional draft pick. Because Thomas was over 35, the final year of his contract still counted towards the Bruins salary cap, leaving Boston on the hook for the $5 million cap hit he would have carried in 2012-13. He is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 5. Thomas was originally selected in the ninth round (217th overall) of the NHL Entry Draft by the Quebec Nordiques. He has appeared in 378 career games, all with the Bruins. He has a 196-121-45-31 career record with a .921 save percentage and a 2.48 goals against average. A four-time NHL All-Star, Thomas won the Vezina Trophy in 2009 and 2011. He backstopped the Bruins to the 2011 Stanley Cup, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.Jason Williams Jersey . The players spoke Jan. 13 during a Major League Baseball Players Association conference call after Rodriguez sued the union and Major League Baseball to overturn an arbitrators decision suspending him for the 2014 season and post-season. DeMarcus Cousins Kings Jersey . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. http://www.nbakingsonline.com/Authentic-Nemanja-Bjelica-Kings-Jersey/ . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland. Oscar Robertson Kings Jersey .ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at Boston Strong - a citys recovery from tragedy. Chris Webber Kings Jersey . -- Matt Kuchar and Harris English ran away with the Franklin Templeton Shootout, shooting a 14-under 58 on Sunday in the final-round scramble to break the tournament course record.Phoenix spent most of the summer trying to play like everyone -- including the Mercury themselves -- expected this team to play. It didnt really happen with any consistency during the regular season -- but its not too late. The Mercury are a victory away from advancing to the best-of-five semifinals but will have to win in New York on Saturday to do so.Meanwhile, Atlanta got one of the best individual performances in playoff history from Angel McCoughtry in the first round. On Sunday, the Dream head to Chicago, where they hope to avenge a painful playoff series loss to the Sky two years ago.Awaiting the winners are No. 1 seed Minnesota and No. 2 Los Angeles.No. 8 Phoenix vs. No. 3 New York (NBA TV, ESPN3, 7 p.m. ET Saturday)Heres the deal with the Mercury: No one would have been stunned to see them lose in the first round at Indiana. But no one will be stunned to see them move on to the semifinals. Thats how hard it has been to predict what Phoenix might do.It has been an up-and-down season for the Mercury because they couldnt count on their defense, which is the very thing that was a rock for them when they won the WNBA championship in 2014.During the 2016 regular season, Phoenix allowed foes an average of 83.3 points per game. The Mercurys effort in their 89-78 victory over the Fever on Wednesday was much closer to what theyll need to beat the Liberty. The Mercury held the Fever to 37.2 percent shooting while shooting 54.5 percent themselves.Any night we play good team defense, we pack the paint around the ball and get on shooters, the results come out in our favor, Phoenixs Brittney Griner said. We know what we need to do now; everybody has to go up another level.Phoenix got important offensive contributions from several players on Wednesday, with Diana Taurasi leading the way with 20 points. Griner and DeWanna Bonner each had 18, and Candice Dupree and Penny Taylor each scored 12.Bonner has been coming off the bench the past five games, with Marta Xargay starting instead, and that worked well for the Mercury on Wednesday. Bonner was fresh and very effective in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of her points to hold off the Fever.It was an emotional night, as Indianas Tamika Catchings played her last game, but it could also have been the last for Australias Taylor. Now Saturdays game will be the end for either Taylor or New Yorks Swin Cash, who is also retiring at seasons end.Neither the Mercury nor the Liberty played much defense in their first meeting this season, a 104-97 Phoenix victory in New York on June 26. Dupree had a season-high 26 points in that game, going 11-of-13 from the field. Tina Charles had 26 for New York but took 27 shots to do it. And the Liberty went 12-of-15 from the line compared with the Mercurys 27-of-33.The second meeting, in Phoenix on July 1, was more the type of game that defined the Mercury much of the season: They scored a lot, but they gave up a lot more. New York won 99-88, led by Charles 31. This time, the Liberty were able to match -- actually, slightly exceed -- the Mercury going to the line, with New York at 25-of-29 and Phoenix 23-of-26.The last game, though, was a Liberty blowout: 92-70 on Sept. 3 in New York. Phoenix shot just 32.8 percent from the field, and Griner had her lowest output of the season with two points. The Liberty held Griners offense down without center Kiah Stokes, a defensive specialist who has been out since Aug. 26.Were a bit of a toss-up, Taurasi said of the Mercury this season. But since the Olympic break, we kind of know who we are. Everyone is healthy. We see ourselves playing differently and feeliing differently.ddddddddddddEven so, Phoenix was 6-4 after the Rio Games going into the postseason, so toss-up really is probably the best way to put it. However, as they showed at Indiana, the Mercury are especially hard to beat when they face elimination. Thats the Taurasi factor as much as anything. New York will have to find a way to limit her, which Indiana could not do.No. 6 Atlanta at No. 4 Chicago (ESPN2, 1 p.m. ET Sunday)Wednesday, the Dream didnt have their second-leading scorer, Tiffany Hayes, who was out because of a suspension after her seventh technical foul in the regular-season finale. They didnt have inside veteran presence Sancho Lyttle, who is injured.But they had McCoughtry, who knew she had to put the Dream on her back. She did just that in a 94-85 victory over Seattle, scoring 37 points to go with seven assists and three rebounds. She shot 66.7 percent from the field (14-of-21), which also was critical. During the regular season, she shot 43.4 percent.It was one of McCoughtrys finest performances, and it couldnt have come at a better time. But rookie Bria Holmes also had a very timely big game, playing all 40 minutes and finishing with a season-high 21 points, plus seven rebounds and three assists.Seattle No. 1 pick Breanna Stewart, whos sure to win rookie of the year, had 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists. But her first WNBA season came to a close, while Holmes, who was drafted No. 11 out of West Virginia, moves on.The Dream prevailed 2-1 in the regular-season series with the Sky, winning the first two games in Atlanta, 87-81 on May 22 and 101-97 on June 17. In the teams first game back after the Olympics, the Sky won 90-82 in Chicago on Aug. 26.The big difference is that Elena Delle Donne, last seasons MVP, had 34 points in that victory over Atlanta, but now shes out after thumb surgery. And although the Sky actually played surprisingly well in five games without her -- winning three, including against Minnesota -- theres no getting around the big void it leaves for Chicago.Defense is going to be key for the Sky, which is a worrisome proposition. That hasnt been the Skys strength, not this season or in recent ones. And no team is more successful getting to the line than the Dream, who went there a league-high 909 times in the regular season. However, they made just 75.1 percent (683); only Connecticut was worse at the stripe (71.5.) So against the Sky, the Dream not only have to draw fouls, they also must convert the free throws.Few are better at that skill than Delle Donne, who shot 93.5 percent from the line this year and is at 93.8 percent for her career. But with her out, the Sky have been led by veteran Cappie Pondexter, who averaged 22.3 points in four games after Delle Donnes injury. Neither Pondexter nor Courtney Vandersloot played in the Skys regular-season finale at Seattle, as that had no impact on their seeding.In 2014, the Dream and the Sky met in the Eastern Conference semifinals (in the WNBAs old playoff format), with Atlanta as the No. 1 seed and presumed favorite. But Chicago won the series 2-1, rallying from 16 down after three quarters in Game 3 in Atlanta. Delle Donne had 34 points in that 81-80 victory, and the Sky then went on to beat Indiana in the East finals before losing to Phoenix in the WNBA Finals.That tough defeat at home to end 2014 sat irritatingly with Atlanta through last year, as the Dream didnt make the playoffs. Now they hope to end the Skys season at home this year. ' ' '