PHILADELPHIA -- Its far from a coincidence that the Edmonton Oilers went big with the third pick in the NHL draft. In taking German centre Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers added some much-needed size and depth at a position of great importance. "Its not a stretch to say were really happy and think that we filled a tremendous need for our hockey club and I think is going to have a real significant impact over time with our team," general manager Craig MacTavish said Friday night. "You combine him with our No. 1 pick last year (Darnell Nurse), and we start to see some size and quite a bit of character continue to come into our dressing room." Beyond 2011 No. 1 pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the Oilers are thin at centre. And in Draisaitl, the highest-drafted German in NHL history, they get a six-foot-one, 208-pound player who has drawn comparisons to Anze Kopitar and Jaromir Jagr. Playing for the WHLs Prince Albert Raiders, Draisaitl had 38 goals and 67 assists in 64 games this past season as he developed his defensive game and faceoff prowess. Hes from Cologne but came to develop in the Canadian junior system and will remain in North America this summer to train. There are still things Draisaitl believes he needs to improve this off-season but the physically mature 18-year-old also thinks hell be ready to play in the NHL in 2014-15. MacTavish cant make such a guarantee. "Obviously we project the team to be much more productive and much deeper than we were this year, and thatll be a significant factor," he said. "We want to make sure that if we do put young kids into our lineup that they have a chance to have success, and thatll be a big factor along with how well he adapts to the NHL game at training camp." Just having a chance to earn a spot at training camp is a nice opportunity for Draisaitl, who understands he wont just be handed a job playing alongside Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle. "Im going to have to do my job and earn my spot if I want to play in that league and on that team," Draisaitl said. "I think theyre moving forward for sure and they made some good trades, (David) Perron, and the guys are getting older and more mature. This is just awesome right now." Draisaitl was thrilled to put on the same orange and blue of Edmonton stars of the past, most of whom had their primes before he was born. "Theyve had so many great players on their team: Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, MacTavish -- all those guys are stars in the league, and wearing the same jersey as they do is unbelievable," he said. MacTavish joked that he owed Draisaitl $100 for dropping his name in that group. More importantly for the GMs current job, he hopes Draisaitl can develop into an important piece of this already young core. Draisaitl fills a specific role, too, as the Oilers seek a variety of talent at forward. "(He) protects the puck and is a real offensive-zone player," MacTavish said. "Weve got a lot of skill, but were in need of somebody down low thats capable of sustaining the play. We have David Perron that fits that bill and now Leon will be a guy that can really protect the puck." If Draisaitl develops as scouts expect, he would slot in as the Oilers No. 2 centre of the future. His size mixed with Halls speed could be a tantalizing combination. "Hes probably the fastest skater in the league and hes an exciting player to watch," Draisaitl said. "It might be a good fit, but you never know." MacTavish would love to spend Saturday adding more depth to the organization, but the Oilers dont have a second- or a third-round pick after trades for Perron and goaltender Ben Scrivens. And he doesnt expect to be able to get into the second. "Well be sitting on our hands, it looks like, through the second or third round," MacTavish said. "Hopefully the scouts can pull a few of those impact players out of the later picks." Vapormax Blanche Pas Cher . Louis and Ryan Kesler have demanded to be traded. Nike Vapormax Promo . "For the past several weeks, Logan has been dealing and playing with an upper body injury," said general manager Doug Wilson in a statement. "Despite his efforts to play through it, the injury has not responded as we had hoped and Logan has made the decision to undergo a surgical procedure to repair the problem. http://www.vapormaxsolde.fr/basket-vapormax-flyknit-grossiste.html . Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. Lakers, spoke as a representative of current NBA players at a press conference assembled by Sacramento mayor and National Basketball Players Association adviser Kevin Johnson. Vapormax Plus Solde . Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, Fiorentina levelled on aggregate in the 14th minute when Joaquin Sanchez Rodriguez headed back a long ball from David Pizarro and Pasqual smashed home an angled volley. Vapormax Nere . -- The taxing preseason, which included two games in China, is finally over.CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Mikey Garcia stopped defending champion Rocky Martinez 56 seconds into the eighth round Saturday night to take the WBO junior lightweight title. The 25-year-old Garcia, from Oxnard, Calif., floored Martinez with an uppercut, sending the Puerto Rican fighter to the canvas for the first time in his career. "I thought it was a very good punch when I landed it," Garcia said. "I felt I really hurt him, enough to where he wouldnt get up. I had a feeling it would be over after I connected." Garcia improved to 33-0 with his 28th knockout. Martinez dropped to 27-2-2. After falling down with 15 seconds left in the second round, Garcia weathered through five mostly calm rounds at American Bank Center before launching his attack in the sixth. Garcia finished the seventh round by connecting on a right uppercut and, with many in the crowd of 5,124 cheering him, ended it in the eighth. "I felt his power from the very first punch," said the 30-year-old Martinez, whose last bout was a 12-round split decision in April against previously undefeated Diego Magdaleno. "Hes a strong fighter. I knew I was fighting a high quality opponent and I knew when I knocked him down the first time that he wasnt hurt." The two fighters were on the same card Jan. 19 in New York when Garcia won the WBO world featherweight title with an eight-round technical decision over Orlando Salido, and Martinez held on to his junior lightweight belt with a draw against Juan Burgos. Garcia was stripped of his featherweight title in June, when he failed to make weight for a defence against Juan Manuel Lopez. On Friday, Garcia weighed in a quarter-pound under the 130-pound limit. Martinez connected on only 14 per cent of his punches, including 10 per cent of his jabss.dddddddddddd Garcia, who came into the fight in the rare position of both challenger and favourite, connected on nearly half of his 127 power punches, which included the 16th knockout punch in his last 18 fights. In the final three rounds, Garcia landed 52 punches to Martinezs eight. The bout was the main event on a nine-match slate. In a rematch of a 2007 fight in Bridgeport, Conn., 37-year-old Vic Darchinyan seemed ready avenge the loss that cost him the IBF flyweight title, but 31-year-old Filipino star Nonito Donaire floored him twice in the eighth round. Donaire improved to 32-2 with his 20th knockout, and Darchinyan fell to 39-6-1 "We were doing great up until that point," Darchinyan said. "I felt I was winning the fight. He caught me with a few shots and thats just the way it goes." Donaire connected on more than half of his power punches. He had surgery on his right shoulder after his most recent fight, a loss by decision to Guillermo Rigondeaux. "Vic hit me hard and it felt like he broke my jaw earlier in the fight and all I was thinking was, Im going to lose," Donaire said. "But I continued fighting and found an opportunity to land a great shot." Demetrius Andrade, from Providence, R.I., won the vacant WBO junior middleweight title, outpointing Armenian-born Vanes Martirosyan in a split decision. Andrade improved to 20-0, and Martirosyan dropped to 33-1-1. "We stuck to our game plan, which was jab, jab, jab," Andrade said. "We werent prepared for the fast knockdown and we had to play a little catch-up after that." In the first featured fight, Jamaicas Nicholas Walters (23-0, 19 KOs) claimed the WBA featherweight title with a fourth-round technical knockout of Mexicos Alberto Garza (25-6-1). ' ' '