SAN JOSE Ryan Johansen Jersey , Calif. (AP) Having missed out on the biggest prize on the free-agent market, the San Jose Sharks are now content to wait and use their ample salary cap space to acquire a difference maker in a trade if one becomes available.The free agency period opened Sunday with star center John Tavares turning down an offer from San Jose to sign a $77 million, seven-year deal with his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.The Sharks also finalized a $64 million, eight-year extension with Logan Couture but saw their hopes of teaming him and Tavares as a formidable pair of top two centers thwarted.Wilson said he viewed Tavares as the only difference maker on the open market in free agency and didn’t feel like he missed out on getting another player while negotiating with Tavares.”It didn’t really get in the way of anything else we were looking at because our commitment was to take this swing at him, and we knew that if we didn’t get him and we couldn’t match up to his childhood dream of him going home, we understand that,” Wilson said. ”But we’re still positioned, just like we’ve always been historically to add players through trade.”The Sharks still have approximately $20 million in salary cap space, some of which will be used to re-sign Joe Thornton in a deal that should be completed quickly, according to Wilson. San Jose also needs to sign restricted free agent forwards Tomas Hertl and Chris Tierney but will have money to acquire other players if they become available on the trade market.Wilson sees no reason to rush into any moves with a core in place that also includes high-scoring forwards Evander Kane and Joe Pavelski, defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Brent Burns, as well as goaltender Martin Jones.”As far as exploring other players Viktor Arvidsson Jersey , we looked at it. John was the one that we wanted to swing at,” Wilson said. ”We feel that we have a very good hockey team. I mean we had 100 points last year without Jumbo and actually without Kaner most of the year. We scored 252 goals. We’ve got a good hockey team, but I’ve always explored every opportunity to add players of this ilk to our team, and that’s what we did. But do we feel like we lost out on anything? No, not really.”Keeping Couture was much easier than luring away Tavares since he never had any desire to leave the franchise he initially joined as a first-round pick in 2007.Couture was San Jose’s most dependable center last season, often matching up against the opponent’s top line and providing plenty of offense of his own from the second line. Couture had a career-high 34 goals last year and was a major part of the power play and penalty killing units.”Everyone loves playing in San Jose,” Couture said. ”I don’t just say that because I play there. You ask around the league and a lot of guys have heard all the great things about playing in San Jose and playing for the Sharks. I think that speaks volumes of why these big-name free agents have the Sharks on their list, because of the great things they hear about the organization, and there’s much about the Sharks that makes it very difficult to want to leave. So I’ve wanted to stay and I’m very happy.”The 29-year-old has 213 goals and 224 assists in 582 career games. He also has been a postseason standout, leading the NHL with 30 points in 2016 when he helped San Jose reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history before losing to Pittsburgh in six games.Couture has 34 goals and 47 assists in 96 career playoff games, ranking in the top 10 in the NHL in playoff goals and points since making his postseason debut in 2010.He feels the pieces are in place for more postseason runs, even without Tavares on board.”Our team’s goal is to win right now Robin Lehner Jersey Womens ,” he said. ”It’s not to wait a few years. We want to go out. We want to win. Obviously the goal going into next year is to win the Stanley Cup. That’s many teams goal. I’m sure Doug has many things he has going on but obviously that’s not my job.— COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Buffalo Sabres, playing with a sharper edge so far this season, will try to extend their three-game winning streak on Saturday night when they visit Nationwide Arena to face the Columbus Blue Jackets.The Sabres (6-4-0) feel a different vibe with this team. They like how they’re playing after rallying from three one-goal deficits in the final two periods on Thursday night to get past the visiting Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in Buffalo, N.Y.Kyle Okposo scored the winning goal on a power play with 1:01 remaining for Buffalo, which is off to its best start after 10 games since the 2011-12 season.Article continues below ...“We bent, we didn’t break,” Okposo said, according to the team’s website. “And I don’t even think we bent. We just played the same way. That’s all we did.”Jason Pominville contributed two goals — his 27th career multi-goal game and his first since last October — in the winning effort.“Last year, we probably would’ve got in our shell and wouldn’t have had a pushback, a fight back,” Pominville said. “But now it’s a different team.”Pominville’s 497 points rank 10th in franchise history http://www.officialdevils.com/authentic-adidas-cory-schneider-jersey , tying him with Thomas Vanek. But he knows a team is only as good as its last game.“We’ve got to make sure we keep going, come to practice and move on,” Pominville said. “But, yeah, it shows a lot about the character this group has.” The veteran Pominville has produced six points (three goals, three assists) in the last three games as a result of aggressively crashing the net on a line that includes Jeff Skinner and Jack Eichel. Skinner leads the Sabres in scoring with 10 points (five goals, five assists) and Eichel is right behind with nine (3-6).“Jason’s just done a good job of going there,” Sabres coach Phil Housley said. “He’s been rewarded. … That’s one of the things we’ve been focusing on, driving to the net hard and stopping there and paying a price.”The Blue Jackets (5-4-0) are feeling better about their game after ending a two-game losing streak with a 7-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night in St. Louis.After falling behind 2-0 in the opening period, the Blue Jackets reeled off four straight goals and kept the Blues at bay.Boone Jenner and Anthony Duclair each accounted for two goals, and All-Star Seth Jones scored his first in his second game since returning from a knee injury that sidelined him for the first three weeks of the season.Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella harped on aggressiveness and that’s what he got against the Blues.“We were harder on pucks,” Tortorella said. “We were cognizant of protecting the puck Jesper Bratt Jersey Kids , taking hits to protect pucks. It was much more consistent on that style of game. Everybody contributed. We played the style we need to play.”Josh Anderson added a goal for the Blue Jackets to boost his team-leading total to five. Artemi Panarin is the club’s points leader with 12 (three goals, nine assists).“We were definitely a meaner team and playing that physical part of the game,” Anderson said. “I think it’s going to help us going into the next game too.”The Blue Jackets return home, where their record is 2-3 this year, and hope to play like they have on the road, where they’re 3-1.Backup Joonas Korpisalo was in goal for the win in St. Louis, improving his record to 3-0.Blue Jackets No. 1 goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has struggled to a 2-4 record with a lackluster 3.87 goals-against average and an .872 save percentage but is projected to start against Buffalo. He is 10-4-1 with a 2.50 GAA and a .921 save percentage lifetime against the Sabres.