After months of questions about the health of his heart sent him tumbling down the draft board until being taken by the Oakland Raiders in the fifth round Lorenzo Alexander Jersey , Maurice Hurst was happy to get on the practice field and turn the conversation to football.

Hurst took part in his first practice as a pro Friday when the Raiders opened their rookie minicamp with three promising pass rushers they hope can bolster their defense.

"Just trying to get all of that stuff behind me, try to get people to stop talking about it," Hurst said. "You know, some sort of issue or all of those kinds of things – just try to move past that and focus on playing football and just having fun out there."

Hurst was one of the most productive defensive players in the country last season at Michigan. He had 5 sacks as an interior rusher and led all nose tackles and defensive tackles with 49 total quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.

Hurst was sent home from the combine after a heart issue was detected. Hurst said it was something he has dealt with for a long time and hadn't impacted him on the field. He said he has been cleared by doctors at Harvard and Michigan but that didn't prevent every team passing on a player projected as a first-rounder until the Raiders got him at 140th overall.

"I'm not going to answer any more health questions on Hurst," coach Jon Gruden said. "I realize there are a lot of ghost stories out there about unnamed sources that have their opinion on why we shouldn't have drafted him. This man played at Michigan. I know the head coach there. They've looked after him carefully. We're happy to have him in any round, and I'm excited for him and I'm really excited for him because he's an Oakland Raider and he's a great kid. I hope you just judge him on the field. He's been cleared medically and I'll just leave it at that."

The additions of Hurst, second-round defensive tackle P.J. Hall and third-round defensive end Arden Key give the Raiders help on a defensive front that has ranked near the bottom of the NFL in sacks in recent years despite the presence of edge rushers Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin.

The Raiders have the second fewest sacks in the NFL the past two seasons with just 56 – one more than the last-place New York Jets. Nearly two-thirds of those sacks have come from Mack (21 1/2) and Irvin (15), as the edge players have gotten almost no help from the inside rushers.

"It was a major priority," Gruden said. "It's a commodity that's hard to find. I've heard a lot of critics have talked about the risk involved. There is risk involved with every pick."

While Hurst faced questions about his health, Hall and Key had other concerns.

Hall had 42 sacks and 86 1/2 tackles for loss in his college career, but that came at the FCS level for Sam Houston State instead of against top-flight competition.

Gruden called Hall and Hurst the top two interior rushers in the draft Justin Hardy Jersey , a position of major need after Oakland had just 1 1/2 sacks last year from players playing inside full-time.

Key proved himself at the highest level of college football for LSU in the SEC. He had 11 sacks in 2016 and 20 overall in three seasons in college, but he has had off-field problems and checked himself into rehab last spring.

If Oakland can get production out of those three players, that should go a long way in improving a defense that has been a weakness for the team in recent years.

"We all work together," Key said. "We have edge rushers that can get to the quarterback and the quarterback steps up. Inside guys get the sack. We have inside guys that get to the quarterback and make the quarterback roll out, the edge rushers get the sack. So we all work together."

NOTES: Fourth-round pick CB Nick Nelson sat out as he heals from a knee injury. … The Raiders signed undrafted TE Marcus Baugh, WR Saeed Blacknall, LB Jason Cabinda, C Alex Officer, K Eddy Pineiro and FB Nick Sharga.

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Several signings and one big trade drastically shifted the balance of power across the NHL in a matter of days.

With John Tavares going home to Toronto, Paul Stastny leaving Winnipeg for Vegas, St. Louis signing three free agents and trading for Ryan O'Reilly, the landscape of the league has changed. The Washington Capitals are bringing back a vast majority of their team Nico Siragusa Jersey , the Western Conference is loaded and yet the Maple Leafs now appear to be Stanley Cup favorites after adding Tavares.

"He's one of the best players in the league," Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman said. "And I think it's obvious to say that Toronto is a better team today with that acquisition."

Tavares' decision to leave the New York Islanders knocks them out of contender status and puts a whole lot of pressure on coach Mike Babcock's Maple Leafs to make a deep playoff run. Losing out on Tavares despite reportedly offering more money than the Maple Leafs' $77 million over 11 years kept the Sharks from moving into front-runner status in the West – but they may not be done yet.

"We pride ourselves on being able to take a swing on difference makers like this," San Jose GM Doug Wilson said. "John was the one that we wanted to swing at."

The Sharks, who extended Logan Couture and re-signed Joe Thornton and Tomas Hertl to keep their core together, have plenty of tradable assets and will keep swinging for a difference-maker. One is off the market following the Blues' trade for O'Reilly that now gives them a potent 1-2-3 punch down the middle with Brayden Schenn and free agent signing Tyler Bozak.

O'Reilly saw the Blues sign Bozak to a $15 million, three-year contract and wondered if there wasn't room for him anymore. Now they have centers to match up with just about any opponent in the league.

"You look at all the teams that have success, they definitely have guys down the middle that compete," O'Reilly said Monday. "And I'm thrilled to be a part of that."

The Capitals boasted depth with Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom and Lars Eller during their Cup run, and Babcock can now roll out Tavares, Auston Matthews and Nazem Kadri. Vegas lost talent on the wing with David Perron going to St. Louis and James Neal signing with Calgary but now has a very competitive center corps led by Stastny, William Karlsson and Erik Haula.

"We do like having centers Junior Seau Jersey ," Golden Knights GM George McPhee said. "You can move centers around the lineup, you can have centers on the wing. You can't get wingers to play center."

Here's a look at where a few more teams stand early in the preparations for the 2018-19 season:

GOT WHAT THEY NEED

LIGHTNING: Signing Tavares would've been a luxury and might've necessitated a roster makeover just to fit him under the salary cap. Tampa Bay signed restricted free agent forward J.T. Miller to a long term deal, extended defenseman Ryan McDonagh, got a deal done with Slater Koekkoek and should have much of the same team that won the Atlantic Division last season.

"We try to improve our team," Yzerman said. "I don't sense that we have a need to change just to change."

FLAMES: Inking Neal to a $28.75 million, five-year contract would be a nice capper to the Flames' offseason that began with acquiring center Elias Lindholm and defenseman Noah Hanifin from Carolina. New coach Bill Peters could put Neal or Lindholm on right wing with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.

GM Brad Treliving's final tasks this offseason are to find a backup goaltender to Mike Smith and sign restricted free agents Lindholm and Hanifin to new contracts.

KINGS: Long-term , signing franchise defenseman Drew Doughty to an $88 million, eight-year extension is the most important thing Los Angeles did. In the shorter term, it also won the competition for returning Russian winger Ilya Kovalchuk, who GM Rob Blake believes can play with either top-six center, Anze Kopitar or Jeff Carter, and produce at age 35.

"That scoring-type winger was something that we needed to add Paul Hornung Jersey ," Blake said. "Where he plays on the power play and the way he scores goals with his shot I think is something we've coveted or looked for."

WORK LEFT TO DO

SENATORS: They traded Mike Hoffman, bought out Alexandre Burrows but still have at least one big problem with the future of Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson. The Senators have reportedly given Karlsson's camp permission to speak with other teams about a contract – which is expected to look a whole lot like Doughty's deal – which would open to door to Ottawa trading its captain rather than losing him for nothing like the Islanders did when Tavares wouldn't sign early.

"We start Oct. 4," GM Pierre Dorion said Sunday in Ottawa. "We've got lots of time."

OILERS: Connor McDavid won the scoring title and the Ted Lindsay award as the players' choice for most outstanding player, and yet Edmonton missed the playoffs by 17 points. GM Peter Chiarelli publicly dangled the 10th pick in the draft to try to get an offensive defenseman and hasn't been able to acquire one yet.

Meanwhile, left wing Milan Lucic is 30, coming off a 34-point dud of a season and still has five years left on his contract at a $6 million annual cap hit. Lucic's name has come up in trade talks, but moving him now won't be easy, so the Oilers have to prepare for life with him next season.

"He's a proud guy and we expect to have him back and at a Authentic Womens Brian Allen Jersey