With new head coach Carl Robinson at the helm, the Vancouver Whitecaps will look to get back into the MLS Western Conference playoff picture. TSN soccer analyst Luke Wileman tells you everything you need to know about the 2014 Whitecaps, while TSN soccer analyst Jason deVos tells you how they will succeed or fail during the new campaign. Luke Wileman: After missing out on the playoffs in 2013, Vancouver Whitecaps have re-tooled ahead of the new season. They lost their leading scorer, Camilo, in controversial circumstances, but the Caps will enter the 2014 season with a stronger overall squad. The biggest change of the offseason was the departure of head coach Martin Rennie. After two years with the club, Rennies contract was not renewed, and after a long search, the Whitecaps promoted Carl Robinson from his role as assistant coach to take the top job. I said at the time that Robinson was the perfect choice. He already knew the inner workings of the club from his time on Rennies coaching staff, but has brought a fresh outlook. Robinson is heading into his rookie season as a head coach, and it will be a steep learning curve, but theres little doubt he is ready for the task ahead. The way he handled difficult situations during the offseason was superb, and his leadership and communication with players through preseason has earned him plenty of respect within the locker room. So what can we expect from Robinsons team? The Whitecaps coach has made no secret of the fact that he wants to play an attractive entertaining style of soccer. He has also said he wont be afraid to give youth a chance. Robinsons squad is young, but with experience in key areas throughout the team. In fact there is a strong veteran presence down the spine of the team with David Ousted in goal, Jay DeMerit and Andy OBrien at the back, Nigel Reo Coker in midfield and Kenny Miller up front. The Whitecaps have made some strong additions in the offseason but the biggest question mark is whether they will be able to replace the league-leading 22 goals scored by Camilo. There wont be one person who shoulders the responsibility of filling the void left by the Brazilian, it will need to be a team effort, and the way the squad has been built should help that to happen. Uruguyan duo Sebastian Fernandez and Nicolas Mezquida have shown evidence of their creativity and technical ability during preseason, and the expected arrival of Chilean attacking midfielder Pedro Morales from Spanish side Malaga will be a massive piece of the puzzle. Vancouver already has quality in attack. Keeping Kenny Miller fit is key for the Caps. It will also be interesting to see the development of youngsters Kekuta Manneh, Darren Mattocks, Erik Hurtado, Omar Salgado and Russell Teibert. All five of those players have the ability to contribute significantly to the Whitecaps attacking play. The Whitecaps added former MLS All-Star Steven Beitashour at right back to replace the retired YP Lee and have options in the central defensive positions with DeMerit and OBrien likely to be favoured to open the season, but Carlyle Mitchell, Johnny Leveron and draft pick Christian Dean all capable of stepping in at any time. With Carl Robinson likely to play a 4-2-3-1 formation, the two defensive midfield players will need to protect the back four but also start a lot of the Whitecaps play moving forward. On his day, Nigel Reo-Coker can be one of the top midfielders in the league, but Robinson will want to see more consistency from the Englishman this season dictating the play and getting box to box. One of the Whitecaps big offseason additions was young Argentine midfielder Matias Laba who arrived from Toronto FC. Hes a superb signing who will complement the qualities of Reo Coker. Laba is a destroyer. He breaks up the play and gets it going again in an effective manner. The defensive midfield pairing of Reo Coker and Laba could be particularly strong for the Whitecaps this season. Despite my view that the overall squad is better than a year ago, the Whitecaps wont find it easy to achieve their goal of making the playoffs in a Western Conference that is packed with quality. Last year, Vancouver improved on their points total from a year earlier, but didnt make it to the postseason. They improved, but not enough because the other teams around them had made bigger strides. This time around, the Whitecaps have made some significant changes. It might take them time to settle into their new identity, but it should be a fun ride. TSN Soccer analyst Jason deVos weighs in on how the Whitecaps will succeed or fail during the 2014 season. Jason deVos: Vancouver Whitecaps will succeed if… …the young guns come out firing. Rookie head coach Carl Robinson has a squad full of talented youngsters. Russell Teibert, Kekuta Manneh, Gershon Koffie, Omar Salgado, Darren Mattocks, Nicolás Mezquida, Matías Laba, Erik Hurtado, Andre Lewis and Sam Adekugbe are all under the age of 23. With youth comes inconsistency; an amazing performance one week, followed up by a flat one the next. If Robinson can get the young players to find a measure of consistency, the Whitecaps will fare far better than many predict this season. The reason for that is that this team is quick - and I mean, lightning fast. Mattocks, Manneh and Hurtado are whippets, and will win races against virtually every player in MLS. If the experienced players in the squad - Nigel Reo-Coker, Andy OBrien and Jay DeMerit - can shepherd the young players along the right path, the Whitecaps are going to surprise a few people this season. Vancouver Whitecaps will fail if… …they show up one week and not the next. Succeeding in professional soccer is all about finding a level of consistency from week to week. Reliability comes with experience - something that is severely lacking from this squad of players. The onus is on Robinson to set the standards of performance that he expects from all of his players. Experienced campaigners like Reo-Coker, OBrien and DeMerit wont be the issue - they know what they need to do to succeed in the game, and will rarely dip below a 7 out of 10 performance. It is the young players that need to learn this. They need to learn that you cannot turn it on one week, then not bother showing up the next. That will be Robinsons biggest challenge this season - getting a consistent level out of his talented crop of youngsters. If he can do that, this will be an exciting season for Whitecaps fans. If not, the Whitecaps will again fail to make the playoffs. 2013 finish: 13-12-9 (seventh in Western Conference). Did not qualify for MLS Cup playoffs. Whos In?: M Mehdi Ballouchy (Re-Entry Draft), D Steven Beitashour (traded from San Jose), M/F Sebastian Fernandez (loan from Boston River), M Matías Laba (trade from Toronto), M/F Nicolas Mezquida (transfer from Boston River), GK Paolo Tornaghi (signed). Whos Out?: GK Joe Cannon (option declined), M Jun Marques Davidson (option declined), F Tommy Heinemann (option declined), F Corey Hertzog (option declined), D Greg Klazura (option declined), GK Brad Knighton (traded to New England), M Daigo Kobayashi (option declined), D Lee Young-Pyo (retired), D Brad Rusin (option declined), F Camilo Sanvezzo (transfer to Queretaro), GK Simon Thomas (option declined). SuperDraft: D Christian Dean (1-3), MF Andre Lewis (1-7), F Mamadou Diouf (2-30). Stitched Rangers Jerseys . Beckham finished 2 for 4, adding a double in the first inning. Chicago has won eight of 12 to get back to .500 (27-27). The White Sox are 6-3 against Cleveland this season after losing 17 of 19 to their American League Central rival in 2013. Mike Aviles went 1 for 2 with a walk and drove in Clevelands run. Adrian Beltre Jersey . The 22-year-old Spanish midfielder recently signed a new three-year contract with Chelsea, and after spending last season on loan with Valencia in La Liga, Romeu will move to the Bundesliga for the 2014-15 campaign. https://www.cheaprangersbaseball.com/232...ey-rangers.html. Players suspended during the season for a performance-enhancing drug violation will not be eligible for that years post-season. In addition, discipline will increase from 50 games to 80 for a first testing violation and from 100 games to a season-long 162 for a second. A third violation remains a lifetime ban. Taylor Hearn Rangers Jersey . Aaron Hill and Cliff Pennington hit home runs in the first inning for the Diamondbacks, who beat the Miami Marlins 3-2 on Friday night. C. D. Pelham Jersey .com) - The Boston Bruins announced Monday that the team has signed goaltender Niklas Svedberg to a one-year contract. LOS ANGELES -- Make no bones about it. Coach Mike DAntonis skeleton roster was no match for the opportunistic Charlotte Bobcats and Al Jeffersons dominating presence in the paint. Jefferson tied a career high with 40 points, 16 of them in the fourth quarter, and grabbed 18 rebounds to help the Bobcats send the floundering Los Angeles Lakers to their sixth straight defeat with a 110-100 victory Friday night. "I have those moments," Jefferson said. "They kept running plays for me and I kept scoring. In the first quarter, they werent going down for me, but I just kept staying with it because I knew sooner or later it would start going down for me. " Jefferson set a franchise record with his 11th straight game of 20 or more points, eclipsing the mark set by Jason Richardson in 2007-08. It was the 13th game this season in which an opposing player scored at least 30 against the Lakers, something that happened in 18 games last season -- and there are still 35 games remaining. Jefferson is averaging 19.9 points and 10.7 boards, but wasnt selected for the All-Star game and has yet to play in one in his 10 years in the league. "Ive been disappointed with the All-Star games, man, for many years. So I dont listen to the hype," Jefferson said. Gerald Henderson added 20 points for the Bobcats. Starting point guard Kemba Walker missed his sixth straight game since a sprained left ankle ended his career-opening consecutive game streak of 190. Ramon Sessions, who has started every game at the point during Walkers absence, had 13 assists and nine points. Sessions, along with starting power forward Josh McRoberts and reserve guard Jannero Pargo -- all former Lakers -- combined for 26 points and the Bobcats snapped a string of five straight defeats against Los Angeles. Charlotte shot 52.3 per cent from the field, improving to 5-0 when shooting at least 50 per cent. The victory was the Bobcats ninth on the road, four more than all of last season. Still missing Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Steve Blake, Jordan Farmar and Xavier Henry because of injuries, the Lakers lost for the 18th time in 21 games andd are only a half-game ahead of last-place Sacramento in the Western Conference standings just four seasons after winning their 16th NBA title.ddddddddddddPau Gasol had 24 points for Los Angeles and Nick Young added 21 off the bench. The Lakers have given up 100 or more points in 14 consecutive games, matching the clubs longest such streak since a 17-game stretch in 1986-87. Trailing by as many as 20 points after a pair of free throws by Jefferson with 4:21 left in the third quarter, the Lakers sliced the margin to 86-73 on a four-point play by Ryan Kelly. Los Angeles got it down to 86-78 on a layup by Robert Sacre with 11:01 to play, but that was as close as the Lakers got. Jefferson scored the Bobcats first eight points of the final quarter to help keep the Lakers at bay. "Hes been doing this to a lot of people," DAntoni said. "We tried a little bit of everything. We dug. We tried to play him a little bit straight up, at first. We tried to double-team him." Jefferson, who signed a three-year, $41 million contract with the Bobcats in July, powered them to a 62-49 halftime lead with 18 points and eight rebounds. Charlotte shot 58 per cent in the half, and never trailed after Jeffersons finger roll gave the Bobcats a 26-25 lead with 1:37 left in the first quarter. In the other meeting this season, the Lakers beat the Bobcats 88-85 at Charlotte with a game-ending 13-4 run and 21 points by Kobe Bryant -- one of only six games the NBAs fourth leading scorer has played in this season because of a torn Achilles tendon and a fracture in his left knee. Jefferson was held to 14 points that night. NOTES: The game ball was being sent to New York to mark the final day of NBA Commissioner David Sterns tenure. He is retiring Saturday on the 30th anniversary of his first day on the job. ... Stern saw the Lakers win eight league championships, make 12 trips to the finals and record eight 60-win seasons during his reign. ... Stern presented the Lakers with their championship rings on seven occasions. The only exception was in October 2001, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. ' ' '