Concord, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Jeff Gordon has announced that 2015 will be his last as a full-time driver on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit. The four-time champion told his Hendrick Motorsports team about the decision Thursday morning, not calling it a retirement. I thought long and hard about my future this past year and during the offseason, and Ive decided 2015 will be the last time I compete for a championship, Gordon said Thursday. I wont use the R-word because I plan to stay extremely busy in the years ahead, and theres always the possibility Ill compete in selected events, although I currently have no plans to do that. Gordon has driven for Rick Hendrick since November 1992. In addition to Cup championships in 1995, 97, 98 and 2001, he has 92 wins and 77 pole positions. The 43-year-old California native is third on the all-time wins list, behind only Richard Petty (200) and David Pearson (105). He has three Daytona 500 victories, a record five Brickyard 400 wins and is the circuits all-time winningest road course driver with nine. Theres simply no way to quantify Jeffs impact, said Hendrick. Hes one of the biggest sports stars of a generation, and his contributions to the success and growth of NASCAR are unsurpassed. Theres been no better ambassador for stock car racing and no greater representation of what a champion should be. I will never be able to properly express the respect and admiration I have for Jeff and how meaningful our relationship is to me. Im so grateful for everything hes done for our company and my family, and I look forward to many more years together as friends and business partners. Gordon had four wins last year, 14 top-five finishes and a series-leading 23 top-10s. He finished sixth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Pittsburgh Penguins Pro Shop .Boston beat the Nashville Predators 5-3 on Tuesday night and celebrated consecutive wins for the first time in more than a month. Cheap Penguins Jerseys .com) - Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, Detroit Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar and New York Islanders right wing Kyle Okposo were named the NHLs players of the week on Monday. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/. Tyutin has missed the last nine games with an ankle injury which occurred while playing for Russia at the Olympics. The top-two defenceman has four goals and 20 assists, 30 penalty minutes and a plus-6 rating in 53 games with Columbus this season. Pittsburgh Penguins Store . - Ryan Spooner scored twice to lead the Boston Bruins to a 6-1 victory over the New York Islanders in a preseason game Friday night. Pittsburgh Penguins Shirts . -- The Jacksonville Jaguars are bringing back quarterback Chad Henne -- and making him the starter.In Edmonton, HOPE is a four letter word. Yet, one more time, Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish faced the media to explain the direction of his team, or in the eyes of many, lack of direction. MacTavish stood in there. Like a pi?ata at a 10-year-olds birthday party, he took the blows , but he didnt back down, swinging back when lumped in with those accused of bad decision-making in the past. I’ve been on the job for 18 months, so you want to lop me in, but I had nothing to do with management, so don’t lop me into a situation of power and influence in the management level of this organization, I’ve been on the job for 20 months,” MacTavish fired back. MacTavish, Kevin Lowe and Bob Nicholson gathered yesterday along with a group of Edmonton’s management types to dissect the carcass of an Oilers team whose playoff dreams are virtually dead a mere 26 games into the regular season. This meeting, one of many of late, lasted a few hours and covered every scenario this brain trust could muster to improve the team, both now and in the future. Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins wasnt invited because his job was on the line and while the specifics arent clear, there is a strong sense MacTavish continued to defend his coach and convinced those above that coaching is not the issue. MacTavish leaves the bullet in the chamber, for now, but hes also left us to wonder how he intends on filling the massive holes in his roster after implying in his media availability his core three forwards - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle - are not for sale. Loyalty is one of MacTavishs strongest attributes; it may also be a fatal flaw. The Oilers dont have a recognized top defence pair. They lack a legitimate No. 1 goaltender and No. 2 centre. Collectively, these shortfalls are the primary reasons for this teams ongoing struggles. Acquiring the players to fill these holes in season is a tough task; excluding Hall or Eberle as trade bait makes it next to impossible. If the untouchable label has been placed on the fortunate few, thats going to change in the off-season when teams have mmore flexibility to make bigger and more meaningful deals.dddddddddddd Its unlikely RNH will become a target given his play and value as a top-line centre. But Hall, Eberle, Nail Yakupov, Justin Schultz, and David Perron will be high on any list of players in play at the Draft when they shift from being Oilers to assets. In the meantime, more executive meetings in Edmonton with Pro and Amateur scouting changes are expected as this team sharpens its focus on a top-heavy Draft they would rather not to have to depend on. In other news... Hockey Newfoundland (HockeyNL) may have to wait at least another year before an age change proposal for minor hockey across Canada is put to vote. Hockey Canadas annual meeting will wrap up Saturday in Ottawa and its believed the much anticipated vote to adjust the ages for levels between atom and midget will be tabled for at least another year for further study. HockeyNL proposed an age change that would see all levels from Atom to Midget shift by one year. For example, a player in his second year of Bantam this season would play a third year of Bantam next season to realign the age brackets to where they were prior to change in 2001. HockeyNL reportedly says it is seeing a significant number of 15-year-olds dropping out in the current system which is jeopardizing its Midget programs. (HockeyNL proposal) Atom: current age 9-10 would change to 10-11. Pee Wee: current age 11-12 would change to 12-13. Bantam: current age 13-14 would change to 14-15. Midget: current age 15-17 would change to 16-17. While this proposal has been on the table for months, few outside of federation offices and governing minor hockey associations knew the details of exactly what was to be voted on in Ottawa on Saturday. Hopefully, by opting for further study, local associations as well as parents can get up to speed on the particulars of the plan and potential impact on their teams. TSN will be in sunny Boca Raton, Florida next week for the NHLs Board of Governors meetings. Tune in for Insider Trading on Tuesday on Sportscentre and TSN.ca. ' ' '