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CHICAGO -- Brian Campbell wanted to return to Chicago and the Blackhawks were more than willing to welcome him back.The veteran defenseman is back with the team that he helped win the Stanley Cup in 2010, agreeing to a one-year contract on Friday.Its where I wanted to be. Its where my heart was, said Campbell, who lives in the Chicago area with his family. It just makes our lives perfect. Were so ecstatic.The 37-year-old Campbell played in Chicago from 2008 to 2011 and was a key part of a team that brought home the first championship since 1961. The Blackhawks also won titles in 2013 and 2015 with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane leading the way. But Campbell was gone by then.Campbell spent the past five seasons with the Florida Panthers, appearing in all of the teams 376 regular-season games. He had 28 goals and 147 assists and won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 2011-12 after scoring 53 points (four goals, 49 assists). He was the first defenseman since Red Kelly (1954) to win the award.Campbell had six goals and 25 assists in 82 games last season and led NHL defensemen with a plus-31 plus-minus rating.Brian brings so much to the table, Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said. His overall game maybe is a little bit underrated. Obviously, hes got great mobility still. Hes always been an offensive player, so he can play on the power play and add offensively. He was relied upon to kill penalties and he can do a lot of things.Toews was clearly glad to have him back, posting on Twitter: Sooouuuup! Happy to have (at)bcampbell-51 back in Chicago. Welcome home.In his first stint with the Blackhawks, Campbell had 19 goals and 98 assists in 215 games. In 43 playoff games for Chicago, he had 14 assists and four goals -- including four assists and a goal during the championship run.Campbell said he could have made more money elsewhere but gave the Blackhawks a discount because it was the right fit for him on a personal -- as well as professional -- level. His wife is from the area. They have two young daughters, and he said he has been welcomed into his neighborhood.I wasnt going to play for league minimum, but I was definitely ready to take a lot less, Campbell said. This morning I had to get up and be comfortable with coming to the rink every day, and Im truly ready to go and compete my hardest for the Blackhawks.While the Blackhawks welcomed back Campbell, forward Andrew Ladd agreed to a seven-year deal with the New York Islanders. Acquired at the trade deadline from Winnipeg, Ladd had eight goals and four assists over 19 games in his second stint in Chicago.Bowman said he does not expect the Blackhawks to make another significant addition. He also confirmed the team has placed defenseman David Rundblad on buyout waivers.I think hes looking to maybe pursue some other opportunities, whether its in the NHL or maybe in Europe, Bowman said. I cant speak for him. But I think hes still a young guy. He wants to get back to playing a lot of hockey, and I know thats the reason that he wanted to go over to Europe midseason. We were willing to honor that request. Were gonna let him find a spot where he knows hes gonna be a regular player, every day, a lot of minutes.The Blackhawks also agreed to one-year contracts with forwards Sam Carrick, Pierre-Cedric Labrie and Spencer Abbott.Carrick, 24, played in three games with the Toronto Maple Leafs last season. The 30-year-old Labrie spent the past two seasons with the Rockford IceHogs, Chicagos American Hockey League affiliate.Abbott, 28, had 14 goals and 21 assists for the Swedish Hockey Leagues Frolunda Indians last season. He played for Rockford during the 2014-15 season. Buy Shoes Australia . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. Cheap Shoes Australia Free Shipping . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. https://www.shoesaustraliaonline.com/ . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . Shoes Australia From China . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. Wholesale Shoes Australia .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. TORONTO -- Never mind 1996 or 1987, or any of the Canada Cups or even the first incarnations of the World of Cup of Hockey. The past, as glorious as it might have been, is the past. Finis. Over and done with.But the future?Thats really the story of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, the sports first best-on-best tournament since the easily forgotten 2004 World Cup, which came on the eve of a lockout.Historically, this dog-eared tournament has been pulled from the hockey closet only when the league and the players needed to beef up their personal coffers. Now the tournament must prove it deserves a place at hockeys international table.If its done right, many believe there is a place for such a tournament.Longtime NHL and international coach Andy Murray, an assistant for Team Canada back in 1996, said he believes the early fall is the perfect time for this kind of tournament. Players are fresh, they love playing for their countries, and there is more preparation time than for the Olympics, driving up the potential for quality hockey.As a stand-alone event, the World Cup of Hockey doesnt lack for competitive juices and interest. In part, thats because of the allure of the Team North America squad made up of players under the age of 24 from Canada and the United States.Not sure anyone could have anticipated the buzz surrounding this fleet-of-foot, wildly skilled team led by the NHLs next great savior, Connor McDavid, and assisted by 2016 first overall draft pick Auston Matthews, who played in front of his new hometown fans in Toronto before he dons a Maple Leafs jersey in the regular season.What began as a gimmick has morphed into a happening, and it will be interesting to see how fans react if they are forced to choose between Team North America and Canada or the United States after the preliminary round.Despite a rash of injury withdrawals, the tournament boasts a whos who of hockeys elite, from Sidney Crosby to?Alex Ovechkin?to Henrik Lundqvist.Team USA is a decided underdog, especially given the selection of a team that left a number of high-skill players such as Phil Kessel and Tyler Johnson at home. But the Americans bear watching as they promise to play a highly physical style that they hope will see them erase the disappointment of the 2014 Sochi Olympics.So the product should not be an issue.But will that ensure a future of World Cups?More to the point, can this tournament provide the kinds of momments that will become a touchstone for a generation of hockey fans in the way the 1987 World Cup of Hockey earned mythic status in Canada or the 1996 version became a shining moment in U.ddddddddddddS. hockey history?One element that will have a large impact on the World Cups role in the future of international hockey is whether this becomes the only best-on-best tournament available to the worlds top players.With the International Olympic Committee threatening to change the way it funds hockeys participation in the Olympics starting in 2018, theres a good chance the NHLs time at the Winter Games is over. The NHL and the players will not pay out of their own pockets to take part in a tournament that most, if not all, league owners hate for the disruption it brings to the regular-season schedule.It will be a sad day if the Olympic experiment, which began with the first NHL participation in 1998, is over. Nothing replaces the Olympics. Not even the World Cup of Hockey.But if the NHL is no longer going to the Olympics, the hunger for this type of international tournament must be satisfied somehow. And we know from the history of the Canada Cup/World Cup of Hockey that this tournament can create indelible memories that span the ages.However, if the NHL stays in the Olympics, then it adds another element of uncertainty to the World Cup of Hockey. Does it get tossed back into the hockey closet with the glowing pucks and mullets?And if not, how much is too much?The commissioner and his office have done such a sensational job of promoting our sport now with the players association, and being partners, and trying to put our game on a different level and expanding it more and more worldwide, so obviously from that point of view, its sensational, Wayne Gretzky said recently.But the Great One did express one concern.I just worry about fatigue, Gretzky said. They play so much hockey. And the level of competition now is so high, and the players are so big and strong and fast, I just sometimes go, Wow, are we playing a little bit too much hockey? But thats not for me to say; Im just talking as a fan.Through the tournaments final, fans will share in the creation of a new chapter of international play. How the chapter ends -- well, thats going to be a fascinating part of this journey. ' ' '