Track Cycling is particularly popular in Europe, notably Belgium, France, Germany and the United Kingdom where it is often used as off-season training by road racers ( professional six-day ' Madison ' events were often entered by two-man teams comprising a leading road racer and a track specialist ).

With the NHL preparing for looming labor unrest, the Flyers let their leading scorer, Mark Recchi, leave for Pittsburgh during the off-season.

In the 2009 NBA off-season the Bulls lost their leading scorer, Ben Gordon, when he signed with their divisional rival, the Detroit Pistons.

During the off-season, Predators owner Craig Leipold put the team up for sale ; two of the leading candidates to buy the franchise both had plans to relocate the team.

During the off-season of 2012, Brodeur hired agent Pat Brisson, leading many to believe he would test free-agency.

The Flyers lost Game 7, 2-1 and the series despite leading 3 games to 1, and Lindros became a restricted free agent during the off-season.

After leading the team into the playoffs that year ( despite a 39 – 43 record ), Adelman was given the coaching position on a full-time basis in the 1989 off-season.

This year saw the start of the great Wayne Gretzky's tenure with the Los Angeles Kings, having been traded in the off-season after leading the Edmonton Oilers to the 1988 Stanley Cup.

Dallas would eventually lose against San Antonio in six games 97-87, leading to yet another off-season full of speculation, mostly centering around franchise player Dirk Nowitzki's pending free agent status.

Don Perkins, the fourth leading rusher in NFL history had just formally announced his retirement, Dan Reeves the starter at halfback was struggling after having off-season knee surgery and his backup Craig Baynham had bruised ribs.

The Lightning picked up sniper Dino Ciccarelli from the Detroit Red Wings during the 1996 off-season, and he did not disappoint, scoring 35 goals in the 1996 – 97 season, with Chris Gratton notching another 30.

Stone ( née von Schoenweiler ) grew up in Bullitt Park, and soccer player Seth Stammler of the New York Red Bulls lives in Bexley during the off-season.

A famous TV commercial for Sixers season tickets during the 1977 – 78 off-season summed up Erving's desire to win an NBA Title.

In the 1970 off-season, he was told by Rangers management he would be unprotected for the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft to be picked up by either the Buffalo Sabres or the Vancouver Canucks ( the franchise left the WHL to join the NHL ).

Hitchcock was quickly picked up in the off-season by his old team, the Philadelphia Flyers, who had just fired their coach, Bill Barber, after an early exit from the playoffs.

Leading up to the free agency period, Gáborík was speculated to have interest in signing with the Vancouver Canucks after The Province reported he had recently bought a home in West Vancouver in the 2009 off-season.

Pérez served as the Braves ' back up catcher behind Javy Lopez but, by June 1996, he had taken on the role of personal catcher for Greg Maddux, a job previously held by Charlie O ' Brien who had been granted free agency during the off-season.

Having picked up future Hall-of-Famers Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Dominik Hašek in the off-season, the team was primed to win its third Cup since 1997.

During the off-season, Yoong took up mental and physical training with psychologists at the Bukit Jalil Sports Complex back in Malaysia.

During the 1999-2000 off-season Williamson's name came up several times in trade talks with the Seattle Mariners, who were looking to deal Ken Griffey, Jr., but in the end Williamson remained with Cincinnati.

Vanilla plantations require some sort of tree planting for the orchids to climb up on ; off-season or when abandoned, they may serve as habitat for animals of open forest, e. g. on the Comoros for Robert Mertens ' Day Gecko ( Phelsuma robertmertensi ).

To add salt to the wound, Delhomme signed with the Panthers in the off-season and led the team to the Super Bowl the following year, coming up just short to the New England Patriots.

During the off-season it was also announced that McConville would not be returning to his on-screen role with Channel 10 and McConville set up a business franchise in tyre retailing.

He re-signed with Carolina during the 2006 off-season, where he continued to back up Delhomme.

After winning the 125cc Championship, Pedrosa moved up to the 250cc class in 2004 without a proper test on the new bike because his ankles were healing during the off-season.

However, some critics claimed that he stepped up his production because he was in a contract year, and indeed he was considered a top free-agent commodity in the 2004 off-season.

With Ken Dryden, retiring in the off-season in 1979, spots opened up on the Canadiens roster.

However, he arrived just as a young team, led by Bill Walton, started to gel, and also benefited from the ABA dispersal draft in the 1976 off-season, in which the Blazers picked up hard-nosed power forward Maurice Lucas.

In the 2003 off-season, 24-year-old van der Meyde was snapped up by Italian side F. C.

The Chicago Bulls acquired him as part of a multi-player trade in the next off-season, where Williams was popular due to his time with the Illini, and expected him to compete with Kirk Hinrich for the starting point guard job, but he showed up to training camp out of shape and spent most of the 2004-05 season on injured reserve.

This was due to a heel injury that he picked up during the off-season.

During the off-season Gatland spent time coaching in Scotland and later coached in Ireland before taking up a position as coach / manager at Leinster.

However, his slow development, and in particular his lack of control, stirred up trade rumors during the 2006 off-season, while he had previously been off-limits to potential trades.

During the off-season, the Bulls drafted Jimmy Butler 30th overall in the 2011 NBA draft.

During the 2011 off-season, the team again made several moves to bolster the offence and defence, trading for fan favourite Ryan Smyth from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for centre Colin Fraser and a 7th round draft pick.

The team's future was settled in the off-season, as Bannister announced on June 14, 2011, that the Flames had purchased the team, becoming the third NHL franchise to operate an NLL team after the Mammoth and Bandits.

In the off-season, Thornton signed a three-year contract extension worth US $ 21. 6 million that, keeping him with the Sharks until June 2011.

The 2010 – 2011 off-season saw changes to the Bisons coaching staff.

The 2011 – 2012 off-season once again saw coaching changes.

Over the off-season between the 2010 – 2011 season, the Aeros received national attention after introducing a number of new promotions as well as menu items at Canal Park.

During the off-season between 2010 and 2011, the stadium's original centerfield scoreboard ( a smaller videoboard atop a larger black and amber message display board ) was replaced by a full length and full color Daktronics 1080p high definition display board which is the fourth-largest screen among current MLB stadiums, along with a public address / sound system upgrade.

During the off-season, Higgins re-signed with Vancouver to a two-year, $ 3. 8 million contract on July 1, 2011.

After being released in the following off-season, Armstead was re-signed on August 8, 2011, following injuries to Fred Stamps and Adarius Bowman.

In the 2010 – 2011 season, following off-season hip surgery during the summer of 2010, Tim Thomas broke the NHL record for save percentage, beating Dominik Hasek's record of. 937, with a. 938 percentage.

Listach was replaced by new bench coach, Jamie Quirk, during the 2011 off-season, and will become the Cubs third-base coach for the 2012 season.

Ground improvements over the off-season following the 2011 premiership win, primarily the extending of the Jane Try Stand to run the full length of the western touchline and the inclusion of much needed corporate facilities, meant that the Manly Sea Eagles were forced to play their first five games of the season away from home.

Lopez pitched during the 2011 season for the Edmonton Capitals of the NAL He works in the off-season at the Office Depot on Broadway Blvd.