e playing teams that are way out of it. Atlanta, Baltimo

TORONTO -- The Florida Panthers arent taking any risks with franchise defenseman Aaron Ekblad.Ekblad, 20, is headed back to Florida and will miss the remainder of the World Cup of Hockey for Team North America.While Aaron would have liked to stay with his teammates at the World Cup of Hockey, we respect the decision for him to continue his evaluation and rehabilitation in Florida with the Panthers team doctors, Team North America said in a statement. Aaron was a very important part of our defense core here and a key leader on this team. We wish him all the best in his recovery.Ekblad took a big hit from Finlands?Leo Komarov?during North Americas win on Sunday and sat out Mondays 4-3 loss to Russia. North America is calling it an upper-body injury, but an NHL source said he was following league protocol by sitting out Mondays game with symptoms consistent with a mild concussion.Ekblad will be re-evaluated by doctors in Florida.Hes a huge piece of our team, said Team North America captain Connor McDavid. We miss him a lot, but it will be up to us to kind of march on without him.Added goaltender Matt Murray: Hes a great player. He seems like a 10-year veteran and hes only 20 years old. Yeah, well miss him.Without Ekblad, the 2014 No. 1 draft pick whos already an NHL franchise defenseman, North America will need to lean more heavily on Morgan Rielly, Colton Parayko, Shayne Gostisbehere in a crucial game Wednesday against Sweden.The whole team has to be prepared to play more minutes, and rise to the challenge and take care of each other defensively, Rielly said. You have to learn on the fly a little bit.Coach Todd McLellan praised the play of replacement Jacob Trouba but also lamented Ekblads absence. On a team of 23-and-under Americans and Canadians, youth was a weakness during a rough 10-minute stretch against Russia.When youre a group of young players, youre looking for somebody just to take charge and settle it down, maybe get a shift or two under your belt, and we didnt get that quick enough, McLellan said.The Associated Press contributed to this report.? Walter Payton Jersey . -- PGA TOUR Canada member Steve Saunders took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web. Khalil Mack Jersey . Kozun faked to the forehand and beat Monsters starter, Calvin Pickard, pad side in the second round for the winner. Spencer Abbott also scored in the shootout for the Marlies (25-13-4). http://www.bearsfootballpro.com/Authentic_Mitchell-Trubisky_Bears_Jersey/ . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. William Perry Jersey . Scott won the Australian PGA last week in his first event in Australia since winning the U.S. Masters in April. American Matt Kuchar, ahead by two strokes with four to play and even with Scott with one to go, double-bogeyed the 18th after taking two shots to get out of a bunker. Dan Hampton Bears Jersey . Collaros, 25, was solid last season, posting a 5-2 record as the starter while incumbent Ricky Ray was injured. Collaros also started Torontos 23-20 regular-season finale loss to Montreal — Ray didnt dress because the Argos had already clinched first in the East Division — but was one of three quarterbacks to play that day. There are only three weeks left in the NFL season, and the race for the last few playoff spots is intense. Yet the scheduling for Week 15 worked out so that theres only one game with major in-or-out ramifications for both teams: Lions at Giants. Detroit is almost guaranteed a spot with a victory (98.4 percent odds), and the Giants would be pretty close (93.8 percent odds). A loss would drop each teams odds a lot closer to 50-50.However, nearly every other game has at least one team that is either virtually assured a playoff spot or is completely out of the running.Tennessees playoff odds are much stronger with a win in Kansas City on Sunday, but the Chiefs are pretty much in whether they win or lose. Thats also the situation in Denver, where the Broncos desperately need to beat the Patriots to stay in the race for the second AFC wild card, but New England will still be AFC favorites even with a loss.Other teams who still arent sure theyre in for January are playing teams that are way out of it. Atlanta, Baltimore, Green Bay, Houston, Miami, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Washington all play against teams that currently have playoff odds under 2 percent.Theres only one exception, one other game between two teams with a slight glimmer of hope for playing in January: Indianapolis at Minnesota, where the loser is toast but the winner still has a small chance of taking a division title -- as long as two other teams go on nice losing streaks.ddddddddddddYoull find our playoff odds for every team still in the hunt below. For a full explanation on how we calculate each teams playoff odds, see the bottom of the article.AFC PLAYOFF PREDICTIONSFAVORITES1. New England Patriots (11-2)Odds of making playoffs: 99.9 percentAlthough the Patriots have not clinched a playoff spot, they did not miss the postseason in any of our 50,000 simulations. Not only does this weeks game not really affect the Patriots playoff odds, it doesnt affect the Patriots Super Bowl odds much either. With a win, they get the No. 1 seed 94 percent of the time and win the Super Bowl in 26.9 percent of simulations. Even with a loss, they get the No. 1 seed 71 percent of the time and win the Super Bowl in 25.5 percent of simulations. ' ' '