JUPITER, Fla. Florida Panthers Pro Shop . -- After spending years trying to find a quality shortstop, the St. Louis Cardinals now appear to have an excess. The Cardinals introduced their newest acquisition, Cuban shortstop Aledmys Diaz, on Monday. Within the organization, some have compared him to a young Derek Jeter. "He walks like him you can see some of that there," St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak said. Diaz liked to heard that. "He thinks Derek Jeter is definitely the model ballplayer that everyone should look up to, that he looked up to in the opportunities that he had in Cuba to watch baseball games," said translator Moise Rodriguez, a team employee. "Hes a world-renowned baseball player that comes across as somebody thats a leader and somebody that everybody should try to be like." The Cardinals signed Diaz to a four-year deal over the weekend only months after signing current shortstop Jhonny Peralta, a two-time All-Star, to a free agent contract of the same length. Having Peralta will allow the Cardinals to take their time with the 23-year-old Diaz, who will begin this season in the minor leagues and likely be given a chance to learn multiple infield positions. "We plan on being patient with him," Mozeliak said. "He hasnt played baseball in, really, over a year and a half competitively. Its not something where were looking to have him put his fingerprints on the major league team tomorrow. We can give him time to develop and let him, from a talent standpoint, take his time to get back to where he was." Diaz defected from Cuba to Mexico in 2012. The Cardinals scouted Diaz in Mexico and worked him out earlier this spring at the Roger Dean Stadium complex. "I thought he did a lot of things well," said St. Louis manager Mike Matheny, who attended the Jupiter workout. "You are just looking at tools at that point. You can see that hes had some repetitions out there. He knows what hes doing. Swinging the bat, the ball jumped off. Just a guy that you could tell hes been around the game a while." Diaz hit .315 with 12 home runs in 270 at-bats during the 2011-12 season in Cuba. Mozeliak expects Diaz to continue to hit for average with gap power as a major leaguer. "Were very confident that he can be an offensive middle infielder, specifically a shortstop," Mozeliak said. Diaz went through practice with his new team before Mondays game against Detroit, but it will be some time before he appears in a major league spring training exhibition. Later this week, he will return to Mexico to finalize his work visa. Until that issue is cleared, Diaz can work out with the big league club but can only play in games on the back fields. "Its always been his dream to try and compete at the highest level in the world," Rodriguez said. "Obviously this represents that. Yeah, there are some challenges and difficulties. But for him, being able to come here and try to compete with the best in the world in the industry is something that hes always looked forward to doing." Florida Panthers Shirts .com) - The Hatch Attack is back in the Southern Conference. Florida Panthers Store . Fabio Fognini pulled off a surprise 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 victory over two-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray to level the best-of-five quarterfinal at 2-2 before Andreas Seppi defeated James Ward 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the decisive match. https://www.panthersjerseycheap.com/ . He also had some help Monday night.Hibbert scored a season-high 29 points to help Indiana beat the Utah Jazz 97-86 Monday night, ending the Pacers six-game losing streak.ST. PAUL, Minn. - Thomas Vanek was bound to get a goal for Minnesota soon. The Wilds power play was well overdue, too.Scoring with a snap shot off a textbook behind-the-goal-line pass by Zach Parise, Vanek crossed both items off the to-do list on Saturday night.Vanek capped a three-goal second period with his first score for his new team, and the Wild stayed unbeaten at home with a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.Mikael Granlund and Matt Dumba struck first for the Wild, the first goal for each this season, but the loudest roar from the crowd came when Vanek scored 57 seconds before the intermission. Vanek skated emotionless off the ice, only slightly shaking his head. He said hes not much of a celebrator.It was more a relief more than anything, said Vanek, who signed a three-year, $19.5 million contract with the Wild. Even though it didnt look like much, it felt great.Not only did the puck that whizzed past goalie Kari Lehtonens glove give Minnesota a 3-1 lead, it gave Vanek his first goal in 10 games with the Wild and gave them their first goal in 29 extra-skater opportunities. They were the last NHL team to get one.It was way past the joking point. It was more just relief, said Parise, who had two assists and has a team-high 10 points in 10 games.Thats about the only part of Minnesotas game that wasnt working well. Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves to improve to 6-2 as the Wild raised their home record to 5-0, including four wins in regulation, with a 22-6 goal differential in those games. The Wild have scored first in eight of their 10 games, going 6-2 when doing so.Nino Niederreiter added another power-play goal for good measure in the third period, a slick between-the-skates tip-in of Ryan Suters feed in the third period.We were just sticking with our game. We knew it was going to come eventually, Dumba said of the power play. Its just one of those things that we werent getting the bounces, but hopefully now we can get it rolling.Wild coach Mike Yeo said he wasnt worried about Vanek. Stars coach Lindy Ruff, his longtimee coach with the Buffalo Sabres, wasnt buying the slump, either. Panthers Jerseys 2021. Thomas is going to score 25 to 30 goals. Hes that good a goal scorer, as good as any guy around the front of the net that Ive ever coached, Ruff said.Vernon Fiddler scored for the Stars, just 8 seconds after Dumbas goal, but they were outshot 30-20. The Wild have outshot every opponent this season, by a whopping total of 350 to 229.Theres energy missing in our game. Its as simple as that, Ruff said.Lehtonen was in the Dallas net for the second straight night, having lost in overtime at home Friday to Anaheim 2-1. He made several difficult saves, but his effort was hardly enough. Backup Anders Lindback has given up nine goals in two games this season, and Ruff wasnt ready to give him another start.The Stars fell to 0-2-2 in their last four games after going 0 for 4 on the power play. They had 78 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage in the first period that was frittered away without a threat.Jordie Benns failed clearing attempt was snagged by Granlund, who pivoted and zipped a slap shot from the slot into the net with Parise screening Lehtonen. Jamie Benn took the slashing penalty that set up Niederreiters power-play goal.Things were coming easy for us at the beginning of the year, and now were starting to find a bit of an uphill stretch here, Fiddler said. Good teams find a way to work through it, and thats what were going to have to do.NOTES: Stars RW Ales Hemsky sustained an upper-body injury in the second period and didnt return. ... The Wild got defenceman Jonas Brodin and centre Erik Haula back from two-game absences, both due to upper-body injuries. ... The Wild placed D Jared Spurgeon (shoulder) on the injured list, expecting him to miss several games. Christian Folin (illness) returned from a five-game absence to take his place in the lineup. Spurgeon has a team-high 25 blocked shots and six points in nine games. ... The Wild improved to 19-25-8 (including 15-9-2 at home) against the Stars, who played in Minnesota from 1967-93. ' ' '