Gameday Thoughts: 11/5 - Preds@Sharks

The signing of Pekka Rinne has put the Preds on the national stage over the last couple of days and rightfully so. Just hours after signing the extension, Peks went out and capped a 3-0 shutout over the Coyotes, in front of an announced attendance of 72. Oh, and also, it was his birthday. That's a nice day I'd assume.

Now the Preds take their talents to South Bay and say what's up to an old nemesis: the San Jose Sharks.

Ron Wilson is long gone from the Sharks bench, as are (probably) most of the ill feelings Pred fans harbor for the team because, let's face it, they owned us two straight years in the playoffs. Aside from that though, the Sharks are just a horrible matchup for us and always have been.

They're a strong, well-disciplined team and the usually-young-and-gritty Preds tend to get over matched by San Jose, especially in their building.

After a relatively slow start, the Sharks have won six of seven and are hitting their proverbial stride. The only true weakness they have is on the penalty kill, which they rank 27th in the league.

And hey, the Preds are 17th on the power play so far this season, which is a far cry from their usual rank somewhere well below that.

As far as the Preds go as a whole, since their loss to the Sharks last week in Nashville they have been playing better hockey by winning three of four, and their loss coming in a 5-4 loss at Chicago.

Notes: Backup goalie Anders Lindback has yet to make a start this season and is more than likely going to end that trend during this California trip. Look for it on Wednesday at Anaheim, as it's the back end of a back-to-back with LA and Anaheim.......Sergei Kostitsyn and Kevin Klein are probable. Nick Spaling is still on IR but will skate today.

Gameday/Pekka Rinne Day: Preds@Coyotes/Pekka signs $49 million Extension

The Preds have been looking pretty decent lately with nice wins at home against Tampa Bay and Anaheim, and a tough yet encouraging loss 5-4 at Chicago on Monday.

We head to the desert tonight looking to avenge our home opener loss to the Coyotes. All that is well and good but today it's all about Pekka Rinne's whopping 7-year/$49 million dollar extension. Okay, one down, two to go right? Well maybe not.

The way I see it is this: I love the Pekka signing, 7/mil, whatever that's cool, although I think that pretty much dooms Weber's future with us because he's going to want to make a boatload of money. That is, unless Suter leaves and Weber is signed. Out of those two I have a very hard time thinking that Weber is more likely to stay that Suter. Suter, like Rinne, seems to really enjoy it in Nashville and seems like a guy who is perfectly content in a small-market. Weber likes it here I'm sure, but I could see him going somewhere else pretty easily. I think Suter "avoided" the question because that's the professional way to go about it. They have a game tonight.

So now if we have Pekka and Suter theoretically locked up for 7 and 6.5 (sure, why not?) million next season, add that to the rest of the "key players" making over a million with guaranteed contracts (based only on 2012/13 cap hit):

13.5 million plus:

Legwand - 4
Erat - 5.5
Fisher - 3 (UFA after next year)
Hornqvist - 3.25 (RFA after next year)
Klein - 1.35

Those players combined would make 30.6 million. Weber's fate is up in the air, and it doesn't include Kostitsyn who is a RFA this summer (making 2.5 million), Wilson who will be resigned for quite a bit more than his current 800k salary, and Tootoo who will be here forever. 

Defensively, Bouillon (probably gone), Blum, Hillen, and Laakso are free agents as well. So basically, everyone is except Klein.

Now my thought process is this: If we re-sign Suter and then trade Weber are we going to be able to get a good package in return that we would be able to keep under the cap, or are we going to let him walk and settle for the draft pick compensation? Obviously all of this is under the assumption that Weber isn't back with us.

I guess what I'm getting at is in my mind keeping all three ties our hands too much down the line and doesn't allow us to do much in the free agent market unless we let some of our young pieces for the future go, like a Hornqvist, Wilson, Kostitsyn, etc and I just don't think that's worth it. That's not even including the fact that I'm sure Fisher will want to be re-signed by both himself and the fans in 2013.

I'd love to re-sign Suter and look for an affordable-yet-useful package for Weber. I think it can be done with the right pieces. If anyone can make it happen I think our front office can.

Getting to Know: The Anaheim Ducks (again)

Who: Anaheim Ducks (5-3-1, 11 points) at The Mighty Predators of Nashville (4-4-1, 9 points)
Where: 501 Broadway
When: Saturday, 7pm
What: Awesome


Quick. What comes to mind when you think of the Anaheim Ducks?

If you're like most people you probably think of the awesome Disney movies or maybe Teemu Selanne.

For me though, I think of the most memorable week and a half in Preds history last season. I think of Bobby Ryan stomping on Jon Blum's skate. I think of their pathetically weak goal horn. I think of Shea Weber and Jerred Smithson, and then Game 6 in all its awesomeness.

New year though, and new story. We are currently a shell of the team that knocked the Ducks out in April and are looking for anything positive to hang our hats on. Well, the 5-3 win last night helped.

Anyways, as we do sometimes, we will be profiling the Ducks and everything that truly matters about their team, fans, and city. Enjoy.

 Origin: In 1993, the then-Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were founded by The Walt Disney Company (hence the team name) and began play as the Western Conference half of that year's expansion class along with the Florida Panthers. The team drafted Paul Kariya in 1994 and he would be the face of the franchise for the better part of a decade. In 2005, Disney sold the team to a new local ownership group and the name was changed to the current Anaheim Ducks, along with their current logo, jerseys, and color scheme.

City: Well, not much to discuss here. Personally I live about 30 miles outside of Anaheim and can vouch for this one, as can anyone else who has been there for anything besides theme park purposes. Anaheim is, for all intents and purposes, the "capital" of Orange County, which is basically just a huge suburb of Los Angeles. The city itself is the 10th biggest in California and is known worldwide for Disneyland. The "city" of Anaheim doesn't really have any kind of identity, and neither does any city in Orange County, as they don't really have anything to hang their hats on other than thinking it's not a part of LA. I'm going to avoid the "Housewives", "The OC", "Laguna Beach", etc. stereotypes and just stick with saying Anaheim is pretty lame in general. They get pretty rowdy from time to time for baseball (Angels) games, so props on that one, but that doesn't count for much here.

Fans: Unlike their Los Angeles neighbors to the north, Ducks fans have a severe reputation for being fair-weather and passive. I was at Game 2 in Anaheim (the Bobby Ryan stomp game) during last year's playoffs and I wasn't sure what to expect from an away crowd for a playoff game. Well, aside from the fact that it wasn't any louder than many regular season games in Nashville, I didn't encounter any real kind of intimidation which was kind of disappointing because I wanted to see what the Orange County crowd could dish out at me. Other than my friend I went with who is a Ducks fan, the only person near me who even tried to give me a hard time was a typical OC kid that was in skater clothes and a 3/4 sideways hat. Clearly repping the Ducks to the fullest yo. Right. Also another side note, their arena looks like Macy's in Cool Springs and that annoys me.

Famous People: Rebecca Black, Gwen Stefani

Well there it is folks, all you need to know about the Ducks, version 2011-2012.

Prediction/Abrupt Ending: Preds 3-2. We finally played a good game and I'm enjoying the momentum we got. In reality, who knows?

Also, Erat is playing finally. Score.

Go Preds.

Gameday: The Wanna-be "Bolts" @ Preds

First off, the real "Bolts" are the San Diego Chargers. Let's get that out of the way. Stick to the Lightning.

Anyway, following a game in which we played sort of decent against the Sharks, the Preds take on the high-powered Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at Bridgestone.

Fortunately for us, their "high-powered offense" comes with a huge setback, and that's a terrible defense. They're second-to-last in goals allowed this season. Only Columbus is allowing more, so really among actual NHL teams Tampa Bay is last.

In the one game I've seen Tampa play this season they were embarrassed in their home opener, giving up seven goals in a 7-4 loss to the Panthers. Not that the Panthers suck, but you would think that this is a prime opportunity for our offense to begin to click and generate some scoring chances, especially with Fisher back and anchoring the top line.

In goal, we don't know who's starting for either club but one would have to assume for the Lightning it's Mathieu Garon seeing as how Dwayne Roloson's stats on this young season are closer to what mine would be than Garon's.

For Los Preds I hope it's Rinne. Not that I have anything against Lindback but at this stage we're essentially in desperation mode, and we could sure use the best goalie in the league against a good offense like Tampa.

Fun fact: We are last in the league in shots for AND shots against. Not a good combo.
Second fun fact: Although this will surprise no one, we are actually THE youngest team in the NHL. Well, were.....I don't know if Fisher and Bouillon raised that bar.
Third fun fact: Erat is out tonight, or so says Trotz. 

Prediction: we get outshot 34-21. Here we go let's do this.....

Nor Cal Sucks: Sharks Beat Preds 3-1. Panic Ensues.

I know we haven't posted in awhile, but this is worth my time. I posted this on the Preds boards over on HFboards.com and naturally.....here we go on here.....

In my 13 or however many years of being a Preds fan I've never felt so.....I don't know....disappointed maybe? Hopeless?

1998-2001ish: Expansion mode. Success would be fantastic but it was against all odds, and we knew it was unlikely.

2001ish-2004: Never had success before but we knew we were shedding the expansion status and better things were likely on the horizon. Didn't know what winning was like yet, but we could feel it coming around the corner, especially with the 2003-2004 playoff berth.

2004-2005: Lockout but at the same time knew that a small market like us was being fought for and hoped that we would be able to compete with the "big boys" when the lockout ended. We did.

2005-2007: Man were we a good team. 4th place both years, although should've been higher because of the playoff format, and despite running into the Sharks both years we established ourselves as a franchise that was learning to win and make a name for ourselves in the league.

2007-2008: What a roller-coaster of a season. Began with the sale/Balsillie garbage and "Save Our Preds" rally, ended with a playoff berth against all odds.

2008-2011: Although missing the playoffs in 2008-09, we still had guys flourishing into established veterans and future key pieces. 09-10 was the infamous first round exit but we were more solid than in years past, and of course last year we reached heights we never had before. Fantastic ride and we couldn't wait for the future of the club to unfold.

Present: Well, July 1st (opening of free agency) came and went. Predictably we didn't do much....in fact we did less than nothing. I was afraid of this as I saw the likes of Ward, Sullivan, and yes even Dumont and Goc leaving. Then Franson and Lombardi (who we all were cautiously hoping would come back at some point during his lengthy contract) departed via trade and we got almost literally nothing in return. I didn't know how this was going to work but I figured it would, as it always had in the past. Well....here we are, 7 points in 8 games, and have been out played in arguably all eight of them. Youngest team in the NHL....only team in the league to be outshot in each game.....and hard-pressed to find any kind of offensive productivity in any consistent form, and we're forced to either be A.) forcefully optimistic, or B.) incredibly disappointed that just five months ago we were at the peak of our franchise.

Do we have potential on the roster? Of course we do. Every team in the NHL should have potential on their roster. I just think it's personally sad that we've sunk this low after last season. I realize that we were trying to "save money" for Weber, Suter and Pekka after this season, but there had to be a better way to do it.

I'm as big of a fan as anyone.....and I hope like hell I'm wrong.....but wow does this ever have the makings of one. long. season......

Wednesday Musings

There's not a lot to get hyped up about from the last 3 games. So let's take a look at the state of things, with some facts to get you through. Remember, it's early in the season.

The Preds are currently riding a 3 game losing streak into their matchup tomorrow night against the Canucks. Since we know already what everyone's feelings are about Vancouver and the Canucks, we can save that post for later. The Preds did manage to squeeze 1 point out of their losing streak when they lost to the Devils in a shootout though (hey gotta look at the positives).

Currently the team sucks in the +/- category: Legwand, Suter, Weber, and Tootoo all lead the team with 1.

That tells me the team is not scoring goals. Either that, or the other team is shooting a shit ton more goals then us.

We've scored 10 goals in 5 games whereas our opponents have scored 15.

Here's a fun fact for you. Nashville ranks 29th in the league for shots on goal with an average of 23 per game. Our opponents are averaging 32.8 shots per game on us.

So the solution is simple right? Or am I missing something? Yes of course Pekka can be a brick wall, but we need some offense to help him out. His save percentage is still .926, but his goal average is 2.37 per game. Unless we score some goals, or beef up the defense, we can't put the W up. (By the way the league leader in save percentage is at .960 - Pekka is not far off)

Did you know Pekka got an assist last game?! When Pekka is the spark for your offense you know something is wrong.

But it's early everyone... This just proves how defense wins championships, but offense is going to get you to the playoffs.

Come back soon Marty and Fish! And for the rest of the Preds... SHOOT THE PUCK!

But to start getting you ready for tomorrow night, here's an awful song from the Vancouver faithful. I can't believe this song was actually popular in Vancouver. They really like shitty music there. It's an awful cover of an awful song made by a girl that wishes she never put it out. When is Nashville going to start getting this stuff? We have a lot of talented people here. A lot of musically talented people... hmmmmmm

Preds Crap the Bed; Lose to Phoenix 5-2

Cool. So, nothing says "Hey, let's show our fans what we built upon last season" like getting destroyed early and going down 4-0 in the home opener.

I mean I feel like we salvaged some respect, scoring twice after that, but really? How flat do you have to be to come out and get massacred in your home opener?

Was it just a bad game? Maybe. I'm not sure anymore. No Neck has tricked us into thinking our teams are better than they are over the years by doing all kinds of shady shit like making the playoffs and getting our hopes up, but this year it feels slightly different.

Don't get me wrong, we've got some talent. Problem is that talent lies almost exclusively on defense or between the pipes. For the forwards, different story. I honestly believe that (not an exaggeration) this is the least talented team, offensively, that we've put on the ice in at least six or seven years, at least with Erat, Fisher, and Hornqvist out.

I'm not being overly negative; I think we will sneak into the playoffs again this season.....but let's be real.......this offense sucks. I don't remember us putting a team of forwards on the ice that was so average and/or so recently out of Milwaukee at any point after we started shedding expansion status. It's a little disturbing.

Every sport is the same way as far as over-reacting to a single win or loss, but falling behind by four at home to a pretty average team who hadn't won yet, in your home opener, is no less than inexcusable.

Phoenix looked so much better than us that it made me want to drive my skull through my TV. We scored a couple goals on slapshots and had a few other chances, but you're insane if you thought we matched their intensity.

I sure ****ing hope Trotz gives the boys some shit in practice and we come out ready to dominate against New Jersey on Saturday. We're so used to the Preds being a resilient team that bounces back after a poor effort. Let's hope for the same this weekend. After all, whatever the case, we're still 2-1 right now.

P.S. Kiss it Legwand haters!!!!

Getting to Know: The Phoenix Coyotes

So far, so good for the Preds after taking their first two contests away from home in Columbus and St. Louis. Now, the much anticipated home opener sees the Phoenix Coyotes (0-1-1) come to Bridgestone Arena hoping to pull out their first win of the young season after losses to division foes San Jose and Dallas. So what's the deal with these Coyotes anyway? A little short on knowledge of the team out in the desert? No worries. We've got you covered with all the important facts.

Origin: In December of 1995, Jerry Colangelo, owner of the NBA's Phoenix Suns and now MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks decided to pursue the idea of bringing the NHL to Arizona. Next thing everyone knew, the original Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix after the 1995-1996 season, thus becoming the "Coyotes" after a local name-the-team contest. Not a bad name, although their original logo sure was.

City: I'm going to try to be negative here. I personally really like the state of Arizona and the Phoenix area as a whole. The city of Phoenix is the sixth-largest city by population in the U.S. and is the only state capital in the country with over a million residents. The city is the heart of the "Valley of the Sun" and is home to the aforementioned Diamondbacks and Suns. Also, (fun fact forthcoming) the city has the unfortunate title of the "Kidnapping Capital of the U.S.", due to its immigrant smuggling and drug trafficking problems prevalent in the area.

That's Phoenix though. The Coyotes actually play in suburban Glendale, a city of just over 200,000 which is not exactly the Metro area's center of population (but we'll get to that later), which is best-known for hosting Super Bowls at the home of the Arizona Cardinals, who play right next door to the Coyotes in Glendale in the middle of a huge shopping center. Fun, right? Hey it's not bad but I prefer Broadway personally.

Famous People:  Well, this is a tricky one because of the large number of transplants that relocate to the area from really crappy and/or cold parts of the country in search of better weather, mountains, and outdoor sports. HOWEVER, there are some famous people who are actually from Phoenix (and Glendale), as as a large city there are a lot to choose from, specifically athletes. Aside from athletes, Jordin Sparks of American Idol fame, as well as the only person I've ever seen to spell Jordin like Jordin Tootoo, is from Glendale specifically. Speaking of music, Chester Beddington, lead singer of Linkin Park hails from Phoenix, as does (not speaking of music) first female Supreme Court member Sandra Day O'Connor. What a duo. The political families the Goldwaters and McCains also call Phoenix home. Last but not least, rising actress Emma Stone is from Phoenix. Nice.

Team: Aside from their success during their early years in Phoenix, the 'Yotes were a side-note to their coach, Wayne Gretzky, but after years of futility, he was canned as coach and Dave Tippett took the reigns just before the 09-10 season, and has led them to two straight playoff appearances, although losing to Detroit twice. The team is led by captain Shane Doan, who has been with the club since its Winnipeg days. The Coyotes also enjoy a disturbing amount of success against the Preds. It's not a good thing. New year, new trends. Watch out 'Yotes, we're comin' for ya.

Fans: Well, the struggles with Phoenix's attendance are often-documented, but there's two sides to each story. Is Phoenix a true hockey town? No it's not, and that's fine, but if the new arena the team plays in was closer to downtown Phoenix it may help to boost the attendance, but obviously that won't be happening. After failing miserably in an effort to buy our Preds and move them to Canada, Blackberry founder Jim Balsillie again failed in an attempt to move the Coyotes as well. The Thrashers recent departure to Winnipeg (ironic) seems to have saved the team's future for the meantime, although the city of Glendale has the final say on that. Although the team does have passionate fans, it does remain a largely quiet arena during most games, with many fans disguised as empty seats while averaging just over 12,000 a game. Ahead of only the Islanders. Oh well.

All in all, despite my relative positivity regarding the Coyotes and Phoenix, the bottom line is we should expect the Preds to remain undefeated and hand the Desert Dogs their third straight loss to start the season. Smashville will be hoppin' and ready to go. Go Preds, and behold the gold.

Craig Freaking Smith

Don't mess with Craig Smith

Quick thought here because I can't really help myself.

Not that I really knew what to expect when Craig Smith was apparently blowing away coaches and staff in training camp and the preseason, but it looks possible that they knew what they were getting themselves into.

Craig Freaking Smith has netted two goals in his first two games. First professional games, ever. No weak sauce minor leagues, just straight outta the other U-Dub (Washington is the real U-Dub) and onto the Preds roster. For those not in the know, I'm talking about the University of Wisconsin.

Anyways, not only are they goals for the probably offensively-challenged Preds, they're goals which came in front of the net, a staple of successful Preds teams through the years. With the departure of Joel Ward, it was extra sweet to see someone fresh come in and capitalize on a couple garbage goals.

Friday night the Preds continued the "rivalry" with the Blue Jackets by ruining their home/season opener by winning 3-2, Smith netting the second goal, and Saturday night the Preds proved their apathy towards the Blues' home opener as well by collecting their second straight road win 4-2 to open up with a perfect weekend away from the 615, returning for a Thursday home opener with Los Coyotes de Phoenix.

Also, side note : Five of the team's seven goals have come from American players. That's why we called this blog Pred White and Blue. Foreshadowing perhaps? You know it.

USA bitches.

Getting to Know the St. Louis Blues

One down, one more team to go this weekend. The Preds will leave Columbus in their dust and take their talents to St. Louis. But as we like to do (I know this is only the second time, but you'll see we really like to do it), let's take a look at our friends to the west and see what's going on in their neck of the woods. Sorry we didn't have a bunch of posts later in the week everyone. Work really sucks when it interferes with fun doesn't it?

Name:

The St. Louis "Blues" were named for the famous W.C. Handy song of the same name. The song was made because St. Louis really sucks and gives you the blues. I mean why else would W.C Handy say that? It's a bunch of farms and then an arch. Seriously! There's NOTHING out that way. Have you ever driven west of Tennessee? Yeah neither have I, there's a reason for it. All my friends that have had to drive that way always complain about how boring it is. W.C. Handy was made famous when his band moved to Memphis and started playing Beale Street.. So congrats St. Louis, your name was adopted from a song by a famous Tennessean. Nashville 1 - St. Louis 0. Just another reason why we own you. 

Origin:

St. Louis was part of the first expansion in the NHL and owns it's total existence to Chicago and the Wirtz family. The only reason the team was founded in the first place was because the Wirtzes owned the arena in St. Louis as well. Although they were the owners in Chicago, they wanted to put some use to that property they had in St. Louis, so we got the Blues. And Baltimore's still pissed! That's right everyone, we could have had hockey in Baltimore if it weren't for those stupid Hawks (just wait for that one... I hate the Hawks). So what can we learn from this? If your hockey team is founded on the fact that you're a little brother, you're probably screwed. Nashville 2 - St. Louis 0. There's no other city like Nashville on the planet. 

City: 

So the actual population of St. Louis is 319,294, but they pull one of those shitty things where they count their "whole metropolitan area" so they can inflate their numbers. So on a technicality, their population is 2,845,298. Many large corporations actually call St. Louis home... Really?! There wasn't any other place to go? One of these is Energizer, so the Blues can keep going and going and going and going without ever once winning the Stanley Cup. Oops sorry St. Louis. Is that a sore subject? As you can see from the picture below the only cool thing about St. Louis is the Arch. But seriously, if the most redeeming quality about your city is an arch, wow. Look to the left, see I told you... NOTHING. The best part of Missouri is the part that have the signs that say "Welcome to Tennessee" Nashville 3 - St. Louis 0. 

Famous People:

They're stacked here. Actually this is the only category that they can actually compete with Nashville. I mean, Bob Costas, Chuck Berry, Miles Davis, Mark Twain, and Nelly just to name a few. I mean Nelly dropped some "country grammar" on us and let us know that everyone in St. Louis thinks it's hot in herrrre. But they have an ace-in-the-hole with their most famous person, Scott Bakula. We all know and love him as Paul Blake in Necessary Roughness (if you haven't seen it check it out. It's an underrated movie). Here's a picture of him with Sinbad... Enjoy! You guessed it, I'll give this one a draw. They have some famous people in their arsenal. 

Hockey Team:

So they've made their playoffs once over the past six seasons. Yeah, enough said. Their best player may be their goalie Jaroslav Halak. I don't think I've ever been to a Preds game where we pronounce his name right when we tell him he sucks though. Their other "shining star" is David Backes who had 31 goals and 31 assists last year. I'm not going to spend a lot of time telling you about their hockey team though... They're really shitty. Nashville 4 - St. Louis 0

Fans:

There's no good fan videos or music video parodies. But we don't have music video/songs either. Why don't we? Come on Nashville, let's make some songs about our team! We're all talented. Oh well I'm giving us this one too because we just care more than their fans do. 

Final score 5-0 Nashville. Look for the Preds to go to 2-0 tonight. Go Preds! 

VICTORY!!!!!! Preds win 3-2!

The Preds start off their season with a W. Doesn't always matter how you get there, just matters that you got it and you have the points.

The biggest story before the game was Pekka Rinne and his first game against the flu. Do the Preds' not give out flu shots for free like a lot of the Downtown Nashville businesses do? Did the Preds' not know it was Downtown Nashville Employees Appreciation week this week? Where were the Preds' in the tug-o-war competition? Pekka probably didn't get the shot because he stops all shots from getting past him. (Bad Joke I couldn't help it)

It's true though, Pekka had 32 saves and looked like a brick wall out there. Queue "Unbelievable" by EMF.

On the offensive side of things, how about Craig Smith?! The Badger got his first regular season goal in his first regular season game by capitalizing off a Shea Weber slapshot that was deflected. Fun fact of the day: Did you know Badgers can run as fast as 19 mph?! Neither did I... I'm glad I looked it up. I'm really looking forward to see what Smith is going to do this year. If last night was any indication, we're going to be hearing this rook's name a lot.

The other fun fact of the day: Shea Weber's slapshot was so hard that it knocked the mask off of Steve Mason. So let it be known that Shea can destroy nets, break ankles, and knock off masks with a single shot. I'm waiting for the day that his slapshot will break the glass behind the goal.

SUTER SCORED A GOAL ON A POWERPLAY!!! Talk about the love for the U-Dubs we have on Nashville. We may have to get Bucky the Badger to come down and be a guest mascot with Gnash.

The winning goal was scored by Matt Halischuk off a pass from Cal O, O, O, O'Reilly.

The first one's always the hardest... The Preds' played tough and got the win on the road. What a great night! 

Final 25 Man Roster Set: Discuss

So here we are, two long days before the Preds open the season up in Ohio somewhere, and per-NHL policy teams have to narrow their final roster to 25.

Plenty of spaces were opened up after the front-office-orchestrated mass exodus of many of our key players in July, but not to be worried. The Preds finished off the preseason with a 7-1 record and quite frankly looked like a team on a mission to prove that they aren't a fluke from last season's second round appearance.

In case you haven't seen yet, the roster consists of 15 forwards, 8 defensemen (it IS Nashville after all), and the two goaltenders.


Forwards: Niclas Bergfors, Martin Erat, Mike Fisher, Blake Geoffrion, Matt Halischuk, Patric Hornqvist, Sergei Kostitsyn, David Legwand, Cal O'Reilly, Craig Smith, Jerred Smithson, Nick Spaling, Zack Stortini, Jordin Tootoo, and Colin Wilson.

In other words, who the hell is gonna score goals? Don't get me wrong, that question isn't code for "we're going to suck this year" but it's a legitimate concern.

We all know that the Preds play tough, smart two-way hockey and there's nothing wrong with that. Last year's Cup champion Bruins can attest to that; but one can't be blamed for wondering if the lack of offensive punch will be the team's ultimate achilles heel for yet another season.

This group of forwards is loaded with young guys who are either looking to continue improving from last season or guys who are looking to break in with the club any way they can.

Craig Smith is getting more than a few looks so far and with good reason. In his first season as a pro after coming out of the University of Wisconsin (shock!) has impressed everyone and made the team easily. I'm assuming. Niclas Bergfors is looking to be the next in the long line of 'young players who kinda sucked' (excuse me, 'didn't reach their potential') elsewhere and improved under the Tutelage of Trotz.

The other corps of young guys like Geoffrion, Wilson, Kostitsyn and so on and so forth are looking to establish themselves as solid players in the league while Legwand, Fisher, and Erat are the veteran offensive threats. If you want to be liberal with the words "offensive threats" that is.

Fisher will be beginning the year on injured reserve with a shoulder injury which is scientifically proven to be taking entirely too long to heal from summer surgery.

Defensemen:  Teemu Laakso, Jonathon Blum, Francis Bouillon, Mattias Ekholm, Jack Hillen, Kevin Klein, Ryan Suter, Shea Weber

Thoughts on Weber and Suter: League's best tandem. Thoughts on the rest: Should remain solid as a whole, which is the Nashville way, but there are a few question marks.

Blum looked very solid for the most part in his play last season after being called up in January and looks to progress further in his first full season.

Mattias Ekholm is going to be fun to watch. At 21, he's 6'4", 204 pounds and has a solid mix of skill and physicality. There were concerns that he would have trouble adapting to the North American game but clearly it didn't hamper him too much as he made the opening night roster.

Klein sucks.

Jack Hillen was added mainly as a depth signing. He came over from the Islanders and is probably best known for once taking an Alex Ovechkin slap shot to the face. I'd normally post that link but it's a tad awkward so you can find it on some site called Youtube if you really wanna see it.

I don't know much about Laakso, although many Pred fans do. So shoot me.

Like Fisher, Bouillon will be starting the season where he ended last season, on IR, with post-concussion syndrome. He did however begin practicing with the team on Monday.

Goaltenders: Pekka Rinne, Anders Lindback

The tallest goalie tandem in NHL history (we think) returns yet again, and Rinne looks to be a beast this season even more so than last. If you would consider playing in a contract year, allowing barely a goal per game in the preseason, and last year's third runner-up in MVP voting to boot, as a beast.

He's awesome.

Lindback is a good guy to have as a backup, but hopefully we won't see a ton of him.

This article has been way too long, and if you've read the whole thing, I must ask you why.

Dust in the Wind/It's so Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday

If you all get a free minute today, make sure to go say goodbye to Four Habs Fans. They've decided to call it quits after four years and we'll miss them.

Although we think they should have picked a better team to write about, we laughed at their posts over the years. They created their blog for some of the same reasons we created ours... They wanted to make an honest, funny blog and that's what we're all about. Their blog also happened to focus on the Habs' "suckitude (at the time)" as they said, but luckily we're not worrying about that in Nashville.

So raise your glasses, pour one out for the homies, and visit the guys to say your goodbyes. Because we all know the Habs fans have a long road ahead of them.

Fight Night: Closing Out the Preseason

The preseason has come to a close. Rosters have been set. Now it's time for us to actually evaluate who we have on the team. One standout from this preseason has been Zack Stortini, who the Preds signed as a free agent in July. His previous team was the Edmonton Oilers which unfortunately are still morning the loss of shhh don't say his name but he wore number 99.

Stortini, who not only played strong at defense for the Preds this preseason, also took top billing as the Preds' leading brawler. Out of the 3 times that Nashville threw down this preseason, Stortini was involved in two of them. According to Hockey Fights (one of the best websites ever) Stortini went 1-1 although his one loss probably could have gone down to a decision.

I, for one, am excited to see another scrapper join the Preds lineup. Just so long as his proclivity for fighting does not take place at inopportune times (see: Shane O'Brien). His aggressiveness is a welcome addition to the defense and I'll be looking forward to see the Preds play the boards tough this year.

Now that we know that Stortini isn't afraid to scrap it up, let's learn more about this new Predator. Partly due to laziness and partly because I loved it so much, a google image search brought us this lovely nugget from his time on the Oilers.

After seeing these 5 questions with Zack Stortini, I can't help but like him more. Dude like's AC/DC, Mario Brothers, and making orange peel mouthguards?! Sounds like me when I was a kid. By the way, fun fact of the day... Did you know that Super Mario Brothers 2 was actually changed before it was sent to America? It was actually harder in its original version and changed to be based off of a game called Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic before it was sent to the west. That's right, the rest of the world thought we wouldn't be able to beat SMB2 and made it easier for us. Hell, at that age for me they were probably right. I would have gone outside and played instead. 


And let's be honest, no one likes a roommate that snores.

So in closing, we're looking forward to seeing you skate for the Preds Zack. For those about to rock, we salute you!

Are Our Sports Getting Too Soft?

Occasionally, this blog will touch on subjects that not only touch on hockey, but all sports in general. Today just happens to be one of those days. For those of you that may have missed this story yesterday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was running his mouth again regarding the violent hits in football.

He was actually quoted as saying “People have criticized us as changing the game. I don’t believe that. I think we have taken techniques out of the game and improved the game and made it safer – and the game’s more popular than ever.”

But has he gone too far?

Not just in football, but for sports in general where is the line? In all sports, we are entering the “era of the concussion” and have taken more precaution than ever the past few years to combat head injuries to our star athletes. Sidney Crosby had to sit out what might have been a record setting season with a concussion, Nathan Horton was knocked out of the Stanley Cup finals due to a hit by Aaron Rome, Matthew Lombardi missed last season for the Preds with his concussion, and that’s just to name three of the many incidents around the NHL.

In fact, a study was released in April that stated that the days lost per concussion in the NHL is increasing. The NHL players have now started examining the helmets they’re wearing to see if improvements can be made.

I bring this up because as I was recently watching Sportscenter, I noticed a segment was sponsored by the movie “Reel Steel.” Yes, you can laugh I’m sure this movie is a shoe-in for an Oscar. But it still made me think nevertheless. The premise of this movie is quite simple. A boxer, played by Wolverine, I mean Hugh Jackman, loses his shot at the title because “Robot Boxing” has taken over as the main sport. This begs the question: Could you ever see a time when the machines take over? Is time running out for sports as we now know them?

Honestly, I don’t want you to think that I am that crazy to think that this sort of thing will happen in the immediate future, but are we so caught up in protecting athletes that we will cross the line into new sports all together? How long before NBA players (if they ever play) will take a page out of Shaq’s book and be playing games dressed as the “Big Pile of Metal?”

As someone whose collegiate athletic career was cut short due to injury, I’m sympathetic to injuries in sports but I am definitely torn on this issue. How can we improve the safety of athletes without destroying the integrity of the games they play? I am all for making the game safer, but I don’t want to see two hand touch football or no-hitting hockey. One aspect that Goodell mentioned in his article that might be overlooked is that he’s considering getting rid of the three-point stance for linemen in football?! WTF?! As a former lineman myself, I am offended that he would ask the fattest guys on the field to be lazy and not get down in a stance.

Is there middle ground here? Can there be a way to keep sports as we know them while keeping the athletes, and more importantly to owners and teams, their investments safe? Are commissioners concerned about the game as much as their concerned about keeping their stars playing to reap the benefits? What are your thoughts?

Get to Know Other Teams in the Division

Welcome! It's time for the first installment in our series "Get to Know Other Teams in the Central Division." Today, we will take a look at the Columbus Blue Jackets, who just so happen to be the team that the Preds will be opening their season against. So let's learn some more about our friends to the north and what they're all about.

Q: Where are the Blue Jackets located?
A: The Blue Jackets call Columbus, Ohio home. Many people may not know this, but Columbus is actually the capital of Ohio. It was founded in 1812 and takes its namesake after Christopher Columbus, the man who was not the first man to discover America, but we gave him a holiday anyway. It's actually the 15th largest city in the United States. I bet you didn't know that!

Q: No I didn't know that! So what else is Columbus famous for?
A: Glad you asked! Some people may think that Columbus is famous for its variety of industries such as government, insurance, banking, fashion, defense, aviation, food, clothes, logistics, steel, energy, medical research, health care, hospitality, retail, and technology, but those of us "in the know" realize that Columbus' main export is Ohio State University. That's right, Columbus is the epicenter for one of the most annoying fan bases in the country. Besides randomly walking down the streets and bars screaming out "O" hoping that other fans will continue their chant with them, most Ohio State fans can be seen littered around other schools and cities in the country, lamenting that they never went to the school that they cheer for so passionately. By the way, how's Ohio State doing in football this year? These people are so loyal to the Buckeyes that they actually take their loyalty to the grave. If you don't believe me, just check out this funeral for a Buckeye fan. It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A!

Q: Wow, so if that's the case, why didn't they just name the hockey team the Junior Buckeyes or something?
A: That would just be silly. The Blue Jackets were named due to Ohio's Civil War ties. Despite popular belief, there actually is not a bee called a "blue jacket." There are yellow jackets though and they can sting you if you don't watch out!

Q: That makes sense. Is anyone famous from Columbus?
A: There's not many famous actors or anything from Columbus, but there certainly a lot of famous athletes. Did you know Jack Nickalus is from Columbus? Yup, the "Golden Bear" grew up on the mean streets of C-Bus and attended Ohio State University. Not only does he hold the record for the most majors ever in golf, but his influence can be seen in the many many golf courses that he's designed. There's actually one of his golf courses in Tennessee!

Q: What about the Blue Jackets? Can they play hockey?
A: Well, they do but not well. Last year they placed 5th in the Central Division, 13th in the Western Conference, and 24th overall in the NHL. They started the season off strong last year but just couldn't finish. Rick Nash led the team last year with 66 points in 75 games with 32 goals. Hey, it's higher than anyone on the Preds but I'd take getting to the 2nd round of the playoffs any day over the season they had. They've brought in Jeff Carter from the Flyers and James Wisniewski from Montreal to help, but there doesn't seem to be too much hope for the Blue Jackets. Did you know they have yet to win a playoff game? They finally qualified for the playoffs in 2009, but that's pretty much the highlight of their franchise. The line for them to win the Stanley Cup is 75/1, so call your bookies now!

Q: What about the fans? How are they?
A: Unfortunately, Columbus only averaged 13,659 fans per game, according to their website. They did have six sellouts though!

Q: But do the fans do anything else are there any cool videos?
A: No, unfortunately our search found no fun fan parody videos. The only thing we could find was video on this guy. I don't have much to say to this, but just that I'd take Big Ben over this guy any day. And hey Columbus, find a new gimmick. Well, no man in Nashville would ever wear a bra.

Q: Cool thanks for dropping the knowledge. So Nashville should win right?
A: Absolutely, the defense and goaltending of Pekka Renne will be too much for Columbus to handle. Look for Nashville to come out victorious in their opener in Columbus!

Decision Day and Preseason Thoughts

It’s decision day folks. The Predators will be busy making their final cuts and will be setting the roster for the 2011-2012 season. That being said, let’s take a quick look at what we learned from this preseason , if anything:

1.     Shea Weber obviously trained with Mr. Miyagi this offseason:  Anyone who got a glimpse of Shea’s defense can see that he certainly perfected the art of “paint the fence” to add to his defensive skills this offseason. Few pucks were able to get past his stick as he was deflecting everything in the air and on the ice. Our defense will be as solid as ever with Shea, Suter, Blum, and Klein. The loss of Cody Franson will hurt a little, but the defense will still play to Nashville’s strength.

2.     Pekka hasn’t missed a beat off of last year’s stellar season: Preseason stats have him with 3 goals allowed in 169 minutes of play in the preseason. His goals against average is 1.07 (if you care about preseason stats). Somewhere I picture Pekka training in a batting cage with Happy Gilmore, except he’d be smart enough to wear pads. “Only 364 more days until next year’s hockey season!” That being said, the Iron Man is going to be a wall in goal for the Preds. He’s my vote for the Vezina this year.

3.     This could be Colin Wilson’s breakout season: With 7 points in the preseason: 3 goals and 4 assists in 6 games, Colin could finally be on the verge of his standout year. The Preds could sure use a standout scorer and nothing would make me happier to see C-Dubs do it. Plus, does anyone else find it hilarious  Plus,does anyone else find it hilarious that someone screams “Wiiiiiiiiilllllllllsssssssooooonnnn” every time he’s on the ice? I’m surprised there’s never any Dennis the Menace references for Mr. Wilson. Anyways, I digress.

4.     Sergei Kostitsyn doesn’t shoot much but when he does he’s a sniper: SK74 was all about accuracy this preseason with his shooting percentage staying at 100% with only 1 shot on goal in 4 games. I’m still looking to see him breakout in Nashville which I think he definitely has the potential to do. If anyone remembers those No Fear shirts, I think we should all chip in and get SK the one that says “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Like I said about Colin Wilson, the biggest hole in Nashville’s lineup is a standout scorer. For Nashville to take their game to the next level, there’s going to have to be someone to carry this offense. Having a team effort is great, but I’d love to see someone break away from the pack. Could it be Erat, Kostitsyn, Wilson, hell even Shea is talked about as the potential leading scorer for this team. If your defense is being talked about in that category it’s time to start keeping your front line at practice shooting more.

5.     Craig Smith… WOW: You’d be hard pressed to find a lot of information out about Craig Smith considering that there’s already an NBA player with the same name as well as some guy in Santa Barbara who cover’s law like a wet blanket. Further investigation has told me that someone needs to update Craig Smith’s Wikipedia page soon. It still has him listed as currently playing for the University of Wisconsin. But this Badger has taken his talents to Nashville and man is he talented. With 4 points in the preseason and a great goal to beat Carolina, Smith has solidified a spot on the ice while Mr. Underwood is still out with an injury. But when Fish comes back, I’d like to see them keep a spot open for Smith on this team.

6.     The all you can eat package doesn’t include cheeseburgers and chicken tenders: Not to become the Lewis Black of this blog but what about all you can eat says no cheeseburgers and chicken tenders?! Let it be known Nashville Predators and Bridgestone Arena that the shoot twice mezzanine has spoken! Let them eat burgers! The fans in the all you can eat section were quite disappointed when they came to their first preseason game to learn that this “perk” included hot dogs, peanuts, mini-pretzels, nachos, mini-sodas, but NO BURGERS, CHICKEN TENDERS, OR PIZZA!! Yeah we’re going to make you pay for the good stuff… Nevermind that you have to go back to fill up your soda every 2 minutes.

So the Nashville Predators had a solid preseason and look forward to Columbus on Friday. I look forward to see who’s going along for the ride and it will be a good one.

What did you think of the preseason? Who would you cut and who would you keep?

Breaking News: Radulov is Being a Diva, and Lombardi is Making a Miraculous Comeback

So the news out of Russia is that Alexander Radulov is pissed at the coaching staff in Russia. That's cool. Bring him over anyways.

Not that this news is surprising. Pretty sure Rads was pissed at No Neck during the 07-08 season anyway.

Jason Arnott, AKA the most lazy and worthless captain in the history of hockey, is gone so if Rads wants to come back over I'm all for it. I mean why not?

Radulov is listed on many media outlets' preseason rosters for the Preds although he's half a world away, but it still begs the question: Will he be back (soon)?

I don't know but I really hope so.

If he comes back he will be a restricted free agent after this season which is a win-win for Los Preds.

Either bring him back, listen to him complain despite scoring 25-35 goals, get compensation from another team and see him walk, or eat the low salary he requires and keep him around.

Word.

Anyways apparently Matthew Lombardi has gone from borderline career-questioning concussion in last year's second game to playing for Toronto after an....um.......odd trade that sent Lombardi to Toronto along with budding young D-Man Cody Franson for perma-scratch Brett Lebda and some dude named (......) Slaney who will never skate for Nashville.

Lombardi made no signs of significant progress last season, so now that he's totally cool and ready to go makes things a little odd for Pred Nation.

It's not like he's chomping at the bit to play for a contender, as Toronto blows, but it still makes you wonder what's going on.

I have more faith in the guy than to assume he just wanted to be back in some big Canadian market so I won't go there (any more than I just did) but it raises an eyebrow or two.

I also get that if he stayed in Cashville and got another concussion and was screwed then we would be on the hook for his salary but come on, that's a little shady to dispose of a guy because he might be perma-f***ed barring another injury.

All I really know is I'll take Radulov back any time of day and good riddance to Lombardi.

And Our Chants Still Suck...

Last night I had a realization: Our chants suck. I should preface this by saying that I am extremely appreciative of Section 303 and all that they have done for the organization and hockey in Nashville, but are we really that unoriginal that all we can do is tell the other team they suck over and over? For years I have been attending the games and just chanted along. I never once questioned the chants or thought twice about changing them. That all changed last night. 

Okay, so maybe I'm blinded by the fact that I took a girl I was interested in to the game with me (I think that's besides the point). But, as I was trying to teach her the chants and when she should say them, her reply was "So all you guys do is tell the other team they suck over and over?" 

I had never really thought about it like that before, but she's right. Each chant is a different variation of telling the other team they suck.It starts from the reading of the lineup, to each penalty kill, to each goal scored by Nashville, and finally to the end of the game after the Preds win. Are we lacking the creative juices to come up with something better?! You can't tell me that in a city such as Nashville that we can't do better. We have songwriters that come up with new songs every minute. It's actually a known statistic that every 30 seconds in Nashville a new song is written. Yes, it's a fact just like San Diego which of course in German means... wait nevermind. 

Just like Nashville Predators have taken the team to a new level by getting through the first round of the playoffs for the first time last season, it's time the fans did the same. There needs to be solid traditions made in Bridgestone Arena to solidify the Music City as a hockey town. It's time the marketing department of the Preds does something just besides give out yellow shirts and towels to get the fans into the game. I think Bridgestone Arena could be one of the toughest rinks to play in if we only reevaluated what we do as fans. Altthough, the standing Os during timeouts are amazing. That is one of the biggest reasons we stand out. 

Is there a tradition you would like to start during Preds games? Is there a chant that you would change? 

One place to start would be a song we could always play going into the 3rd period and get the stands going crazy. Maybe someone can bring a thesaurus to the game to come up with other words besides 'suck'. Because right now, the Nashville Predators organization is on the power play... "And our chants still suck" 

The Preds Have "Offically" Arrived in Nashville Culture

This dude's name is Nick Wells and he is a student at Vandy. I don't know this guy, but he decided to jump onto the endless stream of "Black and Yellow" remixes across college campuses everywhere last year.

Only difference between those and this one, is that this Vandy version titled "Black and Gold", naturally, is actually pretty good and well-produced.

I wouldn't have a clue what it's like to be a student at Vandy, but this four minute long journey makes me feel like it would be pretty sweet. Except for the student loans.

Awesomely enough, he chooses to drop a "Smashville" reference during the climax of the song with the line "we party hard, that's why they call it 'Smashville'". It's at about 2:40 in the video. See for yourself.

Preds Continue to Dominate Games That Don't Count, Beat 'Canes 2-1

Another preseason game, another win for the Preds. This time in OT over Carolina at Bridgestone.

The Preds finish the preseason at a relatively stellar 7-1 with 14 points which is most in the NHL so far even though we've played more games than most teams.

How much this really matters is beyond me. A look at the Western Conference "standings" look pretty weird because they're top-heavy with perennial average-at-best teams. After Nashville, the Stars, Blue Jackets and Oilers top the standings.

Not exactly prime company, and you can't convince me that any of the other three teams are going to be worth a shit this season.

Columbus will always suck no matter how hard they try to be relevant and Edmonton may be good in a couple years, but all their good players are just hitting puberty. Dallas may be a decent club, but because they're not in the Leastern Conference, they're not gonna do much.

That's some big-league analysis.

No worries though. Regardless of the validity of preseason games in any sport, the Preds have looked good (on the ice and in the new jerseys) and are, as of now, playing beyond my (and many other fans' personal expectations.

We all know that most of the club's productive players over the last couple seasons are gone so we can save a bunch of money and throw it all at Weber, Suter and Rinne but maybe that doesn't necessarily mean we're gonna suck.

Clearly The Neck and company have their work cut out for them even more so than usual going into this season, which isn't a surprise when your big free-agent forward acquisition is Niclas Bergfors, who was decent in Atlanta (R.I.P.) and traded to Florida, then did nothing and was allowed to walk away freely. Not a good sign when the Panthers have no interest in you.