We will discuss the end of the Predator's season, what to look for going forward, and the upcoming playoff picture. We will also discuss our individual surprises and disappointments from the season.
Jackson and I will also take a look at our pre-season predictions and compare them to the final standings. Jackson picked 7 of 8 playoff teams in the east but only five of 8 in the West and got San Jose right as the President's trophy winner. Buddy only got 6 of 8 in the East and 5 of 8 in the West and the Wings let me down as the President trophy winner. Jackson had San Jose winning the cup and I obviously didn't realize that Detroit would have issues in goal when I picked them.
Other news on the Predator front includes Barry Trotz being named an Assistant Coach for Team Canada in the World Championship. He will be packing soon as the tournament runs from April 24 to May 10 and is being held in Switzerland. Most likely with an early exit several Preds may play for Canada in the Worlds. Probably Shea Weber, maybe Dan Hamhuis and J P Dumont. What about Pekka and Backstrom as team mates in goal for Finland?
Pred Prospect Colin Wilson got a National Championship ring as Boston University completed a miracle come back to win the final game in overtime. He finished second to team mate Matt Gilroy for the Hobey Baker trophy and also made the All-American team. I can't imagine that he will play another year at BU. I fully expect to see him in Milwaukee at the start of the season.
The Milwaukee Admirals will be loaded for their AHL title run as Ryan Jones, Cal O'Reilly, Patric Hornqvist and Jed Ortmeyer have all returned to try to make a long run in the playoffs. Here is their first round schedule against the Rockford IceHogs.
As Barry Trotz pointed out in his morning after interview, the Preds are loaded with prospects and may make some moves to bolster their offense during the summer.
Steve Sullivan is also a big question mark as he will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. The Preds will have to make decisions on a lot of guys as you can see in this chart of who is signed and who isn't at NHL Numbers. Hockey Buzzard Paul McCann give his take on the Pred Free Agents.
Section303.com had another great podcast this week with the Forechecker, Dirk Hoag, as a special guest.
The season may be over but the NHL Tweet Up Nashville #nhltweetup is set for Wednesday night at the Closing Bell Wall Street Pub on Demonbruen from 5-9. Go here to RSVP. Being a Twitter user is not required. This is part of a national event that you can read more about at NHLTweetup.com. If you are on Facebook, here is another place to sign up. Thanks to George Scoville and others for getting this together. We will have a special announcement related to the Tweetup during tonight's show.The draft lottery is set for Tuesday for what has become the John Taveres sweepstakes. Dirk points out that the Preds have a 1.5% chance to move up as high as seventh.
I was out of town for a couple of days last week and got taken to dinner by Sammy Woo, the creator of HockeyPrimeTime.com and writer for Hockey Buzz. Sammy saw that I was well fed and then gave me a tour of the Rock and the Arena Lounge. Thanks to Sammy for the fine New Jersey hospitality.
OK, today was the day for the big roll out of "The Portal" which was supposed to be like nothing you could ever imagine. Other than some neat graphics that look like the Stanley Cup engravings on the side and a daily pre-game show on the web, it looks about the same as it always does. One positive that the Forchecker points out is that the site will include content from SB Nation.
Monday afternoon will be the time for the announcements of the Espo Awards at NHL Home Ice XM204. I am amazed that Sully wasn't nominated for Comeback player of the year. Has Espo lost his marbles? I've always like his awards because they were less media driven but I don't see how he missed this.
Here's an amazing stat from Mirtle. The Penguins have had a player win the Art Ross Trophy 13 out of the last 21 years.
We'll have more later in the day. Feel free to Email me or D Tweet me anything you want discussed or any questions for Brandon or Ryan.
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Monday Adds
Puck Daddy takes a look at what an alternate 3-2-1 scoring system would have produced as far as the top eight in each Conference.
Dirk the Forechecker posted his preseason picks. He's a lot more knowledgeable than me and ended up with the same number of playoff teams as me, so I feel much better about my picks noted above. Even Mirtle showed his human side with his picks. Puck Daddy points out that in Vegas they missed on a few too.
Mark at The View From 111 is challenging everyone to enter the Playoff Bracket contest at Rinktology.com
Forchecker confirms late this afternoon that Weber and Hammer to anchor D tor Team Canada as we suspected earlier.
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