Monday, June 22, 2009

Back to the Grind and POTG Radio Tonight

After a week in Florida, three days of work, and then a quick trip to Las Vegas for the NHL Awards Show, Monday would seem like a real bummer.

Listen to PredsOnTheGlass on internet talk radio

However, I am excited about tonight's POTG Radio show between 7:00 and 8:00 Central. We have a great show planned that will be hard to squeeze into an hour. Jackson is in Florida (again) and he claims that he will join us. I do have Ryan from the RedLightDistrict on hand to sit in the co-pilot's seat.

First up, we have Michelle Kenneth who covered the Awards show for Inside Hockey. I have known Michelle over the internet for a while, and finally got to meet her in person and hang out at the Awards show and the NHLPA scrums. We are going to take a look back at the entire event and share our reflections of what went on.

Next up, we will have the return of NHL draft expert, Russ Cohen from Hockeyology, the Hockey Prospects show on XM, and numerous other ventures. We had Russ on a few weeks back and discussed his new book that is coming out in September, 100 Ranger Greats. Russ' in depth Pro Hockey Draftology publication is avalible here.

Ryan from the RedLightDistrict will also give his input into the draft with a focus on what the Preds might do on Friday night.

We hope you plan to attend tonight's show or catch it on the podcast if you can't make it live.

In Predator Nation...

If you missed it over the weekend, on Sunday I posted 11 video interviews from the NHL Awards Show and 6 interviews from the NHLPA meetings.

First up, a reminder for Friday night's Predators Draft Parties, Paul Nicholson set up the Tweetup at O'Charlie's in Franklin. To respond to the TwtVite go here. Obviously, you don't need to be on Twitter to attend as it is an official Predators function.

The big buzz around town is still about Steve Sullivan winning the Masterton Award at the NHL Awards show on Thursday night. Just about everyone had a story about it including Forechecker, The View from 111, Section 303, What the Puck, Paul McCann, Preds.com and POTG.

The flip side of the coin is that it is looking less and less likely that the Predators will resign any of their UFAs before July 1. John Glennon had a story on it over the weekend. Preds.com also had a Draft Preview story that included some hedging on David Poile's part. John Glennon has a new story today that has more on the Preds probably not resigning players.

From what I saw in Las Vegas, I think it is doubtful that Sully resigns with the Predators. For his part, he would rather play in Nashville than anywhere else. Realistically, it is probable that he will get more money elsewhere and Sully's primary concern is for his family and taking care of their long term needs.

Forechecker has his Monday updates and gives us some props for our "Vegas Adventure."

Jim Diamond takes a look at how the Preds stocked up on defense in the 2003 draft.

Here's a story on Cal O'Reilly's little bother Ryan who is aniouxly awaiting draft day.

Sunday's Tennessean had a listing of players that the Preds might take in Friday's draft if they stay at the eleven spot in the draft, which I don't expect.

Mark at The View from 111 had another great analysis of the winners and losers in the Phoenix situation.

Around the NHL...

It appears Brent Sutter will be named the new head coach in Calgary. This is really a slam to Devils fans that he would whine and quit and then go to the Flames. An announcement is expected at any time.

A second outdoor game on New Years Day is being discussed, and will be in Calgary. This will be the first step in killing something that was unigue and special over the last two years.

The Make It Seven Day Ralley in Hamilton was probably not as big as hoped for (hundreds, not thousands). The video that I saw was at a low angle from the stage which masked the actual size of the crowd.

The sale of the Montreal Canadians to Molson was reported to be as high as $550 million, far greater than Jim Balsillie was trying to sneak a team into Hamilton for. That makes the $212 Million plus a $150 Million relocate fee look like a good deal.

@reporterchris of the Canadian Press was at the NHLPA meetings when Bettman spoke for two hours on Saturday. Here is his report. I got to meet Chris in Vegas and he is a really good guy.

Looking to Tuesday, the HHOF class of 2009 will be announced in a news conference at 2:30. Winging it In Motown has a poll to cast a vote to see how close you can come.

From Kukla's comes a story about the Selke Trophy voting and how random it was. Out of 131 ballots, 71 different names appeared. For full voting totals, here is the list.

In the "I guess it's news" category, Matt Sundin will not play in the 2010 Olympics.

Dee Karl at Hockey Barn has an interesting story about what she would do if she had the Stanley Cup for a day.

More later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Additions...

Paul McCann has a new post today looking at the top Pred UFAs.

Garth Snow won't be swayed on the first pick by popular opinion per Newsday.

Per @kausatoday: To talk to Bouwmeester before July 1, Florida Panthers want a draft pick, which would become a 1st rounder if he signs.

For those with a unlimited bank account that can go to the Montreal Tweetup started by @dani3boyZ there are a bunch of good prizes for those in attendance.

Interesting article on Kukla's with by Patrick Hoffman interviewing Matt Kalman of the Bruins Blog. When asked about the future of hockey coverage on the internet, Kalman responded "I can definitely see every team with two or three blogs like mine competing on the beat the way the papers have since the dawn of time. It might be the laid off newspaper guys starting their own sites or some of the bloggers that exist gaining access. But whether the paper guys want to accept it or not, this is the future of sports coverage. And the NHL is the perfect breeding ground for this because it seems that the league is more blogger-friendly than the rest of the major sports." This is a good point that is becoming a reality fairly quickly with newspapers cutting back on expenses and not sending reporters to road games. This was just an excerpt. Everyone should go to the original for the whole interview.

Sam Woo gives Brent Sutter an F and kudos to the Devils for Martin Brodeur day.

Puck Daddy gives a wrap-up of Bettman's visit to the NHLPA over the weekend and gives props to POTG by posting our video with George Laraque where I thought he was going to punch me because he couldn't understand my question.

Forechecker points to a spreadsheet that has everyone drafted since 1994 that can be viewed anyway you want to sort it. You could kill a few hours with this.

The Fourth Period has a Sully story but the main reason to click here is the Ovechkin interview on the red carpet in the right column. Claims he's taking the 2K girls back to the room.

Brandon Felder checks in on the current Sully negotiations (or lack there of) and other thoughts about the Preds as they approach July 1st.

John Glennon writes about Zack Kassian, a right winger from Peterborough that John speculates may be a good fit for the Preds. If the Preds trade down as has been discussed, Kassian may be avalible later in the first round.

Forechecker has just added an interview with Pred's Head Scout Jeff Kealty. While he doesn't get into specific players, the interview lays out everything you would like to know about the process. Great Job Dirk!

One of our guests tonight on POTG Radio, Ryan from the RLD, breaks down the Preds off season.

Chris Botta writes about the Islander's draft "process" and how it leads to Tavares.

Per Kukla's Chelios will not return to the Wings next season. As he told us on Friday, he had a meeting set with Ken Holland today to discuss the next season, so I guess it didn't go well for him. How would Chelios look in Predator colors next season for about $650,000 a year as a #7 defenseman?


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