Monday, June 8, 2009

Live from Surf Camp It's POTG Radio

Tonight's show will mark our second attempt at doing POTG Radio from a remote location. We are hoping to overcome past technical issues by enlisting Chris Wassel from The Program to co-host the show from his "studio" in California.

Listen to PredsOnTheGlass on internet talk radio

Tonight's show is still a work in progress as we are attempting to line up one of the pro surfers from the Club Zion Surf Camp as a guest on the show. This is Jackson and Fisher's fourth year to attend and it is an incredibly well run event with over 300 kids aged 12-19 in attendance.

Basically it is set up where the kids surf in the daytime and have a party at night with bands and giveaways (Jackson actually won a surfboard in his first time at camp). In the past, they have had surfers like C T Taylor, the Hobgood brothers, Rich Rudolph, and others as guest speakers at the night-time event.

In addition to talking about surfing, we will have Travis Hair from Five for Howling to give us the latest update from Phoenix on the eve of Tuesday's hearing. We will discuss whether the Wings will clinch in six or if the Pens can push it to seven as well as other things going on in the hockey world. It should be a different type show this week so tune in and see what happens.

Stanley Cup Finals...

I was really surprised at the ease in which the Detroit Red Wings blew past the Pittsburgh Penguins in game five on Saturday night. We have seen two completely different series within the SCF. To this point, both teams have appeared to be world beaters on their own home ice. As dominant as the Pens were at home in game four, the Wings were even more so at home in game five.

Sean Leahy at Puck Daddy had an article that gives a wide variety of opinion on game five. It is really difficult to gauge how Pittsburgh will respond on Tuesday when they return to the Mellon Arena and try to stave off elimination. Based on their turnaround between games two and three, I think that they will have a good chance to push the series back to Detroit for a game seven. My early pick for game six is Pittsburgh, but that could change after another night's sleep.

Puck Daddy himself, has an article about the potential of Malkin being the Conn Smythe winner regardless of the outcome of the series. I tend to agree at this point that Malkin has been the dominant force in the playoffs through four rounds. From the Wings, I would say that Chris Osgood would be the number one candidate, simply from a standpoint of exceeding expectations and having the best numbers in goal overall. Franzen and Zetterberg would also be considered as they are third and fourth in points behind Malkin and Crosby.

Stay Classy offers the flip side to the above picking "Zetterberg, by a mile". It's a good arguement.

In the Predators World...

Forechecker did much better at blogging while traveling over the weekend than I did. He has several interesting posts including one about Jordin Tootoo going ice fishing.

Hockey's Future takes a look back at the 2004 draft class of the Predators which yielded Pekka Rinne and Alexander Radulov. The general goal in each draft is for a team is to yield two solid NHLers. Had Rads not bailed on the Preds then this would have been a great two player draft for the team. Milwaukee star, Mike Santorelli is also in that draft class but has not mastered the two way style of play required by Barry Trotz and the Preds to make the move to the NHL.

Brandon Felder has Part 2 in his storys about the Preds at the free agent deadline. In this story, he takes a look at potential free agents that the Preds may be interested in to fill a few holes. Top of the is is forwards who can score.

Paul McCann checks in with a few thoughts on a Monday.

Bleacher Report has a look at the upcoming Predators draft. Take it with a grain of salt. Included in the story is a line that says, "Koistinen is a free agent this summer, and he will most likely be re-signed." Is there anyone with even a slight knowledge of the Preds that thinks that we will ever see Ville in a Preds uni again?

@jackmac reports on Twitter this AM "Anyone else hear Poile on 1045 this morning? Didn't sound 2 optimistic about Rads (not surprising) or J. Ward (more surprising)". Hopefully Poile was just having an upset tummy when discussing Ward. I think a Rads deal is over for this year, and maybe forever.

@brandon_felder reports the signing of Tristen Grant. "It's a 2-way deal that will pay Grant 500k at the NHL level and 60k at the AHL level. Also given 30k bonus. Likely to be AHL only"

Several Preds including Jason Arnott and J P Dumont will join in the City of Hope Celebrity Softball event. Hopefully no one receives any freak injuries.

Hearing in Phoenix...

Sunday night, Coyote owner Jerry Moyes went on local TV to give his side of the story prior to Tuesday's bankruptcy hearing. As you would expect, the video is a fairly self-serving attempt to influence opinion in advance of the court date. He is playing the Oprah card where ho is a victim in this whole situation. The TV reporter is very negative on the Coyotes as has been the Arizona Republic which has failed at reporting a very important local story.

Moyes lists too much competition from other sports and a bad lease requiring $15-20 million a year in concessions from the city of Glendale as the primary factors leading to the bankruptcy. He also indicates that he tried to put together a package to get 10-11 investors of $20 million each to keep the team afloat. In closing, he claims that his number one obligation is to the creditors and that the Balsillie plan is the only one that will make everyone whole.

The Toronto Star has a summary article that lays out the reasons why Balsillie has a chance to win at tomorrows hearing. They also concede that regardless of the outcome, there will be an appeal. There are also links to numerous league documents (including the league bylaws) and filings that have been released over the last few weeks.

Gary Bettman now claims that there are four local groups in line to buy the Coyotes including the owners of the Toronto Argonauts. The Globe and Mail seems to think their intent is to move the team to Toronto.

In one of the court filings, Jim Balsillie says that he regrets taking season ticket applications for the "Hamilton Predators" without league approval. Do you think the "Billion Dollar Boys" are going to have regrets about unveiling the "Toronto Legacy" without talking to the NHL first?

The Globe and Mail had an interesting take about how Make It Seven is making the other "Six" in Canada unfomfortable. The truth is that all professional leagues are nervous about what type of havoc Balsillie's actions can have on the anti trust exemption that pro sports has enjoyed over the years. They also have a story on a posible precedent for the Coyotees move being the Seattle Pilots move to Milwaukee in 1970.

The Spec has an article about the Maple Leafs view of Balsillie's attempt to bring hockey to Hamilton. They will not stand on the sidelines and be quiet if the court rules in Balsillie's favor.

Around the Hockey World...

In the AHL playoffs Hershey has taken a commanding lead over the Manitoba moose with a 3-0 shutout win in game three and a 2-1 win in game four. Hershey can try to wrap it in their last game on home ice on Tuesday night. If they lose, the series will shift back to Manitoba on Friday night.

This is an interesting panoramic view of the inside of the Oilers locker room from the Edmonton Journal with a note of how each player got his number. It appears to be dated a bit since several players are no longer there, but it is cool to look at.

Off topic... 50 years ago today, the Navy launched a rocket carrying mail. It was said at the time that "before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail." It is amazing to me that the postal service still exists today carrying paper mail to every house in the country on a daily basis.

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Additions...

ESPN has a story about the potential sale and relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers. Although several groups appear interested, there are hurdles to overcome including an agreement with the NHL four years ago not to consider relocation for eight years.

More reports today that Ray Emery has agreed to a one year deal for $1.5 million. You can add him to the list of past suspects in goal in Philadelphia including, "Roman Cechmanek, Brian Boucher, Robert Esche, Jeff Hackett, Antero Niittymaki and, for the last 2 years, Marty Biron."

Here's a good pro-con listing of potential Conn Smythe winners from View From My Seats.

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