Friday, October 21, 2011

POTG Friday Headlines, News and Links: David Poile's Gamble

In the offseason and the preseason, David Poile gambled that the Predators had the right people in place to continue the Nashville Predators' run to the Stanley Cup.

In true Predator fashion, he molded a team with rookies and outcasts added to the core and waited to see how things developed.

During the preseason, a 7-1 record looked like the gamble was paying off. It is not quite as clear in the Predators' 2-3-1 start to the season.

Granted, until Mike Fisher and Francis Bouillon are inserted into the lineup, we will not have seen the real team.

However, after last night's performance, there are several players teetering on the brink of seeing time in Milwaukee or elsewhere. Poile has the budget to go elsewhere, if needed, to find additional players if that is the route that he chooses to go.

Saturday's game against Calgary may be the last chance for a few players to prove that they deserve time on an NHL roster.

Make the jump for all of today's news and links...


Programming Note...

Tune in today at Noon CDT for this week's edition of what should be a spicy Smashville on the Glass Radio show. No one in Pred land is pleased with what has been seen lately including hosts Ryan Porth and Buddy Oakes. We will have Kent Wilson form Calgary to preview tomorrow's contest with the Flames. Ryan also has a really insightful audio clip from Preds' Goalie Coach, Mitch Korn that is a must listen. Make plans to listen live at noon or later on podcast.

In Pred Nation...

Jim Diamond looks at Weber and Suter's big minutes on defense.

Joe Yerdon enjoyed Barry Trotz's postgame rant at PHT.

Josh Cooper has a note about how the playoff series against Vancouver raised Pekka Rinne's visibility among elite goaltenders.

Mark Willoughby has the latest installment of the Ekholm Diaries that takes us into Western Canada on the current trip.

Ryan Porth has his Morning Skate feature.

Good guy, Scott Ford, is ready to captain the Milwaukee Admirals.

Around the NHL...

A portion of the European NHL TV deal has been solved with wall to wall coverage for the Nordic countries. David Shoalts did not like the deal.

This week, Adrian Dater had Ken Hitchcock on his "Hockey Talk" podcast. Great stuff as always.

Nick Cotsonika looks at Anze Kopitar finally being recognized as an elite player.

Ryan Porth looks at Dallas' quick start to see what can be made of it.

Daniel Wagner looks at PDO as an equalizer when looking at early season "Gretzky-like" numbers.

At age 30, Bracken Kearns made his NHL debut last night in Florida. He skated seven shifts and had two hits.

The Province has narrowed down their list of potential replacement for the Kurtenbloggers to ten. A month-long competition will start shortly.

A random Tweet by @emptynetters led us to the a couple of old posts called the Jersey Fouls Bill of Rights part one and part two. These are very fair primers on the subject.

Odds and Ends...

The brackets have been released for the WFTDA National Championship Tournament that will be held in Denver next month. The Nashville RollerGirls will open against the home-standing Rocky Mountain Rolergirls.

Cosmic dust left behind by Halley's Comet will provide early morning fireworks for the next week or so with a peak before dawn on October 22.

In another space story, new evidence indicates that the best skiing anywhere may be on Saturn's moon, Enceladus.

Jon Bon Jovi has a different kind of restaurant where you pay what you can afford.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

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