Monday, October 17, 2011

POTG Monday Highlights, News and Links: Preds Head to the Wild, Wild, West

After a 2-1-1 start to the season, it gets serious for the Predators starting tonight in Edmonton. This is the first time that the team has been on a real road trip this season.

All the preseason games were same day out and backs and the trip to Columbus and St. Louis was a whirlwind with a regimented travel schedule. This week provides a "real" road trip with days off with a bunch of young players that have plenty to learn about life in the NHL.

We took a look at the opportunity for team building in our preview earlier today and we are really curious to see what transpires over the next six days with games in Edmonton tonight, at Vancouver on Thursday, and then a matinee in Calgary on Saturday.

Barry Trotz will learn a lot about his crop of youngsters on this trip and they will be exposed to new experiences too. After Saturday's game he said, "We are going on the road and we don't have the match-ups that you would want but we are just going to have to play to it."

Other Previews of tonight's contest come from Amanda DiPaoloRyan Porth, Dirk Hoag, and The Tennessean. Ryan Porth has his audio preview with Jerred Smithson.

From Edmonton check out Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, The Copper and Blue, OilersNation, and Oil on Whyte.

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


Programming Note...

Launy "The" Schwartz made his debut on 102.5 The Game last night with a great show that was highlighted with an interview with Kevin Klein that really gave folks an idea of what the defenseman was really like. It is my understanding that the podcast will be up today. We will link it up when it is.

In Pred Nation...

Amanda DiPaolo has a feature on Matt Halischuk facing his old team on Saturday and reveals that Frankie Bouillon will make the trip west with the team.

Josh Cooper points out that the Predators have room for improvement over the first  four games.

David Boclair has a story about everyone's favorite new Predator, Brian McGrattan.

Robby Stanley has an expose on what players do on game days.

Kris Martel looks at the Predators' October records over the course of the franchise.

The Milwaukee Admirals remained undefeated with a shootout win over Chicago on Saturday.

Our friend Seth Lake came up with a list of Milwaukee Admiral players on Twitter. From @SLakePreds: #Admirals on Twitter - @Latta17 @taybeckone9 @rjosi90 @Taronson37 @Valentine_s22 @fosser07 @JuusoPuustinen @RSlaney67 @JeremySmith30 #Preds

Word from Cincinnati is that Ben Ryan and Robert Slaney were sent to the ECHL team over the weekend.

Ex-Pred Marcel Goc is appreciated in South Florida.

Shanny TV...

With a whole weekend of good behavior behind us, we will retire "Shanny TV" except when there are new episodes or commentary.

Around the NHL...

Corey Perry was honored last night for his Hart Trophy award and then came back and scored in Anaheim's 4-1 win over St. Louis last night.

Drew Doughty was late to report to camp and now he is early to leave with an upper body injury that is expected to keep him sidelined for a week or more.

It was a little later than it should have been but Don Cherry finally apologized to Stu Grimson, Chris Nilan and Jim Thomson for "throwing them under the bus." The guys accepted the apology in a classy fashion. However, Puck Daddy points out that Grimson had a few further comments beyond the formal statement.

Bruce Arthur writes an early eulogy for Don Cherry. I didn't realize that he was 77 years old.

Tonight's match-up between the Leafs and Avs will bring players playing their former teams. Adrian Dater is in Toronto for tonight's game between two of this year's early surprise teams.

Ryan Porth points out that Mike Smith has something to prove in Phoenix. The RLD Saturday face-off compares two jobs that would be hard to handle.

There were hat tricks from the East and the West on Saturday night with John Tavares and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins both logging three goals.

The injury bug hit again over the weekend with Jason Blake getting a lacerated arm and Andy McDonald being sent home with a concussion.

Ryan Kesler is getting closer to a return. I'm sure the Predators would like him to wait until after Thursday.

Antti Niemi may get his first start of the year for the Sharks tonight.

Sheldon Souray's comeback with the Stars is looking good so far.

Here is a season preview of indigenous and native American hockey players from Indian Country Today. Jordin Tootoo is one you would know but some of the others were news to me.

Odds and Ends...

Have you ever wondered about what happens to a ship when its days are done. This is an interesting piece about the 67 year old Princess Grace that will be dismantled for scrap after a long history of various duties.

Cave Creek Arizona has its own version of a "bull run."

NASA is opening up its data bank to the public.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

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