Wednesday Wanderings and the Long Summer

Yesterday, I asked the question on Twitter "Does anyone else think the Awards, HHOF announcements, draft, and free agency should be spaced out a little more?"

I got a variety of responses as you would expect ranging from those pleased with the system because it allowed extra time off from reporting during July and August to those that agreed with me because those months are fairly dead in the hockey world.

This year, the season ending events would have been even more jammed up had the Stanley Cup Finals not been moved up from the original schedule. Otherwise, game seven could have been a couple of days before the Awards show.

To me, it just seems like a severe case of "hurry up and wait" where four major announcements/events are crammed into a two week period and then we have a two month dead time after the dust settles until camps start opening up.

Several of the players that I saw in Las Vegas whose teams had made early exits in the playoffs (like Steve Mason) were already ready to get back on the ice too. While the summers are short for the teams in the finals, for hardcore fans (and some players) July and August are very long months.

In Predsville...

Two more days until the Predator's Draft Tweetup at O'Charlies in Franklin, which is an official Predators function. To respond to the TwtVite go here.

John Glennon takes a look at past drafts and how Preds drafted players fit in to the current roster.

Forechecker's daily roundup is here. Things are getting slim in the hockey news world as we have been reduced to a few of the same topics. I promise I didn't copy. (I actually do most of my dail update the prior night and finish it when I get up).

Jerred Smithson is playing a charity softball game in BC.

Brandon Felder and Paul McCann host this week's edition of Hockey Buzz Radio tonight at 6pm.

Around the NHL...

Trouble in Tampa? The riff between owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie deteriorated to the point where they had to have a talk with the commissioner. A radio report yesterday said that Bettman said that everything was OK. Isn't that what we heard about Phoenix about six months ago?

The conference call on the HHOF announcements was interesting. Here is the AP summary.

As expected, Brent Sutter was named the new Calgary coach at an afternoon news conference. Here is what the Calagry Sun had to say about it.

Hockey Buzz's newest writer, Dee Karl, talks about the Woodstock like event with bloggers headed to Montreal on Friday.

Hockey Leaks have another mock draft and Brandon Felder picks Jordan Schroeder for the Preds with their eleventh pick. I personally think there is about a 25% chance the Preds will make a move to pick higher and a 50% chance, they will trade to move down a few spots.

Puck Daddy reports that the Flyers are being confirmed as Boston's opponent in the upcoming Winter Classic.

Wayne Gretzky says that Jerry Reinsdorf would be a good owner for the Coyotes.

Chelios Watch... Chris is going to hold a press conference this morning at Cheli's Chili Bar and Restaurant in Detroit to talk about his future. After not being resigned by the Wings, he indicated that he still wanted to play next season.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Additions...

In the "why hockey is the best sport" category... This stuff from Titan's running back extraordinaire Chris Johnson who no longer wants to be "dash" in the "smash and dash" combo with LenDale White. He now prefers the moniker "every coach's dream". This leads me to having dreams about seeing Jordin Tootoo lining up the pretty boy against the walls and hitting him full out. It's crap like this that really turns me off about the NFL and NBA.

Brian Burke plans for a tougher team, better goaltending and spending up th the cap in Toronto. Would you have expected anything else?

Forechecker has a new post this morning on how the Preds fit into the overall salary structure in the league and whether they can compete for a Stanley Cup within their budget. This is a really good piece and ties in to my discussion with Robyn Regehr last week where he said the NHLPA had no issue with teams spending on a budget. They aren't thrilled with floor teams but respect teams that do work in a profitable way to maintain franchise stability.

Ryan at the RedLightDistrict has his off season report on the Red Wings and Steve Sullivan.

Jon Jordan tries to offer a glimmer of hope for Lightning fans worried about the management situation and losing Vinny.

Update on the Chelios watch... ESPN says that Chris wants to play in the Eastern Conference and his agent will start contacting teams when he officially becomes a free agent on July 1.

Mark from the View from 111 offers his analysis of the Predators, possible free agency and the salary cap. Both he and Dirk have looked at the Pred's budget vs the cap today and I think the Predators have been and will continue to be one of the more reasonable teams as far as trying not to break the bank by overspending on talent. If you look at the Rangers who have $24.5 million tied up in Gomez, Drury, and Redden and another $13 million in Rozsival and Lundqvist, they are far more hamstrung than the Preds would ever imagine. To me, I would prefer to have a viable team in Nashville long term, than to have a team swimming in red ink that could be sold at any time.

Great analysis of team's past draft performance by Bird Watchers Anonymous based on opportunity cost of who they could have taken. Confusing? Read the piece.

Michelle Kenneth has been digging and says "according to his agent, he doesn't know if he'll play next season. If he does...there may be conflicts, unless he's a NYR." It appears Matt Sundin may have a business conflict with his new PokerStars Ambassador title. Michelle further explains "If Mats retires, he's fine. If he doesn't, he would have to be a NYR in order for this contest to not be a conflict. Mats signed the contract w/ PokerStars before he knew he was going to return to play for 2008-2009. He plans on honoring the PS contract."

John Glennon gives the full draft order of all rounds as he speculates on the Pred's first pick.

Paul McCann checks in with five to watch for the Preds in the draft. I would expect a lot of draft talk tonight on HockeyBuzzRadio at 6:00 on WNSR.

Top storylines at the draft per Scott Burnside at ESPN.

Episode 13 in the One Percentile Podcast with Mick Kern and Eric Gage is now up. This is always really good.

Mirtle verifies that Mike Babcock will indeed be Canada's coach at the Olympics. Lindy Ruff, Ken Hitchcock and Jacques Lemaire will be assistants.

Congrats to the USA soccer team in beating Spain 2-0 breaking their 35-game unbeaten streak. I'm note a big fan of soccer but this is really impressive.