Midweek Musings

The off season appears to be in full swing with news around the hockey world slowing substantially. The Nashville press is full of stories about Steve McNair and a situation that appears to worsen by the hour.

All that could be said is being done by others so we'll leave it at what I wrote on Sunday. I am amazed that the short piece I wrote has gotten more positive response than anything I have ever had published. It was the same advice I give my kids everyday so I didn't think that much about it but in today's world it appeared somewhat revolutionary to some.

The Predator prospects hit the ice this morning at the Centennial Sportsplex for the first scrimmage of the Development Camp. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend until Saturday so I'll have to run with the updates of others until then.

In Predville...

From the first day of the Predators Development Camp comes this video from Preds.com.


John Glennon takes another look at Ryan Ellis and has nothing but good things in his story. The more I read, heard and talked to others, the better Ellis looks as a choice for the Predators. It may be a few years but we may finally have the answer to our power play deficiencies. Russ Cohen has a new story about Ellis coming out soon that should be good.

Jim Diamond at the Examiner talks about the college players at the camp being a special group because they have to pay their own expenses due to NCAA regulations.

Rachel at What The Puck checks out the roster situation and reminisces about a few players and bids good riddance to others.

The City Paper got Barry Trotz's thoughts on the preseason schedule released yesterday.

Forechecker has his daily round-up and again we are thinking along the same lines on several stories. This time of year there is only so much news to go around.

Paul McCann is headed to the camp and has a few items.

Around the NHL...

With the signing of Chris Pronger the Flyers have serious cap issues with several spaces to fill. Daniel Briere's contract is one of the worst in the league for the production they have gotten from him.

Sad news from Colorado that as one blogger put it "the snow blower won". Joe Sakic is set to announce his retirement on Thursday. As he retires he currently holds the best point per game total of any active player. He will be missed by all when the Avs come to town.

Puck Daddy had an interesting article about how Twitter has changed the agent-player game with examples of recent tactics during negotiations.

When you win the Stanley Cup, it appears that you get to do the weather. Kris Letang and Tyler Kennedy were out promoting their new cup video and got to do the weather for KDKA-TV. Fairly good entertainment for the off season.

I met a new friend in Las Vegas with a site called Hockey54. He has a few videos from the Awards show and one with Kevin Smith. As part of his deal, he wears a hockey helmet, which seams to draw attention when getting interviews. He and his wife are a cool couple from Toronto. You can follow him on Twitter at @Hockey54FOTG.

The Hockey Writer tipped us off to a neat story about Tim Thomas from a few weeks ago at the Arm Chair GM. That was a highlight of the Awards show to see how appreciative Thomas was for winning the Vezina Trophy.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Additions...

One that I missed earlier from NHL Digest was the Hawks ending their mail issue by signing Chris Versteeg to a 3 year deal. One issue that has arisen now is serious cap issues in Chicago that will have to be resolved fairly quickly via some type of trade.

From @reporterchris: #sharks forward Claude Lemieux announces retirement.

From @nhldigest: Jim Kelley posts a very nice article about another side of Joe Sakic. This is a really good story that shows what a class guy Joe Sakic is.

First Qik video from rookie camp is from Mike Barnes.

From @umassdilo: #ducks sign koivu