Thursday Highlights

I got to head to the other side of the microphone last night when I was invited to be a guest on Eric Smith's Fire The Cannon Radio Show. Eric has started a series of preview shows of each team in the Central Division.

My contribution was an extensive preview of the Predators and what to expect in the coming year. I'm not used to talking that much and was almost hoarse by the time we were done.

Thanks to Eric for giving me the opportunity to appear on Fire The Cannon. We will have Eric on POTG Radio when the season gets closer to turn the table and give us a Columbus Blue Jacket's Preview.

In Pred Land...

Jim Diamond at the Examiner takes a look at a few changes than need to be made in the NHL.

Forechecker has an impressive list of Breakfast Links on a very slow hockey news day. Dirk also is calling for nominations for an all-time favorite Preds team. That should be fun to see the old and new mixed. Will Cliff Ronning get lost in the shuffle? What about the defensive genius of Bill Holder? There is no end to the fond memories from the early years that need consideration.

Paul McCann has a few thoughts at HockeyBuzz.

Kelly at Confessions of a Pred Fanatic has several interesting items as she reviews August in Pred land.

John Glennon has several items at Inside Predators today including Ryan Suter at the Olympic camp and Yahoo predicting the Preds 29th of 30 teams in their pre-season picks.

This appears to be a legit account of Pred Prospect and Nashville native Blake Geoffrion. Thanks to @brandon_felder and @JulieRobenhymer: Follow a Preds prospect on Twitter. @BlakeGeoffrion is now tweeting.

From @cellblock303 2 days til next 303:30! @JulieRobenhymer, @dani3boyz & @ViewFromMySeats will be guests, w/ @whatthepuck as a guest co-host!

Around the NHL...

In the desert, the battle over whose depositions will be taken is underway which is a precursor to the actual depositions which should be entertaining. This really needs to be marketed properly a la "Monday Night Raw". It could go something like this, Combatants, Gary Bettman and Jim Ballsillie as the main event and on the under card Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs, Toronto main man Richard Peddie, and ex-Pred owner Craig Leipold will also provide exciting testimony action. They really should hold these in at the Jobbing.com arena and sell tickets and concessions. Pay per view could also generate a few extra dollars for the Coyotes fund too.

The Globe and Mail has a story on Jim Ballsillie targeting Toronto principle Richard Peddie for a deposition. Mirtle has an extensive article about all the people that are nominated for deposition and what the angle is on each.

The US Juniors beat Russia 6-1 last night and Pred prospect Zack Budish did not make the point sheet. After skipping a day today they will finish out the four game set with games tomorrow and Saturday. Here's more from the Pred's Kevin Wilson on Budish's big game on Tuesday.

Frozen Notes has an interesting comparison of the Blues and Blackhawks off seasons. The central Division is really going to be a dogfight. I mentioned on the radio interview last night that I fully expect all the pundits to pick the Preds for last place but certainly do not expect them to end up there.

Ted Nolan was on XM204 Hockey This Morning yesterday in an interesting interview. He would like to get back to the NHL to coach but appears to be excited about his position with the Rochester Americans.

From Tampa, Phil Esposito wants to see that the Lightning return to their prior glory and doesn't rule out that he might step in if the ownership situation is not resolved and team hits the market.

The AHL schedule will be released at 3:00 Central today.

Here is a post with a good point being made by Greg Esposito on what people wear to sporting events. Would a UPS employee wear his uniform to the post office just because they are related fields?

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass