POTG Radio Podcast and Tuesday Tidbits

Happy Groundhog Day!

We hope that the groundhog sees his shadow wherever you are and that Spring is really just around the corner. This mess we have going here in Middle Tennessee is enough Winter to last me for several years.

Fortunately, we awoke to a cloudy foggy morning where there is no way the groundhog could have seen his shadow so spring really is "just around the corner." Right?

We would like to thank our POTG Radio guests last night that included Travis Hair of Five for Howling, Ryan Porth from RedLightDistrict and Joe Fortunato from Rink Side Radio and Blue Shirt Banter.

Travis and I discussed the Coyotes so far this season, the ownership situation and previewed tonight's game at the Sommet Center.

Ryan and I discussed the flurry of trades in Toronto and the prospects of buyers and sellers between now and the trade deadline on March third.

We were also pleased to have Joe Fortunato in the minutes before the premiere of his new show. Joe's spirits were damaged with a call from George Brew from the What's Brewing radio show who had information from Don LeGreca that Ales Kotalik had vetoed the trade to Calgary. It appears that Kotalik changed his mind once again later.

One other item that I covered at the start of the podcast was my attempt to have a representative from WSMV, the local NBC affiliate, come on the show to explain the preemption of the Detroit Pittsburgh Stanley Cup Final rematch. The officials I spoke with at WSMV were clearly tired of hearing from the hockey community and had no empathy for the situation.

They claimed the 700 Club contract was long standing (before NBC ever hooked up with the NHL) and that they had no intent of not honoring it. They were far more squirrely when I asked why the game could not have been shown on their digital second channel. Either that was not considered or there was something else bugging them about that option.

Irregardless, had they been attempting to seek a story on something (as I was) they would not have expected to be rebuffed in the manner in which I was because they are "Channel 4 news" and obviously they have far more right to news than it appears than I did.

Keep those emails and phone calls going to WSMV. I'm doubtful it will do any good but you will probably feel better about it.

In Predator Nation...

Big news in Milwaukee yesterday was Colin Wilson being named AHL Rookie of the Month.

John Glennon touches on Colin Wilson in his main story this morning and talks about Marcel Goc's return in his notes column. He also has the Game at a Glance for tonight's mach with Phoenix.

Chris Burton has their game preview up at On The Forecheck. Dirk uses his connections to bring the Pekka Rinne interview from the Thom Abraham show yesterday. Pekka really doesn't like the Pekka Rinne song. It makes his face red. Dirk also takes a look at strength of schedule to look at the final 2 1/2 months of the season for each team.

Paul McCann also blew off a little steam against WSMV in a post yesterday.

David Boclair writes about Joel Ward bringing luck to the team.

Preds101 takes a look at one of the many Predator defensive break downs and analyzes how a goal resulted.

Jim Diamond has the story of Roman Josi's broken finger and whether it will get in the way of his participation at the Olympics.

Big Kev also takes a look at tonights Pred-Yotes match-up.

From @dellis39: "Our little princess came into the world this morning! Little Kayleigh. Mommy and baby are doing great! already wrapped around her finger!"

Around the NHL...

In spite of everything we heard, the trade between the Rangers and Flames finally went down late last night. TSN has all the details.

Here were some thoughts yesterday before the trigger was pulled. On the Calgary - New York trade from @TSNBobMcKenzie: "Jokinen/Prust for Higgins/Kotalik not expected to happen today and may not happen at all tho still possible this deal is done after game." Here is a longer story. Russ Cohen also added perspective.

With all the trade talks going on, Matt Reitz has the top ten players you secretly would want on your team.

Brian Burke was on with Mike Ross on XM204's Hockey This Morning. Listen to his thoughts the day after his big trades.

The Puck Report "celebrates" seventeen years of Gary Bettman.

Puck Daddy's Dmitry Chesnokov has the lowdown from the KHL All-Star game.

NBC's ratings were down slightly on their Detroit-Pittsburgh SCF rematch. It must have been caused by Nashville being blacked out due to the 700 Club Telethon. Steve Lapore also has a story about a new hour long Versus show every night at 5 p.m. Central.

The Checking Line has a new look.

For movie lovers, our friends at the Film Talk have an extensive review of four movies in their latest podcast. They discuss The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Road, The Book of Eli, and Up in the Air.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass