Dan Ellis and Steve Sullivan Discuss Twitter and Thursday Tid-Bits

One of the things that has become fairly unique with the Nashville Predators is that they have had two active Tweeters, a newbie, and another player who has an account and didn't use it during the past season.

Steve Sullivan and Dan Ellis are two of the more active and entertaining Tweeters in the NHL. Jordin Tootoo is trying hard to Tweet and the always entertaining Wade Belak has an account that lays dormant.

Last Summer, Twitter played a big part in opening up communication directly between Steve Sullivan and David Poile when there was a misunderstanding leading up to free-agent day.

The following tweet-versation between Hockeybuzz's Brandon Felder (BF) and Steve Sullivan (SS) was in my Eulogy post when it appeared that negotiations were at a standstill and Sully was leaving the Preds for another team.

SS: WOW! WOW! WOW! (during interview Poile Interview on WNSR)

BF: Just heard a rumor that @Sully26 was looking for 4 years, around 5 mill per year. Feel free to shoot down the rumor Steve.

SS: Yes i will shoot that down!

BF: @Sully26 Ok bud. I take your word for it. Hope it all works out for you regardless. You've been 1 on my favs to talk to each year.

Dirk Hoag, at OnTheForecheck, had a complete story on the Twitter negotiations.

On a less serious note via Twitter, we get to see pictures of food, alligators, traffic, people and all sorts of things that Ellis and Sullivan find interesting. Dan Ellis seems to be the best at engaging fans and doesn't back down when criticized.

Prime time for banter between the players appears to be during flight delays and after games. Heading for times Square after a big win against the Rangers in February we got the following:

@dellis39 Booyah!!! Always more fun enjoying a city after a win. Time to take a bite out of the big apple.

@dellis39: Sullivan26 you are still dead! I am gonna hit you harder than you hit the boards on that delayed icing...haha..

At the locker clean out last week, I asked Dan Ellis and Steve Sullivan about Twitter. Funny thing was they each blamed the other for being the main Twitter guy.

Last night's Games...

For all intents and purposes, Boston ended the series with Philadelphia with a big 4-1 win over the Flyers. It's amazing that a team that didn't secure a playoff spot to the final weekend may end up in the finals in the bad blood match in the East if the Pens also win.

Dustin Byfuglien had a huge game and recorded a hat trick in route to Chicago's 5-2 win over Vancouver. The Hawks have a 2-1 series lead and made up for their home ice loss in game one of the series.

Tonight's Match-ups...

Who would have ever thought that the San Jose Sharks would have the opportunity for a sweep over the Red Wings in Detroit? That is the situation tonight at 6:30 CDT and you will need NHL Center Ice to see the game in its entirety. As bad as the Sharks have been in recent years, they have shined against the Wings.

In the early game (that will be on Versus at 6:00 CDT), Montreal will try to pull even with Pittsburgh, in a series that has been closer than most thought going in to it.

In Preds Nation...

The Predators scouts from Europe and North America are in town this week planning for the Entry Draft in June. Byran Mullen attended yesterday's press conference with Paul Fenton and files this report.

Dirk Hoag has a complete analysis of the Preds outlook for next year based on salary structure. I am hopeful that he is low on what the budget will end up being but it's really hard to say at this point. If the 25-30% of the team that is tied up by the courts could be sold to a new owner or if a time frame could be derived for doing so, we might see a little bump in the budget.

The Nashville Predators/Bridgestone Arena has been reopened and is on track for the next event set on May 22. Here are the details of the damage.

Today is the National Day of Prayer and the main event in Nashville will be at the Bridgestone Arena at Noon. The city can use all the prayer that can be generated.

From @dchesnokov: Alexander Radulov to Sovetsky Sport: "My contract with Salavat is for one more year. Next season I will play in the KHL." This was actually from Tuesday night but got lost in a minor crisis that we had at POTG on Wednesday morning that caused a majority of yesterday's post to have to be recreated.

From @dellis39: Next time you are in a busy place loudly say "sir sir" and watch how ppl respond when u don't acknowledge them. Fun game! My brother has done this for years.

Around the NHL...

Jack Johnson has been named captain of the World Championship version of Team USA. Here is the less than imposing full roster of this year's team.

ESPN interviews the Green guys, Sully and Force, and discusses the Duncan Keith squirting the Nashville fan last week.

Matt Reitz has a new feature which is a weekly round-up of pre-entry draft news. This looks like it will be good. Matt will be hosting the draft and after-parties at the Staples Center in June.

Steve Lapore has the numbers that show that Versus beat ESPN in the ratings game in the 25-54 age group of which I am proudly a member for another 5 1/2 months. I contributed with massive Versus hours and zero for ESPN.

Julie Robenhymer analyzes why the eight teams lost in the first round. She was on target with the Preds report.

Olie Jokinen is rumored to be headed to the KHL. This is a different twist where an average type European player is headed for Russia. He can't do worse there than he has done in the NHL as he never has seemed to reach his potential.

Flood News...

Nashville's country music stars are stepping up to raise funds for flood relief.

The excellent "We Are Nashville" post from Patten Fuqua made headlines in Chicago. He also got a heads up from ESPN.com and had the story read by Dave Ramsey on his show. It's great to see the pub for such a well written piece that has become the slogan for the rebuild efforts.

Bad news that a pair of flesh eating piranhas are loose from the aquarium at Opry Mills. I smell a cover-up in this Tennessean story with denials all around. How long before they breed enough to cause problems.

Rachel at What The Puck checks in on the tragic events of the last few days.

Odds and Ends...

The official airlines of POTG, Southwest, tells the tale of their decision not to charge for bags and how it has defined them within the airline industry.

Since this is in the WSJ, if you are job hunting, you may be asked these five questions.

Many think Blockbuster has been left for dead, but maybe not.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass