Programming Note: There will be no POTG Radio tonight due to the Predators home game with Atlanta.
The Predators return to the Bridgestone Arena ice tonight to face the Atlanta Thrashers in the first of two preseason games against the team that is closest geographically to Nashville. They meet again on Wednesday in Atlanta.
Based on Barry Trotz's postgame remarks on Saturday, we should expect to see a more veteran line-up tonight since the team has moved past the "evaluation" stage. He was concerned about players being rusty and needing to become more familiar with their line mates in game situations.
Other concerns that Trotz had were the fact that after tonight, there are only two games left (Wed at Atlanta, Sunday at Washington) and the long gap between the last preseason game and opening night on October 9.
With the cuts made on Saturday, there are still a lot of bodies in camp that I do not see playing any more preseason games so I am surprised that a few more were not sent packing. With Milwaukee's camp opening today, I assume a few more departures will come during the week.
In my mind, the back-up goalie race is between Anders Lindback and Mark Deckanich with Lindback looking more confident in his two appearances. The open spots on defense and the forward positions are much less clear.
Here is our story from Saturday's game along with audio from Barry Trotz, Pekka Rinne and Anders Lindback. Here are the players remaining in camp after the postgame cuts.
Josh Cooper has his story from Saturday's game along with his postgame ponderings.
Jim Diamond has his thoughts on Saturday's game with the always interesting topic of Preds' line combinations while The City Paper has David Boclair's game story.
In the Preds' blog world reports come from Ryan Porth, Amanda DiPaolo, Jas Faulkner, and See Puck City.
For those who want to see the Kelsey Wilson - Steve Pinizzotto scrap, Hockeyfights.com has the clip.
In Preds Nation...
The Tennessean also has an excellent video piece about Blake Geoffion. Josh Cooper spoke with Anders Lindback before his first NHL game . He also discusses Matt Halischuk's chances of making the team as well as those of Sergei Kostitsyn.
Jim Diamond has a post about Barry Trotz as a player after talking to Columbus Head pro scout, Bob Strumm.
Amanda DiPaolo laments the fact that Garbriel Bourque did not make it into a preseason game this year. She also points to the dramatic rise in the stock of Patric Hornqvist who was listed as the 15th best right winger in the Hockey News ranking.
Dirk Hoag's Sunday round-up makes note of the rash of injuries around the league.
J. R. Lind has a positive piece on the business side of the Predators at Nashville Post.
Jay Levin starts the season preview process at Predators.com with a look at the Goalies and D-Men.
FS Tennessee will have an edition of Preds Snapshot beginning October 5.
The Sporting News had their preseason preview of the Preds over the weekend.
Hockey Night in Nashville is on a campaign to have folks arrive early opening night to get the season started off right.
Sam at Preds Blog is back with Patric Hornqvist's 12th goal in his series looking at all of them.
Former Predator Ryan Jones is in a familiar position, fighting for a spot on the fourth line in Edmonton.
Around the NHL...
Interesting note after all the "blogger cred" controversy from @MichelleKenneth: Btw, the "badge" thing from last night. NON-EXISTENT. A credential is a credential at NYR...either locker room access. (Note: All the credentials look alike at the Predators games too)
Dalia Kurtz, Launy "The" Schwartz's better half, has a few words for fellow Drafted contestant, Meg Morrison. It appears to me that part of the Drafted "confidentiality" agreement must have required the contestants to believe everything that "judge" Greg Sansone says. Anyone with any journalistic sense would not fall for what Sansone is selling unless they were in some way bound contractually to agree. If Meg and the others are that gullible, they will have no credibility as a reporter for The Score.
Around the horn there comes Wayne Redden being put on waivers, Mark Streit going down for up to six months, and Josh Harding out for the year.
Our friend Michael Langlois and his Vintage Leaf Memories are celebrating their first birthday this week. They have a post about interesting hockey nicknames and includes a point about Blake Geoffrion's grandfather, "Boom-Boom." It is a great site with something interesting every day.
While the Kovalchuk debacle was a high profile battle between the NHL and the NHLPA, something that will be remembered in the next CBA negotiations is Wade Redden and Christobal Huet getting buried in the minors to get out from under their salary cap hit. Ken Campbell has the story.
Adrian Dater looks at the Av's options with the latest concussion to Peter Mueller. This is a tough break for a bubble team wanting to return to the playoffs.
David Staples gives a perfect 10 to Magnus Paajavi in his ratings round up from the Oilers first exhibition game. His hat trick overshadowed Taylor Hall's debut and goal. Could the Oilers surprise everyone and push the Blue Jackets into last place in the west?
Also from Edmonton, Oiler fans were ecstatic when a Dan Ellis misplay led to an easy skate in goal for Taylor Hall's first score. Kukla's has the video from TSN. The continued abuse of Ellis kicked into high gear again with that one.
Jim Neveau at The Hockey Writers picks four non-playoff teams from last year that are likely to make a splash this season.
Motley Su kicks off the Western Hockey League season at From the Rink.
Jack Campbell won his OHL debut when Windsor beat Plymouth 5-4 on Friday night. Most likely, Ryan Ellis will rejoin the Spitfires in a few days.
Here is an interesting post on the media debate which points to the Predators as being one of the more progressive teams.
Mike Fisher makes an appearance in a music video of a really horrible, whiny song by his wife Carrie Underwood. I have to admit that I had never heard her sing before but I hope she has some better music than this somewhere in her past.
Odds and Ends...
Big news this morning from my favorite airline, Southwest. They have agreed to acquire Air Tran which will expand their footprint and open up gates in Atlanta for the first time. I hope they get rid of the old Air Tran equipment in the process.
While we hear so much about the decline in Newspaper readership, it appears that the Online versions of the big dailies in Chicago are growing.
Keep your fingers crossed as a new house plan provides funding for an extra space shuttle flight next year.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
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