POTG Wednesday Wrap-Up: Hockey Headlines and Links

Today's headlines and links has news from the Predators and Ducks camps including all the latest diving information as well as news from around the NHL. We also have several articles about the Coyotes situation which now appears less bleak for the Phoenix fans than it did yesterday.We also have the player for yesterday's RLD Hockey Talk with Andre Delsol.

We had a bunch of stories yesterday including three posts about the new TV deal and the finalists for the Calder trophy.

We will have our game preview within the hour but for now, go past the jump for all of today's news.



Programming Note...

Yesterday's RLD Hockey Talk with Andre Delsol of Hockey On the Fly was one of the more enjoyable shows that we have done in a while. Andre is a great guy who we met when he was in Nashville as a part of his thirty arenas in 29 days tour, which set a Guinness World Record. He gave us all of the highlights of his journey and gave insight comparing arenas from around the league. He gave high marks to our own Bridgestone Arena in several areas. It is a show that you will not want to miss. Go to RLD Hockey Talk or use the player below to listen.

Listen to internet radio with Ryan Porth on Blog Talk Radio

In Pred Nation...

Amanda DiPaolo examines how Bob Murray's "diving" comments may effect the remainder of the series.

Ryan Porth looks at the players leading the way for the Predators.

Jim Diamond has a piece on how quickly Jon Blum has matured into a playoff caliber hockey player.

David Boclaitr paints Pekka Rinne as the ultimate motivator. I have to agree.

Dirk Hoag takes a look at what the new TV deal will mean for teams and the Predators specifically.

Bryan Mullen has a post about Shane O'Brien watching his back and the refs.

Josh Cooper has a notes column where he talks with Pekka Rinne about Teemu Selanne.

Longtime Tennessean columnist David Climer even jumps into the diving fray with a column about the controversy this morning. It is a good measure of the Preds' current popularity in Nashville as he has written little about hockey over the years and is now a regular at the Bridge. Here is the quote of the year from Climer's piece.

J.R. Lind has a classic post about what your favorite Predator says about you.

Paul McCann investigated the diving allegations against the Predators and recommends that folks break out the tin foil hats.

Jordin Tootoo makes the top hits of the year at NHL.com. This top ten is interesting in light of all the suspensions.

Colin Wilson is saying the right things about learning his lesson.It will be interesting to see if he can show it on the ice anytime soon.

Dirk Hoag has the audio from Sergei Kostitsyn's visit to the Thom Abraham show yesterday.

The Daily Blend has a little fun with Carrie Underwood's reactions during Mike Fisher's fight on Sunday.

The Milwaukee Admirals lost 3-2 in overtime in Texas to fall behind 2-1 in their series with the Stars. The Ads will have to win one of the next two to force the series back to Milwaukee.   

On the Duck Pond...

Here is one of the plays that Bob Murray accused the Predators of diving on. I have to admit that with acting like this, Jerred Smithson has a future in Hollywood.

Eric Stephens has a variety of comments on the alleged diving incidents.

The L A Times has an Andy Sutton like exchange between an unnamed Nashville reporter and Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle about looking at the video.

Here are Tuesday's notes from the Ducks' practice.

Here is the latest version of Ducks Digest.

Desert Doings...


There will finally be a meeting between City of Glendale officials and the Goldwater Institute on Thursday at 3 p.m. MST.

Fox Sports AZ explains that he demise of the Hulsizer bid has been greatly exaggerated.

David Shoalts looks at how the new TV deal may urge the NHL to keep a team in Phoenix.

The Hot List has six reasons that the Coyotes are down 3-0 to the Wings. It is sad indeed that there may only be one more game left to be played in the desert.

Greg Esposito suggests that if the NHL is indeed fixing to announce a Coyote move that they should do it before game four so the fans can give a fitting good-bye. 

The Illegal Curve takes a look at the Yotes to Winnipeg Peg situation from the Peggers perspective.

Around the NHL...

Only two games last night and both were surprising. In the early match, Chicago blew out Vancouver 7-2 to avoid elimination and in the late game, the Kings collapsed to lose 6-5 in overtime after holding an early 4-0 lead.

Here are the videos of the Steve Downie and Chris Kuniz hits that were each suspended for a game by the NHL.

Down Goes Brown brings clarity to the "hitting zone" behind the net.

If you aren't following the back and fourth Rebel vs. Rebel discussion between Brian Metzer of Pittsburgh and Jon Jordan of Tampa over the Pens-Bolts series, you should be.


Michael Langlois wonders out loud if fans are tiring of the Brian Burke hubris.

Nick Cotsonika gets with Brendan Shanahan to go through the process of why the Raffi Torres hit was not suspendable.

Steve Lapore looks at Versus upcoming games with an eye on ratings.Steve also had his second biggest day at Puck the Media with all the news on the NBC deal. Congrats!


Intent to Blow says that the NHL has reached its breaking point and will leave suspensions up to a fan vote.

Odds and Ends...

Lake Mead has avoided water rationing until 2016 with the snowfall runoff this season. It has been really weird to see lush grass and weeds where the lake used to be in the last couple of years.

Here is 12 ways to be a good boss. I try to practice most of them.

Shocking! ESPN is dropping its Poker programing due to federal investigation of the industry. I bet they wish they had picked up the hockey package now.


More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass