POTG Friday Headlines, News, and Morning Links

Lane Lambert and Barry Trotz were like two peas in a pod at yesterday's presser. It was really interesting listening to his indoctrination into "The Predator Way". He pointed to Dave Tippett as an influence who is much like Barry Trotz in his mentoring. He also listed Claude Noel who is a favorite for the new head coach slot in Winnipeg. Here is the full audio of the press conference.

Beyond the local news, we have Boston ready to face off against what I expect to be a rejuvenated Vancouver Canucks team tonight at Rogers Center at 7 p.m. CDT on NBC. It is down to a three game series and should be interesting to see if the Canucks return to form at home. Alain Vigneault gave Roberto Luongo the vote of confidence as the game five starter but don't be surprised if there is a short hook.

Follow the jump for today's news and links...


Programming Note...

Join us today at noon Central for RLD Hockey Radio.This weeks guest will be Sarah Baicker from CSN Philadelphia talking Flyers off-season. Ryan and I will also break down the Stanley Cup Finals.

In Pred Nation...

All the local media was on the conference call with Lane Lambert and Barry Trotz. It is great to get all the different takes from Jim Diamond, David Boclair, Dirk Hoag, Amanda DiPaolo, and Mark Willoughby.

Aaron Sims has a great testimonial to the type of person Lame Lambert is with a story of how he helped Aaron turn his life around.

Dirk Hoag has a link to Lambert's appearance on the Thom Abraham Show yesterday with all of his other Friday links.

Paul McCann has a good assessment of the Predators roster and needs heading into the draft and free-agency.

AJ goes back to the well to discuss Alex Burrows likability problem.


Mark Willoughby has a thoughtful discussion of the horrors of head shots. He also has his weekly "My View" with a price tag for green energy which is staggering.

Josh Farrar has the report card for Joel Ward who had a split personality between the first 82 games and the last 12.
Jeremy is up to number three in the top 15 Predator moments.

Here are the latest top 125 goalie rankings of prospects from The Goalie Guild. Lindy is at #3 while Dex is #23. Other Preds include Atte Engren at 32. Jeremy Smith at 43, and Chet Pickard at 51. I don't think any other team has 5 in the top 51.

Preds prospect Austin Watson is on the roster for the US junior evaluation camp.

SCF Tidbits...

Steve Sullivan gives his take on the finals at the Tennessean.

Puck Daddy raises some serious issues about the "politics" of head injuries. This is exactly why I don't like the resulting injury being considered when suspensions are levied.

Here is Pete Weber's take on the finals from NHL Home Ice (audio clip).

Red Light District has a look at the dividends being paid from the Rich Peverly acquisition by Boston.

So what happened to Vancouver's swagger? This was supposed to be a cake walk for the Canucks.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is taking flak from political opponents for his trip to Boston for game four.

Steve Lapore has the latest ratings on Versus from games three and four.

Around the NHL...

Ex-Milwaukee Admirals head coach Claude Noel is the front-runner to the Winnipeg head coaching job. He led the Ads to a Calder Cup championship in 2003.

Andrew Ladd spoke to the media in Winnipeg while he was there checking out the city.

Bill Daly says that the MTS Centre will need little modification to go to NHL standards.

Ken Campbell reports that Craig Leipold is set to acquire another 40 percent of the Minnesota Wild.

A press conference is set for today to announce the return of AHL hockey to St. Johns.

Aaron Portzline seems to think a big trade is in the works between Columbus and Philadelphia.

Scott Burnside writes that the City of Glendale is losing momentum in trying to keep the Coyotes in town.

Andrei Kostitsyn signed for another year in Montreal for $3.25 million.

Michael Langlois wants no part of a second team in the Toronto area.

There is nothing like every East team through the movies by Adam Proteau.

The make-up noise between the NHL and Jim Balsillie was not true according to Bill Daly.

It's been ten years since the Avalanche won their last Cup. Terry Frei looks back with Ray Bourque.

It sounds like the Rangers are set to buy out the last year of Chris Drury's contract. Here is what it would cost the Rangers according to Cap Geek. It was later announced that Wohtek Wolski would also be bought out.

Toronto has signed goalie James Reimer to a three year deal paying him $1.8 million per year.

Mike Modano will not return to Detroit next season and is waiting to hear if anyone else would like his services.

Scotty Wazz takes a look at the potential of Jim Balsille as an owner.

With the NBC crew keeping the Olympics they will be able to drive up the fees for the Versus Network to cable operators.

A late bloomer form the 2004 draft, Nikata Nikitin, was re-signed for another year by the Blues.

sad story of the demise of the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs.

Odds and Ends...

If you thought the whole story about the 15 year girl with terminal cancer wanting to see her name trend on Twitter, here is her blog.

Here is a real life Wizard of Oz tale where an eight year old boy was carried a quarter of a mile by a tornado and lived.

Here is a good description of one of my favorite hikes in Bryce Canyon.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass