POTG Monday Weekend Round-Up: Headlines, News and Links

It's Monday of a week that holds promise to be much better that recent weeks since we leave for vacation Wednesday night to travel to Yosemite, Mammoth, Lake Tahoe, and Pacifica, California for another patented whirlwind trip to cover as much ground as possible in a few days and then come home and suffer through the mundane until we can do it again.

We will not have the daily links during my absence but I will try to pull together some actual feature stories and original video to fill the void.

After pouring through tons of regenerated dog days of summer hockey stories, one that wasn't hockey but was by one of NHL.com's best stood out. Dave Lozo's private blog about the aging process was an outstanding literary piece.

For all the rest of the hockey stuff. make the jump...



In Pred Nation...

Thanks to Ryan Porth at Smashville 24/7 for the interview with me about POTG and its origins. While Ryan is doing the rest of "Blogger's Row" we will have an interview with him in a few days.

Hockey Gal takes a look at what happened to the players on the 2004 Calder Cup champs. Brian Findley who was the overall sixth pick for the Preds in 1999, played four NHL games and is now a police officer.

Steve Sullivan's hometown paper catches up with him to discuss his new role with the Penguins. Matt Reitz captures the fact that this year could be Sully's best year yet!

Houses of the Hockey analyzes the fall of J P Dumont over the past two seasons. Being an out of towner, they never figure in the Alex Burrows hit from December 2009 that all the locals will say was the turning point.

Fang Finger is trying hard to rise to the top of Pred blogdom in his first four days. You have to admire the enthusiasm. Give him an add on Twitter.

WacKY Hockey looks at others on the Predators that could be captain material.

Our friend Nicotye is looking for suggestions on her Wanderlust. The easy answer would be to follow us to California this weekend to the High Sierras.

Around the NHL...

New Jet Eric Fehr showed up at the team store on Saturday and gave a full endorsement to the new Winnipeg logo that has hastily revealed on Friday. Here is an alleged leaked look at the new Winnipeg sweaters. 

The rosters made up of 2012 draft eligible players have been set for the Research and Development Camp that will be held in Toronto next month.

RLD Hockey starts handing out offseason grades for all thirty teams starting with the Atlantic division.

Charles Wang says there is no "plan B" if the arena vote fails on August 1.

Adrian Dater casts his vote for rookie of the year for next season.

Kevin Allen explains why offer sheets make little sense in the current salary cap market.

Tom Reed thinks Vinny Prospal will be a good fit in Columbus. I think the Predators should have looked closer at him for relatively cheap offense.

David Littman has part one of the ins and outs of being a good rookie.

Joe Yerdon discusses the slim pickings that are out there for teams still looking for free agents.

The Carolina Hurricanes had a "state of the Canes" at their fanfest on Friday in the roaring heat. They should take a tip from the Predators and have it inside and leave the tailgating for cooler weather.

Defending Big D chronicles the Stars' fall from division leader to out of the playoffs with an interesting statistical breakdown.

Zdeno Chara had his weekend with the Stanley Cup in his hometown and was knighted in the process.

Ryan Kennedy checks out some of the vintage merchandise at the NHL merchandise show last week.

Oddly enough, season ticket sales are up in Phoenix.

Is Nathan MacKinnon the next Sidney Crosby? There are similarities.

This post wins the title of silliest looking picture of the weekend with Akex Ovechkin wearing a fuzzy hat and a burka that was presented to him at a Russian soccer game.

Blue Note Zone accesses the Central Division at this point in the offseason and is surprisingly positive about the Preds..

Justin Bourne looks at how the hockey lifestyle changes as a player moves up the food chain.

Mayor's Manor checks in on what the Kings' players are up to this summer.

Blue Note Zone analyzes who may end up on the first line in St. Louis.

Patrick Hoffman has a few questions with NHL Home Ice's Terry Mercury. While stopping at Kuklas' Korner, we see that the staff is growing.

Ryan Durling at Stanley Cup of Chowder has a critical look at the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Mike Commodore has a second career going in horse racing. It all began with a trip to the Kentucky Derby which is "Decadent and Depraved" as Hunter S Thompson explained.

Odds and Ends...

Longtime Nashville sports anchor, Hope Hines is retiring after 33 years at channel 5. Not many hockey fans will miss him. I never saw him at the Bridgestone Arena in person or on TV.

The story of the mass killer in Norway is haunting. What is worse is that the maximum sentence for any crime is 21 years.

Here's a video not to be missed of the invocation at the NASCAR race in Nashville where the preacher includes his "smokin' hot wife" and in Jesus name "boogeity, boogeity, boogeity."

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass