POTG Thursday "Skate of the Union" Edition - Headlines, News, and Links

Lat night was a fun night in Smashville for all those who attended the Nashville Predators "Skate of the Union" where the top brass in the Predators organization met several thousand fans head on to give the latest information  about the Preds directly to the people.

Afterwards, the Predators new home jersey was revealed via a banner on the Batman tower. Here are close up pictures of the new home golds.

We have the  complete video of the entire SOTU. The sound is kind of boomy but the content is unsurpassed and will not be matched anywhere. No other team in the NHL is as open with the fans as what we saw last night.

On behalf of the entire "Bloggers Row" I would like to publicly thank Jeff Cogen, Sean Henry, Chris Parker, Gerry Helper, and Kevin Wilson for talking to us for an hour before the event last night, giving us the first look at the new sweaters, and acknowledging the efforts of our contribution to the team.

Make the jump for today's News and links...


Skate of the Union...

David Boclair has the highlights from the speech as well as the talking points about the new sweater.

Ryan Porth has a few ideas about the new jersey.

Mark Willoughby has his thoughts on the sweater.

Jeremy Gover adds his thoughts on the sweater.

Dirk Hoag also checks in via his minion Marc Torrence who was manning the home front from Colorado while Dirk took in the event. He has a good helmet shot.

John Glennon touches on realignment, which was discussed last night and also has a discussion on the new threads.

Josh Farrar at Fang Finger Fever gives his take on all the evening's activities at the arena.

In Pred Nation...

Ex-Pred and fan (and Media) favorite Shane O'Brien signed a one year deal with the Colorado Avalanche. We wish him the best. Adrian Dater will have his stories written for him by last year's Predators' media award winner.

Scott Walker was on 107.5 yesterday. Dirk Hoag has the audio link. David Boclair also has a great post about Walker's connection to the team.

Section 303 is having another summer event, this time at Bleachers on Sunday to watch women's soccer.

Why would Bill Waters make a homophobic remark about Cody Franson's play on the ice?

Around the NHL...

It is thought that the Shea Weber camp and Drew Doughty camp are each waiting to see what the other gets before signing their contract. This PHT post says the Kings havent talked to Doughty's agents since the draft last month.

Ryan Porth has the Top Five Dates to look forward to in the upcoming season.

It is rare for anything hockey to win an ESPY but Tim Thomas got one for Best Championship Performance as well as Best NHL Player.,

Rory Boylen has an early eulogy for the Phoenix Coyotes. After the mayor basically threw in the towel last week, the only real question is who will put together the best deal for the team to have a new home in 2012-13. It is a real shame to see how it has played out.

Puck Daddy looks at teams that are having trouble getting to the cap floor. The Preds are in the group but it should not be an issue once Weber is signed.

Matt Reitz compares what NHL Network and NHL.com are doing to bridge the dog days of summer.

Scott Cullen ranks the NHL agitators in terms of their production beyond scrapping.

It is still unclear when Chris Pronger will be able to hit the ice again in Philadelphia.

Calvin Pickard (Chet's brother) is not worried about Seymon Varlamov blocking his path to the Colorado net.

As much as Tomas Vokoun's free agency was anticipated, it turns out that Detroit and the Caps were the only two bidders for his services.

E.J Hradek has his weekly commentary on the NHL news.

Adam Proteau has his top ten offseason improvements and #1 and #2 are my favorites for the cup finals as it stands right now.

Not only will St.Johns be the new affiliate for the Winnipeg Jets AFL team, they will host the Kraft Hockeyville game next fall.

Mayor's Manor spoke with Kings coach Terry Murray about what he expects out of Dustin Penner next season.

Odds and Ends...

Finally, anyone who is a regular here knows that Adrian Dater is one of my favorite writers (and a good guy). Now his wife Heidi (who I've not met) has a new blog called People Hater.The first post is up and it looks like it is going to be good. Check it out.

Pandora is converting into a social network and FourSquare is hooking up with Living Social and Groupon.

Now that folks are upset with Netflix, Google is ready to step in and pick up the slack.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass