POTG Tuesday Headlines, News, and Links

I have to admit that yesterday was one of the worst day's that I have had in a while. When I got to work the first thing I saw when I booted up my computer was the dreaded blue screen of death. A reboot brought the same sad news. It turns out that gremlins must have gnawed on my hard drive while it slept over the weekend.

My wife accuses me of having a severe OCD symptoms but I will only admit to a milder variety that helps keep me organised to be able to work, write, and do everything else I do. Anyway, with a computer down all day, I had to go to another office with an inferior unit and none of my normal amenities.

My whole routine was shattered. I didn't have NHL Home Ice to set the pace of the day or anything else that reminds me what time it is. By 5 p.m. I was totally worn out with the day and pray that things will be back to normal today. If not, I may be driven to a more severe variety of mental illness than I am accused of having.

Anyway, make the jump to get the hockey news that you came here to see...



Programming Note...

There will not be a new episode of RLD Hockey Talk this week so pick one out of the archives and pretend that it is live.

However, I will be on The Team 990 in Montreal with Conor McKenna at approximately 10:30 CDT to talk Predators. Go here to listen.

In Pred Nation...

Jeremy Gover has three minutes with Pred prospect Taylor Beck. He also has the word that Pekka Rinne is a finalist in the Toast of Music City for best athlete along with a couple of Titans. Here is a complete list in all categories that includes Section 303 in the best blog category for the second year in a row. Congrats to the 303 gang!

Predatorial speculates on a few of the leftover free agents that the Preds may be looking at before camp.

Dirk Hoag is counting down the days until the Weber mediation.

Hockey Night in Nashville previews NHL 12.

Registration for the the August 2011 GOAL session will open today at 9 am CDT. Register on-line at NashvillePredators.com

Here are photos from the finals of the Preds Dance Team competition.

Being the offseason, an article by J.R. Lind on domain registrations set off a bunch of speculation that 102.5 might change to a sports format. The station is owned by the same parent company as 102.9 that is the flagship for Predator game.

Around the NHL...

Red Wing stalwart Kris Draper will announce his retirement at Joe Louis Arena today at 10 a.m. CDT. I really hate to see him go as he enjoyed playing the game as much as anyone, and it showed.

One of the bigger stories to start the week was the "Dry Island" story out of Philadelphia where Coach Peter Laviolette allegedly attempted to curb his team's partying habits. The fact that Mike Richards and Jeff Carter did not participate has led to speculation that it contributed to their departure from the Flyers.

Andy Murray has accepted a position as the head coach at Western Michigan in a five-year deal. He last coached in the NHL with the Blues in the 09-10 season.

RLD Hockey continues it's series off offseason grades with the Central Division.

Only six arbitration hearings remain with Ryan Callahan up next on Thursday. So far, all have settled prior to being heard. On the UFA front, here are the slim pickings of what remains.

Kevin Alen looks at the numbers to determine that goalies may be relatively underpaid while carrying a big chunk of the pressure in the NHL.

David Littman has part two of how to be a rookie in the NHL. It is a good series. Here is the first half if you missed it.

Gary Bettman is one of the NHL's highest paid "players" at $7.5 million.

Joe Yerdon and James O'Brien guested on the HockeeNight podcast this week with plenty of puck talk.

It is Fear and Loathing on Long Island with B.D. Gallof.

It's a week until the vote on the arena and Chris Botta has the latest on the local support for the project.

The Hot List has a video on how pucks are made.

It looks like a two way battle between Ben Bishop and Brian Elliott for the back up job to Jaroslav Halak in St. Louis.

Derek Boogaard's brother Aaron, made a court appearance yesterday but he did not enter a plea and was free on bail pending his next court date on August 17.

Steve Lapore has the official word from Dave Strader that he has indeed accepted a position with NHC/Versus.

Odds and Ends...

AdAge has five reasons Google+ could hurt Facebook.

Space X is wanting to accelerate the schedule to fly its dragon capsule to the Space Station.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass