The Nashville Predators will take on the Washington Capitals tonight at 7 p.m. at the Bridgestone Arena. It will be interesting to see if Joel Ward and Tomas Vokoun make the travel roster and return to their old haunt against the team where they developed into well known players.
For the Preds, the battles for the last defensive and offensive slots among the players remaining in camp will continue. Expect to see Pekka Rinne start the game and go the full 60 minutes after a premature end to the evening on Saturday when he received a cut to the brow in an unexpected way.
On defense, my guess is that Jack Hillen and Teemu Laakso are the third pairing waiting for someone to unseat them. On paper, it would seam that Tyler Sloan would have an inside track over the rookies for the seventh slot. Will someone else prove that they are worthy of an opening night roster slot in tonight's game?
On the offensive side, there are still battles ongoing and a lot will depend on whether Blake Goeffrion will be able to return an play in the preseason. You have to think that a spot is Chris Mueller's to lose after a great preseason.
Come out to tonight's game and watch the Preds take on the preseason favorite for the President's Trophy and all the Preds' youngsters fighting for a spot on the final roster.
Make the jump for today's news and links...
In Pred Nation...
Josh Cooper has a quote from Barry Trotz that makes the point that I've stated before, that the 32 players in camp are Trotz's "core" for NHL action this season. The next four days are as much about team building and getting to know each other as competition for opening day roster spots. Josh also has a piece on Sergei Kostitsyn playing a bigger role this year. Josh also says that Joel Ward is expected to play tonight.
The Washington Post has the Capitals' line combinations from yesterday's practice which may indicate how they will line up tonight.
David Boclair says Pekka Rinne is set for a full game tonight.
Ryan Porth talked to Pekka Rinne and his agent, Jay Grossman about the status of a new contract.
Amanda DiPaolo says that the Predator defensemen are not concerned about all the competition on the blue line.
Teresa Walker looks at the Preds focus on their youth movement.
Paul McCann speculates on the final roster and I concur on the D-man side. He also looks at tonight's game.
Dirk Hoag previews the seasons of Francis Bouillon and Marty Erat.
NHL.com tabs Shea Weber for the pre-season Norris Trophy pick.
A.J. explains the change from PMFF to Predators AJenda.
Gabriel Bourque is doing all he can to stay with the big club.
From dchesnokov: It's interesting that when asked on Twitter on Sept 25 if he is going to stay with Salavat next year @RADUL22 replied "most likely not."
Preds prospect Chase Balisy was named preseason all-CCHA.
Stephanie Muraro has the Milwaukee Admirals camp preview.
The Predatorial now features an original art piece of David Legwand.
George Scoville points out that players wearing black jerseys are more aggressive.
Jas Faulkner takes a look at growing hockey from the grass roots.
Pred Gold cries "Shoot the Puck!"
There is still more talk about Arena Football's return to the Bridgestone.
Shanny TV...
Brendan Shanahan has become such a fan favorite in the last 10 days of the preseason that we will run a daily feature of "Shanny TV" where he appears in "Shanny-Vision" with the same introduction right before he nails someone for doing something dumb on the ice.
Today's edition of Shanny TV features Anaheim forward Jean-Francois Jacques receiving the hammer for the rest of the preseason games and the Ducks' first five regular-season games for leaving the bench to start a fight with Vancouver's Mike Duco in the last five minutes of a game on Saturday night.
Still unresolved is Tom Sestitio's hit on Andre Deveaux in Monday's controversy filled Rangers-Flyers game. That should be fair gaim for tomorrow's edition of Shanny TV.
Around the NHL...
Barring any additional conclusive evidence coming forth, Colin Cambell was unable to fully access the situation between Sean Avery and Wayne Simmonds in Monday's Rangers-Flyers game. Therefore no discipline is being dealt out in the matter.
Ryan Porth's first trophy tracker for the Vezina is up with the preseason view.
Kirill Kabanov continues to do things his way after accepting a Facebook invite to show up a t a roller hockey game with fans.
James Mirtle has the breakdown of what the Leafs final roster may look like when camp breaks.
Gabriel Landeskog continues to impress in Colorado and may be a strong Calder candidate.
Aaron Boogaard is being given a chance to play for the Houston Aeros.
Dave McGinn has the story of Hockey Night in India.
Evgeni Nabokov finally played a game for the Islanders after refusing to report last year.
Last night, the annual preseason game in Kansas City was held with an announced sellout crowd of 17,779 to see the Kings and Pens play to an eight round shootout. I still don't think hockey would make a go in KC since they consistently have poor TV ratings.
Odds and Ends...
An historic merger is planned between Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows Ski resorts near Lake Tahoe that should give skiers more variety and a season pass good at both slopes.
Google is putting the Dead Sea Scrolls on the Internet. Maybe they will figure out how to interface Google Translate int the project too.
NASA issued its final statement on the UARS re-entry and it landed near the Equator in as remote an area of the planet as possible and there were zero reports of anyone seeing anything. Highly anti-climatic. Here is a more detailed discussion.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
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