Friday, September 23, 2011

POTG Friday Headlines, News and Links: Preds Hit the Road Against Carolina Tonight

The Predators are headed into a big preseason weekend with games tonight at Carolina (which may or may not be available on radio or video from the Carolina website) and the season opening affair at Bridgestone tomorrow against Winnipeg that has many other activities surrounding the game itself.

Jobs are on the line and the Predators still officially have 52 players in camp in spite of several players like Francis Bouillon, Mike Fisher, Brodie Dupont, Ben Ryan, and Roman Josi being injured to different extents.

Here is the Predators' roster for tonight's game against Carolina. Pekka Rinne is not traveling and will probably start on Saturday. There's also a bunch of players battling for roster spots on the trip.

Chip Alexander indicates that Cam Ward will finally get a start against the Preds tonight in Raleigh. Allegedly, there has been talk of a blackout but check with WRAL to see if you can listen outside of Carolina.

The Predators will hold practices today at Bridgestone that will be closed to the public.

Make the jump to see today's news and links...



Programming Note...

Today at noon CDT, we will continue our Smashville On The Glass preseason Roundtable with Mark Willoughby from "The View from 111" and Patten Fugua from "Puck Scene" to discuss issues that the Predators are facing heading toward the season's opening day.

Listen live here or anytime on podcast.

In Pred Nation...

Paul McCann has big news that Slap Shot Radio has moved to The Game and will start on October 5. He also has the latest on Alice Cooper too.

Ryan Porth discusses Colin Wilson's early preseason success. He also has a round-up from camp with several good bits of information from Barry Trotz. Finally, he points out that there are several players on the fringe that could go a long way at making the team in the next two nights.

Josh Cooper has an exclusive of Barry Trotz doing a dance before talking Preds on Thursday. He also spoke with Jordin Tootoo about the real meaning of his "one day at a time" vision. Black Geoffrion could not have had a worse break at making the team than the untimely injury to his wrist.

Patten Fuqua talks video games with a bunch of the players as to their preferences for gaming away from the rink.

Amanda DiPaolo is ready to drop the puck in Smashville.

Jeremy Gover has the first half of three minutes with Tyler Sloan (so is that 1 1/2 minutes?).

Dirk Hoag applies principals from "Moneyball" to the Predators and has a pretty good comparison. He also asks a simi-embarrassing question of who will play first this season, Matthew Lombardi or Mike Fisher. Dirk also has a release from the Cincinnati Cyclones offering Carson Palmer a tryout.

John Manasso makes a point that the Preds are still in an acquiring mode.

David Boclair talks to Cal O'Reilly about his return after his injury last season.

Predatorial looks at David Poile's additions on defense over the past few years.

Mark Willoughby looks at basic math at his weekly "My View."

Hockey Independent looks at Ryan Ellis.

The Milwaukee Admirals take a look at their camp opening on Monday.

Admiral's Roundtable checks out a few of the players invited to the Milwaukee camp next week.

Around the NHL...

In my book, Brendan Shanahan is batting 1.000 in the two suspensions and explanations delivered so far. Here's the video explaining Jody Shelly's ten game suspension and the five game suspension of Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond. This is a great approach to being open and transparent to fans. Nick Cotsonika agrees with the suspensions and the process.

Here's the confirmation of a "big announcement" on Monday. This will confirm the worst kept secret in NHL history.

At 1 p.m. CDT today, Mike Modano will sign a new contract with the Dallas Stars and then officially retire as a Star.

Good guy Wayne Simmonds had a banana thrown at him during a shootout in London, Ontario. Russ Cohen offers perspective on the incident.

Kevin McGran talks to Jaromir Jagr about his return to the NHL.

Mike Danton has a different outlook on hockey after five years in prison.

The Carolina Hurricanes gave GM Jim Rutherford a four-year contract extension.

The St Louis Blues rejected an offer of $167 million to buy the team.

RLD Hockey has their top five picks for the Calder in their trophy prediction series.

Adam Proteau has his picks from the Eastern Conference.

The City of Glendale remains optimistic that a deal with a new owner of the Coyotes will be done by year end.

Will Thomas Greiss be the starting goalie in San Jose with Antero Nittymaki out 12 weeks and Antti Niemi also ailing.

Odds and Ends...

Happy Fall today as the Sun crossed the equator at 9:04 a.m. UTC marking the Autumnal Equinox. Go here if you want to learn more.

Will today be the day for the sky to fall?  Go here for live tracking of where the UARS currently is in orbit. Here is another site that may load quicker. You can also follow on Twitter at @UARS_Reentry.

Dave Lozo reviews the new dolphin movie (or at least the trailers). I agree with him that sitting through this with weepy kids would be near torture.

Here are some tips on "age proofing" your resume.

For about the 50th time in the last year Facebook announced another major overhaul at F8.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

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