Statement Made

Statement made. That’s the way I look at last night’s 4-0 Predators win over the Colorado Avalanche. Statement made.

Yes I know that one game does not a season make but Colorado is a good team…a team everyone is predicting to make the playoffs. They are loaded with fire power and the off- season addition of Ryan Smyth gives this team yet another weapon. None the less win number one was…statement made.

At the place I work we have fun…a ton of it…and a group of guys I work with do something called a ‘crotch-bang’ when something big happens (could be you prove the other person wrong on something, you slam someone with a personal insult or maybe you are celebrating a victory…basically anytime you want to make a statement you do this. It is usually followed by quite a bit of laughter but we are serious!). A ‘crotch-bang’ is where you take both arms and slam them down on either side of your crotch while jumping up a little bit. Most times it is accompanied with a little bit of a primal scream. What the Predator players did last night was ‘crotch-bang’ a bunch of people.

Crotch-Bang to all the predictors out there who said this team will not have any fire power this year. They will not be able to compete and that the loss of all their players will lead to a losing record and no trip to the playoffs.

Crotch-Bang to all the people who thought trading Tomas Vokoun was a bad idea. Mason records a shut out in his first game and TV gets lit up for four goals in third as he loses his first game.

Crotch-Bang to everyone who thought the team would not be able to perform under the stress of the sale of the team. This team sent a message…we have a job to do and this is how we do it!

As Barry Trotz said last night, “If we play like this every night we will win a lot of hockey games.” That might be the understatement of the year! The boys played inspired, physical hockey against a good hockey team. Jason Arnott played like a captain should and David Legwand stuck to Sakic all night long. Congrats Preds on a great first game…here’s to more night like this…’CROTCH-BANG!’

Preds Sign Three

The Predators announced today that they have resigned defensemen Greg Zanon and Kevin Klein as well as tough guy forward Darcy Hordichuk. While these are signings that will barely be a blip on the NHL radar for PReds fans these are huge!

Greg Zanon quickly became a fan and coach favorite with his unselfish playing style that saw him lead the team in blocked shots. Continually risking his body Zanon is a pure team player. While he will never awe you with his offensive prowess thats okay because he plays D and plays it well. Zanon was a key member of our PK last year and look for him to get lots of playing time there as well. Zanon signed a two-year deal that will pay him $700,000 and $750,000 over the next two seasons.

Kevin Klein (not to be confused with A Fish Called Wanda actor Kevin Klein) is one of several young guns that the Preds have groomed on D. Klein has the size and the shot to be potent blueliner in this league and his coming out party starts now. Klein signed a one-year, two-way deal that will pay him $500,000 on the NHL level and $70,000 on the American Hockey League level. Though Klein has a two-way contract, he would still need to clear waivers if he returns to Milwaukee.I would have liked to have seen a longer term deal here but at least we have him locked up for the next year.

Rounding out the key signings is forward Dacy Hordichuk. Hordichuk accepted his qualifying offer, signing a one-year deal that will pay him $517,000. While Hordi sometimes found himself a healthy scratch last year when the team needed to go with a speed instead of a physical his presence is key. He is the guy that the Preds can put in when we need that physical force. He is not afraid to drop the gloves with anyone.

Like I said…I don’t think Eklund of hockeybuzz.com will spend alot of time disecting these siging but for us Pred fans this a good day.

Preds Schedule Announced

The NHL just released the schedule for the 07-08 hockey season and at first glance it looks favorable for the Preds.

– Saturday Night Fever: The Preds have 14 Saturday home games. For a team trying to get butts in seats nothing is better than a Saturday home game.

– Never Far Away: The Preds have only tow long road trips…a five game swing in Late October that takes them to the Northwest before ending in Chicago and Detroit and a six game trip that starts February 27th that takes the team from Buffalo all the way to the NW again and then back to Detroit for the final game. All in all not a real punishing road schedule (Nashville’s central location in the states does help this though)

– Eight Great At The End: The NHL has scheduled the last eight games all against division rivals. That is GREAT! This is not a Preds thing…this is league wide. Hopefully this will lead to some great races for division titles at the end of the year. A great move by the NHL!

All Is Quiet

While ‘All Is Quiet’ is not the most engaging title for a blog post it is, however, true. Right now, all is indeed quiet here on the hockey front in Nashville but that gives us a chance to recap what we know and maybe figure out where we stand.

The Preds will be sold – okay that’s a no brainer but let’s start with the basics here. Craig Leipold is done with hockey and his experiment to make a ton of money doing it. He claims to have lost millions of dollars in his time as the owner of the Preds and Powers Management (the group that runs the Sommet Center). Deep down I think Craig is still doing okay and that while on paper his accountants makes it look like he is losing money my gut tells me he is making a little bit.

There are three offers out there – Right now Craig has three offers from which to choose. Jim Balsillie who won the initial bidding war with his 220 million dollar bid. He has since angered Leipold and the NHL with accepting of season ticket deposits in the event he can move the team to Hamilton Ontario. The fallout with Balsillie led to the resurrection of the deal offered by San Jose Sharks minority owner William “Boots” Del Biaggio III who has a deal in place with Kansas City to bring an NHL team there. His bid is rumored to be less but exact figures have not been released. The last entry into the game is a local group headed by David Freeman, chief executive officer of 36 Venture Capital, and Herb Fritch, CEO of HealthSpring Inc.

Whew! That is a ton of information to keep track of. It appears that the local deal was delivered to Leipold on July 2nd…so now it’s a waiting game. I’m of the school of thought that ‘no news is good news’ when it comes to this. We will not hear anything official until there is a binding agreement in place with a prospective buyer.

One thing that is intriguing about the local offer is the rumor (broke first by Eklund at HockeyBuzz)that it may involve Mark Cuban business associate Todd Wagner. He co-founded broadcast.com with Cuban and later went on to sell it for 5.7 billion (yes with a B!) to a little company called Yahoo. To put it plainly…Todd is loaded. The kind of loaded that makes Jim Basillie look normal. If Wagner, who now lives in Nashville, wants to be involved he can simply write a check. This could be the Knight in shinning armor that the Predators have been waiting for.

Where We stand – Truth be told your guess is as good as mine on this one but I think the silence is a sign that the local offer is getting some serious consideration. Leipold has said that he would not be opposed to offering a discount on the price to a local buyer…maybe it’s that discount that is getting worked out right now.

Mark Your Calenders – for July 19th and the ‘Save the Predators’ rally at the Sommet Center. Info about the event can be found at 104.5 The Zone’s web site HERE.

Zanon and Fiddler File

Two Predator players filed for salary arbitration yesterday when defensemen Greg Zanon and center Vernon Fiddler took that step.

This is how it works…if you are a restricted free agent you can, if you feel like you are not getting the money you think you deserve from your team, file for salary arbitration. This is where a third party comes in and looks at the situation and awards what they think is a fair price for the player. This in no way means that both of these guys are gone. The team and players will, in most cases, continue to negotiate up until the last minute. Everyone involved wants to avoid the process if possible…it’s just part of the dance more than anything.

In some case the arbiter will come back with a figure too high for the teams liking. In that case the team may choose to walk away meaning that this player is now an UFA and is free to sign with anyone. This is how the Preds got JP Dumont last year. There will be cases where this happens…I just hope it’s not with either of these guys.

Zanon and Fiddler are both great role players. They play with a ton of energy and both give you a consistent game. Zanon led the Preds in blocked shots last year and, in my opinion, is a key to our D next year. The Preds MUST resign this guy!

Fiddler is a huge energy guy who can play center and wing. I would not be totally bummed if we lost him but I hope that we can come to an agreement that keeps both of these guys in our locker room next year.

Money To Burn

Sure we don’t have an owner (that’s a minor detail right?) but the Preds have money to burn in the free agent market. With the NHL announcing the new salary cap numbers yesterday the Preds, like it or not, will find themselves being buyers just to reach the 34.3 million dollar minimum.

At this point the Preds sit with 14 players under contract for a total cap hit right at 24 million. This means that the Preds have to spend a minimum of 10 million.

With all this money to spend one has to wonder what happened with Paul Kariya? Rumor has it that Paul turned down a two year deal at 4.5 million per. That would have been the exact same deal that brought Paul to Nashville. While I think the price is in line I think that Paul has seen some of the deals (Kimmo Timonen getting EIGHT million the next two years in his front loaded deal and Scott Hartnell getting 5.2 next season in his front loaded deal) that have happened so far and thinks with the new salary cap sitting at over 50 million some team may offer him in the 5.5-6 million neighborhood. I think some team will do that and when they do I think they just overpaid.

While the uncertainty with the ownership is troubling for fans it has to be more troubling to Daivd Poile who is trying to sell would be Preds on coming here. In the past we had a story to tell. Long tenured coach (who now is on a one year deal that could be the end if they do not go deep in the playoffs), great town, great fans and other marquee players who chose to make Nashville home. Now with Paul, Kimmo, Scotty and Peter Forsberg all exiting stage left one has to wonder what story Poile will be telling now?

The bottom line is the Preds have money that they must spend and when they do I believe David Poile will, once again, find some diamonds in the rough that will bring Nashville back to a contender once again.

UPDATE: The Preds resigned Scott Nichol to a one year deal worth $750,000. Scotty is a key role player and brings a ton of energy to each shift he takes. I hope he can play within himself this year and not take stupid penalties that lead to suspensions.

Living In The Unknown

Life is better when you know things. Even if it’s bad…at least you know. When you are living in the unknown it can drive you crazy. Thats why, in the midst of the biggest news to strike this Predators franchise since it’s inception, I have been (for the most part) silent. Quiet.

For example in the past 48 hours rumors have swirled about a possible Vokoun trade, Bettman saying the deal is ‘far from done,’ Preds GM David Poile saying Kayria still wants to stay here, a group of local investors who are trying to make a run at the Preds, not to mention the ‘fire sale’ talk that grew after the Kimmo and Hartnell trade. You can easily see why one’s head might spin. Where do I start? What can I say?

Living in this unknown does make me know one thing for sure…tomorrow will bring with it a new batch of rumors. I will try to find a way to write on some of these things but know that my silience is not due to lack of interest but due to the lack of solid ground for me to stand on.

Go Preds! Ugh…even that was hard to type right now!

On Vacation

I’m going on vacation for the week (Nags Head NC) so I will not be posting for a while…but that doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten about our Preds…c’mon guys…make those calls to the NHL and sign this online petition HERE.

Lets Save Our Preds!!!

Preds Sold…Freakin Blackberry!

I am shocked. I am. But not at all surprised. Perhaps I should have taken what Trump says to heart…”trust no one.” Even as Leipold would repeat, time after time, that he had no intention of moving the franchise somewhere deep inside I did not entirely believe him. Don’t get me wrong I am not sitting here telling you that I saw this coming because I didn’t…no one did. NO ONE!

What does it all mean? Well that has yet to be decided. The only thing we can hope for is that the league puts in place a list of stipulations similar to that of the Pittsburgh deal which would require Jim Balsillie (CEO of the company behind Blackberry) to keep the team here for a certain number of years (a deal in Pittsburgh fell through when the league was going to require him to keep the team there for seven years regardless if a deal on a new arena was reached). My gut tells me though that he has talked to the league already and doesn’t foresee those stumbling blocks.

Right now this is all unclear. Perhaps it will become clear at the press conference scheduled for today. Right now it’s all fuzzy…kind of like the morning after that party freshman year in college when you woke up in a strange room with an awful taste in your mouth…you know what I’m talking about right?

I knew there was a reason I went with my TREO!!!

Watchin’ Ducks & Wings

down 4-2 with less than five minutes to play and the Wings won’t die. This is why they have been so good for so long…winning is in their blood and they hate losing. The D is pinching up and they are making Giguere make huge saves. Should be a great finish!