drsingle

I've been away from LGW for much too long. Sixer, like your fellow Wings fans are attempting to tell you, Osgood was not Detroit's problem last night. I can not/will not argue the merits of whether he is a "top notch" goalie (I don't watch enough Detroit games). However, last night was not an indication of Osgood's ability or lack thereof. Luongo and Brodeur would have a had an extremely difficult time stopping those three goals if everything else was equal. Odds are at least two of those goals would have been scored regardless of who was in goal. This is plain to anyone that understands the game and actually watched (see the posts by your fellow Wings' fans and quotes from the players- both Red Wings and Predators). David

Sacrifices, sacrifices.

You know, it's been a long time since I've posted here on LGW (and I really do miss you guys), but it's good to see that you guys are still hard on your goalies. Any "top notch" goalie would have gotten burned by the second and third goal- and maybe the first. Luongo, Brodeur, etc. do give up the odd goal you know. Tonight, Ozzie is being hung out to dry as Detroit's defensemen are having a hard time with Nashville's forecheck. It's got them a little off kilter for the moment. Still a long ways to go though. I do mean it, I miss you guys.

Hordichuck and Mason are both out with the flu. David

Well, let's just say that I completely understand aflac's time constraints! I'm hoping to be around a little more often after the first of the year. Here's to a good game tonight, a Predator's win, and nary an injury to be seen. David

I've not been around lately, so forgive me, but where'd aflac go? His GDTs were great. David

Being a smartass doesn't change the fact that Balsillie refused to sign a binding agreement with Leipold without the matter of relocation being considered at the same time as his bid by the Board of Governors. Without a binding agreement, Balsillie's bid could not be considered by the Board of Governors via their own bylaws- which can't be flaunted to appease the self-righteous without setting a dangerous precedent. None of the other facts, statistics, vitriol, and other b.s. matter without that binding agreement- which was signed by the local group along with their fronting a non-refundable $10 million deposit. Now that I got that out of my system, please continue to show your ass. The Good Lord knows that there are plenty of people that cannot move forward and refuse to make the league, and its existing markets, better- so you'll have your followers. Taking my own advice and moving forward- the new owners (after approval by the Council, Sports Authority, and BoG- all expected to go smoothly) will have a hard job of making this work. If they can get the corporate community to step up and buy at least 50% of the tickets, then it will work. If not, then the franchise will be moved. There is reason for the fans of the Predators to have hope- but the proof will come from the bottom line. David

Finally. Reported by the only reporter that has consistently broken every item with journalistic integrity: Richard Lawson, formerly with the Nashville Post, now with the Nashville City Paper. Article

Completely off topic, but I hate when real life draws me away from participating on the hockey boards. Now, back on topic, it's hard to argue with you. That said, Nashville is a strange business town. History has shown that the vast majority of the local business community does not have much in the way of a relationship with non-local businesses. There are certainly some exceptions to that and it can also be mitigated by coming to town with those relationships established (like the Predators did with the original relationship with Gaylord). The problem with the Predators began when they had a falling out with Gaylord- which saw a sharp decline in corporate sponshorship the very next season. The buzz has been that many corporations are ready to come back with the completion of this deal. The nature of the deal itself is also important. If/when AEG begins to manage the arena, assuming the revenue from the arena goes to the Predators (reported), then revenues for the Predators could get an enormous shot in the arm just from non-hockey events. Will the corporations suddenly jump on board? Who knows? I certainly don't. Will the additional revenue streams have an impact on the bottom line? Some. Enough? I don't know. The bottom line is that the team has three years, beyond this season, to turn things around. Local ownership and additional revenue sources definitely provide a more favorable environment to make that succeed. If the team is still struggling financially at that time, it would be hard to argue against declaring the market a failure and moving the franchise. One parting shot: The NHL is not a healthy league. When league revenues rise primarily on the backs of ticket holders, there will be markets that begin to see diminishing returns. We are already beginning to see this. This league must be better marketed for the league to continue to grow as well as obtaining better television contracts. Thanks. David

Well, I don't, but to each his own.

Just an addition, pictures over at the Predators board confirm that Jordin is not wearing a visor this year. Still should have dropped the helmet, but at least he's not wearing a visor anymore. David

My $0.02. I can't tell if Jordin was wearing a visor in the video. His helmet did not have a visor on it when he placed in the box last night. I do not know if he has shed the visor this season. Visor or not, he should have removed his helmet. He through the first punch, which meant he had time to back away and remove the helmet. I said these same words to my wife last night as we watched (we did attend). He should have dropped his helmet. Otherwise, he played a fine game as far as his aggitating role goes. The precursor to this fight was an Avalanche player diving across the ice to stop a rush and taking out Smithson in the process- no penalty called. He stood up for his teammate, played cleanly with high energy throughout, and did not have any stupid penalties. Wished he would have removed his helmet. The back and forth on this board goes to the extremes in both ways. He does not always fight with his helmet on, but he does often. His fight with Mayers last season stood out because the two took off everything first. Again, just my $0.02 worth. David

Since many people here enjoy reading material about their divisional opponents, I've decided that I will start this thread for my articles on PredNation.com and just update this post whenever I post another blog. Be warned that most of the articles are focused on the Nashville Predators. 6/20/07- An Open Letter to Craig Leipold 6/22/07- A Rebuttal... 7/13/07- Zoning in on Tickets and Talk 8/24/07- Expectations- Part I 8/31/07- Expectations- Part II I appreciate all of the discussion and constructive criticism that my articles receive here. David Singleton PredNation.com

I'll pass that along next time I talk with him (for the first time).

Updated the original post to add the third part to the Expectations series. David

Congrats on the win.

The NashvillePost.com continues to be the first to keep the Predators' fans, and fans of other teams, informed about the process to sale the Nashville Predators. Excellent work by Richard Lawson at the NashvillePost.com. David

Last season, Sullivan played 57 games, Arnott played 68 games, and Forsberg played 17 games and contributed 15 points. Losing Sullivan hurts. Forsberg was not an impact on the ice. Hartnell's even strength numbers were never that great (being in Trotz's doghouse did not help that), but losing his PP numbers will hurt that second unit. I like the Erat-Legwand-Radulov line better than Kariya-Legwand-Erat from the standpoint of scoring goals. I expect Radulov to score between 30 - 40 goals and have about 30 assists. The man had almost 40 points last season playing roughly 10:00 a night, less than 2:00 on the PP on average, and being centered by Fiddler or Vasicek. Playing with Legwand and Erat (or Arnott and Dumont) and having top PP time should allow him (barring injury) to reasonably post 60 - 70 points. Last season, the Predators ran Sullivan-Arnott-Dumont as the second line. That is certainly superior to Gelinas-Arnott-Dumont, but Gelinas did score 31 ES points (compared to Sullivan's 34 over 57 games). The problem last season was the Predator's attempt to keep rolling three scoring lines when injuries mounted. When Sullivan went down, you didn't see Radulov or Hartnell move up in his spot, you saw Vernon Fiddler or Jordan Tootoo. Our third line for practically the whole season saw Fiddler or Vasicek centering Radulov or Hartnell. Not a stellar third line. Certainly better from an offensive standpoint than what the Predators can ice today, but if the team shifts to a more defensively focused team, a shutdown-style third line will contribute in other ways. When you look at the top line minutes that Fiddler, Nichol and Tootoo (as well as Ramzi Abid and Rich Peverly) got last season (and the lack of time that Radulov got) it's amazing to me the amount of success this team achieved last year. Thanks for the actual discussion though. It'll be great to see the season underway again. David

Expectations- Part II has been posted. Thanks.

The posts that DetroitIan has made in this thread are well over a month old. I thought about creating a new thread for this latest article, but decided to stick to my original statement by continuing to use this thread as opposed to creating multiple threads for my articles. As far as I'm concerned, previous posts are water under the bridge. If a moderator wants to clean up the thread, that's fine by me. If those posts remain, that's also fine by me. Thanks.

I've edited the original post to add my latest article, Expectations- Part I. Thanks. David Singleton PredNation.com

If I were to throw out a conspiracy theory, something I would never do mind you, I can definitely see how this would get Boots his team (partially) while also taking KC out of the running for expansion (with Boots tied to the Predators and AEG running the Sommet Center) and open the door to Las Vegas and Hamilton/Waterloo/etc for expansion. Like I said, though, I don't toss out conspiracy theories. Even masterful ones like this. David

Ya think? The Predators play in the Sommet Center. The Sommet Group bought the naming rights in May 2007. As for the rest of your poorly worded and pathetic post... Thanks for playing. Edited to add: All that said, please keep this topic on track. SouthernWingsFan deserves that respect. Thanks. I actually think this team is better suited to Barry Trotz. I don't think they will win the division, but I like their chances of keeping both St. Louis and Chicago at bay for second. I think they make the playoffs, although it could be as low as 8th seed just looking at how closely packed last season's teams were point-wise. They will probably not be as explosive (barring huge steps forward by Radulov, Legwand, etc.), but they should be a more solid team (not allowing so many shots, etc.) that is more in Trotz's comfort level of coaching. Thanks.

I disagree. I like the article with the exception of Nashville's analysis: Consider these items: Peter Forsberg's impact was pretty low given the team was an extremely good team pre-Forsberg. Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell were not going to be re-signed. Poile was brilliant in obtaining our first round pick back instead of losing them for nothing. Hardly deserving of the F grade. Hated to lose Vokoun, but given the situation, Poile again turned that into really good picks while still leaving the team in the trusted hands of Chris Mason. Losing Kariya hurt, as we really wanted him to re-sign, but it was expected. Now, let's put this into perspective- which is where I believe his analysis is off. The Predators should have been analyzed with the understanding that they are changing their style to a more defensive and gritty team and judged on how well they constructed that team. The fact that the style change was necessitated by achieving a lower overall salary has a much smaller impact beyond the trades I've noted above. If examined from that perspective, how did Poile do? Poile has brought in Radek Bonk, Jed Ortmeyer, Greg DeVries, and Martin Gelinas. All of those players are strong defensive players as well as gritty. Last season, the Predators' two best penalty killers were David Legwand and Steve Sullivan. This season, they should both be able to become larger offensive threats and not be forced to expend too much energy killing penalties. Legwand had a breakout season last year with 27 goals even with the all the time on the penalty kill and hardly any time on the power play. This will be Weber's second full season, as well as Radulov's. Radulov has finally earned the trust of his coaches (and it took the playoffs to do it) after only playing roughly 10 minutes a game last season. I expect both players to continue to get better. Given the situation, I think Poile did a pretty decent job of providing the players to Trotz and his staff necessary for a successful style change (which is a style more suited to Trotz anyway). My grade: C+/B- Thoughts? David

I like the whites. I don't like the sleeves on the blues. I'm tolerant of the yellow piping, but would have preferred a different way of incorporating the yellow. I suspect that we will see the mustards return just as soon as alternate jerseys are allowed again. They are, by far, the most popular among Preds' fans- partly because they are disliked by everyone else. David