Legionnaire11

does now. meaning we still have $1.5 to spend once we move a couple of our depth guys.

they had like $2-2.3M left to spend. Not sure if we overpaid Gelinas by that whole amount, or if there's still a move to be made. one scenario is that poile attached last seasons rookie bonuses to weber and radulov's contracts for this season to get that $2M down a little and thus wouldn't be overpaying Gelinas so badly.

the stick curve rule is outdated anyway. they could do away with it totally for all I care. let kovalchuk and jagr bend their blades into a U... they won't have any kind of backhand or defense then.

talk about back in the day. there's no way that would make it onto ESPN these days. what I really do miss (seriously) is RHI, that was a pretty cool league!

look a few things here would ya? If Leipold was told not to sell to balsillie, would he have enacted the out clause in the lease? If the NHL was involved, could they have told Leipold to go ahead and sell to Balsillie, but not invoke the clause? that would save face for bettman by keeping the preds in nashville WITH a billionaire owner. After Leipold asked the NHL not to consider Balsillie's offer, he said he was going to sign a letter of intent with del Biaggio. But he never did, and now he's talking to the local group. Why isn't del Biaggio complaining about tampering? ...maybe, just maybe it's because Balls and Boots both saw that the fans are stepping up and will 'cure' the lease, thus barring them from moving the team within the next 4 years, and they decided they don't want to wait and/or deal with the legal mess it would bring from the city? some people need to start thinking for themselves instead of always using the convenient "Blame Bettman!" story for every single thing that they don't like.

IMO the mustards look way better in person. In pictures and on TV you can't see the double layer of it. the reason it looks like that peculiar color is that it's a gold mesh layer over top of a solid navy layer. They're some really heavy sweaters.

How did Balsillie screw things up? you really have to ask?

If Balsillie had kept quiet, played by the rules and actually been willing to plunk down some cash to enter a binding agreement, then he'd be the owner of this team right now. Instead he defied all of the rules and never completed a binding agreement. Blaming it on Bettman is a foolish cop-out for people who are pissed about not getting a team. Everything the NHL does requires a vote by the BoG, it's not like Bettman can just make any rule he wants and it automatically becomes so. So far the one group that is ready to enter a binding agreement and put down the necessary cash to do so is the local group. Leipold has to go for the sure money, not to mention being able to end up as the good guy. Balsillie is just whining now, he messed up the Penguins deal, and then goes and messes up the Preds deal even worse. Rumor has it that he'll be going after the Thrashers next, if he hasn't learned how to get a deal done yet and ends up missing out on a third team, then you certainly can't blame it on Bettman.

try to keep up. they're not going anywhere.

actually, I think he has less of a role this season. in past seasons it seemed like the coaches always wanted to give him a try at times. But I don't see anything more than 4th line duties this season and I think he'll be splitting time with Smithson. maybe a half season split right down the middle. Of course, there is probably another trade to be made, and there are always injuries. But I don't see him playing as much as he did last season. He's obviously not going to be cracking the top 6, and to get on the 3rd line he'd have to outplay Fiddler, Smithson, Nichol, Ortmeyer and Hordichuk. Honestly, the only player in that list he is better than is Hordi. I really think Tootoo would best fit on an expansion team, he would be able to get second line time and would be like scott walker was for the preds.

haven't seen it posted anywhere yet... The rally yesterday was a HUGE success. Predictions were 2500 in attendance and 300 seasons tickets sold... actuall attendance was 7500 and at last count they were closing in on 800 season tickets sold!!! It was an awesome day, 14 straight hours of hockey talk on the radio, capped off by the rally which was an unbelievable atmosphere, great speakers, great message, great reception by the fans. Every hockey city should have one of these in mid-summer just to celebrate the game during the offseason.

pretty much the same feelings as drsingle... the home sleeves are weird, the piping i could do without. Love the "Nashville" on the away ones. overall, they more you look at them, the better they get. But i don't think i'll ever like the home sleeves.

de Vries should help to replace some of the veteran leadership void left by Timonen. and seeing as he's a bigger, more defensive defenseman, it might be a nice change of pace to have him as the rolemodel instead of the offensive minded Timonen. as for the top players producing, you're totally correct. We need our top 6 to be healthy and producing all season. I'm confident in all of them to do just that except for Sullivan, which is why I think our final aquisition (the third line LW we need) should be a guy who can step up to a scoring line as an injury fill in for a while. This team will be grittier and more of a defensive team like the one that played the wings in the 04 playoffs, except a lot more talented than that squad.

Honestly, I think Vokoun is the only name that the casual fans would have known. They probably heard of the rest, but not as much as Vokoun. only the die-hards really know all of the players. As for the retention of tickets. That's definitely the big question. Hopefully with the local group at the helm, businesses will be more likely to stay on board year after year. But seeing as we were only 185 short last season, even a 10% retention of these new tickets would keep us over the 14k mark. Not a great business plan, but it would technically be enough to keep them out of trouble again. as for the day that the preds pay into revenue sharing. that has always got to be the long term goal. We've shown growth in the last two years. We're one of two teams to move up in the attendance rankings over the past two years that haven't won a single playoff series in the last 3 years. The other is pittsburgh and we know why their attendance has gone up. So, even though the growth isn't as good as we all want it to be, it's obviously there and it would be a shame to give up on it now while there are other teams who are moving the opposite direction. The new RBK jerseys. more "form fitting"

Mustards are the best jersey ever!! mostly because everyone else hates them so much.

i'm pretty sure they're the same design with the new cut. they'll have the 10th anniversary logo on them though and the collar will probably be different with the NHL logo on it like all the new jerseys seem to have. I really hope there aren't major changes because I think they've got one of the best uniforms of all the expansion teams.

A lot of us have been feeling like they would announce it tonight. The ticket-thon/rally is going well so far. 3 hours in and they're approaching 100 season tickets sold. Still 11 hours left, it should really pick up around 5:00 when people are leaving work and headed downtown for the rally. as for the corporate tickets, Our Team announced this morning that at this point they've already sold 1,200 new corporate season tickets. Nashville is responding to the local efforts. Out with the cold northern guard (leipold), in with the good ole boys from Nashville! Soon, Nashville's team will be owned by Nashvillians and the team will be here to stay!

Wednesday, 07/18/07 Leipold, local group to meet with NHL By JOHN GLENNON Staff Writer The next step in the sale of the Predators could come as early as today. Sources familiar with the situation confirmed late Tuesday that current owner Craig Leipold and members of a Nashville group which has bid for the team will travel to New York this morning to meet with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. It is believed Leipold plans to sign a letter of intent to sell the Predators to either the local group or to California-based businessman William "Boots" Del Biaggio III. A letter of intent does not mean a sale is complete. It does mean the two parties involved will have exclusive negotiating rights for a set period of time. Leipold signed a letter of intent with Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie in May, but the deal never progressed any further. The next – and far more significant -- step toward reaching a deal would be a binding agreement, meaning a prospective owner would put down a significant sum of money as a show of interest. Any change in ownership would have to be approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors, which is unlikely to meet again until September. The board could conceivably vote by fax before then if absolutely necessary. The amount in the local bid has not been revealed, but it is believed to be lower than that of Balsillie’s $220 million and Del Biaggio’s $190 million. http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...2/70718002/1028

okay, now they're saying there's no letter of intent, but the meetings were "VERY" positive. Not as good news as a letter, but still good.

Letter of Intent has been signed. Now they just have to reach a binding agreement and get BoG approval.

My League: Eastern Division Raleigh Charlotte Charlston Columbia Atlanta Macon Knoxville Nashville Tampa Miami Orlando Tallahassee Western Division: Huntsville Birmingham Montgomery Mobile New Orleans Little Rock Memphis Austin Dallas Houston San Antonio Jackson And an operating agreement with the federal government and the united nations that says that no other professional team can operate above the minor league levels. It also gives this league first rights to draft and sign any players they choose. And they have exclusive rights to the stanley cup. Any league or teams who attempt to violate this agreement will immediately be put to death by firing squad! so which team would yall root for in my new NHL?

I hadn't ever heard anyone reporting 14k. But the 7k was thrown out in the local paper and then picked up on XM. I'm willing to bet that XM didn't bother to check on that number, the paper admitted that it was an old number. From the people i've talked to who have had direct meetings with the preds sales staff, it was approaching 9,000 this time last month. Which I believe is what we had last season. Now, that's not to say that there's no improvement. The schedule only came out last week. And until then, the partial season ticket plans couldn't be released for sale and a lot of people are waiting until the rally tomorrow to buy their tickets. I have a feeling that on friday we'll be hearing numbers closer to 10,000 if the local owners get a binding agreement in the next month, that gives them at least a month and a half before the season starts that they can drum up support. I have a feeling they have a lot of business contacts who have told them that they will buy tickets if the local group gets the team, but they're waiting to purchase until they actually see it happen. All in all, I expect us to start the season between 10-11k season tickets. And average somewhere around 15k paid for the season.

there's a ton of money in Nashville, we've got so much of the medical and music industry here. it's just a matter of convincing that money to spend it on the Predators, you get the feeling that they don't see a pro sports team as a good value for their money when they could be putting it into education, research and charities. Honestly, even the Titans probably wouldn't survive without the huge amount of money from the TV deal. Which is why a TV deal is so important for the NHL. If the league could sign a deal that would support the payroll of all 30 teams (as the NFL's does) then we'd never have to bring up the business side of things for any team and it could just be all hockey, all the time.

why should I be ashamed of it? one day we could be paying into revenue sharing instead of taking out of it. I'd prefer to look at the health of the league as a whole. too many people have a "here and now" mentality when they look at the league's problems and offer suggestions on how to fix them, rather than looking for the best possible long term solutions. Would moving a team from Nashville, Florida, Atlanta, etc, to a place like Hamilton be good for that particular franchise in the immediate future? yes. But it would do absolutely nothing for the long term success of the league. But if keeping the teams spread out across the country as they currently are, and bolstering them in their current markets, it only adds to the chance that the big TV deal will come in one day. Once that happens, nearly all of the league's problems go away (the NFL TV deal is enough to pay for every team's player payroll). So while some teams may be sacrificing right now, it's vital to the long term success of the league as a whole.

don't forget that we have a new naming rights partner for the arena (rumored to be $2.5M per season), and our revenue sharing check should be pretty hefty since we'll be at the cap minimum. What was it last year $10-12M? and the city pays all of the operating expenses for the arena. But that's just dealing with making a profit at 14k. as far as saying that 16k will get us a decent team. I agree, i'm not getting that either since it wouldn't generate that much more revenue but to buy one or two more players.