Monday's notes: Forbserg has scouts "drooling", while Dan Ellis rocks out The Stage

by Dirk Hoag on Sep 28, 2009 8:37 AM EDT

At long last, we can finally say that we've got NHL regular season hockey coming up this week! The Preds kick things off in Dallas on Saturday, but until then, we'll have a full week of news, notes, and previews to get you set up for the big day.

After the jump this morning, we have a look at how Patric Hornqvist has asserted himself this pre-season, a report on Nashville's prospects north of the border, and a picture of Dan Ellis from last night as he and Sully went out for a litte "team bonding" downtown...

Predators News

Young forward standing out for Preds | Nashville City Paper: Nashville's Online Source for Daily News
David Boclair writes about how Patric Hornqvist ended up leading all Nashville scorers in the pre-season. Before you get too excited, you should know that he did the same thing last year.

Predators Canadian Hockey League prospects report - Nashville Predators Examiner
For those of you who miss the young 'uns already, Jim Diamond reports on how Nashville's prospects in Canadian junior hockey have been faring lately.

Sully26 - Elly rocking out the Stage
Steve Sullivan let us know on Twitter that he was "Out with the boys tonight. Little team bonding before season starts." Here, we see Dan Ellis getting his groove on at the Stage (or at least, in the bathroom there).

Preds On The Glass: Neil Bristow Interviews Pekka Rinne
Buddy shares an extensive interview that Edmonton writer Neil Bristow conducted with the Preds goalie. Good stuff about his experience at the World Championships, his goals for next season, and his hopes to play for Finland in the Olympics.

Around the NHL

Agent for Toews, Kane meets with Blackhawks; NHL still looking into Pronger, Hossa deals - ESPN
Pierre LeBrun checks in with a number of interesting items; young Chicago superstars looking for their next contract, Peter Forsberg keeping his NHL options open, and the KHL's plan to expand into the rest of Europe...

Wings place Delmore on waivers - Duffer's Dabbles
Former Predators defenseman Andy Delmore gets cut from the Red Wings camp...

Talking With Messier About Fighting In Hockey | NHL Digest
Tyler gets Mark Messier on the record about fighting's role in the NHL, especially in light of the tragic death of Don Sanderson in an amateur game last season.

Blackhawks, Blues on rise - USATODAY.com
Kevin Allen previews the Central Division and puts Nashville in 5th, saying "The team doesn't have a big-name star up front who can carry the team." Come on, hasn't he heard of Mike Santorelli?

DirectTV, Versus battle could hurt Avs fans - The Denver Post
Adrian Dater digs inside the nonsense going on between Comcast and DirecTV that have NHL fans caught in the middle.

Forsberg looking like old self again, NHL scouts "drooling" - All Things Avs
It sounds like the hype is already in overdrive, only two games into Peter Forsberg's comeback in the Swedish Elite League. He may have looked great so far, but how long until he breaks down like he has the last several years?

Bettman on Olympics, long-term deals and Phoenix 'litmus test' - Puck Daddy
The Commish speaks about a number of topics, while in Washington for the Capitals Convention.

Lynch Released, Sestito Returns (Puck-rakers)
Good news from Aaron Portzline, as Tom Sestito returned to practice with the Blue Jackets after the nasty fall he took during the game against Nashville last weekend.

Lastly, here's an interview that Jordin Tootoo recently did on TSN related to that fight with Tom Sestito. Tootoo talks about fighting in the NHL, and the issue of how hockey helmets and visors come into play:

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Comments

Re: Hornqvist

Hornqvist’s preseason success illustrates how important it is to not just give prospects a chance with the big club, but a proper chance on a scoring line with the right players. What if Hornqvist played on a line with Dumont and Arnott for, say, the first 20 regular season games? I think there’s a good chance he would be up to speed by then and producing at a similar pace to his preseason scoring rate. Giving these players just a few games to prove themselves seems ridiculous; grant them some poor performances early, let them have time to acclimatize to the NHL and gel with their linemates and I bet the results will follow.

by Lil cutie on Sep 28, 2009 11:34 AM EDT reply actions

I hear you, but I don’t think the Preds have the comfort room to give someone a Top Six forward role on audition basis for too long during the regular season. That’s basically what they did with Hornqvist last season, and it just didn’t pan out. Might he work out better this year? He might get the chance to prove it, but I’m guessing he’d have more like 5 games to show his stuff, rather than 20.

More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.

by Dirk Hoag on Sep 28, 2009 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions

I decided to take a look at Hornqvist’s game log from last year to see if he was really given a fair shot to produce and uncovered some interesting numbers. http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/players/player/gamelogs/2008/1280574

Last year, Hornqvist started out the season with 2 goals and 5 assists (7 points), ~~2 +/~~ in 14 games, averaging around 14 minutes of ice time. He was getting some powerplay time in most games and I assume that he was skating on one of the top two lines for most of that time (though 14 minutes of ice time still isn’t a lot). Averaging a point every other game in your first 14 games is by no means a bust. After these 14 games, Hornqvist played one more game before being sent to Milwaukee for three months. He did not receive any powerplay time for the rest of the season and averaged about 9 minutes of ice time, recording 0 points and a ~~1 +/~~. I assume he was on the third or fourth line in these games.

Surely the Preds didn’t expect much more at the start of the year from Hornqvist. He was performing at a very decent rate before being sent to the AHL, which surely affected his confidence. What if he had stayed in the NHL all season, averaging 14 minutes a night with some powerplay time? He probably would have been somewhere in the neighborhood of 45-50 points, very respectable for a rookie year and comparable to what Erat and Legwand score.

This is my biggest problem with the Predators organization. They aren’t patient enough with young players on the NHL level.

by Lil cutie on Sep 28, 2009 2:27 PM EDT up reply actions

That’s an excellent observation on Hornqvist, I remember there being some head-scratching when he went down before. At the time, the thought was that he and Jones would be back by Thanksgiving, but that didn’t quite work out.

More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.

by Dirk Hoag on Sep 28, 2009 9:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Glad to see Sully remove that picture...

Honestly, I know their human and all, but I’m happy to see that Sully removed the picture of Ellis from last night. It was not something that I think was in the best interests of anyone to be shown to the public at large and was the type of picture that has been the source of more unnecessary scandals in sports over the past few years than one cares to remember…

Predators Hockey: Live it, Love it...

by Seth Lake on Sep 29, 2009 12:47 AM EDT reply actions