Nashville Predators announce 23-man roster - Lundmark to IR

by Dirk Hoag on Oct 6, 2010 6:16 PM EDT

The Nashville Predators announced their 23-man Opening Night roster today, along with the placement of center Jamie Lundmark on injured reserve. Despite being put on waivers yesterday, defenseman Alexander Sulzer is still on the team.

Follow after the jump for a look at the Sulzer situation, and an excerpt from the team's press release...

After all players cleared waivers this morning (per TSN's Bob McKenzie), the Preds opted to hang on to defenseman Alexander Sulzer rather than assign him immediately to Milwaukee. They now have a 30-day (or 10 game) window in which they can send him down to the Admirals before requiring another waiver, if they decide later on to do so. Presumably he's still here to serve as a 7th defenseman, particularly since Shane O'Brien has to get paperwork in place to begin work in the U.S. as he transitions from Vancouver. You never know when bureaucratic delays can turn messy, so it wouldn't make sense to send Sulzer down before (at the very least) O'Brien is on the ice in Nashville.

When it comes to a potential recall to the NHL, Sulzer would have to clear waivers again on the way back up, in which case another team could grab him and split his salary 50/50 with the Preds. Aaron Johnson, on the other hand, would not have to clear recall waivers. If you're dying to know why, head for section 50.9(g) of the CBA, and try not to fall asleep while reading it.

Here's part of the team's presser:

Players by position currently on the active roster are as follows:

FORWARDS (14): Wade Belak, J.P. Dumont, Martin Erat, Marcel Goc, Patric Hornqvist, Sergei Kostitsyn, David Legwand, Matthew Lombardi, Cal O'Reilly, Jerred Smithson, Steve Sullivan, Jordin Tootoo, Joel Ward and Colin Wilson.

DEFENSEMEN (7): Francis Bouillon, Cody Franson, Kevin Klein, Shane O'Brien, Alexander Sulzer, Ryan Suter and Shea Weber.

GOALTENDERS (2): Anders Lindback and Pekka Rinne.

The Predators kick off the 2010-11 campaign this Saturday with Opening Night in Smashville when they take on the Anaheim Ducks at 7 p.m. CT (102.9-FM The Buzz, FOX Sports Tennessee). Festivities begin at 4 p.m. on the Bridgestone Arena Plaza with the players and coaches walking the red carpet on the plaza. Live music, games, free ice cream provided by Purity and a special arrival by mascot GNASH will follow. The Predators new flagship radio station, 102.9 The Buzz, will also be broadcasting live from Bridgestone Arena all day.

To keep up with all of our coverage of the Nashville Predators, you can subscribe to the RSS feed, follow us on Twitter (@Forechecker, @predatweeter, @SLakePreds & @Short_Shifts) or catch the site on Facebook. You can also email me at the.forechecker@gmail.com.

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My Only Surprise

is really o’reilly. not surprised after yesterdays trade, but i saw rich peverley written all over him and never really thought he would be here, let alone dressing saturday night. ( assuming belak and the injured kostitsyn are scratches. also surprised by sulzer, but its obviously temporary.

by predswilrule on Oct 6, 2010 6:25 PM EDT reply actions

Predators Roster Choices

Don’t know if anyone can answer this question. The reaction on these boards to the O’Brien trade was at first very negative but seems to have come to a middle ground, a wait and see point where O’Brien could be a solid addition. The consensus here/on the hfboards however remained that everyone hated to see Parent go; its clear had Sulzer been traded instead, there would be far less concern as evidenced by reaction to Sulzer’s waiver.

Poile stated in his radio interview that it was the Preds who wanted a salary neutral trade and we passed the first time the Canucks called re: O’Brien as it was neutral. So Poile is clearly saying he wanted to shed two folks so the deal was salary neutral for O’Brien. So why not put Sulzer in the deal instead of Parent? Likely because the Canucks desire was for a waiver to occur where the Parent/Sulzer player was claimed by another team, and the best chance for that was Parent. They accept ed Andersson because that was the price of doing the deal and meant they saved $1 Million in the salary differential.

Here’s the question: had Sulzer been claimed on waivers generating a salary savings for Nashville, why couldnt the Preds have claim Parent on waivers? Had Sulzer been claimed on waivers, then the deal was salary neurtral for the Preds if they picked up Parent off waivers. But another post here stated that SLake thought it would violate salary cap rules as an end run around the cap – that doesn’t make sense (so can anyone answer that?) since none of this favors Vancouver in ways they do not get by simply putting Parent in the minors. Why can’t the Preds pick Parent back up – all of this is irrelevant to Vancouver’s cap as Parent is headed to the minors and its not cap avoidance by the Preds who this helps stay on budget not under cap (hell, Kovalchuk would be cap irrelevant for us!)

btw, SLake did not give a firm answer on the hfboards so I do not want to say that occured. That post was cited and their was a reference to a previous dodge of the cap by another team 5 or 10 years ago but that appeared to be a use of waivers to cut a players salary in half and then reacquire the player at a salary that then came in under the cap. That’s not the case here – Vancouver didn’t need help there – Parent gets assigned to their farm team – no different than when they first waived O’Brien.

It almost seems like waiving Sulzer was designed to see if a team would pick him up, save the Preds $700,000 and then they they pick Parent back up for the 7th roster spot using those salary dollars.

If the Preds were never interested in picking Parent back up – if that wasn’t the plan – that means they got spooked by his history of injuries.

by keepellisingoal on Oct 6, 2010 11:48 PM EDT reply actions

One thing here is that since Parent and Sulzer went through waivers on the same day, there was no way to see if Sulzer would get picked before putting in a claim on Parent. Also, another factor involved is that Parent has another year on his contract. With guys like Blum & Josi likely getting their NHL shot next season, perhaps the Preds didn’t want that extra year of commitment to Parent. Just a thought.

After a brief scan, I don’t see anything in the CBA that outlaws trading for a guy, then picking him up on waivers later. There are restrictions the other way around (if you claim a guy off waivers, there are restrictions on trading him), though.

On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators. Catch me on Twitter at @Forechecker.

by Dirk Hoag on Oct 7, 2010 12:21 AM EDT up reply actions

Thanks Dirk...

….never even thought about the Blum & Josi options. That’s a good point, it may well be Poile had second thoughts on Parent.

One would have thought Poile would have considered that before innking Parent to two year deal but, maybe the addition of O’Brien in his mind is better than Parent (thanks for your detailed comparison of Parent and O’Brien yesterday) so it was that straightforward for Poile. And Sulzer is on a one year deal, which further makes your point.

by keepellisingoal on Oct 7, 2010 12:57 AM EDT up reply actions

different question...

do we know if 102.9 will stream the game over the internet? it’d be about the only way I could get it live….

TN Sports fan in Hoosier Country....

by Evanbio on Oct 7, 2010 8:06 AM EDT reply actions

I believe once the regular season starts, audio streams are also available on the Preds’ website and/or NHL.com.

Also, there’s usually a free preview of Center Ice for the first 3-4 weeks of the season, so check your cable/satellite provider.

On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators. Catch me on Twitter at @Forechecker.

by Dirk Hoag on Oct 7, 2010 8:11 AM EDT up reply actions

streaming

So far each game that has been broadcast on 102.9 has been available on their internet webcast. That has been the way that I got the game. It appears that the stream is ongoing for the station 24/7 so that whatever is being broadcast is available.

by Wendy H on Oct 7, 2010 9:56 AM EDT up reply actions

O'Brien

I hated to see Parent go because he was the “Defensive minded” D-man that we needed. The Greg Zanon/ Karlis Skrastins type player that we have been lacking. I felt very good about Parent in this way. Have you guys thought about this though: with O’Brien in the fold, I see Belak leaving soon. We now have an enforcer that will be on the ice as a D-man and we dont have to scratch a Forward to put him there. I feel like at the very least O’Brien will bring back some grit to the team. Toots has been working on having a more Offensive upside and has dropped the gloves less. And I hate to say it, but I think this will put more fans in the seats. We were the least penalized team in the league last season (atleast dfor most of it-I didnt hear the final numbers). Not that its a bad thing to keep your guyus out of the box, but we didnt drop the gloves all that much last year. I feel like O’Brien will keep our Captain from having to do as much work there also, as we all know Shea will drop them in a heartbeat. So with this in mind, I wouldn’t be suprised if we dont see Weber on the ice with O’Brien this year. I love seeing him and Suits together, but what would benefit us most? I am sure that most of you feel lthe way that I do. Suter is a very talented player and on a line without Weber, he may shine more. I am very glad to hear that we have worked on more than just dropping it back to Shea and letting him slap it in. That works at times, but it seemed liek, we did that CONTINUOUSLY last season. In football, if you run the same play over and over, they will get no where Offensively. Mix it up a little bit and the slapshot from thepoint will work more often. Just my opinion. Also when it comes to our D-men, the one that I have the least respect for is Kevin Klein. I hope that he comes bnack this year and can actually get his head out of his rear. Less giveaways on his part would be nice and actually play consistent Defense. You are not Shea and unfortunatley probably never will be even close to it. So stop trying to be that guy. sulaer looked pretty decent during the regular season with us last year. I think that Cody Franson will be awesome this year. And alot of people in the hickey world has him listed as a sleeper that will rise this season. All in all lets just pray that Rinne stays healthy all year. Without him, we are screwed! I cant believe, we didnt go pick up a backup G. Either way, it is time to get it on! I love what we have this year. Lombardi is about to dazzle nashville in a huge way! He is the player that I am most excited about. A very talented and fast two way player. Way to go DP! O’Reilly might suprise everyone this year. I dont understand why we dont put Wilson in the Center spot now though. We have enough talented wingers. And I beg you please——if David Legwand doesnt man up this year. Then give him the boot! This has to be his last chance!

by SinBinPred on Oct 7, 2010 10:41 AM EDT reply actions