Sunday's notes: Trades dominate the news at NHL Draft weekend

by Dirk Hoag on Jun 26, 2011 9:59 AM EDT in Nashville Predators News

While the focus of the Entry Draft is typically on the young hockey players living the dream of getting selected by an NHL team, it also tends to be one of the busiest times for trades, and this year was no exception. Offensive threats seemed to be the currency of choice this time, with lots of skilled defensemen being dealt, and even a talented winger or two in Devin Setoguchi and (the as-yet unrealized potential of) Nikita Filatov.

So... did the Predators miss an opportunity to add some scoring punch by not jumping in on the wheeling and dealing? Is there hope that something can be found via free agency, or shall the team rely on the development of players like Sergei Kostitsyn and Colin Wilson to bolster the attack up front in 2011-12?

That my friends, is the question of the day...

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Nashville Predators News

Preds target Muller for AHL coaching position - sportsnet.ca
Wow, this is big-time. Kirk Muller is a well-respected former player and assistant coach with Montreal, and appears to be headed to Milwaukee to run the Admirals' bench.

Preds On The Glass: Magnus Hellberg Speaks After His Selection By The Nashville Predators
First up, Buddy shares video of the Preds' latest gigantic Swedish goatlender.

Preds On The Glass: Miikka Salomaki Speaks Shortly After Being Selected by the Nashville Predators
Buddy also shot video as Nashville's 2nd-round pick spoke with the media.

Preds On The Glass: Nashville Predators GM David Poile Speaks at the end of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft (Video)
And more video, at the end of the day with a happy David Poile.

2010-11 Wrap-Up: Of Blings and Strings (Part 2/2) | Pull My (Fang)Finger
AJ isn't too wild about the new jerseys...

Smashville 24/7: 2011-12 schedule observations
Ryan breaks down the upcoming Preds schedule.

Around the NHL

Bourne Blog: The drafted vs. undrafted debate for NHL - Puck Daddy
Interesting stuff here, which I assume will only increase due to the number of teams creating the position of Hockey Development Director where a guy (in Nashville's case, Martin Gelinas) roves around and keeps an eye on the team's prospects.

The Trades - CanucksCorner.com
A fine read on what the weekend's major trades mean for the league by Tom Benjamin.

Saturday's Daily Dosage - Burns, Campbell, Liles... - Fantasy Hockey Scouts
Offensive D-man were getting shipped all around the league this weekend, so Cam looks at the fantasy hockey implications.

Smyth's return to Edmonton held up by health of Brule - TSN
Significant stumbling blocks remain on the road to a tearful reunion.

Nikita Filatov Traded to Ottawa for 66th Overall Pick - The Cannon
What a bust... but a nice opportunity for Ottawa to pick up a lottery ticket off the sidewalk here.

Breaking: Alex Tanguay Re-signed for 5 years at $17M - Matchsticks and Gasoline
It's not often that a guy at this stage of his career doubles his salary and gets longer term to boot.

Not So Deep Thoughts, by Hack Jandy - Second City Hockey
The Blackhawks, constrained by the salary cap last season, have new-found flexibility thanks to the Brian Campbell trade.

NHL Entry Draft Analysis - TheGoalieGuild
This review of the goalies pick heaps a lot of praise on Magnus Hellberg.

Canes Now - Rutherford discusses salary-cap pinch
I can see how the Hurricanes are having difficulty with the rising salary level across the league, but only if they have trouble hitting their targets for revenue sharing. At least they're trying to spend prudently (unlike Columbus).

The Hockey News: NHL contracts, salary cap will lead to CBA issues in 2012
Somebody needs to take away Ken Campbell's keyboard. The guy seems to have no grasp of how the CBA works. The players do not "take more every year", they get a fixed share of league-wide hockey related revenues, and to claim that "you have as big, perhaps even bigger, chasm between the haves and have notes of the NHL" compared to the pre-lockout era is absurd.

Next CBA demands creativity - NYPOST.com
Larry Brooks plays the role of Cassandra regarding the upcoming CBA negotiations.

Brian Campbell Ready to Get Things Started with Florida Panthers ... Now with More Dale Tallon and Mike Santos - On Frozen Pond
Campbell will definitely help in Florida, even if his contract is absurd.

Objective NHL: How often does the Best Team Win?
Good stuff here for the mathematically inclined.

Save money with coupon code for Warrior & UnderArmour gear | Hockey Gear HQ - news, reviews & deals
Using this special offer code will give you an extra 15% off already-discounted Warrior and UnderArmour items found at Hockey Monkey. Even if you don't play hockey, the UnderArmour selection is pretty impressive.

Poll

Where lies the best chance for Nashville to add some offense?

Development of young players

83 votes

Free agency

69 votes

Trades

154 votes

306 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

With the looming...

contracts of Weber and Rinne on the horizon, the Preds are not going to spend money like drunken sailors.

With his 50 points and improved 2-way play, I can see some team throwing some cash at SK74 forcing a decision from Poile.

At 1.7, Wilson is going to HAVE to start producing especially with Dumonts 4 million sitting in the presser.

When I heard that Setoguchi went for Burns, I feel the Preds missed a big opportunity especially with the depth that Nashville has.

by BrianAdsFan on Jun 26, 2011 10:23 AM EDT reply actions

Missed opportunity........again.

Not sure how Poile can be happy about coming away from yet another draft without making any movement in either moving up in the draft or making any deals to obtain some offensne. Someone made the comment in one of the draft threads as to why there are so many water and gatorade bottles at the Preds draft table…….they don’t do anything while there! While that’s a comical way of summing it up, it does make you question why we are so passive at the drafts, which are really the best time to get trades done.

I’d like to believe we’ll do something on the trade or UFA front, but I honestly doubt we do anything other than possibly some low level signing, a Kopecky type guy maybe. If we did do something of significance, it would put a better light on this draft we just had, but absent that, this was a very disappointing weekend.

by Grizzledbear on Jun 26, 2011 11:23 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

Well, if Poile had traded to move up in this draft I would have been sorely disappointed in him. Even the top selected prospect from this draft class are projected to be several years away from the NHL. It was widely accepted that this was a weak class, and Poile grabbed some talented players, but they are players that really need more time to develop. You might also notice that many of the “blockbuster” trades were teams shedding expensive contracts. There were a few shifts in 2011 picks, but really nothing exciting. Also the Calgary-Buffalo trade was in the works before the draft and contained no 2011 picks.

Thankfully, Poile still has the rest of the summer to make whatever moves he sees fit.

Puck And Punk blog: The only music with enough heart for hockey.

by 3DLink on Jun 26, 2011 12:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Doesn’t that depend on what Poile would have given up to move up in the draft, or acquire an extra pick in, say, the 2nd round? Not that I anticipated moving up into the top half of the 1st round, but there are few kids like Landeskog who may well go right to the NHL out of this draft.

As far as trades went, the Setoguchi deal wasn’t much of a salary situation as it was two teams looking to solidify weak spots on their respective teams. Maybe a deal was there for us to make that made sense, maybe not, but we just do not use possibly the best time of the season to address our weakness (offense) at any drafts in recent memory. Just don’t think you can be that passive when you’re a below cap midpoint team. Fact is, we do not have anyone ready in our developmental system that is ready to step into a top 6 forward position. How do we plan on addressing that issue, or are we going to once again not address that issue?

by Grizzledbear on Jun 26, 2011 1:36 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

I’d argue that Colin Wilson stands on the brink of the Top 6. This is the year to prove he belongs there.

Managing Editor of On the Forecheck, SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators, and HockeyGearHQ, a site devoted to news, reviews, and deals on hockey equipment and accessories. Catch me on Twitter, or join OTF on Facebook!

by Dirk Hoag on Jun 26, 2011 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Considering that he couldn’t crack the playoff lineup until injuries forced him into that lineup, that seems like a risky proposition to consider him on the brink. That kind of wishful thinking is what gets you same result year after year.

But Wilson is a roster player, I’m refering to players who have yet to make it to the NHL level. None of those forwards are ready yet.

by Grizzledbear on Jun 26, 2011 2:13 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Wilson may be more on the cusp of on his way out of here than anything else. He’s been in the doghouse way too long for it to be just about his defense. Besides, I’ve seen much worse from Kevin Klein than I’ve ever seen from Wilson. He wasn’t drafted in the 1st round for his defense. Anyway, sitting16 goals in the press box for the playoffs when your team already has trouble scoring goals seems to say more about Trotz than it does Wilson. He’s a center being asked to play on the wing and he’s an offensive player asked to concentrate on defense, and neither has worked out thus far. I say put him back at center, let him play his game, and see what happens. Otherwise he’ll be shipped out of town for next to nothing and end up somewhere else playing better than he ever did here. Deja vu all over again.

The truth is neither libelous nor slanderous.
Reason and logic instead of hope and faith.

by shoot the puck on Jun 27, 2011 1:39 AM EDT up reply actions

Hauntingly true statements here..

by HardCorePredFan316 on Jun 27, 2011 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions

wish that were so but I think grizzledbear is closer to Wilson's performance....

Wilson has soooo much talent, just do not know why it isn’t translating on the ice…he’s a big body and if he could score 30 goals a year, the presence on the ice he would be demonstrating would be incredible.

btw, I read Colin Campbell’s article referenced above and seems like he makes a very good point. As some posters to Campbell’s article noted, by not tying the salary floor as a percentage of the overall cap (even if that percentage eeeked up each year) – and instead saying the floor must be a constant $16 below the cap, it forces teams like Florida (who clearly is complaining) to literally waste money just to meet the cap.

And it means that these players are receiving more money in terms of whole dollars each year because the floor is forcing a higher percentage of the whole to be spent by those teams nearer the bottom. The following article makes the same point (this article came up as the second article shown in a Google search – search term NHL Pre Lock Out Salares.

http://coldplayhockeyhotbed.blogspot.com/2011/06/nhl-salary-cap-floor-creating-pre.html

by keepellisingoal on Jun 27, 2011 11:11 PM EDT up reply actions

But here's the thing

Under the CBA, the players get 57% of league-wide hockey related revenues. Not a penny more, or a penny less (the adjustments are made via escrow). Ken Campbell makes it sound like the players are taking an increasing share of the pie every year, and that’s simply not the case.

There’s an argument to be made that perhaps the $16 million range is too tight, or that revenue sharing would need to be changed to better support it, but Campbell doesn’t go there.

by Dirk Hoag on Jun 28, 2011 8:03 AM EDT up reply actions

Poile’s moves are all head-scratchers, but he usually gets things done in the end. I’ll say this for him—he has a particular player in mind when he gets ready to draft and nothing-and I do mean NOTHING-will convince him to select otherwise.

Lifelong Tennessean, Flyers' fan for life

by TNBrando on Jun 26, 2011 12:34 PM EDT reply actions

Very true…….if only that particular player were a skilled forward. :/

If only some other team took Hellborg before our pick…….grrrrrr!

by Grizzledbear on Jun 26, 2011 1:26 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Draft proved to me organization's strength & weaknesses

I don’t think DP is confident in some of the current grinders and checkers in Milwaukee ever making an impact in the NHL. He seemed to stick to that philosophy thru the draft. DP does have confidence in the scouts finding then developing goaltenders and defenseman… I really wasn’t surprised about another goaltender pick, just the 2nd round selection part. Hopefully, like many others have said, this will eventually lead to a trade from our position of strength (defenseman, goalies). The team will already be much better with O’reilly (who played well defensively even when he stopped scoring as the #1C) and the experience from younger players that were forced into action (which includes Wilson being unable to be scratched due to a lack of bodies in the 2nd half until they got healthy for the playoffs, I’m hoping he learned something about being a professional).

GO PREDS!

by VApreds on Jun 26, 2011 1:38 PM EDT reply actions

Smashville 24/7 observations......

It’s a shame that the only TV love the Preds will get on TV is Hockey Night in Canada with the Habs and Jets(So glad I can finally say Jets again), and probably the Detroit game on Dec 26th. NBC will again show nothing but original 6 teams with a few bones thrown to Philly, Washnington, and Pitt. I love that our wild card games are against Washington and Philly, but can we trade Carolina for Pitt? Forget Southern Hockey Market rivalries since Atlanta moved, the Preds will NEVER develop one. Not that Atlanta ever developed in to anything, though the NHL tried with them being our wild card every season. And why aren’t NHL game start times flexible? What if the we’re battling the Wings or Hawks for the Div or Conf title at the end of the season? I’d think NBC and/or VS would wanna pick them up.

by SFPredsFan on Jun 26, 2011 2:38 PM EDT reply actions

I think I found the most important part of our draft: (thanks to Seth)

Seth (SLake) mentioned Weber was there meeting the new draft prospects, and said there was a picture on the Preds site. I then saw this on the main page:

I’m pretty sure that’s him! At least it means everyone’s talking.

Regarding going 0-4 in the NHL Awards, I quote the great Hornqvist: "S**t's gonna happen."

by DonBorvio on Jun 26, 2011 6:16 PM EDT reply actions

Not him.

Shea wasn’t there. A few players from other teams were (Taylor Hall, Byfuglien, Backes), but not Shea.

by Patten on Jun 26, 2011 6:49 PM EDT up reply actions

TRADES

no ufas other than richards would be much more than another committee member of our score by committee committee. certainly no dynamic forwards in milwaukee. that leaves trades. and to get a top 6 forward that would really make a difference you would need to trade something of substance. that means a high end dman (suter), goalie or a top prospect (ellis) none of which will happen.

by predswilrule on Jun 26, 2011 10:00 PM EDT reply actions