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Saturday’s Dump & Chase: Pacific Time, Here We Come Again

Nashville Predators News & Notes

Preds Ready to Make First Road Trip of the Season Memorable | NHL.com
Team bonding in Vegas? Sounds great, totally not likely to result in the Preds continuing their struggles against the Golden Knights! I see no problems here.

Should the Nashville Predators extend Roman Josi? | On the Forecheck
In case you missed it, I asked a question and then spent fifteen hundred words talking about sports culture, injuries, and the NHL’s abysmal lack of career counseling instead of answering it. I do think it is a question that should be asked, and I don’t think enough people are seriously considering the possibility that Josi and Poile might not be able to reach an agreement about a contract.

Other News & Notes

How the Columbus Blue Jackets want you to forget that hockey is a business | The Cannon
The Cannon’s MrSwift13 points out the flipside of asking players to be loyal to their teams: the team isn’t going to be loyal to the players. If you liked my “someone should pay Josi” take, you’ll probably like this too. If you didn’t like my “someone should pay Josi” take, give it a shot anyway.

Quick Bites: San Jose Sharks hold strong, dominate late for win over Chicago Blackhawks | Fear The Fin
OTF’s own Bryan Bastin swung by Fear the Fin to help them out while California is having some serious electrical issues, and catches everyone up on Patrick Marleau’s return, the Chicago Blackhawks losing, and more.

Sled hockey player gets Reimer’s autograph on her artificial hip | NHL.com
This is both cute–the player in question is nine–and weird. Still, it’s not the weirdest autograph request I’ve ever seen, and it is cute. (Also, quick lesson about dangling modifiers: “Already adorned with some cool superhero artwork, Reimer obliged” definitely makes it sound like someone had decorated Reimer, not the hip.)

Why are Sabres, Rangers, Oilers, Ducks off to hot starts? | ProHockeyTalk
This takes a quick look at why some teams that were bad last year are more successful this year, and it’s not bad overall. Still, acting like teams that have been very successful over a very small sample size having a high PDO is news is…uh…yeah, that’s how that sort of thing tends to work. Over a full season it’ll come closer to balancing out, but over a few games, yeah, the winners are going to be shooting high and getting saves.

James Neal keeps scoring goals as Oilers remain unbeaten | ProHockeyTalk
I’ll admit, I was skeptical when Rachel and Hayley included Neal in their list of possible targets this offseason. “He’s probably had it,” I said to myself. “That shooting percentage is going to rebound some, but not enough,” I said to myself. “Still, he’s not going to stay as bad as he’s been, and who am I to tell other people who to want on the roster,” I said to myself.

Spoiler alert: his shooting percentage didn’t stay as bad as it was last year.

Olivia Howe hired by Moose Jaw Warriors as WHL’s first female coach | Sportsnet.ca
Howe is a Moose Jaw local, which is always a fun story, and brings a NCAA championship on her resume as well as some time coaching a junior women’s team–it’s the latter that makes me more hopeful that this will end well, since not every skilled player is also a skilled coach (lookin’ at you, Gretzky and Roy).

How good has Anthony Mantha been for Red Wings? | ProHockeyTalk
*adjusts glasses, pulls up spreadsheet, clears throat* Real good.

Coaching and protecting MacKinnon at 12: ‘We had to watch out for him’ | Sportsnet.ca
I was expecting to be a lot more upset by this article than I was–I’ve read some things about Sidney Crosby’s childhood playing experiences that make me want to fight a few dozen hockey moms. (They can’t be that much worse than soccer moms, right?) Anyway, fellow Cole Harbour exceptional-status player Nathan MacKinnon either had fewer instances of grown adults taking their insecurities out on him, or this article just glossed over them.

Should teams fire coaches faster? | Arctic Ice Hockey
I’m getting the impression that our compatriots at AIH aren’t perhaps the happiest with Paul Maurice. Still, Cara raises a good point: why wait until the team is struggling in January to fire the coach?

Hurricanes top Islanders for fifth straight win, remain undefeated | NHL.com
The Hurricanes are 5-0-0 for the first time in franchise history. If they keep this up for too much longer they’re probably not going to be scrappy and likable, but I’m reveling in it while it lasts. Also, their head coach has told players to just play instead of worrying, which is fantastic.

NWHL Stock Report: Back at it | The Ice Garden
Some nice goals (video included), some excellent goaltending, a few NWHL firsts, and a team with much worse power-play struggles than the Preds have had recently, which is always a little bit of a relief to see. (Sorry, Whale.)

Truth By Numbers: Mika Zibanejad’s hot start and early-season sleepers | Sportsnet.ca
In case you missed it–and it’d be easy to miss it with players like Matt Duchene and Filip Forsberg setting the world on fire on the “second” line–Kyle Turris has actually had a pretty good start to the season. Also, some other stuff.