Nashville Predators News & Notes
There’s No Place Like Home: Johansen, Sissons ‘Lucky’ to Be From B.C. | NHL.com
The Preds’ BC connection waxes and wanes, but it’s a surprisingly consistent thread throughout the last decade or so.
Other News & Notes
Bulbul Kartanbay signs with Riveters, becomes first Kazakh player in NWHL history | The Ice Garden
I shared a link to a story about Kartanbay, who’s been dreaming about and striving towards playing in the US for years, last week. It was fantastic to see the update. Sometimes stories do get, if not necessarily a happy ending, at least a happy chapter break; here’s hoping for a happy next chapter as well.
‘Cautiously optimistic’ NHL CBA talks could result in 2021 World Cup | Sportsnet.ca
The idea of a NHL that can actually get a new CBA together as the old one expires so that work continues successfully without a stoppage is just bizarre. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Do Wild have short-term path back to playoffs? | ProHockeyTalk
Have they tried getting Zach Parise a bionic spine? Or maybe just moving him from the ice, where he was their most productive forward last year despite his age and his injuries, to officially getting the GM position? The latter might be cheaper in the short run…
Patrik Laine ‘prepared for anything’ with future in Winnipeg uncertain | Sportsnet.ca
The Jets haven’t re-signed either Laine or Kyle Connor yet. It’s some small consolation that the Jets are having a worse offseason than the Preds are, even as most of the rest of the Central loads up. Are they okay up there? Do they need a care package? Has climate change led to the thawing of some kind of toxic gas in the frozen Canadian wilderness that’s impacting people’s decision-making?
IIHF unveils 2020 Women’s World Championship logo | The Ice Garden
Meredith Foster takes a look at the IIHF’s latest, uh, brilliant graphical decisions, while also looking back at some great past logos. A fun read if you like graphic design, or just if you want to contemplate hockey players somehow skating through a wall of flame.
Burning questions for Montreal Canadiens in 2019-20 | ProHockeyTalk
Sometimes ProHockeyTalk has good #content. Sometimes ProHockeyTalk says that expecting Max Domi to be productive in Montreal again is risky because his last year with the Coyotes he shot 6% and didn’t score many goals. You take what you can get, I guess. (For the record, 6% is low for a forward–that’s facing .940 goaltending–and you’d, you know, expect a player to bounce back from that. And yeah, if you’re shooting 6% you’re not going to score many goals.)
Canucks extend GM Jim Benning’s contract beyond 2019-20 season | Sportsnet.ca
On the one hand, there are worse GMs in the league. On the other hand, I’m not sure there are any other GMs who come as easily to mind as potential targets for a stupid trade now that Chiarelli is gone.
I just had to google to make sure that Chiarelli hasn’t gotten re-hired yet, so that’s how August is going.