Nashville Predators News & Notes
Predators Sign Egor Afanasyev to Three-Year, Entry Level Contract | NHL.com
He’s having a pretty good season so far, but the reason for signing him to a contract right now is a little ambiguous. We’ll have a bit more on this soon, including information about how starting his ELC now affects Seattle, waiver eligibility, and all the rest.
Nashville Predators 2, Florida Panthers 3 (Shootout): Third Period Resurgence Not Enough to Redeem Preds | On the Forecheck
Can they petition the league to just never play a home game on Saturdays? Is that a thing they can do? The one good thing that happened last night was that eventually they switched power play songs.
Other News & Notes
- Matthew Tkachuk, Drew Doughty spark line brawl between Flames and Kings | Sportsnet.ca
Ah, the beautiful game. - I don’t think Sportsnet understands what a line brawl is, because they also say that only five penalties were handed out and Tkachuk got three of them. That’s not a line brawl, Canada.
The Buzzer: Fleury shuts out Penguins; hats off to Jost | ProHockeyTalk
On the one hand, I seem to have been wrong about the Stars–their fans are despairing over the defense-first hockey that the coach of the league’s worst offense is bragging about–but on the other hand, I seem to have been really right about the Avalanche.
NCAA talent populates National Team rosters | The Ice Garden
Some new names and some familiar ones (including Maddie Rooney, OTF contributor Bryan’s favorite goalie in women’s hockey–we haven’t asked him if she’s his favorite goalie in all hockey, just in case the answer might lead to some workplace conflict) make this list, and The Ice Garden informs and/or reminds us about their resumes and their styles.
In ‘playoff-style game,’ Canucks’ power play silenced against Devils | Sportsnet.ca
“Playoff” “Canucks” “Devils” What, did I fall through a time vortex here or something? But the Devils are on a two-game winning streak, after losing six straight, so that’s a plus for them.
Wild’s Jason Zucker apologizes to Bruce Boudreau for post-game comment | ProHockeyTalk
Really, I think the fact that Paul Fenton wanted to trade Zucker (tongue not sufficiently lizardlike? just didn’t play enough games as a Milwaukee Admiral?) is a point in his favor, especially with Fenton getting fired this summer, but I guess everyone else’s reaction was shock that a player dare call out the coach. For what it’s worth, I’m not sure how much more Boudreau could do with that roster, but I also think it’s ridiculous that players in general are expected to not call out their coaches. Sometimes it is the coach’s fault!
Maple Leafs, Canadiens chasing Russian free agent Konstantin Okulov | Sportsnet.ca
Do the Leafs even have the cap space to be chasing free agents right now?
Whitecaps Amanda Boulier starts the season with a bang | The Ice Garden
Do you like smooth-skating rovers? I mean, you probably do, since you’re here at On The Forecheck. There are some real nice highlights in this profile of NWHL defender Amanda Boulier.