With a victory over Tampa Bay under their belt, the Nashville Predators rookies will take on Florida’s kids at 11:00 a.m. Central today – keep your Twitter feed tuned to @rinkside and @NHLPredsInsider for updates during the game. Head over to Litter Box Cats to check out the rosters, which include the 3rd overall pick in this summer’s draft, Jonathan Huberdeau, for the Panthers.
For now, follow after the jump for your morning hockey news…
Nashville Predators News
Action-Packed Weekend Sees Most Successful Ticket On-Sale in Franchise History – NashvillePredators.com
The Preds are trumpeting their success from the weekend, with strong ticket sales and turnout at the charity fundraisers.
Nashville Predators Ticket News A Mixed Bag – The Hockey Writers
George tempers some of the glowing reviews from the weekend with suggestions on how the Preds might better target their free preseason ticket giveaways. I’d say that the discounts and giveaways are all about getting the building filled early in the year, to build that mindset of scarcity among the public, so there’s a bit more urgency to “buy now” rather than wait until the last second.
Preds On The Glass: Craig Smith Leads Preds Rookies to 7-3 Blowout of Bolts
Buddy saved the scoresheet from last night’s game as a Google Doc, if you’d like to check it out.
Preds On The Glass: POTG Tuesday Headlines, News, and Notes: Rookies Impressive in Debut
Buddy’s serving up a buffet of links already today…
Is third time the charm for Ryan Ellis? – NHL.com
Is this the year Ryan Ellis makes the Preds straight out of training camp, or does he go to Milwaukee?
Ekholm Aims For Smooth Transition | PuckScene.com
…or if Ryan Ellis can’t make the cut, how about Mattias Ekholm?
PredGold: Opponent Preference
If the other team can play defense, too, the Preds are in trouble, John asserts.
Nashville Predators Season Preview: Part 2 ” Music City Mindset
A trio of prognosticators (including Marc from here at OTF) take their shot at how things might turn out.
Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne adjusts to new status – The Tennessean
The kid’s a star, I tell ya!
Preds management seeks increased scoring for 2011-12 season | Nashville City Paper
Hey, as long as Craig Smith keeps potting 4 goals a game, we’re all set. Even if he only does half that, the Preds will be OK.
Boclair: Death as history | Nashville City Paper
David Boclair notes that with all the renovations going on at Bridgestone Arena, perhaps some kind of addition could be made to honor the four former members of the organization who all passed away this summer.
Also, here’s the video of last night’s post-game shootout between the rookie Preds & Lightning:
Around the Wide Wide World of Hockey
Wayne Gretzky Plays The Seinfeld Theme With Hockey Pucks – SBNation.com
OK, this is funny!
Sharp Has Emergency Apendectomy – Second City Hockey
Patrick Sharp will miss training camp, but it sounds like he won’t miss much, if any, of the regular season.
Blueshirt Banter Exclusive: NHL 12 Review! – Blueshirt Banter
EA Sports NHL 12
Down Goes Brown: An in-depth review of NHL 12
Nice… “Players can now read and react to what’s happening around them. Goalies read the rush and react by cutting off a cross-crease pass, forwards read the defence and react by overloading the zone, and Winnipeg Jets read the local newspaper’s nightlife section and react by demanding a trade to Buffalo.”
Unheralded Mark Dekanich Is A Player To Watch – Houses of the Hockey
The Dexshow might just take over in Columbus…
Canada’s eastern teams have great expectations – The Globe and Mail
Really? I don’t think the Senators have much pressure on them, as they’re just starting a major rebuild.
Canada’s Western NHL teams are shifting gears – The Globe and Mail
And here I thought the Flames were still stuck in neutral…
Minor hockey associations mandate baseline concussion testing – The Globe and Mail
A common-sense step is being taken to have kids as young as 10 tested for use in handling potential concussion issues.
Maple Leafs Allowed Shot Locations | The LeafsNation
Somebody remind me to do something like this before the start of the season. I’ve got the data, I just need to figure out how to make it look perty.
DobberHockey
The Dobber empire grows ever larger, with the addition of Sportsnet.ca fantasy hockey writer Chris Nichol to their writing staff.