News continues to dribble out of 501 Broadway, even with most of the hockey ops staff in Vegas for tonight’s awards. The reported (yet unofficial) signing of Brandon Yip drew a collective “meh” from varied bloggers around Pred Nation. While I understand that everyone is waiting for the BIG NEWS, the role players need to be signed as well. Resigning Yip is a very good move, a gritty “Trotz-type” of player, Yip fit in well with the Preds after they picked him up off waivers mid-season.

I would expect to hear more of these type of signings over the next few days.

In other news from Pred Nation, the team announced that Development Camp begins next Tuesday with four on-ice sessions at Centennial Sportsplex. The on ice work will be Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday of next week. A perfect time to reconnect with Pred fans and get a hockey fix before the long hot summer begins in earnest.

Perhaps the largest news coming from the team involved the hiring of a new head coach for the Milwaukee Admirals. Former Capitals assistant coach Dean Evason has been named the bench boss for the Ads. The hope here is that the team is able to maintain a coach for a season or two after the high turnover in the past year. Evason spent a lot of time in the Capitals organization as a player and an assistant coach.

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Random Notes…

- Quick prediction on tonight's awards, Weber wins Norris, Fisher wins Foundation...

- The signing of Erik Karlsson to a seven year $45.5 million deal is said to set the bar for blueliners… ummm… I hate to disagree with the boss of this here site but... no… Karlsson is good, don’t get me wrong, but he is not as well-rounded at defense as either Shea Weber or Ryan Suter. The price for the dynamic duo will be higher.

- Key quote from Preds CEO Jeff Cogen, from Josh Cooper at the Tennessean… “The problems we have today are ‘how can we get these guys to take our money’ as opposed to, ‘who we’re going to get for the guy because we can’t afford him.’”

- The SportsBusiness Journal is reporting that the Predators are tracking on a 95-97% renewal rate on season tickets and an uptick in new sales.

- Other teams in the same article show to be tracking well… with the possible exception of Columbus, they report their renewals as down.

- Speaking of our friends to the north... The situation and attitude in Columbus is fairly downbeat… waiting on the trade of their captain has the fan base a bit dispirited. Bob Hunter’s column in yesterday’s Dispatch asks the troubling question… When Nash goes, who’s left to root for?

- TSN’s Bob McKenzie is reporting that Anaheim’s Bobby Ryan is back on the trade market. A 25 year old consistent 30 goal scorer… should bring a hefty return if he moves.

- Signs continue to point at the NHL schedule being released tomorrow.

- Bill Daly was quoted by Yahoo’s Nick Cotsonika “there will be Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale, Arizona. Absolutely,”

- The Coyotes saga continues to spin, now a potential referendum could scuttle the sale. Man do I hate to say this, but perhaps the Goldwater Institute needs to get what it deserves… a white elephant sitting in Glendale costing the taxpayers more money than keeping the Coyotes. The only problem is, the Goldwater Institute can walk away scott-free, it ain't their money they are playing fast and loose with… it’s the Glendale taxpayers getting screwed either way.

- Gary Bettman was very short on specifics but said yesterday that CBA negotiations will begin “in the not too distant future.”

- Could Roberto Luongo be returning to South Beach? Rumors are cropping up that Florida is in the mix to trade for the Canucks netminder…

- The Minnesota Wild has re-signed goaltender Josh Harding to a three year $5.7 million deal, keeping him off the free agent market.

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On the next SlapShot Radio

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