It was Fan Appreciation Night at Bridgestone Arena last night and SlapShot Radio's photographer was out capturing the fun one last time for the season. See the entire photo album at
SlapShot Radio.com
Courtesy DLM/SlapShot Radio
In a season of very few ups and a whole lotta downs, the Nashville Predators sent their fans off into a long hot summer with a win, and to help cool off that summer… Frosty’s! Milwaukee's ... errr ... Nashville’s 4-3 win over Abbotsford… errr… Calgary really didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. A meaningless, playing out the string game at the end of a very frustrating season for Pred Nation, but the win was also the first time the Predators won their last game of a campaign at home since before the lockout.
Having been so long since Predator fans have experienced this… let’s face it, the last time the Predators had to simply limp to the end of a season was a long time ago, the team and its’ fans have been getting used to seeing a lot of the younger players in an “audition” role. The team hasn’t been looking for excuses for this season. The accountability being shown by the players, coaches and front office has been admirable, but a cursory look at a few key things stand out as… let’s call them explanations for what happened this season, and why Nashville isn’t prepping for a playoff series.
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Is There A Doctor in the House? - Yes, I know… a lot of teams have had injuries, however, I can’t remember a Predator team with so many man-games lost to so many key players. Two of the team’s leading goal scorers going down with season ending injuries in March, key veterans losing large chunks of a small season… as of this writing 118 man-games lost in 46 games. It is simply a fact… injuries were a major factor.
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Eric Stratton, Rush Chairman, Damn Glad to Meet You - Yup, everyone had the same length of training camp, however, “system” based teams (see Nashville, Philadelphia, New Jersey) were definitely hurt by a short camp where teams that count on talent a little more than system (see Pittsburgh, Chicago, Anaheim, Washington) have shown quite a bit of success during the regular season.
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We’re in here talkin’ ‘bout practice? – See the point above. Very little time in-season to make the kind of fixes needed. The compressed schedule really hurt teams that did not come out of the gate strong.
This was certainly not the season Predator fans envisioned once the lockout finished. After two straight years getting to the conference semi’s, fans expected a lot more from this team. Those expectations went unrealized, but there are some positives to be taken from this season…
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The Kids Are Alright – Gabriel Bourque emerged as a legitimate scoring threat before going down with a knee injury, he is still second on the team in goals. Colin Wilson also looked to be coming into his own as an offensive force. Other prospects like Victor Bartley, Chris Mueller, Austin Watson (who got his first NHL goal last night) and Taylor Beck made strong statements about their future. Training Camp 2013 is going to be an interesting one.
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The House is Rockin’ - 24 home games… 20 sellouts… 99.2% of capacity up from 97.5% last season… even in a down year, Predator fans continued to come out.
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Baby Got Back - The Predators blueline is a solid as ever, the goaltending situation is set. The stability of long term deals for Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne is a harbinger of good things to come
And besides all of that… Nashville should end up with a top five draft pick in a draft that looks incredibly deep… while no one in Pred Nation is happy at this point, there is cause for hope, there are reasons to know this season is an aberration and not a new trend.
The team practices today before heading up to Detroit for tomorrow’s game.
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Random Notes
- Tomorrow night! The SlapShot Radio Watch Party is on… at Burger Republic! We’ll be enjoying some great food and cheering on the Preds against Detroit in the last game of this Central Division rivalry before the Wings go flying east, it’s one last chance for a divisional slap at big brother. We will also be collecting donations for OneFundBoston… so come on out to have some fun with the SlapShot Radio family! The Detroit Red Wings are hanging in there for a playoff spot. Nashville can have a hand in destroying that dream on Thursday night, let’s watch ‘em do it together!
- A few milestones last night… David Legwand’s 200th NHL goal, Austin Watson’s first, Hal Gill’s 1100th NHL game played.
- Congratulations to the Washington Capitals, they clinched the Southeast last night after a perfectly horrendous start to their season, they look to be a dark horse heading into the playoffs.
- Hello, Dustin Brown??? Ummm yeah… this is Brendan Shanahan…
- Last night’s loss to Washington was devastating to Winnipeg’s playoff chances, both the Rangers and Senators have games in hand.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs have a path to win their division… wow… ummm … “Hello Satan? What is the temperature down there?”
- Tonight’s Detroit / Los Angeles game is critical for the Red Wings’ playoff chances. The Wings enter the game on the outside of the top eight, but this game represents a game in hand over Columbus. The game is on the NBC Sports Network.
- The Connecticut Whale is no more… the Hartford Wolf Pack is back. Hartford’s AHL team is changing its’ name back to the original.
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SlapShot Radio, Join Pete Weber and I as we chat with hockey’s best, tonight at 7pm on 102.5 the Game and the SlapShot Radio Network. We are back in the studio this week with guest co-host Willy Daunic. We will be looking at the playoff race with Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek and Boston play-by-play man Dave Goucher, we will review the Predators season with Fox Sports’ John Manasso.
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