It is Trade Deadline Eve and the Nashville Predators are hosting the Pittsburgh Penguin tonight at Bridgestone Arena, and if that wasn’t enough… Pred Nation welcomes Pekka Rinne back after a 51 game absence. So let’s take ‘em one at a time…
Trade Deadline
I’m not sure if David Poile has anything up his sleeve or not. The two big “available… players Are NYI’s Thomas Vanek and Buffalo’s Matt Moulson, either one would be a nice pickup but I don’t look at either player as the difference-maker, unless you can offload an underperforming player or two… which doesn’t appear to be likely for these two players as it is widely known that Buffalo and the Islanders are looking for young talent and draft picks back. I don’t see where that will happen.
According to John Manasso’s column on foxsports.com, the possibility of trading David Legwand is remote. Manasso quotes Poile saying that “there’s not a hockey trade out there. I have no ability to trade him anyway.… Here’s a longer quote from the same article…
"Talked to the agent many times, talked to David," Poile said. "He would like to re-sign here. We're not in a position right now to be able to do that based on a couple of factors ... like our budget that we're looking at for next year and also it's based on whether we're a playoff team (or) not a playoff team, what changes we want to make? ... I have no ability to trade him. He has not given me any right to trade him. As I stand right now, we're four points out of the playoffs. I think he's going to stay here and maybe the best news would be we make the playoffs and we re-sign him."
Predators vs. Pittsburgh
Sidney Crosby and the Penguins are in town tonight for the first time in quite awhile, carrying a few injuries… especially on the blue line. Defensemen Paul Martin and Kris Letang are out… Pascal Dupuis is on IR along with Tomas Vokoun, and Chris Conner. The Predators have pulled Nick Spaling off IR and are listing Matt Cullen as doubtful for tonight’s game.
The Penguins have finally thawed out after Saturday’s Stadium Series game in snowy Chicago, dropping a 5-1 decision to the Blackhawks. Pittsburgh has a three game losing streak going back to before the Olympic break, dropping overtime losses to New York and Montreal before Saturday, they lost a little of their conference lead over that time period and Boston has drawn to within striking distance. For the Predators, Saturday’s loss to the Jets hurt, amping up the importance of this game. Overtime doesn’t matter here, but Nashville needs two points. Which leads us to our third topic…
Rinne Returns!
This is the big story tonight, Pred Nation has been waiting quite awhile for the return of Pekka. After a successful conditioning stint in Milwaukee, Pekka Rinne is slated to be between the pipes tonight after missing 51 games due to a hip infection. It is impossible to underestimate how important this player is to the Nashville Predators.
It is my contention that you couldn’t lose a more important player for this team. And it is not because of the backup struggles… it is because this team plays differently in front of Rinne. It’s the one thing that the #FancyStats crowd can’t quantify… it just is.
Some tickets remain for tonight’s game at Bridgestone Arena, faceoff is 7:07pm… get there early for some neat pre-game stuff. If you can’t make it to the Bridge, tune in on 102.5 the Game, the Predators Radio Network or Fox Sports Tennessee.
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Random Notes
- Congratulations to the Centennial Cougars on winning their second Predators Cup this past Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. This is CHS’ first title since 2001...Also sending out congrats to Mt. Juliet/Wilson Central, who defeated FRA/Lipscomb for the Henry Hine Cup becoming the first school to win the Hine Cup, the GNASH cup and the Predators Cup. centennial's win gives Williamson County the last five Cup champs... the last non-Williamson county champ? Father Ryan High School.
- You keep hearing the name Sam Gagner swirling around the Predators. The Preds are deep in a crying need for Edmonton, defensemen. Not sure if this trigger gets pulled…
- Keep an eye on Colorado forward Paul Stastny, if the two parties don’t reach a new deal by tomorrow, you may see the talented winger dealt.
- People are already anointing the St. Louis Blues the winner of this year’s trade deadline… let’s see before we give them the cup.
- Ryan Kesler is on quite a few wish lists on this Deadline Eve… better make the offer sweet… Kesler wants to go to a winner.
- The rumors are flying fast and furious on this deadline eve. The most interesting one could be Martin Brodeaur to the Wild?
- Ten games tonight – 6pm starts – Panthers @ Bruins, Red Wings @ Devils, Stars @ Blue Jackets. 7pm starts – Avalanche @ Blackhawks, Lightning @ Blues, Penguins @ Predators, Islanders @ Jets. 8pm start – Canucks @ Coyotes. 8:30pm start – Senators @ Oilers. 9:30pm start – Hurricanes @ Sharks
- Who to root for/against tonight – Root for Columbus, Islanders, and Phoenix in regulation.
- Playoff Point Tracker – Need - 36 out of 46… Got – 2 out of 4 … Playoff Chances – 2%
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