Our afternoon hockey notes today contain an unusual amount of focus on the goaltenders within the Central Division. While earlier this week Pekka Rinne was named the NHL's 3rd Star of the Month for January, today we have speculation about what Chicago should do about their subpar netminding, an injury in Detroit to Jimmy Howard, and rumination in Columbus over how Steve Mason's career has been handled.
While reading, listen in as Rob Vollman was interviewed by Willy Daunic yesterday, providing his analytical view on what the Preds need to address at the trade deadline. At first blush, I think I'd be very much on-board with his suggestion here:
Rob Vollman on 1025 2012-02-02 (mp3)
All this and more after the jump!
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If you're interested in a new Preds lid, here are 3 places you should check out...
Greetings From Smashville! (Who Dat Streakin'? Edition) | The Hockey Writers
Jas sums up the news and events of the week gone by.
The Hippodrome: Yo, Coach Franklin, Pump The Brakes, Buddy | Pith in the Wind
J.R. touches all the bases around Nashville in what has become a weekly must-read for local sports fans.
Agape Rescue’s Luv My Dog Day is this weekend… | Section 303
Got a dog? There's a pretty cool event tomorrow morning to raise money for Agape Animal Rescue.
KuklasKorner : The Malik Report : Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard’s broken finger isn’t a severe injury
Detroit loses their #1 goalie for a couple games.
Tailing Ov: The Cautionary Tales of Nikita Filatov, Steve Mason, and Cutting Bait - The Cannon
Just when do you let go of a young player who has shown promise in the past (in particular... Steve Mason)?
Daily Debate: Gagner's eight is great, Blackhawks netminding not so much - Cross Checks Blog - ESPN
Pierre LeBrun & Scott Burnside ponder what Chicago might do about its lousy goaltending.
PHOTO: Blues Fan To Welcome Nashville Predators With Giant Chris Hansen Sign - SBNation.com
Keep an eye out for this one tomorrow.
In Praise of Doing Nothing - Backhand Shelf
One could read this as a hearty endorsement of the man known as "Patient Poile".
Toronto Maple Leafs players surprise rec hockey team as guest coaches (Video) | Puck Daddy
More beer league awesomeness!
Ryan Smyth, Edmonton Oilers veteran left winger, would think seriously about coming to play for New York Rangers - NYPOST.com
Will he cry so much this time, though?
Friday's Injury Updates - Carter, Stafford, Nugent-Hopkins... - Fantasy Hockey Scouts
The guys are really moving to and from Injured Reserve, so get those fantasy rosters updated!
The real NHL trading game - The Globe and Mail
Eric Duhatschek gets you all ready for the hockey weekend with an exhaustive notes column.
Casey Wellman Traded To The NY Rangers For Erik Christensen - Hockey Wilderness
Another minor move on the trade market... are these like rumblings before a real earthquake shakes things up?
0 recs | 33 comments
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I wouldn’t say they have a wide array of Preds products….
Evanbio - February 3, 2012
I visited New York back in August as I visited the NHL store, they had ZERO Predator jerseys. They kept stock of every jersey except for the Preds. The only Predators product available was a grey Weber T-shirt.
Disappointing.
Klein(er) - February 3, 2012
Maybe they were just too popular?
So sexy, they couldn’t keep them on the racks…that has to be it!
Smashville HockeyCat - February 3, 2012
LOL
Agreed.
davisca - February 4, 2012
AGREED
i like the gill idea. he fills an experience and big, crease cleaning dman. still want bobby ryan
predswilrule - February 3, 2012
Wow
Its still amazing to me how little respect we get in national media. Vollman had to be called out by Willy Daunic to seriously sound like he thought the Predators had a really good shot at making the playoffs. I understand we probably will not go 19-5 in our next 20+ games but thats saying something to think we’ll slide enough to drop to being in question for making the playoffs when 9th is 12 points behind us.
Predfan19 - February 3, 2012
He's a hockey writer for ESPN.
Need I say more?
Smashville HockeyCat - February 3, 2012
here is a super bowl ad in canada from bedweiser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0qZYqdsYAg&sns=em thought i would share it with you guys. (using my phone here so if it dosnt work im sorry)
Shadow23 - February 3, 2012 via iPhone app
THAT IS AWESOME.
Seriously, that’s one of the best Budweiser ads I have EVER seen. I’m gonna bookmark that one and share it around.
davisca - February 4, 2012
I forgot how hilarious preying on children is. as always, stay classy, st. louis
predmama - February 3, 2012
Seriously. Good for them for road-tripping down to support their team, but bringing this whole pedophiles thing into it? REALLY? I hope someone calls them out on that.
davisca - February 4, 2012
We use the Predobear? I don’t see the difference.
DonBorvio - February 4, 2012
Yeah, I know it sounds hypocritical...
The difference, at least for me, is that Link has mentioned several times that he does not want Predobear to be seen as the same thing as Pedobear. When posted here, Predobear is associated with generic sexual innuendo and humor; Pedobear is associated specifically with age-inappropriate sexual innuendo (and… humor? I guess? I don’t find it humorous, but different strokes…). The later of these two is not condoned here. Maybe it seems like a minor or insignificant difference, but to me it does make a big difference. Link (I guess? Is he the one who officially started Predobear? It’s all kinda vague lore to me; sorry, Link, if it isn’t you!) took a well-known meme and adapted it for our purposes, and I think the largest of those adaptations was the separation from “pedo” part of “Pedobear”. The issue I have with Blues fans bringing a Chris Hansen picture is that Chris Hansen is associated with nothing BUT age-based sexual predators. There is no “generic sexual innuendo” about him. I get the joke, and I find it vaguely amusing on the various NHL SBN blogs, but it’s very different to bring an actual picture of a person whose job it was to catch sexual predators to a sports game, despite the word play. It just seems blatantly inappropriate and wrong. Maybe I’m overreacting and it really isn’t that big of a deal, but to me it’s crosses the line.
davisca - February 4, 2012
For example, this was said on the St. Louis GDT:
Not cool.
davisca - February 4, 2012
Well, they are pretty classless.
DonBorvio - February 5, 2012
I rarely call people out of what they say on their blogs/GDTs, because it’s not my business, but I called them out on that one. They apologized, which was good, but it still shouldn’t have been said in the first place. The guy who wrote that ALSO suggested that the Blues run Rinne down if necessary, and shoot the puck at his head so that we would have to put Anders in net. The sad thing is, I can’t tell how much of that was him joking around with the frustration of having to play against Pekka RInne, and how much of it was slightly serious.
davisca - February 5, 2012
There is an enormous difference between making jokes about sex with adult hockey players and calling someone a rapist of children.
CAustin - February 5, 2012
Poor Dex.
http://www.bluejacketsxtra.com/content/blogs/puck-rakers/2012/02/dekanich-done-for-the-year.html
Now having ankle surgery. Concussion, groin, ankle injuries all this season.
DonBorvio - February 3, 2012
Ouch. I thought Dex was going to get his chance soon.
TootooReigns - February 3, 2012 via iPhone app
Ugh!
Poor Dex. This has to be killing him.
CAustin - February 4, 2012
Alright, go Calgary!
DonBorvio - February 3, 2012
Hope they can hold on and win, To bad St louis won
at least not a three point game
IG-PRED8 - February 3, 2012
Yep, and Calgary won in regulation
DonBorvio - February 3, 2012
Let’s hear it for regulation games in the conference!
Josiah2729 - February 3, 2012
0-3 on the 9-game roadtrip for Chi-town so far.
DonBorvio - February 4, 2012
WooHoo
Let’s hope they can hold on. I think I might have to go over to the Hawks GDT for some perspective on “freaking out.”
Too bad STL gets another 1-0 win.
Apparently Howard is out 2 weeks not 2 games per ESPN
Josiah2729 - February 3, 2012
I think the two weeks report came out first and was amended to be two games.
CAustin - February 4, 2012
BJ's win a game
The Ducks got a point but it still puts them one step closer to doom and gloom. I could really see Ryan in Predator gold.
Catwoman - February 4, 2012
I like this thought! :)
Thought the Ducks might get on a run and get back into the playoffs, but it doesn’t seem to be. Gotta think Ellis would have to be part of the package if we had any chance of landing Ryan. Would hate to lose Ellis, he’s been good so far in his short stint up with the big club, but for Ryan I’ll drive him to the airport. :)
The Hawks look really bad right now. Have to think that roster is gonna get a shake up before the month is over. Still think they and the Canes may make a deal with each other, Rutuu and Allen are possibilities there.
Grizzledbear - February 4, 2012 via mobile
i dunno
they probably don’t want any more of our ellis’s
JBoogie22 - February 4, 2012
I am hoping the Ducks are sellers. I would love to see Ryan as a Pred. Might as well dream big, right?
Pierre LeBrun is saying that the Wings are after Rutuu. I don’t know what his track record is for predicting trades though.
Josiah2729 - February 4, 2012
The Hawks seem to have better trade bait in their prospect pool to get a deal done with a team like the Canes, but Rutuu would make either the Wings or Hawks a better team. Yet another reason not to stand still at the trade deadline.
Grizzledbear - February 4, 2012 via mobile
Oh... my god....
This is awesome.
davisca - February 4, 2012
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