Nashville Predators

The Colorado Avalanche have given us some NHL Draft intrigue with Joe Sakic's declaration that should the Avs pick #1 overall later this month, they won't take defensemen Seth Jones: After a week of internal meetings, Avalanche brass came to a conclusion: Jones won't be their pick. Instead, it could be any one of three forwards: Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin or Alexander Barkov. "If we do pick first, we're leaning more toward one of those three forwards," Avalanche executive vice president of hockey operations Joe Sakic told The Denver Post. SB Nation NHL Mock Draft In our Mock Draft, Colorado kicked things off by picking Nathan McKinnon. See how the rest of the board is filling out! This is more than a bit of a head-scratcher, considering Colorado's relative bounty of talent up front, and paucity on defense. What it does do, however, is potentially make one less high-end forward available when Nashville gets called to the podium for the 4th-overall selection. While locally we have been preoccupied with the potential for Nashville to land a star-quality center with the #4 pick (I went with Aleksander Barkov in the SB Nation Mock NHL Draft), the team's draft history brings up an obvious, but uncomfortable question: @ThePredatorial @Forechecker IF Jones were to be available at 4, what do you think the Preds do? — jeff leet (@jeffleetdesign) June 19, 2013 We all know how much David Poile & crew love to draft and develop defensemen. Might they indeed go in that direction this time around? To D Or Not To D, That Is the Question Here's the weird thing, though - for the first time in recent memory, the Predators actually have greater prospect depth at forward than they do on defense. When you look at guys who haven't earned steady NHL work yet, pretty much the only defenseman who is on track for the big leagues is Mattias Ekholm, the rangy left-hander who just completed his first full North American season in Milwaukee. Up front, however, there is much to be encouraged about between draftees like Jimmy Vesey, who had a strong year with Harvard and Team USA, and Brendan Leipsic, the Portland Winterhawk who led all of junior hockey in scoring. Zach Budish has continued his development at the University of Minnesota, and Zach Stepan finished 3rd in the USHL scoring race. Austin Watson and Taylor Beck may be ready to take the step into full-time NHL duty as early as this fall, too. So perhaps the blueline is where David Poile should focus his attention already? Let's walk through the possibilities... Option 1: Pick Seth Jones The right side of the defense is probably the Predators' most well-stocked position at the NHL level, but the argument could be made that the organization needs to address that area for the long-term. Unless there is a plan in place to move one of Shea Weber, Kevin Klein or Ryan Ellis out of the way, however, I wouldn't use a 4th-overall pick on an area which isn't such a high priority. The exception there might be if one evaluated Seth Jones as being head-and-shoulders ahead of the other players available to draft at that point, which probably isn't the case. You have to admit, however, the amount of forehead slapping that would be induced by the Preds taking a defenseman with the #4 pick would be awe-inspiring. Option 2: Pick a Forward While the trio of Nathan McKinnon, Jonathan Drouin and Aleksander Barkov are terrific prospects, if they are taken off the board with the first three picks there are a couple other forwards who the Predators might select. Valeri Nichushkin and Elias Lindholm are both exciting talents who could add an entirely new dimension to Nashville's forward lines. Personally, this would be my preferred choice. Nashville needs a #1-caliber center, and the prospects already rising up through the system mostly play on the wing. As a fan I would be pretty thrilled to see any of the five guys noted in the previous paragraph drafted by the Preds.

The Nashville Predators have rewarded Vic Bartley's long steady climb through the professional hockey ranks with a 3-year, one-way contract worth $2 million in total. It's a remarkable achievement for a guy who went undrafted and played his way up through the ECHL, then Sweden's not-so-Elite league before coming back to North America for a job in Milwaukee. Last season, he basically pushed Scott Hannan out of a job here by fitting in well alongside Kevin Klein on the second pair. As for the future? It looks like he may well get a chance to solidify that position behind Roman Josi, or at worse could serve as a 6/7 guy. Either way it's one less spot available for Jonathon Blum, to whom the Predators must decide whether to extend a qualifying offer soon. NOTE: A one-way contract means that even if he's sent down to the AHL, he'd receive the same level of pay. The Preds' press release follows: Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has signed defenseman Victor Bartley to a three-year, $2 million contract. He will be paid $600,000 in both 2013-14 and 2014-15, and $800,000 in 2015-16. Bartley, 25 (2/17/88), appeared in his first 24 career NHL contests down the stretch for Nashville in 2012-13, recording seven points/assists. He ranked fourth on the Predators in average ice time (19:32) and led Nashville defensemen in plus/minus rating (+2) last season. The Maple Ridge, B.C., native started the 2012-13 campaign with Milwaukee; he led Admirals defensemen and was ranked among the AHL's Top 20 defensemen in points with 26 (7g-19a) in 54 games at the time of his last AHL regular-season game, and represented the club at the 2013 AHL All-Star Classic. Bartley spent his first season in the organization in 2011-12, tying for 10th among AHL defensemen, and second among AHL rookie defensemen, in points (39) for the Admirals. Undrafted, and signed as a free agent on May 24, 2011, the 6-0, 212-pound blueliner spent the 2010-11 campaign with Rogle of Sweden's second division (Allsvenskan), ranking second among league defensemen in points and assists, and tied for third in goals (11g-23a-34pts, 52gp). He played his amateur career with Kamloops and Regina of the Western Hockey League from 2004-09, amassing 168 points (36g-132a) and 466 penalty minutes in 336 games. Bartley is on Twitter @VicBartley8.

Nashville, Tenn. – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has signed defenseman Victor Bartley to a three-year, $2 million contract. He will be paid $600,000 in both 2013-14 and...

Around the Wide Wide World of Hockey Relaxed Blackhawks not feeling the heat - but they should - Chicago Sun-Times It's not time to panic yet but...you know what? Go ahead and panic. If for no other reason than my personal entertainment. Avalanche to pass on Seth Jones to take forward, Joe Sakic says - The Denver Post What if he slips to #4? Good news for Pavel Datsyuk, Red Wings | Detroit Free Press Reports indicate he saw Dirk's KHL Super Schedule and decided to stay here. A solid decision. Chicago radio station says the Blackhawks were "raped basically" | Awful Announcing I know sometimes it can be hard to tell if you're crossing the line. But if you're about to joke about or compare something to rape, you might want to take a second and think about it before you hit "send". Mike Milbury: wrong again - Stanley Cup of Chowder What? Say it ain't so! What Nate Silver's NHL Would Look Like-Buzzfeed Has he considered that the good people of Montreal are going to watch (or Google search!?!) hockey regardless of how many teams are physically in that city? Perhaps the way to grow the sport is to create fans (customers) in places where there aren't many? Blackhawks lose money while winning games - Crain's Chicago Business I have a solution: All the Blackhawks fans promise to never come to Nashville ever again, and instead go to games in Chicago. Ticket prices go up with demand, the team turns a profit, and we get a pleasant arena experience for Hawks games. Don't thank me...solving problems is just what I do. Bobrovsky Romps to Vezina Victory -- Dollars or Rubles to Follow? | The Hockey Writers Dollars. Report: Flyers, Ducks talking about Bobby Ryan | ProHockeyTalk This would be a great hockey trade, but they are aware of their cap "situation", right? DJ Gallo shares his Misery Rankings - ESPN Nashville is in the Top 10. I blame the Titans.

So check out what Roman Josi re-tweeted this morning... "@srfsport: WM-Final Schweiz-Schweden mit knapp 1,2 Mio. Zuschauern bislang erfolgreichste SRF-Sendung in Jahr 2013 #hockeycountry #bestfans — Roman Josi (@rjosi90) June 19, 2013 This refers to an article stating about Swiss TV ratings for the 2013 IIHF World Championship gold medal game between Sweden & Switzerland. It drew almost 1.2 million viewers, in a country of just under 8 million people! More than 1 in 7 tuned in to watch Josi lead the way for his country, which fell in that final game 5-1. Josi took home MVP honors, however, so it wasn't all bad for the Swiss that day. Snagging 1 in 7 viewers in the US would be the equivalent of 45 million viewers, a pretty phenomenal number. By comparison, this year's NBA Finals drew around 16 million for Games 4 & 5, and the 2010 Gold Medal game at the Vancouver Olympics (remember Suter vs. Weber for gold?) attracted 27 million. This year's Super Bowl drew 108 million viewers. So what do you think, is Switzerland the next great untapped market for the NHL? Who knows, if they don't move quickly enough, perhaps the KHL will expand again, and add another country to its already-gigantic footprint...

The Nashville Predators have re-signed defenseman Victor Bartley, who has limited NHL experience, to a three-year, $2 million, one-way contract.

I knew as soon as the KHL announced an expansion team in Vladivostok that I had to create a KHL Super Schedule, adding up the total miles traveled by KHL teams over the course of the 2013-2014 season. For years now I've done the same thing for the NHL (check out previous editions of the NHL Super Schedule), but recent additions to the KHL lineup have pushed that league to a remarkable geographic extreme. Having been fortunate enough to take one year of Russian language classes in high school, one thing I do remember is that Vladivostok was described as roughly translating into English as "furthest East". The new Vladivostok Admiral club, along with fellow Chernyshev Division team HC Amur, is located over 2,000 miles to the east of any other KHL team! Yesterday the league announced their 2013-2014 regular season schedule, so once I put together a matrix of distances ("as the crow flies") from each KHL team's location to every other team, I was able to build upon the spreadsheets I use for the NHL Super Schedule to calculate the distance each club will travel along the course of their season. You're Not In Kansas Any More Google Map of KHL Teams Take a look at how widespread KHL teams are in this interactive Google Map. Imagine you're part of this year's other KHL expansion club, playing out of Zagreb, Croatia. For many road games you'll travel about 1,000 miles to the greater Moscow area, which is home to 5 teams. Then, maybe you head another 2,000 miles east for a road game at Metallurg Novokuznetsk. Feeling like a big-time hockey player, are you? OK, just hop aboard that jet and head all the way across Mongolia, then add several hundred more miles before touching down in Vladivostok for a game against Slava Fetisov's team. Once you're done, buckle up for a 5,000 mile trip back home! So yeah, adding a franchise at the East Pole is sure to introduce a massive amount of travel for fellow KHL teams, who play every other team in the league twice during the upcoming season (once at home, once on the road). So without further ado, let's take a look at the numbers... Team Travel Miles 1-Game Trips 82 Game Equivalent HC Admiral Vladivostok 58,462 0 88,776 Amur Khabarovsk 56,322 0 85,526 Metallurg Novokuznetsk 35,506 0 53,917 Sibir Novosibirsk 34,269 0 52,038 HC LEV Praha 33,014 3 50,132 KHL Medvescak Zagreb 32,717 1 49,681 HC Slovan Bratislava 31,556 1 47,918 Barys Astana 27,728 3 42,105 Donbas Donets’k 27,633 3 41,961 Traktor Chelyabinsk 27,120 2 41,182 Dinamo Minsk 26,487 2 40,221 Dinamo Riga 26,231 2 39,832 SKA St. Petersburg 25,800 3 39,178 Avangard Omsk 25,566 2 38,822 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 25,544 0 38,789 Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk 25,015 0 37,986 Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg 24,136 2 36,651 Salavat Yulayev Ufa 24,054 1 36,526 Ak Bars Kazan 23,741 1 36,051 Atlant Moscow Oblast 23,197 4 35,225 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 22,828 1 34,665 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod 22,702 3 34,473 Dynamo Moskva 22,603 0 34,323 Vityaz Podolsk 22,411 10 34,032 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 22,022 2 33,441 Severstal Cherepovets 21,768 0 33,055 CSKA Moskva 21,628 3 32,843 Spartak Moskva 21,621 5 32,832 Follow @Forechecker Keep in mind that the KHL is set for a 54-game season in 2013-2014, so I've added a column here reflecting an 82-game equivalent for comparison against NHL teams. Along those lines, here are a few observations: Even in just 54 games, HC Admiral Vladivostok & Amur Khabarovsk will travel more than any NHL team in any of the last four 82-game seasons! These travel numbers would be even more arduous were it not for careful management of the schedule. For example, one common issue in the NHL is having teams play on back-to-back nights, with most teams playing a dozen

Marian Hossa's surprise scratch from Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals - and the one-word explanation, 'upper,' for the part of his body that was injured - is part of a long-running cat-and-mouse game NHL teams play on the theory that any information about injuries is a competitive disadvantage.

The Nashville Predators have locked in some organizational depth with the signing of winger Kevin Henderson to a two-year, two-way contract. Henderson had a productive season in Milwaukee, which included a four-game call-up to the NHL which included a goal on April 19 at Chicago. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get another cup of coffee in the big leagues as an injury replacement, but this signing would appear to be mostly about solidifying the Admirals' lineup. The team's press release follows: Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has signed forward Kevin Henderson to a two-year, two-way contract. He will make $550,000 at the NHL level and $75,000 at the AHL level in 2013-14, and $550,000 at the NHL level and $80,000 at the AHL level in 2014-15. Henderson, 26 (12/3/86), suited up for Nashville's final four regular-season contests in 2012-13, scoring a goal in his NHL debut on April 19, 2013 at Chicago. The 6-3, 210-pound left wing also ranked third on the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) in goals (17) and plus/minus rating (+13) during the 2012-13 campaign, his second season with Nashville's primary developmental affiliate. Since 2009, Henderson has 76 points (31g-45a) in 234 AHL games with Worcester and Milwaukee. Signed by the Predators as a free agent on July 1, 2012, the undrafted Toronto native helped the University of New Brunswick win the 2009 CIS National Championship, receiving 2008-09 CIS All-Canadian Honorable Mention after tying for fifth in the nation in points (19g-31a-50pts) and goals, and ranking fourth in assists and plus/minus (+31). He was also teammates with current Predators Nick Spaling (2005-07) and Matt Halischuk (2006-07) with the Kitchener Rangers during his OHL career. Henderson is on Twitter @KHendo86.

Nashville, Tenn. – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has signed forward Kevin Henderson to a two-year, two-way contract. He will make $550,000 at the NHL level and $75,000 ...