Nashville Predators Talent: Not In Dispute

Man, do I miss blogging. Being busy definitely sucks. It doesn't suck quite as much as, say, tearing a rotator cuff twice in 9 months. But it unquestionably sucks. And then, whenever you return to blogging, your first post back is as long as a novel, like this one.

At any rate...

Here's some fairly breaking news: in the new Sports Illustrated, the magazine ranks all the NHL teams, predicting how they'll fair in the upcoming season.

The Nashville Predators are ranked fifth. Out of 30. Not 5th in the conference. 5th overall.

That blew my mind (Thank goodness we're not on the cover!).

Know what else blew my mind? I went to the first home preseason game last Friday night. I'd like to take a few moments to tell you what I saw. In typical KW fashion, I'll give you a bulleted list in completely random order.

-David Legwand has made the leap. You heard me. He's big time now. I have never seen him skate so confidently. In the past, he's been fast and has had talent and has had excellent stick skills (for poke checking and stealing and such).

But...God love him...he's always been visibly tentative (except for flashes such as his historic breakaway goal in the home playoff game). He's always seemed under-confident.

Well that's all history. He looked like a leader. His steps were sure. He did not hesitate or seem unsure, but instead looked as good as I've ever seen him. If I didn't know better, I'd say he looked like the team captain.

The line combo of Legwand, Erat, and Haydar (now back with the Admirals...which is too bad) was EVERYWHERE. These two--Erat and Leggy--are among the fastest skaters in the game, and it showed. At times the opposing team resembled a college team in trying to get a handle on this line.

Legwand finished with 5 shots--all of them doozies--and won over 80% of his face-offs.

Ladies and gentlemen...we've found our first-line center. And it's the guy it should be. I am salivating at the prospect of a Legwand, Kariya, Sullivan line...geez, who could keep up with them? Playing with those two wings is going to elevate Legwand to the level we always expected and hoped he'd achieve. Just watch. And then wait for me to say "I told you so."

-The new rules changes are going to do exactly what they're supposed to do: increase scoring. With the blue lines squished together and the goals moved back toward the walls...there is now four feet of extra skating space in the offensive zone, and it shows.

Throw in the enforcement of obstruction/hooking, and it means your quick skill guys have plenty of room to work. And, as a reminder, Nashville has one of the quickest, most skilled rosters in the league. Advantage us. The new open space and the added advantage it gives our skaters was palpable. Noticeable. Clear and vivid.

-Brian Finley played like a stud. I am now comfortable with him being Vokoun's eventual replacement (just as long as it's several years away). On one point-blank attempt, with no defenders and the shooter a mere 2 feet away, Finley's right arm whipped out lightning fast and snatched the slapshot in his glove. It was astounding. It was one of the best three or four saves I've ever seen (including Patrick Roy, in the playoffs, diving back toward his goal with his stick extended, stopping the puck mid-air with his stick). My jaw dropped. I freaked out.

If Finley can avoid the nagging groin injuries (his of the "real" variety, as opposed to Dunham's...which were "pretend"), he will be an outstanding goalie.

Chris Mason was also good. Beyond solid, as usual, but not as flashy as Finley.

-Alexander Radulov. Man, oh, man. I don't know how the team sent this kid down, and did it right after this game in fact. This guy is a bona fide stud. Oh. My. Gosh. He made two in-game dekes the likes of which I've only seen Sakic or Foresberg make. On one, speeding toward the zone, three defenders converged on him at the blue line. He stopped completely on a dime, paused to watch the defenders crash into each other and the wall, and then side-stepped the whole mess, firing a pass to his line mate streaking toward the net.

He also scored the only Nashville goal in the exhibition shootout. And it was a doozy. I wish you could find it online and watch it. It was basically a triple deke to the back-hand...and by the time he shot it, there wasn't any chance for poor frozen-stiff Denis, who was promptly told by section 303 that it was "all his fault."

Now, I know Radulov (drafted in 2004) is young. Way young. Too young, in fact, to even play for the Admirals. They sent him to his junior team. And I understand that he probably has some work to do on rounding out his game, improving his defense and his communication with his teammates.

But this guy is going to be Kovulchuk Junior if I'm to go on what I saw. Huge, fast, super-skilled with the puck. I cannot wait for this kid to join the Preds. Problem is, right now...he's competing for a position we're already stocked at...wing. Too bad he's not a center. But maybe he'll make it next year.

-I think Leggy will center line one. Robataille line two. Greg Johnson line three. And I'm not yet sure on line four...maybe somebody like Beech or Clausen. But I don't think Perrault is going to stay with the team. He's older and more expensive than several guys who are playing just as well as he is.

-Shootouts freaking rule!! It's like taking a shot of speed while on a sugar rush. These things are going to create a buzz. I have no doubt that attendance league-wide will increase as a direct result of shoot-outs. How much depends on what kind of marketing the league does. But get this: the game was exhibition, and was over (Preds won)...and the shootout was exhibition as well...and yet it was one of most exciting things I've ever seen. The crowd going wild and reckless as the skater closes in on the goal. Man, oh, man why haven't we had these before?

-The crowd was huge. Not a sell-out, but close. I was amazed. Clearly Nashville is excited and I give all the credit for that to a man named The Guy Who Decided To Hire Paul Kariya. Take our playoff run from two years ago and add to it one of the best 5 or 10 players in the world...and you get excitement.

-I thought Markov was great. Very physical, goes after the puck and the body, all at once. Very impressed. He'll add much-needed experience and leadership, and he's poised with the puck.

-Kimo was great, as usual. But I noticed something...he was a LOT more involved offensively than in the past. I'm guessing what happened is, the extra space in the offensive zone has created more room for blue-liners to work with the puck. But he was handling the puck a lot more than usual...especially in the offensive zone.

-They still haven't fired that guy who runs all over the arena with a microphone spearheading silly games and contests that no one enjoys. Oh well.

-They hire more and more Puck Patrol girls every year...and each year they apparently take a few inches off the tops, baring more underage mid-riff. I ask you this: in a country so concerned with protecting our kids from pedophiles and sexual deviants (as we should be)... why do we create a cheerleading squad for hockey games (family environments)... who will be ordained to wear really skimpy, tight outfits...and then staff that squad with underage girls?!?! Does this make any sense to anyone? I mean, are there no college kids in Nashville? No hot college girls needing some part time work? OK. I'm climbing down off the soap box.

-There are some seats missing. they've closed off some of the seating in the upper-upper level, a move likely designed to help us "sell out" more games. Fine by me. We weren't using all the seats anyway.

-Gnash is still Gnash. Some days I wanna hug him. Most of the time I wanna punch him in the face.

-I could not be more excited about the start of the season!!!

-To Sum Up: The Preds will sell tickets....because they will win. All of my above comments about how good we looked and think about this: we only played a handful of our starters. Wow. Can't wait until we all take our L&N Line Predators field trip sometime this season. That'll be a blast.