OTF Classic

It's been a while since I've checked in here, but in the interest of self-accountability ( if that makes sense ) I want to revisit how 2012 is coming along in terms of my hockey blogging/internet marketing endeavors, and what the prospects are for the next several months. So, since we're 1/3rd of the way through the year, in hockey parlance I guess this means we're into the 1st intermission. With that in mind, let's review the blogging/internet marketing goals which I set out back in January to see how things are coming along...

Big news for On the Forecheck coming tomorrow, but in the meantime... 1. Wheels are turning in Las Vegas to launch the construction of an arena near the Strip that is apparently destined for NHL hockey. James Mirtle breaks down the expansion scenario, as the NHL's Board of Governors prepares to meet in Toronto. Personally, I think this a fascinating possibility. While the locals may not be able to fully support a team there, I could definitely see a brisk business for people visiting there to catch their favorite team. Just ask yourself, would you rather pack up a few pals and follow your team to St. Louis, Edmonton, or Las Vegas? 2. One question I have is how expansion money might affect the Sommet Center lease agreement, which allows local ownership a buyout prior to 2012 if financial losses exceed $20 million. I know that when it comes to "Hockey Related Revenue" that drives the salary cap under the CBA, expansion fees (which may net each team $10-20 million if two t...

Last season Jerred Smithson became an every-night regular at the NHL level, playing 81 games for the Nashville Predators after 64 and 66 in the previous two campaigns. His even-strength work on a line with Radek Bonk and Jed Ortmeyer was pretty awful; I've said before that this may have been the worst line in the NHL last year. Where Smithson provides some additional value to Barry Trotz is his penalty killing work and relative success winning faceoffs. As competition increases for 3rd- and 4th-line ice time in Nashville, those are two qualities that might benefit him. For the upcoming season, I would expect his 5-on-5 duty to be reduced somewhat, with a heavier emphasis on the PK and more of a specialized role as a lead-preservation guy. So, for the official Forechecker's Forecast... Forechecker's Forecast, 2008-9 NHL Regular Season Player GP G A Pts Shots Sht % Jerred Smithson 70 3 5 8 35 9

Imagine my surprise to see this headline from Yahoo's Puck Daddy come across my screen: "NHLPA director: Radulov wants to leave KHL, rejoin NHL." This comes from an interview that NHLPA director Paul Kelly gave on Toronto radio . Here's the money quote, per the Puck Daddy: "My information is that the player very much wants to return and play in the NHL. I have that on extremely good authority. He's tried the KHL. He's seen what it has to offer for a few games already. He was quite successful last year for the Nashville Predators. I think, long-term, Alexander wants to play in the NHL. I believe there is an outcome which is doable, which will involve some type of an agreement between the NHL, the KHL, the player himself and the Predators." This is sure to light up a firestorm of emotion from Predators fans, who were quick to rid themselves of the young phenom. Here's a sample from the Preds message board : "Fine, come on back you POS. Fin...

Three interesting stories came across my screen today, all of which provide a glimpse into how NHL teams are run; since we've still got two more weeks until training camp opens, they're well worth a read: 1. Courtesy of Kukla's Korner , Carolina's News & Observer digs into the NHL's contract insurance policy, and how it impacts the negotiations for big-time players. There's nothing specific to Nashville in here, but I couldn't help but think of Steve Sullivan's situation while reading it. 2. This link's a bit old, but the Bleacher Report featured an interview with Jason Bukala, one of the Predators' amateur scouts. 3. Lastly, the Preds website has an interview with Barry Trotz as he looks ahead to training camp, and extols the virtues of rookies he looks forward to seeing there. Here's the pre-camp spin on one such hopeful: "He reminds me a lot of a Joe Mullen-type of a player. He’s very effective. He gets open. Off the rush...

One of the questions that Nashville Predators fans worried over earlier this summer was whether the team would be able to retain both Ryan Suter and Shea Weber, the two high-profile restricted free agents due for major pay increases. Now that he's locked up for four more seasons at $3.5 million per, the focus shifts to how much of a step forward Suter will take as he shakes off the young rookie label and fills a key role on the Predators blue line. Suter enters his 4th NHL season as a potent offensive threat Photo courtesy of Paul Nicholson Over the course of three seasons, Suter has steadily progressed into a solid two-way performer, and a key cog on the power play. He became much more aggressive offensively last season, firing 138 shots (compared to 87 the year before), presumably due to an increased opportunity working the point with the man advantage: Ryan Suter Even Strength & Power Play Performance TOI = Time On Ice, Pts/60 = Points per 60 Mi...

As we ponder the many ways that the Nashville Predators can fill out their top two forward lines, the usual discussions revolve around veterans on the back end of their career (Mark Parrish, Glen Murray) or rookies who yet to prove themselves at the NHL level (Patric Hornqvist, Ryan Jones). This is, of course, framed by the presumption that Nashville either can't or won't go after a bigger-name player in their prime years, such as Marian Hossa or Olli Jokinen, to cite two stars which changed teams this summer. The common wisdom is that a superstar like that is either outside the Predators budget constraints or that such a deal would violate GM David Poile's patient, long-term franchise building process. So, when it comes to the NHL, what is best? Gaining a dynamic superstar who can excite a fan base, or a slowly assembling a deeper roster of less dramatic players that forsake individual glory for team achievement? On the one hand, we have Brandon Felder, who in a r...

One of the interesting storylines to follow during training camp later this month will be the progress of Antti Pihlstrom, the Finnish agitator who has an outside shot at landing a roster spot with the Predators. After leading the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals in goal scoring (with 27 in 78 games), is Pihlstrom ready for the big stage in Music City? Pihlstrom is likely to make his biggest impact as a 3rd- or 4th-line banger, with enough scoring touch to provide an occasional boost to the Nashville attack. At 23 years old, we've probably got a decent picture of how he'll fare at the NHL level. Similar to the preview for Patric Hornqvist , let's use Gabriel Desjardin's League Equivalencies work to make a basic projection. In this case, we have a guy who posted 27 goals and 18 assists in 78 games for Milwaukee, a Points Per Game rate of 0.58. Desjardin's Equivalency value for a 23 year-old transitioning from the AHL to the NHL is 0.41, so multiplying it by Pihl...

Today's projection should be an easy one. Coming into training camp Pekka Rinne has 3 career games of NHL service, so normally one might wonder if there's much history to leverage in terms of predicting future performance. But with the Predators, we have a very clear guideline to follow. Each of the last two seasons have seen Nashville's backup goaltender steal the spotlight with a performance among the very best in the NHL. After all, Chris Mason's 2006-7 season was, by some measures , tops in the league that year, and Dan Ellis led all goaltenders in both regular season and playoff save percentage in 2007-8. What then, to expect of young Mr. Rinne, who, after salutary duty in Milwaukee the last three years (including an AHL All-Star appearance last season), has been anointed the #2 man in the Predators goal? First, expect a very different profile in net; Rinne stands 6'5", a fair bit taller than Ellis (6'0") or previous #1 Chris Mason (also 6...

Happy 30th Birthday wishes go out to Jed Ortmeyer , and in his honor, today's Forechecker's Forecast is devoted to the one-time University of Michigan Wolverine. Jed signed a two-year deal with Nashville last summer, and the expectation has been that he'd provide basic checking and penalty killing work. He began the 2007-8 season playing the left wing alongside Radek Bonk in the middle and Jerred Smithson on the right side, on what was supposed to be a shutdown line. As it worked out, however, the only thing that got shut down was the Predators offense when those three hit the ice. Nashville Predators 5-on-5 Advanced Statistics, 2007-8 Regular Season NAME POS GP TOI/ 60 RATING QUAL COMP QUAL TEAM PTS/ 60 GFON/ 60 GAON/ 60 +-ON/60 GFOFF/ 60 GAOFF/ 60 +-OFF/ 60 JASON ARNOTT C 79 13.78 1.90 0.05 0.24 2.65 3.86 2.42 1.43 2.13 2.60 -0.47 ALEXANDER RADULOV RW 81 12.94 0.89 0.01 0.22 2.86 3.61 2.80 0.80 2.23 2.32 -0.09 JEAN-PIERRE DUMONT RW 80 13.81 0.74 0.03 0.45 2.88 3.53 2.93 0...

Amidst the Radulov drama and the Marek Zidlicky trade , one roster move that's been somewhat overlooked involves the enforcer role, fulfilled the last three seasons in Nashville by fan favorite Darcy Hordichuk . The heir apparent to that job is Josh Gratton, a dedicated knuckle-duster who played all of 1 NHL game last year, and 52 the year before for Phoenix. I'm guessing that this is a fan-created site and nothing that Gratton himself has created (although "Chin of Steel" is certainly a moniker worth promoting). Coming soon to a fist near you... Other than finishing 2nd in the league with 188 penalty minutes in the 2006-7 season, Gratton's NHL-level resume is pretty thin. Basically, there's not much there to suggest that Gratton will bring anything to the Predators' on-ice performance that any other goon (err... enforcer) would. As James Mirtle so ably pointed out earlier this summer, guys like that don't play a lot, and don't do much to hel...

Before you settle in for the first Saturday of college football (gotta get my Michigan flag out), here are a few quickies for you: I'm interested in loading up my MP3 player with hockey podcasts... so do you have any good recommendations to share? Feel free to drop a comment and let me know which ones I should subscribe to... Head over to the Legends of Hockey Network , where Joe Pelletier is posting a series of the greatest photographs in hockey history. Yesterday's installment detailed a gruesome injury that nearly ended the career of Gordie Howe before it even got rolling. In my book , Mr. Hockey is the greatest of all-time because not only was he a consistently great scorer, but he was also a dominating physical presence night-in, night-out. He epitomized the game. Anyone in the adult C-leagues (upper or lower) down at Centennial Sportsplex need a player? I'd like to head back downtown after spending last year at Southern Ice, but I've been told the teams ...

This series of Forechecker's Forecasts heads into truly uncharted waters today as we consider the prospects for Patric Hornqvist, the Swedish winger who appears to be the organization's next-best option for goal-scoring depth after the departure of Alexander Radulov. Since he's labored over in the Swedish Elite League for the last few years, North American fans have precious little evidence to evaluate; the single most-noteworthy fact known about him is that he tied Peter Forsberg's record for goal-scoring by a junior player (with 23) for Djurgarden in 2006-7. He has also represented Sweden well during the World Championships both in 2007 and 2008, and his 6 goals this year led the team. Nashville fans are hoping for plenty of this... The big unknown, here, however, is how does Hornqvist's production in the SEL translate into what we can expect of him in the NHL? Besides the obvious difference in talent level and the international-size ice surface, there's al...

When the Buffalo Sabres walked away from an arbitration award in the summer of 2006, making J.P. Dumont an unrestricted free agent, many approved of David Poile's subsequent signing of him as a savvy addition that would bring secondary scoring behind the likes of Paul Kariya and Steve Sullivan, who then led a deep Nashville attack. Two years on, Dumont is now wearing the "A", leading the charge up front along with Jason Arnott, and entering the first year of a new four-season contract paying him $4 million annually. Each of his two seasons with the Predators have seen progress in offensive production, so the main question with #71 is, has he reached his peak? J.P. Dumont, 5 Year Overview Season Age Team GP G A Pts Pts/Gm +/- Shots TOI/Gm 2003 24 BUF 76 14 21 35 0.46 -14 135 15:04 2004 25 BUF 77 22 31 53 0.69 -9 156 17:00 2006 27 BUF 54 20 20 40 0.74 -1 116 16:00 2007 28 NSH 82 21 45 66 0.80 14 143 16:12 2008 29 NSH 80 29 43 72 0.90 5 192 18:30 data from Hockey-Reference...

Have we ever seen a more fortuitously named athlete for his adopted city than Vern Fiddler of the Nashville Predators? Perhaps Terry Crisp when he coached in Calgary (Flames, Crispy, you get it), but not too many others come to mind. Sorry, I just couldn't resist... In 2007-8, Fiddler enjoyed another season of unheralded contributions as Barry Trotz's utility man; he played everywhere from the top line alongside Jason Arnott down to 4th-line checking duty, with his characteristic hustle bringing him a career-high 79 games played. Especially in a salary-cap era, Fiddler is the type of guy who provides quality depth and reliability. One metric that Lowetide likes to cite often is Even Strength Points per 60 minutes. Check out Fiddler's 2007-8 performance compared to his teammates: Even Strength TOI and Pts per 60 Minutes, 2007-8 NAME POS GP TOI/60 PTS/60 JEAN-PIERRE DUMONT RW 80 13.81 2.88 ALEXANDER RADULOV RW 81 12.94 2.86 JASON ARNOTT C 79 13.78 2.65 MARTIN ERAT RW 76 13...

As the bankruptcy proceedings for Boots Del Biaggio continue, apparently some of his creditors want to keep the case closed from public access and scrutiny. The Tennessean today announced that they've launched a legal action to maintain visibility into the case, filing a brief in federal court. For hockey fans, this is important, as we've seen some pretty grizzly details come out already thanks to the reporting of Brad Shrade over the last several weeks. Naturally, the parties directly involved in this case would prefer not to have their dirty laundry held up for view, but as the Tennessean argued, "the strong public interest here in access to the information about a case involving millions of taxpayer dollars outweighs the desire of the Committee and/or debtor to evade public scrutiny." In other words, given the Sommet Center lease renegotiation, which was in part dependent upon personal financial guarantees by the Predators ownership group, the people of Nas...

After previewing some grizzled veterans in the first two installments of these Forechecker's Forecasts, it's time take a look at a hockey player with only a handful of NHL games on his resume, Kevin Klein. After years of preparation as a hot defensive prospect, Klein is set to join the Nashville lineup full-time this fall, based on his new two-year contract that will pay him an average of $650,000 per season. Is Klein ready to shine? Photo courtesy of mark6mauno Last year must have been frustrating for Klein, as he failed to make the big team coming out of training camp, and his early work in Milwaukee drew sharp criticism from Barry Trotz. Later on there was some experimentation with having him play wing in practice, in order to back up some banged-up Predators forwards, but that never panned out and Klein ended up dressing for only 13 games for Nashville, as Ville Koistinen jumped ahead of him on the depth chart. The time is definitely now for the 23 year-old, who, while...

For early birds, the time is coming to start preparing for Fantasy Hockey season, and studying the various guides that hit the magazine shelves and websites during August and September. Prompted by the post yesterday at Waiting for Stanley which examined the Hockey News' Fantasy Pool Guide from a Canucks perspective, I thought I'd try doing the same vis-a-vis the Nashville Predators. The bottom line? If you plan on only buying one Fantasy Hockey Guide for the upcoming season, don't go with the one from the Hockey News. Now don't get me wrong; it's a well-crafted, very slick publication, but by getting on the newstands nearly a month before hockey training camps open, it's not up to date on the summer happenings which are having a major effect on various players and teams. There are also some strange omissions which I can't explain. For instance, Alexander Radulov still shows up on the Nashville roster as a main producer, but Jordin Tootoo (who received...

For today, head on over to Hockey News , where my latest piece deals with Ken Hitchcock's recent interview with one of the Columbus Blue Jackets bloggers , in which he fires a few verbal barbs towards Nashville, including this doozy: "when talking with various folks in the know that they told him when we played Nashville that even though we outworked them they weren't worried b/c they knew only 1 or 2 guys could score." That's pretty good stuff considering Columbus scored the fewest goals in the NHL last year, with 193! UPDATE: Kudos to the commenter below who pointed out that I probably took this the wrong way, and that Hitch was commenting on the Blue Jackets own lack of scoring depth. Anyways, there was certainly this in there as well: When asked if we will finally be able to beat Nashville his reply - "yes we will kick their ass". Even I couldn't misinterpret that one...

Today's installment of the Forechecker's Forecast brings us to Radek Bonk , the veteran center who was acquired last summer to be " a big, experienced center that can play the shut-down defensive role and also fill in in more offensive situations," as GM David Poile said at the time. Since Bonk did a solid job in that role with the Montreal Canadiens for the first two years following the Great Lockout, there was reason for optimism that 1994's #3 overall draft pick would be the perfect fit to round out a center position that already boasted Jason Arnott, David Legwand, and Scott Nichol. Bonk began the season anchoring a line with Jed Ortmeyer on the left side and Jerred Smithson on the right, but the ice seemed to tilt uphill for them, and that line's impact on the team's Plus/Minus in 5-on-5 action was nothing short of disastrous . The "Rating" value from Behind the Net describes the difference between a team's Goals For and Against number...