On the Forecheck
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Preds aim to keep Chicago in its place (3rd)
by Forechecker on 10/13/08 at 04:33 PM ET
Comments (9)
Barry Trotz and the gang head into the Windy City tonight to tangle with the Blackhawks, and per John Glennon’s update, Ryan Jones will be scratched again, while the decision on which defenseman watches from the press box is pending. As for Jones, it will be interesting to see when he’ll get another crack at live action. Against the Blues, he looked like a kid in over his head, and I tend to side with those who think he’d be better off playing a ton of minutes in Milwaukee than practicing and watching games with the big club.
Besides, the Predators have precious little time to spend here in the regular season deciding who can play; points earned in October count just as much as those in February and March, and the job right now is to smack down the Blues, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets before they get much momentum rolling. Chicago has started off 0-2 with losses on the road against the Rangers and Capitals, and will surely be jumping in their home opener tonight. They should particularly be gunning for the Predators, as the Blackhawks have been the “sexy pick” in the Western Conference to take a big step forward this season, and leapfrog over Nashville to get that up-close view of Detroit’s rear end in the Central Division.
Despite all the excitement surrounding Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet, though, I think people have been prone to overlook the paper-thin depth Chicago has up front. Not only did Robert Lang depart for Montreal, but remember also that Jason Williams signed as a free agent with Atlanta over the summer. Last season, Williams was on his way to his most productive NHL season, with 36 points in 43 games. While the Blackhawks boast a number of exciting players, they’ll need time to properly complement them with supporting talent.
One key to tonight’s game will be for Trotz to get either the Arnott or Legwand lines favorable matchups against Chicago’s depth forwards. Also watch for the offensively-minded Nashville defense to take advantage of those young forwards by jumping into the play early and often, just as Ryan Suter and Shea Weber have in scoring their goals against the Blues and Stars in recent days. Dan Ellis starts again in goal, having rebounded strongly from a lousy team outing in St. Louis Friday night. Expect Pekka Rinne to see action later this week as part of a home-and-home with Columbus, however.
For some pre-game analysis from the home side, be sure to stop by Here Come the Hawks. Fun Fact: did you know that not a single Chicago player boasts a positive Plus/Minus figure so far?
One quick reminder; a new addition to the Predators presence in the local sports media comes tonight with the debut of HockeyBuzz Radio at 6 p.m. on 560 AM WNSR. Brandon Felder and Paul McCann will chime in weekly with Preds talk and a variety of guests.
Speaking of the local media market, a major raspberry goes to Hope(less) Hines and WTVF, Channel 5 here in Nashville. Mr. Hines is the Sports Director there, and hosts their weekly Sunday night sports wrapup show. The Predators, despite opening the season Friday in St. Louis and selling out the Sommet Center in their home debut over Dallas Saturday, warranted only a 30-second blurb buried deep in the broadcast last night, with Hines bumbling his way through the abbreviated highlights. The NFL’s Titans, however, dominated the first 15 minutes of the show, with multiple stories and an interview with one of the coaches, despite the fact that the Titans didn’t even play this week. Mr. Hines, you do know that the title “Sports Director” implies that you cover more than one sport, don’t you?
Filed in: Nashville Predators | On the Forecheck | Permalink
Tags: Ryan+Jones,
Comments
Excellent post!
Forechecker, you should come over to the Emperor’s Dark Side. (KuklasKorner.com)
Posted by w2j2 on 10/13/08 at 03:54 PM ET
You posted on here the day of the St Louis day about the return of Steve Sullivan....guy hasn’t played as of yet...... Not sure what will be worse, McCanns (the Eklund hour?) show or listening to Willie Dunnic and Plaster attempt to talk hockey, which for Plaster is a couple of sentences before he switches to Tennessee football, or the Atlanta Braves…
Posted by Yzerman19 from Nashville on 10/13/08 at 05:42 PM ET
I’m afraid you missed the sarcasm there; anybody can tell you that Sully is the longest of shots to play at all this year, and probably is done as an NHL player. He’s still on the roster because his contract still runs one more season, so someone writing the NHL’s preview (with no familiarity with the team, obviously) saw that and concluded that he was ready to play…
Posted by Forechecker from Nolensville, TN on 10/13/08 at 05:52 PM ET
Yzerman19 - re-read Forechecker’s post. He quoted an NHL article and posted in bold the tongue-in-cheek response ridiculing the original article’s slip up. It’s understood by many hockey fans here that Sully probably played his last NHL game season before last. Moving on, why slam those here in Nashville (such as Paul McCann) who are trying to promote the game? Obviously, we are not up to your standards, but I can’t believe you’d slam a show before it even airs. At this point, it’s important to have as much coverage from as many different sources as we can.
Posted by blueline on 10/13/08 at 06:43 PM ET
I’m not much of an Elkund fan myself, but Paul McCann (and to a lesser degree - he’s learning - Brandon Felder) give us the closest thing we have to real media coverage in Nashville. Jessica Hopp and John Glennon at the Tennessean aren’t horrible, but particularly Glennon is very dry and by-the-number press-release regurgitation. McCann and Felder generally do a good job of steering clear of Eklund’s normal “rumor” junk and i personally am looking forward to hearing more of the show. Tonight’s show wasn’t without issue, but was a great first run.
Posted by Paul NIcholson from Nashville, TN on 10/13/08 at 08:35 PM ET
I thought they did a good job, especially considering it was their first show. I doubt they’ve had much (if any) real prep time. Good to see them working together on this. Meanwhile, I am trying to get the word out to as many people as I can in hopes that the show will grow.
Posted by blueline on 10/13/08 at 09:17 PM ET
It was posted on NHL.com that Sullivan was to return. He was also listed as a healthy scratch that night.
Posted by Yzerman19 from Nashville on 10/13/08 at 10:47 PM ET
Thanks for the link...but did you really have to spoil poor Rocky and McD’s fancy pregame celebrations by actually winning the game? They’re very mad at you right now.
Posted by Matthew K. from Chicago on 10/14/08 at 11:26 AM ET
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About On the Forecheck
Dirk Hoag is the Forechecker, churner of NHL stats and analysis. Having started over 10 years ago writing for websites like In the Crease and e-Sports, Dirk launched On The Forecheck in 2005 to cover the Nashville Predators as well as apply statistical analysis to NHL hockey.
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On the Forecheck Links
Hope(less) Hines. I like it. (However, it’s to be expected from too many in our hockey-blind local media.) Come on media people… get it together!
Posted by blueline on 10/13/08 at 03:48 PM ET