Game Time: 6:00 pm Central

TV: FSN

Radio: 104.5 FM

Records:

Nashville: 35-25-5 (75)

Atlanta: 28-26-10 (66)

The Injury Bug Strikes: Injuries to Shea Weber and Denis Grebeshkov have suddenly made the Preds’ overstacked defensive corps somewhat undermanned. At least two of the six defensemen playing on Tuesday (Sulzer and Franson) have spent significant time in Milwaukee this year. Furthermore, the defensive corps are so dangerously close to being undermanned that Wade Belak has been skating as a defenseman in practices. While Weber is – at the very best – merely day-to-day, Grebeshkov is most likely out for the next week or two.

Road Warriors? The Predators are 17-13-3 on the road this season, picking up 37 points, which is almost identical to their 18-12-2 record at home.  However, they’ve only managed to win 2 of their last 9 after tearing through the January Western Canada road trip.

Insane Stat of the Night: Thrashers right wing Nik Antropov is a has a plus-19 plus-minus rating, leading the Thrashers. While impressive in and of itself, the second place player on the team (Johnny Oduya, who was acquired a little over a month ago) has a plus-6. That’s right. Antropov has a plus-minus rating over three times higher of anyone else on the team. And no, it has nothing to do with Ilya Kovalchuk leaving…Kovy is a plus-1 on the season.

Pevs Makes Good: In 73 games with the Predators, Rich Peverley managed 7 goals, 13 assists and 20 points. In 103 games in Atlanta, he has 32 goals and 51 assists for a total of 83 points. In fact, Peverley is 2 points away from his first career 50 point season and 1 goal away from his first career 20 goal season. He has scored more points than any player on the Predators team this season.

1 to 400: Barry Trotz’s next win will be his 400th career victory. One should note that the more games Barry picks up, the closer he gets to losing that “for one team” qualifier. While the 400 win mark would make him only the 7th coach ever to win that many with one team, it would put him just 13 wins away from tying Jack Adams for 20th place in all-time coaching victories.

But, when it comes to addressing the biggest need, he falls way short and it’s time we called him on it.

We’ve defended Poile in the past, looking at what he’s had to work with over the past few years in this, a non-traditional hockey market. He’s managed to field a playoff caliber roster despite an ownership change, he’s managed to get something for nothing by trading players’ rights to teams just before they become unrestricted free agents and he’s been nothing short of spectacular identifying young, raw talent on the blueline. Heck, just in the past couple months, he’s even managed to avoid contract impasses during the summer by locking up key free-agents-to-be Pekka Rinne and Marcel Goc early.

But, again, when it comes to addressing the Preds’ biggest need, he can’t seem to get the job done.

So, with that in mind, we take a look back at players that could be wearing a Nashville sweater this season but, for whatever reason, aren’t.

——

Phil Kessel
RW – Toronto Maple Leafs
It was no secret: the Predators were one of the finalists in the Phil Kessel sweepstakes this past fall. Both Nashville and Toronto were talking to the Boston Bruins and Kessel’s agent Wade Arnott in an attempt to acquire the 22-year phenom. The Maple Leafs won the sweeps by not only giving up a first and second round pick in the 2010 draft and a first round pick in the 2011 draft, but also by signing the Madison, Wisconsin native to a five-year deal worth $27 million; a cap-hit of $5.4 million/year.

It was known, even then, that Kessel wouldn’t be able to suit up for his new team until probably November as he was recovering from shoulder surgery. For a small market team like Nashville, it was going to be a high price to pay to not be able to see immediate dividends. Furthermore, what if the shoulder injury ended up being a nagging one? Then the cash-strapped Preds would’ve made an injury-prone player their highest paid player in franchise history.

Then the real reason surfaced.

The Bruins wanted Colin Wilson included in the deal and, naturally, Poile declined. Shortly afterward, the trade call came into Leafs headquarters.

Kessel made his Maple Leafs debut on November 3 and he wasted no time bursting onto the Canadian scene. In his first game, he failed to post a point but had an amazing 10 shots on goal. Then he went on a tear, putting up eight points in his next six games wearing the Leaf on his chest. Kessel leads his new team in goals (22) and is second in points (42), all despite missing a month at the beginning of the season. His 42 points would lead the Preds in scoring and, considering there’s more talent in Nashville than there is in Toronto, his production might even be greater than that.

A scary proposition that the Predators missed out on.

Alex Tanguay
LW - Tampa Bay Lightning
He’s been a point-per-game scorer in his career but those days were apparently left in Colorado. Left winger Alex Tanguay was rumored to become a Pred during the summer but, as fans in Nashville have grown accustomed to hearing, they just missed out at the last minute. Tanguay chose to sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning in a modest one-year, $2.5 million deal, partnering him with fellow point-per-game players Vincent Lacavalier, Martin St. Louis and, now, Steven Stamkos.

After all, if you want to get back to producing, you surround yourself with talent, right?

Unfortunately for Tampa, the partnership hasn’t generated a career revival for Tanguay. The 30-year old Tanguay has just 34 points in 63 games, including just nine goals. He’s on pace for his worst season statistically since 2001-02 when he amassed 48 points in 70 games in his second season with the Avalanche.

Now, surely, at $2.5 million for only one year, Tanguay’s numbers would be welcome in Nashville, especially considering David Legwand makes $4.5 million and only has one more goal than Tanguay (and one less point). But, let’s be honest, if Poile had’ve signed Tanguay, he would’ve been looked to to solve the scoring problem in Middle Tennessee and we know now that it would’ve been a disaster. As we wrote back in July, bringing in an inconsistent scorer with a history of minor injuries to try and solve the scoring problem would just be a bad idea all around.

All that being said, compared to other players’ salaries and production, signing Tanguay wouldn’t have been a failure at all. From a PR-standpoint, however, it would have been a train wreck.

Maxim Afinogenov
RW - Atlanta Thrashers
Despite being a former 70 point scorer, Maxim Afinogenov was constantly in Lindy Ruff’s dog house in Buffalo. He wore out his welcome and the Sabres didn’t opt to re-sign him this summer. We at section303.com were preaching to anyone who would listen that the Predators should take a flier on this guy who can raise fans out of their seats every time he touches the puck. Nashville hasn’t had a guy like that since Alexander Radulov and, an argument could be made, he jumped ship just before becoming that kind of exciting player.

So there Afinogenov was. An affordable, exciting player. Out on the open market. Looking for a team to take interest. Only Atlanta did and offered him a try-out contract. Not during training camp, mind you, but as late as the pre-season, meaning he was available for over two months. All he’s done this year is go out and return to his former self, netting 20 goals and 30 assists for 50 points in 64 games. His 50 points would not only lead the Preds, but would be 10 points more than the current leader, Martin Erat. Secondly, his 20 goals would trail only Patric Hornqvist (23) for the most in Music City.

And for those nay-sayers who want to bring up the Ilya Kovalchuk argument, Afinogenov hasn’t missed a step since the all-world sniper left Atlanta. He has six points in his last eight games.

Oh, and did we mention he’s doing all that for only $800,000?

——

Regardless of which of those three players you’d rather have in a Nashville sweater, it’s very apparent that Poile and the Preds have dropped the ball when it comes to addressing the biggest need this team has faced for the past three seasons: a scoring winger. Scoring by committee is great (Preds have eight players with 30 or more points, and Ryan Suter at 29) but, when you need someone to step up when the team is struggling, you look to your go-to guy. Well, Nashville doesn’t have a go-to guy and that’s only going to come back to bite them come playoff time.

Assuming they make the playoffs.

Thanks to GreenLady’s PR manager, I was able to get a couple of questions approved for comment:

Is there something about the green ones?

Green is such an inspirational color, you know? And slimming (or not.) I was gifted with polkadots on the megatron yesterday and I felt that look was just okay. I also convinced a small child that my real skin was green and changed colors with magic and she believed me until she saw me take my green head off. Trauma!

Where is the love for the Green people? Blue man Group, Smurfs, Avatar… Where’s the green love?

At sporting events all over the country apparently. But there’s enough greenperson love to go around, amirite? Some of us are just born with a little more sass than others (Looking at you, Vancouver.)

Who would be your ultimate target be to do.. what it is you do.. at the penalty box?

A greenlady never tells!

Were the Green Giant and Sprout your idols growing up?

The Jolly Green Giant is the stuff of nightmares, for real.

So, there you have it.  Our first glimpse into the mystery that is GreenLady.  Rumor has it that she’s debating additional appearances at Predators games this season, but I couldn’t get confirmation.

(Photo:  Paul Nicholson)

The Detroit Red Wings put their best foot forward on Friday night and dominated the Nashville Predators from the outset, winning 5-2. With the win, the Wings gained a big two points in their pursuit of seventh place Nashville in the Western Conference standings. The Preds are now only three points ahead as opposed to seven points, which they would’ve been with a road win tonight.

Detroit started the game with four unanswered goals. The Predators’ JP Dumont finally put Nashville on the board in the second period after a nice give-and-go with Steve Sullivan in the offensive zone.

Back-up goaltender Dan Ellis got the start in this second of back-to-back nights for the Preds. He didn’t get much help from his team in front of him on this night. Kevin Klein coughed up the puck to Pavel Datsyuk while coming around his own net, leading to the first Detroit goal. Francis Bouillon left his man in front of the net while on the penalty kill and Tomas Holmstrom made no mistake by banging it home for their second score. Then, after Darren Helm scored on just a great individual effort for the third Wings goal, Ryan Suter neglected to clear the puck after Helm broke in shorthanded. Helm corralled the rebound left by Ellis and put the home team up 4-0.

The Preds kept their hopes alive by making it 4-2 on Joel Ward’s rocket from the face-off circle early in the third period. But it was too little, too late as Nashville couldn’t get anything going on their power plays. They went 0-for-4 on the man advantage tonight with a mere two shots. Two shots on four power plays against any team, let alone Detroit, is absolutely unacceptable and the coaching staff should do whatever they can to send the message that that cannot happen again.

The Preds lost All-Star defenseman Shea Weber for the game after he was hit in the corner by Holmstrom during the first period.

Look for rookie defenseman Cody Franson to be recalled if Weber isn’t ready for action Sunday afternoon. While he’s obviously no Weber, Franson does have 16 points so far this year.

Nashville will look to get the two points back when Vancouver comes to Music City this weekend. Not only is the game a rare Sunday contest, but the start time is a special one as well, 2:00pm.

GAME NOTES:
* Martin Erat led all Nashville skaters with four shots on goal.
* Captain Jason Arnott, who owned the face-off circle last night, got destroyed tonight. He finished the game 5-of-18 in the dot.
* The Preds, as a whole, were manhandled in the face-off circle tonight as they only won 29% of their draws.
* Rookie Colin Wilson had a team-low minus-3 rating tonight.

By beating the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 tonight, the Nashville Predators gained some important ground in the Western Conference standings. The Preds improve to 75 points, three points back from sixth place Colorado, four back from Phoenix and five from the Kings.

More importantly, however, is the space they’re putting between themselves and the always dangerous Detroit Red Wings. The Wings currently sit in the eighth and final spot with 70 points. And, now that they’re healthy, they look to make up some serious ground down the stretch. The more the Preds can win, the longer they can focus on who’s ahead of them, as opposed to who’s behind them.

Of course, Nashville will be in Motor City tomorrow night so, perhaps, those are the two most important points of the stretch run. But, if the Preds can somehow beat the Wings in regulation on Friday, they’ll have gone from only three points ahead of Detroit before the Olympic break, to seven points ahead.

Puck drops at 6:30pm and cannot be seen in the Nashville area unless you have the NHL Center Ice package.

GAME NOTES:
* As if fans needed any more reasons to want Dan Hamhuis and Kevin Klein split up, they were the only Preds players with a minus rating tonight. Each were minus-1.
* Thanks to the two goal win, Nashville now has an even goal differential for the season. They’ve scored – and allowed – 178 goals through 63 games this year.
* Patric Hornqvist took seven shots against Los Angeles. He continues to be snake-bit however, not having scored since February 4.
* The Preds had five power plays but continued to struggle with the man advantage. They rarely set up plays or got consistent pressure. They did convert on one however, extending their season high streak to eight straight games with a power play tally.
* Jason Arnott was lights out in the face-off dot, going 11-for-17.
* With his 11th goal of the season tonight, Marcel Goc not only improved on his career high in goals, but matched his career high in points (22). He’ll have 19 games to try and set a new career mark.
* Jerred Smithson scored his eighth goal of the season, a new career high, when he bagged the empty netter.

Captain Jason Arnott begged and pleaded for the Preds to bring in a scorer but Poile refused to pay too high a price. Russian winger Nik Antropov was apparently the target Poile had in his scopes but that deal fell through when the New York Rangers gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a second round draft pick and a conditional pick to bring him to the Big Apple as a rental player.

Poile’s decision to stand pat was heavily criticized by Predators fans, especially once Nashville missed the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

Fast forward to March 3, 2010.

While Deadline Day itself wasn’t very overwhelming for Preds fans (after all, how “overwhelming” could it be when Dan Hamhuis stays put?), acquiring defenseman Denis Grebeshkov from the Edmonton Oilers and center Dustin Boyd from the Calgary Flames is a step in the right direction.

As Grebeshkov showed in his first game, he has an offensive upside from the blueline. In the first period alone, Grebeshkov scored a goal and assisted on another. If he keeps contributing on the score sheet, he should turn into quite a pick up for Nashville as they only had to give up a second rounder for him. Not only that, but adding the Russian Olympian to the defense corps without losing a roster player basically suggests the Predators now have the best defense in the Western Conference.

While fans were screaming for scoring help, Boyd’s stats suggest he’s purely a depth move for the offense. Boyd has 19 points in 60 games with Calgary this season, putting him in the Marcel Goc category but with less experience.

Boyd’s biggest role appears to be on the penalty kill, however. Ever since Scott Nichol and Vern Fiddler departed, the Preds just haven’t been the same on the PK. Nashville has a 76.2% success rate when down a man this season, good for 26th in the NHL. Last season with Fiddler and Nichol? 82.5%, good for 10th best.

When they heard Boyd’s name, fans immediately started hoping he’ll become this year’s Jan Hlavac and not this year’s Brandon Bochenski. Hlavac came in at the 2008 deadline and put up 13 points in 18 games with Nashville. Despite his success, Hlavac opted to play in Europe instead of resign with the Predators, or even in the NHL. Bochenski, at the opposite side of the spectrum, played in just 8 games, picking up just 3 points and was essentially a healthy scratch for the remainder of the season.

With the addition of Boyd, the Predators have 13 forwards. So which forward gets bumped? Is it playmaker Cal O’Reilly? Is it “the future” Colin Wilson? Does Jordin Tootoo become a perma-scratch? Room has to be made for Boyd if he’s going to avoid becoming this year’s Bochenski.

The answers will start to trickle in tomorrow night when the Preds face-off against the Los Angeles Kings.

The Nashville Predators have decided not to trade Hamhuis at the NHL trade deadline, in favor of keeping him and boasting what might be the best blueline in the league headed into the stretch run and ultimately, the postseason.

On Monday afternoon, General Manager David Poile sent a second round pick to the Edmonton Oilers for Grebeshkov, opening the door to trade Hamhuis without forcing the Preds to recall a Jonathan Blum, a Teemu Laakso or even giving a full-time job to Alexander Sulzer, thereby handing a pivotal defensive role to a prospect who’s not ready for NHL duty.

Now, it appears rookie Cody Franson will be the odd-man out as Nashville sports an amazing defense with names like Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Hamhuis, Kevin Klein, Grebeshkov and Francis Bouillon.

The problem in Music City has never been the blueline, however. The problem is offense. Nashville needs a scoring winger in order to compete in the playoffs. Otherwise, they’re marching into the postseason with the “same ‘ol same ‘ol” mentality.

The Tennessean’s John Glennon tweeted earlier that the Preds may have made a trade so those details will come shortly.

Hamhuis’s name has been talked about in trade rumors for months now due to his impending free agency on July 1. The 27 year old is considered a highly coveted player for a team in need of a top-3 defenseman. And, quite honestly, he might even be a top-2 defenseman with a change of scenery. Hamhuis has been much-maligned the past couple season here in Nashville and it hasn’t exactly motivated him to play better.

His talent has also been lost in the shuffle in Tennessee. Weber and Suter are the faces of the Predators blueline and Hamhuis has been in the shadow of those two all-world talents. As a result, he’s almost exclusively been paired with Klein and, together, they’ve been awful at times. Seperated they were much better but, because the coaching staff has refused to split them up, Hammer and Klein continue to suffer.

So, while Monday’s trade was officially Denis Grebeshkov to the Preds in exchange for a second round pick, it appears it has become Grebeshkov to the Preds and a second round pick and Ryan Jones to the Oilers in return.

For more on Ryan Jones, click here.

The Nashville Predators beat the visiting Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in front of 15,682 at the Bridgestone Arena but the story of the game was Grebeshkov. Against the team he was apart of just 24 hours ago, the 26-year old Russian assisted on Colin Wilson’s goal, scored a goal of his own, sat in the penalty box for a couple minutes and even dished out two hits and blocked two shots.

The win gives Nashville 73 points, good for sole possession of seventh place in the Western Conference. The ever-dangerous Detroit Red Wings currently hold down the eighth and final position with 70 points.

Jason Arnott netted the game winner when he threw the puck into the goalmouth from behind the net. The puck deflected off of Oilers defenseman Jason Strudwick’s skate and then into the net. Gold medalist Shea Weber rounded out the scoring on a goal that was assisted on by fellow Olympians Ryan Suter and Martin Erat.

Grebeshkov, also an Olympian, was paired with Francis Bouillon and proved to be a very solid combination.

GAME NOTES:
* Despite creating traffic in front of the Edmonton net that caused the first Preds goal, Jordin Tootoo snapped a three-game goal scoring streak tonight.
* The Predators have now scored a power play goal in seven straight games. Yes, that’s a season high.
* Nashville is now 19-1-0 this season when leading headed into the first intermission.
* In what could become his last game in a Predators sweater, Dan Hamhuis tallied an assist, added two takeaways and finished with a plus-1 rating.

(Note: We’ll consider the moves made two weeks prior to the deadline and later as “deadline moves”…except in one very obvious case.)

1999

“Do you think we can get that Yzerman fellow?”

“How about Wayne Gretzky? He seems pretty good.”

“Does Gordie Howe still play? We should get him.”

If you remember the beginning years of this franchise, then you remember questions like these. David Poile, unfortunately, disappointed Pred fans everywhere by not picking up the ghost of Howie Morenz.

Instead, the first deadline deal in franchise history was sending Blair Atcheynum back to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a sixth round pick in the 2000 draft. The pick, of course, was used for future Predators legend Zbynek Irgl…and thus, the high expectation of every trade deadline thereafter was born.

2000

David Poile made his first trade deadline splash by trading away the first All Star in Predators history, Sergei Krivokrasov, to the Flames in exchange for the future Mr. Gena Lee Nolin, Cale Hulse, and a third-round draft pick in the 2001 draft which would end up being Denis Platonov. Hulse spent most of his time in Nashville in the penalty box, while Platonov saw 3 games in Milwaukee in 2003-04 before heading back to Russia.

Poile also traded defenseman Bob Boughner to the Penguins for Pavel Skrbek. Skrbek would go on to play a whopping 8 games for the Preds over the next two years before a leaving to play in the Czech Republic.

In addition to the two major trades, Admirals backup goalie Corey Hirsch was traded to Anaheim for future considerations and the Predators acquired Petr Sachl from the Islanders for a ninth round draft pick. Sachl played two seasons in Milwaukee before heading to Finland.

2001

At the 2001 trade deadline, defenseman Drake Berehowsky became the first victim of the radio show curse. Four days before the trade deadline, Berehowsky was traded to the Canucks for the second round pick that Vancouver had previously acquired from Atlanta. The pick would be used on Timofei Shishkanov. Shishkanov played 2 games in Nashville in 2003-04, but is most notable for being traded for Mike Sillinger, allowing Sillinger to add a Predators jersey to his 12 jersey collection.

Nashville also acquired Bert Robertsson from the Rangers a week before the deadline in exchange for Ryan Tobler. Robertsson never played in an NHL game after the trade and Tobler only played in 4 (having played in zero as a Predators prospect).

2002

In perhaps the most infamous trade deadline in franchise history, the Preds unloaded two of the most popular players on the team at the deadline: Captain Tom Fitzgerald and Cliff “The Rat” Ronning.

Fitzgerald was traded for a fourth round draft pick in 2003. Fitzgerald was 33 and was playing about 6 years older. Nevertheless, as the captain, it came as a bit of a shock to the casual fan. Especially in the pre-Twitter/Hockeybuzz days of yore.

The one that really got the fans riled up, however, was the Ronning trade. While Cliff Ronning was 36 at the time, he had been the franchise’s leading scorer from the get-go. In all four seasons with the Preds, he led the team in scoring – including his trade year. Yes, the Preds offense was that bad. Our leading scorer in 2001-02 was a player that we traded away with 15 games left in the season. It was a trade that still bothers some Preds fans not because of Ronning’s consistent 50-60 point output, but because of what we got in return. Ronning was traded to the Kings for one Jere Karalahti – the same Jere Karalahti who just two months previous had gone on record with Sports Illustrated detailing his history with pot and heroin. Karalahti lasted 15 games with the Preds before a six month suspension for substance abuse in the offseason effectively ended his NHL career.

Poile pulled off two other minor trades at the deadline, the Predators acquired right wing Jukka Hentunen from the Flames in exchange for a draft pick. Hentunen played 10 games that season for the Preds and registered 4 points. In the other trade, the rights to Richard Lintner were traded to the Rangers for Peter Smrek. Lintner had played 83 games for the Preds over the two previous seasons, but was spending the 2001-2002 season in Sweden.

2003

Compared to the previous year, the 2003 trade deadline was relatively quiet for the Preds, as evidenced by the fact that the major trade was the one that acquired goaltender Wade Flaherty from Florida in exchange for Pascal Trepanier. Prior to joining the organization, Flaherty’s major claim to fame was being the goaltender that gave up Wayne Gretzky’s 894th and final goal. Wade only played in one game for the Preds, but made a lasting contribution to the organization as the goaltender for all 16 wins during the Admirals’ march to the 2004 Calder Cup.

The Preds also acquired Oleg Petrov from the Canadiens in exchange for a fourth round draft pick in the 2003 draft.  Petrov played 17 games in Nashville before returning to Europe. In addition, Alexander Riazantsev was traded to Colorado for a seventh round pick and Bob Wren was traded to Ottawa for future considerations.

2004

Christmas came early in 2004…or at least David Poile made his big trade deadline move almost a month before the actual cutoff. With Bill Wirtz and friends looking to cut salary, they put their two leading scorers from the previous year – captain Alexei Zhamnov and Steve Sullivan – on the trading block. David Poile jumped at the chance and acquired Sully from a division rival for next to nothing - a second round pick in 2004 (Ryan Garlock) and 2005 (Mike Blunden). The rest, everyone knows, is history. Sully picked up a hat trick in his first game as a Pred and 10 points in his first 3 games. His performance helped lead the team to the first playoff appearance in franchise history. And, of course, 5 years down the road, he became the first Preds player to win a postseason trophy.

Poile also acquired Sergei Zholtok and Brad Bombardir from the Wild in exchange for third (Clayton Stoner) and fourth (Patrick Bordeleau) rounders in the 2004 draft. Zholtok played the last games of his NHL career with the Predators. The next season, during a game in Belarus, Zholtok left the ice and headed to the locker room where he collapsed and died.

In addition to the above, Poile also acquired Shane Hnidy from the Senators in exchange for a third rounder (Peter Regin) and traded Stan Neckar to Tampa in exchange for a sixth rounder (Kevin Schaeffer).

2005

The Predators acquired Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin in exchange for David Legwand’s missing tooth.

2006

In one of the more controversial deadline deals, Poile exchanged 1999 draft bust Kris Beech back to the team that drafted him PLUS a first round draft pick in exchange for defenseman Brendan Witt. Witt made his presence known in his first game in a Preds uniform when Sharks player Scott Parker attempted to climb over the Preds glass to fight Darcy Hordichuk. Witt pushed Hordy out of the way and started exchanging punches with Parker over the glass. Both players were given game misconducts.

While Witt was definitely a big physical presence who made monstrous hits, he was also an unrestricted free agent. After playing 17 regular season games and having little impact in the playoffs against the same Sharks team that he had disrupted earlier in the year, Witt signed with the Islanders.

As for the first round pick, the Capitals used it on Semyon Varlamov, who would be their unexpected hero during the 2009 playoffs.

2007

Questions were beginning to circle about Nashville’s viability as a franchise. Despite spending a large portion of the season near the top of the President’s Trophy race, the Canadian media was starting to latch on to the Predators attendance figures. Poile (and Craig Leipold) knew that there had to make a big move that would not only increase the franchise’s playoff chances, but would also put the butts in the seats.

Thus, on February 15, Poile sent Scottie Upshall, prospect Ryan Parent and a first round draft pick to Philadelphia in exchange for one Peter Forsberg. Despite being plagued by foot problems, Foppa still managed to score 15 points in 17 games and lead the team in late season t-shirt sales. Unfortunately, as we all know…it was short-lived. The Preds were pushed from the playoffs in five games by the Sharks yet again and Foppa went into his current semi-retired/semi-playing part of a season with teams he used to play for state.

Upshall managed to last a little over a season in Philly before being traded to the Coyotes. Parent is still with the organization, but his three years have been fairly injury-plagued – he has only played 81 games over three years. As for the first rounder, the Preds got it back in exchange for the rights to Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen at the end of the season and used it to draft Jonathan Blum.

The Preds also sent Mikko Lehtonen to Buffalo for a fourth rounder, which they used to select Mark Santorelli.

2008

After an explosive trade deadline in 2007, the Predators were relatively quiet in 2008…mostly due to the still fragile position that the franchise was in.

The Preds made two trades. Jan Hlavac was acquired from Tampa Bay in exchange for a seventh round draft pick and Brandon Bochenski was acquired from Anaheim in exchange for future considerations. Hlavac made an immediate and surprise impact, picking up 13 points in 18 games.

Bochenski, on the other hand, suited up in just 8 games and registered 3 points.

2009

Nothing. Nada. Not a trade. Not even a claim off waivers. Zero. Not one. Less than a single. Zilch. Nil. Goose egg…you get the point.

So what will 2010 bring? If the past trade deadline acquisitions are any indication, it will be a rental player and probably not a name that will win the press conference. It will leave part of the fanbase going, “I like this trade,” part of the fanbase calling for Poile’s head and part of the fanbase showing up at the next game, hearing his name in the lineup and going, “Who?”

Or we might just finally nab that Yzerman guy.