It's Been...One Week

Oh my goodness...it's been far too long since my last post.  Not just that but a lot of things have happened since last Sunday.  The end of the Olympics (I'm still in denial), the resuming of the rest of the NHL season, trade deadline day, and four Predators games in six nights.  I mean, that's A LOT, right?  I don't even know where to start...but the most logical thing is retrace the week's happenings after Canada won the gold medal.  So here goes.

So let's see...the NHL season resumed and the Olympic roster freeze was lifted at 11:00pm CST on Sunday night.  The biggest player in this year's trade deadline showdown appeared to be our very own Dan Hamhuis.  It was no secret that many teams seemed to be vying to snatch him off our roster to beef up their own defense.  However, going against the grain of the the quite popular opinion to get rid of him, I was more than a little worried that getting rid of Hamhuis would hurt the Preds far more than help since it wouldn't make sense to trade one defenseman for another.  True to form, good old General Manager David Poile played trade deadline day pretty safe; getting a couple of role players Denis Grebeshov and Dustin Boyd (from the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames, respectively) and only giving up Ryan Jones and a couple of draft picks in return.  Now, the second I found out about Ryan Jones being placed on waivers, I knew there was no way he wouldn't be snatched up by another team.  I feel bad for the guy but as is the Predators way, there is always one player who seems to get the short end of the stick each season.  My hope is that Jonesy will really fit well with the Oilers, much like Rich Peverley did in Atlanta after the Preds let him go last season.  He'll just have to get healthy again first.

I'm not going to lie...getting back into the swing of things after having almost a month off from a home game was kind of hard.  The Olympic break kind of put me into the off season mindset so it took me a while to readjust to hockey season again.  Tuesday and Thursday night brought the team much needed wins to stay in playoff position.   Denis Grebeshkov had a nice debut game Tuesday night (against his former team no less) and it was good to see him fit in to the lineup quite nicely.  Thursday night's game against the Los Angeles Kings marked a new record for Jerred Smithson.  With the empty net goal in the waning minutes of the third period, Smithson scored his 8th goal of the season, surpassing his previous career high of 7 from last season.  After having some unexpected down time with an injury earlier this year, it's good to see him still improving his game.

Friday's game against the Detroit Red Wings and this afternoon's game against the Vancouver Canucks were not so great however.  I don't know what happened in Detroit but the team on the ice was not the Predators I have been used to seeing here lately.  That game was just hard to watch.  Today's game was a lot easier to watch...for the first two periods.  The end was very reminiscent of so many other disappointing losses we've seen this season.  I'm just not a fan of losing the game by not playing the full 60 minutes and that seems to be exactly what the guys did today.  They need to take a day to regroup and then get it together before their last big road trip of the season, starting in Atlanta with the Thrashers on Tuesday.

Whew...that was a lot...and I probably could have said so much more but just think of this as the Reader's Digest condensed version.  This week will put me back on track for sure because I can not take another jam-packed week off like this again.

Oh, I do have to mention that yet another Predator [ahem] player has joined the world of Twitter: Jordin Tootoo (@jtootoo22).  Now, I'm all for anyone who wants to have a Twitter having a Twitter; HOWEVER, Jordin having one could be a little dangerous.  I say this because he is already a very popular guy with a lot of real life "followers".  Things could get a little sketchy for him as his Twitter popularity grows...especially if he keeps telling everyone where he's headed for breakfast and dinner.  Here's hoping the fans of Nashville will prove me wrong.

As always (and now more than ever), LET'S GO, BOYS!

Oh, and on a completely personal note: Happy Birthday to my Dad!!!