Category: NHL All-Star

2017 NHL All-Star Roster Announced

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Image Source: NBC Sports

Moments ago, the NHL released the final roster of the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles January 28th-29th. Not surprisingly, Nashville has only one player on said roster: P.K. Subban, who was voted by the fans as the Central Division Captain. And, with his upper-body injury slated to be healed by the All-Star Weekend, Subban may have to relinquish his captain duties to someone else for safety’s sake.

– CENTRAL DIVISION

  • P.K. Subban – Nashville Predators
  • Corey Crawford – Chicago Blackhawks
  • Devan Dubnyk – Minnesota Wild
  • Ryan Suter – Minnesota Wild
  • Duncan Keith – Chicago Blackhawks
  • Patrick Kane – Chicago Blackhawks
  • Jonathan Toews – Chicago Blackhawks
  • Vladimir Tarasenko – St. Louis Blues
  • Patrik Laine – Winnipeg Jets
  • Nathan MacKinnon – Colorado Avalanche
  • Tyler Seguin – Dallas Stars

 

– ATLANTIC DIVISION:

  • Carey Price – Montreal Canadiens
  • Tuukka Rask – Boston Bruins
  • Victor Hedman – Tampa Bay Lightning
  • Shea Weber – Montreal Canadiens
  • Erik Karlsson – Ottawa Senators
  • Frans Nielsen – Detroit Red Wings
  • Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay Lightning
  • Vincent Trocheck – Florida Panthers
  • Auston Matthews – Toronto Maple Leafs
  • Kyle Okposo – Buffalo Sabres
  • Brad Marchand – Boston Bruins

– PACIFIC DIVISION:

  • Connor McDavid – Edmonton Oilers
  • Martin Jones – San Jose Sharks
  • Mike Smith – Arizona Coyotes
  • Cam Fowler – Anaheim Ducks
  • Brent Burns – San Jose Sharks
  • Drew Doughty – L.A. Kings
  • Ryan Kesler – Anaheim Ducks
  • Joe Pavelski – San Jose Sharks
  • Jeff Carter – L.A. Kings
  • Johnny Gaudreau – Calgary Flames
  • Bo Horvat – Vancouver Canucks

– METROPOLITAN DIVISION:

  • Sidney Crosby – Pittsburgh Penguins
  • Braden Holtby – Washington Capitals
  • Sergei Bobrovsky – Columbus Blue Jackets
  • Evgeni Malkin – Pittsburgh Penguins
  • Wayne Simmonds – Philadelphia Flyers
  • John Tavares – New York Islanders
  • Alexander Ovechkin – Washington Capitals
  • Ryan McDonagh – New York Rangers
  • Justin Faulk – Carolina Hurricanes
  • Taylor Hall – New Jersey Devils
  • Seth Jones – Columbus Blue Jackets

What do you think about the roster for this year’s All-Star Weekend? Nashville isn’t the only team with one representative, but if you want to include former Preds (Ryan Suter, Devan Dubnyk, Seth Jones, and Shea Weber), then Nashville’s actually pretty well represented.

All joking aside, the big question is will Subban be healthy enough to participate? As mentioned, his 2-3 week recovery time ends at about the time of the All-Star festivities, but should not participate if it risks re-injury (thus keeping him out of the lineup even longer). Of course, that will be something the organization and Subban discuss as time gets closer.

 

 

Subban named Captain in 2017 All-Star Weekend

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Image Source: Sanford Myers/Getty Images

Despite his nagging upper-body injury, P.K. Subban was named the Central Division Captain for the 2017 NHL All Star Weekend. Based on fan voting from December 1st to January 2nd, Subban beat out several other Central Division contenders for the title, including Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Joining Subban as captains of their respective divisions include Sidney Crosby (Metropolitan), Carey Price (Atlantic), and Connor McDavid (Atlantic). Other attendees of the All Star Weekend in Los Angeles will be announced at a later date.

The festivities, which will be held January 28th and 29th would be right around the time Subban is expected to return from his upper-body injury (good news). If healthy, this will be Subban’s second All Star appearance — yes, his All Star debut was at last year’s in Nashville.

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2016 NHL All-Star Recap: Weekend of Hockey Heaven

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What a weekend for the city of Nashville and for hockey in general. It’s actually hard to believe, after fourteen months of planning, the festivities are over and all we have left are memories. But good memories they are! Thousands of hockey fans from across the world gathered in the Music City this weekend, packing the Music City Center, the Bridgestone Arena, Demonbreun Street, and everywhere within walking distance. Although we are fully aware of how great our city is, it was humbling to hear how much fun people from elsewhere were having and the great praise they had for Nashville.

NHL FAN FAIR:

NHL Fan Fair, which opened Thursday at 4PM, had more than enough activities to keep you occupied for hours on end. While my STH Rep said – without kids – you could knock everything out in one day, I ended up going Thursday and Saturday (and could’ve gone Sunday if I felt like spending another $40 to get in). Merchandise booths to spend money, hockey-related activities, autograph hours, Jell-O molds, and a leaning tower of Velveeta kept everyone on their toes. Oh yeah, and the music. Music outside and music inside; hope you like it!

I am actually glad I went Thursday night because Saturday was just as crowded as I figured it would be. Thursday was busy, but you averaged 5 minutes per line compared to 15 to 20 minutes per line on Saturday.

NHL WINTER PARK:

The NHL Winter Park, which was opened back in December, kept fans busy with an outdoor skating rink, plenty of vendor booths, giant light-up hockey pucks featuring the All-Stars, and music. If you did not have tickets to the All-Star events or wanted to buy tickets for Fan Fair, the Winter Park area still provided plenty of hockey entertainment without breaking the bank.

I wish I had taken more pictures of all the pucks. I got a little busy checking everything out.

NHL ALL-STAR SKILLS COMPETITION:

What is arguably the most entertaining event of the All-Star Weekend, the Skills Competition didn’t fail to impress the hockey masses. With appearances by Chewbacca, Jaromir Jagr’s “brother”, and Shea Weber’s epic slapshot, Saturday night’s festivities were ones to remember.

As no surprise, Shea Weber held onto his ‘Hardest Shot’ contest streak, notching a slapshot clocked at 108.1 MPH. A little less than last year, but 108 nonetheless. Detroit’s Dylan Larkin also made headlines, breaking the fast lap challenge record, one that has been in place since 1996.

 

NHL ALL-STAR GAME:

In what is normally considered the lesser of the two main events of the weekend, with the new 3-on-3 format, things got a little more interesting. The Atlantic Division knocked out the Metropolitan Division in the first round. Then, the Pacific Division surprisingly bumped out the Central Division in the second round. Even though the home team was knocked out, the final round between John Scott’s Pacific Division and Jaromir Jagr’s Atlantic Division was still pretty spectacular. But, while the Central was still in the game, all four Predators All-Stars ended up with at least one point (Rinne, assist; Josi, goal; Neal, two goals; Weber, assist). And the Man of the Hour John Scott? He notched two goals.

While the League didn’t start out with John Scott as an MVP choice for the All-Star Game, the fans made it very clear that if he didn’t win… Well, there’d be rioting equivalent to Vancouver’s epic Stanley Cup loss riot.

Well, the League listened and named John Scott MVP of the NHL All-Star Game. Smart move, NHL.

In what started out as a write-in vote turned into the highlight of the entire NHL All-Star Weekend. After the League tried to pressure him to drop out of the All-Star contention, John Scott not only won the hearts of Nashville but the hearts of the hockey world as a whole. As P.K. Subban said, “Everything he got at the end of it, he deserved”. You can’t even write stories as well as this played out. In fact, we hear he has already been approached about selling the movie rights. Okay, that’s a little crazy but hey, Hollywood’s struggling for some fresh material so you never know.

A successful weekend for the city of Nashville? You bet. Success at pointing out that Nashville is a hockey market? Amen. While we all soak in what’s left of our All-Star Weekend high, it’s time to focus on the second half of the 2015-16 season. Did this break help or hurt the Predators or anyone else? We’ll all find out soon enough. But I have to admit, it was refreshing to enjoy all things hockey with fellow hockey lovers from around the League and world. We were essentially one big happy hockey family. Now, it’s back to the real world.

Neal joins All-Star Roster

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Today’s the day! The NHL All-Star Weekend festivities begin today at 4PM! Aren’t you excited? And to get you even more excited, a new (familiar) face has been added to the All-Star roster: James Neal.

Due to an illness plaguing Jonathan Toews, he can no longer attend the celebration this weekend and, since the Central Division needs a replacement captain, Neal was the answer. Another notable player that will be absent from the festivities is Alexander Ovechkin, who is currently suffering from an injury that will keep him from coming to Nashville. His replacement? Evgeny Kuznetsov, a fellow Washington Capital.

The NHL revealed on Thursday that Nashville Predators leading goal-scorer, James Neal, will be added to 2016 NHL All-Star Weekend in Nashville. Here’s the official press release:

The 28-year-old forward, who recorded his 200th career goal earlier this month, will be making his third appearance at an All-Star Weekend and his first as a Preds player. Neal’s 18 goals on the season pace the Preds, with his 18th tally serving as the game winner on Tuesday versus the Vancouver Canucks.

“History has shown there are certain guys who are able to rise to the occasion when the game is on the line. When you have parity, you have to find some guys that can make a difference and James Neal seems to have that quality,” Predators General Manager David Poile said. “That’s kind of his moniker if you will, ‘big deal Neal.’ He gets that because of coming through in big-time situations and scoring these big goals. The game [Tuesday] night, less than five minutes to go, the stage is set for somebody to be a hero, and I think he likes that stage and he found it. That’s why he’s ‘big deal Neal.’”

The Whitby, Ontario, native joins Preds teammates Shea Weber, Roman Josi and Pekka Rinne at the All-Star Weekend in Music City, a franchise-record total for Nashville. Festivities for the event begin today with NHL Fan Fair presented by Bridgestone at Music City Center opening to the public at 4 p.m. (CT).

“It is always a great honor to be selected to play in the All-Star Game, but to be able to do so in front of the hometown fans and in the city of Nashville makes it even more special,” Neal said. “I want to thank the Predators organization, my teammates and coaches for helping me reach this accomplishment.”

Only the fourth member of the 2005 NHL Draft class to register 200 career goals, Neal has scored at least 21 goals in each of his seven seasons in the League. Neal replaces Chicago Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews at the All-Star Weekend.

“It’s another great addition for the All-Star Game, both for the fans and especially for our home team in Nashville,” Poile said. “James is having a great year. He’s very deserving, and it feels like the right thing that the Predators would have four players in their All-Star Game, so it’s good for James, and good for us.”

Nobody wants to see their All-Star representative bow out because of illness or injury, but it happens. It’s only natural that the NHL gave Nashville the All-Star alternate because it is the host city. Chicago fans may cry foul otherwise.

Must Eats: Nashville

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So you’re coming to Nashville for the NHL All-Star festivities. If you’ve been here before, welcome back; if you’re new, we are excited to have you. Let me begin by saying that Nashville has a bit of a complex. This whole ‘It City’ status has brought a lot of newcomers to town that have decided to stick around, changing up the atmosphere and landscape a bit (you will notice a lot of construction cranes). We are still all about the Southern Hospitality though, so whether you stick around the Hipster areas (12th South, the Gulch, East Nashville) or just down by the honky tonks, you’re bound to have a great experience while here.

That being said, let me also inform you that Nashville is called “Music City” not “Country Music City”. Yes, we are best known for Country music and we will defend it to the death, but there’s more than just honky tonks, cowboy boots and hats. By the way, we can spot a tourist in a heartbeat. No one really wears cowboy boots or hats. Not the majority, anyway. Back to music, Nashville is home to such bands and artists as Paramore, Kings of Leon, Kesha, and Jack White, just to name a few. So for locals, it was kind of a bummer to just see Country artists listed as musical performances for All-Star Weekend. However, one cannot be too upset as that is what Nashville was built upon, so let’s not forget our roots before we get wiped out by condos.

With all the formalities behind us, let’s get to the must-eats! I’ll put this out there now that I am in no way a foodie or expert on restaurants. I just know what I like and what I think you’ll like, too. Also, I love hockey just like you, so you should totally trust me. Okay, let’s do this:

– RESTAURANTS – Southern Comfort –

UNCLE BUD’S CATFISH SHACK
2719 Old Lebanon Road, Nashville, TN
Unclebuds.com

PUCKETT’S GROCERY & RESTAURANT – NASHVILLE
500 Church Street, Nashville, TN
PuckettsGro.com

THE SOUTHERN STEAK & OYSTER
150 3rd Avenue South, Nashville, TN
TheSouthernNashville.com

BARLINES
250 5th Avenue South, Nashville, TN
Barlinesnashville.com

– RESTAURANTS – Barbecue –

PEG LEG PORKER
903 Gleaves Street, Nashville, TN
peglegporker.com

MARTIN’S BBQ JOINT
3108 Belmont Boulevard, Nashville, TN
martinsbbqjoint.com

SMOKIN’ THIGHS
611 Wedgewood Avenue, Nashville, TN
Smokinthighs.com

JACK’S BARBQUE
416 Broadway, Nashville, TN
Jacksbarbque.com

– RESTAURANTS – Meat ‘n Three –

ARNOLD’S COUNTRY KITCHEN
605 8th Avenue South, Nashville, TN
Arnoldscountrykitchen.com

THE PIE WAGON
1302 Division Street, Nashville, TN
ThePieWagon.com

– RESTAURANTS – Hot Chicken –

PRINCE’S HOT CHICKEN
123 Ewing Drive, #3, Nashville, TN
Prince’s Hot Chicken

HATTIE B’S HOT CHICKEN
112 19th Avenue South, Nashville, TN
HattieB.com

BOLTON’S SPICY CHICKEN & FISH
624 Main Street, Nashville, TN
BoltonsSpicy.com

– RESTAURANTS – Random –

GABBY’S BURGERS AND FRIES
493 Humphreys Street, Nashville, TN
GabbysBurgersandFries.com

M.L. ROSE – CRAFT BEER & BURGERS
2535 Franklin Pike, Nashville, TN
MLRose.com

THE SMILING ELEPHANT
2213 8th Avenue South, Nashville, TN
TheSmilingElephant.com

THE PHARMACY BURGER PARLOR
731 McFerrin Avenue, Nashville, TN
ThePharmacyNashville.com

BISCUIT LOVE
316 11th Avenue South, Nashville, TN
BiscuitLove.com

PANCAKE PANTRY
1796 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN
ThePancakePantry.com

Since you will be here for the All-Star festivities, I won’t bother going into anything else you should check out beyond food. If you do somehow get bored and want some options of activities to do around Nashville, just tweet me @Lady_Preds and I’ll give you a local’s opinion.

Whatever you choose to do or eat, Nashville is excited to have you visit our awesome city.