Tag: brian mcgrattan

Predators stay Busy while Suter Watch Continues

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McGrattan, Gaustad, Mason, and Gill all quipped for Nashville next season.

The Predators made some key moves before and on July 1st, the day that Free Agency went into effect. Though many eyes are watching the Suter and/or Parise situation, the Predators weren’t going to hold off until #20 finally came to a decision.

On Friday, just two days before his chance at Free Agency, Nashville signed the Goliath himself, Hal Gill to a two-year, $4 million contract, sealing himself to Predators gold for the 2012-13 season. With the size, strength (and surprisingly a bit of speed – when he gets moving), Gill will continue to shine alongside Roman Josi for two more years.

Fairly late last night, Nashville released the news of the signing of another trade deadliner – Paul Gaustad. Obviously, Poile recognized his expertise in Face Offs and Penalty Kills, signing Goose to a four-year, $12 million contract. Wowza. There is much debate about wether Nashville overpaid for Gaustad, but his last contract was for $9.2 million; of course he wasn’t going to go for anything less. Plus, Gaustad’s consistency rules him as a green flag for Nashville; something they’ll really need if Suter bails.

The Predators decided, for their first ever July 1st signing, to chose goalie (and former Predator) Chris Mason to a one-year, $1.25 million contract as a backup for Pekka Rinne. Though many were lead to believe Milwaukee’s Jeremy Smith was going to jump over to Nashville and cover Rinne, Poile did not lie when he said he wanted a veteran goalie to take the backup position. However, one-year contracts can mean many a thing; Wether Nashville brought Mason back aboard to help get Smith ready to take over or what, we don’t think Mason will be with Nashville very long. The Predators have never had a veteran backup before, so it will prove interesting to see how Mason will do behind the Finnish phenom.

And, as of a few moments ago, Brian McGrattan posted an excited tweet about returning to Nashville (to counteract a previous disheartening announcement from Jordin Tootoo…). The Predators confirmed that they did, in fact, sign enforcer Brian McGrattan to a one-year, $600,000 contract to wear the gold once again in the 2012-13 season. With Tootoo’s signing with Detroit (we’ll have a whole separate post about that one), it seems like Big Ern will be the new favorite of the Predators. After being picked up in October of last year, Preds fans fell in love with the big guy, thanks to his beloved antics, wild fights, and heartbreaking struggles off the ice. Like we said, McGrattan will be replacing Toots very quickly as everyone’s favorite tough guy.

As of 8:30, that is all Nashville has locked in for certain, but Ryan Suter watch is still having some of us bite our nails until the bitter end. As we mentioned earlier, Jordin Tootoo split for Detroit, leaving a bunch of bewildered, speechless fans in his wake. Like we said, we’ll have a complete post dedicated to his “unjustified” decision momentarily. Besides Tootoo, Nashville said au revoir to veteran Francis Bouillon, as the Montreal Canadiens took him back for a one-year, $1.25 million contract. Bouillon is a bit of a hometown hero in Montreal, so returning to Canada is a welcoming sign for the Cube. He was a class act in Nashville and we wish him all the best with the Habs.

It’s getting late, but the night’s not over; anything is bound to happen now that the free agents are on the loose. Stay tuned for more information with the Predators as it comes through the media.

St. Louis leaves Singing the Blues for Fourth Time in Smashville

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Sergei Kostitsyn sealed the game for the Predators with an empty-netter.

The Predators welcome the St. Louis Blues back to the Bridgestone Arena Saturday night, the fourth meeting this season between the two division rivals. Before this game, the Predators had already shutdown the Blues all three times, so St. Louis was itching to ruin the fourth try on Nashville’s home turf. Saturday’s game also welcomed a ton of fans from both sides, the 16th sellout of the season for the Predators. Here are the highlights from Saturday’s game:

KEY POINTS:

  • Even though he made the cover of Saturday’s Preds Press, Jack Hillen found himself amongst the scratched that night, along with Jerred Smithson (his thirty-third birthday, geez – no love) and rookie Gabriel Bourque.
  • The Blues came out a bit scrappy, eager to get the first goal on Pekka Rinne. However, St. Louis made a fatal mistake when David Perron took a hooking penalty, giving Martin Erat his 12th goal of the season with a slap shot passed Jaroslav Halak on the power play at 6:59. Both Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Suter assisted on the power play.
  • Mike Fisher wasted little time at 12:30 with a wrist shot in front of the net, sending the Predators up and over the Blues 2-0. Fisher’s 15th goal of the season was assisted by Sergei Kostitsyn and Martin Erat.
  • The second period produced no goals, but Brian McGrattan reminded Ryan Reaves who you should and shouldn’t drop the gloves against. Though the video is voiced by the St. Louis announcers (and of course they are going to go for Reaves), but anyone with a brain can tell you Big Ern put the little Blues player in his place. We put the video on our Facebook on Saturday, but here it is in case you missed it:
  • Chris Porter made up his fellow Blues players with a goal at 4:01 in the third, finally getting the St. Louis Blues on the board (Dang! No doughnut for us…), his 3rd goal of the season.
  • St. Louis would continue to push Pekka Rinne to his limits, but in the end, at 19:37 with a nice, clean pass from David Legwand, Sergei Kostitsyn sealed the empty-netter along with the game, his 13th goal of the season. Along with the assistance from Leggy, Martin Erat picked up an assist and his third point for the game.
  • Pekka Rinne has been on fire since the get-go, and these last few games have produced some new contortionist moves from the Finnish phenom, keeping expectant goals away from the net. How was he not an All-Star goalie again? Pekka was able to block an amazing 42 of 43 shots on goal (we wouldn’t expect any less).
  • The Blues and the Predators both faced their share of penalties, with the Predators capitalizing on one of three given to them. The Predators also gave the Blues three chances, and here are the culprits:
  1. Jordin Tootoo – 13:27 1st Period – Tripping (absolutely horrible call)
  2. Brian McGrattan – 8:49 2nd Period – Fighting (awesome beat down)
  3. Craig Smith – 8:49 3rd Period – Delaying the Game – Puck over Glass (he sure makes some silly mistakes)

Since the Predators dismantled the Blues and their thought of a win, Nashville is now 4-0-0 against the Blues this season, though each game has been nail-bitingly close. The Predators continue at home on Tuesday when they welcome the oh-so-lovable Vancouver Canucks to Nashville. The puck drops at 7PM!

Also, congrats to everyone who ran, walked, jogged, etc. today during the Predators Fangtastic 5K! Although it was raining, that didn’t stop 1400 fans from taking on the 3 miler! We jogged it, but still felt the burn the next day!

Until then,
GO PREDS.

(Photo credit: Frederick Breedon/Getty Images North America)

Bourque’s first NHL Goal not Enough; Dallas overtakes Preds 4-1

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Gabriel Bourque landed his first NHL career goal against the Dallas Stars.

The second meeting of between the Predators and the Stars was hosted in Nashville, and the crowd was ready for the inevitable angst brewing between the two teams. During the last meeting between these two teams in Dallas on December 23rd, Dallas defenseman Mark Fistric leveled Predators captain Shea Weber at the end of the game, placing Weber on the IR up until their second meeting. If you missed the nasty hit, here’s the video:


Needless to say, both the team and the fans of the Nashville Predators were visibly upset by the fact Fistric was not reprimanded by his careless hit and the fact Tootoo was suspended after the whole incident with Buffalo. Last night was going to be brutal for the Stars, one way or another. Here are the highlights from last night’s game:

KEY POINTS

  • Earlier in the day yesterday, the Predators announced that Shea Weber would be released off of IR and would be ready to play against the Stars. Colin Wilson was also deemed healthy, but was still scratched from the game.
  • With Colin Wilson, both Jonathon Blum and Ryan Ellis were also scratched from the game with the return of Shea Weber and the recent return of Kevin Klein.
  • Although many thought Brian McGrattan would be the one to take on Mark Fistric, it was actually Jordin Tootoo who dropped the gloves with the Dallas defenseman at 1:46 into the game. It wasn’t a punch free-for-all kind of fight, but Tootoo clearly won the battle when he body-slammed Fistric, who is almost fifty pounds heavier. Here’s the video:
  • Although Nashville came out with a bit of power, they weren’t able to stop Dallas from drawing the first blood. The Predators were quick to return the favor at 8:31, with Gabriel Bourque’s first career NHL goal. Both Jordin Tootoo and Nick Spaling picked up the assists.
  • With only a few seconds left in the first, Dallas scored once again on what looked like a onside goal from Kevin Klein. It looked as if, when Klein was trying to block the puck, he accidently bumped the puck in behind Pekka Rinne, but after review, it was clear Mike Ribeiro snuck it in.
  • Jamie Benn would send the Stars up 3-1 thanks to a nasty miscommunication amongst the Predators. Ryan Suter reversed the puck, only to have none of his men in waiting. Benn caught Pekka off guard and sunk the easy goal.
  • Steve Ott was given a penalty shot shortly after Benn’s goal, but was unsuccessful against the Finnish phenom that is Pekka Rinne.
  • Adam Burish sealed the game in the favor of the Stars at 12:53 in the third, the second loss for the Predators this season against the Dallas Stars.

The Predators were out-shot by the Stars 25 to 30 and suffered from more penalties than the Stars did. Here were the boys who faced some penalty time:

  1. Jordin Tootoo – 1:46 1st Period – Fighting
  2. Shea Weber – 0:46 2nd Period – Holding
  3. Mike Fisher – 19:03 2nd Period – Tripping
  4. Francis Bouillon 5:44 3rd Period – Roughing
  5. Jordin Tootoo – 8:35 3rd Period – Interference
  6. Jordin Tootoo – 8:35 3rd Period – Diving
  • Anders Lindback and Jonathon Blum were reassigned to Milwaukee to gain more ice time and goalie Jeremy Smith was bumped up to Nashville, his first call-up to the NHL. Rumors are running amuck that the Predators are looking to trade and Blum might be the unfortunate person. With rookies like Roman Josi, Gabriel Bourque, and Ryan Ellis playing as well as they have been in the NHL, falling short in the defense area for the Predators is basically a death sentence. Sadly, Blum just hasn’t quite matched the other rookies thus far (nor did Blake Geoffrion, who is hanging out in Milwaukee as well).

The Predators tore out of the gate last night emotionally and what seemed physically ready, but as the game progressed, ill-fated mistakes and miscommunication lead to the loss at home against the Dallas Stars. While the Predators are usually able to regain themselves after silly mistakes, the Stars ate up every mishap and used each one to their advantage.

Even though it was a 4-1 loss, the Predators still made regular season franchise history by selling out their 7th consecutive game. The Predators look to score an 8th consecutive sellout when the Carolina Hurricanes roll into Smashville tomorrow night. The puck drops at 7PM.

GO PREDS.
(Image credit: Leanne Charles Photography)