Poile, P. Weber Hospitalized

Photos courtesy: Zimbio.com

Photos courtesy: Zimbio.com

Today just wasn’t a good day for the Predators organization. Both the Predators GM & one of the Predators TV broadcasters were hospitalized today in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Pete Weber, the long-time TV broadcaster alongside the colorful Terry Crisp, suffered a heart attack last night and spent the day in a St. Paul hospital today recovering. The news of his heart attack came just a few hours after the news that David Poile, too had been sent to a St. Paul hospital. Thankfully, once the news was released, Weber was already relaxing and recuperating nicely in his hospital room & made certain to let everyone know via Twitter that he was in his usual high spirited mindset (even while attached to IVs and in a gown):

As you may guess, Pete will not be joining Terry Crisp on the television coverage tonight, rather radio broadcaster Willy Daunic will be his replacement.

Though Pete’s condition is good, David Poile’s condition is relatively unknown. While watching the Predators morning skate at the Xcel Energy Center, an errant pass from Shea Weber ricocheted the puck off a wall and into David Poile’s face. The puck hit just above Poile’s eye, though it did not knock him out. In fact, Poile was said to have walked over to a chair to sit down, but was hurried over to a stretcher and sent to the hospital for further evaluation. Shea Weber was quick to make certain his GM was alright after the accident.

For what we know of right now, David Poile will be staying overnight in the hospital and is said to have a fractured orbital bone, which needed 30-40 stitches. He was scheduled to fly out to Sochi, but per recent tweets, it doesn’t look like he will be going any time soon.

We are praying for quick and full recoveries for both Pete Weber and David Poile.

Hutton makes Save of the Season

On Thursday night, the Predators took to Philadelphia to face the 24-19-4 Flyers & managed to, against all odds, win their very first shootout this season, snagging the all-important two-pointer.

But there was another key moment during this game that helped propel Nashville to the two-pointer & it was all do to Carter Hutton’s cat-like reflexes. Yes, I said Carter Hutton.

Just a day after the Predators announced that they had made a deal with the Edmonton Oilers to trade Matt Hendricks for goaltender Devan Dubnyk, it was kind of assumed that either Hutton or Mazanec would have to take a step back to the farm team, the Milwaukee Admirals. And, after Trotz’s “throw him under the bus” comments about Hutton after the 2-1 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes, it was easy to believe that Hutton was the one needing to pack his bags.

…And then he does something like this:

Like Pete Weber says in the video, this may be the highlight of his career… or something similar to that. Though Hutton’s miraculous save may have only played a small part, it was announced yesterday that Marek Mazanec would be the goalie hitting the road to Milwaukee. It makes sense, though; he is a less-mature goaltender in the NHL and will thrive well in the AHL for now, similar to how well Filip Forsberg is doing.

Tonight, however, Carter Hutton will be taking the night off as the newly acquired Devan Dubnyk has been given the “ok” to start in net tonight against the Colorado Avalanche. Despite me posting that nightmare-inducing video in the previous post, Dubnyk has grown as an individual in his game since that incident. He is currently 11-17-2 and, although we’d rather see more wins than losses, you have to think logically here: Would Edmonton give up a Pekka Rinne for a Matt Hendricks? You know that answer.

Hitting the Market: Jordin Tootoo declines Offer from Preds

Is this Jordin Tootoo’s Swan Song in Nashville?

The city of Nashville hosted its Sportsfest at the Nashville Convention Center yesterday, bring some of the greatest names in sports to speak. But for Predators fans, the conference involving Brent Peterson and Pete Weber peaked the most interest.

Peterson made some interesting comments including the possibility of bringing back Hal Gill, the “60/40 chance” of Ryan Suter re-signing with the team, and his thoughts on Erik Karlsson winning the Norris Trophy over Shea Weber (not favoring Karlsson, of course). However, one particular subject perked just about every ear in the convention center, hockey fan or not.

When asked about Jordin Tootoo, Brent Peterson stated that the Predators offered the popular enforcer a “sizable” three-year contract, but declined and is expected to hit the market on July 1st. After his tear-jerking speech from his ‘Tootoo on 2’ finale, stating that Nashville is his home and he wants to bring the Stanley Cup to the city, many fans couldn’t fathom as to why he would turn down a decent offer to stay.

Perhaps Tootoo has been getting some ideas from Ryan Suter. However, besides being teammates, that’s where their similarities stop. Ryan Suter has value on the market and teams are willing to drop what he wants for his rights. Not that no one would want Toots, but if he is thinking he can get more from another team, he might be gravely mistaken. Sure, some team will pay him well, possibly more than what Nashville offered him, but will this new team be as tolerant to his behavior as Nashville has?

We aren’t saying Toots will make another run for rehab, but what if he does? Will this new team stand behind him through thick and thin like Nashville has? Welp, there’s only one way to find out and that’s exactly the road he’s heading down.

Don’t panic, Tootoo fans; Until Jordin officially signs with another team, don’t count it all as lost. Unlike Ryan Suter, we think Tootoo will return this upcoming season in Predators gold. Though “sizable” to us means a good deal, in all honesty, it could mean anything so Toots could be holding out for a better deal.

We can only hope what he said in that final ‘Tootoo on 2’ was the truth and that he wants to bring the Stanley Cup home to Nashville.