Tag: Colin Wilson

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Catching Up with Nashville’s Chaotic Summer; Two More Added to Milwaukee

In the world of professional hockey, August tends to be the slowest month. During a Summer Olympics year it can seem even slower. This has been the case for the Nashville Predators, who made several key moves during July, and done nothing but stand pat since July 24th, the fateful day that the team match Shea Weber’s 14-year RFA contract.

However, one day prior to holding onto to Weber, the Predators did agree to deals with forwards Sergei Kostitsyn and Jack MacLellan, on one-way and two-way contracts respectively. Kostitsyn, who has been successful with Nashville is locked up for two years, MacLellan one.

On the same day Weber signed former Milwaukee fan favorite Colin Wilson re-upped with the Predators for three years. These are small potatoes deals in the scope of an entire summer as Nashville wades its fishing pole into the water for the last major free agent prize available, forward Shane Doan. However, competition and the asking price seem super high, and Doan, who wouldn’t mind returning to Phoenix, holds all the cards.

While we all wait with baited breath on Doan’s future whereabouts, the Predators’ AHL affiliate made a pair of notable roster moves today. Admirals defenseman Jeff Foss is back in the fold after signing an American Hockey League contract. The RPI product skated in 28 games with Milwaukee last season, contributing one point and 32 penalty minutes. Foss didn’t make much of an impact in 2011-2012, but he has the opportunity to increase his role significantly this season.

The other addition for the Admirals is Zoltan Hetenyi, a 24-year-old goaltender who is a native of Budapest, Hungary. Hetenyi had impressive numbers last season with Jokerit of SM-ligga, posting a 1.75 goals against average and a .936 saves percentage. This will be Hetenyi’s first North American professional season, but he already has a tidy Wikipedia page.

So Roundtable . . . Now that is August, what are your impressions on Nashville’s summer to date? Anyone still out there that you wish the Predators would sign, who have the potential to play with Admirals? What do think of the resign of Foss and the addition of Hetenyi?

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Taking a Look at Milwaukee Alums who are playing/have played with the Nashville Predators in 2010-2011

With Nick Spaling finally getting over the hump and scoring his first NHL goal, I thought it would be worth taking a look at the progress of some of the Admirals who have played with Nashville so far this season, but also who have spent time in Milwaukee.

Spaling hasn’t had much puck luck in the NHL, as it took 50 games to get over the hump against the New York Islanders.  On a 5-on-3 power play Spaling setup on the right side of the net.  A couple of nice passes later and Spaling had himself a gaping net.

“It was a pretty nice play and they set me up pretty good there,” Spaling said.  “It was a wide open and I just had to put it in.  I was pretty lucky to get that one.”

(Check out the rest of his post game conversation here)

It is now going on two weeks and Mark Dekanich has yet to get a start with Nashville during his second stint with the club in 2010-2011.  The problem has been the unbelievable play of goaltender Anders Lindback.   Lindback has two shut outs in a row, and those starts weren’t even his best so far.  Last Wednesday Lindback shut down Detroit for a 3-2 Nashville win, making 15 saves in a third period dominated by the Red Wings.

Dekanich looks likely to get in goal for his first NHL game sometime this week as Nashville faces three games in four nights starting tonight at home against San Jose.

Fellow Scandinavians, Teemu Laakso and Linus Klasen, have each played in one game a piece with the Predators and both have yet to record a goal.

Of the other players who skated with Milwaukee in 2009-2010 and are currently with Nashville, Cal O’Reilly has six goals and 18 points, Colin Wilson has six goals and 12 points, Cody Franson is off to a great start with 4 goals so far and Alexander Sulzer has yet to score in 12 games of NHL action.

Stay tuned later this week for my feature on the relationship between Nashville and Milwaukee in the Predators organization, and in January for my piece on the success of Milwaukee developing NHL talent.