Notes from today’s full team practice at Centennial SportsPlex:
* It’s very nice to see the players not only in one place (as opposed to two different sessions) but also wearing different color jerseys. Reminds you that opening night isn’t far off.
* For those who don’t know, the colored jersey you have on indicates what line you’re skating with during the session. All defensemen and goalies wore the Predator navy blue while each forward line had their own color. Line combinations were as follows:
White: JP Dumont, Cal O’Reilly and Nick Spaling
Grey: Martin Erat, David Legwand and Mike Santorelli
Red: Ryan Jones, Andreas Thuresson and Peter Olvecky
Yellow: Marcel Goc, Jerred Smithson and Jordin Tootoo
Powder Blue: Ben Guite, Triston Grant and Patric Hornqvist
* Players of note that weren’t on the ice today were Colin Wilson (groin), Jason Arnott (upper body soreness), Joel Ward (unknown), Jonathon Blum (unknown), Cody Franson (nose), Alexander Sulzer (personal) and Steve Sullivan (groin). Franson confirmed that he wanted to give it a go but was held out.
* Guite looked like he was all-in with a pocket pair in today’s session. He was giving it everything he had. Diving after errant passes, racing through each of the drills at top speed and even scoring a pretty goal right over Dan Ellis‘s right shoulder where there wasn’t much space to work with.
* Speaking of pretty goals, rookie defenseman Ryan Ellis dazzled the crowd at Centennial SportsPlex with a beautiful shot on goaltender Pekka Rinne. There was about 2″ of daylight between Rinne’s left shoulder and the crossbar. Not only did Ellis tuck it in under the bar, he hit nothing but mesh. No ping sound at all. It was a thing of beauty.
* A rumor trickled in during camp that the Predators were going to sign defenseman Francis Bouillon to a one year deal. This article has Bouillon signing with Nashville for $750,000 for one year. Bouillon played in four games for Nashville back in 2002-03, finishing his brief Preds career with a minus-1 rating and two penalty minutes. Only two players remain from when Bouillon spent a few weeks in Music City: Legwand and Erat.
* Head Coach Barry Trotz on where Bouillon would fit in the depth chart: “I think it puts him in that four and a half spot. Sometimes he’ll be probably (number) four and sometimes five.”
DAY 9 STANDOUTS:
Ben Guite, Ben Guite and Ben Guite.
DAY 9 DUDS:
none.
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PHOTO CREDITS: Jeremy K. Gover/section303.com