defensemen

John Glennon at the Tennessean is reporting that Ville Koistinen has been awarded a $700,000 contract coming out of arbitration.

*yawn*

No word yet as to what each side was seeking, but the Predators now have their seven defensemen set for the upcoming season. I would expect that young guns like Sulzer and Franson will only get an NHL look if injuries open up opportunities, or a dynamite trade

Nashville Predators GM David Poile has gotten right back to work after the NHL Draft last weekend, as attention turns toward the raft of younger players working their way up through the system:

First, qualifying offers were made to Ville Koistinen and Kevin Klein, the 7th and 8th defensemen on the roster last season. Those two will not be subject to RFA offer sheets, and, if the situation

Tonight's game in Dallas just might be the perfect game at the perfect time for the Nashville Predators; an elite opponent that's currently firing on all cylinders puts forth a challenge to a good team that's stumbled defensively recently.

Nashville launches the post-All Star Game portion of their schedule tonight in Beantown, taking on a Bruins team (25-19-5) that is one of the pleasant surprises of this season.  Boston was mostly expected to languish near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, especially after losing Patrice Bergeron for the season due to injury.  In goal, however, Tim Thomas is having a career year, leading the NHL with a .928 save percentage and earning the victory in Sunday's All-Star Game

The Predators head into the holiday break having ended their five-game losing streak with back-to-back victories over Los Angeles and Columbus, so while nobody should be popping champagne over a 16-16-2 record, things are certainly more hopeful than they were a few days ago. It's good to see Jason Arnott popping in goals again, and Jordin Tootoo's cameo on the top line has been impressive.

Once again the Nashville Predators catch an opponent who's had to travel after playing the night before, as Vancouver won in Chicago 3-2 last night (follow the link to Canucks Hockey Blog, a fine Vancouver resource whose author is my opponent this week in Mirtle's pool).

It's time once again to review the NHL's Penalty Plus/Minus leaders, as I've refreshed the data up through the games of Sunday, December 3rd. Alex Ovechkin continues to lead with a +20 mark, followed by Sidney Crosby at +17 and Pavel Datsyuk with +14. Again, we see big-name talent leading the way here, as expected. All of these players give opposing defenses fits, so it's no surprise to see them getting hauled dow