[Izulde]

The fun thing about the trade rumors in EHM is that they mimic real life. Some of the trade rumors will make sense. Others, such as the Columbus Blue Jackets, the newest NHL franchise, reportedly wanting a 33 year old defender, are quite silly, but I can very easily some CBJ fan going, "d00d, we totally need Teppo Numminen!!!1!!11"

Preseason
Chicago 3 Nashville 4
Woot! Simon Gagne unofficially scores his first goal in a Predators uniform and it's the game winner. Props to Karlis Skrastins getting two assists, but it's Petr Tenkrat, with his 9 rating, who's the first star. Skrastins doesn't even merit one of the three stars, although it's a Predators sweep.

D Cale Hulse is day-to-day with a wrist injury. He'll be out a couple days, so we'll see if he can play through it.

There's also positional trade rumors in EHM, such as the Buffalo Sabres wanting a right wing.

First trade rumor involving us - Vitali Yachemenev, Greg Johnson, and scrub prospect Mikko Lehtonen to San Jose for Owen Nolan. The 29 year old would be our new first line RW, but the trade would seriously hurt our depth, and Nolan comes with a $5.25 million a year for 4 years price tag, which is more than double what Simon Gagne, our current wage owner at $2.2 million, is making.

Also factoring in is our Insecure finances. Our team budget is $31.6 million and change. $23.6 million and change right now is devoted to player salaries. We're in the green $3.24 million and change, which is too thin a margin to take on another $3 million in salaries.

Detroit 3 Nashville 1
Well, I didn't expect us to win this road game after we beat the Blackhawks on the road. David Legwand scores our lone goal, with Simon Gagne and Scott Walker getting assists. Good. Let that top line get used to playing with each other.

C Keith Primeau of the Flyers earns Player of the Week. I wish they didn't do that for preseason games, but it is what it is. I won't report other exhibition PotWs unless it's a Predator.

Nashville 4 Detroit 2
Way to go Vitali Yachemenev. He rewards my faith in him with two goals in this one, earning the first star. 10 rating Greg Johnson, another trade rumoree, earns the second star. Sean Avery beat Scott Hartnell in a fight. C'mon Scott. You got do better than that. It's only preseason, but getting a win in our first game at home against an elite team is a great feeling.

Mattias Ohlund has been the subject of a few trade rumors lately - to Boston and Pittsburgh. The Bruins do pull off a trade, but it's not for Ohlund. In fact, Boston's the one giving up the big name.

Phoenix Coyotes receive
LW Bill Guerin
Boston Bruins 2003 4th round pick

Boston Bruins receive
D Drake Berehowsky
G Steve Belanger

What this means for the Coyotes
Phoenix, rumored to be seeking center help, instead nabs the 30 year old Guerin, in the final year of a contract paying him $5.1 million a year. He's a Group II restricted free agent, which I don't understand, but I assume it has something to do with the compensation pick system for losing free agents that I vaguely remember from playing this game back in the day. Anyway, Guerin is a solid all-around talent, though his positioning could be better. He's tenatively the #1 RW on the depth chart, certainly ahead of 36 year old Claude Lemieux and another mentor for 24 year old Shane Doan. The Coyotes now have a trio of solid right wings, IMO.

What this means for the Bruins
$1.45 million for 3 years is a great contract for the 29 year old Berehowsky, who projects as the #2 best defense in the Bruins organization now, so it's a major update in the back half of the ice. Belanger is already the #5 goalie and he's only 18, so he could very well be a goaltender to watch for the future. On the other hand, their RW situation is looking a bit hairy now. Glen Murray is also an expiring contract and Martin Lapointe is overpaid at $5.5 million a year for four years. Still, good on the Bruins to get something for Guerin while they could.

Winner: Draw
Both sides got something of value in the trade and it'll be worth watching to see how the two teams do in the playoff chase.

Dallas and Detroit trade prospects that no one cares about.

Nashville 4 Columbus 1
An expected home win. Scott Walker, Greg Johnson, and David Legwand all score their second preseason goals. It seems to me like that first line is really clicking.

Nashville 3 Tampa Bay 0
A shutout for Tomas Vokoun and goal #3 for Greg Johnson and Scott Walker. Johnson had two points in the game, assisting on Martin Erat's second goal.

Mattias Ohlund is rumored to Pittsburgh again. The first rumor was C Robert Lang and D Andy Schneider for Ohlund and Vancouver's 5th round pick in 2003. The latest rumor is LW Martin Straka for Ohlund and Vancouver's 2003 3rd round pick.

Now Chicago is part of the Mattias Ohlund rumor mill, joining Pittsburgh and Boston.

Tampa Bay 2 Nashville 4
Two goals for Martin Erat in this one. He's off to a flier for sure. Greg Johnson gets 2 points, including his fourth preseason goal.

The Atlanta Thrashers pick up 24 year old C Marty Reasoner from the Oilers for a scrub prospect. Reasoner's the #6 center, but considering Ray Ferraro (37), Bob Corkum (33), and Tony Hrkac (35), are all ancient, there's plenty of opportunity for Reasoner to shoot up the organizational chart very soon. Basically it was a trade of unhappy players.

Tampa Bay 4 Nashville 0
Revenge for the Lightning. We sucked.

Marty Reasoner scored a goal in his Thrashers exhibition debut. Go Marty!

Toronto and Boston trade scrubs.

But there's a more interesting trade.

New York Rangers receive
D Steve Staios

Edmonton Oilers receive
D Dave Karpa

Let's just do a straight comparison. Karpa's 30, Staois is 28. Karpa's the better fighter and is stronger, but Staois is better in every other category and at $850k is almost half the price of Karpa's $1.6 million. I'm calling this a win for the Rangers, and I don't see why Edmonton made the switch-out.

Columbus 3 Nashville 1
Well, our hot preseason start is withering on the vine. Probably because I haven't given Chris Mason a start in goal yet.

D Pavel Skrbek thinks he should be a regular player even though he's a minor league bum. Yeah, okay. If you're going to have that attitude, off you go.

But before that trade gets processed, the waiver draft hits. I won't bore you with the details of everyone I protect.

Mike Dunham gets claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers and they unprotect Damian Rhodes. Interesting. Bet Philadelphia is kicking themselves they didn't trade one of their goalies when they had the chance.

Anaheim - Patrick Poulin
Calgary - Denny Lambert
Los Angeles - Chris Dingman
Florida - Marek Malik
Boston - Andreas Lilja

Let's see. Do I want to add Felix Potvin's 30 year old, $3 million salary for the next two seasons? He's my probable #1 goalie if I claim him. Hmm. On second thought, no. I'll pass. On the other hand, I will claim 25 year old D Wade Belak from the Toronto Maple Leafs, who looks cheap at
$705k in his final season and is a Group II RFA. I'll unprotect Bill Houlder, gambling that nobody wants him for a one year rental.

..Well shit. Washington Capitals claim him. Oops.

Pittsburgh - Todd Warriner
Phoenix - Peter Schaefer
San Jose - Brad May
Buffalo - Kent Manderville
Carolina - Jarkko Ruutu
Atlanta - Steve Webb

And now for the trade we just did.

Nashville Predators receive
RW Sergei Krivokrasov
Anaheim Mighty Ducks 2002 5th round pick

Anaheim Mighty Ducks receive
D Pavel Skrbek

What this means for the Predators
Krivokrasov, 31, is now Nashville's best offensive right wing and he'll likely slot in on the second line since Scott Walker did so well with the first line in preseason. He'll also take over on the first power play line. $600,000 for the next two years is pretty darn cheap, even though he's weak on the defensive end. Tremendous skater.

What this means for the Mighty Ducks
Anaheim wants young players, and at 23, Skrbek certainly fits the bill. But it isn't all swimmingly for the Ducks, as Pavel has a long, long way to go before he can fly up Anaheim's depth chart. The real reason for this deal was to get rid of the unhappy Krivokrasov and make 24 year old Mike LeClerc the #1 RW on the depth chart.

Winner: Predators
Great value for Nashville, who didn't consider Skrbek as part of their future plans.

Oh and by the way, Wade Belak is a defensive hardass who outhustled everyone to take Bill Houlder's spot on the first line and the first shorthanded line. Maybe we'll end up giving him a contract extension in the end after all.

Given Krivakrasov's status in the organization, I decide to name him a core player. I'll also let Stu Grimson keep his captaincy for now.

No Predators in the best by position rankings. Not that I'm surprised, although I'm hoping Simon Gagne makes his way there someday.

We're rumored to be trading Vitali Yechemenev and our 3rd round pick in 2003 to the New Jersey Devils for Jay Pandolfo. That's not happening even as a straight up trade.

We lost almost $1.69 mil. last month. Not good.

Stanley Cup Hopefuls
Colorado Avalanche
Dallas Stars
Detroit Red Wings
New Jersey Devils
Ottawa Senators
St. Louis Blues

We're one of the umpteen teams listed as trying to be a legitimate, consistent playoff franchise. The Senators on the shortlist for the Stanley Cup I don't see. In my mind, the Cup is going to either Detroit or Colorado, but stranger things have happened.