GDT: 2016 Preseason Thread - Time for the real thing!

[Montross]

Yep- 100% correct. I remember after those two beatdowns almost everyone was proclaiming the Jackets as a dark horse contender, and up and coming team. And most of us were worried to death about our team. And we all know how that turned out........

Pre-season games pretty much mean zilch.....

Rinne was not very good last season; the reason why the Preds won as many as they did was due to one of the best D corps in the league. Rinne has not shown any improvement so far in the action he has faced in the WC and preseason.

So go ahead and say these games don't mean anything. I'll check back with you after 20 games and see how good he has been then.

 

[EXTRAS]

Does Max Gortz have a chance of ever being a middle 6 NHL player? How has he done in the preseason?

 

[EXTRAS]

Does Max Gortz have a chance of ever being a middle 6 NHL player? How has he done in the preseason?

Anyone?

 

[drwpreds]

Rinne was not very good last season; the reason why the Preds won as many as they did was due to one of the best D corps in the league. Rinne has not shown any improvement so far in the action he has faced in the WC and preseason.

So go ahead and say these games don't mean anything. I'll check back with you after 20 games and see how good he has been then.

I wasn't really referring only to Rinne- I am just saying that in general, the games absolutely mean nothing. In the preseason games last year, Columbus looked like a Cup contender and we looked like a lottery team.

I am just as worried about Rinne as you are, trust me. That doesn't change the fact that preseason results (TEAM RESULTS) are meaningless 99% of the time...

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Welp...there's your preseason. First game is on Friday. Season/home opener on the big stage (NBCSN) against Chicago. Can't wait!

 

[nomorekids]

Yep- 100% correct. I remember after those two beatdowns almost everyone was proclaiming the Jackets as a dark horse contender, and up and coming team. And most of us were worried to death about our team. And we all know how that turned out........

Pre-season games pretty much mean zilch.....

"how that turned out" is what has me worried. Rinne was statistically the second worst starting goaltender in the league and basically cost us a good shot at winning the division.

 

[nomorekids]

Anyone?

I think he's a little buried on the depth chart. He has been a good scorer since coming over to the AHL, but I don't know if I would say he has NHL potential. I could see him playing another season or two, and if he's not called up, heading back overseas.

 

[triggrman]

"how that turned out" is what has me worried. Rinne was statistically the second worst starting goaltender in the league and basically cost us a good shot at winning the division.

Depends on what Rinne shows up.

Seems like he was good

October to end of November, he was .911 and 2.34. but he started 19 games and only won 10, 4 of the losses were in OT.

December through January though he was a mess, .908, 2.60, 21 starts and only 8 wins.

February through March though, he was again, ok, .914 2.34 22 starts and 2.39 goals against.

But then, in April and through the playoffs he was a mess again. sub .910 and over 2.5 goals against.

If Pekka can just maintain, over .915 and sub 2.4 goals against, I think we're fine, anything over and we're struggling.

 

[Viqsi]

It is still preseason... may I remind everyone that we got absolutely curb stomped by Columbus in our final two preseason games last year (5-2 and 7-1, Rinne with 7 goals against in that last one) and then came out and won something like 7 of our first 8 when the games actually counted (and for Viqsi's sake I wont mention what Cbus did after giving us those two beatings)

I'm not too terribly concerned about the preseason. It's an experimental time.

 

[Mypetrobot]

I know this is a preseason thread but I don't understand the home opener to Chicago. You know the opener will be a sellout they should've gone with a team that isn't a rival.

Carolina, Florida or Winnipeg would've been good.

 

[drwpreds]

I know this is a preseason thread but I don't understand the home opener to Chicago. You know the opener will be a sellout they should've gone with a team that isn't a rival.

Carolina, Florida or Winnipeg would've been good.

Trying to ensure sellouts with matchups are now a thing of the past for the Predators.

 

[Mypetrobot]

Trying to ensure sellouts with matchups are now a thing of the past for the Predators.

Last I checked they didn't have 41 sell outs last year.

 

[Viqsi]

I know this is a preseason thread but I don't understand the home opener to Chicago. You know the opener will be a sellout they should've gone with a team that isn't a rival.

Carolina, Florida or Winnipeg would've been good.

Maybe there's a certain appeal to having a Chicago visiting sellout not driven by hordes of drunken travelling Blackhawks fans trashing downtown?

 

[NSH615]

I know this is a preseason thread but I don't understand the home opener to Chicago. You know the opener will be a sellout they should've gone with a team that isn't a rival.

Carolina, Florida or Winnipeg would've been good.

The team didn't pick that schedule, the league did. I think the league wanted to start the year with rivalry games, hence a start like Chicago, Chicago, and Dallas.

 

[Drake744]

I know this is a preseason thread but I don't understand the home opener to Chicago. You know the opener will be a sellout they should've gone with a team that isn't a rival.

Carolina, Florida or Winnipeg would've been good.

35 out of 41 isn't bad. Plus, we opened at home with Carolina last year so that would be unlikely. We sold out our two games against Winnipeg but did come short against Florida on a Thursday in December.

 

[Pred303]

yeah teams don't get to pick their own schedule, they can ask the league to move nights and they can make requests like more weekend games, that the league might or might not do, but it's totally up to the league to set the schedule

 

[Adz]

Last I checked they didn't have 41 sell outs last year.

I think they could have played any team this Friday and sold out--even before the Shea-PK trade. Preds are pretty popular right now.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Last I checked they didn't have 41 sell outs last year.

Well, if not, they were close. ESPN reports over 99%.

...and last I checked, teams can't make up their own schedules.

 

[Drake744]

yeah teams don't get to pick their own schedule, they can ask the league to move nights and they can make requests like more weekend games, that the league might or might not do, but it's totally up to the league to set the schedule

I noticed that we have a Black Friday afternoon game this year, and that we had a little string of Thanksgiving night games. One of our execs talked about going those games on Thanksgiving here like the tradition he had in Tampa Bay to have New Year's Eve night games. Maybe they either gave up on the idea or the league wasn't terribly accommodating. Or maybe it's still something they try for.......who knows? I liked it though.

 

[Adz]

I like Thanksgiving and New Year's Day games. We always celebrate TG the weekend before or after so it's nice to have something to do, but I can imagine that it's a hard sell. Three of the four teams playing on TG this year are Canadian, poor Carolina (they are visiting team, though).

 

[drwpreds]

Well, if not, they were close. ESPN reports over 99%.

...and last I checked, teams can't make up their own schedules.

Exactly- 35 of 41 were sellouts. And this year there is a very good chance that every game will be a sellout for the first time ever....

And there is no question- the home opener this year would be a hard sellout regardless of opponent. It is maybe the most anticipated opener in team history (other than the first ever game I guess, but that is for an entirely different reason)

 

[Mypetrobot]

Well, if not, they were close. ESPN reports over 99%.

...and last I checked, teams can't make up their own schedules.

No but they can give their input. Like the preds did for scheduling Chicago games mid week to prevent people from flying down for a weekend game.

They played every other central for on a Saturday except for one team last year.
http://www.nashvillepost.com/home/b...ut-of-bridgestone-arena-at-least-on-saturdays

I'm sure the preds think that they won't have to worry about keeping the red out from a home opener but it's one less almost guaranteed sell out.

 

[Drake744]

Exactly- 35 of 41 were sellouts. And this year there is a very good chance that every game will be a sellout for the first time ever....

And there is no question- the home opener this year would be a hard sellout regardless of opponent. It is maybe the most anticipated opener in team history (other than the first ever game I guess, but that is for an entirely different reason)

Hope you're right but I'm still skeptical.

There will always be games, especially in the fall, that are likely candidates for less than a sellout. Culprits this year may include:

- Tuesday 11/8 vs Ottawa
- Monday 11/21 vs Tampa Bay. Good and exciting team but later that week we have games the nights before and after Thanksgiving.
- Tuesday 1/10 vs Vancouver
- Tuesday 1/24 vs Buffalo. Possibly.
- Monday 3/13 vs Winnipeg
- Monday 3/20 vs Arizona. Unless we're lighting the league on fire this one will not be a sellout. I'm calling it.

One thing also makes me curious. I would think the answer is yes, but we have 3 different Saturday/Sunday back-to-back home game weekends. Would we sell out games both on Saturdays and Sundays? We know Saturdays will, but Sunday right after? Sunday against Edmonton in February after a Caps game 24 hours earlier? Which also happens to be the 3rd home game in 4 days. 4th home game in 6 days. Who knows.....I'm glad they're doing this I'm just not convinced those back-to-backs will be all sellouts.

No but they can give their input. Like the preds did for scheduling Chicago games mid week to prevent people from flying down for a weekend game.

They played every other central for on a Saturday except for one team last year.
http://www.nashvillepost.com/home/b...ut-of-bridgestone-arena-at-least-on-saturdays

I'm sure the preds think that they won't have to worry about keeping the red out from a home opener but it's one less almost guaranteed sell out.

If I recall correctly, Bridgestone is the second most-booked arena in the US. When you take into account all 29 other teams having to be able to logistically find dates at all the other arenas over the course of the season, I don't know how picky the Preds can be these days on things like this. Our arena isn't just sitting there, empty 300 nights a year waiting to be used. They probably have to squeeze in Preds games whenever they can a lot of the time. If you remember back several years, we used to almost exclusively have home games only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Now we have games on Mondays, Sundays and whenever else because our arena is in demand across the realm of entertainment.

 

[Adz]

Looking over the teams where we play those weekend back to backs:

Dec. 3 Devils Dec. 4 Flyers Seems like the Devils fans travel well and the Flyers fans definitely do. Should sell out both

Feb. 11 Panthers Feb. 12 Stars Panthers should sell out because they're Saturday and Stars will sell out because their fan base will travel. Also this is the weekend after the Super Bowl so no football events.

Feb. 25 Caps Feb. 26 Oilers Caps will sell out, Oilers may not. Saving grace is it's a 3 PM game so there may be some school or church groups that will fill the seats.

 

[Mypetrobot]

Hope you're right but I'm still skeptical.

There will always be games, especially in the fall, that are likely candidates for less than a sellout. Culprits this year may include:

- Tuesday 11/8 vs Ottawa
- Monday 11/21 vs Tampa Bay. Good and exciting team but later that week we have games the nights before and after Thanksgiving.
- Tuesday 1/10 vs Vancouver
- Tuesday 1/24 vs Buffalo. Possibly.
- Monday 3/13 vs Winnipeg
- Monday 3/20 vs Arizona. Unless we're lighting the league on fire this one will not be a sellout. I'm calling it.

One thing also makes me curious. I would think the answer is yes, but we have 3 different Saturday/Sunday back-to-back home game weekends. Would we sell out games both on Saturdays and Sundays? We know Saturdays will, but Sunday right after? Sunday against Edmonton in February after a Caps game 24 hours earlier? Which also happens to be the 3rd home game in 4 days. 4th home game in 6 days. Who knows.....I'm glad they're doing this I'm just not convinced those back-to-backs will be all sellouts.


If I recall correctly, Bridgestone is the second most-booked arena in the US. When you take into account all 29 other teams having to be able to logistically find dates at all the other arenas over the course of the season, I don't know how picky the Preds can be these days on things like this. Our arena isn't just sitting there, empty 300 nights a year waiting to be used. They probably have to squeeze in Preds games whenever they can a lot of the time. If you remember back several years, we used to almost exclusively have home games only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Now we have games on Mondays, Sundays and whenever else because our arena is in demand across the realm of entertainment.

They had enough pull to make sure Chicago didn't play on a Saturday before.

I just think they could've done what they done before and schedule an eastern team for the opener and Chicago on a different night.

I'm just curious to see the turn out for keeping the red out and people wanting to cover their season ticket costs. Nosebleeds are going for $150ish and lower bowl going for 350+

I think it'll be 85/15 preds.