INJURIES on the rise | Which Nashville Predators players are going to step up and who may return?

INJURIES on the rise | Which Nashville Predators players are going to step up and who may return?

The injury bug is beginning to rear its head once again in Nashville. Who could be coming up from Milwaukee? Who could be really stepping up on the team? Who could be returning into the lineup? And what does this all mean as the number one team in the NHL rolls into Nashville? That all that and more coming up on today’s episode of the Lockdown Predators podcast. You’re Locked on Predators, your daily podcast on the Nashville Predators, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Well, hey, welcome to the Locked On Predators podcast. Part of the Locked On Network, now the number one sports podcast network. Thank you for making us our your first stop of the day. We are your free daily national predators podcast. I want to start off by shouting out all the lockdown predators podcast community and our everydayers who are here every day to talk about all things pres. My name is Jack Williams. I am a uh beat writer at the hockey news covering the national predators. As you can tell, I am not Ann and Emma. This is a whole different setup that we have going on here today. I’m very grateful to be taking over this podcast here with you and y’all and just everything that they’ve set up here. Very grateful, very excited. They’ve set up an amazing community here and um excited to take over. A little bit of a background on me. I am primarily in journalism. Prior to this, I was covering the Vegas Golden Knights for the Las Vegas Sun newspaper. Covered Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat before that. And yeah, I just love hockey. I’m originally from around Chicago. Don’t take too much offense to that, you guys. I promise I’m here to talk about just the prs. But um you know, I’m excited to take over this. I’m a diehard hockey fan. I love the sport so much. I’m just excited to get in this with you all and really just become part of this lockdown community even more. So, let’s just get into it. Let’s talk about injuries right now and just everything that’s going on with the Predators. Um that injury list just continues to grow a little bit more and more. Unfortunately, it’s some of the younger guys that becoming that have been called up from Milwaukee here. I don’t know if it’s some sort of curse, some sort of bug that’s going around. It’s not great right now, but Nick Pervix is on that list right now. One of the regular defensive in the lineup, Justin Barrett, Azie Wiselat was added onto that list recently. A little bit more of an elongated injury. Zack Leeu, excuse me if I’m mispronouncing that a little bit more. He has been on that list for a while. and Cole Smith who’s been on there too with an upper body injury as well. Um just a growing list a little bit more Aussie wise, but it kind of hurts real bad to see him on that list you guys. I mean, this is a guy that’s been grinding for so long. He’s been working. He finally got that opening season goal, that first career goal. You had that nice celebration where he did that dedication to Orca pointing up to the sky and stuff like that and then he gets injured. Um it’s been a little bit rough with that to say say the least a little bit more as well. However, Cole Smith was on the ice today at practice. We have not seen him in a hot second. He’s been injured here for the past few weeks. He has a December 15th return. It’s now dayto-day. That is what coach brunette said at the end of practice today here. Um, talking about just brunette’s opinions on what’s going on with kind of injuries and stuff like that. He did say he was dayto-day. If we go back a week a little bit more, when Roman Yosi was returning, um, brunette kind of went along the same lines as well, saying like, “Oh, well, Roman Yosi is dayto-day now.” um and just trying to figure out what’s going with that and kind of reporter like okay is he coming back the next game when he’s coming back and stuff like that and brunette was kind of like well we want him to come back as soon as we can but he’s dayto day um Joseph came back the next game so that dayto-day status could be very interesting talking about Cole Smith he was critical on that penalty kill y’all I mean the penalty kill has been great and we’ll talk about a little bit more it’s been a little too great to the point where the Predators are leaning real heavy on it but Cole Smith has been critical to that as well fortunately the PK has been able to stay afloat a little bit more with him out, but getting him back would be critical as well, especially getting a a scoring touch in that mixup a little bit more as well. Um, but talking about the lines today at practice as well, getting into that, Steven Stamos, uh, Ryan O’Reilly and Luca Vangelista are still staying in that lineup a little bit more. That has just been sticking and that’s just been working. And with this team, really, you need anything to stick and work right now. Um, Stamos has been heating up as well. O’Reilly has just been continuous the entire year. And Evangelista is starting to put in some good numbers as well. Um, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s the big thing that’s been working about it right now. Uh, Foresberg, Fetchov, and Wood is that second line there. Starting to see, uh, just Matthew Wood has just had a critical year. Just a great year, y’all. I mean, just his rookie season finally really earning that lineup. I think I saw on Twitter that Nashville management was finally like, “Hey, you can look into buying property in Nashville more. You won’t have to go back to Milwaukee.” Which is great. He’s just been a great guy in this line of a guy. Glad he’s getting the opportunity here in the top six. Forsber’s a little player that’s been kind of a little bit more quieter, but it will be nice to see if he can get it going a little bit more. Fetchov has seemingly found his game a little bit more as well, but with Forsber and Wood, who are guys who are a little bit on the hotter side talking about their play, you know, maybe that will get him going a little bit more. We have Bunt Bunting. Oh my god, I just almost meshed both names. Bunting and Holla, Michael Bunting and Eric Holla. And then Jonathan Marcelo on that third line. um kind of get a reunification of that line that was working a little bit in the preseason there. Uh that was a line that was really hot. I think we saw it break up a little bit for a little bit there. I think Marcho was playing a little bit better, but now it’s back together. It’s nice to see that grouping get together a little bit more as well and see if they can get that chemistry going. They were the first group uh in the preseason, the early season here really to get that chemistry going. Um hopefully they can get it going here later down the lineup. And then finally on that fourth line that is Schaefer McCarron and Yo uh Jo, excuse me. I was going with a little bit more of a Dutch pronunciation there. Tyson Jo uh in that fourth pairing there. Fourth line is there. Um as we know that Reed Schaefer scored his first NHL goal in the recent games here as well. Had his first NHL fight in that game as well. Talk a little bit about him more later. McCarron who I believe was injured a few games ago, just recently came back into the lineup. It’s good to get a bigger body especially on that fourth line there. He’s been, I believe, a little bit more productive in past then compared to past seasons now. But it’s good to have him see get a little bit more of a offensive flare. And then Jo has been switched out here and there gaming games, stuff like that. But um I think he’s putting a little bit more continuous minutes as well. But it’s been kind of a similar thing this year with the Predators where you’re getting these good on paper it looks really good. You’re getting these good line matchups and stuff like that, but in the game it doesn’t really hem out and stuff like that. We’re seeing a little bit more production now from how good the um offense is being, especially from that first line there with Stampos and O’Reilly. So, it’ll be interesting to see what goes here. Hopefully, the injury bug won’t push a little bit too into it as well. The defensive side is where it’s really going to be kind of um an issue coming up here. I mean, Nick Pervick’s out. I mean, he’s been putting in good numbers this year. Decent numbers. I think he’s performing a little bit under expectations, but having him out’s a little kind of rough as well. Justin Baron. Uh I think he’s been putting up solid numbers for what he’s been expected for. Um having him out of that lineup kind is not great, too. Um we’ll talk a little bit more in the next session, next segment, excuse me, about what they can get out of those guys and what they’re going to get out of the defense a little bit more. And the guys in Milwaukee that are playing well and getting them into the defense, too. But I mean, I think the biggest impact is going to come in that bottom six there with Azie Wiselat out, Zack Lau, who it was really unfortunate with Zack. I mean, just having him come up, have him getting called up from Milwaukee after he spent the beginning of the year playing in Milwaukee previous before that where he had a regular regular role in Nashville, comes up, gets scratched because he was injured and then has missed all this time, but that’s been unfortunate to see from him. Um, and then Cole Smith, I mean, that’s the whole thing. That’s the whole thing that we’re seeing now with Cole Smith and will he, won’t he? That’s kind of a big storyline and just talking about are we going to be able to add more to that penalty kill even more, get that juiced up even more um and having Colt Smith back into that rotation or is it going to be another game where they’re going to be playing a little bit short as well? They’re only playing with 369. They’re only playing with 12 forwards. So, they don’t really have that extra guy that they are used to in that lineup there. But, um it’s all about seeing what happens um going forward. Some big games coming up for sure and stuff like that. Uh but yeah, the injuries are starting to flare up a little bit more and it’s all about what the Predators can do coming out of that as well. But anyway, coming up in this next segment, we’re going to talk about who might be filling into those places. I know I’ve mentioned Cole Smith’s name like a million times, but he’s not the only one on this docket here. Milwaukee is playing extremely well most years Milwaukee is playing extremely well. How can those admirals come up here to Nashville and help out the PRs effort that they’re looking to do? We’ll talk about that here coming up in the next segment. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. 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We’re talking about guys from Milwaukee that could be helping out this effort a little bit more, maybe filling in the injury bug a little bit more. Guys that, in my opinion, deserve opportunities as well. And basically focusing on the future being right now for the Predators. There’s a lot of good prospect things going on for the Predators, specifically in Milwaukee. We could see some of those guys come into action soon. But if we’re talking about further down the road, there’s some events coming up this month that will really showcase just how good this prospect pool is for the Predators. But talking about the Admirals, um Yokin Camil, could he be coming back? This is a guy that the Predators have trusted a few times. He’s only played two games, but he has been called up once before. I believe he was healthy scratched in both the games that he was called up for. Um he has 13 points in 14 games. This is a guy that we’ve seen can can step up in the moment, stuff like that. You got to talk about that preseason game. I don’t know how many of y’all were there at that preseason game when I believe they were playing the Hurricanes. I mean, I think that alone earned his starting lineup spot. What had happened was in overtime um three and three overtime is intense and stuff like that. He completely laid out one of the Carolina Hurricanes players and then caused one of them to end up getting an unsportsman like misconduct penalty or start instigating a little bit more and that put the Predators instantly on the power play right after off a clean hit that Camille made and then like seconds later Camil scored on a snapshot uh slap shot uh from around the point. It was electric man and I mean this is a guy that can really live up to the moment. I think it’s just about him settling in and figuring out kind of his NHL identity a little bit more and making that transition. That’s the big thing about this is that the Milwaukee guys, he can play really well down here, but getting up into the league and stuff like that, that transition could be a little bit difficult. Um, a guy that’s already up here that I mentioned before is Reed Schaefer, who’s been playing very well. I think he’s just exceeded the standards that a lot of people really expected him coming into here. I mean, I don’t think they expect him to score his first NHL goal and his first, I believe, five games played. He had his first NHL goal that night and then is immediately dropping the gloves there and immediately has a Gordy How hattrick up for grabs in the moment and stuff like that. Um up in up in Milwaukee, excuse me, down in the Milwaukee because we’re talking about him playing down in the AHL. He has 14 points in 15 games. Um he’s currently not down there. He’s up with the Predators right now, but this is just kind of showcasing, hey, maybe they should lean into some guys in Milwaukee a little bit more, especially considering how bad the team is. I believe they are still last in the NHL right now. Um maybe it’s time to be working in some of those younger guys from Milwaukee a little bit more in the lineup and maybe trying out some things a little bit more. Reed Schaefer is an example of a guy who was playing well in Milwaukee. Threw him up into Nashville. He’s immediately caught right on fire as well. Matthew Wood is another example of that as well. Started out the year in Milwaukee. Brought him back up. He only started out that year in Milwaukee though because he was injured to start off the season. Played the latter end of the games last year in Nashville. Starting to play well in Milwaukee. Brought him up to Nashville. records his first NHL goal, records his first NHL hattick. He is, I believe, in the mix for one, one of the top scorers on the team. I believe he’s in the top 10, top five. Top five may be working with it a little bit more, but he is having a really good year. This is a rookie that’s having a really good year. Um, it’s just trusting these Milwaukee guys, working them into the lineup, and just giving them moments they deserve. We mentioned that the defense might be lacking a little bit more, especially with injuries, especially with the Pervix’s injury. Um, I believe I mentioned Baron was out as well. Um, one guy, man, who’s just been so flashy down in Milwaukee right now and I’m kind of baffled he has not been called up yet. It’s kind of wild is Ryan Ofco. I mean, if you’re talking about someone who deserves a chance at him 20 points in 20 games as a defenseman, um, guy’s been rolling. I mean, especially in a team that needs any sort of momentum going forward right now or to maybe change up anything, stuff like that. maybe start introducing these young guys into the lineup now with injuries starting to rear up a little bit more. This guy’s the moment. Like maybe I’m crazy or something like that. Or maybe I’m just so wo about the moment in it right now. But like he’s playing so well. I mean he’s hit like a handful of multi-point games. He started off the year red red red hot, man. I mean like this guy should be called up. I mean this is someone who deserves his opportunity as well. Another guy I think the forward units are a little bit healthier. again, they’re playing short. Um, so maybe it would be worth shifting someone in with Jo and then having like a AHL guy in that mix there as well. Jake Luchini, who I believe was undrafted and he signed with the team. He played three games last year, but has 20 points in he has 20 points in 20 games. I kind of ran up to that a little closely. Four goals and 16 assists. And this is a team that needs to get some of the Predators are a team that need to get some of their top scorers going. Um, you have some a guy who loves dishing out the puck here. 16 assists in 20 games. I mean, this is worth trying as well. I mean, I mean, it’s just about the future right now, the Pred. I mean, you need to get some of these young guys experience and into the lineup. You know, you have the guys, another pool of guys that we’re going to talk about in a second, who are not really at the professional stage yet, but you have the guys here who are at the professional stage yet. And I said it a million times already, but in a year where you need to be trying things that are different and introducing your future into the lineup, this is here. You have a Milwaukee team that’s playing really well, it’s time to get them going for sure. And I mean, Luchini is a guy, is a guy. Schaefer is just an example of that. I think if you get Camille in the right situation, he’s someone that could get going as well. Uh the other wise blat brother, Jose, I I apologize if I’m mispronouncing that, but he’s been playing well, too. It’d be great to get both Wise Blats into the lineup. That would be, man, that’d be sick. That’d be so much fun. I mean, the future is here. The future’s here and they need to get this worked up into the lineup more. Speaking of the future being here, um, World Junior Championships, six NA six Pratt’s prospects could be playing in this tournament at the end of December going into January. I haven’t checked the numbers comparing to other teams around the league or other prospects around the league. That’s big. You have six guys that are going to be playing in the World Junior Championships. Riker Lee, um, first round draft pick from this year, playing at Michigan State, absolutely tearing it up. He is, and again, I apologize for making a Chicago Blackhawks reference in the Predators podcast. However, this is my remember this is a guy I can compare it to. Very Patrick Kaneesque in just the way he moves his hands. Um, I think he’s a little bit quicker though. His speed, dude is nasty. Dude is sick. Gregor Lee, he is the real deep, but we’ve known this. He’s playing for Team USA, or at least he has made the preliminary roster. Teddy Saiga, another guy that is filthy right now. I mean, playing for Boston College. We’ve seen how good he could be even in um rookie camp at that future stars game as well. He’s playing for team USA. He’s on that roster. Vo Gustiffson, I believe Sweden just released their full roster. A lot of the rosters right now are like in the preliminary uh training camp stage of everything right now. Um, Vio Gustoson I believe made Sweden’s flatout roster. Um, that’s another draft pick. I believe he is second round for 2024. Yes, the double numbers. He is 77th overall. No, he is 77th, I believe. Yes. Yes. Yes, he is 77th. And then Saiga is 55th. I got those double numbers in my head. That’s how I remembered it. Okay. So, and then talking about Team Canada, they released their training camp roster today, which is Monday. Um, going talking about a little bit forward. Cameron Reed, first round draft pick, captain of the Kitchener Rangers, draft pick from this year. Predators traded two draft picks to the Ottawa Senators to pick 21st overall. They got Cameron Reed, big defenseman. Um, he made that training camp roster for Canada. Brady Martin, we all know Brady Martin, fifth overall pick, biggest, highest Predators draft pick since 2013. He’s made team Canada as well. That was very expected. Um, he was ripping it up last year in the OHL. He’s ripping it up this year. I mean, he’s putting up some good stat lines as well. Um, still a young guy. Um, still very much in the age range to be playing in the OHL. Um, he is named to this team Canada roster as well. Played in the NHL earlier this year year said they said, “Hey, Trot said, “Hey, let’s send you down to um, back to Sue St. Marie for a bit. Let you work on your game a little bit more, get even better.” This is going to be huge for him. This is a reason why a lot of Pred fans should be watching this and just see how good he’ll be at the World Junior Championships. Um, and then Jack Ivan Kovic, uh, second round goalender draft pick, was playing for Missaga Steelheads and then they became the Bmpton Steel Heads in the OHL and now he made the switch over to the NCAA. He’s tearing it up at Michigan right now. I was talking to my dad earlier this morning who he played college hockey so he watches it a ton. He was telling about the Michigan Michigan State game and I was like, “Oh, well there’s a Predators prospect that’s playing down there.” And he’s like, “Oh, well he like he must be playing really well.” I’m like, “Oh, he is.” He’s like, “Oh, well, like he’s the guy down there.” like they don’t know who Michigan’s backup is. That’s how much Ivan Kovic’s been playing. And I’m like I’m like, “Oh.” I’m like, “Oh my god.” So, six guys that could be playing the World Junior Championship as well. If you guys don’t know what this is, this is like the Premier Elite uh like under 20. It’s a real big deal in Canada. It’s not in Canada this year. Um Premier Elite Youth Under 20 tournament that happens like the day after Christmas and then a little bit after New Year’s. Um, it’s the best some of the best hockey games ever. You get that USC Canada rivalry going. You got Sweden in there. You got Czecha in there. I believe you got Latvia, Finland. Um, I’m probably missing more countries, but it’s a good time. And you get a glimpse at the future as well. I’m guessing I I didn’t read Canada’s roster up and down. I’m guessing Gavin McKenna is playing as well. You’re getting a peek at the future here. And the Pres are going to get a full display. Get your popcorn ready. Get in a movie theater seat. I don’t know what’s going on. You’re going to want to watch the World Junior Championships as well. That’s the next youth pool that that’s coming into this Predators team. The youth pool in Milwaukee is the one they should be investing to now, especially with injuries happening and all that. Coming up next in the f third and final segment, um we’re talking about Colorado coming to town. This is still the best team in the league. Predators played them well in their last meeting. Um talk about what they need to do to get a better result. Played them well. What are they going to need to do to get a win? 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Terms apply. again. Download the app, make an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go game time. So, Colorado’s back. I don’t know how excited people are about that. This team, woof. Oh my goodness. This team is This team is wild right now and stuff like that. I’m not talking Minnesota wild. I’m talking about just how good this team has been out of the year. They are 212 and six. Um, and this is not I and and this is not like an abbreviated season where you have a team that is going a long time with only a loted amount of games. Um, and is just dominating here. This is a full 82 game season and this team is starting off 212 and six. Adding on top of that the Olympic break and then Yeah. Yeah. And then the Olympic break. You’re they’re playing a compressed schedule and putting up this record is ridiculous. Um and this was a big moment for the Predators. The last time they played them a few weeks ago, they were coming right out of the Sweden games. That was the big thing. They’re coming right out of the Sweden games and they had that really bad loss to Pittsburgh on the second day. I believe they were shut out for nothing. Um it was not good. And the big thing that came about was they had a week off and the whole thing was like, okay, are they gonna trade? Are they gonna trade? Are they gonna make a leadership ch I need to stop doing that with my hands. They need to make a leader ch leadership change or are they go they needed to make some sort of change or that’s what the big opinion was around there and stuff like that. What was going to happen? And the big change was Yokim Kimbo was called up and then Colorado was the next game. So, it didn’t look great, but the I I there must have been some fire lit under their butts or something like that in that game because they played them really well. It was a three nothing loss, which negating that. Um it really should have just been a one- nothing game cuz if y’all remember that was the game where the Predators got scored on 15 seconds into the game and were chasing it for the rest of the game. Those last two goals were empty net goals. You take that with what with with what you will with the empty deck goals and stuff like that, but the Predators had the shot advantage for the majority of that game. They played them well. It was they fell asleep at the wheel for the first 15 seconds of the game and then the next game they got scored on 15 11 seconds into the game. So, it was a bad start. It was the bad starts to end all bad starts for that game. Um, but they played well. That was the big thing to take away from it as well. Going into this game, the Predators have won a handful of games um over the last five or six. They beat the Red Wings, the Blackhawks over that Thanksgiving break area. They Thanksgiving, not a Thanksgiving period. They beat the Blackhawks and the Red Wings and then they lost to the Jets. They beat the Flames. They had a great win against the Panthers after that. Then they just lost to the Hurricanes as well. So you’re having at least you we’re seeing more wins than usual that we’re not really on a long losing streak right now. We’re not really a they’ve lost this many out of this many. It’s more so they’ve won this many out of this many right now. If that makes any sense and I don’t sound crazy, but um right now they’re playing decent and stuff like that. The big thing they need to do is stay out of the box. I understand that this is Smashville and that Smashville means aggressive. we’re gonna play aggressive hockey, we’re gonna check a lot and stuff like that. You can still do that. Um, you need to play it cleanly. And I understand like back in the day, too. This worked because the teams were really good. You had teams winning the President’s Cup, getting to the Stanley Cup final in the mid2010s, um, that were had the Smashville style and it worked and stuff like that. Team’s not playing well. Team’s not playing great right now. You can’t really afford to take as many penalties as this team does. I understand the PK is great. Um, I wrote a whole story about how it’s really good, but it can’t be everything right now. I mean, you can’t ask four guys to do all of that constantly. The last two games the Predators played, they’ve had 12 penalties, 12 penalties in two games. Now, the PK score killed off six of six in that game against the Panthers. Um Stephen Sam Steven Stamos gave the penalty kill unit and Jussi Sorrowos the award for player of the game. Rightfully so. That’s critical. I mean six of six that’s nuts. Well then the next night they gave up two power play goals out of the six. The penalty kills really good. I’m not saying I’m not negating any of that at all. There the penalty kills playing really well. They’re a critical part of turning things around. They cannot be the only thing that turns that team the thing around. If anything, you don’t want the penalty kill on the ice a lot. You want them to be resting and having more time attacking as well. They’re spending too much time on the ice, and it’s great that they’re doing their job, but they shouldn’t be doing that all game. They are averaging 14 penalty minutes a game. That is almost half a period of hockey that they are playing with a man down. That is half a period of hockey that they are spending more time defending and preventing scoring rather than going after scoring. Um, it needs to clean up. It needs to change. Like I understand that this there’s an aggressive mindset, a physical mindset within the predators and stuff like that, but you need to be doing it a little bit more cleaner. And it maybe even just cleaning up period with no pedals and stuff like that. And again, the crazy part about all this as well is the Predators are behind compared to normal years what the penalties are taking. I believe they’re in the bottom like 15 with penalty minutes right now. Usually in most Predator seasons, they are up along the top. I believe two years ago, uh, when they made the playoffs and got into the wild card against Vancouver, I believe they were leading the team league in penalty mids that year. They had over a thousand. Um, so this year is strange because they’re not they’re not leading the league in penalties. They’re not in the top five. I don’t even I think they might be in 11th. I don’t know if they’re in the top 10. And they and the penalty kills getting worked worked worked worked worked. I mean, I made a comment in earlier earlier uh in one of my stories in my column where I said um the penalty killing unit uh Emma had a great tweet about this. Um penalty killers have a jacket that said has four sled dogs pulling a sled on it and it says don’t feed the dogs. And I made a comment saying the predators are basically asking these dogs to sprint the IDA rod, which the Ididar rod is a real big, real famous dog sledding race. It’s a ton of miles. I don’t know how long it is cuz I don’t know much about dog racing. I’m not running a dog racing podcast here. Um, it’s very long, but they’re asking these sled dogs to do a lot. Essentially, they need to clean that up critically. Um, it’s big and if you want a chance against a high power offense like the AV Avalanche, you cannot be just giving them penalty. You cannot be giving them power play opportunities over and over and over again. This needs to be cleaned up. That’s the big game changer I’m looking for in this game on Tuesday of the night that this comes out. Um, if they do that, they have a legit real chance to win. I believe in that first game they didn’t take a lot of penalties there and that gave him a chance throughout. If you can get O’Reilly and you could get Stamos, you really get that first line clicking and keep stay out of the box maybe two max. Um, and the Colorado is not really that physical or as you know aggressive or instigating of a team. Um, but if you can really lock into your offense, really stay disciplined and stuff like that, you have a real chance to really have a turnaround win here. Again, like wins against Florida are big. Florida is the worst team in the Atlantic right now, I believe. However, the Atlantic is violently competitive right now. um you have that and then um you have good wins here and there and stuff like that, but a win against a team that has only lost in regulation twice, has only lost eight times the entire season when we’re talking about overtime as well. That would really be a huge turnaround moment for this team. That would be critical. But that game is Tuesday night, 700 p p.m. Central Standard Time at Bridgestone Arena. Um, and yeah, it will be a fun matchup. They are flipping games between the Blues and the Avalanche doing kind of a home and home thing over these next four games. So, we’re going to see a lot of Blues, a lot of Avalanche. Avalanche are going away and they have to deal with the high altitude when they go off to Denver. And then the Blues game, I think, would be good, too. It’s a Central Division matchup. And, um, teams are both in similar places as well. But, we’re not going to spoil more for the week. But, thank you all for joining me in for the Lockdown Predators podcast. You can follow me on Twitter at JackG Williams. Uh you can follow the Lockdown podcast here. You can get it anywhere you get podcasts on Spotify. We post on YouTube. Um post on Apple Music. I mean, wherever you guys can get podcast, you can get the lockdown podcast from. Thank you for joining me today and tune in for another episode. And thank you for welcoming me into your community. I’m really excited to join you guys on this journey and be your source for the predators.

With injuries on the rise, the Nashville Predators look to younger players and even some Milwaukee Admirals ahead of their game against the Colorado Avalanche. Cole Smith returns to practice, and head coach Andrew Brunette says he’s day-to-day and possibly returning for Saturday’s game at Bridgestone Arena.

Jack Williams makes his debut as the Locked On Predators podcast host.

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