SB Nation - Nick Spaling

Nashville Predators assign Nick Spaling to AHL affiliate in Milwaukee

Dirk Hoag — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:18:54 -0000

More photos » by Gregory Smith - AP

2 months ago: Atlanta Thrashers right wing Chris Thorburn, left, fights Nashville Predators forward Nick Spaling, right, for the puck during the third period of a preseason NHL hockey game Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gregory Smith)

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From the Nashville Predators:

Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has reassigned forward Nick Spaling to the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL), putting the club's roster at 29 players.

Nashville's roster now consists of 18 forwards, nine defensemen and two goaltenders. Teams must be at or below the 23-man active roster limit by Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. CT. The Predators open the 2009-10 regular season two days later on Thursday, Oct. 3 at Dallas (7 p.m., FOX Sports Tennessee (HD) and 104.5 The Zone).

Spaling was impressive in a variety of roles during training camp, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him called up during the year if injury strikes the 3rd or 4th lines.

Nick Spaling

#57 / Left Wing / Nashville Predators

Height: 6-1

Weight: 185

Born: Sep 19, 1988

2009-2010 Nashville Predators Season Preview

Dirk Hoag — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:26:20 -0000

More photos » by Frederick Breedon - AP

Can Steve Sullivan, Martin Erat, and Ryan Suter return the Nashville Predators to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2010?

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After a four-year run of playoff appearances, the 2008-9 Nashville Predators fell to 10th in the Western Conference, due to a rash of injuries late in the season combined with a dearth of secondary scoring. After a summer of relative quiet on the free agent front, and a failed attempt to trade for Phil Kessel, is there reason to believe things will turn for the better in 2009-10?

Follow after the jump for your Nashville Predators season preview...

Who's In

GM David Poile brought in a collection of depth forwards via free agency in Ben Eaves, Marcel Goc, Ben Guite and Peter Olvecky. Eaves will likely act as a playmaker in Milwaukee with the Predators' AHL affiliate, while Goc, Guite and Olvecky will round out the checking lines in Nashville. On defense, Francis Bouillon should add experience on the 2nd or 3rd pairing.

There are also a few younger players stepping up onto the NHL stage this season. On defense, Alexander Sulzer should see regular duty, while a 7th roster spot might remain open for either Cody Franson or Teemu Laakso. Up front, Mike Santorelli (a point-per-game player in the AHL last season) gets the early nod as the 2nd-line winger on the Legwand/Erat line, while Cal O'Reilly and Colin Wilson will likely split time as the 3rd-line center. Ryan Jones, with his new one-way contract, should enjoy his first full NHL campaign. It will be interesting to see how much his crease-crashing abilities are used on the Nashville power play.

Who's Out

Radek Bonk (KHL), Vernon Fiddler (Phoenix), Scott Nichol (San Jose), Jed Ortmeyer (San Jose), Ville Koistinen (Florida), Greg de Vries, and Greg Zanon (Minnesota).

Strengths

The top five of Steve Sullivan, Jason Arnott and J.P. Dumont up front, with Ryan Suter and Shea Weber on defense, compares favorably to just about any team in the NHL. If the Preds can get into the third period with the game on the line, they have the talent and experience necessary to pull out their share of victories. Nashville's goaltending has also typically been excellent, despite annual turnover in the #1 spot.

The coaching staff is often lauded for maximizing the performance of the talent they're given, but perhaps Barry Trotz's greatest achievement is how he maintains team unity and persistent effort during times of crisis, both within an individual game and over the course of a season. Down by a score of 5-0 after the first period in Calgary last November, the Preds fought back to make it a 7-6 game, and were firing pucks at the Flames' net in the final seconds in a bid to tie it up. Down 3-0 at home against Pittsburgh in January, the Preds rallied for a pivotal 5-3 win. Later in the season, as the team lingered on the brink of playoff elimination and had to skate without three key forwards (Jason Arnott, David Legwand, and Martin Erat) due to injury, the Preds still gave a strong account of themselves down the stretch.

The Preds may not always triumph, but they can be counted on to fight hard and fight as a group, and that deliberate attitude starts with the coaching staff.

Weaknesses

In case you have heard, scoring depth is a bit of an issue with this team. The dropoff after the Big Five is precipitous, as the 2nd line anchored by David Legwand and Martin Erat has struggled to provide consistent offense in the past. The hope this year is that Mike Santorelli's move from center to left wing will give them some help, but it remains to be seen how much of his AHL success will translate to the NHL level.

Experience on defense could also be a concern, if Francis Bouillon proves unable to play due to his slow recovery from injury. Surely Nashville would want to avoid dressing two rookies back there on a nightly basis.

Depth Chart

(updated based on the Sep. 29 cuts)

Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Steve Sullivan	Jason Arnott	J.P. Dumont
Mike Santorelli	David Legwand	Martin Erat
Joel Ward	Marcel Goc	Ryan Jones
Jerred Smithson	Ben Guite	Jordin Tootoo
Peter Olvecky	Colin Wilson	Wade Belak
Nick Spaling	Cal O'Reilly	Patric Hornqvist

Defense
Ryan Suter	Shea Weber
Dan Hamhuis	Kevin Klein
Teemu Laakso	Francis Bouillon
Alexander Sulzer	Cody Franson
Jonathan Blum

Goal

Pekka Rinne

Dan Ellis

Mark Dekanich

Prediction

Most observers fail to appreciate the impact that Steve Sullivan's return should have on the top line and the power play, and there's good reason to believe the 3rd line should be improved as well. The turnover from players like Radek Bonk, Vernon Fiddler and Scott Nichol to Mike Santorelli, Cal O'Reilly, Ryan Jones and (as seems likely at some point) Colin Wilson marks the first time since 2006-7 that the Predators have offered much offensive threat outside of the Arnott & Legwand lines.

Similarly on defense, the expanded role for Kevin Klein in place of Greg Zanon, and the addition of Alexander Sulzer for Greg de Vries, offers similar hope for improved two-way play rather than the "block a shot and chip the puck out" seen all too often last season.

The goaltending should be a source of strength, especially in a division where the two favorites (Chicago and Detroit) have perhaps the shakiest situations in net. The Central should be a fascinating dogfight this season, particularly when you consider the experience and quality of the coaches involved - Barry Trotz, Mike Babcock, Joel Quenville, Andy Murray and Ken Hitchcock are all savvy and experienced bench bosses.

In the end, I expect the Preds to return to the playoffs with the #8 seed, as last year's Goals For/Against figures of 207/228 balance more closely around 235/230. Given the way the race has gone down to the wire the last few seasons, earning points in the standings will be critical right from Game #1 all the way through Game #82, and it promises to be a white-knuckle ride the whole way.

But then, the fans in Nashville just wouldn't have it any other way:

Poll

Where will the Nashville Predators finish in the Western Conference?

1st

2 votes

2nd

1 votes

3rd

3 votes

4th

2 votes

5th

10 votes

6th

21 votes

7th

35 votes

8th

30 votes

9th

13 votes

10th

13 votes

11th

3 votes

12th

4 votes

13th

1 votes

14th

0 votes

15th

3 votes

141 votes | Poll has closed

Nashville Predators rookies fall to Atlanta Thrashers, 6-3

Dirk Hoag — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:36:11 -0000

In the Predators/Thrashers rookie game this evening, the Preds dropped a 6-3 decision to Atlanta.

The following video highlights come courtesy of the Thrashers site (so you'll have to bear the Thrashers-centric coverage). Stay tuned for the end, which includes a sweet post-game shootout goal by Ryan Ellis at the 2:15 mark:

Nick Spaling, Colin Wilson, and Charles-Olivier Roussel scored for Nashville, while Jeremy Smith and Chet Pickard each played in net, giving up 3 goals apiece. The complete game stats can also be found at the Thrashers site.

Monday's news: Profiling the Nashville Predators prospects, and pondering a plummeting NHL salary cap

Dirk Hoag — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:49:11 -0000

More photos » by Tom Mihalek - AP

The Happy Couple: Paul Holmgren, Philadelphia Flyers' General Manager, left, shakes hands with Chris Pronger, the team's new defenseman. Pronger's long-term contract will have salary cap implications in Philadelphia for years to come. Or will it???

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With the Nashville Predators Development Camp now behind us, this morning's news contains some in-depth profiles of a few of the key figures. After the jump, you'll also find a preview of the NHL's Central Division, which may well be the toughest in the league, and a lot of discussion as to where the salary cap is headed for the 2010-11 season. There be dangerous waters ahead...

Ellis’ NHL road dotted with lots of puck stops | Nashville City Paper

David Boclair brings us a profile of the hard work that has carried Ryan Ellis to stardom at the OHL level, and a 1st-round draft selection by the Preds.

Casey Wellman - A prospect on the Nashville Predators radar | Nashville Predators Examiner

Jim Diamond brings us the scoop on Casey Wellman, the one guy at last week's Development Camp who was a free agent invitee.

A look back at Rookie Camp… | Section 303
Codey & Jeremy provide their breakdown of the Development Camp, and some quotes from Wellman as well.

Predators find another big goaltender - The Tennessean

John Glennon profiles Anders Lindback, a 6'6" Swedish goalie picked in the 7th round of the 2008 draft. What is it about gigantic Scandanavian goaltenders these days?

Do-it-all prospect gets Predators' attention -| The Tennessean

John then follows up this morning with a look at Nick Spaling, whose versatility may give him an edge when it comes to earning an NHL job.

Blue Jackets Xtra - Ganging up

Aaron Portzline posits that the Central Division may well be up for grabs this season, as Detroit has lost a number of quality free agents, and the competition improves. Check and see where the Columbus scribe ranks Nashville...

FLYERS LIKELY WILL BE $AVED FROM OWN STUPIDITY - New York Post

Larry Brookes says that several GM's have told him that "they believe a rollback of up to 15 percent plus a round of amnesty buyouts will be necessary at the end of next season in order to accommodate a decrease in the 2010-11 [salary] cap." Reaction to this scenario can be found at Puck Daddy, Tom Benjamin, and mc79hockey.com.

Personally, I'd hate to see the cap system scrapped before teams like Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia have to pay the price for the long-term contracts they've been handing out the last few seasons, consequences that were (or should have been) known risks at the time. The current system can work in rising and falling economic conditions, but it doesn't (and isn't intended to) protect teams from making poor choices. Perhaps revisiting the notion that teams aren't allowed to include money in player transactions (in essence, take my overpaid winger and I'll pick up x% of his salary) might present a compromise that allows the big-market teams an escape from their indiscretions, while at the same time providing greater access for small-market teams to top-level talent.

Or as Henny Youngman might say, "Take Brian Campbell... please!"

The fans come out in droves, and Geoffrion closes out Development Camp in a shootout

Dirk Hoag — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:54:48 -0000

The waning moments of the last public practice of the Nashville Predators Development Camp featured a shootout competition between the Blue and Gray squads. Hometown hero Blake Geoffrion (of nearby Brentwood, TN) closed out the festivities with a nifty backhand roof shot after the goaltenders stoned a number of shooters, in front of an energetic crowd at Nashville's Centennial Sportsplex.

After the jump you'll find the video presentation summarizing today's events, and a recap on some of the great hockey conversation that was had. I brought my newspaper, thinking that there would be lulls in the action during which I could do some reading, but I never had the chance to open the darned thing. Nashville's hockey fans are ready for September to be here, and excited about a youth movement that appears to be underway.

So who was there? Well, from the blogging side of things, just about everybody. There were Buddy & Jackson from Preds on the Glass, Jeremy & Codey from Section303.com, Paul & Brandon from Hockeybuzz, Paul Nicholson (well known around Nashville on Twitter, but also stretching the blog muscles occasionally at Geek Thoughts), and I think I saw Rachel from What the Puck, but didn't get the chance to stop by and say hi. I also got the chance to meet Jim Diamond of the Nashville Predators Examiner, who wrote a great piece recently on Nick Oliver, the 4th-round pick who played for his father on a state-championship high school team.

There were also a host of fans who I know best from all the conversation on Twitter (where you can find me at @Forechecker), like George Scoville (@stackiii), who played such a prominent role in organizing the Nashville NHL Tweetup on the first night of the playoffs, and is moving to Washington D.C. in the fall. We, as a Predators fan base, fully expect George to make us proud when the Preds make a road trip to play the Capitals this upcoming season by giving us a YouTube-worthy moment (actually that was a guy I used to work with, I'm in the back of that video in the Swedish national jersey).

Then you had Mike Barnes, the amateur videographer who posted another couple segments of video from today's session. At the tail end I even got to have a great conversation with TV play-by-play man Pete Weber, a walking encyclopedia of hockey history that every Preds fan should take the opportunity to meet when they have the chance. Pete agreed with me that the exciting thing about the youth movement taking place this season is that the younger players are only being expected to come in to fill roles on the 3rd and 4th lines up front, and on the 3rd pair on defense. Last fall, you had Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Jones on the 1st and 2nd lines, and that's just too much to ask of kids facing their first NHL campaign. This time around, they'll have a bit more seasoning, and the expectations should be more appropriate.

So many questions swirl around the roster that will come out of training camp this fall, and instead of the last two seasons which saw first a salary purge and then a defection, there's genuine anticipation and an upbeat atmosphere about what the future holds for Nashville. Here are just a few of the questions which had tongues wagging:

Can't we just declare Joel Ward the 2nd-line winger, go with a "kid line" as the 3rd, using the money free up to sign a defenseman?
What are Chet Pickard's prospects for stepping in at Milwaukee and earning the #1 job ahead of Mark Dekanich? In the event of injury, might Pickard be the guy called up to Nashville as a backup?
Who's going to center the 3rd line coming out of training camp? Cal O'Reilly, Mike Santorelli, or Colin Wilson?
Could the Preds actually go with 3 rookies on the blueline?
How freaking big will Zach Budish (6'3", 229 lb at 18 years old) get?
Is Nick Spaling ready to step up to the NHL level?
Where are all these goalies going to fit? Hint: Jeremy Smith, who stood out this morning, may go back for one more year with the OHL's Niagara IceDogs*,or possibly the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones.
How rough will the schedule be, considering the two-week Olympic break that gets wedged into the same overall timetable? We'll find out more on Wednesday when the 2009-10 Regular Season schedule gets released.

You can debate all these questions and more over the coming weeks, we've certainly got some time to fill until training camp opens in September!

*Thanks to Pete Krupsky of the Plymouth Whalers for correcting me with the note that Smith was traded from Plymouth to Niagara last season.

Nashville Predators Development Camp report: the rise of Nick Spaling

Dirk Hoag — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:27:34 -0000

This morning saw another public on-ice practice session for the Nashville Predators prospects, and the glowing reviews are coming from all corners. It's July, so naturally there's a bit of optimism in the air; all the guys seem fast, are bigger than expected, and have great shots. A note of caution, however, is warranted. As John Glennon says in his afternoon blog,

Let’s all remember that these are a few one-hour drill sessions in July, so we probably shouldn’t be drawing too much from them. It’s certainly not the same as watching players participate in highly competitive training-camp scrimmages.

After the jump, we've got a series of reviews from today's action, and a look at who really has a chance to make an impact at the NHL level this fall...

First off, it was great to meet up with @MikeBarnes5, who provided the video I used in yesterday's recap. You can find two clips of video from today here and here.

Colin Wilson skated for the first time today and looked fantastic - very strong on his skates, quick to make changes of direction and shake off defenders. It's only a matter of time before we see him at the NHL level, and he should generate some genuine excitement when he does. Brandon Felder has quotes from Wilson and some of the other prospects in his recap.

A Baby Blueline?

Now, one thing we've heard quite a bit this week is that after re-signing Steve Sullivan and Joel Ward, that the Preds are pretty much done shopping for now, and may not get either a winger or a defenseman prior to training camp, opting instead to promote from within.

Admirals Short Shifts breaks down the picture on the blueline:

Down in Nashville, it's sounding more and more like Cody Franson and Teemu Laakso are going to be given every chance in the world to make the Preds squad this year.

According to John Glennon from the Tennessean, Franson is training in Nashville, and has stopped by the Development Camp. And Laakso received this glowing review from Preds GM David Poile.

"He tested out great, says he feels great,’’ Poile said. ``We liked what he did down in Milwaukee and he could certainly be a candidate to play for our team. So you weigh that kind of thing against what’s out there.’’

At one point, it sounded like signing a veteran defenseman was on Poile's to-do list this summer...but that makes it seem like he thinks the Preds might be able to promote from within. After the exit of Zanon, Koistinen, and DeVries, would it be a stretch to see the Sulzer, Franson, and Laakso all make the roster?

My answer, yes, it would be a stretch - a mind-blowingly large one that would probably send Barry Trotz's blood pressure through the roof. I simply can't imagine an NHL team with aspirations for the playoffs lining up 3 totally raw rookies in the 5-6-7 slots, behind Kevin Klein (with all of 81 games of NHL experience) at #4. For the sake of his head coach's sanity, David Poile will obtain a graybeard, stay-at-home type to work the 3rd pair and mentor the new kids. It's a formula that worked well with Greg de Vries, and now it's time to move on to a more affordable option.

So why the public proclamations to the contrary? I can think of two reasons. First of all, with the prospects in town, Poile needs to communicate a message of opportunity - "there are NHL jobs on the table, kids, so work your butts off and force me to put you on the team". Secondly, there's no need for Poile to sign such a player right now - the early days of the Free Agency period are a player's market, when the Bouwmeesters and Beauchemins go to the highest bidder and draw all the attention. For the mass of players that remain, the market will shift in the GM's favor as training camp approaches and marginal players look for work. That's when you can snag a depth D out of the bargain bin, and I'm guessing that's what will happen here.

Spaling on the rise

Now there is something that myself, John Glennon, Paul McCann, and many others do agree on - that Nick Spaling has taken a big step forward and stands out from the pack with an all-around polish to his game. What I look for on days like this is a forward who can execute at high speed, make and accept strong, accurate passes, and use his speed or size to separate from defenders. They're not ripping their best slap shots or getting a chance to show their hockey sense in a 5-on-5 scrimmage situation, but you take what you can get, and Spaling just seems very slick compared to the other prospects right now. Might that translate into a 4th-line/PK opportunity this fall? It could be...