NHL Nashville

Whether it's fair or not, my memory of Chris Osgood is always going to be as the guy who spent his entire career losing his job to someone. Early in his career he had trouble wresting the Wings' starting job away from Mike Vernon, then the Wings' signed Dominik Hasek. He went to New York and got moved out to St. Louis for Rick DiPietro. He's since moved back to Detroit and mostly been splitting time, first with Manny Legace, now with Hasek again.

Unsurprisingly, when the playoffs started this year he was placed on the benched in favor of Hasek, despite leading the league in GAA during the regular season. He got his chance partly into Game 3 of Detroit's first round series against the Predators and he's really shone since then, stopping 53 of 54 shots in two and a half games, leading the way today with 20 saves in the Red Wings' series clinching 3-0 win.

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

Don't tell the Nashville Predators they're done. The Detroit Red Wings looked set to take a 3-0 stranglehold on the first-round series, leading Game Three 3-2 late in regulation. It looked pretty bleak for the eighth-seeded Preds, but nine seconds later, things suddenly looked better.

Ryan Suter and Jason Arnott put consecutive pucks past Dominik Hasek to put the Predators in front and Martin Erat added an empty-netter for a 5-3 win in Nashville. Instead of facing elimination tomorrow night at home, the Predators have a chance to even the series against the President Trophy Wings. A little advice: if you're watching, you might not want to blink. Red Wings lead series, 2-1.

(After the jump: Go ahead and tell the Ottawa Senators they're done, and the Avs/Wild salute to overtime continues)

For all the rest of our previews, click here.

The 2002 Detroit Red Wings were the last team to win the Presidents' Trophy (best regular-season record) and the Stanley Cup in the same season.

The 2008 Red Wings have the task of duplicating that feat. They start their run to a Cup title with a first-round series against division rival Nashville. On paper, this appears to be a mismatch, but we all know that hockey games aren't played on paper. It would be too hard on the skates.

The Red Wings are still heavy favorites, but is this a slam dunk?

When the NHL strong-armed former Nashville Preds owner Craig Leopold not to sell his club to Jim Balsillie's shiny head, quite a few Canadians fans and journalists were rather upset at the league's blatant attempt to deny Canada a seventh NHL club.

Not only did the NHL obviously not want a team to move from the American South up to the loving arms of The Great White North, but the nearby Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres weren't too keen on Hamilton sucking away fans from them, either.

Those two teams can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the Canadian government won't step in any day soon.

The NHL's policies "further legitimate business interests, such as preserving team rivalries, attracting a broader audience, and encouraging investment in sports facilities by local municipalities," the Competition Bureau said in a statement.

The regulator said it started the inquiry because media reports raised concerns about whether the NHL had engaged in "anticompetitive behavior," after Balsillie last year signed a letter of intent to buy the Predators. Balsillie didn't end up buying the team.

Further legitimate business interests and preserve rivalries? Sure ... who does Nashville have a rivalry with, exactly?

As much as I believe certain NHL teams would be better off if they moved to Canada, the free-market economist in me believes the NHL is in the right.

Why shouldn't the NHL, which is a privately-held, closed (minded) organization, be allowed to choose where it wants its teams located? If the NHL stubbornyly wants to keep teams in weak markets and attempt to lure in new fans, that is their prerogative. Anyone looking to get into the NHL ownership loops knows this, and shouldn't expect the government to bend the league's rules for their own interests.

So, the Maple Leafs are free to ensure the league doesn't put a team well within the Greater Toronto Area, and the NHL has even more ammunition in its fight to deny Canadian hockey fans a chance for another team. All Hail Commissar Bettman!

"Country music star" and "hockey cred" usually go together about as well as Toby Keith and The Dixie Chicks. Dierks Bentley would be the exception to that rule; anyone who rents out the Sommet Center in Nashville to celebrate his fifth No. 1 single with a friendly hockey game is a true celebrity puckhead. As the Arizona native told CMT when asked about his favorite sport to watch or play:

I got really into hockey about four years ago when the Nashville Predators moved to town. A friend of mine who I played bluegrass with -- who's from Canada -- gave me all his old gear. I just jumped in a men's league in Nashville, not knowing anything. I used to play a lot more ... because I've been gone for most of this year, but it's still my favorite sport to play, bar none.

So I imagine it's a badge of honor to take a check against the boards from the Predators' Jordin Tootoo. I have to hand it to Dierks: Considering Tootoo's history with country singers, letting him get his aggression out with a free shot would not have been at the top of my to-do list:

With each passing week, it's appears that Nashville may not have an NHL team for too much longer. Averaging around 12,000 fans per night, the Predators are well short of the 14,000/night needed to ensure their lease remains intact. Fans are staying away as they would rather not support a club that may not be there next year, despite efforts by the team to convince them otherwise.

Falling short of that 14,000 figure will make it much easier for the team to be moved, of course, but ownership is still not quite happy with the low numbers.

Why? Money, of course.

Qualifying for the full revenue-sharing plan means the Predators would receive an estimated $12 million to 13 million from the league, money that could be used to re-sign players currently on the team and to court free agents.

Through 22 home games, the Predators are averaging 12,618 paid fans per game.

The NHL this season requires that teams average at least 13,125 paid fans per game in order to qualify for the revenue-sharing plan

Now, whether a new lease can be negotiatied, despite the low attendance, remains to be seen. It just speaks volumes about ownership mentality that they are solely concerned about attendance so that they can get a wad of free cash from the rest of the league. As we've seen in baseball (KC Royals, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh), such teams are all too eager to keep as much as the revenue sharing money as possible and spend only a minimal amount.

In this case, the Preds can meet the salary floor and keep the rest. Quite a sweet deal for them, eh?

The Nashville Predators have experienced quite a decline in attendance this season. After finishing last season ranking 23rd with an average of 15,259, the Preds have averaged just 14,228 per game this season, putting them 26th.

In order to boost sales, the Preds have taken a small step and eliminated premium pricing for three games. Hardly a major step.

"Our ownership group is committed to filling the Sommet Center on a regular basis," Lang said. "While we recognize the need to increase our revenues, we want to do everything possible to have a sold-out building for the most desirable games and making tickets to those games more affordable helps us accomplish our goals. We want to be a fan-friendly and responsive organization and believe this decision demonstrates ownership's objectives."

In the aftermath of a fire-sale of some of the best talent, the pending/rumored move to somewhere like Kansas City, and rather average on-ice results, it's quite understandable that the Preds would take a hit in their attendance figures.

Still, one has to wonder how much more the Preds can do for their home fans. Some of their seasons tickets average just $17 per game!! The Preds are already offering great deals compared to the rest of the league, yet they just can't get the Gaylord Sommet Center filled on a regular basis.

What else can the Preds do? Give away free tickets to needy individuals who normally can't see games? Oh, wait, they already did that.

Want to score some free hockey tickets? Well, if you live in Nashville, and are considered 'needy' (which could be said for most any female living in that city), you just may be in luck!

Thanks to a judge's order that $500,000 of a lawsuit settlement, regarding lawyer's fees, had to be donated to charity, some lucky peeps in Nashville are going to be able to see Martin Erat and Martin Gelinas, for FREE!

A court battle between a giant drug benefit company and its stockholders may wind up putting $400,000 worth of free hockey tickets in the hands of Nashville's needy.

If none of the lawyers balks, as many as 20,000 people could get free tickets to see the Nashville Predators, with the first passes handed out as early as January, one official said.

"I'm excited about it because we just have so many opportunities to provide a day of entertainment and fun and excitement for so many different groups," said Howard Gentry, CEO of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce's Public Benefit Foundation.

Of course, why give needy people things like shelter, food, and clothing, when they can go see a hockey game! *eyeroll*

If these people are smart, they'll give the tickets away to children's groups. Introducing the game to the younger generation just may get some of them hooked for life, and allow the kids to grow up as hockey fans. It's little use trying to convert a 40-year old NFL fan, who will probably spend half the game confused about the fact that the players don't take a 2-minute break after each pass in completed.

Ken Campbell of The Hockey News broke the news this afternoon, confirming through multiple sources that a deal had been reached between the City of Nashville and "local" owners seeking to purchase the Predators and revamp the team's lease at the Sommet Center. Campbell reports that "the deal calls for the Predators to get about $3.2 million in sales tax revenues and will also get the concert venue, with revenues from the events going to the Predators." From TheHockeyNews.com:

Although the tentative deal has not been approved by either the Metro Sports Authority or Metro Council in Nashville, it is expected it will be ratified by both bodies within the next 30 to 45 days. "From the draft of the deal that I saw, I didn't see anything in there that would offend a council member or a citizen of Nashville," said city councilor Charlie Tygard.

Grab the confetti, hang the streamers, pop the champagne (or maybe the whiskey in this case) ... and then skip down to the real news in Campbell's report, which is that this could merely be a stay of relocation for the franchise:

But unlike the current lease that forces the Predators to remain in Nashville if they average 14,000 per game in paid attendance, the reworked lease will not have an attendance component to it and the team will essentially be free to leave the city after it expires in three to five years. Essentially, that means the team has at least another three seasons to turn its financial fortunes around and if it fails to do so in that time, the Predators will almost certainly be on the move.

As Jes Golbez reported earlier in FanHouse, the Predators' attendance averaged 13,983 through six home games. Maybe this news boosts that gate, maybe this news does little to convince fans on the fence to support a team that could still be playing in another city by 2011. In either case, the most important thing to remember is that it isn't on the passionate Preds fans to keep this team in town -- it's on the business community to wake up and realize they have an honest-to-goodness professional franchise in town to support. Keep an eye on The Tennessean's Web site for more breaking news on this potential deal.

UPDATE: Like I said: "potential deal." News Channel 5 in Nashville claims their sources say The Hockey News' report is "incorrect."

Previously on FanHouse:
Deadlines and Hypocrisy in Nashville
Nashville Mayor Says Preds Deal Is 'Close'
Are 'Basket Cases' Holding up Expansion?

"[Local owners] open doors to get businesses involved. We don't have that. We need some local owners."
-- Craig Leipold to The Tennessean, Jan. 2007

Did I mess the memo where San Jose, Calif. became an unofficial suburb of Nashville? Because the newest member of the "local" ownership group battling a deadline to keep the Predators in town is Doug Bergeron, chairman and CEO of VeriFone, which is an electronic payment technology company based in San Jose. He joins a group that isn't talking to the media this afternoon, on the last day it has exclusive negotiating rights with the team. John Glennon of The Tennessean has been outstanding on this story for months, and has news about Bergeron today from another "local" owner, "Boots" Del Biaggio:

Del Biaggio said the addition of Bergeron, a Windsor, Canada native, was not an effort to boost the $193 million bid of the group, noting that it will remain the same. "We just think this is a great opportunity to bring in a really powerful guy," Del Biaggio said. "I think it's very important to the fans and to the NHL that they can see we have a really powerful group. It's a mix of having great Nashville investors and what I think are incredible businessmen and hockey fans that happen to be on the West Coast."

"Hockey fans that happen to be on the West Coast," and a Nashville-based ownership group that is absolutely incapable of sealing this deal without them. Referring to this collective as "local" going forward would be a farce. More on a potential extension from the Nashville Post here.

So if this deal falls apart -- and there is still very viable hope that it will not -- there will still be whispers about an escape to Kansas City, especially with the Predators failing thus far to hit that attendance target of 14,000 per game. Ordered Chaos of On Frozen Blog has a solid look at how far the city has come since the hapless days of the KC Scouts:

But the Kansas City of the 1970s bears little resemblance to the Kansas City of today. The KC metro area now ranks as the 27th-largest in the country - larger than San Jose or Columbus, and just a few snowed-in romantic nights by the fireplace away from catching metro areas like Portland/Vancouver, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. Its burgeoning population follows a strong upsurge of both urban expansion and cultural growth.

Completing our Nashville coverage for the day: Mike and Jason on The KB, offering "Five Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About The Nashville Predators." Did you know the Predators lead the league in players whose names start with "J"?