This was a gut punch that no one saw coming. Yesterday morning, Twitter blew up with news that Pekka Rinne was injured, quickly followed up with information that Rinne would be gone for 2-4 weeks. That means he could miss 6-12 games.

Yeow.

Anders Lindback will now have the second challenge of his young NHL career, carrying the weight of being the starter for an extended period of time. If Rinne’s injury takes longer than two weeks to heal, it also means that we probably will see the regular season debut of Mark Dekanich, who was called up from Milwaukee yesterday. Dekanich has been dominating in the AHL so far this season, including an Admirals record shutout streak of over 200 minutes.

So, the injury bug continues to bite this team… and bite it hard. David Legwand will miss tonight’s game as well, he is reportedly making progress toward returning, but isn’t there yet. Matthew Lombardi remains on IR as well.

Tonight’s opponent comes in healthy, the Hurricanes have a clean injury list and will be looking for redemption from their shootout loss to the Preds two weeks ago at RBC Center. Cane goaltender Cam Ward has been heating up, going 3-1-2 over his last six starts.

Should be a good one tonight at Bridgestone Arena, I do know we have quite a few Hurricane fans making the same trip we did two weeks ago. I hope we welcome them as well as we were welcomed in Carolina. Puck drop is at 7:08pm CST, game coverage on 102.9 the Buzz, no local TV but the Carolina feed is available on Center Ice and Game Center.

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The Voice of the Predators, Pete Weber is rallying an effort to honor the memory of Hockey Hall of Fame writer Jim Kelley. In an editorial that will appear in the Buffalo News tomorrow, Pete is asking for the US Hockey Hall of Fame to do two things…

First, considering that Mr. Kelley is already a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, shouldn’t he be enshrined in the US Hockey Hall of Fame as well? Also, he is asking that body to honor excellence in hockey journalism in this country with a “Jim Kelley Award.”

Pete is right on the money on this one. On the USHHOF website, USA Hockey is named as the owner of the induction process, so it only appears to make sense that we ask that organization’s Executive Director, Dave Ogrean to help make this happen, his email is [email protected].

It’s time for this to happen. I’m sending my email today…

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You are invited to follow me on Twitter. Search for PredPAPaul… Not only will I be updating when I get news or updates, but we are having a bit of fun by getting your input on Gnash introductions, weigh in on Twitter and who knows, we may use your introduction for the best mascot in the NHL at the next Preds game!

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COMING UP ON THE NEXT SLAPSHOT RADIO…

This week’s SlapShot Radio is Tuesday night (Preds are in Detroit on Wednesday for a 6pm start) and we will are setting up our guest list.
For the most updated guest information go to the SlapShot Radio website.

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