The Nashville Predators conditioning camp hits the ice today after a couple of days of poking, prodding and team building. The first on-ice session is this afternoon at Centennial Sportsplex, as always the session is open to the public.

A couple of players to keep an eye on...

Blake Geoffrion - Beyond the obvious (Nashville kid makes good, etc.)... I really want to see how much Blake has grown and improved after last years camp. A year at Wisconsin should've really helped the 2nd rounder's ('06) development, this will be a first look at his progress.

Mike and Mark Santorelli - Brothers Mike (6th round '04) and Mark (4th round this year) are an interesting story. They have taken different paths (Mike in CCHA, Mark in WHL) to arrive at the same place.

Patric Hornqvist - A lot of expectations on this kid since he broke Forberg's rookie scoring record. The 7th rounder from '05 is expected to make some noise at this camp and potentially in training camp come September.

Cody Franson - After a great Memorial Cup run with the Vancouver Giants, expect the 6'5" blueliner to contend for a spot on the big team this year. Great size, good ice-sense and a bit of a mean streak could be just what the Pred's need at D. I do expect the third round '05 pick to start the season in Milwaukee, however, his stay in brew-town may be short.

Teemu Laakso - Another 3rd rounder from '05 that is expected to make an impact. His devel;opment in Finland has progressed nicely and now he can make the next step and adjust to the North American game.

Jon Blum - The only first round pick at this years conditioning camp, another member of the Memorial Cup winning Vancouver Giants. The Long Beach, CA 18 year old is wanting to make a splash this week. Picked up at draft position 23, he was in the top 12 on the Preds draft board.

Pred Nation should be out in full force this afternoon, get there early if you want to get a seat. The hour-long, on-ice session begins at 2:45pm. The full conditioning camp roster is on the team's website in PDF format... here's the link

http://predators.nhl.com/ext/pdf/2007_prospect_camp_roster.pdf

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