UPDATE - It looks like Aaron Johnson has been waived... so much for my prognositcation talent... :-)

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The final battles for roster spots are joined, with one preseason game remaining, one position’s lineup is complete, that’s at goaltender. Anders Lindback won the role of backup to start the season, making Nashville a team with almost 13 feet of goaltenders! There needs to be a cutdown of at least three players by opening night, but given the Predators normal operations of carrying 21 – 22, we will probably see four cuts over the next few days.

The forwards come down to three fighting for the last 2 slots…

- Cal O’Reilly – Hard to call this a make or break year for Cal, but the 24 year old has bounced between Milwaukee and Nashville for the last two seasons. Not sure if he has made enough of a case in this camp to claim a spot.

- Jamie Lundmark – The journeyman has been dinged a bit in camp, but has made the most of his chances. His history helps him a bit. IMHO, if it’s two selected, Lundmark is one of ‘em.

- Jonas Andersson – The real interesting story of this camp, Andersson spent most of his career in Sweden after being drafted by the Preds. He has finally come over to take his shot at the tender age of 29. He has drawn good reviews for his camp, I think Andersson is the only lock to make the team as we stand right now.

The blueline has four fighting for 2 slots, potentially 3 spots…

- Alexander Sulzer – The 26 year old has a lot of international experience including two Olympics and 22 games of NHL experience. He may be the odd man out in this group.

- Cody Franson – The 23 year old is the bubble man here. If the Preds carry seven defensemen, he will start the season in Nashville, but he will have to earn ice time, if he doesn’t do that, he will be back with the Admirals.

- Ryan Parent – The return of Parent, along with the nice contract he signed, indicates he is slated to be on this team come October 6th. Nothing at camp has indicated otherwise.

- Aaron Johnson – This is the curious one… by most accounts he has had a good camp and it seems the team would like another veteran presence on D. It would not surprise me at all to see Johnson start the year in Nashville... UPDATE - Johnson (according to TSN) has been waived.

The next few practices will tell a lot…

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Weekend Notes

- The Predators head out of town for their last preseason game today. They will be in our Nation’s Capital to take on Washington Sunday morning, face off at 11:30am CDT. Why the early faceoff?? My best guess is so it doesn’t conflict with the Eagles/Redskins soap opera kicking off at 3:15.

- Some very interesting names became available over the past few days via releases and waivers. Kyle Wellwood was released by the Coyotes, Sheldon Souray cleared waivers in Edmonton.

- Roy MacGregor has an interesting column in today’s Globe and Mail about Hockey Night in Canada, attacking the show for being “about nothing.” What do you think?

- Does anyone else think that Nazem Kadri is being just slightly overhyped? He’s a nice little player, but he needs to be allowed to develop in the AHL. The expectations Toronto has put on this player is simply ridiculous.

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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… I’ll also be updating with starting lineups and scratches during Pred home games, also I’ll be supplying information and explanations from the PA box.

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COMING UP ON THE NEXT SLAPSHOT RADIO…

SlapShot Radio is back on the air this Wednesday night at 6pm on SportsRadio 560 WNSR for our third season of great hockey coverage. The Voice of the Predators, Pete Weber and I welcome some special guests this week in our NHL Preview Show. Talking about the Eastern Conference is the man himself, the national voice of hockey, Doc Emrick and joining us to talk about the West is San Jose Shark color man and one of the voices of the NHL 2K series, Drew Remenda. We will also get Barry Trotz’s taked on the season in our new segment, Behind the Bench. It’s all this week on the season debut of SlapShot Radio.

Join our returning advertisers who already know, advertising on SlapShot Radio is a cost-effective way to reach out to hockey fans all over North America. Send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll get you information on joining the SlapShot Radio family.

The show has also put together a road trip for Pred Nation… watch out Carolina, we’re headed your way this year. We’ve set up a bus trip to go see the Preds and Canes tangle on November 20th. We got the bus, the tickets and hotels available… check it out at SlapShot Radio’s Facebook page. We’ve already filled one bus and are efforting another… stay tuned.

For the most updated guest information go to the SlapShot Radio website.

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