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Wednesday, November 4, 1998
Predators have twang of respectibility
No siree, cousin, not a bit -- especially with all they had to work with in Music City.
The Nashville Predators?
Gimme a break.
"Anything but that,'' frowned Ron Low, a country boy himself and a true connoisseur of the finest music on this planet.
Low herds his red-hot Edmonton Oilers against the expansion side from Dixie tonight at Skyreach Centre, but more on that later. First off, let's deal with this name the team malarky.
The Predators somehow doesn't jive in a honky-tonk setting. That's kind of like Madonna doing a line dance. Or Michael Jackson in Alan Jackson's boots.
What do the Predators have to do with five-string guitars or pick-up trucks or mama or prison or getting drunk or D-I-V-O-R-C-E?
I mean, they do play the duelling-banjoes theme from Deliverence over the PA system after the home side scores a goal at the Nashville Arena.
Other options
How about the Nashville Swing? Or the Nashville Twang? Or the Nashville Cheaters?
"C'mon, we don't need something like that,'' interrupted Oiler Ryan Smyth, who also takes a shine to music with fiddles in the band.
OK, then. Back in the '60s, a young Waylon Jennings starred in a movie that played at drive-ins called The Nashville Rebel. How about the Rebels?
"Actually, I kind of like the Predators. I think it's a good name,'' argued Oilers sniper Bill Guerin.
Ah, what's in a lousy name anyhow?
Predators it is.
And you certainly won't see any bitching in this space for the Minnesota Wild when they come into the NHL two years down the road. The Atlanta Thrashers or Columbus Blue Jackets may be open for debate, however.
The Predators have been playing a semi-respectable gig in their brief existence -- three wins and a tie against five lossses. Two of those victories have come in their last two outings -- 5-4 over Vancouver and 3-2 over Colorado.
"They're not playing like an expansion team, are they?'' said Guerin, whose nine goals were leading the NHL going into last night. "They've beaten some pretty good teams and they've been playing hard.
"They've got some character guys,'' he added, alluding to his pal Tom Fitzgerald, who has been named the Predators' captain.
Other than Fitzgerald, a handful of recognizable names among the Predators are six-goal Russian Sergei Krivokrasov, Darren Turcotte, Jay More, J.J. Daigneault (Nashville's only skater with a Stanley Cup ring), plus ex-Oiler Drake Berehowsky.
Hardly surprising, the Predator who impresses Low the most is goalie Mike Dunham, the former New Jersey Devil with a 2.86 goals-against average and .919 save percentage to go along with a 3-4-1 record.
How close was Oilers GM Glen Sather to prying Dunham from Jersey prior to the June 26 expansion draft?
"Only Glen knows,'' winked Low, although the Devils were said to be coveting fast-starting Boyd Devereaux. Like it's been long said, some of the best deals are the ones one doesn't make.
Low is also impressed with the job being done by rookie coach Barry Trotz, who hails from his own Manitoba neck of the woods. Trotz, the NHL's second-youngest bench boss at age 35, played with the Dauphin Kings -- the outfit that a decade earlier produced Low and ex-Boston mentor Butch Goring.
"I'm pretty sure that's the only junior B team in the world to turn out three NHL coaches,'' chuckled Low.
What makes Trotz's resume even more attractive is that he has three triumphs to his credit with the NHL's answer to Club Z points. With a payroll of a minute $13.5 million (all figures US), the Predators are bargain-basement. That figure would not only make Sather green with envy, but it is also $7 million less than the Calgary Flames, which has the league's second-lowest budget.
Detroit has the highest payroll at $48.3 million, while the NHL average is $29.8 million -- up on the Oil's 23rd-ranked $21.9 million tab.
Big believers
Fitzgerald was asked how it is the Predators are able to comepete with their higher-paid peers.
"The guys here believe in each other and they believe in the system,'' replied Nashville's only millionaire ($1.6 M). "Anyone who wants to go off on their own and not be part of the system . . . we don't need them.''
When the Predator payroll was bounced off Guerin, a look of disbelief appeared on the face of the $1.5 million right-winger.
"I guess they'll be looking for raises -- especially if they keep playing the way they have been. That's the kind of team that can come in and beat you if you're complacent. You've got to respect their hard work and what they've done already.''
Low, meanwhile, has the Dec. 8 rematch in Music City circled on his calendar.
"I hope they have Lorrie Morgan singing the anthem there that night," he grinned.
