Predator: An organism that lives by preying on other organisms. (Nashville Predators)

[seb170455]

Press confererence with GM Jo Loonstra at the beginning of the season
(September 2013, Nashville TE)

You have been here a few months. What are your plans and in which state did you think the Predators were in when you came in?
When I came here I saw a well organized franchise, with many good players and a great coaching staff. The club wants to make the playoffs again and become a contender in the future. My plans are to make this club a contender and give it his first Stanley Cup in history. That will be a difficult task, but a job that can be done. I can't garantee a cup or give you a timetable. There are too many factors that makes a franchise a Stanley Cup contender. So there are no garantees, but we want bring this franchise back in the playoffs again. The Nashville Predators organization has given me time to rebuild. This season we hope to win at least 38 games and if we make it into the playoffs, it would be a bonus.

What can we expect from you; Big splashes, mind-dazzling trades or a buildup via draft?
I am more of a slow builder. We want to build through the draft and develop those young players into stars. With Barry Trotz we have perfect coach to do this. I have to admit that when an great opportunity occurs, we will not hesitate to make daring decisions.

When you looked over the roster, did you like what you saw?
Apparently not, because we traded some guys already. We had 50 guys on the roster. So there was no space to work with. Also the CAP space was too little and had to be solved. I noticed that we had no real NHL ready backup goaltender and too many AHL goaltenders. If you look at the roster you will also see there could be more balance in types of players. We will try to do something about that. When you look at the system, there are not too many future superstars in there. The potential within the Predators system is too low. This doesn't mean that those young guys aren't able to grow to NHL level, but if you look at the potential at this moment there are too many longshots. So I think we have to retool this roster in the next few years.

What is your opinion on the pre season?
If you look at the stats you see that we could have done better. 2-4-0 is not a great pre season.

What about your moves?
You want to talk about the trades and free agent signings?

Yes,please.
Okay, let's see. I wanted to make Cap space and we had too many players on the roster. The first trade was acquiring McGrattan from CGY for Clune and Rask. We have Hendricks who is an upgrade over Clune so he was expendable. We did not believe Rask was going to make the NHL roster. We got McGrattan, a fan favourite, back. He gives us a lot of toughness and he is a great character in the dressing room.
The second move was trading goaltender Juvonen to CGY for a 2014-4th round pick (CGY). We had too many goaltenders and I think getting a 4th rounder for Juvonen was quite a steal.
We created room for a new backup goaltender. We looked for a trade, but that was not in our range. So we looked into free agency. The best 3 available goaltenders were DiPietro, Auld and Theodore. DiPietro asked too much money. We liked Theodore over Auld and we signed Theodore to a 1 year deal.
The last deal we made, was a calculated one. We had 7 centers on our roster. Some can play on the wing, but not all. Fisher, Legwand and Wilson are untradeble. We decided to say goodbye to Matt Cullen. He had the best tradevalue and his capsalary was high enough to make a move. Many teams wanted Cullen, but we wanted a pick and not a player in return. The NY Rangers gave us their 2nd round pick of 2014 in return. I think NYR and Nashville can say they got a good deal out of this trade.

Are you going to make more moves?
We are going to make a decision on Maus Jansen, who did really good in pre season and training camp. And we want to get a better balance in our roster. But I do not think there will be too many changes shortterm.

[cadett1]

Following this! Thats my Team, Hometown baby Go Preds!!

[HeroWorship]

YOU TRADED RICHARD CLUNE!?!?!??!?!?!

[seb170455]

Quote: Originally Posted by cadett1

Following this! Thats my Team, Hometown baby Go Preds!!

Thanks for the follow Cadett1, feel free to comment on your favorites. I think you know more about them than me.

Quote: Originally Posted by HeroWorship

YOU TRADED RICHARD CLUNE!?!?!??!?!?!

I do not see the problem, but my knowlegde of the Predators is not that great. McGrattan and Hendricks will do his dirty work, I guess. Game-wise it was the smart move.

[seb170455]

Season opening roster

1st line
Hornqvist (SNP) - Wilson (PWF) - Legwand (TWF)

2nd line
Bourque (PLY) - Fisher (TWF) - Stahlberg (PWF)

3rd line
Spaling (TWF) - Gaustad (GRN) - Forsberg (PLY)

4th line
Hendricks (GRN) - Smith (TWF) - McGrattan (ENF)

Healthy scratch: Nystrom (GRN)

defense
Josi (TWD) - Weber (DFD)
Klein (DFD) - Ellis (OFD)
Jansen (TWD) - Jones (TWD)

Healthy scratch: Bartley (TWD)

goaltending
Rinne - Theodore

captain
C - Shea Weber
A - David Legwand
A - Mike Fisher

[seb170455]

Player statsheet:

Name: Maus Jansen
Hometown: Nijmegen, The Netherlands (NED)
Birthdate: 11 october 1992
Lenght: 1.98 m. (6'5 ft)
Weight: 106 kg. (234 lbs)
Position: Defense
Type of player: 2 Way Defenseman
Number: 76
Handed: Left
Drafted: Undrafted
Teams played for: Nijmegen Devils and all youth teams of the Netherlands
Contract: $ 0.550M for 3 Years

Stats:


2013/2014:

In a short message on the website of the Nashville Predators, GM Loonstra had the following to say:

"We have signed defenseman Maus Jansen for 3 years on a 2-way contract. The Dutch defensive giant has done well in pre season and we think he will help out our franchise. We wish Jansen lots of luck and success in his NHL carreer."

[seb170455]

Contracts Nashville Predators

Centers:
#11 David Legwand (33) 1 Year for $4.500M
#12 Mike Fisher (33) 2 Years for $4.200M
#28 Paul Gaustad (31) 3 Years for $3.250M
#15 Craig Smith (24) 2 Years for $2.000M
#33 Colin Wilson (23) 2 Years for $2.000M
#26 Matt Hendricks (26) 4 Years for $1.850M

Left Wingers
#24 Eric Nystrom (30) 4 Years for $2.500M
#13 Nick Spaling (24) 1 Year for $1.500M
#57 Gabriel Bourque (22) 2 Years for $0.775

Right Wingers
#27 Patric Hornqvist (26) 5 Years for $4.250M
#25 Victor Stalberg (27) 4 Years for $3.000M
#9 Filip Forsberg (19) 3 Years for $1.460M
#16 Brian McGrattan (32) 2 Years for $0.750M

Defensemen
#6 Shea Weber (28) 13 Years for $7.855M
#8 Kevin Klein (28) 7 Years for $4.000M
#3 Seth Jones (18) 3 Years for $3.225M
#59 Roman Josi (23) 5 Years for 2.900M
#4 Ryan Ellis (22) 1 Year for $1.440M
#64 Victor Bartley (25) 3 Years for $0.665M
#76 Maus Jansen (20) 3 Years for $0.550M

Goaltenders
#35 Pekka Rinne (30) 6 Years for $7.000M
#14 Jose Theodore (36) 1 Year for $0.750M

[seb170455]

Nashville, Tennessee, 1 october 2013.

Barry Trotz sits in front of the press. He is talking about the upcoming season opener against St.Louis. As the conversation between Trotz and press is slowly going to an end, GM Loonstra steps in the room and takes a chair next to Trotz. Trotz begins to smile and Loonstra starts talking.

"Good to see you all here. This will save a lot of time. I am here to announce that we made a deal before the start of the season. Mr. Bergevin of the Montreal Canadiens and myself were able to make a trade that we think both franchises will benefit form. We made a 2 for 2 trade. The trade involves the following players;

acquires

Defensemen Kevin Klein (82, DFD) and Ryan Ellis (77, OFD)

acquires

Defensemen Alexei Emelin (83, DFD, 3½W) and Nathan Beaulieu (76, TWD, 4Y)

We think we got one of the best hitter in the NHL with Emelin. He is a lefty and will form a great pair with Jones. Beaulieu and Ellis are both young and promising defenseman who can contribute on the PP. Beaulieu has more size, but Ellis is more responsible in his choices right now. I think we got a good and fair deal here. Coach Trotz will give you the line changes for the first game. Good afternoon.

Defensive pairings:
Josi - Weber, Emelin - Jones, Beaulieu - Jansen