"All signs point to steve sullivan ..."
 

I was listening to ESPN radio and they said that all signs lead to steve sullivan leaving the preds. I want to follow up on this but don't know many sources. If this is true it really does suck. :cry:

All signs in the Nashville media are that it's a no brainer that he's back. I don't think I've heard an interview with David Poile in which he didn't mention Sullivan as being in the plans and I believe he's an RFA, so it's not like he can just walk.

It's certainly possible that he's not back, but my guess is that the person on ESPN just lazily got his/her info from Eklund's blurb the other day.

Hope so.. I really like the predators and sulli.

I agree. Shero and Trotz wouldn't be shooting their mouth off about Sullivan being a part of this year's team if "all signs pointed to him leaving."

It's not like negotiations could be going bad or something. The team can't even be talking to him until the weekend.

let's say we hypothetically did lose him, who would we have to get to make up for the hole he leaves behind?

That's fairly easy. I was suggesting we see if Hartnell can play the right side...to fill in for Orszagh as the second line RW...but if we DID lose Sullivan(again, this is totally hypothetical, because I think the idea is pretty remote) Hartnell would simply bump up to the first or second line, since he's technically too good to be on the third line, anyway. Hartnell was, as you'll remember, probably our most consistent, best player last year. Had he not missed a third of the season, he easily could have outscored Walker.

I'll believe it when it comes out of Bob McKenzie's mouth

I was thinking of us getting miroslav satan because if the game opens up as it's supposed to, satan will be a tremendous assist to any team.

I mentioned him as a possibility at center. Apparently, he's being playing a lot at the pivot position, especially during the lockout.

He doesn't have the physical game that most teams would want in a center, but he does have great speed (could race for the loose pucks with the best of them), great puck handling skill and a fairly good shot. I hope the preds get him.

I don't believe it. I couldn't imagine Poile trading two 2nd rounders and then just letting him walk. If this was on TSN or Sportsnet I might believe it a little more, but I consider ESPN radio about as reliable as Eklund

back to all things sully...

1) another thought I had is that all it will take for us to make sure we get sully signed is for David Poile to sit idly through the second round without a pick and remember the price he paid. He likes his draft picks and he won't want to pay that kind of price and just let him go. I mean, it was worth it just for what he brought in 04, but it's Poile.

2) They have a sully in house right now. For all i know Poile has Foote and Demitra all wrapped up, but I'm going to guess Nashville will still be a tough sell with UFA's of Sully's caliber or better, so it might be of the highest priority to take care of what you already control if that's the best you can get.

3) Trotz was in studio on 104.5 yesterday during the 7AM hour and he said that Poile had discussed with him all of the trade options a week before the Sully trade and that none of the names looked great or "would have fit in with the team" and then Poile all of the sudden said, "Chicago's offering Sully." Anyway, I'd pay money to see the list of guys Poile was considering that would not have fit in with the team.

Sullivan will be back. In fact Sully is the central theme for Nashville's mid-point payroll stance.

I would take anything ESPN radio says about hockey with a very very small grain of salt.

If there is ANY truth to this crap at all, I would bet it is being planted by Sullivan's agent, the same way Datsuyk's agent is stirring the pot in detroit.....rocky negotiations, holdouts, threat of arbitration, etc is the agent's tools to sweeten the offer at this time of year...there has got to be some of that going on here...

Sullivan is just not in a position where he can make himself too expensive to the Predators. The only way I see him being too expensive is if his price tag approaches the 4 million range. Considering that he was signed to around 3 million in the old economics, I can't imagine his value exceeding that number. What factors would lead to the inflation?

He's not any better than when he signed the 3 mil deal.
He's not any closer to UFA status really - He's still 1 contract away.
It's a buyers market.

At what point did his value increase to the level that he would no longer be affordable/feasible for the Predators?

The situation I can see Sullivan being released is one where we realize that by dumping him and saving 3 mil, we can land that truly top notch UFA (or two) we are looking for. That and we feel that someone like Erat or Hartnell is ready for first line duty or that we feel that a major UFA can replace him as an upgrade for the same cost.

Saving money I can understand. But doing so in a manner that negatively affects on-ice performance just doesn't make sense at this stage.

I just don't see it. At the least we would offer him arbitration or qualify him. Sully will be with the Preds......or we will at least get something for his rights. I see zero chance that he walks free from this organization this year.

And Smokey, he signed for about 3.8 mil last year.

I say offer him a 1 or 2 year deal at $3m/year. That's more than the $3.8 minus 24%.