The Nashville Predators are looking to finish their preseason off strong as they head to North Carolina.
The Nashville Predators will be taking on the Carolina Hurricanes tonight as they look to cap off their 4-1-0 preseason with a victory.
They will be doing so with eight extra players on the roster, as they recalled forwards Eeli Tolvanen, Rem Pitlick, Anthony Richard, Yakov Trenin and Josh Wilkins; defensemen Jeremy Davies and Alexandre Carrier; and goaltender Ken Appleby from Milwaukee (AHL).
It should be interesting to see how those eight players factor into tonight’s game, especially because of how impressive Eeli Tolvanen and Rem Pitlick have been during training camp thus far.
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Now they will likely get one final look before the regular season starts, as they look to take a roster spot for themselves or impress David Poile enough to be one of the first players called up barring injury.
Other forwards to watch for the Nashville Predators should be Daniel Carr, Calle Jarnkrok, Mikka Salomaki, and Rocco Grimaldi as they are all competing for spots on the roster.
As for defense, Steven Santini, Jarred Tinordi, and Ryan Ellis will be the guys competing for spots on the roster come cut day on Tuesday.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in a similar spot, as they have a roster of 29 players going into tonight’s game when they will need to cut their roster down to 23 on Tuesday.
Some of the fringe-NHL players that will be competing on the other side of the ice include Julien Gauthier, Brian Gibbons, Haydn Fleury, and Gustav Forsling.
The most interesting of the bunch being Haydn Fleury, as the 2014 seventh overall pick looks to finally cement himself a spot on the Carolina Hurricanes blue line.
The 23-year-old has been marinating in the AHL for the past three seasons, so his performance tonight should be a crucial factor as to whether or not he will finally be in the NHL this season.
The Nashville Predators were able to defeat the ‘Jerks’ last time out off of a power play goal by Craig Smith.
The Predators look to repeat the same fate tonight as they wrap up their preseason and shift their focus to next Thursday’s opener against Minnesota.