Honeymoon Ends With Sour Note - December 18, 2000

The thrill of infatuation has ebbed into pedestrian familiarity. The days of continuous sell-out crowds and the applause after a strong but failed effort after a game have faded with the last gasp of the millenium (the 21st century starts next year folks!). The signs are easy to see: a 9% drop in overall attendance so far this season, the team on track for another 28 wins for the third year in a row, and fans leaving early after giving up that second or third goal.

Willie Takes Off Kid Gloves
Even 99.7 WTN mild mannered hockey host Willie Daunic is taking a hard edged tone with callers these days. I can't say I blame him. Having to deal with callers who keeping asking for the signing of Eric Lindros or multiple trades after every loss can frustrating. However, there are some people out here who legitimately think the team has a problem. And no Willie, we are not ignorant of the rules as you accuse us of being.

I wrote in a previous IMHO article that the third season will be a tough one for fans. While many may think highly of Vokoun, Ronning, and Walker, these players are not highly valued aroung the NHL. The free agent market is stacked against small market teams who lack the funds to sign top talent. With no tradable assets and little hope of a postseason apperance, the only option left is the draft. However, even that is a crap shoot since most draftees are still learning how to shave. It is worth noting that one of our top defensemen, Karlis Skrastins was an overaged draftee.

So, I will answer Willie's question "What would you do as GM?" in a different way -- I will tell you what will happen if the Predators continue down this path. In the near term, there will be some roster changes like Robitaille going the way of Peltonen. Then Poile will have to look at the leadership of the team he has assembled. It is a hockey truism that you can't fire the players so you fire the coach. Poile might also re-examine Fitzgerald's captaincy.

In the long term the front office will be praying that some of the draft picks pan out before season ticket holders give up. Poile will begin talking about a five to seven year plan rather than a three to five year plan. If the picks don't work out, Jack Diller will look for a general manager with better drafting ability. It should be noted that Poile's first round picks at Washington were not very good.

Even Front Office Acknowledges Problem
Team executives have told the fans to be patient. That Nashville's club lacks the financial strength to support expensive players -- at least at this point. Give us the money so you can see your favorite NHL clubs and cheer on your new team.

Facing lower ticket sales and competition with the Super Bowl contending Tennessee Titans, the tone from Broadway is starting to develop an edge. Team President Jack Diller was recently quoted in the Tennessean as saying "If you’re not bringing money in the door, then you’re not feeding the kitty that drives everything else. If you don’t, then you’re drying up the money to put the best product possible on the ice." It sounds like the fans are undermining the franchise by failing to fulfill their civic duty in purchasing more tickets.

The fans should hardly be blamed for asking more from their third year team. A playoff appearance is a nice dream, but it should not be too much to ask that the team show some improvement in their record (11-15-6-1 at the time of this writing). If nothing else, how about winning some games in front of your home crowd (4-8-5-0 to date)?

The Predators have made a remarkable showing in Nashville. But as the dot-com companies witnessed earlier this year, the expectation of results can be delayed for only so long. We are about to see just how strong the on-ice business plan turns out to be.