Originally drafted by Nashville in the 7th round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Hornvist has spent the past five season being a constant point producer for the Predators.  In 287 career games (all with Nashville) the 26-year old has scored 84 goals and added 79 assists, good for 163 points.

This past season in the lockout shortened year the Sweden native scored just 4 goals and added 10 assists in 24 games that was cut short due to injury.

The Predators appear to be heading down the re-building road and locking up Hornqvist as a main component to build around will be essential to the Preds success.  The club already has captain Shea Weber signed to what feels like a lifetime contract but rumors lately have surfaced that the Predators could make him available this summer via trade.  It was surely be one of the biggest trades in recent memory but would allow Nashville the ability to get creative with the funds designated to Weber.

The Hornqvist signing could be a lead-in to the Weber deal, allocating additional dollars to keep the Swedish star in Nashville for the next five seasons.

The annual lottery that determines who gets the first overall pick at this year’s NHL Entry Draft will be held tonight and for some clubs it’s the opportunity to draft a cornerstone prospect to build their future Stanley Cup contending team around.

The rules have changed surrounding the lottery as we outlined here last week.  In prior years a team could only move up the draft by a maximum of four spots of where they finished the season.  This year, every team of the fourteen that missed the playoffs can win the draft lottery but it remains a weighted procedure to ensure the lowest ranked clubs have the best shot.

So who will win this year’s draft lottery?  The Florida Panthers have the best odds with 25% followed by the Colorado Avalanche at 18.8%.  The Tampa Bay Lightning are currently slotted third and have a 14.2% chance of winning while the Nashville Predators and Carolina Hurricanes round out the top five and have a 10.7 and 8.1% chance respectively.

The Edmonton Oilers who have owned the draft lottery for the past three seasons are in the hunt again this year albeit the odds are stacked against them with just a 4.7% chance of getting the top pick this year.  Dare we count them out?  It’s hard not to given their luck at last year’s draft but with the revised odds for this year’s lottery we might finally have a year when the Oilers aren’t called upon first to kick off the draft.

As always, we’ll have you covered right here at Too Many Men with all the latest news, updates and analysis from the draft lottery.

Apr 14, 2013; Nashville, TN, USA; Detroit Red Wings left wing Johan Franzen (93) is congratulated by Jonathan Ericsson (52) after Franzen scored against the Nashville Predators during the third period at Bridgestone Arena. Detroit won 3 to 2. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Red Wings scared the Nashville Predators away with a 3-0 victory at Bridgestone Arena. Not only was this a big win for the team, but it was Jimmy Howard‘s second straight game against the Preds that he shut them out. In February, he shut them out at Joe Louis Arena with a score of 4-0. He registered 22 saves in the game, with too many of them a little too close for comfort. He, along with opposing goaltender Pekka Rinne, had many unbelievable saves throughout the game, but the Wings came out on top.

Henrik Zetterberg got the scoring started after a shot from Danny Dekeyser went wide of Rinne and rebounded right to Hank’s stick where he proceeded to bury the puck into the twine. Johan Franzen scored the second goal with about 3 minutes left in the game. With Rinne out of the net, the Preds made the mistake of letting Datsyuk acquire the puck. He sent a long pass to a wide open Justin Abdelkader who sealed the deal with the empty net goal point blank. As stated above, this was a much needed win.

The Red Wings needed this win because they dropped their last two games the exact same way. Against San Jose, they blew a 2-1 lead late in the third, only to lose it all in a shootout. The next day against the Chicago Blackhawks, they again held a 2-1 lead, when Jonathan Toewsdecided to be the hero of the game, scoring near the end of the game, then beating the Wings in the shootout. With these losses, Detroit fell out of the playoff picture and the Stars jumped in. At this moment, Detroit has 47 points and is in 8th place. They are tied in points with Minnesota, who sits in 7th. The problem they face is both the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Dallas Stars. They both

Apr 14, 2013; Nashville, TN, USA; Detroit Red Wings left wing Johan Franzen (93) scores against Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne (35) during the third period at Bridgestone Arena. Detroit won 3 to 2. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

have 45 points. Dallas is on a five-game winning streak and Columbus is on a three-game winning streak. Thankfully for Detroit, Dallas has to faceoff against Chicago tonight, and hopefully Toews and the crew can smother them, keeping them down. Columbus has a chance to peek into the 8th spot with a much needed win over the struggling Avalanche tonight.

Players to watch out for on the Red Wings are Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Niklas Kronwall, and Valtteri Filppula. Also, I think Joakim Andersson is due for a burst of greatness, since he has been one of the hardest working this season and hasn’t registered as many points as he should be.

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