Nash Daily: Hal Gill on Spittin’ Chiclets, Jeanneret Passes Away

During the week of the NHL Awards and Draft former defenseman and current analyst for the Nashville Predators Hal Gill joined the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast — his third appearance on the show — discussing the latest on the team and even his transition from Montreal to the Music City.

Gill was dealt to the Nashville Predators back in 2012 for a 2nd rounder in the 2012 draft and Robert Slaney. He later signed with the Philadelphia Flyers for one season before hanging up the skates.

While on the podcast Gill shared a story about new general manager Barry Trotz when he was still coaching the Predators.

“One of my favorite things (to share) when I was playing I got traded and Sergei Kostitsyn was here and (he) was awful in Montreal,” Gill said. “He was a bad teammate, he was a bad person and I was like ‘I don’t want to be around this guy’. I got here and Sergei walked right up to me and asked me ‘What’s up? How are you doing?’ I go over to Trotz and asked him ‘What did you do to that guy?'”

Gill went on to share how Trotz would make it a point to have cereal with Kostitsyn every morning while he was in Nashville just to get to know him while at the rink.

The analyst was also asked about how Trotz would approach building the team back up on the ice.

“I think he was trying to change up the mojo,” Gill said of the Predators moving away from Ryan Johansen. “He was a beast in the playoffs. He did a lot of good things. Carrying $8 million they’re trying to get new blood in… You free up that cap space and you move him on and let him go do his thing in Colorado.”

Nashville’s captain Roman Josi was also listed as the fifth-best defenseman in the league by the NHL Network. The defensemen ahead of him were Victor Hedman, Miro Heiskanen, Adam Fox, and Cale Makar.

#Preds captain Roman Josi named fifth best defenseman by @NHLNetwork going into 23-24 season. pic.twitter.com/aIaJ4YaH3x

— Nick Kieser 🏒 (@KieserNick) August 21, 2023

Around the NHL and National Hockey Now

Buffalo Hockey Now: Longtime play-by-play broadcaster Rick Jeanneret passed away on Aug. 18 due to multi-organ failures, according to a statement from his family. Jeanneret’s last season as the voice of the Sabres was the 2021-22 campaign. He was the recipient of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Foster Hewitt Award in 2012 for broadcasting and was inducted into the Sabres Hall of Fame.

Colorado Hockey Now: Stanley Cup Champion, Calder Trophy winner, and Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar was named the NHL 24 cover athlete last week. Now the defenseman was named the No. 1 ranked defenseman by the NHL Network going into this coming season. However, he wasn’t the lone Avalanche defender to be listed in the top-15. 

San Jose Hockey Now: General manager Mike Grier has made it through his first offseason with the San Jose Sharks, but how will his team look out on the ice? He added former Predator Mikael Granlund from the Erik Karlsson trade and now head coach Dan Quinn can utilize the veteran in whichever way he sees fit. Will special teams be something Granlund is challenged with? Sheng Peng took a deeper look at how the Sharks’ penalty kill could shape up.

Philly Hockey Now: The tyranny of Daniel Briere has set in now that Keith Jones has come in as the president of hockey operations. As the Philadelphia Flyers get prepared for their first full season under new front-office leadership what other changes could be on the horizon? Is there a trade that makes sense for the Flyers to deal forward Travis Konecny? 

Former Predator Radek Bonk had his son Oliver sign his entry-level deal with the Flyers today. The defenseman was the 22nd overall selection in the draft after playing the last three seasons with the London Knights.

Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter: @KieserNick