The Awards take place on Wednesday, June 20 from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Vegas and can be seen at 7 p.m. (CT) on NBCSN in the United States and Sportsnet in Canada.
Also, on June 20, the Predators, along with the rest of the NHL, will announce their 2018 Home Openers at noon. The entire 2018-19 NHL schedule will then be announced on June 21 at 4:30 p.m., beginning with a 30-minute special on the NHL Network at 4 p.m. that afternoon.
After Rinne and Subban depart Vegas, hopefully with some hardware in tow, we'll turn our attention to Dallas, Texas, and the 2018 NHL Draft. Admittedly, this year's Draft won't necessarily be as exciting from a Predators perspective, as the club only has five selections, the first one not coming until the third round. However, that doesn't mean Nashville's scouts are any less prepared than normal, and there's always a chance for player movement during the weekend. After all, it was the draft floor in Buffalo two summers ago where the groundwork was laid to bring Subban to Music City.
Round One of the 2018 NHL Draft takes place on Friday, June 22 from the American Airlines Center, while Round 2-7 come on Saturday, June 23. Coverage begins with the first round on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. CT on NBCSN, while Saturday coverage continues on NHL Network, beginning at 10 a.m. CT.
Most, if not all of the players selected by the Preds at the draft will then head to Nashville to participate in Predators Development Camp,
which is set for June 25-29.
At the camp, the top prospects in the organization, including forward Eeli Tolvanen and defenseman Dante Fabbro, will participate in on-ice practices, off-ice training and team building before the week culminates with the Future Stars Game on June 29 at 7 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena. General admission tickets to the game are on sale now and are available for a $10 donation (free for Season-Ticket Citizens by request) to the Ford Ice Center Scholarship Fund by
clicking here
. A plaza party presented by Lee Company will begin at 5:30 p.m. and all fans in attendance will receive a Preds giveaway item.
After the prospects depart Nashville, the Predators front office will then turn their attention to the Free Agency period, which opens at 11 a.m. on July 1. Preds General Manager David Poile has stated he doesn't intend to be incredibly active in free agency, but Nashville has made moves on July 1 in each of the past three summers.
Once the free-agent frenzy begins to die down, the Predators are expected to continue their work on signing restricted free agents Ryan Hartman, Miikka Salomaki and Juuse Saros. Poile and his staff will also continue to explore a new contract for defenseman Ryan Ellis, who is eligible to sign a new deal starting July 1.
As always, we'll have complete coverage of each and every one of the events listed above on NashvillePredators.com. Also, be sure to stay tuned to Preds social channels on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat @PredsNHL for posts throughout the coming weeks.
And, don't forget, Predators Training Camp begins on Sept. 13 in Nashville…
