Nashville Predators

While the Nashville Predators are struggling, the Florida Panthers have brought their woes to a whole new level.

The Predators look to avoid their first three-game losing streak in a month Tuesday when they visit the Florida Panthers, who are trying to snap a four-game skid.

Nashville, which opened the season with eight straight wins, has dropped its last two games. In Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay, the Predators managed a season-low 16 shots and also committed 11 penalties.

Kimmo Timonen, Jeremy Stevenson and Adam Hall scored for the Predators, who are without goaltender Tomas Vokoun and center David Legwand, both out with knee injuries.

Nashville has not dropped three straight since a five-game skid from October 26-November 5.

Meanwhile, Florida has dropped 18 of its last 21 following its 3-1 defeat in Los Angeles on Saturday. Veteran center Joe Nieuwendyk scored the lone goal for the Panthers, who have lost 12 straight on the road but have won three of their last five at home.

The Panthers and Predators skated to a 2-2 tie on December 13, 2003 in their lone meeting of the 2003-04 season.

The winning and the closeness of those wins has been the talk among Nashville Predators fans, but quietly and steadily a young player is progressing as he should.

That youngster is defenseman Ryan Suter. He has been teamed with both Dan Hamhuis and Marek Zidlicky this season. And with each game he becomes more and more adjusted to life in the NHL. If he has any problems Brent Peterson, the Predators associate

coach, is there to help.

“I don’t want to put him into situations he can’t handle yet,” said Peterson. “I’m very guarded about putting him into situations he is not ready for. I don’t like it to be too much too fast.”

Peterson has slowly moved Suter into the mix on the penalty kill and power play.

“Ryan is doing it all now,” said Peterson. “He is learning. He has been great. He has a long way to go, but 24 games into his NHL career he has been great. He has had to do the penalty kill. I feel confident in him and he is going to get more ice time. Now it is a matter of him doing it every night consistently.”

One thing Suter must deal with is getting used to playing in new buildings. Tonight at 6 he gets a look at another new arena when the Predators continue their string of games against Eastern Conference teams in a meeting with the Washington Capitals.

“He has to go out and communicate and learn,” said Peterson. “The more he sees the buildings and learns about the players and the league, he won’t have to rely on his teammates. He will have the skill and know-how to do what he has to do.”

Suter still has work to do. He must work his size and strength. He is only 20 years old. He has 196 pounds on his 6-foot-1 frame.

“Ryan is going to get stronger and stronger,” said Peterson. “When he gets his confidence and gets his strength up I will be able to put him in all situations sooner or later.”

Penalties have also been an issue. The reduction in penalties will come with experience.

“That’s a matter of strength and technique,” said Peterson. “It’s about knowing what they are going to call and knowing the league. We are all doing that.”

Two seasons ago Peterson was helping Hamhuis chart his course in his first season in the NHL. Lessons learned through that tutelage are being carried over to Suter.

Making the job easier for Peterson is that Suter, like Hamhuis, is easy to coach.

“Ryan is a great kid and a very motivated young man,” said Peterson. “He knows what he wants and those guys are easier to coach. He listens. He works in practice. He has taken what we have all said to him. With experience he is going to be a great player for a long time.”

Rockford IceHogs fans might want to start checking National Hockey League and American Hockey League standings on a more regular basis.

There’s a reason to now — the IceHogs officially, for the first time in their seven-year existence, are affiliated with upper-level hockey teams.

The IceHogs announced Tuesday an affiliation with the NHL’s Nashville Predators and AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. Rockford is the only United Hockey League franchise with such an agreement this season. The Muskegon Fury have an affiliation with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, but it does not extend to the Griffins’ association with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings.

The AHL is considered to be Triple A and the UHL is Double A.

Rockford has been loaning players to several AHL teams this season, and that will not change. It is not an exclusive arrangement. Rockford can send players elsewhere, and Nashville and Milwaukee can get players from teams other than the IceHogs.

“It’s just making it formal,” Rockford coach Steve Martinson said of the announcement. “We agreed to it this summer. It’s been kind of in place for a while.

“For players that don’t know me or agents who don’t know me who look at transactions or our Web site and see that it is a place to get an opportunity, it’s official now.”

An affiliation only matters if your team gets called for players, Martinson said. And Rockford has been called. So far this season, 18 UHL players have moved up to the AHL — and half are IceHogs. Muskegon has sent four to Grand Rapids, Adirondack two to Portland and Syracuse, and Danbury (Lowell), Motor City (Cleveland) and Kalamazoo (Cleveland) one each.

Rockford has loaned a total of 13 players to Milwaukee over the past two seasons.

“Players that have developed in Rockford consistently have shown the ability to contribute with the Admirals when called upon,” Ray Shero, Predators assistant general manager, said on the Admiral’s Web site. “The IceHogs have been able to foster both a winning culture and one in which players develop as professionals, and those two environments don’t always come together.”

Martinson said the affiliation “is only a positive.”

It should lead to more players being sent Rockford’s way, and it also gives Martinson access to Nashville’s scouting reports.

“Which is a huge bonus for me,” he said. “I’m not sure many other UHL teams have access to these kinds of scouting reports.”

Rockford’s front office sees plenty of benefits.

“To say you’re affiliated with an NHL team is huge,” said Ryan Washatka, IceHogs president/general manager. “It’s big from a marketing stance and for the fans.

“We brought Steve (Martinson) here and that enhanced our credibility not only in the UHL but in the city of Rockford. It showed that we had a top-class organization that wants to win on and off the ice. An affiliation with the top tier in your sport helps solidify our position.”

Washatka said a give-and-take relationship could result in more take down the road.

“Being in proximity, they’ve pretty much taken from the IceHogs,” Washatka said of Milwaukee. “But now that they’re comfortable with Steve to call us an official affiliation and sending us players, it shows a confidence level that we didn’t have before with prior coaches. I think that will grow for many years to come.”

Washatka said Nashville’s and Milwaukee’s logos will be added to the IceHogs’ letterhead. He also hopes to be able to start selling Predators and Admirals merchandise in the future.

IceHogs players derived encouragement from the move. Flanking Martinson at the news conference were Chaz Johnson and Preston Mizzi, both of whom have been called up.

“Trust me, if we didn’t have an agreement, they wouldn’t be here,” Martinson said.

“It’s pretty important,” Mizzi said. “We’ve gotten guys called up to Milwaukee all the time without an affiliation. If a (Milwaukee) center gets called up to Nashville, maybe I’ll get called up to Milwaukee.”

Said Johnson: “It’s a great thing to have it confirmed that we are affiliated with them.”

Goalie Ronnie Vogel said “It helps in the big picture. It can help guys get the opportunity to go up, or they might send guys here who need conditioning or are not playing well.”