Predators GM prepared, cautious about camp

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- After the franchise's first playoff berth, the Nashville Predators are getting ready for the start of training camp in three weeks.

But the league's labor problems are forcing the Predators -- and most other NHL teams -- to keep their options open.

"It's not quite business as normal, but you've just got to be as prepared as possible and then react to something," general manager David Poile said Tuesday. "There's not a book for this in the library that says this is what it is going to be."

Forwards Jim McKenzie, Scott Hartnell and defenseman Adam Eaton skated at the Predators' practice rink Tuesday as part of their offseason condition program, and the Predators plan to open camp Sept. 16.

But that seems unlikely. The NHL's collective bargaining agreement expires Sept. 15, and the owners are prepared to shut the door on the players.

"I suspect the week before camp we'll have some players here skating on their own," Poile said. "But on Sept. 16, the doors will be locked, and we will be going in a different direction."

It's put general managers like Poile in a difficult position _ trying to re-sign key players and prepare for the season without any guarantees.

"We have sent out our letters, and the players are all making plans for the opening of camp here on the 16th," he said. "If there's a lockout situation, then there will be no training camp in Nashville and the next training camp will be our Milwaukee one."

NHL players cannot participate in the AHL training camp in Milwaukee at the end of September, but players eligible to play for the club's developmental team will have to decide whether to head to Wisconsin, Poile said.

The Predators are coming off their best season ever. In its sixth year as a franchise, Nashville went to the playoffs for the first time before falling in six games to the Detroit Red Wings.

Even the club's AHL team was successful as Milwaukee won the league championship in a four-game sweep led by prospects Darren Haydar and Libor Pivko.

While the club has laid off some nonessential positions, organizational meetings continue weekly with coaching, training and scouting staffs. A lockout will change some of those roles.

"Scouting will be the same on the amateur level, but on the pro level it will change to the American Hockey League and a little more of the East Coast Hockey League," Poile said.

In any case, Poile believes the Predators will be in good shape when the NHL starts playing again.

"We are going to have a new collective bargaining agreement, but we don't know when and we don't know what it will look like," Poile said. "We do believe that because our players are young that whatever new system is in place, we should have as much flexibility as any team to be able to adjust to the new system."