Two things learned tonight in Nashville

Due to how much of a good time Nashvegas is, I'll be brief.

1. Don Granato is very intense -- and popular. It's a meaningless prospects match-up, and afterwards he was as intense as any coach you see after games. For the popular part, while he was commenting in the hallway, he waved hello to several people walking by. One guy stopped and shook his hand -- Ryan Suter. Not sure how they know each other, but I bet it's something to do with Suter being from Madison, Wisconsin.

2. When you fight with teammates in practice, it takes at least a year afterwards to become funny. Jon Blum and Spencer Machacek dropped the gloves at practice with the Vancouver Giants last November. Since Blum was an opponent tonight for the first time, I mentioned the fight to Machacek after the game, thinking he'd get a laugh out of it now. Nope, he's still pretty serious about it.

Also seen tonight, Don Waddell in the house, and Jason Fitzsimmons, who used to coach the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays but was hired by the Capitals as a pro scout. I couldn't place him for the longest time -- I knew the face and it was driving me crazy. Then he asked to talk to Jason Christie. Christie used to coach in the ECHL so then the lightbulb went on that it was Fitzy. How could I even momentarily forget someone who waved a white towel on a stick on the bench a couple years ago? That was comedy gold.

I talked to a Nashville reporter I know in the elevator. He said Ryan Jones will probably make the Predators unless Alex Radulov suddenly comes back. Radulov is the never-ending story. I commented that I was tired of hearing about it. He said he was tired of writing about it.
.