>From The Tennessean:

Who could blame him? A year ago, he was in an entirely different situation — a fourth-year player at Miami of Ohio racking up all kinds of points en route to being named a finalist for the NCAA’s top award.

“In juniors and college, you’re ‘the guy.’ Then you get to the NHL and you find out there’s a lot of ‘the guys,’ ” Trotz said. “You’re used to being a big part of it and all of a sudden now, you’re playing 10 minutes a game instead of 25. “

Hornqvist, 20, finds himself in a similar position — one of the Swedish elite league’s top scorers the last two seasons, but now adjusting to a brand new team and a first season on North America’s smaller rinks.

“Everything is so straight-ahead and so fast,” Hornqvist said. “When you get the puck on the wall in your zone, you need to make a decision so fast. They’re a little slower (in Europe).”

Trotz figures the last thing his two rookies need is a coach screaming in their ears every time they make a mistake, so he tends to take the opposite approach as long as he sees the proper effort on the ice.

“They’re dealing with enough self-doubt,” Trotz said. “I still want the enthusiasm and the work ethic, and when they get the chance, I want them to go out and play relaxed because they’re good players. We want them to play instinctively, not be paralyzed by trying to over-think stuff.”

Hornqvist and Jones followed their instincts Wednesday, with Hornqvist stretching his stick to redirect a Shea Weber shot past Marty Turco and Jones whacking home a loose puck in the crease later in the game.

The goals weren’t enough to propel the Preds to victory, but they should serve as a nice confidence boost heading into Friday’s game in Columbus.

“It definitely helps because you’re not as nervous going in to the next game,” Jones said. “It’s good to know you can play at this level.”

>Ryan Jones scored his first NHL goal in a 6-4 loss against the Dallas Stars tonight. It was a backhander in front of the net…he was assisted by Rich Peverley and Ryan Suter and came at 13:50 of the second period to tie the game at three. He also added an assist on a Martin Erat goal in the third period, saw 8:25 (1:58 on the PP) worth of ice time and was a +2 on the evening.

Jones has also updated his blog prior to tonight’s game, which you can find linked on the top right side of my page.

It will be interesting to see his thoughts in his next post, about his first career goal and the good game he had in Dallas.

Congratulations, Ryan!

>The Tennessean is reporting that Ryan Jones will return to the Nashville Predators lineup tonight, as the team heads west to face the Dallas Stars. Jones had been a healthy scratch for the team’s past two games and will be playing his second NHL game tonight.

Hopefully he’ll be able to get on the scoresheet!

Also, Brandon Felder at Hockey Buzz writes this about Ryan Jones:

Ryan Jones has not been put in a situation to succeed yet. He’s had 1 game, and in that one game was buried on the 4th line. Now tell me this. If you are a forward whose skill set is to go to the net and deflect pucks, how many offensive chances do you expect your linemates to get on the 4th line? Not very many to say the least. The 4th line isn’t a scoring line, that’s a hitting line that disrupts. If Ryan Jones is to succeed he needs to be on a line with scorers that are going to set up in the offensive zone and fire off shots at the net so he can screen the goalie, or deflect those shots in. For some people to already say that he should be sent down to Milwaukee is a bit foolish to me because we haven’t seen him in his natural situation. He must have 2nd line time to show off his game. Yes, he was a little behind in making decisions Friday night, but at the same time lets not forget that St. Louis threw the kitchen sink with a forward going to hit you right after at us. I think plenty of our players were discombobulated that particular night. So let’s give this kid a chance and not write him off after one bad game from not only him but the team. I think he can have real success but only if he is put in the right spot, on a scoring line, not the 4th line. 4th line is as misuse of his talents and wasteful. Were he to be stuck on the 4th line all year then yes, I agree, send him to the Admirals so he can play in the proper situations.

If you’d like to check out the rest of his column, it can be found at this link.