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Matt Rust to Columbus Blue Jackets (earlier blog gallery); Mathieu Roy to Florida Panthers

Chad Kolarik to Columbus; Alex Picard to Phoenix

Chris Peluso to Toronto; sixth round pick to Pittsburgh

Oskar Osala and Brian Pothier to Carolina; Joe Corvo to Washington

Lee Stempniak to Phoenix; Matt Jones (and 4th & 7th round picks) to Toronto

Jeff Halpern to LA; Teddy Purcell (and 3rd round pick) to Tampa Bay

Sean Zimmerman (& conditional pick) to Vancouver; Mathieu Schneider to Phoenix

Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter to Colorado; Wojtek Wolski to Phoenix

Byron Bitz, Craig Weller (& second round pick) to Florida; Dennis Seidenberg, Matthew Bartkowski to Boston

Nine would be-rookie Predators are still in Nashville after the team cut the roster to 44.  They include  Team USA alum:

Jonathon Blum – CHL Defenseman of the Year, passed 200 pts as a D with the Vancouver Giants, and 2009 WJC Team USA captain.  Nice bit of confidence and determination in this quote:  “But I feel like I could step into that kind of role just as well, even being a couple years younger. I’m going to push this camp and really try to earn that spot or take it away from someone.”

Colin Wilson – 2009 Hobey Baker hat trick finalist will be making his preseason debut tonight.  Nice mentions in Sports Illustrated and The Tennessean.

Edited to add: Wilson was the star in his debut with 1G, 2A for a team-leading 3 points (also a +3 tied for tops w/ 1 teammate).  Highlight video

Jeremy Smith – Team USA teammate of both Blum and Wilson at the 2008 WJC

And from Team Canada, prospects Ryan Ellis (playing tonight)

and Chet Pickard have stuck with the team.

The remaining would-be rookies are Nick Spaling (playing tonight) Ian McKenzie, Mark Santorelli and Russ Sinkewich:

For additional photos of any of the above (other than McKenzie & Santorelli), just plug their name into the Photo Archive Search box near the top of the sidebar.

Ryan Bourque has “graduated” from the National Team Development Program and will be playing for the Quebec Remparts (de-committed from the University of New Hampshire)
 

Ryan Bourque is the brother of Chris Bourque currently in the Washington Capitals organization after a year at Boston University and the son of former NHL-er Ray Bourque.

 
David Musil joins the Vancouver Giants after playing in the Czech Republic.  A good bit of controversy over how Musil wound up with the Giants (major junior teams draft players and European players are handled differently than North American players).  Gregg Drinnan covered it here and here.

 
Musil’s father is former NHL-er Frantisek (Frank) Musil

and his uncle is former NHL-er Bobby Holik (those who know me as a former Devils STH are now amazed that I typed out his name properly rather than using the name I used at games, but there is a limit to my restraint):

The hockey lineage doesn’t stop there – Holik’s father and uncle, Jaroslav and Jiri, were stars in Czechoslovakia.  Behind the rubber chicken, you can see the book “Dynastie Holiku” by Jaroslav Kirchner which I picked up at CEZ Arena in Pardubice during the 2008 World Juniors (not sure if they have a bookstore in town, but if I understood correctly, they have a few tables of books and videos at all hockey games held there).  I also picked up a copy of Slovenske Hviezdy v NHL.  

Philip Samuelsson is making the move from the USHL (Chicago Steel) to the Boston College Eagles.   Samuelsson played for Team Sweden during the Four Nations Cup last November, but as that was not an IIHF tournament, it did not bind him to Sweden.   In April, he played for Team USA in the IIHF Under 18 Championship.  (Note – a quick google shows there were some changes in the rules.  Not sure if they’d allow him to change again in the future or not.
 

Philip Samuelsson’s father Ulf Samuelsson is a former NHL-player and now is a coach with the Phoenix Coyotes.