St. Louis Blues: Central Division To Return To Toughest Division Status

Nashville Predators

Speaking of the Nashville Predators, we come to last year’s Cinderella team at last. Nashville had a heck of a run. One not seen since…oh, 2012 when the L.A. Kings did the same thing. The Kings won it all though.

I kid. I have no real beef with the Predators, other than their fans’ obnoxious behavior during the playoffs. Be careful Nashville. It might be all in good fun, but you can quickly take over for Chicago in terms of your hardcore fans being more annoying.

On to the team. Nashville is a tough one to peg. I spent last year reveling in their struggles. Not so much because I had anything against them, other than being a divisional rival. More because so many were predicting them to storm the division.

Sometimes it takes a bit to integrate new players into a team, so you can’t just automatically hand teams anything due to an offseason. That was the case for Nashville during the 2016-17 regular season. They sure figured it out once the playoffs began.

I won’t lie. I took a little pleasure in watching them destroy the Blackhawks until the Blues had the misfortune of running into that buzzsaw.

Going into this year, there are many question marks about the team. Not season altering questions, but still minor little details that are hard to predict.

How will the team fair without the leadership of Mike Fisher? How much of an impact will Nick Bonino have without the comforts of having guys like Crosby or Malkin around? He’s not a world-beater, with only 37 points last year.

Will Pekke Rinne start to break down? He’s got his ups and downs, but is still a premier goalie. However, he’s played 60-plus games the last three seasons, combined with 34 games in the playoffs over the last two years. That can wear on a big body. Not saying it will, but it can.

The last question is the biggest. Can the Predators get rid of the post-final hangover?

We don’t see it in the NHL nearly as much as the NFL, but the loser of the final doesn’t always take the next step. For every team like Pittsburgh in 2008 that would win the next year, you have one like Vancouver in 2011 that somewhat disappear the next.

Nashville seems poised to make another run and have the talent, top to bottom, to do so. However, we thought the same of Dallas, so the season can play out in mysterious ways.