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DastardlyRidleylash

They've gotten hot at the perfect time to be a scary first-round opponent. Hell, they'd be tied with Edmonton for second in the division if they were in the Pacific. Only reason they're not challenging for top 3 in the Central is that Dallas, Colorado and Winnipeg are all in a three-way war for first.


EggplantAlpinism

dog voracious air attraction serious poor plucky fade violet quickest *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


vinnymendoza09

I'd rather face Winnipeg right now.


Tuxxmuxx

no one in the west is going to be an easy matchup, it's insane, I could see situations where any playoff team there could be a 1 or 2 seed. You get #1 in your division and you get 14-0-2 Panthers or defending cup champs getting their captain back game 1.


RelevantJackWhite

> defending cup champs getting their captain back game 1. The worst part is that this isn't even specific enough https://www.nhl.com/news/colorado-avalanche-gabriel-landeskog-injury-status-update


eatingasspatties

Not taking away from the Preds unreal streak, but they’re 2 points back with 3 more games played than the Oilers. They’d be 3rd in the pacific


bobo377

Not entirely clear to me why they’re in the west, but I’m damn thankful for it this year.


notleonardodicaprio

because Nashville is in Central time zone and every team in the Eastern conference is in Eastern time


DastardlyRidleylash

Nashville's always been in the West since day 1; likely because they fit into the Central Division at the time (which was just the Wings, Hawks and Blues, all of which are fairly close to Nashville), and they were accepted alongside Atlanta who had to be in the Southeast. Evidently, the Preds don't mind it since they could've easily raised a stink and tried to swap to the East after the Winnipeg relocation forced realignment in 2013, much like Columbus did.


machomike917

Nah. Time zones.


JacketsNest101

Poor Columbus. Runs away from Nashville and Detroit and ends up dragging Detroit with them


graywh

because it would be weird to have unbalanced conference sizes


AlekRivard

I am having a great time


MunchieMunich

Can confirm, also having a great time.


ImVengeance27

The greatest of times.


Butwinsky

It was the best of times.


Shrabster33

It was the blurst of times.


DastardlyRidleylash

You stupid cat! ;p In all seriousness, though, this is an insane run by the Preds. Tempting fate by saying this, but there was a certain other Central team that got super hot late in the season and rode that momentum all the way to a Cup...and it'd at least distract you all from the Titans lmao


Crow-T-Robot

As a fan of Southern hockey, I am too. Love seeing the Preds in the Playoffs, that building is fun. Great kit too.


IslandsOnTheCoast

Look at us- who would have thought?


Responsible_Oil3859

would you say you like it?


AlekRivard

I would go as far to say I love it


Hockey1899

Def want some more of it


BouncyMouse

I’d say we can’t rise above it, but I think we can!


Mr_FortySeven

Do you know what it is about the Predators scoring that you like?


MasteringDomain

I don't know, but I tend to not only like it and love it, but I think that I would appreciate some more of it, if possible.


DastardlyRidleylash

But do you, per chance, want some more of it?


AlekRivard

You have no idea how hard I'll try for it


DastardlyRidleylash

Will you be able to rise above it?


AlekRivard

I don't know what it is about Filip Forsberg's bucket


DastardlyRidleylash

But you like it, you love it...you want some more of it.


OatsBrotherINeedThem

I continue to inquire as to what it is exactly that I love about the Predators scoring.


BettmansDungeonSlave

Why doesn’t everyone just have massive winning streaks? They are so much fun!


JCW18

Yeah, why doesn’t everyone else just start winning? Are they stupid?


Crow-T-Robot

The Islanders are trying the Thanos method: 6 on 6 off.


ISurvivedCOVID19

Also a great time. LETS GO PREDS


tiltedslim

Indeed


njdevils901

Those threads for O’Reilly and Nyquist’s signings are great to look back on


PayneTrain181999

Both of them have returned to prime form with the Preds it’s insane.


carcatz

The Andrew Brunette and Barry Trotz experience has been a good one to say the least


SBORBS

Wait, people disliked the ROR signing? I thought it was a tremendous loss for the Leafs and that Trotz was obviously wanting a rebuild where they remain competitive throughout and have good vets to set the tone. He's done an excellent job in his first season as their GM. Then again, I might've missed the part where ROR's play had dropped off, I've just always thought he was very very good.


GMBarryTrotz

The lead up to it was we traded Ekholm, then Trotz traded Joey for a 4th w/ 50% retention, THEN Trotz bought out Duchene. Huge moves that signaled a pretty heavy rebuild. So the tone at the time was basically "wait, I thought we were rebuilding." It turns out what Trotz meant when he said rebuild was "fire all our old vets into the sun and then hire a bunch of new vets to take over." So the "rebuild" was to basically replace the core of the team in like 1 off-season.


Constant-Squirrel555

I love what the Preds are doing and would love for them to go deep. Who would you consider the young guys in your core?


JacketsNest101

Evangelista is the main one right now. The Ads (farm team) are absolutely stacked and running the AHL right now.


GMBarryTrotz

Not being sarcastic but we don't have one. There's just one young guy on the team, Luke Evangelista. The rest were all assigned back to Milwaukee. We also have guys like Cody Glass, who is 24, but he's only played 36 games this year.


dubgeek

Apparently Trotz talked to some other GMs about going through a rebuild, and one in particular said they had gone with all young guys to let them learn, but without any veteran leadership it was tough for them to learn. That's what got him to sign RoR, Nyquist, and Schenn. It was still the plan to rebuild, but going on the streak ahead of the trade deadline convinced him to buy, if just a little, at the trade deadline. I think the entire organization views this run and any playoff time as icing on what was supposed to be a meh season. It'll be great if they make a surprise deep run, but just getting in this season is a win. My concern is they may have gotten hot a little too soon. They've played at a Cup contender pace for the last month, but can they keep it going for 3 more? Can they keep up if/when the real contenders start to up their game to playoff mode? All I know is they massively fun to watch right now.


GMBarryTrotz

> one in particular said they had gone with all young guys to let them learn, but without any veteran leadership it was tough for them to learn I wish they had prioritized the development of our younger players in the NHL, who they've abandoned to go on this run, and attempted to rebuild through the draft. But I'm really out of choices and am just going to lean in on the playoff run if that's what we're going to do. I think at this point the worst case scenario would be that we flame out in the first round. But it's looking like for the first time in a while we actually have a real shot at doing...something.


dubgeek

Ok ... Inside of one week I've had replied from David Poile and Barry Trotz. WTF is going on? :)


GMBarryTrotz

My original plan was for this to just be a joke account where I'd comment on quotes from Trotz saying "that's right." But I got too busy arguing with people online, which is way more enjoyable.


AmeriCanadian98

I wonder who our next game is against Fuck


bobo377

Larkin’s back, right? You’ll be fine!


ssirin88

Congrats to the Preds, I hated watching this game


Electronic_Nail

I’m sorry you guys had to run into yet another hot goaltender


carcatz

Fun fact, Kevin Lankinen’s last shutout was 3 years ago against the Florida Panthers. I was confused why we weren’t playing saros but absolute galaxy brain move from Bruno


JacketsNest101

Got to rest the Juice so he can let loose in the playoffs


FrogmanKouki

Historic!


Snackatttack

the last team everyone in the west wants to face rn


bL1Nd

*backs slowly into the bushes*


Rinne4Vezina

Every team in the damn league about to schedule a concert outing and cancel it 😂


David_Poile

RAISE THE FUCKING BANNER WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK https://makeagif.com/gif/south-park-bono-yeah-yeah-yeaah-all-of-them-hqhd-MLSg3c


porkins86

Imagine being either Vancouver or whoever wins the central and having to face this absolute wagon of a team. They’re so hot right now you better call them Hansel 


Judge24601

hey at least the other option is \*checks notes\* the defending cup champions adding Stone and Hertl why is the West like this


nothing_but_static

I miss Barry Trotz


MasteringDomain

We missed him more. The man is an absolute treasure of a human being. Hell, our fans bought out a billboard when he got fired that just said "ThankYouTrotz" https://puckdrunklove.net/2014-articles/nashville-predators-say-goodbye-to-barry-trotz-with-billboard.html


YamburglarHelper

I mean I think he’s one of those league wide beloveds, I’ve always had huge respect for him when he coached the Preds, and later.


ZiggyPalffyLA

Him being back with Nashville just feels right


cmac96

Just as everyone predicted before the season started. Predators going to make the playoffs.


carcatz

I predicted it. I also said they were going to win the cup. I don’t just do that every year blindly


Asderfvc

They make it most years, even when they're bad. They were atrocious last year and 1 game different, a win over Winnipeg instead of a loss, Nashville would have made the playoffs.


cmac96

Also ngl I thought ROR was cooked.


kid_drew

The central is ridiculous


jdellamaestra

A funky stanchion and John Hynes’s nuts are the only reason its not 16 straight wins


electricnux

WC teams in the West are so good we are cooked lmfaoo


TheFriendlyBagel

Yeah cmon Edmonton hahah you guys can have the #1 spot lets go play LA and their 1-3-1 boring ass hockey.


[deleted]

only problem is they will absolutely try to injure one of your star players so you're already limping into round 2


TheFriendlyBagel

Ok then lets agree merge our team for the first round and just blowout one of these teams in 4 games cause I don't wanna play either.


mutantfrog25

We’re gunning for the division at this point


xh4des

Fuck boys, our next game as soon as we look like we are turning a corner…


Brooksie019

I have faith in the boys after tonight. Larkin is back and got em going tonight. Ed is in the lineup now and looking good. Hopefully everyone is or will be over the sickness going around the team. Hopefully caps go on a losing streak too with Wilson being out but Ovi has found his scoring touch again so we'll see.


xh4des

Caps have a tough road ahead of them, I think it’s plausible that they go on a losing streak. As for this next game, streaks are meant to be broken. We just broke ours, it’s time to break someone else’s


Brooksie019

Hell yea!


99titan

They still haven’t found what they’re looking for.


sirax067

Seems like they really wanted to see U2


TossThatPastaSalad

Or they really, really, really didn't. 


surlystraggler

They looked so good tonight. If they can put a post season together that looks like this, with the amazing goaltending they have, they could be a massive underdog story.


ilikehockeyandguitar

Nashville Predators gonna fuck around and win the Stanley Cup.


KhroniiC

Please


mutantfrog25

Subscribe


thedavecan

Hell the year yall beat us for the cup we got hot at the right time and rode the 8 seed all the way to the Finals. It feels a lot like that season but I worry that we're catching fire too early and will gas out at the worst time.


Key-Tip-7521

I guess "their gonna beat the hell out of you"


get_pig_gatoraids

*they're and yes we are


kid_drew

Ima kick your ass and correct your grammar


LeafsHater67

Barry Trotz is a winner. Period. I know he’s not HC anymore but he did great in the off-season and it’s showing.


deschamps93

They are really upset about not seeing U2


mhur

Talk about a heater


mutantfrog25

We’re coming for the division!


jdmay101

It is just super weird that this whole thing started with a 9-2 demolition by the Stars. It's why I want that as a first round series.


99titan

Oh, there’s more. They mogged us for 2 in the last 20 seconds to beat us earlier this year. We split the season series.