Predators-coyotes are unlikely foes
Matchup pits two teams that share some similarities
It’s not the sexiest match-up for either the National Hockey League or the major networks.
It sure is an intriguing one, though.
While the wildly successful and audience-grabbing Detroit Red Wings, Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks will be watching Round 2 of the Western Conference playoffs from their couches, two unlikely organizations will battle, and one will make it to – at the very least – the conference final.
Unlikely given where the Nashville Predators once were, and where the Phoenix Coyotes find themselves.
“There are a lot of similarities between the two franchises to be sure,” Nashville general manager David Poile said. “The ownership difficulties they’ve had and we certainly had our share of those.
“I’m really happy for them that they won their first playoff series, but I’m not looking for them to be any happier than they are now,” he added with a laugh.
In 2007 and in dire financial straits, the Predators were rumoured to be on the move to Hamilton, then to Kansas City. Late in the year, a local conglomerate secured the team in Tennessee.
The Phoenix situation has been going on longer with phantom ownership groups popping up, then fading, ever since the league took over ownership (after bankruptcy) in 2009.
“Maybe NBC’S not thrilled about it, but how can the league not be?” offered former NHLER and Sportsnet TV analyst Nick Kypreos.
“From an ego point of view, I would imagine that (NHL commissioner) Gary Bettman would feel like he just gave birth to have a team like Nashville, a team that was on the brink suddenly become Stanley Cup champion. He would look at it as a huge feather in his cap.”
The similarities aren’t as striking on the ice.
The Predators were the NHL’S busiest team at the trade deadline, hauling in Andrei Kostitsyn and Hal Gill from Montreal and checking centre Paul Gaustad from Buffalo. Poile also got the added bonus of a sniper in Alexander Radulov, who returned to the Predators from Russia’s KHL to play out the final year of his entry-level contract.
Nashville is ripe with stars as well. Shea Weber is a Norris Trophy candidate on the blue line and Ryan Suter isn’t far behind. In Pekka Rinne, the Preds also lay claim to one of the league’s prime goaltenders.
“Our team as a whole could be better,” Poile said. “The good news is we got contributions from everybody and we got it on different nights. Radulov was one of the stars of the game in Game 5 when he got a goal and an assist. We’re certainly looking for him to make a contribution in the next series, and having said that, I know he will.”
Phoenix isn’t as recognizable. Oh sure, there are a couple of capable warhorses in Shane Doan and Ray Whitney and all-star defender Keith Yandle, but you’d need an encyclopedic memory to list the rest of the team.
The Western Conference’s other match-up will see the NBC honchos happier as the Los Angeles Kings face the St. Louis Blues – a couple of clubs with a bit more history, pedigree and audience potential.
The Blues play a comparable game to the Coyotes and Predators – all for one and one for all.
“The sum of all the parts is always more important than any one player,” Blues GM Doug Armstrong said. “We had different players step up in different games and that’s the key to our success.”
“There’s that trust factor that each guy has to answer to the player sitting beside him,” Armstrong added. “You don’t want to let the guy you’re sitting beside down. It’s a good sign of a team. I think we’ve played like that since the start of the year.”
Eighth-seeded L.A. surprised a number of pundits by dismissing No. 1 seed Vancouver in only five games.
Not so much for Armstrong.
“You look at the East and say: ‘If that series goes that way, that’s an upset,’ but when I look at the West I don’t see that. I thought L.A. was going to give Vancouver a very good series. ... I don’t see much of a difference between not only the top eight teams, but the 10 teams that were fighting to the last second. Any one of those teams could be sitting here in the final four in the West.”
Poile, a fellow nominee for NHL general manager of the year, agrees with Armstrong.
“To me the difference between the first-place team and the eighth-place team, not only in points, but in the closeness of the teams, is insignificant. It’s just about getting into the playoffs, that’s all that’s important right now, because anyone can win and especially this year.”