The date circled on every member of Pred Nation’s calendar has arrived.  The date that some liken to a religious holiday.  The date when the true ‘evil empire’ of the Central Division arrives in Nashville.  Yes, the Detroit Red Wings are coming to town.  The Winged Wheel.  The Dead Wings. And with them comes the Pred Wings.  That group of Predators fans that suddenly develop color blindness and put on their red and white jerseys instead of the GOLD.

Few outside of Nashville would suggest a mutual rivalry exists between the Nashville Predators and the Detroit Red Wings.  Detroit, a Origonal 6 team, has a long history of Stanley Cup success and retired jerseys of some of the all time greats. When you hear Detroit, you think of Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, and Nicklas Lindstrom.  Nashville on the other hand has zero Stanley Cups and no players enshrined in the Hall of Fame.  Weber, Suter, and Rinne don’t come close to the respect and admiration of Detroit’s elite players of past and present.  At least not yet.

And yet, in Nashville, the arrival of Detroit every year is a special event.  We have faced them in the playoffs twice.  And lost. Some of the most emotional and remembered games in Smashville history have come against Detroit.  Remember the 8-0 drubbing we handed them a few years back?  And yet, through all the  success in the regular season, the record still speaks for itself.  Detroit has won 3 Stanley Cups since Nashville arrived in the league.  They also won it in 1997, the year before Nashville entered the league.  Detroit has won 10 Division titles during that time.  Whether you love or hate Detroit, you must respect them.  Their reputation on and off the ice is unparalleled in the NHL.

So as Nicklas Lindstrom, Pavel Datzyuk, and the rest of the winged wheel  prepares to step onto Smashville ice tonight, the stakes are at an all time high.  Well, at least as high as they were the last time they were in town.  The facts are easy to understand.  Detroit sits above Nashville in the Central Division.  They are one point away from having the best record in the Western Conference and the League.  Nashville sits 7 points back with a game in hand.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the significance of the game.  Win and keep pace with Detroit.  Lose and kiss any chance of catching them goodbye.

And yet, lost in the mix this year is the St. Louis Blues.  How the Blues got so good, so fast, is a mystery.  Forget about making the playoffs for the first time in years.  The Blues now have the best record in the NHL.  That’s right.  Detroit is looking UP at the Blues in the standings.  Again.  I didn’t see this coming.  And neither did any one else outside of St. Louis.  Actually, I am not sure anyone in St. Louis could have predicted the Blues would be sitting with the best record in the NHL with a month to play in the regular season.

And so the playoffs are just around the corner.  Nashville finds itself in their familiar place.  A good team with unlimited potential.  And yet, there they are fighting for a chance to have home ice advantage in the playoffs.  They have the 5th best record in the league and they still don’t have home ice locked up. Only in the Central Division.  And just when you though we could write off the Chicago Blackhawks, they have scratched and clawed their way back into 6th place, 4 points behind Nashville.  The only comparison I could come up with for the Central Division was the NBA in the 80′s.  Remember Michael, Magic, Bird, and Isiah?  Well, try to image the Lakers, Celtics, Pistons, and Bulls in the same DIVISION!.  You could have the 4th best record in the league and still be 4th place in the Division.  And with the way the conferences are set up, with other division leaders getting seeded higher for the playoffs, you might actually be 5th or 6th in the conference seedings.  Welcome to Nashville’s world.

If Nashville were in the Pacific, Southeast, or Northeast Divisions, they would be in first place.  I might even suggest we would be in first place in the Northwest.  Vancouver has a better record than Nashville, but who wouldn’t?  Vancouver has 4 creampuff teams (Edmonton, Minnesota, Colorado, and Calgary) in their division that are unlikely to break 90 points. Heck, Edmonton and Minnesota might not even make it to 80 points.   Emilio Estevez and the Mighty Ducks would give Vancouver better competition then the other teams in the Northwest. The Central on the other hand, has 4 teams that could break 100 points.  Yes, the Central is tough.

Fast forward to the playoffs.  Nashville could find themselves with the 4th to 6th best record in the league and start the playoffs in the 5th place in the Western Conference.  Their first opponent might be Detroit or St. Louis.  Assume that Vancouver beats Phoenix and Dallas loses to Chicago,  Nashville might have to beat Detroit, St. Louis, and Chicago to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals.  Brutal. But lets not get ahead of ourselves.  The Red Wings are in town.  I will settle for 2 points in regulation and worry about the rest of the gauntlet another time.