State of Central Division: How Predators Stack Up With the Blues

We’re going to update you with everything going on in the Central Division and how the Nashville Predators stack up in what’s a crowded division race.

We’re doing a full refresh on every team in the Central Division and how it pertains to the Nashville Predators and their hopes of making a sixth-straight playoff appearance. The Predators have 13 division matchups left in the 2019-20 regular season.

The Nashville Predators have won two-straight division titles, which are the only two in the franchise’s history. They’re not going to win a third-straight unless multiple teams ahead of them collapse in historic manner, so go ahead and throw that fairytale scenario out.

We’re starting with the defending Stanley Cup champs, the St.Louis Blues. They haven’t really experienced any kind of a hiccup in their Stanley Cup defending season. They’ve stayed comfortably at the top of the division for much of the season up until the last couple of weeks.

Incredibly, they’ve navigated through all of this without Vladimire Tarasenko, who hasn’t played in a game since October 24th. They’ve had no problem filling the void as they’re leading the division with 73 points and only 15 regulation losses.

Back-to-back title hopes

It would be pretty amazing to see a back-to-back Stanley Cup winner. Other than the Penguins accomplishing that feat in 2016/2017, there hasn’t been a repeat champion since the Red Wings in 1998.

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The Blues check all of the boxes when it comes to being a balanced team. They have top-line weapons, depth scoring, solid defense and top-notch goaltending with Jordan Binnington. They can beat you in all sorts of different ways.

Interestingly enough, the Predators have won both meetings with the Blues this season, with two more to go.

Those two head-to-head wins in three days came at a time when the Predators were struggling badly in late November, snapping a five-game losing streak.

The Blues absolutely have to be one of the top two favorites to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup once again, but not by a wide margin.

There are other teams in this division who aren’t far behind them that will make things interesting in a seven-game series.

They’re also performing well league-wide in a lot of statistical categories, including top-ten in power play percentage, goals against per game and shooting percentage.

The Blues are also in the top half of the NHL in most of the main categories, so they really do everything pretty well.

If the Blues are able to hold onto their slim division lead they have currently, it will be their first division title since 2015 when they finished with 109 points, but lost in the first round to Minnesota.

Winning the division can sometimes be a death sentence. Just ask the Predators the last two seasons.

How would the Predators match up with them?

This would be an incredibly difficult series for the Predators to win, even with two wins over them already in the season series. Those were out-of-nowhere wins by the Predators, but in an intense playoff series you would get the very best from the Blues.

If the Predators do sneak into the playoffs, they’re likely going to be a wildcard team and up against one of the division winners.

Let’s hope it comes against a Pacific Division team, because I honestly think the Blues would win in six games.

A lot can change between now and then as far as maybe raising my confidence level a tad towards the Predators.

My problem is the Predators lack consistency and defensive grit to handle highly-talented, well-coached teams and deep teams like the Blues are.

It’s not a foregone conclusion that the Blues are going to win the division by any stretch of the imagination. The Avalanche and Stars are not far behind them, and the Blues have actually lost seven of their last nine dating back to mid-January.

Perhaps the Blues are a bit too far into cruise control while the Predators have been playing “playoff” type desperation games since November it’s felt like. I expect the Blues to settle down and finish in the top two slots of the division race even with this recent rough stretch they’re going through.

I like how the Blues roster is constructed and built for a deep playoff run. This is all without knowing what they may or may not add at the trade deadline. They’re a buyer who could add one or two pieces to put them over the top.

Just look at their top contributors and how much depth they have with crafty veterans like David Perron, Brayden Schenn, Jaden Schwartz and Ryan O’Reilly. They have proven winners who you know will show up for the bright lights of the playoffs in a couple months.

On the flip side, the Predators have some proven veterans of their own, but not all have shown the consistency that you’d like to see from highly skilled players. In fact, the Predators have relied heavily on their bottom-six to keep them from completely sinking.

If you ask me to rank the Central Division teams currently, I’d slot the Blues slightly behind the Avalanche despite being ahead of them in the standings.

The Blues have kind of been sleepwalking through the past couple weeks, and it’s cost them a healthy division lead.

Predators and Blues have another back-to-back coming up later this week, and the Predators absolutely need the points more than the Blues do.

A season sweep of the Blues by the Predators would be both baffling and incredible at the same time.