Treating it like a new season
Not all teams are probably viewing it this way. The teams that were cruising through their schedules and sitting high atop the standings might have a different viewpoint of this restart as compared to a team like the Predators.
The truth is the Predators were in playoff mode since January. They were hanging on by a thread, and we’ll never know for sure if the Predators would’ve even made the playoffs if they played the 13 games they had remaining.
This is why they have to treat this situation like a fresh start and take advantage of the unique opportunity to push reset and come out blazing like they did in October.
I was very interested leading up to training camp to see what the leaders of this team would say in regards to returning to ice and preparing for a playoff run. They’re appearing to take this new opportunity as a jolt of new energy that was sorely lacking in November and December, which put them behind the 8-ball for a while.
You can’t look past the value of this team’s veteran experience and leadership. These guys are battle-tested and realize the clock is ticking on keeping this core group together for too many more seasons. This is why I think they’ve come out so focused and keeping the intensity high in training camp.
It’s hard to know exactly how effective and successful this training camp is until they actually play a game, but there’s certainly no red flags sticking out so far. If anything, there’s restored hope that hasn’t been strongly felt since the early goings of the regular season.