No one really expected the Nashville Predators to still be alive for a playoff spot as we approach April and their final eight games of the regular season.
The Predators had a rough weekend dropping two losses in regulation to superior Eastern Conference opponents. But luckily the Predators are in the thick of a Western Conference wildcard race for the last spot that nobody seems to want to claim.
Without taking away credit for this team's resolve and fortitude to not lie down and accept their doomsday fate, I also think we're being fooled a bit. The players won't tell you that, nor should they, but that's what I'm seeing from the outside looking in.
Is this season a failure if Nashville Predators fall short of playoffs?
The West is a watered down conference once you get past the top-three teams in the Central Division; Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota. If Nashville rallies to hold onto the second wildcard spot then they get the prize of the Colorado Avalanche. It would be one of the biggest upsets in modern playoff history if Nashville slayed Goliath, and it would be invaluable playoff experience for the young core of players.
My overall outlook is they don't even have to make the playoffs at this point for me to come away with a lot more optimism for the future than I had reason for even as recent as back in December.
Even post trade deadline and trading away four veteran starters, the team hasn't completely faded like teams that sell usually end up doing. That is a huge reason for momentum and optimism into the offseason regardless of how this wildcard push ultimately ends.
Joakim Kemell just scored his first NHL in a heartbreaking loss to a top Stanley Cup contender in the Tampa Bay Lightning. Zachary L'Heureux, Fedor Svechkov, Matthew Wood, Ryan Ufko and of course Luke Evangelista have all made excellent strides towards being key parts of Nashville's new chapter. And it suggests that maybe this rebuild won't be as long and painful as we may have once feared.
Of course I want the playoffs and will be gutted if they just barely miss out on it, but also I just don't think it's going to be all that crushing once we zoom out and look at the bigger picture of where this team came from.
The Predators are a ream right now that is getting the absolute most out of their roster, with the exception of a couple underperformers. I would include Jonathan Marchessault and Juuse Saros in that underperforming category, but for the most part they're milking this talent for everything they can. That's a compliment to Head Coach Andrew Brunnette.
So even though I know some fans will be hammering this team if they fall short, I just don't agree with that sentiment. They've shown enormous progress during a season where the expectations were already extremely low. They're finally letting their young talent play big minutes to prove themselves, and they're all mostly showing encouraging things for 2026-27.
This upcoming offseason we could see even more of the veteran core of the roster torn down, so despite the wildcard hopes in a mediocre West playoff bubble, we have to keep our expectations realistic.