Sorry for the cheesy title, but I love those shows and they certainly apply to the Preds next 48 hours. Those hours will include 2 games whose outcomes will go a long way toward determining our playoff seed.

Lets 1st look at the hoped for outcome. Regulation wins against the Wings and Hawks leave us in the drivers seat for the 4 seed. Sunday morning we would all wake up ahead of the Wings by 3 points. We would own the tiebreaker, but they would have 1 game in hand. Two of our last 3 would be at home.We probably had to play really well to have won both games. I would like our chances at home ice for round 1. We would be 5 points ahead of the Hawks, own the tiebreaker and each team have 3 to play. While not mathematically a fact, we would likely not have to worry about being 6th anymore and getting the Kings or Sharks ( or Yotes /Stars).

Now the dark side. We lose both in regulation and we can basically kiss 4th and home ice goodbye. The Wings would be up 3 points and have that game in hand. The Hawks would be up 1 point with each team having 3 to play. Not a disaster, but I would also assume we aren't playing as well as we need to if we lose those 2 games in regulation so thats not where we want to be heading into the playoffs.

I doubt either scenerio plays out and it will be somewhere in between. All 3 teams have alot to play for so a 2 game sweep may not be likely. 2 wins in any fashion would be great. A win and an OT/SO loss would be acceptable. Anything less is some degree of failure IMO.We can step on the Hawks throat and establish ourselves ahead of the Wings. Here's hoping, for once, we play great hockey in this type situation and send the message we are for real.

Let me state first I AM a hater when it comes to Radulov.

That began the day he left and hasn't changed. I believe in character and he has none. Recent information, if true, tells me he hasn't changed. Talent doesn't excuse or give him a pass for his past behavior or seemingly current behavior either.

Yesterday's details, if believable, seem to paint a clear picture. His return is for one thing and one thing only. Rid himself of Nashville and any contract owed them. If it's true and he will return to the KHL immediately upon our season's end he has no dog in our hunt. He is looking out for himself a couple years down the road clearing his way to UFA status.

My fear is he isn't remotely close to being invested in our winning. That certainly could lead to a terrible locker room. We have a great room now, but will it stay that way? If my concern comes to fruition he could be a plague. A few weeks back hearing his closeness w/ Weber and Suter eased my concerns a bit until these details of his release came out. Now I'm back where I was.... A Hater.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope he fills in our lack of high skilled offensive talent and carries us to a cup. I believe we already have a good team and he could be a huge negative or quite a large plus. While nobody can know for sure it's a chance I wouldn't take. We have always been all about team, work ethic, chemistry. I fear he has a better chance of ruining that than contributing. I hope I'm wrong.

First, let me give credit to Richard Cloutier. He is an Oiler blogger that sparked the following thoughts.

Obviously we have missed whatever chance there was to get a top 6 forward thru free agency unless, of course you believe any still remain. I don't. That leaves a trade as our only hope of such an addition. Who are the more likely trade partners. Cloutier's theory was cap strapped teams like the Flyers, Sabres and Caps. I added the Pens as well.

The Sabres have several possibilites. Jason Pominville would be great, but i find him highly unlikely due to the multiple roles he plays. Same for Derek Roy. Jochen Hecht may be their 1st choice, but he doesnt excite me. Lastly, is Brad Boyes. Decent size, a 4 mil cap hit, a scorer. He only has 1 year remaining on his current contract, but it does contain a no trade clause.

OK, so how about the Caps. Semin is a great talent, but very enigmatic and very expensive. Considering Laich just signed an extension that leaves Knuble. Trouble is he is 39 and would only relieve the Caps of 2 mil. Great for us, but offers very little help for the Caps.

How about the Pens? I would love to have James Neal. He's young, 23. Good size, 6'2" and around 210. Fairly cheap, cap hit of 2.875 mil, but 3.5 mil for 1 year. A likely resign? He wasn't very impressive for the Pens down the stretch. Maybe they saw enough, but I doubt he gets sent packing.Kunitz could be up for moving, but he doesn't really help our scoring much IMO. So, what do we do?

That brings me to my top target, or at least I'm guessing more likely than Neal. He would be a familiar face. He does have a no trade clause we would need to overcome. I dont have any idea what he would cost, but we have traded often with his current team. We need his size, edge and his willingness and skills in front of the net. He has 2 years left on his contract w/ a cap hit of 4.2 mil per year, would only cost a total of 6.8 mil in actual salary. He's also only 29 years old so keeping him beyond the 2 years would also be possible. He is Scott Hartnell. Yes, I know he and Trotz had a few run ins, but that was years ago. Could we reaquire Harts? While not the electric scorer we may wish for, he is a very effective net presence. He's big, physical and would/could be somewhat of an enforcer w/o wasting a roster spot on Stortini. He's also very good on the power play. Lord knows we need that. So, what are your thoughts and thanks for reading.

I'll start with a few unanswered questions we all( including David Poile) will likely wait a while to get answers for. They are Lombardi, Goc, The Cube and O'Reilly. Cal is likely a lesser question. Considering his age, type of injury and time recouperating already we have reason to believe he will be good to go come September. The injury to Goc hasn't been reported on very much. Do we know if he will be ready and if not I believe we pass on him rather than wait and see. Part of the reasoning is we are relatively set at centre and as mentioned in the "Oh My Goc" Fanpost he has a fairly alarming injury history. Lombardi and The Cube are already signed so a wait and see approach is about our only choice.

Sully simply can't be re-signed. He isn't the player he once was and we don't need another Belak signing. Front office is fine if management thinks he would be a good fit, but not an active player. Sorry Sully. That means the last UFA is Wardo. I love Wardo and have since the day he arrived here. We MUST remember the 80 game regular season sample is much more likely to be the Wardo of 2011-2012 than the 12 game playoff sample. Reward him for a great run with a 2 year deal worth something up to about 4 million. that would be about a 33% boost in his salary and I believe fair as well. A bidding war that extends beyond those type numbers would be a little too pricey for me. SK74 is the only RFA that I think really takes alot of considering. The rest should be kept at something normal for their age and ability. SK74 is perplexing for me in a couple of ways. He won't shoot the puck yet was at the top of our goal scorers. He has amazing ability yet is far too easily knocked off the puck. A doubling of his salary is fine, but I'm not too sure about anything much beyond that. I just am not sure he is as accountable as i would like. We also need to try our best to convince JP to accept a trade. I know he has a NMC, but i would assume he would rather play than sit 50-60 games next season. I'm sure he knows by now he will be an emergency fill in and that's about it. I don't care what we get, just try and dump the salary.

The rearguard is a little easier to decide on. Sign Weber. After that if The Cube is available and we believe Josi would be ready if called upon we are set. If either of the latter seems unlikely then I'm all for re-signing SOB. That was pretty easy huh? Lastly, is the 1000 pound elephant in the room. What about next year when Suter and Rinne come up as UFA's? Can we keep both if we have signed Weber? Would it even be smart to try considering our defensive prospect talent vs our offensive prospects and the glaring scoring weakness we still have in Nashville now? My current thought is no. The thoughts of losing Suter is painful to think about, but unless Lindy or Dekanich has proven number 1 type status we likely would have to let Peks walk to keep him. I don't like that either. I guess I'm glad i don't have to make those decisions afterall. I know I am glad we have the problem because it points out we have a few very talented players. If we decide to not try to keep them all maybe one of them could return us an equally talented offensive player in return.

I have a couple questions that I thought others may share, or at the very least stir some interesting tiebreaker scenario conversation. I did a little research today and found the following: 1) The Preds and Yotes are tied in points, ROW wins, head to head points earned so we would go to goal differential to break a tie with the Yotes. We win that tiebreaker +24 to +6.  2) If, by chance, the Kings join in for a 3 way tie they have 1 less ROW win. 3) In the 3 way head to head tiebreaker the Kings earned 12 of 20 possible points, the Yotes 11 of 20 and the Preds 6 of 16.
So here is my question. In the event of a 3 way tie are the tiebreakers still worked thru in that order, meaning the Kings would be ruled as 6th seed by the ROW wins and the Preds beating out the Yotes for 4th as mentioned above. OR, do you go directly to the multiple head to head tiebreaker which places the Preds in 6th and placing LA in the 4th spot? I hope for the former, but fear the latter. Does anyone know the answer?