Prior to the season the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators were two of the more popular picks when talking about who could represent the West in the Stanley Cup Final.
To this point they haven't lived up to the billing as they both have negative goal differentials and are on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.
In this edition of the hotstove we discuss which teams is more likely to rebound.
Todd Cordell I think both teams are better than they've shown in the early going but I expect more bounce back from the Nashville Predators.
They are over .500 in their last 10, have points in seven of those games and their best players haven't even gotten going yet.
Filip Forsberg is one of the best wingers in the NHL and he hasn't scored through 13 games. Ryan Johansen is shooting 3% on the year and James Neal is well under his career average as well.
They have stars up front, one of the best defense cores in the league and one of the NHL's best coaches in Peter Laviolette. There is way too much good in Nashville for this team to be bad.
Peter Tessier Dallas is racked by injury and Nashville is what? While a few people have put some effort into trying to understand Nashville's woes they don't seems to be changing and one has to wonder if Laviolette is doing something that simply does not work with his roster.
I'm betting Dallas can rebound, really, but they need to get healthy and have some one step up to fill the gap in a basically 'adequate' sense. However this needs to happen soonish. While injuries are an 'excuse' good teams overcome them and the Stars were supposed to be a good team. So was Nashville. Seeing as they are basically even right now in games played and points it will be interesting to see who pulls to first and I think that's the Stars.
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