Let's stop fooling ourselves about Nashville Predators contending this season | Estes

The Nashville Predators weren’t supposed to be any good this season, so now that it’s playing out that way, I wonder why anyone is surprised.

But I know why.

It’s because these rebuilding Predators, for much of the season, didn’t look like a rebuilding team. They became fun to watch under first-year coach Andrew Brunette. They played hard and fast, and while overachieving, kept acting and speaking as if it was no shock to them. Like they knew something about themselves the rest of the NHL did not.

Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston (53) skates to the bench after scoring a goal past Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (74) during the first period at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.

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They believed, and that made others believe in them.

Belief is powerful. But fragile. It’ll shatter for teams, and when it does, it’s easy to tell.

This past week with the Predators, it has been easy to tell.

Thursday’s 9-2 blowout loss to the Dallas Stars at Bridgestone Arena was one of the most pitiful performances in franchise history. The Stars scored three times before the Predators’ first shot on goal. At the end of the first period, Dallas had 18 shots to Nashville’s one.

“Embarrassed at home,” captain Roman Josi said.

“Weren’t ready to play,” defenseman Ryan McDonagh added.

Which was alarming, given the context. On Tuesday night, the Predators lost 4-2 at home to the New Jersey Devils. Afterward, Brunette and Josi each called out the lack of effort against the Devils, who had played the night before and were nonetheless more energetic in crunch time. Josi bristled afterward — using the word “unacceptable” — to an extent seldom seen from the stoic captain.

“We know how important these games are,” he said, “and that’s why it’s really frustrating. It can’t happen that late in the year. You can lose games. You can even get outplayed sometimes. But you can’t get outworked.”

Brunette concurred and offered a reminder of the implications of such a performance. With the NHL’s trade deadline looming and the Predators on the cusp of a playoff spot, general manager Barry Trotz has been watching and taking cues from the team.

“We’re going to dictate where we are here for the next two weeks,” Brunette said Tuesday, “and tonight we dictated that we weren’t really that interested in being in the playoffs.”

Previously: Will Predators buy or sell at NHL trade deadline? Trotz is weighing both | Estes

Rather than be galvanized by Tuesday, the Predators glided off a cliff Thursday. What’d that say?

The Stars’ blowout made it seven defeats in the Predators’ past nine games, and this latest was the type of humiliation that often carries implications. It’ll likely be Trotz selling off more players for draft picks and furthering the rebuild that launched in 2023.

Start with goalie Juuse Saros. While still a top-flight starter, he has trended down this season. He’s expendable and he’d be in demand. It’d make sense to move him for the right price.

Plenty of younger Preds on expiring contracts should go, too. It’s time to shake it up again.

Saros Talks Trade: What goalie said about rumors of Preds trading him

That’d be giving up on a team that woke up Friday only four points outside of a playoff spot. The Predators’ season isn’t over. It’s just beginning to feel like it’s over.

“It can only be addressed so many times,” an exasperated Brunette said after the Dallas game. “Either we’re not taking it serious enough or we’re not understanding. The response and the mindset is really disappointing.”

It’s as if the odds are catching up and reality, at long last, has settled in for the players themselves. We’ve been witnessing the evaporation of belief and confidence and determination in real time, and what’s left is a team that as originally forecast isn’t good enough to skate on talent alone.

As of Friday, the Predators were 19th in the NHL in goals scored per game, 24th in goals allowed per game, 21st in the power play and 27th in the penalty kill.

Those aren’t playoff-caliber numbers. Neither is the team’s overall points percentage in games (51.9%), which would rank as the franchise’s lowest in a season since 2012-13.

They aren’t that good. They were never supposed to be that good.

The fact we believed otherwise is a credit to Brunette and Josi and Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly and other veterans who pushed a deficient team to play above its head for months — even as most of the youngsters weren’t coming on as the Predators needed. Wasn’t going to be able to hold up for 82 games.

We weren’t duped by these Predators.

Just a tad unrealistic about what they were capable of doing.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Let’s stop fooling ourselves about Nashville Predators contending this season | Estes