Falling apart again (this time in Nashville)

The Sabres have once again lost their touch and have returned to playing subpar hockey. They lost 2-0 to the Nashville Predators. It was a very boring game through the first two periods as neither team had any good chances, and neither team had any speed.

In the third period the predators scored twice, first by Jason Arnott and then by former Sabre JP Dumont. Buffalo really turned things on for the final five minutes of the game, but it was two late by that point and they were shutout by Pekka Rinne.

Despite nobody ever hearing of Rinne, who only appeared in three NHL games before this season and had zero starts last year, he played very well. So far he is 4-0 on the season, picking up his first shutout in this game over the Sabres.

Buffalo mixed up their lines a bit for this game, as Kotalik returned to the lineup. Rivet and Kaleta were both out with injuries, while Mancari and Peters played ahead of Afinogenov. Connolly was placed on injured reserve to get the team under it's roster limit.

Official Three Stars

JP Dumont

Pekka Rinne

Jason Arnott

My Three Stars

Pekka Rinne (shutout, 30 saves)

JP Dumont (one goal, one assist, plus two)

Jason Arnott (one assist, plus two)

Central division

For most of the past decade the central division was the easiest in the NHL, and the Red Wings took advantage of this year after year to repeatedly win the president's trophy. Starting with last season the division has gotten tougher and should be much more competitive this year. However there is no reason to expect the Red Wings not to come in first.

#1 Detroit Red Wings
Winners of both the President's trophy and the Stanley Cup last season, there is little reason to expect this team to fall. The team lost almost no one except for replacing aging goalie Dominik Hasek with Ty Conklin who had a breakout year last season as the back up in Pittsburgh. Detroit also managed to sign this offseason's most coveted free agent, Marian Hossa for a completely reasonable amount.

#2 Chicago Blackhawks
Although finishing just outside of the playoffs last season Chicago is clearly a team on the rise and will be much improved this year. The team's young core of Kane, Toews, Sharp and Byfuglien have all returned. Furthermore they have bolstered their defense by signing former Sabre Brian Campbell. Also they have signed goalie Cristobal Huet leaving Khabibulin as the backup and committing $12.375 million of cap space to their goaltending. However the team has not resigned Kevyn Adams and unexpectedly traded away Robert Lang for only a draft pick. Chicago was the only team in the league that didn't look scared of the Red Wings throughout the season.

#3 Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators slipped into the playoffs in the eighth spot last season and are likely to finish close to that spot again. The team played well in the playoffs only losing to division rival and eventual cup winners Detroit in six games. The predators have one of the league's top goalies in Dan Ellis. The team is also lead by former Sabre JP Dumont. On the downside they lost rising star Alex Radulov to Russia, and have a mess of an ownership situation.

#4 St. Louis Blues
The good news is that this is at least a team on the rise. While they will almost assuredly finish in the bottom two in their division and out of the playoffs the team will get better by next year. They have a decent goalie in Legacé and some veteran leadership in Paul Kariya and former Sabre Jay McKee. They also have some good young players such as Stanley cup winner Andy McDonald, rookie T.J. Oshie, and West Seneca native Lee Stempniak.

#5 Columbus Blue Jackets
While better than they were last season, the Blue Jackets have little to no chance of making the playoffs. The team brought in some veterans such as R.J. Umberger, Mike Commodore, and Kristian Huselius, but still lack the depth do go far. Their goalie is ok, but this team is not set for success.

Nashville's Portability

A lot of news over the fact that Boots Del Biaggio was partially motivated to buy the Nashville Predators for their Portability Value. Now that a man known as "Boots" (so much so that the legal documents even refer to him as William "Boots" Del Biaggio) who was financially backed by an organization with an empty arena in anther city had an interest in moving the team should come a surprise to no one.

Still looking at the numbers it's hard to say that Nashville is not portable. While they had a pretty good season last year, the team is not making it financially. A team not making it financially is bad for the league as a whole. It's going to become harder, and harder to ignore Jim Balsillie's money and the fact that Canada does love hockey more than Tennessee does. If the New York City area can support three NHL clubs there is no reason to suspect that Toronto would have any trouble at all with two. Furthermore this current mess is going to hurt AEG's standing in the league and reduce the possibility of a new team in Kansas City (which never really looked like a better option then Nashville).

Still the Nashville is still better off then the Florida Panthers, and the Phoenix Coyotes, but the NHL's expansion to non-hockey markets has to come to a decision sooner or later.