Predators Live in the Present

The theme of an advertising campaign the Nashville Predators plan to launch this week is “Right Now.” It’s perfect for a team that’s reaching new heights on the ice but has struggled to sink roots in a football-crazy town.

“Right now is our playoff hunt,” said Jack Diller, the club’s president. “Right now, our team is highly competitive. Right now, the playoffs are in sight.

“It’s a fantastic race for the last three slots. It’s a perfect time to test the strength of the market. We’ve shown there is interest, when we came here.”

Long past the novelty stage, when they filled the Gaylord Entertainment Center and Grand Ole Opry stars flocked to games, the Predators in their sixth season are drawing smaller crowds (12,507, on average) but succeeding more. They’ve been on the fringe of the West race but were never a force this late; they were fifth last weekend and are sixth despite a 3-0 loss to the Kings on Monday at Staples Center.

Because they’ve done so well with the NHL’s lowest payroll -- just over $23 million to start the season -- they had room to bend their philosophy of building around kids and avoiding costly long-term deals.

Last week, they acquired Steve Sullivan from Chicago for two second-round draft picks and a day later gave sparkplug right wing Scott Walker a three-year, $6-million extension.

Sullivan, small but creative and a proven scorer, collected five goals and 10 points in his first four games. He’ll cost about $800,000 -- a good investment if the Predators make the playoffs.

“That’s really the first trade we made that wasn’t giving up a veteran to get a younger player and a pick, and talking to our fans about the future,” General Manager David Poile said. “It’s really exciting to be in the playoff race.”

It was much like the Mighty Ducks’ trade for Steve Thomas in March, a nod to what players have accomplished and a willingness to invest to help them accomplish more.

“It shows a lot to the veteran players and the guys in the room,” Walker said. “It shows this team is really committed.”

Before, it had always been patient and cautious. Barry Trotz, their coach for the opener, coached his 472nd game Monday, extending his record for most games coached by a team’s original coach since the major expansion of 1967. He has the fourth-longest tenure among all active coaches, behind Ottawa’s Jacques Martin, St. Louis’ Joel Quenneville and Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff.

“I think our coaching staff has gotten better, like our players,” Poile said. “They’re way better, and we’ve had so many changes on our roster that they’re not saying the same thing over and over to the same players.”

He added some aggressiveness to end years of being pushed around, but the biggest revelation is the mobile, puck-moving defense.

Rookie Dan Hamhuis, a 2001 first-round draft pick, plays nearly 22 minutes a game. Marek Zidlicky, acquired from the Rangers in the Mike Dunham trade, is among the top-scoring defensemen. Mark Eaton was on waivers each of the last two seasons but is now a solid regular.

“We changed a lot of players, but I don’t think we knew what we had,” Poile said.

They have won three more games than they did all of last season and are four victories from tying the franchise record of 34, set in 2000-01. With their 19th home win last week, they broke the record of 18 they’d set last season. What’s harder to quantify is the resolve that has enabled them to end slumps with resounding victories.

They ended a four-game losing streak by beating Detroit on Oct. 30, a three-game losing streak by rallying from a 3-0 deficit after two periods to beat Detroit, 4-3, on Nov. 8, and a five-game winless streak with a 1-0 triumph over the Red Wings on Dec. 20. They’ve beaten Colorado twice in succession -- rallying from a 2-0 deficit Jan. 8 to win in overtime -- and San Jose twice in a row.

“You have those defining moments for every franchise,” Poile said. “You look back at that [Nov. 8] Detroit game and you can say that’s where we really started building.”

Having come this far, it would be a shame for their journey to be halted by a lockout next season.

Poile and Diller are planning as if it will be business as usual, but both recognize the tenuous situation and have heard speculation that their club might be folded by the league if there’s a long dispute between the NHL and the players’ association.

“I don’t see what the presence or lack of Nashville has to do with the problems the NHL has,” Diller said. “This is not a franchise problem.... I think there is, under the proper system, a market for hockey in Nashville.”

Said Poile: “We have to do better, but I don’t know if we’re vulnerable. If there’s less than 30 teams, we’re vulnerable, but that’s not the way we’re approaching things. The first three years, the market for us was there and we can get it back. In the future, we need a level playing field to compete. As a hockey operation, we’re well positioned. We’re trying to set up for what I call our competitive era.”

ABCs of the CBA

The clock keeps ticking toward the Sept. 15 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, but the NHL hasn’t been idle. Last week it launched a website to keep fans informed about CBA issues and present its case for an economic overhaul. The address is www.nhlcbanews.com.

The site features the ominous financial analysis presented Feb. 12 by Arthur Levitt, who said the NHL lost nearly $273 million last season. And there are graphics and surveys supporting the league’s push for “cost certainty” or whatever its latest euphemism is for salary cap.

It fails in the “By the Numbers” section, where a chart tries to link the rise in salaries to the decline in scoring. It says that in the 1993-94 season (played under the old CBA), teams spent an average of $54,500 in player costs per goal scored, but in 2002-03 teams spent an average of $215,000 in player costs for every goal scored. Paychecks went up, scoring went down -- must be those rich, complacent players.

Certainly, salaries have increased over the last decade, but so have revenues. And the NHL abetted the scoring decline by ignoring obstruction until recently and by pulling back after each well-publicized obstruction crackdown.

Expanding too fast for the available talent also brought scoring down because defense-oriented systems became the only way new teams could compete.

And don’t forget that goaltending has become a science over the last 10 years and many goalies are now the best athlete on their teams. They’re stopping more pucks and earning more money, keeping goals down while adding to the rise in salaries.

Besides some basic information about labor terms the site is purely a public relations ploy. The sides should be talking, not battling for public favor.

Slap Shots

Once in a while, when CBC commentator Don Cherry isn’t engaged in shameless self-promotion, he can make sense. One of those moments occurred Saturday, when he chided fans in Montreal who booed Canadien center Saku Koivu last week.

Koivu and teammate Mike Ribiero fought twice during a practice and Koivu came off as the villain after French-language media hinted that Koivu wouldn’t pass to Ribiero, who’s French-Canadian. Cherry cited the class and courage Koivu displayed before and after battling stomach cancer and said Koivu deserved more respect. He’s right.

Dallas’ Mike Modano has stopped sulking and started scoring, with three goals in his last three games -- including a nifty one-timer against the Mighty Ducks on Sunday.

“It’d be nice to finish real strong and go into the spring playing your best game. That’s where, in the past, we’ve been able to make a name for ourselves,” said Modano, who blamed financial losses for his early-season struggles. “I want to keep going and feel like the game is a little bit easier than it has been.”

Today’s entry in the freaky injury category: Atlanta goalie Byron Dafoe slipped on a patch of ice outside the team’s hotel in Ottawa on Wednesday and hurt his back.... Adam Oates scored his first goal for Edmonton in his 39th game after signing as a free agent. He also has eight assists and a minus-six rating.

The Sabres honored Hall of Famer Tim Horton on Friday, a day before the 30th anniversary of his fatal car crash. He’s now best known for the doughnut chain that bears his name, but he was a force on defense for 24 seasons and played on four Stanley Cup winners.

Arturs Irbe returned to Carolina last week to back up Kevin Weekes, ending his exile to the East Coast Hockey League. Irbe takes the job held by former King Jamie Storr, who had an 0-8-2 record, 2.91 goals-against average and .878 save percentage.