On February 9th, the Nashville Predators acquired center Eric Belanger from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for center Josef Vasicek. Neither player has lived up to their potential for the respective clubs this year. The Predators and Hurricanes hope a change of scenery will spark Vasicek and Belanger to play with a renewed intensity to finish the season. Both players earn $1.3 million this season.

Originally part of the Scott Walker trade last July, Vasicek was slotted to be the team's second line center providing great size and skill. Unfortunately for Vasicek, injuries and inconsistent play routinely have landed him on the healthy scratch list all too often. David Legwand's breakout season put the nail in the coffin for Vasicek's future with the Predators.

The Hurricanes felt Belanger was not gelling with his teammates as the third line center. Intangibles such as team chemistry can make or break a playoff run. Having all the skill in the world on paper will not win a Stanley Cup in June if the players do not get along in the locker room.

Belanger possesses assets the Predators need to be successful for a deep playoff run: a top notch face-off specialist, an aggressive penalty killer with great shorthanded scoring ability, and a speedy puck mover providing good distribution for Hartnell and Radulov on the third line. Belanger will make his Predators debut on February 10th against the team that drafted him in 1996, the Los Angeles Kings.

Struggling at the Top

Over the past few seasons, the Predators have seemingly come down to Earth in early February. This is certainly a tradition coach Barry Trotz would soon love to break. With 16 of its final 27 games at home, the Predators have an apparent home-ice advantage to finish the regular season. Registering a combined 51-11-4 on home-ice over the past two seasons should help alleviate any type of losing streak the Predators may face.

The Central Division crown appears to be shaping up nicely as Detroit (76 points) has pulled to within a point of Nashville (77 points) with five games remaining between these two divisional foes. The team finishing second in the Central Division will most likely face the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the playoffs. The Predators know all too well how difficult the Sharks can be to play come playoff time.

Trotz shared his thoughts on taking the league lead for first place in the NHL. “I'm concerned more about first place in the division than I am anything. I think that's priority number-one for us. Let's make sure that that's where we are and St. Louis helped us along today [shutting out Detroit]. That was important to get a little more breathing room.” said Trotz.

The Predators have been criticized of playing in a weak division, never winning a playoff series, and accused of playing a boring style of defensive first hockey. There are no easy games in the league with today's parity. Any team can win the match on any given night.

“[Wayne] Gretzky always said you had to learn how to lose first before you could learn how to win,” David Legwand said. “We've learned our lesson now, and we can take that next step and move forward. All those old dynasties lost first. Then, they went on to be phenomenal hockey teams and went on to build their own dynasties.”

Ice Chips

League-wide, Nashville ranks second in goals with 3.41 per game and ninth in goals-against per game with 2.52... The Predators have the third ranked penalty kill (86.6%) and the 14th ranked power-play (17.4%).

Paul Kariya (17th) and Steve Sullivan (23rd) lead the Predators in scoring and are both in the NHL's top 30 point producers. Kariya is eighth in the league with 42 assists... David Legwand has an astounding +27 rating in 53 games. Jordin Tootoo’s rating is worst at -10 in 49 games.

While Nashville has outscored opponents 68-44 in the first period and 76-39 in the second period, the Predators are still being outscored 45-56 in the third period this season.

Injuries

Right wing Jordin Tootoo is day to day with a sore hip.