Central Division predictions: Carolina vs. Nashville

After running through my predictions for one series in each of the North, East, West and Central Divisions over the last few days, I'm closing in on the end of my round 1 predictions, with just three series remaining.

Today, I'll take a look at the Central Division marchup that I expect to be somewhat more lopsided than some of the other series that I've previewed and predicted.

Central Division - 1st place Carolina vs. 4th place Nashville:

Carolina


The Hurricanes have been clicking all season long and after a disappointing second round loss in the Toronto bubble to the Boston Bruins in 5 games in 2020, the Canes will be looking to rebound in this year's postseason and go on a much deeper run.

After posting a 36-12-8 record in the regular season and placing 3rd in the overall NHL standings, the Canes are coming into the postseason with a mostly healthy lineup, with top pairing defenseman Jaccob Slavin listed as a game-time decision on Monday.

The Hurricanes have evolved over the last few seasons from a feisty underdog to a legitimate top-end team who is capable of beating any team on any given night. Their depth on defense is among the league's best, boasting a dynamic top pair that consists of the aforementioned Slavin, a phenomenal two-way defenseman, and Dougie Hamilton, who may have won himself a Norris Trophy last season, were it not for a productive season being derailed by injury.

Up front, the Canes boast a pretty formidable 1, 2, 3 up the middle with Sebastian Aho, Vincent Trochek and Jordan Staal, but where they really stand out is on the wing. Carolina might have the best flank depth in the entire NHL with 5 wingers who are all capable of playing anywhere in the lineup and Martinook, Fast and McGinn, who are all capable middle-six wingers playing in bottom-six roles due to the Canes' incredible depth at the position.

Add two goalies who are capable of stealing games in Nedeljkovic and Mrazek and a very capable backup in James Reimer and you have yourself a recipe for postseason success.

Nashville

The Nashville Predators were expected to be a bubble team this season, battling it out with the Florida Panthers and the Columbus Blue Jackets for the 4th and final playoff spot, while the Bolts, Stars and Canes were expected to occupy the top 3 spots in the Central Division.

The Preds failed to execute early in the season and found themselves well outside of the playoff hunt and left management to contemplate blowing up the team and entering a full rebuild.

What the Predators did in their final 25 games of the season was truly spectacular, posting a 17-6-1 record and edging out the Stars for 4th place in the division and a playoff spot on the heels of some brilliant goaltending by Juuse Saros, who played like a Vezina-caliber goaltender down the stretch.

While the Predators don't possess the same kind of firepower that the Hurricanes do, they did finish the season very strong, posting 4 wins in their final 5 games, with two of those wins coming against the Hurricanes.

Prediction:

The Predators may have bested the Canes in back-to-back games at the end of the regular season, but the Canes, who had already clinched top spot in the Central Division, had been without Slavin and rested Dougie Hamilton in the final game of the season.

While I expect the Preds to compete hard and maybe steal a game in the series, I don't anticipate Nashville leading the series at any point, with the Canes taking them down in 5 games.

This was one of the easier predictions to make, as I feel that the Canes have a legitimate chance of going all the way to the Finals this season, if the stars align.