All-world goaltending and deep D corps carrying the Predators early

Hot or not

Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins
Fleury stopped 33 shots in his team's 3-1 win over the Washington Capitals, and he now has won five of his past six starts after starting the season with three straight losses.

Jonas Hiller, Calgary Flames
Hiller allowed four goals on just 18 shots Wednesday before leaving the team's 5-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators with a lower-body injury. Hiller has lost six of his past seven starts.

Are the Nashville Predators finally ready for a championship run?

@Real_ESPNLeBrun: Ho-hum, just another great start for the Nashville Predators, who improved to 7-1-1 with a 2-1 road win over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night. You may remember the Preds opened last season 6-2-2 in October and improved to 16-5-2 through November, eventually finishing second in the crazy Central Division behind the St. Louis Blues, then losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in a hard-fought series in the opening round of the playoffs. Scott, your recent Pekka Rinne piece summed up perfectly, I think, what's at stake as Rinne turns 33 next week. The time for Nashville to strike is now. I ask, though, whether the Predators have enough to make the Stanley Cup finals.

@ESPN_Burnside: I blush, Pierre. I picked Nashville for the Western Conference finals next spring. Of course, I also picked the foundering Anaheim Ducks to win the Cup. I don't think anyone doubts the Preds have the goods for a long playoff run, perhaps even a championship run. That starts with Rinne, who ranks in the top three or four in the world in terms of goaltenders, and an overall defensive corps that is as talented and deep as any in the NHL. And this is a team that believes it learned from playoff missteps like last season's first-round loss to Chicago.

But doesn't St. Louis also believe it has learned from its own playoff fumblings? And doesn't Minnesota believe it has learned from three straight playoff series losses to Chicago? And Dallas believes it, too, has learned and is ready for a jump forward. So, where do the Predators fit? I don't need to point out all four of the teams I just mentioned also reside in the Central Division. And that's not even including a Ducks team that believes, in spite of its sputtering start, it has learned from three straight Game 7 losses at home. I agree, the time is now for the Preds, but it's also time for a host of other competition in the Western Conference.

@CraigCustance: That's the thing about the Predators, Scott. The time is now, but the time is also now for the Wild, Ducks, Blues, Stars, Los Angeles Kings and Sharks. The West is once again ridiculous. The one thing the early part of the season is starting to reveal is that now might not be the time for the Flames. They lost again on Wednesday, this time to a Senators team that was in the middle of a losing streak. The Flames played a little better and showed resilience we haven't necessarily seen this season from them. This game also featured the return of T.J. Brodie, who played a ton in his first game back. But as we've seen in recent years from other young teams like the Islanders, Stars and Avalanche, sometimes there's a step backward before that next step forward, and it looks like we're witnessing that in Calgary.

@ESPNChiPowers: Looking back at last season, as difficult as the Blackhawks' series with the Ducks and Tampa Bay Lightning were, I still think the Predators were the closest team to derailing Chicago's Stanley Cup run. The Predators did nearly everything right in that series. I'm sure they're still shaking their heads, wondering how they couldn't finish the Blackhawks off after knocking Corey Crawford out of net, sending two games into overtime and losing three one-goal games. I guess that goes back to the point Scotty and Craig make about just how many teams believe their time is now. The Predators undoubtedly have what it takes to compete for a Cup. They proved that throughout much of the regular season last season, did so in the playoffs against the Blackhawks and are proving it again early this season. Rinne is an elite goaltender. The defense around him has only gotten better. The offense is sometimes a concern, but James Neal's start is promising. So, yes, the Predators have enough to get to the Cup finals. Will they? We'll have to wait awhile for that answer.

@ESPNJoeMac: There had been some debate leading into the 2015-16 season whether Rinne or Boston's Tuukka Rask was the best Finnish goaltender in the NHL. The two have had completely different performances to open the season. With Rinne's 20 saves Wednesday, he proved once again why he's one of the best in the league, making a huge glove save late in the game to secure Nashville's one-goal lead. He also received a bit of luck when a shot from the point rang off the crossbar in the final minute of regulation. Even though the 2016 World Cup of Hockey isn't until September, management and coaching staffs are already scouting and constructing possible rosters for the international tournament, and it looks right now like Finland will have the best goaltending tandem in the tournament, with Rinne in the early lead to be the No. 1 guy.