As I wrote back during the summer, very few teams make the playoffs scoring under 220 goals during the regular season, 3 at the most will get in with less goals than that. In addition to that, very few of those teams that got into the playoffs with less than 220 goals advanced past the 1st round. The Devils/Ducks series back in 2003 was the one outlier in recent history (us beating the Ducks last season is another rare example of this). At the 41 game mark of this season we had 108 goals scored, 101 last season. That’s enough to likely get a defensive minded team like ours into the playoffs, but advancing is quite a challange, especially if you finish as the 6th seed or lower in the conference.

It is true that we’re doing better than 3 of the current teams in a playoff spot in the West, but it’s the Canucks, Wings, Hawks and Sharks who we have to beat in order to make a deep playoff run. The odds are highly stacked against us if we go up against any of those teams with the forwards we have right now. We’ll play all of them very hard, but effort only gets you so far.

Of course, there’s the added pressure of doing something to hopefully convince the big two to stay here. I’m inclined to think that picking up Yip won’t make an impact in that regard.

but I still believe your defense is just as important. I mean look back at teams that won the cup, they have almost always had a defensive difference maker. Unfortunately the Preds conundrum lies in that we need to get more offense to even be able to lock up the big three. The real question is how much do you give up to get that top 3 forward? You have to know Poile is doing everything that he can without giving away the farm. What do the Preds give up? Don’t even say Colin Wilson unless you have a package with Ryan Getzlaf or another top 3 power forward coming back our way. Our team does not need to get any smaller, as seen in the game against the Rangers. So if we have to lose Wilson, then it better be for another big body with soft hands.

is the cheaper way to become competitive. Ottawa and Nashville both went that route to be perpetually competitive when times were lean.

Thing is, Nashville, times aren’t lean now. Offense costs money, and while money doesn’t guarantee you a chance to compete, since the lockout you need to be nearer the Cap to get to the Final Four. The Canes did so twice, but their cap values were closer to the ceiling (according to NHLnumbers, their pro-rated cap hit for the year was 51 M, cap ceiling was 56 M in 2009) than the floor. And they went out and got guys, Recchi, Jokinen, Weight, Cole, to help.

I hope Yip is a sign of bigger and better things to come.