This All-Star Break Doesn't Feel So Much Like A Break...

When the All-Star break officially began after the huge win in Chicago to vault us into 3rd place in our division, I was feeling good about where we were at as a team and as organization. Now... I think you get my point.

With the hustle and bustle of a busy season, you start to let things slip away that were once lingering in the back of your head. For me, while I was obviously worried about the Ryan Suter situation, I, like much of the team I'm assuming, was focusing on winning each game as it came up. Our recent streak has also, I'm sure, helped to push things into the back of my head that I either didn't want to think about, or plain just forgot about. It is easy, when things are going well, to sit back and relax, believing that everything will work out as it should.

Enter: The All-Star break

I was thinking to myself after that 3-1 win in Chicago, what was I going to do with an entire week without Predators Hockey. Not just because I enjoy watching the game, but I enjoy coming here and reading the latest news, and getting the newest info from our friend Dirk.

This All-Star break has gotten me and everyone else it seems thinking back to this past summer, and while we are in a much better place than we were then, those same feelings are starting to come back. Ryan Suter addressed the National Media yesterday, saying that he doesn't expect to sign a contract until after the season is over. When this happened the flood-gates opened up, and the negativity associated with this past off season returned with a boom. I see posts implying that we were doomed from the off-season for not acquiring a top 6 forward, the availability of which is debatable, and has been debated in length on this blog. I'll be honest with you, I hadn't even thought of Niclas Bergfors in about 3 months.

That same uncertainty that I was feeling before the season started (and a few games into) rushed over me like a waterfall. Our recent success was like a drug, and I hadn't gotten a fix in a long time. I start thinking of the possibilities. We could trade him and him to get him, or these two guys and a draft pick might get this guy. I was going crazy. I start reading comments from people, and I start believing we are doomed. We are going to lose Suter and get nothing in return, we are going to lose Weber because he wanted us to keep Suter, and we will not pick up the top 6 forward that we need to make a sustained run in the play-offs.

I started thinking about all of this today, and I realized, its only been three days since that win in Chicago. We learned some new information, but that was only reiterating what most of us already suspected. So what really changed between the Chicago win and now?

Someone please tell me if I'm going crazy, or if not having hockey for a few days has dredged up all of the worries we were trying to forget.