I understand the Suter hysteria but, can we focus on the next 14 games?

There has been a lot of talk about Suter situation. From will he sign? What will it take to get him to sign? Why won't he sign? Who do we need to trade for to get him to sign? All this all-star break story is good but I am more concerned with the task at hand which is the February schedule. The Predators have had an outstanding month of January going 9-3 heading into the game tonight against Minnesota.

Starting tonight Nashville starts a difficult stretch of the schedule with twelve of the next fourteen games against top eight teams regardless of conference. Here's the schedule team and the playoff spot as of 31 January.

1/31 Minnesota 8th

2/2 Philadelphia 4th

2/4 St Louis 4th

2/7 Vancouver 3rd

2/9 Ottawa 4th

2/11 Boston 2nd

2/14 Chicago 6th

2/17 Detroit 1st

2/19 Dallas 10th

2/21 Vancouver 3rd

2/23 St Louis 4th

2/25 San Jose 3rd

2/27 LA Kings 7th

2/28 Carolina 15th

With parity being what is in the league there are no gimme games until the 28th against Carolina(just like Columbus is out of the playoffs for 2012). As Predator fans, I believe all of us dream of the day the Preds would be considered a top team by the league. With this schedule against division rivals and the best teams in both the Eastern and Western conference. Being considered league wide as a top team is a possibility.

The Predators are three points behind the division leader Detroit as the second half starts. As nice as it was to get out of the first round last year, there are no banners hanging the rafters stating this fact. There are no T-shirts, hats and other paraphenalia. The only way to get such paraphenalia is too win the division. Bring on the tough schedule and get on the road to winning the division. Then the NHL playoff marketing machine will again feature the Predators making history.