I might be getting the hang of this. Tuesday was my third "win" in a row, although not as much as last week, simply doubling my $4 bet. No, I didn't have any of Anton Forsberg's shutout, or Matthew Tkachuk's or Tage Thompson's hat tricks, so the top tier was far above me. 

Moving to my Thursday feature of "What's Wrong With…," and focusing on 2022 playoff teams, today I'll look at the Nashville Predators. This is a team that is falling into that mediocre quagmire, neither good enough to really contend, nor bad enough to be able to rebuild by drafting a superstar. Presently, they are 11th in the western conference, and to sniff at a playoff spot, they only have to pass teams like St. Louis, Colorado, and Edmonton. Oh.The Preds are 4-3-3 in their past ten, and 6-5-4 since December 1st, the very definition of mediocrity, and not getting it done.  Nashville ranks 27th in goal scoring per game, and 28th in power-play percentage. They do shoot – 19th for the season and 8th in the NHL (33.7 SOG/GP) for those last ten contests. Individually, it's Roman Josi who leads this team. He ranks 9th in shots on goal this season, between two forwards named Tage Thompson and Connor McDavid. Josi's 30 points trail only Filip Forsberg, who has 33. Defense and goalkeeping has been this team's strength for several seasons and this year, Juuse Saros has been adequate, not spectacular, with a GAA of 2.76.

What's the fix here?  First, in my opinion, you don't give up on your 23-year-old first-round draft pick, Eeli Tolvanen, unless you're blowing it up. Snatched up by Seattle, and then two points in two games out west. (See Kirby Dach and Alex DeBrincat, or is this the plan?) In the offseason, Nashville picked up Nino Niederreiter, who has chipped in 21 points in the middle six. Rookie Juuso Parssinen and Colton Sissons are listed today on the top line with Forsberg, but by Friday who knows?  Nothing has worked, including shuffling lines. Their players individually seem more talented than the team result.  And while Saros seems solid as GK-1, highly touted Yaroslav Askarov is 13-5-2, 2.54 GAA in his first year with the Milwaukee Admirals. 

Yeah, I'd expect to see the Preds as "sellers" before the NHL trade deadline, and willing to even retain salary if any team bites on Ryan Johansen or Matt Duchene.

*

For my daily fantasy picks, I'm looking at a couple of very different teams who've traveled across the continent this week – Seattle and Boston. The Kraken are in Toronto, and I'll be all in.on the Maple Leafs. Seattle's December trip into the eastern time zone saw them go 0-4-0, outscored 18-7.  For tonight, the Leafs' top line of Auston Matthews ($8700), Mitchell Marner ($6200), and Michael Bunting ($4600) is the play. I've added Morgan Rielly ($4200) to the Toronto stack.  

Boston? Hard to bet against them lately, so my picks are affordable second-liners David Krejci ($5200) and Pavel Zacha ($3100), along with Norris Trophy candidate Hampus Lindholm ($5300).

Two more – Goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper ($8100), facing Columbus, and Philly's Scott Laughton ($4600), at home vs. the Coyotes. Laughton has been on a heater, nine points in his last eight games. 

I'll be in the Caribbean (first "retirement" vacation) next week, I'll send a Thursday article maybe, if my girlfriend doesn't knock me on the head.  

@dokhockey