Troy Murray: Hawks can't overlook Preds
Q: How do you think the season went for the Hawks?
A: "Overall it was a good season and maybe a season that you kind of expected. With the team playing as many games as it has over the last years, the hard thing for a coach to do is to find the button to motivate the players. A lot of this group is self-driven - the core group of guys have been there before. They know when they have to step up.
"Some of the inconsistencies … was just the mental preparation side of it not being at the level that this team is capable of. The record of the teams that they should win against was average. But in games where they had to play well and had to have a focus going into the game, they met that challenge."
Q: How much do the long playoff runs affect a team like the Hawks the next season?
A: "You can't play with the intensity of the playoffs all season long because you've got some veteran players who have played a major amount of games. I do think that becomes a factor as far as the fatigue overall and the mental side.
"But (Joel) Quenneville is one of the best coaches in the league in understanding how taxing those playoff runs are - and the Olympics, the All-Star Games. … He does an excellent job of managing ice time and giving players days off in-between games. They have to be as fresh as they can for this season, not the regular season.
Q: What concerns you most about Nashville?
A: Nashville's a very dangerous team. They've slid a little bit down the stretch obviously, but like Quenneville said - clean slate. It means nothing what happened during the regular season, and Nashville at one point had the best record in the National Hockey League. This is a good team.
Their defense is solid. You've got Shea Weber, who in my opinion is one of the top defensemen in the game. They've got a great, young guy in Seth Jones. Roman Josi is one of the more underrated players in the game because all the attention goes to Weber.
Pekka Rinne is Pekka Rinne. He's one of the best goaltenders in the game. There's a lot of concerns. This is deep a team as Nashville's had in a long time.
"It's going to be a great challenge."
Q: Will Nashville's rough stretch (6-12-3) to end the season creep into their minds?
A: That's a concern. Obviously they're not happy with how things have gone for them down the stretch. … For a little less experienced team, they've got to turn things around here real quickly facing a team like the Blackhawks.
That being said, I think their mental makeup right now is that it doesn't matter what happened (recently). There's an excitement (now) that goes to a much different level.
Nashville's going to be really excited, and the building's going to be tough to play in. They had a great home record this year and that's something they feel really positive about.
"Their theme song going into it is, 'Hey, the season starts here. We know we could be better.' And I expect them to be better than what they showed down the stretch."
• Murray is in his 15th year as a member of the Blackhawks broadcast team and his eighth as the color analyst for the team's radio broadcasts. The Selke Award winner was a five-time 20-goal scorer who played 15 years in the NHL. Follow him on Twitter@muzz19.