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They all drifted home in separate directions Thursday, to resume the final push towards the National Hockey League playoffs. As play resumed following the six-day All-Star break, the No. 1 team in the league wasn't the Anaheim Mighty Ducks or the Buffalo Sabres or even the San Jose Sharks.

No, it was the Nashville Predators, a team that draws about 12,000 fans for most of its mid-week games and may not even qualify for revenue sharing if they cannot bump their attendance up.

Against that backdrop — and you could pretty well some up their plight of love and loss in just about any country tune, new or old - the Predators have quietly assembled one of the best young teams in the league.

They've drafted reasonably well, made virtually all of their free-agent signings pay off, and have done so almost invisibly.

They have the same GM they entered the league with in David Poile, the same coach in Barry Trotz, and the organization had such a good reputation that when Pittsburgh went looking for a new GM, they gave the plum job to Poile's former assistant, Ray Shero.

"We've been under the radar as far as being a pretty good team for the last two years or so," said Trotz, who was an assistant coach for the Western Conference all-stars. "I think we've had a pretty good team. We didn't get off to a real quick start, so people sort of forgot us for a little while. But we've been really consistent after that.

"The luxury of our team is we have two pretty solid goaltenders that allowed us to take some injuries and keep going in the right direction. When Anaheim had some back-end problems, with their goaltender out and (Chris) Pronger out, we were able to sneak up on them a little and finish first at the all-star break."

Trotz paused to take a breath.

"There's no trophy for that, but from an organizational standpoint, it shows another evolution of growth that we've had.

"In some of the southern markets, they sometimes forget you down in that corner of the world. But there are good hockey teams down there and I believe we're one of them."

Last year, Nashville qualified as the fourth seed in the Western Conference, but ran into the San Jose Sharks in the first round and lost. The Sharks, along with the New Jersey Devils and the Ducks, were the hottest teams in the league right about then and they carried strong finishes over into the playoffs. They couldn't sustain their runs for the full two months, but they were on the crest of a wave then and the Sharks swamped the Predators.

Now, a year later, the Predators look better equipped to make a serious run deep into the playoffs this spring.

"I really think there are probably eight or nine teams that go into the season, believing they can win the Stanley Cup," said Trotz. "Like Detroit always goes in, thinking they can win the Cup. New Jersey does too.

"It's a little bit of a cultural change. I'm always one that looks into the probabilities and how things evolve. I look at the success of Detroit because we play them so much. Before they really started winning Cups, they had some failures along the way — and so did New Jersey. There's a learning curve and I think you have to have some disappointments to realize how disappointed you really are.

"This last year, when we lost to San Jose, I knew we had growth. I could see it in our team, when we lost out, how devastated they were. To me, that was real growth. I think our team has come back with more of a determination to try to go deeper. You only get so many opportunities and you need certain things to fall into place for you.

"I really believe the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win in professional sport. Sometimes, you can navigate through and you just don't know, from series to series, what happens next because it's so physically and mentally punishing that you could be really, really good for two series and be not to good in the next.

"I would say you have to build character toughness within your own team and culture. And I think we've done a good job of doing that the last few years."

They've also emerged from the all-star break a well-rested group. Only defenceman Kimmo Timmonen was selected for the actual game, although Alexander Radulov and Shea Weber turned up for the YoungStars Game.

As for the poor mid-week crowds, Trotz says that's a non-factor for his team.

"I always say it takes a whole generation to build a non-traditional hockey market. We're well on our way. People in Nashville love hockey. They're more knowledgeable than you think. When I started, there was no high school hockey. Now they have 18 teams. And the rinks are full. You can't get enough ice time. It just takes time.

"We're headed in the right direction. We have a good management team, good players and a city that really has a love affair with their team."