Ready or not, it's time to take the Nashville Predators seriously.
The Preds will be heading to their first-ever Stanley Cup Final next week after beating the Anaheim Ducks in six games Monday night to win the Western Conference.
It's felt like a long time coming for Nashville, which has revealed itself to be a hockey-crazed city with plenty of young, exciting talent to watch on the ice.
Much of that credit goes to David Poile, who has been the team's general manager since the team was founded in 1997 and is the architect of this current squad, which was built on in-house talent and bold trades.