After the NHL announced the Return to Play Plan last week, a hope for the Nashville Predators to return to the ice became a reality. The season, which was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, will restart with a Qualifying Round and Seeding Round Robin in two hub cities each hosting 12 teams from one conference.
The top four teams in the Eastern or Western Conference will play each other once (three games per team) in a round-robin to decide the top four seeds for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. These games will be played with regular-season overtime and shootout rules, with ties in the final standings broken by regular-season points percentage. The four teams from the Western Conference are the St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars.
The other eight Western teams, seeded by points percentage, will play in four best-of-5 series in the Qualifying Round, with the winners advancing to play against the top four seeds. These games will be played with playoff overtime rules.
Here is the Predators best-of-5 series matchup and breakdown:
(6th seed) Nashville Predators vs. (11th seed) Arizona Coyotes
Regular-season records
Predators: 35-26-8, 78 points (.565)
Coyotes: 33-29-8, 74 points (.529)

Head-to-head
Season series tied
Oct. 17: Coyotes 5, Predators 2, at ARI
Dec. 23: Predators 3, Coyotes 2, at NSH

What’s changed
Predators: They were mostly healthy when the season was paused except for defenseman Dan Hamhuis, who missed the last four games with a lower-body injury.

Coyotes: Forward Conor Garland and defenseman Jakob Chychrun each is likely to return to the lineup from a lower-body injury. Each was week to week when the season was paused. Garland led the Coyotes with 22 goals in the regular season, and Chychrun scored 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) in 63 games.

Analysis
One of the interesting storylines will be Predators coach John Hynes going against Coyotes forward Taylor Hall, who won the Hart Trophy voted as NHL MVP with the New Jersey Devils in 2017-18, when Hynes was Devils coach. Another storyline will be the Predators’ goalie situation because there was a changing of the guard before the season was paused, with Juuse Saros starting 14 of their last 18 games. Will Saros continue as the No. 1, or will Nashville go back to veteran Pekka Rinne? The Coyotes were trending in the wrong direction before the season was paused, going 8-13-4 in their last 25 games, but get a chance at a fresh start.

The presidents of the Manchester recreational leagues received the green light to begin their seasons in a meeting with the Manchester Recreation Department last week.  While adhering to city guidelines set out to protect players, coaches, officials and fans, the Manchester Youth Baseball League began practices last week to return to play on Monday, June 8^th. 

The Manchester Youth Baseball League season will run from June 8^th through July 27^th.  After losing players due to other commitments, the league was forced to swap teams for some players.  All players should have already been contacted by the player’s coach.

The Coffee County Fast Pitch Association has decided to hit the diamond again in September for a fall league.  The league is planning another sign-up in July.  The Coffee County Soccer League has also decided to hit the field again in the fall with a fall league.  The Manchester Slo-Pitch Softball League has decided to cancel their season. 

All gas, no brakes. The mindset suits a track star pretty well, huh? So, it’s no surprise it’s the mentality Titans cornerback Adoree’ Jackson has as he heads into his fourth season with the team.

Earlier this offseason, the Titans picked up Jackson’s fifth-year option, which means he’ll be back for at least two more years. The first-round pick is focused on what he can do to improve in 2020, so he can make the team better.

“It’s truly a blessing to be able to get your fifth-year option picked up,” Jackson said on a conference call on Friday. “It’s just kind of like reassurance that they believe in me, have faith in what you can bring and what you can add to this team. I was thankful when I got the call from JRob (Jon Robinson), I talked to him. That was my first feeling, I was just excited, just smiling and happy. I love being a part of the Titans and being able to play in not just a great city, but with great people and great players. Then with the responsibility factor, just keep doing the work, everyday improve and get better. It doesn’t stop, it doesn’t change. Nothing does. Just got to keep grinding and keep working and doing what you’re supposed to do out there.”

Jackson, who missed four games in December because of an injury, played in 11 games during the 2019 season, and he finished the regular season with 40 tackles, two tackles for a loss and seven passes defensed. He returned for the postseason, however, and played well in the biggest games of the year. Jackson had four pass breakups in the team’s win at Baltimore and had nine tackles in the three playoff contests.

Adoree Jackson on Getting His Mind Right for 2020 Season
“I just kept playing ball understanding that things may not have been going the way that I wanted it to, but never doubted myself or giving up,” Jackson said. “Having faith in myself and my game and praying was a big thing. There’s going to be ups and downs, and you don’t want the downs to outweigh the ups or the ups outweigh the downs. You’ve got to stay level-headed and that’s what I try to remain doing, and knew that things were going to pan out. I didn’t beat myself up too much about anything or everything. I have a great family and friends to be in my corner, my area, to keep me positive and uplifted. That’s the great thing about playing ball, you don’t have to say much, people already know. So, they’re used to trying to encourage as much as they can. Down the stretch everything just came into play. I didn’t do anything different, didn’t change up anything, and that’s just how it went about.”

This offseason, Jackson has seen plenty of change around him. Defensive coordinator Dean Pees retired, secondary coach Kerry Coombs left to take the defensive coordinator’s job at Ohio State, and teammate Logan Ryan won’t be back.

Jackson has been busy getting himself prepared. He spent the early part of the offseason working in California, and just recently traveled to Illinois to spend time with his parents. He said he’ll be ready to return to Nashville when it’s time for the Titans to begin practicing.

With Ryan’s departure, already speculation has begun about Jackson potentially moving into the slot to replace him. Cornerback Kristian Fulton, the team’s second-round pick, faced similar questions after the team picked him in the NFL Draft. Jackson said he’s willing to do whatever is asked of him by head coach Mike Vrabel and new secondary coach Anthony Midget.

He’s happy for the opportunity. “At the end of the day, just trying to be the best player you can be and get better every day,” Jackson said. “That’s pretty much what I’m working on, just improving and understanding that everything may not be perfect. That’s what you have to realize playing this game, it might not be perfect, but you’ve just got to go out there and get the job done.”

“… It’s a blessing to be in this position, to play this game and to be able to go out there and do what you love with the people that you see every day and you enjoy spending time with. You don’t want to let them down and disappoint them, so I think once you understand that and grasp that understanding of the game of football and life, you may take it for granted or you may not, but things can happen in the blink of an eye. You never know. Once you understand that and grasp that, you’re out there to go play free and have fun and just enjoy.”