MONTREAL - After two years out of the NHL playoffs, there is new optimism among the Nashville Predators.A stunning turnaround aided by a coaching change, the addition of veteran forwards James Neal and Mike Ribeiro and the emergence of 20-year-old forward Filip Forsberg have put Nashville in first place in the Central Division going into the all-star break.Now they believe theyve got enough pieces to keep up their strong play through the second half of the regular season and do some damage in the playoffs.Absolutely, veteran centre Mike Fisher said Tuesday. We really believe in this group.We believe were a top team in this league and we are. Weve shown it thus far. Were really confident in the group we have, that we can win any night against other top teams.The Predators had not lost twice in a row this season going into a game Tuesday night against the Canadiens in Montreal, where they were without star goalie Pekka Rinne for a third game due to an injury expected to last three weeks.Backed by Rinne and an impressive defence group led by Shea Weber, the Predators are the NHLs stingiest team, allowing only 2.25 goals per game. But Nashville has been known as a tight defensive side in recent years.The surprise is that they are tied for fifth in goals scored per game at 3.0.Part of that stems from the decision last summer to let the conservative Barry Trotz go after coaching the team through its first 15 NHL campaigns and bring in a more attack-minded Peter Laviolette.Trotz is now performing wonders in making the Washington Capitals a winning, two-way club, while Laviolette will also be a coach of the year candidate for doing much the same in Nashville.Its good for both sides, said Weber. You see the success theyre having (in Washington) and that were having.There was a different feel coming into training camp this year with a new face and I think the guys have responded very well.The second part of the season will determine if the Predators are for real, but it looks like it so far.They certainly have the goaltending with Rinne, considered one of the best in the world.With Weber, they have the big No. 1 blue-liner every team wishes it had, and he is backed by a group that can defend and move the puck. Among them is emerging talent Seth Jones, the fourth pick in the 2013 draft.Only a few months ago, they didnt appear to have much up front, but then Forsberg turned into a nearly point-per-game player and a strong two-way player on the top line with veteran Mike Ribeiro, who so far has shown a new commitment to discipline after being bought out by Arizona due to behavioural problems.Hes been an excellent addition to our team, Laviolette said of Ribeiro, who is on pace for his first 70-point campaign since 2010-11. Terrific in the room, terrific teammate, terrific on-ice play.Forsberg, playing his first full NHL campaign, was acquired from Washington in March 2013 for Martin Erat and Michael Latta in what is looking to be a spectacular steal for Nashville.Fisher centres James Neal, a one-time 40-goal scorer picked up in a trade with Pittsburgh in June, and Colin Wilson, who is having a breakout season and will soon top his career high of 35 points.Veteran Olli Jokinen, signed from Winnipeg, is playing on the fourth line. Another reclamation project, defenceman Anton Volchenkov, brings his stay at home style to the third defence pair and being dumped by New Jersey.Fisher likes the teams chances.With the goaltending we have, and look at our back end: everyone can handle the puck and skate, he said. And you look at the mix, the young guys, the leadership, energy, the way we play.Were all excited about what we can do. Its a tough league and the playoffs are tough, but we feel weve got a lot of pieces and character and we can be successful.The Predators have won only two playoff series in their history, the last against Detroit in 2012.The optimism now stems from adding some offence to a team known for tight defence. That comes from Laviolette.Id say were more aggressive, said Fisher. We want to be hungry for pucks, to forecheck really hard.The way our defence can move the puck helps us offensively. And defensively, we want to be hard to play against. He wants us to play both ends. He wants us to make plays and be creative, but be responsible.It has worked so far, but Weber, the captain, knows there is a lot of hockey still be played.I was on this team a while back when we were in first place for a while too, he said. Weve had good teams since Ive been in Nashville.Its just been tough the last couple of years. Theres still a lot of season left and we have to keep it up. 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"Im going to celebrate for a whole 12 minutes, and then Im going to start watching Orlando and trying to figure them out," the first-year Celtics coach said after Boston beat the Utah Jazz, one of the leagues other winless teams, 97-87 on Wednesday night. Yeezy Powerphase Ireland . -- Deshorn Brown scored twice, the first coming 13 seconds into the game, and the Colorado Rapids beat the undermanned Seattle Sounders 5-1 Saturday night.Paul Pogba seems set to return to Manchester United. But he is just one of many world stars who could have been playing at Arsenal... It has been another frustrating summer at Arsenal with a number of Arsene Wengers transfer targets already turning down moves to the Emirates Stadium.The Gunners missed out on Leicester striker Jamie Vardy earlier in the window, while long-term reported target Gonzalo Higuain left Napoli for Juventus in a £75m deal. They are just the latest in a long line of players Arsenal have missed out on during Wengers tenure in north London, with the seemingly Manchester United-bound Paul Pogba, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on the star-studded list of names who got away.Here we take a look at the XI Wenger might have had… Joe Hart Wenger tracked Joe Hart while he was on loan at Birmingham Wenger was first drawn to Harts talents following a loan spell the goalkeeper had with Birmingham during the 2009/10 season.The Frenchman enquired about the England internationals availability but there was one slight problem, Harts parent club Manchester City.I remember when Hart played at Birmingham, I asked about him and they told me he is at Man City. I thought he would be the keeper there. He has something that is needed for a goalkeeper to play at a big club and I am not surprised he made it as No 1. - Wenger in 2011.Raphael Varane Raphael Varane was scouted by Arsenal while he was at Lens Varanes rise from Lens to Real Madrid has seen him make 93 appearances for the Spanish giants and win 29 caps for France.But Arsenal could have had the 23-year-old at their disposal had Wenger and his scouts acted faster when the player was plying his trade at Lens.Im happy for him because hes carving out a role at one of the worlds best clubs, which is remarkable. Yet at the same time, when you are in charge of a club like Arsenal, you have to wonder why this player is not playing for us. He was at Lens, and we might well have caught him there. - Wenger in 2013.Gerard Pique Arsenal were interested in Gerard Pique at the time they signed Cesc Fabregas In the summer of 2003, Arsenal signed a 16-year-old Cesc Fabregas from Barcelonas La Maisa academy, but it could have been even better for the Gunners.Pique, who starred in the same youth team as Fabregas, was also on Wengers radar but the Frenchman could not get the deal over the line.A year later the central defender joined Manchester United and spent four years at Old Trafford before moving back Barca.It was at a period where Fabregas came. We wanted to take Fabregas, Messi and Pique. It worked only for Fabregas. - Wenger in 2014.Vincent Kompany Vincent Kompany was chased by a host of Europes top clubs while he was at Anderlecht Before Manchester City signed the Belgium international in 2008, Kompany was one of the hottest prospects in European football.Wanted by Barcelona and Real Madrid as a 20-year-old at Anderlecht, Kompany was also identified by Wenger as a potential replacement for Sol Campbell.However, the Frenchman was beaten to his signature by Hamburg.I had meetings with Emilio Butragueno at Real Madrid, the club leaders at Barcelona and by Arsene Wenger himself at Arsenal. But heading to an absolute top club immediately was not the right solution because Vincent is someone who feels alone in an environment where he is not properly valued. Vincent is not a third or fourth choice. - Kompanys agent Jacques Lichtenstein in 2014.Gareth Bale The Gunners turned Gareth Bale down because they already had two left-backs on their books Arsenal were tracking Real Madrid forward Bale at Southampton alongside England star Theo Walcott.Walcott made the move to the Emirates Stadium in 2006 with Bale joining north London rivals Tottenham in 2007, and Wenger has since admitted he made a huge mistake in not signing the Welshman.We didnt take him as we had Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy and didnt want another left-back. I must confess it was a huge mistake as he can play in midfield. He struggled at the start at Tottenham, then they moved him to midfield and he has done exceptionally well. The career of a player sometimes depends on playing in the right position. - Wenger in 2013.Lionel Messi The Gunners tried to sign Lionel Messi alongside Pique and Fabregas As previously mentioned, Wenger tried to sign three players from Barcelonas academy in 2003 but the Frenchman could not prise Lionel Messi away from the Nou Camp.I think in the end he was not so keen to move. It was not completely down to a flat in the end, it was down to the fact that Messi was comfortable at Barcelona. - Wenger in 2014.Paul Pogba Arsenal were interested in Paul Pogba when he left Manchester United in 2012 There has been a massive scramble for Pogbas signature this summer and it looks like Manchester United are closing in on their man in what is expected to be a world-record transfer fee.However, Arsenal could have landed the France international when he was preparing to leave Manchester United in 2012, but the Gunners were too slow out of the blocks and Pogba moved to Juventus. Is Pogba still improving? Would Manchester United be getting the finished article in Paul Pogba? Things happened very quickly. We were interested in him. We tried to get him to come here. But he very quickly signed for Juventus. - Wenger in 2014Yaya Toure Yaya Toure featured for Arsenal in a pre-season friendly against Barnnet in 2003 Arsenal already had Yayas brother Kolo in their ranks and they were very close to adding the former after he had a trial with the club in 2003.dddddddddddd.However, the Gunners could not beat Metalurh Donetsk to the Manchester City midfielders signature because he did not have a passport.Wenger has since admitted it was a huge blow to miss out on the Ivory Coast international, who did wear an Arsenal shirt in a pre-season friendly against Barnet in 2003, but revealed it was beyond the clubs control.Lets not forget that Toure had an agreement with us - and its not because we did not want to sign him that he went to Ukraine. We have made mistakes, but he is not a mistake. - Wenger in 2014.Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United beat Arsenal in the race to sign Cristiano Ronaldo Another Ballon dOr winner that got away, Ronaldo had a tour of Arsenals training ground in 2003, where he was impressed by Wengers approach and what the club could offer him.However, Arsenal failed to get the deal done with Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz using his Portuguese influence to help lure Ronaldo to Old Trafford.My biggest regret, I was so close to signing Cristiano Ronaldo, and not only did I not get him he signed for Manchester United, so that of course still hurts today. - Wenger in 2014.Didier Drogba Didier Drogba scored 15 goals against Arsenal during his time at Chelsea Arsenal have suffered at the hands of Drogba over the years but it could have all been avoided for the small fee of £100,000.Wenger was well aware of the talents of Drogba, who has scored 16 goals against Arsenal during his career, through his time at La Mans but thought he was not ready for a move to the Premier League.We watched Drogba very carefully when he was at Le Mans and his value was just £100,000. But we felt at the time he might not be completely ready… Looking back now, of course it was a mistake. - Wenger in 2009.Luis Suarez Arsenal bid £40m and a pound in an attempt to sign Luis Suarez from Liverpool in 2013 Described as the biggest mistake of Wengers managerial career by Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, Arsenal missed out on Suarez after bidding one pound over his £40m release clause.The offer did not go down well with Liverpool and after speaking to club captain Steven Gerrard, Suarez, who was thought to be keen on a move to the Emirates Stadium, stayed at Anfield.He almost fired Liverpool to the title in the following season before moving to Barcelona for £75m. Highlights from the Avaya Stadium as Arsenal warmed up for the new Premier League season by beating the MLS All-Stars Im very happy with what I did. There again, the details will maybe come out one day - maybe not in my book, but somebody elses book! I know only one side of the story, but we always had fair relations with Liverpool, we kept in touch over that period. It was not meant to be provocative at all - it could be interpreted like that, but it was not our purpose. - Wenger in 2013.SubsZlatan Ibrahimovic Zlatan Ibrahimovic was offered a trial at Arsenal Ibrahimovic was a teenager when he met Wenger to talk through a potential move to Arsenal, but things did not quite go to plan as Wenger only offered the Swedish striker a trial.But Zlatan doesnt do trials...Arsene gave me the famous red and white jersey - the No 9 shirt with Ibrahimovic on it and I was so pleased I even posed for a picture wearing it. It was a fantastic moment for me. So then I waited for him to convince me that I should join Arsenal. But he didnt even try. He never actually made me a serious offer, it was more, I want to see how good you are, what kind of player you are. Have a trial. I couldnt believe it. I was like, No way, Zlatan doesnt do auditions. - Ibrahimovic in 2012.Ronaldinho Ronaldinho played with Lionel Messi at Barcelona Arsenal were working on a deal to bring the Brazilian star from Gremio to north London in 2001.With the deal to bring the two-time World Player of the Year to the Premier League almost done, work permit issues scuppered the transfer and left Wenger bemoaning the rules.We could have got Ronaldinho before he went to PSG. I met his brother, who is his agent, a long, long time before he went to PSG - when he was 20 - but we just could not get him to England because of the rules here. - Wenger in 2007.Dimitri Payet Wenger decided against signing Dimitri Payet The West Ham forward took the Premier League by storm last season, scoring nine goals and laying on 12 assists.He continued his excellent form at Euro 2016, scoring three goals as France went all the way to the final.And his form was no surprise to Wenger, who admitted watching him many times when he was at St Etinne before deciding against signing him.He was a top talent, always. But [he] had periods of being up and down. Ive looked at him many times. Ive known him for a long time. He played at Saint-Etienne and we watched him many times. - Wenger in 2016. Also See: Arsenal wont spend big Arsenals centre-back targets Pogba still improving 12 transfers Arsenal failed to complete ' ' '