from Josh Cooper of The Tennessean,

The new Predators coach is scheduled to be on the main stage at the Music City Sports Festival to talk about his plan for returning the team to the playoffs for the first time since the 2011-12 season....

After missing the playoffs for two straight seasons — and having the same coach since the beginning of the franchise — the Predators had turned stale.

Attendance remained steady for the most part, but the franchise would be on the brink of irrelevancy with another non-playoff year.

Laviolette needs to sell his vision hard this weekend, and do it with both gusto and bravado. He is known as a stirring speaker, and he'll need to deliver a haymaker Sunday.

Fans need to come away from his appearance and simply say "Wow."

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