"It's that time of year..."

So the rest of the song goes "when the world falls in love" but honestly, the Predators have a few things to get sorted before I do any kind of falling in love over them this Christmas.

With that in mind, here’s what I’d like to give each player this holiday season. Then maybe the loving can commence.

2 Dan Hamhuis (defense) – better puck control, less turnovers, to never lose his boyish good looks

3 Wade Belak (winger) – more fights, a few more goals, for Predators fans to love him even though he wears Marek Zidlicky’s former number

4 Ville Koistinen (defense) – more consistent play

5 Greg Zanon (defense) – better padding when he’s taking those pucks to the body

6 Shea Weber (defense) – a better on-air personality so people actually assume he’s not as boring as he puts off, an All-Star bid that comes from having votes on the ballot and not from the “pity” nod by the league

7 Greg deVries (defense) – for Predators fans to stop calling him “the new Zidlicky”

8 Kevin Klein (defense) – more ice time, less healthy scratch games, for people to stop thinking he’s evil after seeing his crazy eyes

10 Martin Erat (winger) – more goals, more consistency in his game, a year’s worth of free highlights at the salon of his choosing, a better English vocabulary so he uses less “wells” “ums” and “you knows”

11 David Legwand (center) – all he wants for Christmas is his one front tooth, his one front tooth, his one front tooth; oh, and less pressure to be the “franchise guy” even though he has that big contract

12 Scott Nichol (center) – to maintain a good face off percentage, to be a few inches taller so he'll be more evenly matched against the big guys from other teams

14 Radek Bonk (center) – to maintain a good face off percentage, to end the season with a better +/- than last year, a razor so he’ll look less like a homeless man with all that facial scruff

19 Jason Arnott (center) – anger management courses in case defending his teammates ever gets worse than it did during the Vancouver game on the 9th, to always be on a line with JP Dumont

20 Ryan Suter (defense) – to score more goals so he can get out of the Shea Weber shadow, a dog

22 Jordin Tootoo (winger) – a few more goals, more fan support (because he can never have enough), to never be traded to Columbus

25 Jerred Smithson (center) – to maintain a good face off percentage, to stay solid on the penalty kill, to score a few more goals, to be more talkative in public

28 Ryan Jones (winger) – to stay called up to the NHL, to be on a better line once he does get called up

29 Joel Ward (winger) – world peace (seriously, this boy has everything he could ever want so I don’t know what else he would ask for)

35 Pekka Rinne (goal tender) – more playing time, a better on-air personality when Pete and Terry are interviewing him from the bench during a game (the fans need to be entertained, Pekka!)

37 Rich Peverley (winger) – more ice time, less healthy scratch games, chemistry with his linemates

38 Vernon Fiddler (winger) – to score more short handed goals, a razor for that nasty 'stache you've got going on right now

39 Dan Ellis (goal tender) – for the team to remain consistent in front of him, for him to break the starting goalie curse that has seemed to plague the Predators for the past few years, a lifetime supply of Pedialyte (or similar substitute) so he will stay hydrated during games

41 Jed Ortmeyer (winger) – to play in the NHL again (::single tear:: I miss you, Jed)

42 Antti Pihlstrom (winger) – a copy of English for Dummies so he can learn to speak better in front of the media (Pekka might need to borrow this occasionally)

71 Jean Pierre Dumont (winger) – the other half of his tooth back from when he got hit during the Vancouver game on the 9th, to always be on a line with Jason Arnott

Also, I’d like to think that if the Predators could collectively wish for one thing this Christmas, it would be to win the Stanley Cup.

Wouldn't that be nice?