The rest is history, mostly because making up would have been hard to do.

The NHL had planned to pump the breaks after the All-Star break this season.

With players and coaches set to participate in the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, the league left February with very little scheduled hockey and a break set for Feb. 7-22.

But a rash of COVID-19 postponements — 98 in all — along with uncertainty surrounding protocols leading up to the Olympics, led to an agreement between the league and the players' association to skip the trip and ruin a lot of planned vacations for those not playing.

That could be good news for the Nashville Predators, who have accelerated into this month at an unexpected rate.

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The more hockey, the better for this team, which sits in second place in the Central Division. A playoff contender through and through to this point.

The Predators originally had less than a handful of games scheduled in February, including Pekka Rinne's number retirement ceremony on the 24th, followed by the first outdoor NHL game in Nashville on the 26th at Nissan Stadium.

Instead they will play eight games, which include no back-to-backs, and will leave them plenty of time to practice and, well, rest, going into the final stretch of a season not many expected them to contend in.

All that time off in the middle of the season could have spelled disaster for Nashville.

With the exception of those who likely would have played in the Games — All-Stars Roman Josi and Juuse Saros along with Filip Forsberg and Mattias Ekholm, etc. — most of the team would have been on the sideline waiting for play to resume.

Essentially hitting the reset button in the middle of a really good game wouldn't have been ideal.

Predators coach John Hynes was supposed to go, too, as an assistant coach for USA Hockey. He said he was "disappointed" about missing the opportunity, but understood the decision.

He also saw the bright side of being able to concentrate full time on his full-time job.

"You're here," he said. "There will be a little bit of a break mentally, but it's all Preds, all the time. That's a positive thing."

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No worries about scouting other countries and getting to know new players. No fusses that come with overseas travel. No division of attention, but rather more attention on the Central Division.

Hynes' "all Preds, all the time" approach has helped his team climb the ranks in the division. Has helped his players buy into the identity for which he has longed for his team.

Remember, since Hynes was hired in January 20202, he hasn't had the luxury of being "all Preds, all the time" until this season.

His team is 28-14-4 so far, which has been so good for the Predators.

So, too, is being able to spend most of February together.

Reach Paul Skrbina at pskrbina@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @PaulSkrbina.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Predators better off with NHL skipping Olympics