Predators 2024 review

[yave1964]

PRESEASON OUTLOOK Always a bridegroom, never the bride sort of sums this team up. They decided to rebuild on the fly a bit, clearing the old and bringing kids/other veterans so that they could possibly make the playoffs and actually make it a quick first round out in six games.

 

FINAL RECORD 47-30-5 99 points 4th in Central. Surprisingly, lost in 6 games to the Canucks who beat them without their all star goalie. Meet the old boss......

 

STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR Juuse Saros had his third straight season leading the league in Starts and minutes on ice, he is the first goalie to lead all of hockey as the gaolie ironman three consecutive years in over thirty years.

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR back to back valentine losses left them almost certain to miss the playoffs. The worst, Dallas crushed them 9-2 and they fell to 27-25-2 and all looked lost.

  but then.... MaN THEY caught fire. They beat the living hell out of everyone going 16-0-2 Saros went crazy, in the 18 games they gave up 2 or less in 14 of them all. No doubt they will be a force in the postseason.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR. rEGULAR SEASON got off to a glacially bad regualr season start, They started the season 5-10-0 with losses to very bad teams, Arizona, Seattle, Anaheim, and frankly looked like they were a lottery team.

 Then the playoffs. Demko went out, DeSmith was awful, Lost in the playoffs to someone named Silovs, losing 1-0 in the final game six.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Forsberg was insanely great. Josi keeps building his point a gaame hall of fame blueliner. Saros carried the team in net, Lankinen selcom played but played well. Nyquist and O'Reilly were fantastic signings.Evangelista and Novak were great secondary scorers. Sissons was his usual nasty self. McCarron scoredd 12 goals and had 100 PIMs. 

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Ok, can we face that cody glass needs to go play in the KHL? Bust. Fabbro regressed. Tyson Barrie-yikes. Luke Schenn was pure awful. McDonough slipped a bit. Zucker came over at the deadline and did little.

 

FREE AGENTS Beaulivier, Zucker, Barrie, Sherwood, Carrier and Lankinen were all servicable and all are UFas, they will have to make a decision on who to keep, all cannot go. 

  They are loaded with picks, 3 seconds, 2 fourths and two fifths. 

 

TOP PROSPECTS. Askorov is battling to push Saros out, he is an A plus goalie prospect, an absolute real deal. Matthew Wood and Joakim Kemell could step in if none of the UFA frowards are not invited back, both are solid B prospects. Zachary L'Heureux is killing it in the Calder cup playoffs and looks like an NHL forward. I dont love the prospects other than Askorov but i like the top three forwards. Molendyk is supposedly a middle pair defender, but i havent seen it.

 

OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS Really one, do you trade Saros in his walk year, lock him up long term and trade Askorov? Saros is the heart of the team and is on a sweetheart deal at 5 milion per, that wont happen next. There are a dozen teamss who would climb in the ring in a trading frenzy. 

  If they trade Saros, they may improve the depth, bump up a spot and who knows? Maybe they can make it to the second round.

 Nah. Meet the old boss.....

[radoran]

On 5/21/2024 at 7:53 PM, yave1964 said:

They decided to rebuild on the fly a bit, clearing the old and bringing kids/other veterans so that they could possibly make the playoffs

 

This was the tragic misstep.

 

They had that cancelled team trip to Vegas after which they caught a little breeze and they decided to see if they could make the playoffs.

 

Well, they did. And a better example of how "making the playoffs" doesn't actually mean you're a good team or moving in the right direction you would be hard to find outside of, say, Philadelphia.

 

They should have dealt Saros last off-season, but are dealing with an emotional commitment dating all the way back to Rinne.

 

Should also have sold hard at the deadline.

 

This organization has been stuck in middling bubble playoff mode for too long.