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Predators win battle/lose war review


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PRESEASON OUTLOOK Among the top teams in the West for  years, they were thought to be among the teams fighting for the Western Conference.

 

FINAL RECORD 47-29-6 100 points Won the Central Division lost in the first round to the Dallas Stars in six hard fought games.

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR They went on a winning streak at the end of the year to pull out the division title.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR A lot of folks could/would say it was the first round knockout by the Stars but I wouldnt I would call it the moves they made at and around the deadline. They added Brian Boyle, Wayne Simmonds and Mikhail Granlund  who between them played 69 games and had 7 pathetic goals. Then between the three of them in the 6 playoff games they only managed 1 goal (Granlund). They went all in and it bombed badly.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Josi was arguably the teams best player with 56 points, Johnasen was a top tier center and led the team in scoring. Arvidsson led the team with 34 goals, Forsberg was his usual solid self. Ekholm, Ellis and Subban combined with Josi to give the Preds possibly the games best top four on the back end. Rinne and Saros were absolutely lights out brilliant. Hands down.

 

WHAT WENT WRONG So very much. In a lot of ways they were a paper tiger and we should not have been surprised by the 6 game loss to the Stars, take a look

 Johansen had zero power play goals, Arvidsson again was brilliant 5 on 5 but only managed 3 PPG, Forsberg led the team with a very pedestrian 7 PPGs nobody else had more than 4. Subban was okay but not worth the money, Turris was nearly wretched and has years to go on his current deal. Austin Watson fought his demons and his wife at a gas station where he was charged with domestic violence and missed over half the season. The above mentioned trio of Boyle, Granlund and Simmonds came aboard to shore up an anemic forward grouping and all underperformed. Hamhuis looks old tired and close to done. Frederick Gaudreau looks like a bust, Eeli Tolvanen was expected to secure a top nine role and failed in a trial. The forwards as a group were average at best and probably a bit below that. They ruined a solid season by the goalie tandem and a top tier defense.

 

FREE AGENTS Boyle and Simmonds were high price rentals who likely will not be retained, no other UFA is worth mention. NEXT season is the biggie, Josi and Granlund are both UFA after the 19-20 season and both will want term/money especially Josi who is among the most underrated players in the game.

 

OFFSEASON QUESTIONS The forwards are a mess really. All are flawed, Arvidsson cannot perform on the power play, neither can Johansen, is it lack of the right skills or a coaching thing? Turris has 4 more years at 6 million per on his deal and was awful. Can he bounce back? Can Tolvanen be the player they hope and pray he will be or is he ordinary? Whispers are going around that they are willing to eat some of PK Subban's deal in order to move him out and would like a top six winger in return. Can they make it happen?

 

  This team could be staring down the tail end of an excellent run as Rinne has to start showing his age and the forwards are ordinary, breaking up the defense to fix other problems might blow up on thembadly.

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