2019-20 Predators year in review

[yave1964]

Skipping ahead slightly, i will save the Wild/Flyers for near the end as whatever needs written about those two teams is pretty well covered by a ton of posters in here already. Therefor next on the list are the Preds.

 

PRESEASON OUTLOOK Among the elite in the West for years, cracks have appeared in the foundation by way of slippage among the forwards and an aging goalie. The offseason saw the trade of Subban to free up the money to add duchene. Hopes were the talented trio Ekholm/Ellis/Josi would still perform admirably on the back end, Duchene along with a bounce back year from Forsberg would help keep them in the running for the cup.

 

FINAL RECORD 35-26-8 5th in the Central,8th in the Western conference. If the playoffs had started they would have had a first round matchup against the St. louis Blues.

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR The end of the year saw the Predators peaking, Saros had taken over in net for Rinne as the full time starter, they had won six of nine (the only loss a game started by Rinne) with Saros finishing the season with back to back shutouts in a home and home against the Stars. They appeared all but certain to be a playoff team and although potentially a low seed certain to be n the conversation.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR They muddled their way through the first third of the year, from Halloween thru November 21st they lost 8 of 9 including six in a row culminating in Rinne getting smashed by Vancouver. They looked out of sync and slow.

 

STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR Arvidsson was brilliant at home with 11 goals but only a meager 4 on the road. Jared Tinordi had a very strange stat, 32 PIMs on the road,  but only one minor penalty for the year at home.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Roman Josi was brilliant, leading his team in total points with 65, nearly a point a game. Forsberg while not exactly killing it led the team in goals scored. Duchene was a mixed bag, not quite living up to the contract but not bad either, among the best faceoff men in the league with decent offensive numbers. Ryan Ellis was at nearly a point a game pace like his fellow blueliner Josi but he missed a chunk of time. Bonino was arguably the most underrated 3C in all of hockey. Jarnkrok was solid, Ekholm was near brilliant on the back end. Secondary scoring was a non issue, Grimaldi, Turris, Sissons, Watson, all played bottom six minutes and contributed admirably chipping in on the offense. Craig Smith overcame a glacially slow start to finish second on the team in goals scored. Saros took over as the starting goalie, outperforming Rinne giving up nearly half a goal less per game and cementing himself as the teams starter.

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Rinne clearly has slipped, giving up a career worst goals against average and losing his starting job. Johansen was average on his best days, and awful on his worst, appearing indifferent much of the year. Arvidsson was ineffective, then hurt and then innefective again. In spite of leading all Predator forwards in ice time, Granlund managed only a paltry 17 goals and was 12th on the team in scoring. Yannick Weber and Hamhuis as a bottom pair were pretty bad, both look to be done.

 

FREE AGENTS Steady as she goes Craig Smith is an UFA who they would like back, Markus Granlund will likely need a change of scenery to get his career going after going off the rails after coming over a few years ago from the Wild. Hamhuis almost certainly will retire, Weber likely wont be back.

 

OFFSEASON QUESTIONS Pretty much the exact same ones as last year. The offense was short, forward scoring was pretty bad and a need for top six scoring is essential. They have one more year on the contract of Rinne, will they have him back or look to find a home for him to clear cap space to find offense? They appear to be in a bit of decline but still could be relevant if things break right.

[Icechipper]

Make that Mikael Granlund, right? I believe the younger Markus Granlund plays for the Canucks...

[Icechipper]

Must add that working concerts in the Midwest I work alongside a lot of Nashville based artists and roadies, and those country guys and gals love their Predators and are well versed in the game of hockey....

[yave1964]

5 hours ago, Icechipper said:

Make that Mikael Granlund, right? I believe the younger Markus Granlund plays for the Canucks...

Thank you for the correction! Any way you look at it, he was rotten this year, lol.

[yave1964]

Quick update on the Preds, they lost in four games to the Coyotes to bow out of the postseason. They looked like a bad mix up of different parts that didnt quite fit,

[CreaseAndAssist]

IMO, ever since they nearly won a Stanley Cup they've made poor moves that have eroded what made them so tough to play against.  They're no longer the hard working team which played a relentless style that wore opponents down.  

[yave1964]

6 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

IMO, ever since they nearly won a Stanley Cup they've made poor moves that have eroded what made them so tough to play against.  They're no longer the hard working team which played a relentless style that wore opponents down.  

IMHO a team that is now and has always been based on defense has lost what got them there, Suter moved on, Weber left, traded for subban who was eventually moved out for cap relief which was used to sign Mister Softie himself, Matt Duchene. And lets not even bring up the Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen deal. 

 

  So a team that has always won with defense lost Weber/Suter/Jones and in their places on a nightly basis throws out Santini, Yannick Webber and the ghost of Dan Hamhuis. I know their forwards have been less than desired and they needed to make some moves to try to improve the top six but it hasnt worked and most anyone should have known that Weber to Subban to duchene is hustling backwards, that Jones gone for a good 2C in Johansen is hustling backwards, and Suter for nothing when they had a year or two to trade him was the worst cut of all. IMHO the game has passed veteran GM David Poile by, in the same way taht it passed Holland by with my Wings. Look at his recent deals even ones not involved defense, Fiala for Granlund was a bad move, adding the ghost of Simmonds from the Flyers for Hartman and a 4th, three months of Brian Boyle for a second rounder. Adding Turris, signing him to a long term deal only to watch him erode, giving up a second rounder and solid defenseman Sam Girard. I looked at every trade they have made going back to 2014, I guess you could say James Neal coming over for Honrqvist was okay, he killed the Wings that year getting Jarnkrok for what was left of Legwand. That and Forsberg for Erat were about the only two they won in a decade.

 

  So the Preds are on their way down and have only remained somewhat relevant because of Rinne and a few others, but they are an aging team that is in a lot of trouble because of an aging GM who is reactive instead of proactive with all of his moves.

[CreaseAndAssist]

IMO, they didn't lose much by losing Suter.  Weber was the better player between the two and Josi, Ekholm, Ellis are a great foundation.  Unfortunately, the forward group is full of underperformers.  Arvidsson started out great, but as his offense sort of dried up, so did their attack.  Johansen doesn't produce a lot for all of the ice time and Duchene is what he is.  A guy who doesn't show up when you really need him to and they're locked into those guys for a long time.  Forsberg has kind of plateaued, but he's still their most dangerous guy up front.  

 

Still, its their bottom guys who seem to fancy themselves more as skilled guys than as grinders.  I don't think Hynes is that great of a coach, certainly not as good as Laviolette but the team had started to tune him out.  

 

The Predators' farm team was having an awesome season this year.  But Covid killed all of that.  Tolvanen who once showed a lot of promise seems to be a lost soul these days.  

 

I will give David Poile for being a pretty savvy GM for dumping P.K. Subban and Shea Weber's contracts, both of which should've been impossible to move.  The Granlund / Fiala deal looks like the Wild came out on top, and perhaps he wasn't given enough opportunity in Nashville to shine.  But hey, we're not complaining.  

 

Yet, Nashville's slide coincided greatly with the slide of Pekka Rinne from elite goalie to below average one.  Same deal with the Wild, you get a regression of .30 or .40 in your save precentage or add .50 or more to your goals against average and your fortunes take a pretty ugly turn.  

Edited August 20, 2020 by CreaseAndAssist