NASHVILLE — We’ve almost made it through and hockey is thankfully right around the corner here in Nashville, Tennessee.
It’s been an eventful offseason for the Nashville Predators with many changes made to the roster heading into the 2021 season.
Nick Bonino, Craig Smith, Kyle Turris, Austin Watson, Dan Hamhuis, Yannick Weber, Korbinian Holzer and Colin Blackwell are all gone. The Predators brought in Luke Kunin, Nick Cousins, Erik Haula, Brad Richardson, Mark Borowiecki and Matt Benning.
There’s no question that this team will look differently this season. But how much differently will they play? Will they end up being a better team because of these changes? That remains to be seen, obviously, but is one of many reasons this season is so fascinating.
The Predators will still be in the Central Division but it won’t look like quite the same. St. Louis, Minnesota, Winnipeg and Colorado are all out of the division and the Predators welcome the Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers and the reigning Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning to the fold in the Central along with the Dallas Stars and the Chicago Blackhawks.
We heard Predators general manager David Poile earlier in the offseason talk about the potential of fielding a younger lineup heading into this season. Names like Eeli Tolvanen and Philip Tomasino, two of Nashville’s top prospects, came to mind as players who could potentially have significant roles.
Poile joined Robby & Rexrode on Tuesday morning and talked about the challenge younger players could have in a training camp setting that will move very quickly.
“Training camp is not going to be ideal with only having 10 days,” Poile said. “I’m sure the coach is thinking about what his lines or what his team is. I don’t think, honestly, that you can have a lot of experimentation. These young players like Tolvanen, he’s got to show what he’s got right out of the gate. Having said that, if I get an opportunity to talk to the team before the season starts, I’m going to ask everybody to be committed and to be ready for their opportunity because I don’t think we’re going to get through this season just playing 20 players.
“I referred to how the schedule will be condensed and the back-to-back games. I think their could be more injuries. We still don’t know where we are exactly with COVID in terms of how that could affect our team or our season. So I believe this is going to be a year where you give lots of guys chances. I hope some of it develops in training camp, but these guys have to be ready for their opportunity.”
One of the more surprising moves of the offseason for the Predators came when they made the decision to re-sign Mikael Granlund to a one-year, $3.75 million contract. It seemed like the Predators and Granlund were parting ways at the beginning of free agency, but both sides ultimately got back together and agreed that another season in Nashville would be best.
It will be crucial that Granlund comes back in and is immediately productive. Goal-scoring was a challenge for the Predators last season and it’s one that will have to be rectified collectively if this season is going to be deemed a success.
My projected lineup for the Predators looks like this:
Filip Forsberg — Ryan Johansen — Viktor Arvidsson
Mikael Granlund — Matt Duchene — Luke Kunin
Colton Sissons — Erik Haula — Rocco Grimaldi
Yakov Trenin — Nick Cousins — Calle Jarnkrok
Roman Josi — Ryan Ellis
Mattias Ekholm — Dante Fabbro
Mark Borowiecki — Matt Benning
Juuse Saros
Pekka Rinne
Extras/Taxi squad/in competition at camp: Jarred Tinordi, Alexandre Carrier, Brad Richardson, Connor Ingram, Eeli Tolvanen, Philip Tomasino, Rem Pitlick, Michael McCarron, Jeremy Davies
It’s no secret that the success of this team will largely be determined by whether or not a “bounce-back” season can be had by Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson and Matt Duchene. Each of those four players, to varying degrees, had disappointing regular seasons for the Predators last season. They’re all going to be heavily relied upon to fix that this season and return to being consistently productive.
The “JOFA” line of Forsberg, Johansen and Arvidsson showed promise in the play-in round against the Arizona Coyotes back in August. I would expect that trio to be reunited to begin this season.
“If I was a betting man, which I’m not, I would bet that the JOFA line with these three guys, if [John Hynes] chooses to play them together, will be one of the better lines in the National Hockey League,” Poile said. “Bottom line, that’s what we need. If they all live up to their capabilities they will pull along and make our second line better, and our second line will make our third line better. That’s just how it works. The cliché for today is if your best players are your best players in the game, you’ve got a chance to win every night. Honestly, last year, that was not always the case.
“I think the challenge is there to Filip Forsberg, [Johansen], [Arvidsson] and Duchene, our top-four forwards. I think they all know that. They all know their impact on our team and what their play means to us. That’s why I’m excited about the year, and now we’ve actually got to get out there and have a training camp and play the games to see what we have.”
There’s no doubt that the expectations for this team externally will be different heading into this season. The Predator have been a popular pick in each of the past few preseasons to win the Stanley Cup by many pundits nationally. You’re not going to find a whole lot of that this season.
However, that doesn’t mean this team can’t be successful. Poile and Hynes want this team to get back to having an identity of being difficult to play against. The willingness to outwork the opponent will have to be there on a nightly basis.
If the Predators are able to do that and get their top players back to playing like it on a more consistent basis, this team could surprise this season. If not, goals could be very hard to come by.
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