Nashville Predators Season Preview

The Predators are coming off of their first-ever Stanley Cup finals appearance but following such a successful season there were a lot of changes. The defence remains the best in the NHL until proven otherwise with a stacked top four that got added depth and with a good goalie, it will be extremely hard to score on them. Even with the changes and no captain named yet, the Predators should still be one of the favourites to win the Cup.

Arrivals/Departures

Arrivals: Nick Bonino, Scott Hartnell, Alexei Emelin, Matt O'Connor, Anders Lindback
Departures: James Neal, Mike Fisher, Colin Wilson, Mike Ribeiro, PA Parenteau, Vernon Fiddler, Matt Carle, Harry Zolnierczyk, Brad Hunt, Adam Pardy, Mike Liambas



Forwards:

Filip Forsberg has turned into a great two-way offensive threat since his trade to the Music City; Forsberg has produced at least 26 goals and 58 points in every full season he has played with the Predators. Ryan Johansen is their other star forward who like many players on the team including Forsberg were acquired via trade. Johansen got a mega extension during the off season and should be the number one center for years to come; if he was healthy during their Cup run things might have turned out different in Smashville. The other member of the first line is Viktor Arvidsson who had a breakout campaign combining his speed and smarts to put up 31 goals and 61 points, smashing his career high of eight goals and 16 points. Calle Jarnkrok did well as the second-line center during the playoffs when Johansen went down but he will have to do it for a full season after the retirement of Mike Fisher. Kevin Fiala was injured for a large chunk of the season including the playoffs but he is a young skilled player who should be primed for a breakout season on the second line. Capping off the top six is Craig Smith who underperformed during the majority of last year; if Smith does not get back to the form he showed in 2014 and 2015 he could be on the way out. Nick Bonino is the perfect third-line center has he comes over after winning back-to-back Stanley Cups to play good defence and offence. Scott Hartnell is in the twilight of his career which means he is returning to the place where his career started in Nashville; even though Hartnell won't put up 30 goal seasons anymore his leadership and physicality should help the team. Frederick Gaudreau may have been the Predators' best player during the finals as he broke out after only nine career regular season games. Because of his performance he should be a lock to make the team and contribute nicely in the top nine maybe even top six to replace Craig Smith. Colton Sissons also had a strong post season which should earn him a roster spot as the fourth-line center. Pontus Aberg also had a good series vs the Penguins scoring the goal of the finals; it is time for him to make the full time leap to the NHL too. Austin Watson brings size and physicality to the fourth line as he will continue to protect the Preds top players in 2017-18. Enforcer Cody McLeod will also get playing time in big rough division games while youngster Vladislav Kamenev looks to make the leap to the NHL. Miikka Salomaki will also compete for a roster spot.



Defenceman:

Roman Josi has elevated his play even more as he is the prime candidate to be the new Predators captain as he is their best player. Josi combines his smooth-skating ability and play-making skills to produce offence while shutting down opposing team's best players. Ryan Ellis emerged as one of the most underrated players in the league and dominated during their dark-horse run to the finals producing offence while playing shutdown defence. PK Subban is flashy but remains one of the most overrated players in the NHL as he needs to work on his defensive game to go along with his great offensive ability. The final member of the league's best top four is Mattias Ekholm who has also turned himself into a great young defenceman; Ekholm is more of a defensive defenceman as he needs to work on his offence. The defence improved over the summer too as Alexei Emelin was acquired from Vegas to be the team's fifth defenceman. Emelin is good at getting under opposing players' skins but has no offensively ability to contribute to the team. Last year's bottom pair was Matt Irwin and Yannick Weber who will both compete with each other for the sixth spot on the defence while the other one will be the seventh. Anthony Bitetto could also compete with Irwin or Weber for one of the seven spots.



Goaltending:

Even after a terrible performance in the Stanley Cup finals, Pekka Rinne is still among the best goalies in the league as he was a huge reason for the team being in the finals. If Rinne even played half decent for the first two games of the finals, the Predators would be Stanley Cup champions but he may have blew it for them. Jusse Saros had a good rookie season backing up Rinne and may soon be one of the best backups.

Projected Lineup:

Filip Forsberg	Ryan Johansen	Viktor Arvidsson
Kevin Fiala	Calle Jarnkrok	Craig Smith
Scott Hartnell	Nick Bonino	Frederick Gaudreau
Pontus Aberg	Colton Sissons	Austin Watson
Cody McLeod	Vladislav Kamenev	Miikka Salomaki

Roman Josi	Ryan Ellis
Mattias Ekholm	PK Subban
Matt Irwin	Alexei Emelin
Anthony Bitetto	Yannick Weber

Pekka Rinne

Juuse Saros

Matt O'Connor

Top 10 Players:

10. Scott Hartnell

9. Nick Bonino

8. Mattias Ekholm

7. Viktor Arvidsson

6. PK Subban

5. Ryan Ellis

4. Filip Forsberg

3. Ryan Johansen

2. Pekka Rinne



1. Roman Josi

Projected Finish: 107 Points (1st in Central)
Last Year: 94 Points (4th in Central)

Photo credit for Nick Bonino goes to http://www.cbc.ca/. Ryan Johansen goes to https://www.nhl.com/. Roman Josi goes to https://www.usatoday.com/. Pekka Rinne goes to http://www.thehockeynews.com/.