2009-2010 Nashville Predators Preview

The Predators are one of the case studies in Commissioner Gary Bettman’s controversial Sun Belt expansion strategy. Honestly, when I heard that Nashville was getting an expansion team over Houston, Winnipeg, Portland, Seattle, Milwaukee and a host of other capable cities, I really didn’t expect the Predators to last in the Capital of Country Music for a whole decade. However, despite a number of high-profile dalliances with relocation and attendance issues, the Predators are staying put and their ownership issues (former owner Boots Del Biaggio just got sentenced to eight years in prison) have overshadowed some pretty good teams. After just falling short of the playoffs for the first time in five seasons last year, can the Preds get back to the postseason in 2009-2010?

Looking Back at 2008-2009

The Predators had a lot of adversity last year. They struggled with shoddy goaltending for the first half of the season and missed captain Jason Arnott and sniper Steve Sullivan for extended periods of time. Yet despite all of their struggles, Nashville stayed in the race down to the last few days of the regular season thanks in large part to the emergence of keeper Pekka Rinne and Sullivan’s return from a multiyear back injury. Unfortunately, their 40-34-8 record resulted in 88 points, which was a mere three points out of the final playoff spot.

The Offseason

The Predators had a quiet offseason for once. That’s a mixed bag as the quiet offseason was a blessing in that there were no persistent rumors that the team was going to move for the first time in years. However, the Predators were badly in need of some scoring and they didn’t make any moves to bolster their attack. The Predators lost a number of veterans and really didn’t add anyone of note, which seems to indicate that they’re moving towards a younger (and cheaper) team.

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2009-2010 Outlook

Nashville needs some offense. While Sullivan is a great asset on the wing and can score a lot of goals, he’s had back troubles recently and is now 35 years old. J.P. Dumont is the team’s best playmaker and linemate Arnott scored 33 goals in only 65 contests last season, so there is some top end talent on hand. However, behind those three the only two proven contributors are Martin Erat (17 goals) and David Legwand (22 goals), who has never lived up to his lofty draft rating. The Predators, as currently constructed, are going to finish in the bottom third of the NHL in scoring.

The good news is that Nashville has a really good group of defensemen. Shea Webber (23 goals, 53 points) is one of the absolute top-flight two way defenders in the league and would have a significantly higher profile if he wasn’t based out of the hockey wasteland that is Tennessee. Along with Weber, young stars Ryan Suter and Dan Hamhuis are both extremely talented and the depth provided by fellow youngster Kevin Klein and savvy veteran Greg De Vries give Nashville one of the NHL’s best corps of defensemen. For all of the trouble this franchise has had in finding offensive talent, they sure know how to draft on the blue line.

In goal, the Predators have to hope that their newest ‘goalie of the future’ actually can perform semi-decently in the season following his breakout campaign. In each of the past two years, the Preds have had a young goalie play really well down the stretch only to bomb the next season. Pekka Rinne, come on down! Rinne was an incredible 18-1-2 when the Preds scored 3 goals in a game, so if he can remotely replicate his performance than Nashville could surprise. Don’t forget Dan Ellis either, whose play wasn’t terrible despite his 11-19-4 record last season. I expect a full season of solid goaltending for the first time in three years.

PREDICTION: The Predators have two major problems going into this season. The first is that they don’t score a lot of goals. That doesn’t seem likely to fix itself anytime soon as Nashville has one true scoring line and certainly won’t have enough skill to ice two others. The Preds have more young talent on the blue line in their organization than almost any other team in the NHL: Could a trade perhaps jumpstart the offense enough to lead to a playoff berth?

The other major problem is that the Predators play in arguably the toughest division in hockey. The Predators were the only team in their division that didn’t make the postseason last year and the Central Division was one of two divisions in the NHL that boasted four playoff teams! That is going to make things really tough this year because they have to play against higher quality opposition more often than their competitors in the other divisions.

Simply put, the Predators aren’t on the same level as Detroit and Chicago and I don’t think they’ll score enough to pass Columbus in the standings. If the Predators could develop some forwards like they do young defensemen, then this team has the talent to become a Stanley Cup contender but there is literally no help waiting in the wings. Thus, I’m predicting the Predators to finish 4 th in the Central Division and miss out on the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

By Matt Baxendall
DFN Sports & ProHockey-fans.com Staff Writer

Feel your team is underrated? Tell Matt Baxendell why at matt.baxendell@gmail.com

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