It has been a painful start to the Nashville Predators season. GM Barry Trotz made some flashy free agency signings this past offseason after the Preds put up a convincing fight in their first-round exit this past playoffs when he signed the biggest names on the market like Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei. He hoped the new fire and star power would elevate his wild card squad to official cup contenders, but things quickly derailed.
The Predators started the season with a close 3-4 loss to their division rivals, the Dallas Stars. They rapidly lost control of their season, going 0-5-0 in their first five games. At first, it seemed like the new faces needed time to settle and grow their chemistry, but it spiraled into a full-on scoring crisis. In their first 35 games, they have scored two or fewer goals in 20 games and were shutout completely five times. They currently sit in last place in the league, averaging 2.40 goals per game. Compared to the 2023-24 season, the Predators finished 10th in the league at 3.24 goals per game. It is safe to say that this squad has been underachieving since day one.
It hasn’t been all doom and gloom in Smashville. Despite their lack of scoring, the Predators are still powerful defensively. They have been a top-two team in the league with their penalty-kill unit. They currently sit at 87.4%, which is the best in the league. Juuse Saros has also been showing his star power throughout this scoring drought. He has been keeping them competitive in games, and while his win and stats columns haven’t reflected his play, he is still tied for second in the league for shutouts. If history repeats itself, Saros statistically has gotten stronger in the ladder half of the season,n and the Predators desperately need his consistency if they have any shot of saving the rest of this season.
Trotz has also not been shy in shaking up his roster since the season began. He has moved on from Dante Fabbro, Philip Tomasino, Scott Wedgewood, and Alexandre Carrier as he tries to re-piece together his team during his second year as general manager. Head coach Andrew Brunette has also been trying to find consistent line chemistry during the first half of the season. Last season Ryan O’Reilly, Filip Forsberg, and Gustav Nyquist secured their top line, producing a third of all the points scored by the Preds last season, however, they have been struggling to produce together this year. The current top line consists of Forsberg, Stamkos, and Marchessault. The three have been finding significantly more consistency in their seven games since coming together on December 10th in Calgary. Marchy has seven goals and four assists for 11 points, almost doubling his stats from the first two months of the season. While Forsberg is on a 13-game scoring drought, he is finding other ways to produce with his new linemates with 12 assists.
In their last six games, the Preds finished with a 4-1-1 record. They beat the Stars, Rangers, Kings, and Hurricanes and were narrowly beaten by the Penguins in a close 4-5 OT loss. They finish the 2024 calendar year on a tough road trip, taking on three division rivals: the Blues, Jets, and Wild. The Predators need to continue their momentum if they have any chance of saving the season.
It’s been a tough first half of the season for Smashville, but there is always hope with this lineup. There is far too much star power down their roster to continue on the path they are on. The main story to watch for the second half of this season is to see what can be salvaged.
ITR 35: Round One – Inside The Rink
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