Preds Prey: Looking Forward to the 2023-24 Season

(Photo: Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire)

The Nashville Predators just missed the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but despite the 92 points, the team was still inconsistent. They were sellers at the National Hockey League Trade Deadline, and let the younger players get some more minutes during the second half of the season. The main reasons for the team’s success last season were defenseman Roman Josi, forward Filip Forsberg (when healthy), and goaltender Juuse Saros.

The team officially named Barry Trotz as the new general manager, as David Poile officially retired from that role. Andrew Brunette was name head coach several weeks after the regular season had ended with John Hynes being fired. The new regime made some head scratching moves including placing Matt Duchene on waivers with the intention of buying out his contract, and trading forward Ryan Johansen. These two moves seemed to be clearing cap space, which was spent on signing veterans Gustav Nyquist, Ryan O’Reilly and Luke Schenn. 

The biggest question the Predators face going into the season is can the kids up front produce at a rate to help this team win some games. They do have some speed up front, which should help on the odd man rushes and for the team to play games at a decent pace. The forwards also have some size, and that will help on the forecheck. The offense will get some help from the blue line especially from captain, Roman Josi. 

There are several playmakers up front and on the blue line, but when looking up and down this roster, there are very few goal scorers. Yes, having a healthy Forsberg will help this team because he will definitely score some goals. Also, O’Reilly should be able to help Forsberg pot some goals this season. This team has a lot of younger players, who have to prove themselves, despite the NHL experience that they do have. Can Juuso Parssinen, Tommy Novak, Cody Glass and Yakov Trenin build on last year’s seasons? Only time will tell, but if the younger players can’t pitch in, there could be a potentially long season ahead for the Predators.

On the flip side, the defense is veteran-laded with the likes of Josi, Schenn, Ryan McDonagh, and Tyson Barrie to name a few. There is a lot of depth on the blue line as it seems there is every year, despite losing Mattias Ekholm at last year’s trade deadline and Mark Borowiecki to retirement. The group can be physical, will block shots, and can log a lot of minutes. Josi and company will give up their fair share of chances; however, they also have some decent shutdown defensemen.

The defense corps is mobile and can skate, which will help them get into the offensive zone a bit easier. If someone should take a run at one of the Predators’ top players, they do have veterans like Schenn and Jeremy Lauzon, who will stand up for their teammates, if needed. They have a balanced blue line in that there are several players who will chip in on the offensive side of things like McDonagh, Josi and Barrie; however, there are some solid shut down players like Schenn, Lauzon, Alexandre Carrier, and McDonagh. There top four should be able to log some serious minutes per game.

A solid defense should help the goaltenders out this year. Saros had a really good season last year despite the team being inconsistent in front of him, and not being able to score a ton of goals per night. Saros is one of the smaller goalies in the League, but his quickness makes up for his lack of height. He can get from one side of the post to the other effortlessly, and make great saves. Saros is also a durable goalie, who can play a lot of minutes and games, if needed.

Kevin Lankinen doesn’t have much NHL experience. He is a decent size for a goalie and is 28 years old. Lankinen will put in the work as he was not drafted by a NHL team. He needs to be more consistent in his game, but that is hard to do when he isn’t playing that many games per season being Saros’ backup. It will be interesting to see how Coach Brunette handles the goalie situation. Will he give Saros more time off during the regular season and give Lankinen a chance to get some more time between the pipes, or will he just ride Saros for 55-60 games?

There are not too many players to choose for a bounce back year; however, Forsberg fits this category for one reason, he only played 50 games last season. In those 50 games, he had 19 goals, 23 assists and 42 points. If he can stay healthy, the Predators are going to need a bounce back year from him, and in a big way. When looking at this roster, as constructed, there is a big hole in where the goals are going to come from. Having a healthy Forsberg would help with that question of who is scoring the goals this season for the Predators. His speed, playmaking ability, goal scoring ability and just his presence on the ice should help the younger players on this team.

Juuso Parssinen is going to surprise fans this season with his play. In 45 games, he had six goals, 19 assists, and 25 points during the 2022-23 season. This season he should get even more playing time with the likes of Duchene and Johansen no longer with the team. He is a big, versatile forward who can play center or the wing position. The fact that he is willing to play a two-way game means he should see more ice time, which could boost his confidence. When a player has the coaching staff’s confidence, it can make him play better, and this year Parssinen will surprise some fans with his abilities.

If Lankinen can get some more games, he will have a breakout season. The defense is solid in front of him, and that should make it easier for him to come up with the easy saves. In 19 games played, he had a 2.75 goals against average and a .916 save percentage, which was pretty solid. If he can make some saves, and get some more minutes, those numbers should improve. I could very well be wrong with this pick, but I make a breakout pick every year for teams, and his name just stuck out to me on this roster. I am going with the gut feeling on this one.

Andrew Brunette, the new head coach, will be under pressure this season. John Hynes was let go during the offseason, and Brunette was hired by Trotz and company. Brunette had some success a few years ago while he was the interim head coach for the Florida Panthers. It will be interesting to see how the team adapts to his coaching style and game plan. Will the Predators get off to a quick start, or a slow one? How much can he get out of the younger players on this team? One thing that will help him in his first season is that he does have a good veteran leadership group on this team.

The key to this season is going to be the defense. If they can step up and eliminate some of the mistakes before the puck gets to Saros, then the Predators have a chance to have a decent season. Unless some of the younger players pitch in, the offense won’t score a ton, so the defense will have to play solid to keep this team in games. They have some guys that are willing to block shots and play physical, but they’ll need to limit their mistakes to help the goaltenders make easy saves, and see less rubber coming at them each game. This veteran-laded defense corps knows what needs to be done, and if they manage to pull it together, it would take some of the pressure off the younger kids to produce.

The goaltending is going to be the x-factor for the Predators this season. Saros and Lankinen are going to have to make the saves to keep their team in games. Every team makes mistakes, and these goalies are going have to make sure those mistakes don’t end up in the back of the net every single time. Saros is athletic enough to make the spectacular saves, while Lankinen just needs to make the easy ones to keep his team in games. The goaltending duo was solid last year, and will need to continue to be solid this year for the Predators to have any chance of making the postseason.

With that being said, I think the Predators miss out on the postseason again this year. The Western Conference has good teams, and the Eastern Conference is stacked. I don’t see them being in the bottom 10 in the League, but they’ll be on the outside looking in once the end of the season standings come around. I just don’t see where the goals are coming from as they don’t have too many finishers on this year’s roster.