Nashville Predators Shifting Defensive Core

The Nashville Predators have been known for some time as the best defensive group in the league.

Though the Nashville Predators have had the best defensive corp in the league over the past couple of seasons, it sure has gone through some changes recently.  The funny thing is that it might be even better.

When you look at where the Nashville Predators defense was at several points during last season to where it is today, it has definitely been a “shape-shifter”.  That is something that you really wouldn’t have expected but there have been several changes.

We can take a look at how it’s moved and how that might all be an improvement.

Last Season

Opening Night

The opening day roster of the Nashville Predators was a bit of a surprise as they actually kept eight defensemen.  Both Victor Bartley and Anthony Bitetto were kept on the roster that looked like it already had a solid Top Six:

It hadn’t been the policy to keep eight defensemen in the past but with two inexperienced young players in Bitetto and Bartley and the worry that they may not clear waivers, they were kept.

November/December

This is where it started getting a little crazy the first time.

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On November 22nd, the Nashville Predators claimed 23-year old Petter Granberg from the waiver wire from the Toronto Maple Leafs.  They were trying to kind of sneak him through the waivers injured. He was nearly recovered from an Achilles injury but was still on Injured reserve.

On November 30th, Victor Bartley somewhat surprisingly cleared waivers and was sent to Milwaukee.  Petter Granberg was removed from the Injury list at the beginning of December and also sent to Milwaukee on a Conditioning stint.

Granberg returned to the Preds in late December and folks wondered why we were back to eight healthy defensemen.

January

On January 6th, Nashville Predators GM David Poile rocked the NHL world with a trade of Seth Jones to Columbus for first line center Ryan Johansen. Suddenly, the addition of Petter Granberg made more sense.  Here is what the lineup looked like after the trade:

That lineup stayed fairly static through the end of the season. Both Bitetto and Granberg played about the same amount of games until the playoffs. Bitetto looked more confident as the season wore on and Granberg didn’t see the ice there.

Oh yeah, and Victor Bartley was traded to the Coyotes for another defenseman Stefan Elliott who helped the Admirals down the stretch. The very same day, Bartley was traded to Montreal along with John Scott who was embroiled in an All-Star controversy.  That’s for another day.

The Offseason

June

Here is where the second set of craziness begins. On June 30th, the Preds shipped their Captain, Shea Weber in another blockbuster trade, to the Montreal Canadiens for P.K.Subban.  This one also rocked the NHL World and everything was buzzing.  At that time, here is how things looked like they were going to set up for the season.

That didn’t last long either as late that day, the Predators waived Barett Jackman for the purpose of buying out the final year of his contract.

July

On July 1st, the Nashville Predators announced the signing of Free Agent defenseman Yannick Weber.  He was younger at 27, cheaper and faster than Barett Jackman who had been let go the day before.

They also signed defenseman Matt Irwin, 28 to a two-way contract.  Both contracts were for only $575,000 at the NHL level.  It appeared that the Preds were pretty well set now with plenty of depth and a much younger faster defense.

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It looked as if Tony Bitetto was going to be a big part of this new, attack-first, speed-kills, defense. Things change pretty fast around here, though.

Late July

So just when you think you have it all figured out, the Predators announce the signing of veteran defenseman Matt Carle.  He will have the most experience, is the oldest defenseman at 31 and had his best years under Peter Laviolette‘s system in Philadelphia.

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Although not as fast as some of the younger Preds, he is still a strong skater and is known for being able to quickly pass the puck out of his own zone and getting it into the forwards hands. Once again, Poile signed him to a $700K contract after he was making North of $5 million for the Lightning last year.

Here is how the defensive alignment is expected to line up now:

There could definitely be a fight for that last couple of spots.  Stefan Elliot could be in the mix and Petter Granberg now has a two-way contract so he could see time in Milwaukee too. The Bottom Five of the Top Three Pairings only have an $11.5 Cap hit for this season which is amazing.

It is hard to believe that there is a defensive core in the entire league that can come close to this group.  Teams are scrambling all over the place to pick up even one or two top defensemen and pay dearly for them.  David Poile has done quite a job.

Next: Why the Preds Won't Win the Cup

We would like to tell you that this is how things are going to start the season for the Nashville Predators but like we said, thing change quickly around here.