Nashville Predators: Who’s the Best Predator?
The Nashville Predators season was stagnant at best, ominously bleak at worst last year when the front office pulled a monumental trigger that brought the franchise their first true number one center in Ryan Johansen. The former All-Star Game MVP’s presence righted the ship, helping to set both a franchise record point streak and driving the team to their most successful postseason ever.
The 2010 fourth overall draft pick maintains great size and elite-level skill, having notched 60 points or more in 3 of his 5 NHL seasons, and at (a freshly-turned) 24 years old, he’s arguably not yet reached his prime. His 71 points as a Blue Jacket in 2014-15 is the highest point total for a player on the Predator roster other than a 2010 James Neal campaign (when he was being fed by Penguins Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin) and a trio of seasons long removed by Mike Ribeiro, who at this point in his career falls safely outside of this conversation.
Johansen has faced criticism for his level of maturity in the past, but his skill remains unquestionable as he pieced together a 60-point outing last year amidst a number of scratches and a transition to a new team with a new system. Another year older, he now has the opportunity to outgrow questions of maturity, settle into a new town, and put a franchise on his back while returning to 70-point form and unleashing the prime of his abilities.
And then there is the long-time franchise meal ticket:
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