Nashville Predators: Top 5 Differences from Last Season
#4. National Attention
Coming off of their incredible Stanley Cup Playoff run the Nashville Predators now have more national attention than ever before. As a small market team, the Predators have always been one of those teams that seemed to fly under the radar. That will not be the case anymore. The Predators have grabbed the national attention, and I fully expect them to run with it.
It can definitely be argued that Nashville already had the attention to start last season, and that is a fair argument. All eyes were on the Predators, mainly because of the trade that brought P.K. Subban to Nashville. The Predators were also a popular pick to win the Stanley Cup in the preseason. Regardless of all this, it is completely different this season.
Plenty of people were picking Nashville to be a legit contender to win the Stanley Cup last season. However, I do not think these people truly believed Nashville could really do it. Once again, it will be different this season. Seeing is believing, and now everyone has seen Nashville make it to the Finals, and people who pick Nashville to make it back will have a legitimate argument for their pick.
Secondly, if you still don’t believe Nashville has garnered the national attention, just look at how many times they play on national television. Nashville is geared to play the NBC nationally televised game a team-record seven times this year. The first of which will be on November 1st when Nashville travels to San Jose. Out of this seven game schedule, five of them are at home, allowing the rabid fan base of Nashville to prove they don’t just show out in the playoffs.