Nashville Predators Podcast: Interrupted by Blockbuster Trade

The Nashville Predators completed their California road trip last week with a win in Los Angeles. In our second episode, we break it all down.

The Nashville Predators spoiled us for choice when planning this week’s podcast episode. A dismal loss in San Jose and then impressive turnaround with back-to-back wins offers a lot of good talking points. To start off, we talk about each game in California specifically. For starters, Peter Laviolette definitely broke out the line blender. Players like Filip Forsberg, Scott Hartnell, and Kevin Fiala received new assignments in an attempt to wake up this offense.

Depth improvements

We also discuss the surprising success of the Nashville Predators’ third defensive pairing, containing Matt Irwin and Yannick Weber. Their possession numbers at even strength have been at or above average for many games this season. A third defensive pairing putting up good numbers, especially when one of your top-4 defensemen is on IR, goes a long way.

Calle Jarnkrok has quietly been improving in recent games as well. The centerman has three assists in as many games. Most notably, he led Viktor Arvidsson with a beautiful assist on the game winner in Los Angeles. Jarnkrok has received a lot of criticism so far this season. Often, and unfairly, he is compared to recently departed James Neal. Jarnkrok offers a completely different, yet unquestionably valuable, set of skills. His abilities as a defensive forward are certainly valuable to this team.

Hold the phone

At this point in the recording, I noticed on Twitter that Matt Duchene had been pulled off the ice in New York mid-game. Shortly thereafter, details emerged about his trade to Ottawa, with center Kyle Turris coming to Nashville. We did allow ourselves to speculate a bit, as the details of Nashville’s departed remained undisclosed. Listeners will get an interesting perspective on our reactions the moment we found out about the Predators’ newest player.

The week ahead

We regrouped somewhat and give a little insight to the upcoming pair of games. It’s a Metro-flavored week as Nashville visits Columbus on Tuesday and hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday night. Columbus sits second in the Eastern Conference, and beat up the Predators during the preseason. This game offers a huge opportunity to turn this good road trip into a stellar one.

With Sidney Crosby and Co. in town for the first time since, well, you know, expect fireworks in Smashville on Saturday night. The Nashville Predators will have a tough task against the defending cup champions, but are always difficult to beat at home.

Next: The Nashville Predators acquire Kyle Turris

We hope you’ll enjoy this episode. As always, get in touch with Michael Wade, Corey Francis, or George Matarangas if you’d like a specific topic discussed during an upcoming episode!