Nashville Predators awards for a terrible December

December produced a roller-coaster ride for the Nashville Predators & their fans. We managed to survive & reflect over the best & worst.

If the 2018-19 Nashville Predators season ends up being a roller-coaster ride, Predators fans should feel pretty happy. Nashville reached incredible highs in October. The top of the hill, perhaps. Things started going downhill in November, and possibly reached the bottom in December. The Predators’ record has gotten worse each month. We’re hoping December is the low.

To be honest, the Predators have plenty of excuses. More accurately, plenty of injured players. Filip Forsberg didn’t play a single game in December. Viktor Arvidsson & P.K Subban didn’t play the vast majority of them. Taking those guys out of the lineup takes a lot out of the Nashville Predators. There isn’t enough depth to take care of that. The Predators tried, and they got off to a good start in December, but eventually they hit a wall. The Winnipeg Jets went on a hot streak at the same time and took the top spot in the Central Division. All we can hope for is the Predators being healthy whenever they end up facing off with Winnipeg, as anybody that follows either team knows that’s what it’ll come to.

It was tough trying to find award-winners this month, but we did the best we could.

Best Unsung Predator: Colton Sissons

Somebody needed to step up. With Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson & P.K. Subban out of action, the Nashville Predators needed some unsung heroes to step up & take their place. Nobody took Subban’s place, as Nashville traded away their depth at defenseman long before. Remember Samuel Girard? Sure would have been nice to have him now!

Some guys showed some flashes & not much else. Colton Sissons’ flash lasted longer than the others though. He had a nice four-game point streak going during the month. 2 points against Vancouver were followed up by one against Calgary, then one against Ottawa & two against Vancouver, including a game-winning goal. We all felt good about Sissons at this point. It seemed like he was sneaking into top-six consideration even after everybody else got healthy. It would only make sense. Sissons has come up big for the Predators in previous situations where injuries were an issue. He was one of those guys that came up big during the 2016-17 playoff run and made it a playoff run.

Of course, Sissons got injured two games later & ended up on IR. Because every member of the Nashville Predators will be on IR before this season ends. Spoiler alert.

Best Predators GIF: The most intense ceremonial puck drop you’ll ever see

There was a little more on the line than usual for one of these things. Scott Hartnell, former Predator & Flyer, put $100 up for the winner. Sure, they’re millionaires, but $100 can cover a bar tab pretty easily most nights. Roman Josi came up a little short to Claude Giroux, and unfortunately, it wasn’t the only loss of the night for the Nashville Predators.

Best Predators Christmas Present: Gnash Bobblehead

The last couple of years saw me get a ton of Predators merchandise on Christmas. The Realtree camo winter hat has gotten the most usage out of everything, but I’ve received t-shirts, long sleeve shirts, sweatpants, hats, Stanley Cup pucks, challenge coins, trading cards & some other things I’ve forgotten.

This year was light. I think my mom ran out of ideas. So the one Predators-themed item I received was a Gnash bobblehead. I do love my bobbleheads…if you follow me on Twitter you’ll see from my avatar that I have way too many Cincinnati Reds bobbleheads. So it works.

I don’t hear about hockey doing bobblehead giveaways. You’d think the Predators would have plenty of options for that. P.K. Subban would be perfect for bobblehead depiction, as one example.

Best Predators Christmas Food: Willy Daunic & Chris Mason

I’m going to be honest. Based on the video, it doesn’t look like any of the Nashville Predators’ broadcasters have baked anything in their lives.

https://twitter.com/PredsNHL/status/1077013488965320704

It was fun to watch though! And the food looked pretty, even though I’m pretty sure it wasn’t edible.

Best Predators Game: December 1 (5-2 win over Chicago)

Believe it or not, December actually got off to a pretty great start for the Nashville Predators. The Chicago Blackhawks came to Bridgestone Arena looking to take advantage of Nashville’s depth issues. The depth issues weren’t there that night, as five different Predators found the back of the net at the expense of Cam Ward.

Kevin Fiala got things rolling 2:11 into the game. Eeli Tolvanen scored his first NHL goal 1:21 after that, and Ryan Johansen made it 3-0 thirty-nine seconds afterward. It was 4-1 at the end of the first period & the Predators didn’t look back.

Little did we know the first period of December would be the best of the month.

Worst Predators Game: December 20 (2-1 loss to Philadelphia)

After getting off to a tremendous road start in October & November, the Predators’ record outside of Nashville took a nosedive in December. Going into their New Years’ Eve trip to Washington, the Predators have obtained a grand total of one point out of a potential twelve available in six road games. An overtime loss in Ottawa was the only night the Predators didn’t leave a road barn without a point to show for it.

The low point was a loss in Philadelphia to one of the worst teams in the National Hockey League. On Scott Hartnell Night, of all things. With a man beloved by both franchises & their fanbases in attendance & dropping the puck, only the Flyers were able to show the type of grit that Hartnell was known for throughout his career.

I find that a lot of articles from mainstream outlets explaining Gritty’s appeal fail to mention that he’s pretty much a hairier Scott Hartnell. Putting the political overtones aside, I think we can all agree that Gritty reminds us of Hartnell.