Nashville Predators: Power Ranking the Central Division Goaltenders
Pekka Rinne is the catalyst that carries the Nashville Predators more times than not. But where does he rank in a division full of formidable ones?
The Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets have begun to separate themselves from the rest of the pack in the division as we’re not at the post-All-Star break. Great teams are almost always led by an elite goaltender, especially in the postseason.
When it comes to the Central Division, there are some outstanding goaltenders that make most of the squad in the division tough adversaries. We’re biased, but most of us believe that Rinne is the gold standard of the crop of goaltenders in within the division. However, now that we’re on the back end of the regular season, where is every team’s goaltender trending. Are they trending upward and primed to get hot when it matters most?
A lot of a team’s success or failure can be linked to how well their goaltenders are performing. Not just their numbers, but their consistency as well. Let’s dive into these power rankings and see if it gives some clarity to how the division race will unfold.
Slumping Blues and Jake Allen
Not a bigger disappointment for me when it comes to young goaltenders not blossoming than Jake Allen. The Blues were riding high just two seasons ago before the Predators eliminated them in the second round. Allen seemed to be on the cusp of becoming one of the next great goaltenders. His numbers have gradually declined over the last four seasons. It’s leaving the Blues in a precarious situation to figure out where to go next.
Allen has been the team’s primary goaltender with 36 starts this season. His save percentage is now below 90 percent and he’s allowing over three goals per game. Not good for a team that averages less than three goals per game, which ranks in the bottom half of the league. Fans are probably fed up with him and ready to move on for good.
It appears the Blues are now going to lean more heavily on the 25-year-old Jordan Binnington for the rest of the season. In his nine starts the Blues are 5-1 and his numbers are rock solid. Maybe they have found something, but my confidence isn’t high that the youngster continues that trend. The Blues might be heading for last place, though they are making a run right now.
Blackhawks’ committee
Clearly the Blackhawks have been in rebuild mode for a little while now. They’re trying to put the pieces back together after a great run that strung over a decade. Part of that is finding consistency and steadiness between the pipes. This season they’ve relied primarily on two veterans in Corey Crawford and Cam Ward. Both have had their successes in the NHL, but it’s not really translating here in 2018-19.
Ward has shockingly been a mess. He’s having a horrendous first season in Chicago after having an illustrious career with Carolina. His goals against average is creeping towards four goals per game. It’s burying a young Blackhawks roster even more, and maybe some of it is due to poor defense being played in front of him. It’s hard to explain on the outside looking in.
Crawford, another storied veteran, is playing slightly better but is in the midst of his worst season statistically in his 12-year career. His entire career has been with Chicago, and he’s had some great moments. He hasn’t started in over a month, so his forgetful season is probably done. Chicago has to lean on their youth now with Collin Delia, who has just 12 career starts. Delia gave up four goals in an overtime loss to Nashville in early January.
Colorado’s Achilles heel
As a team, Colorado is the biggest disappointment of the division. Maybe even the entire conference. Their top line remains lethal, but goaltending is letting them down. It’s a collective letdown between Philipp Grubauer and Semyon Varlamov.
Grubauer’s last start saw him give up five goals to Minnesota, and he’s given up 11 over his last two starts. The Avalanche can score with the best of them, but you’re not going very far in the playoffs with this kind of play they’re currently getting from their goaltenders. Grubauer does have occasional flashes of brilliance, but he’s wildly inconsistent.
Varlamov is the top choice in net, but he’s also seeing a decline this season. He still is fully capable of getting hot at the right time and making Colorado once again a dangerous team for the Predators, or anyone else in the Western Conference. He has three starts against the Predators in 2018-19, giving up eight goals over that span. He’s the guy Colorado will have to primarily lean on as they look to reverse this slide down the standings.
Chasing down the Jets
The Jets continue to lead the Central Division thanks to their lethal scoring attack. They pile up the goals and can put them up quickly. They’re not enjoying all of this current success due to stellar goaltending. In fact, Connor Hellebuyck is playing very ordinary despite the Jets staying in first place. The Jets are 4-1 over Hellebuyck’s last five starts, even though he’s given up three more goals in four of those five games. He’s not stonewalling teams and having to carry the team on his back.
Hellebuyck is fully capable of getting hot in the playoffs and making the Jets an unstoppable force. That’s what is so scary about this team in the playoffs. Hellebuyck is an x-factor, like many goaltenders, that can make the Jets the front-runner in the playoffs. However, he’s not trending in the right direction. His quality start percentage is way below the league average at 42 percent. That tells me the Jets are having to rely on scoring three-plus goals per game to get wins. They’re managing to do that right now, but will it last?
The Jets also have a reliable backup goaltender in Laurent Brossoit to step in on any given night and give his team a chance to win. He’s won four of his last five starts, including a shutout against Vancouver in mid-December. As of now, the Jets aren’t winning because of goaltending. If that changes, then the entire league will be chasing the Jets.
Dubnyk is keeping Wild alive
Minnesota is a hard team to figure out. It looks like they’re going to be in another battle for a wildcard spot, despite a lot of flaws. I don’t count Devan Dubnyk as one of those flaws. He very rarely gives you a start where you just shake your and put the loss squarely on him. He’s trending in the right direction as the second half of the season rolls on. This is the time when teams start separating themselves from the rest of the pack.
The Wild are near the bottom of the NHL in goals per game at just 2.79. They don’t give Dubnyk much room for error. And yet he continues to put up solid numbers and keep the Wild on the doorstep of another playoff berth, and possibly a top-three finish in a tough Central Division. He’s already up to 42 starts on the season, meaning the Wild are really relying on him to have a career-best type of year.
Dubnyk is a great story if you follow his career. He’s revitalizing his career with Minnesota after being cast away by many teams, including Nashville. Now he’s looking to end Minnesota’s playoff woes and become the next red-hot goaltender to carry a team to a deep playoff run, as Pekka Rinne has done for the Predators. Dubnyk’s experience and being through the wars helps me put more faith in him than most goaltenders in the division. I can seem him single-handily winning a seven-game series for the Wild.
Are these two slipping a bit?
We hold Pekka Rinne to such a high standard in Nashville that we are sometimes shocked when he has a bad start. The fact is that we’ve become spoiled by Rinne’s overall greatness. He’s been the primary guy in net for so long that we now expect him to deliver the ultimate prize, and nothing less. Rinne is having another outstanding year, despite some shaky defensive play in front of him. His numbers have been misleading due to a plague of team injuries that forced Rinne to stand on his head just to keep the Predators from getting blown out of the building.
Luckily the Predators are mostly back to full strength. Rinne doesn’t appear to be declining in any way due to his age. If anything, his age makes him even more valuable once the pressure builds towards the end of the season. Rinne still has respectable numbers, but his save percentage has suffered the most through the shuffling of the lineups in front of him. I fully expect to see him be another huge strength for the Predators in the postseason.
Then you have perhaps the best backup goaltender in the NHL with Juuse Saros. His numbers are similar to Rinne’s, and he’s a major luxury to have. My confidence is just as high for Saros to get the job done as it is in Rinne. Saros will most likely set a new career high in starts in a season as he’s already at 18 starts. The Predators are leaning on him more and more, and he will play a factor down the stretch as the Predators try to get another division title.
Stars are surging
I didn’t expect in the preseason to be saying Dallas is shooting up the standings thanks to their goaltending, but here we are. The one thing that was holding them back last season is now their strength in 2018-19. Ben Bishop is making his case for the Vezina Trophy with 33 starts and 2.30 goals against average. He’s having his best year since 2015-16 when he was runner-up in the Vezina voting with Tampa Bay.
The Stars are suddenly nipping at the Predators’ heels in the division race. They’re fresh off a big road win over the Predators and are just eight points behind them in the standings. They’re leaning on reliable goaltending from Bishop, who is posting really impressive numbers at even strength with a save percentage nearly at 93. He’s holding up when the Stars are on the penalty kill as well with a save percentage just under 90.
Nashville Predators Awards for January. dark. Next
Anton Khudobin has 20 starts of his own behind Bishop and is good enough for sixth in the NHL in goals-against average. The Stars now have a deadly one-two punch in net to go along with their top line of Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov. We’re focused on catching up to the first-place Jets, but we should be just as worried about the Stars catching fire. They have the best goaltending in the division right now, and it makes them a dangerous playoff foe.