Ryan Johansen
Let’s start with the player who led the Predators in points last season, and that’s Ryan Johansen. He put up 64 points last season, tied for the ninth-most in franchise history with Filip Forsberg. It’s not a monumental amount of points when you look at the league leaders, but it’s also a testament to how spread out the Predators scoring really is.
Johansen does’t really pile up the goals. He’s masterful at controlling possession and setting up teammates. He tallied just 14 goals last season despite playing on the top line and appearing in 80 games. He hasn’t put up more than 15 goals in a season since 2014-15 with Columbus.
If Johansen can increase his goal output then he would be a clear-cut favorite to lead the team in points again. Possibly even push for the franchise record. He has to start burying more quality looks at the goal.
I can remember many instances when he missed out on great looks at the net. He barely cracked the top-300 in shooting percentage last season at 10.3. Maybe we’ll see improvement in this area. We do know for sure that he’ll keep piling up the assists.