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Nashville Predators: Ranking the Central Division’s Top Lines for 2019-20

By Chad Minton

WINNIPEG, MB - MAY 7: Ryan Johansen #92, Filip Forsberg #9, P.K. Subban #76, Roman Josi #59 and Viktor Arvidsson #33 of the Nashville Predators celebrate a third period goal against the Winnipeg Jets in Game Six of the Western Conference Second Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell MTS Place on May 7, 2018 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Darcy Finley/NHLI via Getty Images)
WINNIPEG, MB - MAY 7: Ryan Johansen #92, Filip Forsberg #9, P.K. Subban #76, Roman Josi #59 and Viktor Arvidsson #33 of the Nashville Predators celebrate a third period goal against the Winnipeg Jets in Game Six of the Western Conference Second Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell MTS Place on May 7, 2018 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Darcy Finley/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Nashville Predators
NASHVILLE, TN – OCTOBER 23: Viktor Arvidsson #33 celebrates his goal with Filip Forsberg #9 and Mattias Ekholm #14 of the Nashville Predators against the San Jose Sharks at Bridgestone Arena on October 23, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Nashville Predators

Top Line: Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, Viktor Arvidsson

Collectively these three play beautiful hockey together. However, injuries plagued this unit last season and kept us from seeing top results. The last-place Predators power play was also a mystery, and this unit deserves some blame for that.

Starting with Ryan Johansen at center, he can be frustrating at times. He’s great at finding open wingers and setting them up. However, his own offensive game really needs to show improvement to elevate him to the next tier of NHL centers. He had just 14 goals last season, which isn’t good enough for me.

Forsberg and Arvidsson missed lengthy amounts of time with injuries. It definitely disrupted the chemistry of this team mid-season. Both guys could be in store for career-high seasons in offensive production. That absolutely have what it takes to put up the gaudy numbers that we see from other top lines within the division.

I can’t put the Predators top line above a few other teams because there’s times when they do seem to disappear. You also can’t overlook how bad the power play was, which in turn kept their offensive numbers down lower than what you would like to see.

This could all change this season, but as of now the Predators are going to be relying on balanced scoring from all four lines to get them deep in the playoffs. Contract negotiations that other teams are facing also has the Predators’ top line higher than what it would be with every team at full strength.

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