There’s not a whole lot of surprises on the Nashville Predators playoff roster, but the addition of Michael McCarron is an eye-opening addition to the lineup.
With the expanded roster for the playoffs, it was intriguing to see how the Nashville Predators would take advantage of these additional roster spots for the 24-team postseason.
All of your normal cast of Predators players made the cut, but the added room on the roster allowed for some players from the AHL to get a shot at some NHL playoff hockey. The biggest surprise out of the players added is Michael McCarron.
McCarron joined the Predators organization back in January in a swap with the Montreal Canadiens for Laurent Dauphin. He’s now heading into a unique situation by going with the Predators to their hub city of Edmonton.
Massive opportunity for McCarron
This speaks volumes to the high confidence that the organization already has in McCarron, who is listed as a centerman, has never lived up to his draft position. He was drafted in the first round back in 2013 by Montreal, but has since become a regular in the minor league ranks.
McCarron has 69 games of NHL experience, but hasn’t seen a game on the NHL level since the 2017-18 season. He registered just one assist that season with a meager average ice time of 8:46.
In 27 games with the Admirals after the trade, McCarron’s production improved some with ten goals and 13 total points. So the production has never really translated to his original draft position.
A change of scenery might really be benefiting McCarron, who has to know that these NHL opportunities don’t come up regularly. He obviously made a strong impression during the training camp period as he got a spot over other hopefuls, with Rem Pitlick being the most notable omission from the playoff roster.
As training camp was coming to a close, McCarron managed to score once, or maybe even twice, in one of the scrimmages:
That’ll do it for today’s scrimmage, Viktor Arvidsson has two goals to lead Team White to a 5-3 win over Team Gold.
— Brooks Bratten 🍪 (@brooksbratten) July 23, 2020
Michael McCarron (maybe twice), and Craig Smith also score for White.
Mikael Granlund, Eeli Tolvanen and Matt Duchene for Gold.#Preds
McCarron is a massive winger at 6’6″. It’s unlikely he actually gets into the starting lineup, but if unforeseen injuries occur, then he definitely brings size to the lineup.
Another thing about McCarron is he plays a physical style of hockey, which can be both a good and bad thing. He registered a lot of penalty minutes last season with 100 minutes between Milwaukee and the Laval Rocket.
Players come out of nowhere all the time in the playoffs and catch lightning in a bottle. McCarron is looking for that lightning and to relaunch his NHL career with the Predators in the playoffs if his number is called upon.
Other key additions to the Predators’ playoff roster were Eeli Tolvanen, Alexandre Carrier, Connor Ingram, Troy Grosenick and Yakov Trenin.