Nashville Predators Superlatives: Biggest Liability in the Penalty Box

A major factor to why the Nashville Predators struggled last season was due to constant trips to the penalty box, and not effectively killing off those penalties.

The Nashville Predators offseason is a time to question your team’s front office, speculate on the makeup of lines, and wonder which prospects will make impacts for better or worse.

As we anxiously await the announcement of the 2020-2021 (looking more likely to be the 2021 season), we thought we would give the Nashville Predators-faithful something of an appetizer with some fun speculation into next season.

Check out what the contributing writers’ thoughts are on “Smashville Superlatives”. To start us off, we have “The Absolute Liability: The player with the most penalty minutes in 2021.”

It’s no secret that the Predators were downright awful on the penalty kill last season. A big reason why they fell behind in the standings and had to claw their way back in February and March before the season pause.

The Predators have to stay out of the penalty box next season and not be their own worst enemy. With that said, let’s see what the writers of Predlines said would be the the biggest liability in this department.

Colin Blouin’s pick (@colinblouin)

Two of the top five players who spent time in the penalty box last season are now gone from the team. Austin Watson led the team by a large margin (20 minutes) with 65 total penalty minutes, and is now Ottawa’s problem.

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Dan Hamhuis is enjoying retirement. Who will step up to claim the mantle and leave fans (and maybe sometimes teammates and coaches) asking “WHY DID HE DO THAT”?

The other three players in the top-five are Ryan Johansen, Roman Josi and Dante Fabbro. One of them may be the obvious pick, but I’m going to go a different route and say Mattias Ekholm (No. 7 in penalty minutes last year).

As the 2019-20 season wore on, and into the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, Ekholm’s frustration started to grow more and more visible. If you want to talk about a defender who started to play some ticked off hockey, it’s Ekholm at the end of last year.

Going into the upcoming season, Ekholm may be a timebomb that either leads to strong physical defense that can produce offense on the other end of the ice, or he may be the reason the team is on the penalty kill more often than it would like to be.

Good thing is, he’s faster and even angrier coming out of the box.

Given that Ekholm is the second biggest defenseman currently on the roster, he’s going to be the player opposing teams do NOT want to tick off. On the strong chance they do, I’m betting he makes them pay for it, through either a solid defensive play, or possibly a questionable cross check…maybe even the good ole dropping of the gloves and settling it the way of our forefathers.

Mattias Ekholm is my 2021 Preseason “Absolute Liability”.

Rich Howe’s pick ( @Rich_Howe_9)

Next season the Predators will be making a move to a more defensive style of play, evidenced by the type of free agents that they have signed. Grit and physicality are the keywords that are most often used.

As referenced above, Austin Watson held the “most penalty minutes” title last season with 65 PIM. The next-closest player is Ryan Johansen, with 45 PIM.

When choosing a player who will spend the most time in the box next season, we have to look at one who has yet to play a single minute for the Predators. There are actually two who would qualify, but I will pick one of my new favorites, Mark Borowiecki.

In the penalty department, Borowiecki is slowing down with age. During the 2016-17 season, he racked up an impressive, or disreputable depending on how you look at it, 154 penalty minutes.

Last season, Borowiecki saw his PIM number drop to a paltry 58 minutes. He racked up 89 minutes in the previous season.

Judging by the lower number of penalty minutes for the Predators last season and the reason that Borowiecki was brought to the team in the first place, it’s a safe bet that he’ll surpass Johansen’s PIM number from last season, and maybe even Watson’s.

Chad Minton’s pick (@chad_minton)

This is going to be a more defensive-minded team next season, and that will likely lead to more penalties. Penalties aren’t always bad in certain situations. But the team has to get away from committing sloppy penalties in situations when the team is trying to make a comeback.

Last season the Predators were top-ten in penalty minutes, all while being one of the worst penalty killing teams in the league. A terrible combination.

Austin Watson is gone, and he took bad penalties far too often. Mark Borowiecki is coming in as the “enforcer” in a lot of ways. He’s not bringing much, if any, offensive prowess. But he’s bringing grit and grind, and that’s unquestionably going to lead to penalties. He’ll be smarter and more calculated in the way he takes them.

Others to keep an eye on that will push Borowiecki for most penalty minutes will be Ekholm and Brad Richardson. Two players who are savvy veterans that will find themselves in moments when a penalty is necessary to save a high-danger scoring opportunity.

Expect the Predators to be another heavily-penalized team in 2021 with so much youth and new faces on the roster. Borowiecki the easy choice here, but he’ll be smarter in the way he takes them than others have been in the past.