Nashville Predators: Early Season Standouts and Surprises
By Chad Minton
Mathieu Olivier
Mathieu Olivier easily leads this list off for me. He’s worked his tail off to get these valuable NHL minutes, and he’s doing that dirty work on the fourth line.
You can circle a lot of areas on this team that’s screwing up badly, but Olivier on the fourth line isn’t one of them. He would’ve been moved out of the starting lineup quickly if he was showing to be a liability down there, but he’s been the opposite.
Olivier just scored his first NHL career goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning that helped ignite a comeback that came up just short.
Mathieu Olivier of the @PredsNHL scored the first goal of his NHL career (1-2—3 in 14 GP).
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 31, 2021
Olivier (Biloxi, Miss.) made history in 2019-20 when he became the first Mississippi-born player in League history to appear in a game. #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/he09y79UvS
That was a very intense game with plenty of physicality and skirmishes after the whistle. Olivier was, of course, right in the middle of all the action.
There’s a lot of talk about the Predators needing to make some lineup changes, but Olivier isn’t one you can move out. He’s arguably been the most consistent player in the bottom-six all season.
Olivier really started to bring attention in the abbreviated training camp, and since then he hasn’t missed a beat. He should be in the starting lineup for a while.