Nashville Predators Mid-Season Team Report Card: Slightly Improved
By Colin Blouin
Special Teams: C (Up from an F)
Special teams have, speaking in the context of the last decade worth of seasons, not been the Nashville Predators’ strong aspect of their game. However, the power play has taken on a drastic change in big part thanks to the “Chosen One,” Eeli Tolvanen. Not only has Tolvanen (or “Goalvanen”) led the team in power-play goals (4 in 20 games played), but he also is second on the team in shooting percentage, just behind his fellow mustachioed comrade Filip Forsberg (of #Stacheville). Tolvanen’s infusion of offense into a formerly lackluster power play has made the team more dangerous in that phase of the game.
On the flip side, there’s the elephant in the room: the penalty kill. Some writers reasonably disagreed with this grade (I give these grades based on the average from ALL Predlines staff, and there are several of us). Those writers are not wrong: if the Predators don’t deserve this C, it’s because they have the absolute worst penalty kill in the NHL (31 out of 31 with a 68% PK). That is absolutely atrocious.
Do I agree with this grade? Not really. I think we’re fully behind the fact that Tolvanen makes our power play fun to watch again, and if you go back and watch clips of his shot release, you’ll see why we grade this aspect of the game with rose-colored glasses (his shot is literally a work of art, poetry in motion). At the same time, it’s been a LONG time (like, since the 2011-2012 season) since the Nashville Predators ranked in the top 50% of the league on the power play (ok, they’re 18 out of 31, so literally smack dab in the middle, but still better than the last ten years). Let’s enjoy the run while it lasts.