Less time in the defensive zone
If you were to look at the Predators’ goals against per game from March 15 to the end of the regular season, you would be quite impressed. Don’t let that fool you, because while Juuse Saros was amazing, the team in front of him did not always help him out.
In many of the team’s games, they would get heavily outshot, and perhaps in no two games was this more apparent than in the back-to-back home stint against the Florida Panthers, when they gave up 40 and 55 shots respectively.
There were also several games in which the Predators would surrender precious time in their own zone, and often, Saros would bail them out.
Even in Game 4 against the Hurricanes, the Predators got outshot 61-43 and were forced to spend much of their time defending.
It is great to have a lights-out goaltender to take the pressure off of the skaters, but relying on Saros the way the Predators did this past year is not sustainable. Hynes will have to adjust his system and ensure that they can be the offensive aggressors more often.