Nashville Predators: No One Should Be Surprised by Rocky Start to Season
By Chad Minton
After suffering another heartbreaking late game defeat, this time at the hands of the New York Rangers, the Nashville Predators now find themselves at 1-3-0 on the season and many fans are already getting restless.
The Nashville Predators offensive attack looks like it’s stuck in the mud, and there’s just not a whole lot to get excited about with the exception of a few players like Philip Tomasino and Tanner Jeannot, among a couple others.
Tomasino got his first NHL goal last night and was electric in just his second career game, so congrats to him on the memorable night with his parents in attendance.
As bad as this stings to start off the season with very little offensive production, this start shouldn’t come as any surprise. The Predators are a transitioning team that has very little room for error against the majority of NHL opponents.
Nashville Predators need to show growth as the season progresses
Looking at the October schedule alone is daunting enough, and even when Juuse Saros puts out a solid performance in net (27 saves and .931 save percentage against the Rangers), it’s still going to be difficult for this team to win a lot of games.
It might end up being too little too late, but the Predators come off as a young team that will continue to get better as the season goes along, but it’s going to take time and patience to get to that level. They’re just not able to finish in the clutch moments of games through the first four games.
After losing key core players like Ryan Ellis, Calle Jarnkrok, Viktor Arvidsson, Erik Haula and Pekka Rinne, we all should’ve known that a rocky start was highly likely. Now the question becomes just how bad does it get, or do the Predators have another late season surge in them?
I’m not ready to count this team out as a late bloomer that makes a push for the wildcard. As I said earlier, I see this team continuing to improve as the season progresses. They’ll continue to build chemistry with each other and hopefully with that, minimize critical mistakes.
I know no one wants to hear this, but the Nashville Predators have had their chances late in all three losses to get the win, or at least get it to overtime. Their finishing ability just isn’t there yet, and some of that is due to many inexperienced players in the lineup. These players should continue to get better and more comfortable if they’re given a chance to stick around.
My worry is that Head Coach John Hynes will continue to make irrational lineup decisions and give up on the youth getting extended opportunities to grow and get better. They have to stay the course, and deal with the consequences of maybe missing the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons.
The preseason outlook I had for this team hasn’t changed. They’re a painfully average-at-best team. That’s their ceiling for this season. They’ll contend with Chicago, Arizona and maybe someone else for spots five through eight in the division.
It might be painful this year, but the goal is to get vital growth and development for players like Tomasino, Alexandre Carrier, Eeli Tolvanen, Tanner Jeannot, Tommy Novak and any other prospects who might get a call-up if things continue to go south.
This definitely isn’t the season to make any wild player acquisitions by the front office. Stay the course, deal with the growing pains and consider a head coaching change if improvement doesn’t occur throughout the season.