Where the Nashville Predators Can Continue to Improve and Keep Surging

There’s always room to get better, even when you’re on a seven-game winning streak like the Nashville Predators are.

Now before you call me Scrooge on this Christmas Day, it’s always important to look to get better. But with that said, the Nashville Predators are currently projected to finish with the most points in the Central Division according to Micah Blake McCurdy (@InEffectiveMath on Twitter):

Yes, you read that right. Just shy of 100 points and a division title for the Predators. I need more to get all the way to that amount of optimism.

With the unfortunate NHL pause due to the ongoing concerns with the Covid-19 pandemic, teams are getting an unexpected chance to reset. For struggling teams this can be a good chance to get players rested up and think about how they can turn their season around.

How about a surging team like the Nashville Predators? Can it have a negative effect? It definitely can, but it can also provide a chance to work on improvements and get players re-energized.

The Predators were being bogged down with several key players on Covid-19 protocols, including Ryan Johansen, Mikael Granlund and Nick Cousins. Not to mention one of their leading goal scorers Matt Duchene dealing with a lingering upper-body injury.

In total the Predators were missing 83 points worth of production from missing those four players in their gutsy 3-2 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks, their last game before this current NHL pause.

So not to be nitpicky, let’s cover some areas that the Predators can improve in as they look to get back to full strength once they return to the ice, hopefully for their December 29 matchup with the Washington Capitals.

1. Goal Support for Saros

As great as Juuse Saros has been so far this season, imagine how much better he’d look if he gets more reliable goal support. It’s not to say the Predators have been completely inept at scoring, but they’re very much average in this area.

The Predators are averaging just shy of three goals per game this season, good for 16th in the NHL. Not good enough to compete with the elite scoring teams of the NHL like the Avalanche, Golden Knights and Oilers.

On a positive note, I’ve seen steady improvement in this area already, and it can definitely keep getting better.

Saros has taken five losses this season despite only giving up two goals in each of those games. That’s far too high and should almost always be enough to secure the win in today’s NHL.

The trend is going in the right direction, however, as Saros has won seven of his last eight starts while only giving up more than two goals once in that stretch. A driving factor to the current seven-game win streak.

2. Temper down on the penalties

This is a hard one to ask of the Predators because of their aggressive playing style which serves them well. They’re an agitator that makes the opposing team uncomfortable, and you don’t want that to change.

However, this is a double-edged sword, especially when facing teams with potent power plays which you will likely face in the postseason.

Only the lowly Arizona Coyotes have taken more penalties and spent more time in the penalty box than the Nashville Predators. Not exactly company you want to be in.

So how do the Predators fix this area without changing their identity? It’s going to take attention to detail and keeping the emotion in check when things aren’t going your way. It’s human, compeititive nature to get drawn into a bad penalty when you’re playing angry.

Channel that anger into executing and playing within the game and the Predators should be able to cut back on some of these penalties. Realistically they’re going to remain one of the more penalized teams regardless, but they can definitely cut back on them and drastically improve their chances of keeping up their winning ways throughout.

3. The Penalty Kill is still a concern

It’s not nearly as bad of a concern as it’s been in previous seasons, but the Predators remain to have room for improvement on their penalty kill. Especially against the top teams who you’ll see the Western Conference playoffs.

The Predators are an outstanding defenisive team when it’s 5v5 even strength situations. It’s when it gets to critical penalty kill situations that things get dicey as the penalty kill certainly isn’t what you would call a strength of this team. But it can definitely keep showing gradual improvement.

They’ve reached 20th in the NHL in their penalty kill success rate. Below average, but at least not an utter eyesore like it was the last two seasons when it was 29th.

If they’re going to take a lot of penalties, which we’ve already established they almost certainly will, then this is the obvious solution to that. Keep improving in this area and it will nuetralize the mass amounts of penalties.

I’m looking to key penalty killers like Roman Josi, Colton Sissons and Tanner Jeannot to lead this unit. Turn this area into a strength and the Predators will be a force to be reckon with both in the remainder of the regular seaosn and in the playoffs.

These are three improvements that can be made by a team that’s already playing extremely well and excelling in several key areas. But hey, it never hurts to keep striving to get better.