Nashville Predators: Projecting the Starting Lineup if Season Started Today

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The Nashville Predators have, so far, had quite the offseason. Big needs have been addressed, with the biggest easily being the inking of a new 8-year deal for Filip Forsberg.

At this point, we are starting to get a clearer picture of what the lineup will be on opening night. It’s a team with a few major new pieces, but also many of the same key players that the team leaned on last season.

Training camp and preseason will give us more clarity on how the lines will be constructed, but for now, let’s make some projection here in late July.

Here, I’ll take a look at what that might look like if the 2022-23 season started today.

(Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images) /

The Forward Lines

Let’s start with the forward lines. The first line seems like a no brainer with Forsberg-Granlund-Duchene, as that line sparked the 40+ goal seasons Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene had.

Mikael Granlund has been interchanged with Ryan Johansen, and Forsberg and Duchene have still produced with him centering the two as both centers know how to feed them the puck.

Forsberg and Duchene always looked like they were just having fun with each other, and splitting them up just seems like it will limit their production. I mean, just look at this give-and-go play from the pair last season.

The second line is a little tricky, but if I’m Head Coach John Hynes, I’m going with Tomasino-Johansen-Niederreiter.

Philip Tomasino is due for a promotion, and he showed glimpses of brilliance last season when moved up to the top two lines.

Nino Niederreiter was picked up in free agency, and is a solid winger who can provide depth scoring for the team. You could also experiment with moving Mikael Granlund to this line with Niederreiter, as the two have some chemistry from playing with each other with the Minnesota Wild some years ago.

I would absolutely experiment with the two centers, and see if Granlund provides a spark to the second line while Johansen centers Forsberg and Duchene.

As for the third line, what else needs to be said about “The Herd?” I see Hynes keeping together this line with Trenin-Sissions-Jeannot being the Preds’ identity line, as they always get it done with the physicality.

Tanner Jeannot is now feared amongst the league, and racked up 318 hits during the last season. Yakov Trenin should return, although he has filed for arbitration as reported by Alex Daugherty of AtoZ Sports, but I see the Nashville Predators front office signing him before that can take place.

Both Jeannot and Trenin bring the intensity and depth scoring, with 41 and 24 points, respectively. Finish it off with a seasoned veteran in Colton Sissons centering the two and, well, if you watched any Nashville Predators hockey last season, you know what this line brings.

Yakov Trenin has filed for arbitration. Not much of a surprise, his case probably requires 3rd party input. #Preds
— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) July 17, 2022

Now for the fourth line. This one feels like it’ll be a young guns line, and I’m picking Novak-Glass-Tolvanen.

Cody Glass had quite the season for the Milwaukee Admirals, putting up 62 points. Glass has seemed to develop quite well, and recently got signed for one year as a “prove it” deal.

Eeli Tolvanen has fallen off a bit, and a part of me feels like he still has a lot to give and can hopefully find his stride. Heck, he did produce on a line with Glass during the playoffs, and while he may be down to the fourth line, I think he just needs a fresh new season to find his scoring ways once more.

Novak is an interesting case here. He’s a natural center, so I’m not sure how well he’d do playing wing. I’d give it a try, as he’d be great on the fourth line. He put up 34 points with the Admirals in the AHL, perfect for a player on the fourth line.

If that doesn’t work, you could also experiment with Cole Smith, who put up 41 points with Milwaukee. Whatever the case, the left wing is still in question.

The Defensive Pairs and Starting Goaltender

Now for the defensive pairs. Roman Josi will obviously play on the first pairing, as he easily clocks in around 20+ minutes of ice time on most nights.

Usually, Dante Fabbro is paired with him, but with the Preds trading for Ryan McDonagh earlier in the offseason, I see him getting the call to play with Josi.

While yes, both are left-handed defensemen, McDonagh is interchangeable in that department and I see him logging top minutes with Josi as he is a solid defenseman who will play top-four minutes.

As for the second pairing, Hynes should stick with Ekholm-Carrier. Alexandre Carrier is a promising defenseman who had a rather solid season last year. It mostly went under the radar however due to multiple career years from the likes of Josi, Forsberg, and Duchene.

Mattias Ekholm had more of a down year, but is still solid defensively and deserves to be in a top-four role.

For the bottom pairing, I’m going with Lauzon-Fabbro. The Nashville Predators clearly believe in Jeremy Lauzon, signing him to an extension earlier in the offseason, and has proven to be a solid defensive depth piece that plays to the physical identity Hynes loves.

Fabbro is down here because he needs to be an active player, but there isn’t really any room for him on the top-four anymore. While a weird pairing, this is about the best you can do to make sure both Lauzon and Fabbro are, rightfully, in the lineup.

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For the starting goaltender, I mean, come on. It would be none other than 2022-23 Vezina FInalist Juuse Saros. Saros took over the crease during the 2020-2021 season, and has proven to be a top goaltender in the NHL.

Saros’ main signature is his lateral movement, and he can go post-to-post in nearly an instant. Make no mistake, the crease belongs to Saros, and he will have a bit of workload off of him with a rather solid Kevin Lankinen.

While only having a .891 save percentage and 3.50 GAA during the 2021-22 season, I attribute that more to the horrendous Blackhawks team that was playing in front of Lankinen.

Even in 2020-21, Lankinen posted a .909 save percentage and 3.01 GAA. Lankinen is a solid backup to Juuse Saros, which will be vital in keeping Nashville’s star goaltender healthy.

And that about sums it up for my picks for the 2022-23 starting lineup! This team has undoubtedly gotten better this offseason, and I’m excited to see what the new personnel will bring to the team. The countdown is on to October and to see what this new Nashville Predators roster is made of.

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