Nashville Predators: Projecting the Starting Lineup if Season Started Today

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.

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.

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.