Two Budding Superstars are Rounding into Form for Nashville Predators

The Nashville Predators have seen two more young prospects budding into determined NHL forwards with Cody Glass and Juuso Pärssinen.

Glass and Pärssinen, two prototypical centerman, have been exuding confidence with their opportunities in Nashville this season.

Since the 2013 draft, the Nashville Predators have drafted 69 players. Only 19 of them have skated in at least one NHL game. In the last five seasons, prospects Pärssinen, Philip Tomasino, and goalie Yaroslav Askarov have skated for the Predators.

Looking back, Glass was selected sixth overall in 2017 by the Vegas Golden Knights, while Pärssinen was taken with Nashville’s final pick in the seventh round of 2019 .

Nashville Predators Leaning on Pärssinen and Glass More and More

Head Coach John Hynes has gone back to both Pärssinen and Glass given their efforts through the 44 games played this season. General Manager David Poile has enjoyed what he’s seen from Pärssinen since being called up.

“There’s a little bit of good scouting and good luck I guess,”  “He really has the determination to play and we saw that when we brought him over to Milwaukee at the end of last year. At training camp, he was just terrific. He went from a boy to a man pretty quickly. We felt that the road to Nashville is always through Milwaukee.”- David Poile Told 102.5 The Game

Pärssinen tied the Nashville Predators rookie point streak on Monday evening picking up his ninth point in seven games. He tied Filip Forsberg’s record that was set in 2014.

Forsberg had 13 points in seven games played. Parssinen’s seven-game point streak ended on Tuesday evening against Columbus.

“He looks like the real thing, size strength and he’s got the big engine,” Poile said to 102.5 The Game in Nashville. “He certainly looks like a player who can fit into our top six very soon, and for sure a guy we would want to build around in the future.”

The longest point streak belongs to J.P. Dumont who scored a point in 16-straight contests back in 2007.

Glass has been a Swiss army knife for Hynes this season. He has picked up 10 points in his last 15 games. He’s mainly been playing alongside Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund. In his last three games, he has been skating with Forsberg and Matt Duchene and had time on the power play.

“Being more loose, I think that’s a big thing, I was stressed out at the beginning of the year,” Glass said Tuesday night. “Training camp I had a bunch of cameras around me. I was just putting a lot of pressure on myself and the guys have done a really good job talking to me and putting me at ease.”

Glass’ goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets came on a pass by Forsberg but appeared to be intended for Dante Fabbro. Glass caught the puck on his backhand and in one motion ripped a shot past Daniil Tarasov.

Since joining the Predators, Glass spent a whole season in Milwaukee scoring 62 points in 66 games. He earned a few call-ups to Nashville, but it came to this most recent training camp when he broke through to the NHL.

“Earlier in the year Hynes tried Glass higher in the lineup and it seemed to be too rich for him at the time,” Poile said. “He seems to just be getting more confident the more we play him and the more games he gets some equal play on the powerplay.”

Glass’ confidence has risen as the season has gone on and now he’s tied his career-high in goals with five. It’ll only be time until he passes his career best.

Tomasino is still in the AHL and former head coach Barry Trotz said on the Predators Official Podcast that he’d rather take more time on someone in the minors in order to develop.

“For me to overcook a player in the minors is probably better, when they come up they’re more capable of dealing with the emotion of success or no success,” Trotz said. “Once a player gets into the league, emotionally when you have to send them back after a year in the NHL everyone wonders what happened.”

Tomasino has 25 points in 28 games this season with the Admirals. Pärssinen played 10 games in the AHL until he was called up to the Predators.

“They’re ready when they’re ready not when we want them ready, and that’s why the development of young players is so crucial if you’re going to have a good franchise,” Trotz said.