Nashville Predators: Five Storylines Heading into 2023 All Star Break
By Chad Minton
Glass and Parssinen Keep Rising to More Important Roles
Cody Glass and Juuso Parssinen have answered the call from Head Coach John Hynes as young core players vital to the team only being one point out of a playoff spot.
Let’s start with Glass; His grasp of being a top-six center in his first significant season of NHL playing time is pretty amazing to watch unfold.
Glass played in 39 games his rookie season with Vegas in 2019-20 as a former sixth overall draft pick. He averaged 13:22 of ice time that year and is actually averaging slightly less this current season with the Predators, but has already easily surpassed his point total in fewer games.
As it pertains to the previous storyline of the offense showing improvement, Glass obviously plays a key role in this. Can he continue to stay at the same level of play and even improve even more as the season progresses? I think that’s very probable.
As for Parssinen, no one knew just how ready he would be when he was put into the starting lineup on November 12 against the New York Rangers and lighting the lamp just five minutes into his first NHL game. Just incredible stuff.
Parssinen is now in rare company among the franchise’s rookie seasons with 21 points in his first 34 NHL games:
Per @PR_NHL: Juuso Parssinen now has 21 points (5g-16a) in his first 34 GP. Among players to debut with the Predators, only three rookies have recorded their first 20 NHL points in fewer games: Craig Smith (25 GP), Alexander Radulov (29 GP) and Filip Forsberg (32 GP).
— Nashville Predators PR (@PredsPR) January 27, 2023
Much like Glass, the question after the All-Star break is can Parssinen keep this up or will he hit a speedbump in the road? It’s entirely possible, but one that I’m not sure the Predators can afford to sustain. They need both Glass and Parssinen, two very young players with more developing left to accomplish, to remain at a very high level with important roles as centers.