Five Players Who Have Been Vital in Keeping Nashville Predators Afloat
It’s hard to wrap your mind around how the Nashville Predators have made it to the final 10 games of the regular season with playoff hopes, although small, still intact.
After last night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, those playoff hopes took a major blow. Even still, the fact they’ve remained even relevant is a mini miracle of sorts.
What has been the key to defying the odds after heavy selling at the trade deadline and crushing injuries? I think we can use the old sports motto of “next one up” mentality and everyone doing their job.
The Predators have suddenly used a strong defensive game, and of course stellar goaltending from Juuse Saros, to hold opponents to low goal totals in a majority of their recent games during a stretch when many thought the Predators would finally cave in and fall completely out of contention.
It hasn’t happened yet, and the Predators will be playing meaningful hockey games going into April, with their next game of a huge magnitude against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday as they return home to Bridgestone Arena.
Let’s take a look at my five players who have been most impactful to keeping the Nashville Predators afloat through all of the roster turnover.
Tommy Novak (5th on Team in Points with 34 in 43 Games)
Without a doubt, Novak has to be on this list first and foremost. He hasn’t missed a beat and has become the most consistent offensive driver for the Predators after the injury loss of Filip Forsberg way back in mid-February.
Effectively, Novak has done a commendable job at filling in the void of Forsberg’s absence. Now, of course, Novak isn’t on the superstar level of Forsberg, but at least he has made up for a good chunk of that missed production.
For all of the flaws the Predators have presented on offense, at least Novak has been there to provide the spark. He has a current stretch going of 11 points in the last 11 games while increasing his average ice time from 11:48 his rookie season to 14:05 this season.
Novak has also produced some commendable production on the power play with four goals and four assists. Without him picking everything up so seamlessly when called upon, the Predators would’ve been dead in the water weeks ago.
Ryan McDonagh (2nd on Team in Blocks with 139)
Getting McDonagh back from injury gave the Predators a stroke of good fortune on the injury front. With Roman Josi being out, McDonagh has become the veteran leader for this team.
McDonagh has caught some flack for not being as good as advertised in his first season, but I have to strongly disagree with that sentiment. Sure, he hasn’t lit up the box score with points, but he’s never been that type of offensive defensemen in his entire NHL career.
McDonagh has been a stabilizing force, especially as of late, in keeping the Predators in games despite not providing a lot of goal support.
If McDonagh hadn’t been able to return to the lineup, I’m not confident the Predators could’ve sustained that. Considering that McDonagh basically landed in the lap of the Predators in the offseason, it’s proven to be a major difference-maker at remaining in the playoff hunt this late in the season.
Cody Glass (6th on Team in Points with 30, Career High)
Turns out Glass just needed the opportunity to show he can be a reliable everyday NHL center, and has he ever delivered despite everything that’s happened around him.
If for some reason Glass didn’t take this leap forward in his NHL career, then the Predators are not only way out of the playoff picture, but are probably flirting down towards the bottom of the division with Chicago and Arizona.
Glass playing top-six minutes at center has given me enormous optimism that he’ll remain there going into 2023-24, with the question looming on what will eventually happen with Ryan Johansen.
It’s important to remember that it was never a given that Glass was going to be fully ready for top-six minutes on a regular basis going into his first full season of NHL hockey at age 23. He could’ve had another setback and not responded well to top-six minutes, and that would’ve no doubt kept the Predators from even remaining in the hunt.
Let’s see if Glass can finish off the regular season on a strong note. He has handled the pressure very well with so many veterans around him either being traded away or injured.
Colton Sissons (27 Points, 3 Away from Tying Career High)
I’ve been saying for years that Sissons is vastly underappreciated, and now more than ever we need to be thankful he’s around.
I had Sissons as a possible trade piece back leading up to the trade deadline, but I’m glad the Predators brass decided to hold onto him. On a team currently with very little veteran experience and going through the growing pains, Sissons’ value is higher than ever.
Sissons is the Swiss army knife. He does so many little things that go unnoticed. His biggest value that has come to light in recent weeks as the Predators penalty kill has become so reliable is his clutch ability at winning faceoffs in the defensive zone and not allowing opposing power plays to set up.
Overall in the faceoff circle Sissons has a 53.3 percent win rate. And then there’s his quiet and methodical leadership. He has captain qualities all over him and has been leaned on in the bottom-six through all of this adversity.
Sissons still has a chance to establish career highs, in his ninth year in the NHL, in points (30) and assists (21).
Furthermore, showing his ironman trait, Sissons has played in all 74 games for the Nashville Predators this season. The only player on the team to do that. In a season clouded by so many injuries, Sissons has remained the constant to be leaned on.
Juuse Saros (2nd in Goals Saved Above Expected in NHL)
Saros will be a shoe-in to get a Vezina Trophy nomination for a second consecutive year at the NHL Awards in Nashville this summer, and even though he’ll almost certainly come up short to Boston’s Linus Ullmark, what a season it’s been for Juice.
I would have to turn in my Predators fandom card if I left Saros off of this list. It would be blasphemous. Simply put, the Predators are a lottery team picking in the top-10 without Saros between the pipes.
Even though Kevin Lankinen has been a quality backup and deserves to be a No.1 goalie on an NHL team, this team only goes as far as Saros can take them. Just take the most recent loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. A 2-0 loss, no offense at all being generated, and yet Saros gave his team a chance to win deep into the third period.
Saros probably has six more starts left for the 2022-23 season, with two back-to-backs where Lankinen will get the starts. It will be close, but there’s still a chance that Saros in fewers games than last season will establish a career high for saves in a season.
With very little goal production around him, Saros has managed to mirror his Vezina worthy numbers from last season. Pretty incredible feat.
It takes no stretch of the imagination to understand that the Nashville Predators will always be a playoff bubble team at worst as long as Saros is in net. If they can build a team around him, which it looks like they’re doing, then this team can hopefully move quickly through this “retool” period and get back to competing for deep playoff runs.