Nashville Predators: Three Players Who Can Benefit Most from Andrew Brunette
Turning Forsberg back into “ScoresBerg”
I’m going to start with the most obvious candidate in my mind to drastically benefit from Brunette’s hiring, and hopefully right out of the gate. That’s Filip Forsberg. A no-brainer for me.
Forsberg signed a massive 8-year, $68M contract in the summer of 2022 after concerns that the franchise’s most prolific forward in its history was going to leave in free agency. Although no one thinks the Predators front office got completely fleeced on this deal, it is imperative going into 2023-24 that Forsberg raises his level of offensive production to a new level.
This was following a career-year for Forsberg, and several other Predators players, the season before. A nasty head injury in February derailed Forsberg’s 2022-23 campaign, and now he’ll look to shake the rust off quickly under a new head coach in Brunette who should give Forsberg more opportunities to pile up the goals.
I’m looking for Forsberg to particularly feast on the power play with Brunette coming in. Although it will take gradual improvement, this team has improve greatly in this area and Forsberg needs to be the main contributor.
In 50 games last season before his injury, Forsberg had just four goals via the power play. In fact, he’s never really taken off in this area. Even in his record-setting 42-goal season in 2021-22, he had just 10 of those on the power play.
At the very least, I’m hoping to see Forsberg get back to double digit goals on the power play and help boost his overall numbers to that 40-goal mark now that Brunette is the bench boss.
Let’s Add a different “Phil” to the list
After Forsberg, the first player I naturally thought of this coaching change benefiting right out of the gate was Philip Tomasino.
Tomasino surprisingly didn’t even play half the amount of games in his second season in the NHL as he did his rookie season when he put up 32 points in 76 games. However, his point-per-game output did slightly improve from 0.42 to 0.58.
There’s going to be a lot of in-house competition for starting spots in training camp with Brunette looking to mold this lineup the way he sees fit. This means no one’s spot is safe, including the veterans, and also for Tomasino.
Tomasino started off the season, to the shock of many, in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals before eventually getting called up after Nashville went through so many injuries to their veterans, and also trades.
In Brunette’s more run-and-gun type of system that will benefit offensive players, Tomasino has a chance to really take off in his third year in the NHL. I’m unsure if he’ll immediately be in the starting lineup out of training camp, but I would expect Brunette to want him from the opening game.
I’m really looking for Tomasino’s assist numbers to spike up in Brunette’s system, and maybe he’ll even get some early looks on the power play. Needless to say, this is a major upcoming season for Tomasino to elevate to top-six status on a permanent basis.
The Captain is Ready to take back the Throne
For the insanely high standards of Roman Josi, last season was what you would call a “down year”. It was going to be very difficult for him to replicate what he did in 2021-22, and yet he still led the Nashville Predators in points with 59.
I’m sure Brunette is eager to get to work on how he can maximize the elite offensive skillset of Josi and get him back into Norris Trophy conversations.
Josi is best when he’s in transition, moving the puck and flipping the ice. Putting pressure on the defenders which opens up scoring chances for his linemates who are also on the offensive rush.
Too many times under Hynes, Josi just looked phased out and not able to use his offensive abilities. That should change with Brunette running things.
Furthermore, Josi is who he is. We know he’s not the most prototypical defense first type of defenseman. But with that, you also have to realize that the game has evolved into one of speed and transition, which Josi absolutely can dominate in with the best of the best in the NHL.
This is why I’m looking for Josi to really spike back up his offensive numbers under Brunette, and just as with Forsberg and Tomasino, much of this can come with a better power play.
It will not surprise me in the slightest if Josi has a huge bounce-back season in 2023-24 and pushes for Norris Trophy consideration again. That will hinge on how well the Nashville Predators perform in the standings, and there will be limitations on just how far this team can go in Year 1 for Brunette.
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Honorable Mention
Forsberg, Tomasino and Josi were just the three players that stand out the most, but there are others to mention as well.
I’m intrigued by where Luke Evangelista fits into Brunette’s lineup in what will be his second year in the NHL. Also due to the injury bug plaguing the Predators down the stretch, Evangelista’s number was called around the trade deadline and he looked ever so comfortable right from his debut.
We can’t leave Matt Duchene out without at least a mention. I’m not so sure that we haven’t already seen the peak of Duchene and if he’s on the downturn of his NHL career. Either way, it will be interesting to see if Brunette keeps the status quo or bumps Duchene down in ice time.
On the flip side, there’s some players who might not benefit at all or even be regressed with Brunette in over Hynes. Where does Cole Smith fit into a Brunette’s offensively aggressive system? Not sure if he fits in anywhere other than a rotational player.
Same goes for Dante Fabbro, and dare I say even Ryan Johansen? Does Johansen have enough left in the tank to be a reliable top-six player in a Brunette system? I’m not convinced of that, whereas in a Hynes system Johansen could probably stick around in the top-six due to his physicality, big body and veteran experience.
It will all make for appointment viewing when Nashville Predators training camp gets here in September.