Line 3: Juuso Parssinen — Tommy Novak — Denis Gurianov
This line is one where two of the three guys — Parssinen and Novak — are being placed in an unfair spot.
To be quite frank, Novak being placed on the third line seems like a slap in the face, as he played very well last year and is not going to get the top-six opportunity that many including myself think he deserves.
Even if Novak gets top-six time at several points throughout the year, he will have to battle with Cody Glass, and that is a battle that at least in the long term, Glass should win.
Parssinen’s case is less cut and dry, as his rookie season was less consistent than Novak’s, mainly due to an injury that shelved him for almost two months. That being said, his clear natural position is at center, so playing on the wing is far from ideal for him.
As tough as it is for the two guys in question, the Predators certainly will not complain about that being their third line. Not only do they get the luxury of two of their more promising young players in the bottom-six, but every player on this line has strengths that complement each other.
Parssinen is a forechecking machine and does so much hard work right in front of the net as well as behind it.
Novak is dangerous when he gets the puck on his stick in front of the net as well as having a pretty nice shot, so those two could get some nice goals as a result of simply outworking the opposition.
Gurianov was just signed, and has yet to truly harness his strengths at the NHL level. But with Novak and Parssinen being such effective players down low, it would open things up for Gurianov to really focus on his speed and powerful shot, giving him as good of an opportunity as he could want to make the most of his game.
Another thing that was challenging about this line was that Parssinen and Gurianov are both left-handed, but Parssinen would make more sense playing on the left side. He can forecheck effectively on either wing, but the nature of the slap-shot would make Gurianov a better fit on the right side.