Looking at the Five Best Individual Seasons in Nashville Predators History
Kariya Comes to Nashville as Biggest Free Agent at the Time
The first major free agent to ever choose the Nashville Predators, who at the time had just made the playoffs once in their short existence, was Paul Kariya. And he wasted no time becoming an offensive wizard for this club.
Kariya joined the Predators franchise in the offseason of 2005 on a two-year, $9M contract. A huge deal at the time that put the league on notice that the Predators were on the rise.
The 85 points that Kariya amassed still sits third on the franchise all-time list for a single season, and playing in all 82 games was an iron man accomplishment on its own that’s worth applauding.
With Kariya’s added offensive scoring punch, the Predators surged to 106 points during that regular season and finished second in the Central Division, but well behind the dynasty Detroit Red Wings with 124 points.
Hey, at least we have this memory, although from 2007, of Kariya scoring on
in a shootout. Wicked, and Kariya was built for shootout goals that made the highlight reels:
Even so, the Predators had certainly graduated from being a punching bag expansion team in a small market. And Kariya played a key role in that.
Kariya also had 14 power play goals, tied for 2nd-most in franchise history for a single season, and also had 54 assists, which stood tall until Roman Josi‘s passed him in 2021-22.
Coming up on two decades ago, Kariya’s offensive output during that day and age of the NHL is impressive and will always be one of the better individual seasons in Nashville Predators history.
Forsberg Has Career Year and Becomes All-Time Franchise Goal Leader
What a year 2021-22 was for several Predators, and for Filip Forsberg, his best in the NHL.
Fittingly, going into his final year of his contract, Forsberg put the franchise on notice to not let him walk in free agency in the offseason of 2022. It was an uneasy situation after Forsberg wasn’t traded, and the front office rolled the dice on negotiating a new contract for him in the summer.
Forsberg finished 2021-22 with 84 points in just 69 games. That currently sits as the highest point-per-game output in franchise history with players playing at least 30 games.
Can Forsberg Repeat his Breakout 2021-22 Campaign?. light. Related Story
Imagine where Forsberg may have finished if he could’ve played in all 82 games? He would’ve been in Roman Josi territory, and may have even made a hard push for the 100-point milestone.
Either way, it was a historical season for Forsberg that also included eight game-winning goals, just one shy of his own franchise record of nine set in 2016-17.
Forsberg would also finished with career highs in shots (1,249), shooting percentage (18.6), and points on the power play with 27.
The 84 points sits as fourth-highest in a single season in franchise history and one shy of Kariya’s mark, but in 13 fewer games than Kariya.
Rinne Begins to Take the NHL by Storm in 2010
It was Pekka Rinne‘s third full season in the NHL, and everyone around the league was starting to realize this young, Finnish goalie was one to be reckoned with and the cornerstone of the Nashville Predators becoming a superb playoff contender.
Now this decision was really difficult because Rinne has two years you can say belong on this list, and you’re probably thinking I’m insane right now for not choosing his 2018 Vezina Trophy season. But hear me out.
Quality Starts basically weight against the average save percentage for that year, meaning almost always Rinne was better than the league average in save percentage in 2010-11. It’s an important metric for me.
Rinne, despite his 22 regulation losses in 2010-11, put up his personal bests in save percentage (.930) and GAA (2.12) while also recording six shutouts and posting 43 Quality Starts. He also came up 2nd in the Vezina voting of 2011, getting six first place votes and coming up 20 votes shy of the winner Tim Thomas.
Now although that particular season the Nashville Predators weren’t the worst team in producing offense, they certainly were in the bottom half at 21st. Also, they didn’t take advantage on the power play ranking 26th, which being better in those two areas would’ve improved Rinne’s win-loss record.
Going to Rinne’s Vezina Trophy season of 2017-18, he started five fewer games while representing a President’s Trophy winning team. Not to take anything away from Rinne’s Vezina campaign which was epic, but the team around him was so much better than Rinne’s team in 2010-11.
Rinne did post eight shutouts (career high) in 2017-18, but his GAA at 2.31 was slightly higher than 2010-11, but of course still nothing to scoff at.
Really, you can’t go wrong with choosing either one, but I’m going with 2010-11 as being slightly more impressive. Unfortunately, Rinne did struggle mightily in both playoff campaigns of those years, but we’re doing this list based primarily on regular season performances.
Duchene Earns His Money for Nashville, At Least for One Year
Let’s go back to that enormous 2021-22 year for the Nashville Predators that saw so many players decide to have breakout offensive performances.
Matt Duchene already had 100 regular season games in a Predators sweater but gave very underwhelming results in terms of offensive production at well below a point-per-game level.
With so much criticism surrounding Duchene, he decides to erupt for a career high 86 points, which was 16 better than his previous career high of 70 points, done twice.
What’s really interesting is 2021-22 started off more of the same for Duchene, only recording one points in the first five games. Then he proceeded to notch 15 points in his next 10 games, and the race was on.
Duchene’s 86 points sits second-highest for a single season in Nashville Predators history, while his 16 power play goals for that year sits as the most in franchise history. The Predators power play surged to sixth in the NHL and finished with 97 points in the standings. Still only good for fifth in a stacked Central Division.
Additionally, Duchene finished with six game-winning goals, three overtimes goals, and has the third-highest Points Per 60 metric in Predators history, only trailing Forsberg and Steve Sullivan. Pure and utter efficiency.
Duchene may be off to Dallas in an unexpected buyout, but his 2021-22 season will forever live in Nashville Predators infamy.
The Captain Takes his Thrown in Nashville Predators History
Well, we might as well stay in the infamous 2021-22 breakout campaign for individual performances by the Nashville Predators.
Roman Josi had one of the best offensive seasons from a defenseman in around 40 years in the NHL. And yet still fell just shy of the Norris Trophy to Cale Makar. But we’ll leave that alone.
Josi’s 96 points sits atop the franchise all-time list for points in a single season, and I’m not sure anyone on this current roster will ever break that. Maybe Forsberg has one more go of it, or perhaps Josi can take a run at his own record.
Diving into Josi’s historic numbers, he played in 80 games, recorded 37 of his 96 points on the power play, and also set a new franchise record for assists in a season with 73. That record was previously owned by Paul Kariya (2005-06) with 54.
Another interesting new Predators record set by Josi was shots on goal with 281, and with the next closest in that category being Patric Hornqvist 275 in 2009-10.
It got to the point of greed that I wanted Josi to finish at the 100-point milestone, but watching him pile up the points during that year was some of the most joy I’ve ever had following this Predators team for two-plus decades.
Honorable Mention Candidates
-Steve Sullivan (2005-06): Joining Kariya’s outstanding year, Sullivan was extremely efficient with 68 in 69 games and held the highest Point-Per-Game average in Predators history up until 2021-22.
– J.P. Dumont (2007-08): How can we forget the fan favorite J.P. Dumont? Still has a top-10 record in points for a season with 72 in 80 games. A balanced offensive player with 29 goals and 43 assists, and before the Predators had broken past the 1st Round of the playoffs.
– Juuse Saros (2020-21): Saros finally graduated and took the mantle from Pekka Rinne during this year, and impressively stood tall with a .927 save percentage and a 2.28 GAA. Both just shy of Pekka’s personal career highs set in 2010-11. Saros also added 3 shutouts and finished 6th in the Vezina Trophy voting.