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New Season, Fresh Slate, But Same Struggles for the Nashville Predators?

By Kyle Fleming

Nashville Predators left wing Egor Afanasyev (70) celebrates his goal against the Calgary Flames during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Nashville Predators left wing Egor Afanasyev (70) celebrates his goal against the Calgary Flames during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /

Poor Power Play Performance

The 2022-2023 Nashville Predators power play, well, it sucked. Having a total of 250 power play opportunities and only scoring 44 goals for a 17.6% success rate is horrendous and pushed them back to 27th in the NHL.

When you look across the league, last year the NHL average power play percentage was 21.31%. The Edmonton Oilers led the way with 32.36% and the Philadelphia Flyers found themselves at the bottom of the league with 15.56%.

Seeing as how the Predators, during the 2021-22 season were ranked 6th on the man advantage and then one season later, fell to 27th in the league, definitely should have fans concerned.

Now part of the reason for this fall off is due to the large number of games missed by four top power play unit pieces. Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene, and Ryan Johansen all missed significant time last year.

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In saying that though, those four players combined for a total of 306 games played in the 2021-22 season and scored 48 power play goals for an average of .16 per game.

One season later, they combined for 243 games and only had 22 power play goals for a .09 average per game. So, even when they were in the game, they played at a much lower level than they had previously.

This season, the power play units will look significantly different with the Predators no longer having Duchene and Johansen. What would a top power play unit look like this season?

I think the Predators will go with a top power play unit of Josi, Forsberg, Thomas Novak, Juuso Parssinen, and Luke Evangelista. The mix of veterans and youthful speed and talent could potentially make an extremely dangerous top power play unit.

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