The Nashville Predators plummeted in the standings last season, going an unattractive 30-44-8, finishing 30th in the league. Predators' General Manager Barry Trotz made a couple of moves this offseason in hopes of reeling the team back into postseason like they did a couple years back. He traded away some veterans in order to acquire 'younger' guys and made some signings to shape up the blueline.
Despite the healthy additions to the lineup, some analysts predict that Nashville's outcome will be relatively the same. The Preds face several questions heading into the new year, but three stand out as the most critical—they could determine the success or failure of the season.
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Trotz paid Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault big money to produce big time with the Predators. Both players put up 40+ goal seasons with their former squads before joining Nashville. Going into the season, fans thought both would continue performing to their elite goal-scoring-selves.
Rather than recording 40 goals each, the two of them combined for a grand total of 48 goals. It was this disappointment that resulted in the downfall of the Preds organization. The team had one of the worst offensive records in the league with 2.6 goals per game. Even though they had one of their worst career years on record respectively, they both showed some glimpses of their past.
Stamkos still manned the left side of the powerplay unit, and he managed to record 14 PPG which is about average for his standards. Marchessault had his best year on record on the powerplay as he concluded the season with 23 points on the man advantage. If they can continue this scoring along with amping scoring 5v5, Nashville should arguably be better.
Defenseman Brady Skjei was brought in to be a puck mover on the blueline who could also use his body to help out on D. Although Skjei might have put up a pretty average year point wise (33), he did not do much on defense. He had one of the lowest +/- with a -24. At $7M per year for the next 6 seasons, his performance needs to get better or else Nashville will own one of the worst contracts in the league for years to come.
The biggest question the team must answer is will the big guys, especially the expensive ones, perform like they're supposed. If they can't find a way to get it done, Trotz can't just give up on them and move them away because they're locked down for the rest of the decade. The three of them combined take up nearly a quarter of the team's cap hit. Nashville's future relies heavily on these three to get it done.