Looking Back at the Five Best Regular Seasons in Nashville Predators History
By Chad Minton
2014-15 Nashville Predators: 104 PTS, 2nd in Central Division
Leader in PTS: Filip Forsberg- 63
Leader in Goals: Filip Forsberg- 26
Starting Goalie: Pekka Rinne- 41 Wins, .923 SV%, 2.18 GAA, 4 Shutouts
The year a Nashville Predators legend really took off; Filip Forsberg. A player that is still propelling the Predators a decade later.
This was considered Forsberg's NHL rookie season even though he played in 18 games combined the previous two seasons. To this date it's still the best rookie campaign in Predators history, and no one has really come close.
Forsberg finished fourth in the Calder Trophy race, playing in all 82 regular season games, getting on the All-Rookie team while averaging over 17 minutes of ice time at 20-years-old.
This was also Roman Josi's second fulltime season in the NHL at age 24, recording 55 points and finishing 5th in the Norris Trophy voting. He hasn't looked back since.
As for Pekka Rinne, he was already well-established as the cornerstone of the Predators franchise. He would start in 64 games and finish second place in the Vezina Trophy voting.
This was Year 1 of Peter Laviolette as the franchise's second head coach after taking over for Barry Trotz. The team missed the playoffs the year before, and it was finally time to shift to a different philosophy.
Laviolette's system took many more risks on offense and pushed the pace more than what fans were used to up to that point in the franchise's history. The quick turnaround in the first year under Laviolette is impressive, and reminds me a little of what we're seeing now under Andrew Brunette in Year 1 of his tenure.
The Predators were very much carried by Pekka Rinne to get to 106 points this year. He had 43 quality starts and lost out to Carey Price for the Vezina Trophy.