Top 5 Players Who Have Outperformed Preseason Expectations for Nashville Predators
You can make a case for nearly every player on the Predators outperforming expectations to some degree, but these five stick out the most for a team performing way ahead of schedule.
#5: Ryan O'Reilly- 4 Goals Shy of a Career High
The first overachiever on my list is Ryan O'Reilly, "The Factor". He was a surprise free agency acquisition in 2023, and shifted away from the youth movement everyone thought was in full force.
The reservations about bringing O'Reilly in was his age and him being injured for so much of the previous season. Were the Predators just signing another veteran who was well past their prime?
As for myself at the time, I was thrilled to see the Predators bring in such an accomplished locker room presence and leader to Nashville. I looked at it as a blending in a healthy balance of veterans and young talent.
As much as I always loved the addition from the beginning, I didn't foresee O'Reilly pushing career high totals and having so much success on the power play with Filip Forsberg. And he has come up with an epic nickname for his two linemates, Forsberg and Nyquist. "The Swedish Meatballs".
Will be calling Gus + Fil the Swedish meatballs from now on pic.twitter.com/J8CVJtjfdf
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) March 27, 2024
O'Reilly has 14 power play goals which good for top-10 in the NHL. He needs four goals in the last 10 games, certainly doable, to set a career high in goals for a season at age 33. That would be remarkable in his first year with a new team that was looked at as a rebuild
The overall conservative expectations was that O'Reilly would be at most around a 50ish point scorer. But performing at a similar level to the season he won the Conny Smythe for the St. Louis Blues? Very few saw that coming.
O'Reilly can hit the 70-point mark in his first season in Nashville. Incredible stuff. And that would only be the seventh different player in franchise history to reach that milestone. Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg have each reached 70-plus points twice.
4. Kiefer Sherwood-Career Highs in PTS, Goals, Asst, Games Played
I can't leave Kiefer Sherwood off this list because quite honestly I wasn't even sure he'd be in this starting lineup in 2023-24, much less go on to be a vital peice to the depth and setting career highs.
Sometimes it's so great to misjudge and be wrong. This is one of those cases. I'll never doubt you again, Kiefer.
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Seriously, the guy just never takes his foot off the pedal. He is a prime example of earning every minutes of ice time you get. He has found a lot of success playing on the tone setter line with Michael McCarron and Cole Smith. They start the game on the opening faceoff to quickly establish that physicality.
Two of the top four line combinations for the Predators in terms of Expected Goals Per 60 Minutes features Sherwood. The Sherwood/McCarron/Smith line is just narrowly behind Forsberg's top line, which is just insane to think about.
You can't dive deep into this 18-game point streak without first giving massive kudos to Sherwood and his linemates. And to Brunette for identifying and sticking with it. This line combo is up to 180 minutes of ice time together, and you better believe they'll be together in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
3. Michael McCarron- Career Highs in All Major Categories
Similar to the preseason sentiment around Sherwood, it was unclear what Michael McCarron's future held with Head Coach John Hynes out and the much more offensively-minded Andrew Brunette stepping in. Would McCarron be able to prove himself to be a valuable asset with the new regime?
McCarron didn't even start the season off in the starting lineup. He made his season debut against the Rangers on October 19 and became a mainstay in the starting lineup in mid-November.
McCarron has shown noticeable improvement in his offensive game. He's not just some big bodied bruiser that fights and provides a physical presence. He's still that too, but now he's actually got some bonus offense he can provide.
Enjoying a 14.3 shooting percentage, McCarron has 11 goals and has long surpassed his career high for shots on goal. He's up to 77 on the season, and he's also proving to be an asset in the faceoff circle winning 51.9 percent of the time.
McCarron has been a huge surprise asset to this team, and will be massive (literally) in a seven-game playoff series. I wasn't even sure he would ever be more than a spot starter here and there, but he has overcome that notion to become an everyday starter.
2. Colton Sissons- 6th on the team in PTS with 34 (Career High)
Sissons was always underappreciated by the casual fans, but he has clearly benefited from Brunette's more fast paced system. Going from a fourth line glue guy to being sixth on the team in points and setting a career high at 30-years-old is a great surprise.
What is more impressive about Sissons' offensive outburst is how much his linemates have changed throughout the season. He played a lot of his time with now departed Yakov Trenin, and also saw time with the younger talents in this organization who are currently not even in the starting lineup with Cody Glass, Juuso Parssinen and Philip Tomasino.
Sissons just knows his role and has even outperformed that role if you ask me. Now he seems to have a really good line for himself playign alongside Jason Zucker. An awesome match for the playoffs, and we'll have to see if Anthony Beauvillier sticks on that line or if Glass can work his way back in.
With 10 games left, Sissons is building onto his already career high of 34 points. He's also averaging the highest amount of ice time in his NHL career at 16:48 per game, up nearly two minutes above his career average.
1. Gustav Nyquist- Career High in PTS at Age 34
Exploding for 65 points and a career high at age 34 is just incredible stuff. Especially considering this free agency acquisition by the Predators was very "meh" at the time. No one really bashed it, but there wasn't much hype around it, either.
There was a lot of curiosity surrounding where Nyquist would even fit it among the youth movement and not wanting to take away valuable lineup spots from Tomasino, Novak, Evangelista, etc.
After a few games of working the kinks out with the lineup, Brunette brilliantly moved Nyquist to the top line with O'Reilly and Forsberg and now it's one of the most efficient top lines in the NHL.
In fact the O'Reilly top line for Nashville has the second-most minutes played together among all forward lines in the NHL, with only the Rangers' top line having more.
It's fair to say that if Brunette doesn't ever find this match with Nyquist, or he waits to late or doesn't stick with it, then we're not seeing the Forsberg having the year he's having and O'Reilly having the year he's having. Nyquist stirs the drink, if you will.
I drastically undervalued the Nyquist signing. He has been such a major surprise, and the national NHL analysts are noticing that as well.
Nyquist drives this offense in his transition game. His skating is so effortless and smooth. There is no doubt in my mind that the Predators aren't here without Nyquist. In fact, they're probably a non-playoff team. That's why he tops my list of overperformers on this team that's full of them.
For honorable mention, I realize I left Jeremy Lauzon off which wasn't easy. He comes close and is definitely overperforming his expectations, but not as much as the others because I had reasonable faith that he would be at the very least a heavy hitther for this Predators team, and he certainly has been that and much more.
Cole Smith is another worthy honorable mention to be on this list. The others on this team who are having great seasons were much more expected.