Peter Laviolette and Kevin McCarthy are out. Dan Muse and Dan Lambert are seemingly still in. Ryan Johansen, Matt Duchene, Mikael Granlund and a host of others can check their bank accounts and smirk… …then give the Nashville press photocopied pages from the Book of Hockey Clichés, which can be regurgitated and spit out to a fan base that wouldn’t know bullshit if it was served up deep-fried with a catfish remoulade.
The problem here was only partially Laviolette, his staff and systems. I found fault with him for the better part of his tenure, but who could argue with the myriad of banners that were being raised after so many years of futility? From A (Arvidsson) to Z (Zolnierczyk) it was not hard to find fault at every turn. It took close to two full seasons before Viktor Arvidsson was elevated to special teams play, despite exhibiting a scorer’s touch and a mad desire to keep his feet moving in the offensive zone. It was painful to watch Laviolette’s favoritism with players he had previously trusted in his other NHL coaching stops (among them included fringe bubble guys like Harry Z, Rinaldo, Matt Carle) while young prospects with decidedly greater upside continued to fail in limited roles.
He wanted a “#1 center,” and was willing to roll the dice on Poile shipping future superstar defenseman Seth Jones off to Columbus for spoiled malcontent Ryan Johansen. While Johansen had given the Jackets fits with his less than passionate play, a change of scenery would give him a chance to exemplify leadership, while showcasing his obviously elite vision teaming up with Preds snipers like Filip Forsberg. But, Johansen, then signed to an 8 year, $8M contract continued to frustrate more often than not. Sure, he led the team in assists, but his point totals were far lower than other pivots being paid top-dollar, and given maximum ice time. Hell, even troubled (and troubling) Mike Ribiero put up better numbers than Johansen during his tenure as top center in Laviolette’s first season in Smashville. Aside from a handful of post-season games and the odd shift in the regular season, Johansen has floated through much of his time in the Laviolette-era, choosing to take the path of least resistance in terms of his positioning and willingness to play in those “dirty areas” that you hear analysts discuss on hockey broadcasts, podcasts and news programs. He has nice hair, a ruddy complexion, a goofy sense-of-humor, and LLCoolJoey! It’s not enough for real hockey fans. The veil of invisibility is worn far too often!
He (Laviolette) inherited other pieces of the bigger puzzle, like streaky American-born winger, Craig Smith. A speedy forward who, if he had any puck-luck at all, would be a perennial 35-40 goal scorer based on the myriad of chances he seems to get night in and night out, has turned in five 20+ goal campaigns, enduring only one seeason long slump (2016-17) when he only lit the lamp 12 times in the regular season. Smith started out painfully slow this season, but thanks to a recent hot streak, has 10 goals during the first half of the 2019-20 campaign and will most probably add a sixth 20 goal season to his resume. The 30 year old will be a free agent at season’s end and could be a reasonable deadline day acquisition for a playoff-bound club.
The team entered this year buoyed with the optimism that in addition to top center Johansen, the team was adding a second man down the middle with Matt Duchene signing a Johansen-like “8 and 8” year deal. Duchene had been rumored to favor Nashville for some time, and his resumé had recently tacked on stops in Ottawa and Columbus after he made a splash in Colorado with the Avalanche. While the acquisition of Duchene meant the inevitable subtraction of dynamic defenseman P.K. Subban (dealt to New Jersey in a lopsided salary dump, netting the Predatos a prospect, Jeremy Davies, and a suspect, Steve Santini), it was the loss on the blueline that helped unravel the Preds usual reliable play in its own end. Compound erratic defensive play with the equally erratic play and production of Duchene, who shared center stage with the enigmatic Johansen, and suddenly role players like Colton Sissons, Nick Bonino, Rocco Grimaldi and Austin Watson started providing more and more moments of reliability up front, despite the stubborn Laviolette refusing to use his seconday forwards in primary (read: special teams/power play) roles!
Of course you could throw the weeks-long scratching of proven NHL forward Kyle Turris (in favor of the forgettable Mathieu Olivier, and two tours of duty for “former AHL MVP” Daniel Carr) onto the fire, as well as the baffling lack of production from Mikael Granlund, who cost Nashville young Kevin Fiala in return. Only bargain-bin forward Calle Jarnkrok, who faced the uphill battle of escaping the wrath of Preds fans when GM David Poile correctly allowed forward James Neal to be plucked by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft after the team had advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals in the spring of 2017, opting to keep the more reasonably priced and versatile Jarnkrok over Neal who seemingly wears out his welcome in NHL dressing rooms with the same frequency that zambonis seem to resurface the ice between periods. Neal went on to a reasonably solid season in Nevada, as the Knights also advanced to the Finals in their maiden season, but he was not offered a long-term deal by the club at season’s end, was signed by Calgary, where he endured an absolutely miserable 2018-19 season, and was subsequently dealt to Edmonton for over-paid enforcer Milan Lucic. Neal started the 2019-20 season in super hot fashion, but also in true-Neal fashion has levelled off and not maintained his torrid pace. Jarnkrok, meanwhile, is on pace to more than double his output from last season (currently on pace for a 24 goal, 54 point season, after a disappointing 10-16-26 line last year.)
On the blueline, we’ve documented the subtraction of Subban, so former defenseman Laviolette (actually, Lavi, McCarthy, Muse and Lambert ALL played on the back end during their playing days) was dealing from a position of weakness for the first time during his tenure with the Predators. It was realistic to expect solid play from nine-year veterans Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis. Both players are dynamic offensive defensemen, and both appeared to be in great health coming into the season. Ellis, who had been plagued by injury over the past few seasons, had scored 21 goals for the 16-17 team (16 regular season, 5 playoff goals) but missed half the 17-18 campaign following knee surgery. Still, Ellis returned in time to post 9 goals in 44 regular season games and he went into 18-19 optimistic he could improve on his already solid stats. Unfortunately, he took a step back last season as it was Subban missing 19 games due to back injury that put undue pressure on Ellis to pick up the minutes and no longer play in more protected situations, and the lack of depth began to show by season’s end. This season, the team had Ellis and Josi paired, leaving reliable defenseman Mattias Ekholm to work with first year pro, Dante Fabbro. While Fabbro came out of a stellar Boston University hockey program (he completed three seasons at BU, opting to turn pro with one year of college eligibility remaining,) it was unrealistic to expect the 21-year-old BC native to step into a top 4 defensive role without experiencing a “learning curve” of sorts. Poile’s inability to acquire a sold top 4 guy to slot in along side the top 3, allowing Fabbro a more reasonable workload on the third pairing caused more than a few problems for Nashville during the first half of the season. Throw onto the fire that the team hadn’t made firm commitments to the play of journeymen like Matt Irwin, Dan Hamhuis and Yannick Weber, along with not showing much confidence in AHL hopefuls, suspects and never wasses like Matt Donovan,, Jarred Tinordi and Alexandre Carrier, and night after night Nashville’s goaltending has been hung out to dry more often than not.
Goaltending. For a number of years the name Pekka Rinne has been bandied about in Vezina consideration. Rinne picked up said award just two seasons ago (2017-18) and followed up his superlative campain with a reasonable 30-win season that saw his GAA and save percentage only dip slightly. The 2019-20 season started strong for Pekka, but turned sour as the team’s defensive fortunes started to rust. Additionally, young Finnish backup netimder, Juuse Saros has been suspect more than he has been stellar. Sure Laviolette could have benefited from more consistent goaltending, and coaches can’t make the big saves to steal a game once in a while, but questionable decisions have been made in not going with, or staying with the hot hand when dividing up starts between Rinne and Saros. For example, The Predators began this season with four early October home games. The season opener was a decisive 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild. Rinne was solid, but two nights later the team turned to Saros for a Saturday night sold-out game against long-time rival Detroit. While the Red Wings are in the Eastern Conference, and now a decidedly “weak sister” team, it would have been nice to treat the weekend crowd to their #1 goaltender coming off a win on opening night. Saros, however, lost and the team went back to Rinne two nights later in a victory over San Jose. The final game of the homestand went to Rinne again, surviving a run-and-gun 6-5 win over Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Rinne was now 3-0-0, Saros 0-1-0. The Preds then embarked on their first road trip, and rather than go with the undefeated goalie, they again made the decision to turn to Saros against a deficient Los Angeles Kings team, and Saros was bombed. Back to Pekka for a win against Vegas, but the team AGAIN turned away from the winning goaltendeer two nights later, handing the crease to Saros, who lost his third cconsecutive game, this time to the Arizona Coyotes. None of these games were “back-to-back,” and although I realistically understand that you DO want to get both goaltenders in the mix early on, conventional wisdom is to try and ride the hot hand. I’m not a fan of swapping out goaltenders after a win, though of course back-to-back situations may warrant a closer look.
So, hopefully there will be an infusion of energy moving forward in the second half. Here are a few things I would like to see:
Power-play time for guys like Yakov Trenin. The kid plays hard and directs his body (and pucks) towards the net. The team can’t be soft along the boards, and other teams need to find it hardeer to play against the Preds!
A startling addition to the blueline. Perhaps a team like Los Angeles would be willing to part with Alec Martinez?
An NHL audition for goaltender Connor Ingram. Ingram will appear in his second consecutive AHL All Star Game (last year he was an All Star with Syracuse) and it would be a nice reward to get a shot with the Preds.
A for-once-and-for-all end to the Matt Irwin-era. The guy has carved a career out of mediocrity and is never going to develop instincts that often go awry.
A heart and a willingness for Ryan Johansen, a change of scenery for Mikael Granlund, a second half not unlike the first half for Nick Bonino and Rocco Grimaldi, A way for Craig Smith to NOT go 25 games with one or two goals between now and the end of the regular season. A role for Kyle Turris. A Norris Trophy for Roman Josi, and a doctor’s note clearing Ryan Ellis to play ASAP…
and finally, something of substance BEYOND the regular season.
mdnathan on the preds 