Season Review: Nashville Predators

Well, as we're advancing toward the semi-finals of the playoffs, I will be reviewing the seasons of teams as they're eliminated from the playoffs. Obviously, the last team reviewed will be the one that wins the Cup.

Now the third team to be eliminated from the Western Conference Quarterfinals: The Nashville Predators.

Season expectations: The team failed to qualify for the postseason after four straight playoff appearances (which were also four-straight first round eliminations). The team was determined to embrace their defensive style and looked to develop and promote players from within as opposed to signing any big names during the off-season. Not many people figured it would pan out in such a tough division but Barry Trotz was determined to make it happen.

My prediction: I figured the team would finish last in the Central Division and fourteenth overall in the Western Conference.

The truth: The team finished third in the division and seventh in the conference. They were eliminated by the second-seed Chicago Blackhawks in six games.

What went right?: Goaltending was solid on this team, as Pekka Rinne put up a 32-16-5 with 7 shutouts, a 2.53 goals against average, and a .911 save percentage in 58 games while Dan Ellis posted a 15-13-1 record with a 2.69 GAA and .909 save percentage in 31 games. Patric Hornqvist scored 30 goals and Steve Sullivan tied him for a team best 51 points. There were 4 other players who scored better than 40 points, 4 other players who scored better than 30 points, and 4 other players who scored better than 20 points. Cody Franson was solid defensively during his rookie season and most of the team paid strong attention to defensive detail. Toughness was there thanks to Shea Weber, Jordin Tootoo, and Wade Belak, but the Predators used that sparingly, as they were third-from-last in fighting majors. David Legwand may not have had the regular season has he hoped, but he was the only Nashville player who averaged more than a point-per-game during the playoffs.

What went wrong?: Well, the move to get Denis Grebeshkov from the Edmonton Oilers blew up in Nashville's face as he was out for the season four games after the trade with a "lower body injury" which most likely is related to his MCL. Add the fact that Hornqvist went down after Game 2 with an upper-body injury and the battle to defeat the Blackhawks became unexpectedly steeper uphill. All and all, the team performed admirably against Chicago; they were just outmuscled and Chicago's offense was able to offset their deficit in the crease long enough to advance further along in the post-season.

So what's next?: The team's going to need to qualify Hornqvist, acquire a second goaltender should Ellis take off, and should look to add a few second-pairing/depth defensemen should Francis Boullion and Dan Hamhuis decide to take off. After that, they may care to add one more top-end forward to compliment Hornqvist and Martin Erat but don't need to break the bank to do so (would be nice if Alexander Radulov came back.) They just need to worry about competing in a tight division next season.