The Nashville Predators will begin the 2018-2019 regular season against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 11 at Bridgestone Arena.
The Preds are coming off a year where they won their first Central Division title and Presidents’ Trophy for finishing with the best record in the league (53-18-11). On top of this, the Preds are only two seasons removed from a Western Conference championship and an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals. However, Nashville’s team fell to the Jets in seven games in the divisional semi-finals this past season.
After their miraculous run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2017, the Preds have finally been given the label of Cup contenders by many NHL fans and analysts. This year will be no different as Nashville will ice a near-identical roster to that of last season.
Starting with Nashville’s offense, the top two lines still feature many of the forwards that helped the team come close to winning its first Stanley Cup. First line center Ryan Johansen still has two incredible players on his wings in scoring-machine Filip Forsberg and heart-and-soul player Viktor Arvidsson. Forsberg is a usual candidate to score 30 or more goals and Arvidsson has been a proven top-six talent for awhile
Kyle Turris and Ryan Hartman, acquired players from last season, man the second line with either gritty forward Craig Smith or young sniper Kevin Fiala. The highly anticipated regular-season debut of prospect Eeli Tolvanen is expected to happen this season.
On the downside, former captain Mike Fisher, who came out of retirement for one last run at the Cup, retired permanently after the Preds’ second-round playoff exit this past year. Gritty forward Scott Hartnell also will not be returning, as the Preds decided not to re-sign him during the offseason.
The Preds’ defense needs no introduction. Nashville has had arguably the league’s best defense for a couple of years. P.K. Subban and Roman Josi are both elite-caliber defensemen on any given team. While liable at times defensively, Subban is capable of putting up a large number of points on his own. Josi, drafted by Nashville in 2008, is a very reliable two-way defenseman. Ryan Ellis, who just signed a modest eight-year deal, is still a talented offensive threat from the blue line, while Mattias Ekholm is the team’s best shut-down defender. As long as this defensive core remains together, which it likely will for the foreseeable future, then Nashville should contend for a Cup for a long time to come.
In net, Nashville’s beloved Pekka Rinne still guards the crease for the Preds. Rinne just came off a Vezina trophy-winning season as the league’s best goaltender. However, Rinne suffered in last season’s playoffs and didn’t replicate his performance from the regular season. Granted, the whole team got sloppy come the postseason, but Rinne arguably hindered the team the most, especially against Winnipeg. Rinne’s save percentage during the 2017-2018 playoffs was a subpar .904%, the lowest of all his trips to the playoffs and a far cry from the .927% during the 2017-2018 regular season. In 2018-2019, Rinne will likely see less playing time as new young goaltender Juuse Saros is starting to take the starting goalie mantle from Rinne.
With an almost untouched roster, there is almost no doubt that the Preds will make the playoffs once again this year. The central division belongs to the Preds and Jets now as Chicago missed the playoffs for the first time since 2008; Dallas is too inconsistent and Minnesota and Colorado are only fringe playoff teams. Prediction: The Predators will at least make the Western Conference Final in 2019.
Veteran and 2017-2018 goalie of the year, Pekka Rinne prepares for play in front of his goal. | Photo Credit/ Wikipedia
