The Nashville Predators have been playing amazing so far into the 2014-15 season. They are currently leading their Central division, and stand second overall in the Western Conference with a 15-5-2 record, good for 32 points.
Since coming in to the NHL in 1998, the Preds have been an on and off team with five straight years of no playoffs to start their tenure. They followed that up with four straight appearances in the playoffs, although losing in the first round to the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks, twice each. They missed the playoffs in 08-09, returned in 09-10 up until to the 11-12 season. In the 10-11 and 11-12 season, they finally got past the first round, but were unable to get further. After the lockout year of 12-13 kicked back in, the Preds responded with two straight years of no playoffs.
But now in 2014-15, with long time coach Barry Trotz, who had been with the team since the very start, gone and replaced with Peter Laviolette, the Preds are looking like a whole new team. Literally. Under Trotz, the team was a heavy defense system, with little emphasis on scoring, and few actual goal scorers on the roster.
David Poile, GM of the Preds since ’98, has made sure there will be scoring with some great additions. During the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft, Poile pulled the trigger on a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins sending Patric Hornqvist, who had been Nashville’s leading goal scorer since 09-10 with 104 goals in 335 games played, and Nick Spaling, one of the Pred’s best penalty killers, for former 40 goal scorer James Neal. While losing a reliable goal scorer and a top penalty killers seems bad, this gave the Preds a true goal scorer, something they have been lacking for a long time. Neal has 9 goals and 14 points throughout 22 games so far.
Another huge reason for the Preds success early on is rookie sensation Filip Forsberg, no relation to Peter. In April 2013, Poile sent one of the longest tenured Predators Martin Erat to the Washington Capitals in exchange for Forsberg, who had been selected 11th overall by the Caps in the 2012 Draft. Forsberg has been playing on the top line this year with Neal and newcomer Mike Riberio, and is just racking up the points with 23 points in 22 games, also leading all Preds and all rookies in almost every major category.
Craig Smith, who scored a career high 24 goals and 52 points last season, is playing well too, with 7 goals and 13 points in 22 games, on pace for 26 goals and 48 points. The Preds have eight scorers with above 10 points right now, three of them being defensemen, and Colin Wilson isn’t far behind with 9 points in 20 games. The Preds are still a highly defensive team, but are scoring 2.7 goals per game, tied for 12th overall. If the top six continues to dominate offensively, while also shooting 30.7 shots on net per game, good for 10th overall, the team will definitely be a top team in the West by seasons end. Laviolette also deserves credit on this end, bringing a new system into the organization and focusing more on offense, rather then suffocating defensive play. They are currently tied for 12th for goals scored per game and shooting 30.7 shots on goal per game, showing that Laviolette is having a positive effect on the team.
The Preds have one of the best blue line corps in the league, with a healthy balance of defense and offense. Shea Weber, Roman Josi, Seth Jones, Anton Volchenkov, Ryan Ellis, and Mattias Ekholm make up the pairings, with Victor Bartley being the seventh defenseman. With the exception of Ekholm and Volchenkov, the remaining Preds defense are all exceptional two way defensemen, Weber being the best. Jones is Poile’s newest building block on defense at just 20 years old and getting better with each game. The defense core is looking great, and even better it has Weber, Josi, Ellis, Ekholm and Jones locked up for the next two years at least. Ellis was just signed to a five year deal worth 2.5 a year in cap hit, which is a steal for a young defenseman on the rise. Those five should make up the Preds defense pairings for years to come.
But we can’t forget about Pekka Rinne, of course. The Finland native is standing on top of his head, and then some, so far. With a 15-3-1 record, he is hands down a huge catalyst of the Preds success. He is leading the NHL, minimum 15 games played, in wins, GAA of 1.86, save percentage of .932 and is in the top ten for saves, shutouts and goals against. It was just over a year ago that Rinne was discovered to have an E. coli infection in his left hip and had his career in jeopardy. But Rinne has stepped up in the face of adversity and has come back stronger than ever, and while it still is only 22 games into the season, he has posted career numbers thus far. It would not be surprising if he won, or at least made the finalist for the third time, for the Vezina award which given to best goalie in the NHL. Right now, Rinne deserves it for not only carrying his team, but playing like a new man. Rinne is responsible for the Preds being tied for first with a sparkling 2.0 goals against per game, while facing a low 27.8 shots against per game, they have the second best goal differential in the Western Conference with a +17, and are fourth overall in the league in that category.
The Predators are dominating the NHL in just about everything. They are playing like contenders, and of course who can forget when they wiped the floor with the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 9-2 score on November 18th?
The NHL better be on the lookout for the Predators, they are no longer the hunted, they are the hunters, and they are hunting down everybody.
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