{"id":49431,"date":"2019-06-20T08:05:39","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T12:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=49431"},"modified":"2025-10-10T22:55:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T02:55:22","slug":"options-open-for-nashville-predators-first-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/06\/20\/options-open-for-nashville-predators-first-pick\/","title":{"rendered":"Options Open for Nashville Predators First Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

General manager David <\/span>Poile<\/span> has plenty of the Nashville Predators<\/a> first pick. Nashville holds the 24<\/span>th<\/span> selection in the first round of the 2019 Draft. The Predators can go multiple directions barring a trade.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Offensive depth was a problem for Nashville as scoring dropped off after the \u201c<\/span>JoFA<\/span>\u201d line. The Predators could add another young forward in the vein of an <\/span>Eeli Tolvanen<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nashville\u2019s <\/span>defence<\/span> has been one of the best in the league over the last few seasons. However, the group has regressed over the last two seasons and were beaten by the younger Dallas Stars<\/a> defence in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There could be some moves on the blueline if <\/span>Poile<\/span> wants to kickstart the offence. He\u2019s said that trading one of the \u201cBig Four\u201d is on the table and there could be a makeover for that <\/span>defence<\/span>. Dante <\/strong><\/span>Fabbro<\/strong> is in line to claim a spot if there\u2019s a trade.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The options are endless and mock drafts are all over the place on what the Predators will do with the pick.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nashville Predators First Pick<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

Getting Offensive<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

A few of the mock drafts have the Predators bolstering their offence. <\/span>Draftsite.com<\/span>\u00a0has Nashville <\/span>taking right winger<\/span><\/a> Samuel Poulin<\/a><\/strong> from Sherbrooke of the QMJHL. He is the son of former NHLer Patrick Poulin<\/a>. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

USA Today\u2019s Mock Draft <\/span>had the Predators picking<\/span><\/a> Ryan Suzuki<\/a><\/strong> from the London Knights. Suzuki is the younger brother of Montreal Canadiens prospect Nick Suzuki. TSN <\/span>also had Nashville take Suzuki<\/span><\/a> at No. 24. The elder Suzuki has put up some highlight reel goals and excellent stickhandling.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sporting News took Pavel Dorofeyev<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of <\/span>Stalnye<\/span> Lisy in Russia. They <\/span>liked his hockey IQ and positioning<\/span><\/a>. SB Nation\u2019s <\/span>On<\/span> the Forecheck blog went with<\/span><\/a> Niagara IceDogs <\/span>centre<\/span> Phil Tomasino<\/strong>.<\/a> They liked that he is well-rounded, is speedy and can stickhandle.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting Defensive<\/span><\/h2>\n

LWOH’s Top Shelf Prospects decided to go in a different route<\/a> as Ben Kerr selected Lassi Thomson<\/strong><\/a> from the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL. The scouting report liked his vast array of shots and his quick release.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sportsnet\u2019s final mock draft had the Predators look to the defensive end by taking Matthew Robertson<\/a><\/strong> of the Edmonton Oil Kings. They <\/span>said the pick is an interesting one,<\/span><\/a> but Nashville is good at developing <\/span>defencemen<\/span>. The Predators may be able to identify the good parts of his game.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NBC Sports <\/span>third version of its mock draft<\/span><\/a> had the Predators get Finnish <\/span>defenceman<\/span> Ville Heinola<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong> The 18-year-old is already playing in the SM-<\/span>Liiga<\/span> in Finland and is mature for his age. Keep in mind these mock drafts came out before the New York Rangers<\/a> gave the 20<\/a><\/span>th<\/span> pick back to the Winnipeg Jets<\/a> as part of the Jacob Trouba<\/a><\/strong> deal.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What the Future Holds<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Players taken in the later part of the first round aren\u2019t usually expected to contribute right away. These picks usually have time to develop in juniors, college or at AHL Milwaukee.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Poile<\/span> has usually done well in drafts and this pick could be another player that gives the Predators a future contributor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/span>DALLAS, TX – JUNE 23: (l-r) David Poile and Luc Robitaille attend the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 23, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Bruce Bennett\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

General manager David Poile has plenty of the Nashville Predators first pick. Nashville holds the 24th selection in the first round of the 2019 Draft. The Predators can go multiple directions barring a trade.\u00a0 Offensive depth was a problem for Nashville as scoring dropped off after the \u201cJoFA\u201d line. The Predators could add another young […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":49432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,3172,3271,1279],"tags":[3029,245,4057,3510,243,475,4028,4029,3512,3709,298,3918],"class_list":["post-49431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predators","category-chl","category-european-leagues","category-nhl-draft","tag-2019-nhl-draft","tag-david-poile","tag-lassi-thomson","tag-matthew-robertson","tag-nashville-predators","tag-nhl-prospects","tag-pavel-dorofeyev","tag-philip-tomasino","tag-ryan-suzuki","tag-samuel-poulin","tag-top-shelf-prospects","tag-ville-heinola"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":475794,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49431\/revisions\/475794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}