{"id":65586,"date":"2020-01-08T13:13:07","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T18:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=65586"},"modified":"2020-01-08T13:13:07","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T18:13:07","slug":"john-hynes-trying-to-salvage-nashville-predators-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2020\/01\/08\/john-hynes-trying-to-salvage-nashville-predators-season\/","title":{"rendered":"John Hynes Trying to Salvage Nashville Predators Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nashville Predators<\/a> season is in trouble and it\u2019s up to John Hynes<\/strong> to salvage it. General manager David Poile<\/strong> has tapped the former New Jersey Devils<\/a> head coach to save the 2019-20 campaign. The Predators decided to shake things up by firing coach Peter Laviolette<\/a> after he took over for Barry Trotz<\/strong> in the 2014-15 season.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Laviolette did bring a lot of success to the Predators\u2019 organization. He led them to their first Stanley Cup Final and made the post-season all five seasons he was in charge. Nashville won its first two division titles in franchise history and earned the 2017-18 President\u2019s Trophy.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, things have gotten progressively worse the last three seasons. The Predators\u2019 <\/span>defence<\/span> and goaltending has struggled this season. Nashville\u2019s big guns have struggled to score. Injuries have also been a big factor. NBC Sports\u2019 Mike Milbury<\/a> said the team\u2019s top three <\/span>centres<\/span> \u201c<\/span>are overpaid and don\u2019t try hard enough.<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of talent on the roster, but a new voice in the locker room may have been needed. Laviolette is a <\/span>players<\/span> coach while Hynes comes in with a tougher edge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What John Hynes Brings<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Devils slow start got Hynes dismissed. However, many issues like goaltending and high roster turnover may have hampered the club. Devils experts say that Hynes likes to run up-tempo practices and demands the most from his players.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mistakes have plagued the Predators at times this season and Hynes is not a fan of them. Nashville\u2019s penalty kill is near the bottom again at 29<\/span>th<\/span> with a 74.0 percent success rate going into Hynes\u2019 first game in charge Tuesday night against the Boston Bruins<\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Boston netted three <\/span>shorthanded-goals<\/span> as it beat Nashville, 6-2. Hynes didn\u2019t have much time with the team, so night one could be written off due to <\/span>unfamiliarity<\/span> with the roster.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Predators have talented <\/span>defencemen<\/span> like Roman Josi<\/a> <\/strong>and Ryan Ellis<\/a> <\/strong>that love to jump into rushes. That style was a welcome change from the more defensive game that Trotz ran in his long tenure. Nashville\u2019s <\/span>defence<\/span> was terrifying on offence for two or three seasons under Laviolette\u2019s system.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it seemed like players were caught up ice more than normal and the goalie duo of <\/span>Pekka<\/strong><\/a> Rinne<\/strong><\/a> and Juuse Saros<\/a><\/strong> weren\u2019t covering up those mistakes with their goalie play. <\/span>It seemed like mistakes weren\u2019t being covered like they had been in the past.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Saving the Season on the Fly<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Hynes and <\/span>Poile<\/span> know each other <\/span>through ties from USA Hockey.<\/span><\/a> Despite the firing, Devils general manager Ray <\/strong><\/span>Shero<\/strong> had high praise for his former coach. <\/span>Shero<\/span> was an employee for Nashville from 1998-2006.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Hynes is bright young coach and great leader who has a track record of both effectively developing young players and successfully motivating veterans,\u201d <\/span>Poile<\/span> said in a press release.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nashville has struggled mightily in multiple shorthanded<\/span> goals allowed.\u00a0 <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Hynes does have some good things despite the Devils firing him. In a <\/span>Hockey News article<\/span><\/a>, New Jersey had the fourth-best penalty kill dating back to the start of the 2017-18 season. His teams killed off 82.1 percent of man-down situations. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

New Jersey also didn\u2019t give up a lot of shots and had the fourth-lowest expected goals against rate on the penalty kill. It\u2019ll help that Hynes will be able to draw from a better defensive group with players like Josi, the still injured Ellis and Mattias Ekholm<\/a>.<\/strong> There are also talented forwards like Calle Jarnkrok<\/a> <\/strong>and Nick Bonino<\/a> <\/strong>on the roster that can limit shots and opportunities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What it Means for the Future<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Poile is hoping to pull a Craig Berube<\/a> and have the team make a deep run like the St. Louis Blues<\/a> did last season when they were at the bottom of the Central Division.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Predators aren\u2019t dead in the water as they\u2019re only five points off the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. <\/span>Poile<\/span> may still deal some players at the deadline, but it doesn\u2019t seem like he\u2019s giving up on the season.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nashville is only a few seasons removed from a Stanley Cup Final appearance. Most of that roster is still a part of the team. It\u2019s not a lost cause, but the Predators need to get moving if they want to make it back to the post-season.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"NASHVILLE, TN – JANUARY 07: Nashville Predators head coach John Hynes is shown following the NHL game between the Nashville Predators and Boston Bruins, held on January 7, 2020, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Murphy\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nashville Predators season is in trouble and it\u2019s up to John Hynes to salvage it. General manager David Poile has tapped the former New Jersey Devils head coach to save the 2019-20 campaign. The Predators decided to shake things up by firing coach Peter Laviolette after he took over for Barry Trotz in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":65587,"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":[31,2],"tags":[1730,245,3868,1778,243,151,1389,459,1547,2522,329,1546],"class_list":["post-65586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predators","category-featured","tag-calle-jarnkrok","tag-david-poile","tag-john-hynes","tag-mattias-ekholm","tag-nashville-predators","tag-new-jersey-devils","tag-nick-bonino","tag-pekka-rinne","tag-peter-laviolette","tag-ray-shero","tag-roman-josi","tag-ryan-ellis"],"modified_by":"William Grigsby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65586","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=65586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}