Nashville Predators Begin Season at #23 in THN Power Rankings
A resetting Predators team under new head coach Andrew Brunette starts the season in the bottom half of the power rankings according to The Hockey News. What could potentially change their fortune?
Nashville Predators Begin Season at #23 in THN Power RankingsThe Hockey News has released their power rankings for 2023-24, and the Nashville Predators begin the season ranked #23. It is no surprise that the team finds itself in the bottom half of the league after changes to the front office, coaching staff, and roster leave questions about how soon this team could get back into postseason contention.
Trading Mattias Ekholm at the trade deadline, trading Ryan Johansen to the Colorado Avalanche and buying out Matt Duchene in the offseason removed three core pieces from the locker room. New coach Andrew Brunette's one year of interim head coaching experience doesn't give quite enough insight into what he can do with a roster mix of veterans and young, developing players.
The Predators ranked in the "mushy middle" of the Central Division teams as well. Dallas, Duchene's new home, is ranked #4 while Colorado and Johansen start the season ranked #9 overall. The Wild and Jets landed at #13 and #14 respectively followed by the Predators. The St. Louis Blues, Arizona Coyotes, and Chicago Blackhawks each finished between #25 and #29 in the league.
Barring injury to a top player, it isn't likely Dallas and Colorado fall too far in the rankings this season, but a push by young Connor Bedard or a run from a sneakily solid Arizona Coyotes team could drop the Predators further down in the division in 2023-24.
There are three factors that could improve Nashville's standing in the power rankings over the season. The first is having Juuse Saros in net. Saros was the cornerstone of the late season playoff push by a pieced together Predators team last April, and another performance like that in front of a resetting team could earn him Vezina votes and move this team up in the standings. Saros steals wins but can take a handful of games at the start of the season to get to peak form.
This season Saros may benefit from Nashville's defensive depth. Barry Trotz signed veteran Luke Schenn who joins an experience blue line with Roman Josi, Ryan McDonagh, and Tyson Barrie. Brunette has NHL defensemen Alexandre Carrier, Dante Fabbro, and Jeremy Lauzon available for the bottom pair, and waiting in the wings are Marc Del Gaizo, Jake Livingstone, and Spencer Stastney for a chance to earn ice time with Nashville.
Brunette's new system is designed to generate offensive chances, and the Predators have potential offensive weapons. Filip Forsberg scored 42 goals in 2021-22 and with Ryan O'Reilly centering him, and a healthy Forsberg could reach similar scoring numbers. Nashville will need young players like Phil Tomasino, Luke Evangelista, and Juuso Pärssinen to become reliable goal scorers as well.
Even with some positives to look forward to, an early season move up the power rankings is going to be extremely challenging with the nine October games on the schedule. Seven of those are against teams ranked higher than the Predators including top ten ranked Edmonton Oilers (fifth), Seattle Kraken (eighth), and the New York Rangers (tenth). Tampa Bay, Nashville's season opener, is ranked eleventh overall and the first week of the season ends with a game against the Boston Bruins who are ranked fifteenth.
The Predators have improved in each of their preseason games, so the team is trending in the right direction but there will be growing pains ahead. Don't expect the Predators to climb quickly in the power rankings this season.