The Nashville Predators are 20 games into an 82 game season, and it is time to take a look at what this first quarter of 2022-2023 can tell us about the team. The Predators had a tough start to the season but began to slowly gain ground during a stretch of November home games. What have been the big storylines so far and what will determine how the next 20 games play out? 

The Predators are a team that has relied on goaltending to win them games and get them to the postseason since the Pekka Rinne era. Of course, there was no doubt who would be the starter in net for Nashville as Juuse Saros was coming off of a Vezina finalist season in 2021-2022. David Poile signed former Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Kevin Lankinen to a 1 year, $1.5 million contract. After an excellent performance in training camp, Lankinen won the backup job for the Preds.

Two things stand out so far this season with Nashville's goaltenders. One is Juuse Saros' inconsistent start to the season and the other is Lankinen's reliability as a backup. 

Saros has developed a bit of a reputation for being a "slow starter". The statistics and the eye test show that it tends to take the 27 year old net minder a consistent workload to find his Vezina finalist worthy play, and this season was no exception. A few of the early games in this first quarter of play raised concerns that it was taking Saros too long to find his goaltending groove. 

After his seven starts in October, Saros averaged a .903 save percentage, which doesn't look on paper much like a "slow start". Breaking down the game performances in the first month, the storyline for Saros was inconsistent play. He had good games but didn't string together two solid back to back performances until late October. It was the also the average saves Saros didn't make, even into early November games against teams like Vancouver and Seattle that added to the concern. 

The recent home stand for the Preds is when Saros seemed to find his stride. In his five games at home in November, Saros earned an average save percentage of .926 and had more of the vintage Saros saves Nashville needs. It appeared the early season shakiness was gone, but with two games postponed (due to flood damage at Bridgestone Arena) and over a week without a game, Saros will need to pick up where he left off to prove he is up to speed. 

Speaking of goaltending, it seems Kevin Lankinen could see more ice time this season than his predecessor David Rittich. Lankinen has started five games in this early twenty game stretch. While his 2-3 record may not accurately represent how solid Lankinen has been in net, his .922 save percentage and 2.50 goals against average reveal a backup who appears more reliable than Rittich was last season and a piece who will be important as the Preds enter the meat of this season. 

In twenty games, the Nashville Predators have seen a plethora of line up combinations. 

From Kiefer Sherwood, who kicked off the Predators' season with the teams first goal but ended up back in Milwaukee, to call ups like Jordan Gross (also back in Milwaukee) and Mark Jankowski and Jusso Pärssinen (still with Nashville), the Predators roster appears to be ever evolving. And it isn't even just the bottom six that continues to be tweaked. Head Coach John Hynes hasn't yet landed on the perfect long term combinations for his top lines. 

It seemed obvious that last season's top line of Filip Forsberg, Mikael Granlund, and Matt Duchene were a lock to stay together, but even that trio has not survived the first quarter unscathed. Since Juuso Pärssinen was recalled from Milwaukee, he has played with Forsberg and Granlund while Duchene has slotted in the lineup in other spots. 

The Herd Line is not immune to the line blender either. After slow starts by Tanner Jeannot and Colton Sissons and an injury to Yakov Trenin, the seemingly untouchable third line that carried the Preds much of last season has seen the trio split up in an attempt to jump start their performances.

The first twenty games also haven't cleared up where players Cody Glass and Eeli Tolvanen fit in for the Predators. Glass has been a healthy scratch eight times and Tolvanen seven, and there is still no indication of how - or if - Hynes plans to utilize these two going forward.

From goaltending to lineups to individual player performances, a storyline throughout the Predators first twenty games is inconsistency. Most NHL teams are still ironing out the kinks early in the season. Improvement is not linear in life or in hockey, but it still feels too early to predict Nashville's trajectory.

Goaltending and line changes play a part in the team's overall highs and lows, but the inconsistency bug has bit individual players as well. Roman Josi's early five game point drought has given way to better production in November, but players like Matt Duchene, Ryan Johansen, and leading goal scorer Nino Niederreiter have been offensively inconsistent these twenty games. Secondary scoring from players like Tanner Jeannot who had 24 goals last season, and Yakov Trenin who collected 17 goals in 2021-2022 has been noticeably absent as well. 

It wasn't a typical start for the Preds between travel for the Global Series to the two recently postponed games at home due to flooding at Bridgestone Arena. It will be telling if the extra time off between games this weekend sets the Predators back or sets them up for more consistent play across the board. 

Summarizing the Nashville Predators' first twenty games of the season is no easy feat, and perhaps that is the takeaway. The 9-9-2 record reflects the ambiguity of who this team is at this point in the season. With a challenging and division heavy December ahead, a clearer picture of who the Predators are is likely to take shape in the next twenty games.