"Good on paper" was the common refrain heard throughout Nashville Predators Training Camp this year, describing the team's new-look roster following the offseason free-agent additions of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Brady Skjei and Scott Wedgewood. Now, after an 0-2-0 start to the season, the Predators are proof positive that being "good on paper" isn't enough. Head coach Andrew Brunette is well aware of this, and tempered expectations accordingly. "It wasn't going to come right away," Brunette said following Nashville's Opening Night loss to the Dallas Stars. "It will be a little bit of a process." The Predators outshot their opponents in each of their first two games – including a 42-shot onslaught in which they were shut out by Cam Talbot and the Detroit Reds Wings, but they have yet to convert on enough of their chances to land in the win column. Brunette says he's not concerned – it's only been two games, after all – but he and his staff are working tirelessly to unlock the team's full offensive potential. "Right now, our rhythm probably hasn't been where it needs to be," Brunette said following Monday's team practice. "Our cadence as lines and as a group has been a little bit discombobulated at different times, and we're trying to find something that works." Nashville Predators forward Steven Stamkos speaks to the media ahead of the team's home game against the Dallas Stars on Oct. 10, 2024. Brunette's process to find the right chemistry – which at times contributes to further discombobulation – involves cycling through several different line combinations to determine how to best incorporate the team's newest offensive weapons. Saturday's loss to Detroit, for example, saw Stamkos and Marchessault begin on a line centered by Colton Sissons. Then, Stamkos shifted to center while Filip Forsberg joined in on the left side. Then, Forsberg was replaced by Mark Jankowski. With all of those changes happening within the same game, is this kind of constant line-shuffling going to be the new standard in Nashville? "I hope not," Brunette said. "It's never the intent going into a game that you're going to be shuffling. Last game, I thought we had some passengers and [was] trying to find something that works... The game will dictate what happens." From the players' perspective, the sooner they can find a combination that works, the better. "It makes it so much easier when you know everyone's where they're supposed to be, and our system just works better," Sissons said. "Obviously, we talk about owning the puck possession quite a bit, not drifting out of your spot, stops and starts, getting our stick on every little puck we can – just things like that, that sometimes you need to tighten up at the start of the year because summer hockey's still around a little bit. So, we acknowledged it, and we've done some good things, but we can be better, for sure." The Predators are still looking for their first win of the 2024-25 season, and they hope that will come Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken. The line combinations may still need some adjusting, but the work ethic is there. Putting all the pieces together will be, as Brunette said, "a little bit of a process." "The work is there," Sissons said. "Guys are competing, and they want to win battles, and we want to win hockey games. You can see that, so that's a good kind of foundational piece. Last year, we had to learn how hard it was going to be at the start of the year. We were a bit inconsistent with the work and the pace of play that we wanted to play with. Now, that's there; we've just got to keep layering these things and just get one win, and we'll start rolling here." Visit The Hockey News Nashville Predators [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/] team site to stay updated on the latest news [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/latest-news], game day [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/game-day] coverage, player features [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/players], podcasts [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/podcasts] and more.
