The Nashville Predators are having a rough start this season. After surprising everyone last year by making the playoffs and battling the Vancouver Canucks, they made big moves by signing top players like Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei. They also secured Juuse Saros with a long-term contract to try and make another strong playoff run.
But things haven’t gone as planned. With a disappointing 6-11-3 record in their first 20 games, they’re near the bottom of the league. In one game against Seattle Kraken, they even got penalized for starting with the wrong lineup! So what’s going wrong? Let’s explore.
Free-Agent Frenzy Fizzles
Everyone knows you can’t just buy a winning team through free agency! Yet teams still fall for it. It’s tempting to grab players without waiting years to develop them or trading valuable assets. But often, it doesn’t work out as expected. The Predators hoped their new signings would shine but so far, not so much.
Stamkos and Marchessault have struggled; their goals above replacement (GAR) are -1.2 and -3.4 respectively—ouch! Skjei has been slightly better offensively but struggles defensively too. Fans might be wondering if all this spending was worth it .
And let’s not forget Ryan O’Reilly and Luke Schenn from last year’s signings—they haven’t impressed either. Only Gustav Nyquist has shown some promise with decent points so far.
Center Stage Struggles
A true No. 1 center is something Nashville has always missed. Their current top center, O’Reilly, is past his prime like Jason Arnott before him who led in points per game during his time here.
This lack of depth at center continues to hold them back from greatness—even when they reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 2017! This year’s centers aren’t delivering enough impact either: Tomas Novak leads with only four points while Colton Sissons lags behind.
Centers play such an important role on any team; having strong ones can change matchups entirely—but Nashville hasn’t found that magic yet!
Aging Roster Woes
Another issue lurking beneath these problems is age—their roster isn’t getting any younger! Most key players are over 30 years old except for Novak who’s barely under at 27—and even he might be peaking soon!
Among their main group playing most minutes each game (forwards & defense), only four are under thirty—and just one under twenty-seven: Luke Evangelista at twenty-two years old!
Meanwhile younger talents like Evangelista perform well along with others such as Zachary L’Heureux showing positive impacts too—but there aren’t enough young guns getting significant playtime compared to veterans who aren’t delivering anymore…
Fans may wonder why management didn’t focus more on nurturing young talent instead of banking heavily on older stars hoping they’d turn things around quickly—it seems risky now seeing how stuck they’ve become mid-table again…
The Play Just Isn’t There
When Nashville started poorly this season some thought maybe bad luck played its part—perhaps offensive options were drying up temporarily or Saros had another slow start…but nope—it’s deeper than mere chance!
Surely bad luck exists—they have lowest shooting percentage five-on-five across league—but even if scoring matched chances created—it wouldn’t suffice…
Currently ranked twenty-second overall five-on-five expected goals per sixty minutes compared third place last year—a huge drop-off hurting success badly especially considering offense drove success previously hoped offseason additions would boost output instead worsened situation further…
Can things improve? Maybe once newcomers adjust properly…but faith wanes watching performances unfold thus far…
What do you think—is there hope left for these Preds turning fortunes around soon?
