Gold On the Ceiling

In the weeks leading up to the draft it was pretty unclear who would be available when the Nashville Predators would be ready to pick at the end of the first round. With the depth of talent in the back half of the round, there was numerous ways it could've played out. I spent countless hours leading up to the draft trying to form reports on all of the prospects I believed would be around at the Predators pick, none of those names were Eeli Tolvanen. I had watched Tolvanen in international tournaments previously, and believed with near certainty that he would be a surefire top-15 pick. He had arguably the best shot in the draft along with Owen Tippett, had great speed and skill, and had a ton of traits that you would want out of a top line sniper. I watched the first round of the draft as the other franchises tried to improve their teams. None of these picks were the speedy sniper from Finland. After a completely unpredicted fall down the draft board, the Nashville Predator...

Around the All-Star Break, Matt Duchene's name started floating around in all sorts of trade rumors. Team X was working to trade for him, while teams Y and Z were trying to create an offer that was more enticing for the Avs. With the Preds being one of those teams linked to him, the fanbase started to stir. The thought of Duchene in a mustard colored sweater was enough to make most of us, including myself, salivate. Anytime there's a rumor that YOUR team could land an All-Star caliber forward, excitement is bound to get everyone talking and playing armchair GM, but just how well would Duchene fit with the Predators and what is it exactly that makes the fans want him here so badly? Why Do Most Preds Fans Love Him? This answer is quite simple: he's shown an affinity for the city and most importantly, country culture. Now, I'm not calling Nashville a hicktown or a redneck haven, but it's a city that has country music and boot-scootin' boogie coursing through...

With the Predators barely squeaking into the playoffs last year prior to advancing all the way to the Stanley Cup Final I thought it would be worth discussing why this season they will, instead, win their division. 1. Chemistry with the top four defensemen The big trade in the offseason last year brought some unknowns to the Predators. How would they adjust to a new captain in Mike Fisher? Would P.K. Subban fit in? In hindsight I think most would say both those things were factors in the Predators struggles in the early going last season. The Predators limped to a 2-5-1 finish for the month of October which was the second-worst record in the NHL. Not ideal. P.K.'s start to the year, he would admit, was a little rocky. He swapped partners a couple of times while Laviolette tried to find the best two pairings on defense. Then he got injured just as he was finding his footing. P.K. missed 16 games while recovering from an upper-body injury which not only hurt the Predators due t...

Hi there and welcome to our new blog. We are going to try and keep the content fresh and frequent here so be sure and bookmark us. I was thinking about the Preds, as I often do, and was thinking about what to write about today and I thought "There's just not enough talk about the Predators prospects," so I figured I'd write about the 3 guys from Milwaukee (by way of Quebec, Switzerland, and Sweden) who gave us a boost in the playoffs when we had other guys go down. Let's first discuss Kevin Fiala who is the most likely of the 3 guys we will discuss in this column to make the opening day roster. Fiala isn't new to the Predators' roster. He spent 5 games in 2015-16 on the Preds accounting for only a single goal. Fiala was hopeful to make the Preds' roster coming out of camp for the 2016-17 season but came just short. It was thought he still had some fine-tuning to do on his defensive game and consistency. He did, however, eventually play in 54 tot...

So, Mike Fisher is hanging up the skates and riding off into the sunset with his beautiful wife. But where does that leave the Predators? In search of a new captain, obviously. It’s never easy to replace an important player on a team that reached the championship round of their sport, and it’s even tougher to replace the veteran captain that helped lead the team to that round. This is just my opinion on who should take the reins and lead this team, hopefully, back to another Stanley Cup Final. First, I’d like to talk about what Mike Fisher brought to this team in terms of on ice production as well as off-ice leadership. In 17 seasons (11 with the Ottawa Senators, 7 with the Nashville Predators), he amassed 276 goals and 309 assists for a total of 585 points in 1,088 games played. Anyone who can use google can find those stats. What you can’t find so easily is the professionalism he displayed, the grit he brought to every single game, the way he defended his teammates, or the in...