The Nashville Predators ran into a juggernaut in the first round of last year’s playoffs. Are they better equipped to contend this season?
2021-2022 Season Performance
Regular Season
The Predators got off to a bit of a slow start last season, but picked up steam through the first half. They weren’t a high scoring team at 5v5, but strong team defense balanced it out. Strong finishing and a dangerous powerplay also helped buoy their results. Roman Josi was a standout on the blueline, leading NHL defensemen in 5v5 P/60.
Playoffs
The Predators snuck into the playoffs in the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference and faced the Colorado Avalanche in the first round as a result. The powerhouse Avs dominated the series and with starting goaltender Juuse Saros in the press box due to injury, the Preds were unable to keep it close and they were swept out of the playoffs.
Looking Ahead to 2022-2023
Offseason Moves
The Predators started the offseason by helping the Lightning with their cap situation, taking Ryan McDonaugh and his $6.75M cap hit from Tampa Bay in exchange for Philippe Myers and Grant Mismash. McDonaugh was a key part of the Lightning’s playoff success over the past few seasons but, at age 33, the eventual age decline appears to be coming. His projection going into the season is a replacement level impact in a large role. If the Predators can find a more suitable role, there’s a good chance he can still be a solid contributor.
The Predators also added via free agency this summer, with Nino Niederreiter being their most notable signing. Niederreiter is projected as a second line forward this season and the $4M cap hit comes in reasonably close to his projected value.
22/23 Roster
The Hurricanes enter the 22/23 season looking strong again. Pacioretty and Burns complement a deep roster that has strong offensive potential. Their forward group is strong, with high end talent at the top, along with capable role players further down the lineup. It’s a similar story on the blueline, with all top 6 defensemen projected with at least second pair impact.
Metropolitan Division Landscape
The Central Division has some strong teams in it that should expect to challenge for the division title. The Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild are two of those teams and the Predators slide in between them in the initial projections. The three front runners have a comfortable buffer between them and the pack of teams behind them.
Long Term Outlook
The Predators have their work cut out for them over the next few seasons to continue to be a playoff team. Their spending efficiency is trending the toward very inefficient over the next few seasons. They also have a relatively large number of longer term contracts, many of which are for veteran players that we should expect some natural decline in impact from.
Want to check out more projections for the 22/23 season? Sign up for an annual membership to get access to all 22/23 team and player projection plots and peruse the full set of free agent player cards. Plots will be updated through the offseason as the 22/23 rosters take shape and updated to track progress through the season.
Historical player data from Natural Stat Trick. Contract data from CapFriendly.
