Nashville Predators Talk - 2024/2025 Season II

[Kat Predator]

McCarron and Smith are #8 and #9 in avg TOI/gp amongst our forwards. So indeed, they are 3rd liners. (Sissons is 6th so he snuck into being a 2nd liner I guess).

It may have changed more recently, but Bruno does indeed roll those guys out there when there is 2 minutes to go and we're down a goal. Out of the box stuff, no doubt.

For an extra dose of cynicism: Trotz thinks he can find youngsters anywhere. It's a GM game of chase and dump.

Of course, a team that doesn't want to stay in the mushy middle needs to actually build a solid team foundation through the draft and asset management. A group that will be grow together and develop a winning chemistry. FAs can be used to round out that team, but in a salary cap sport those guys can be budget-blowing expensive and tend to get distributed more evenly across the league.

 

[ILikeItILoveIt]

Man, we're a mess. Slow, older, with some bad long-term contracts and NMC's. EVERYONE is underperforming. Our coach's system seems to take a season to adjust to, with no payoff post-adjustment. Our GM is impulsive and misguided. He's managed to make us worse than when he took over, weighed down by more bad contracts while we're just getting done buying out the last set of bad contracts. Our last redeeming feature, goaltending, is now a weakness with 8 more years to go.

I love Barry as a person, but I'd replace him in the off-season. The story book succession plan from Poile has not worked. Since Barry refuses to see his coach was a bad choice, they both have to go.

I fear we're heading into a dark period for our franchise: the first sustained re-build. Due to bad contracts, we'll have to eat significant $$, draft high for 2 or 3 years, and maybe return to playoff contention in 5 years.

The only other option is to roll out the same team next year and hope this year was a one-off. That's what we will do, which could set us back another year.

I really want to be wrong, but I've never cared less about this team than I do right now. I've missed more than half the games because the spark is gone. I'm taking a match to thousands of dollars as a Day One STHer. I hate to give up on it but they're pushing me.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I guess on the bright side, all the "bad contracts" don't look quite as bad against a $113M Salary Cap.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Man, we're a mess. Slow, older, with some bad long-term contracts and NMC's. EVERYONE is underperforming. Our coach's system seems to take a season to adjust to, with no payoff post-adjustment. Our GM is impulsive and misguided. He's managed to make us worse than when he took over, weighed down by more bad contracts while we're just getting done buying out the last set of bad contracts. Our last redeeming feature, goaltending, is now a weakness with 8 more years to go.

I love Barry as a person, but I'd replace him in the off-season. The story book succession plan from Poile has not worked. Since Barry refuses to see his coach was a bad choice, they both have to go.

I fear we're heading into a dark period for our franchise: the first sustained re-build. Due to bad contracts, we'll have to eat significant $$, draft high for 2 or 3 years, and maybe return to playoff contention in 5 years.

The only other option is to roll out the same team next year and hope this year was a one-off. That's what we will do, which could set us back another year.

I really want to be wrong, but I've never cared less about this team than I do right now. I've missed more than half the games because the spark is gone. I'm taking a match to thousands of dollars as a Day One STHer. I hate to give up on it but they're pushing me.

Ehhh, we're definitely not in a good place now, but I'm not as down on the team's future. We have plenty of cap room, especially with the increases. Some additions are performing like Marchy and ROR. The three biggest needs are:

Trotz gone
Bruno gone
A commitment to play the kids. Either go after young talent or let's give our prospects a chance. We have a top-10 farm, let's make it the priority.

I do think Saros will come around with some better defense. As long as we're not in cap hell, there's always a chance for change.