Nashville Predators Talk - 2024/2025 Season

[EK47]

I thought Nyquist was actually good last year and was doing a good job helping to set up Forsberg, and working with nice chemistry to help make that whole line tick? His points were not just some kind of passenger effect, he was an effective part of it.

This year he has simply not been the same?

Okay, in that case i really hope they find their chemistry again.

 

[Kat Predator]

Didn’t think of that, how badly did Forsberg drag him along to his first 70 point season last year? Kicking and screaming or only kicking?

Nah. The three of them played at an elite level last year. It was a good line that was a matchup problem for a lot of teams.

Nyquist in particular isn't unusual in having a terrible game. It's the new norm across the lineup.

That "first line" simply isn't functioning this year, but neither is much of anything else. Not that we'll try to adjust anything.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

BTW, how tf is Evangelista +3 on the season so far? I thought he doesn't do all the little things well enough yet and needs to learn the details?

Svechkov is also +3 already? With 1 point in 6 games? I need to bang the side of my TV when this stuff stacks up against the numbers from some of the veterans.

 

[herzausstein]

I thought Nyquist was actually good last year and was doing a good job helping to set up Forsberg, and working with nice chemistry to help make that whole line tick? His points were not just some kind of passenger effect, he was an effective part of it.

This year he has simply not been the same?

Forsberg last season was getting 1.4 G/60 (5v5 production). This season..
0.65. Entire 1st lines Goal production at 5v5 is down by over 50%... Forsberg and RoR hit the worst. Their shooting% is way down. So probably some of it is just unsustainably low shooting% this year.... this season forsberg is 6.3% and ror is 4.2%. Nyquist is more normal. It could continue throughout the season and return to normal next year or they could go on a tear after we are eliminated from the playoffs. Who knows. Right now it could just be a massive mental block

 

[Predsanddead24]

Blackhawks just fired their coach. Even they aren’t willing to be as bad as we have and theyre in the middle of a rebuild. The fact we have no sense of urgency to try and turn this ship around given the age of our roster is just wild.

Edit: They are also promoting their AHL coach on an interim basis which is exactly what we should be doing.

 

[Kat Predator]

Forsberg last season was getting 1.4 G/60 (5v5 production). This season..
0.65. Entire 1st lines Goal production at 5v5 is down by over 50%... Forsberg and RoR hit the worst. Their shooting% is way down. So probably some of it is just unsustainably low shooting% this year.... this season forsberg is 6.3% and ror is 4.2%. Nyquist is more normal. It could continue throughout the season and return to normal next year or they could go on a tear after we are eliminated from the playoffs. Who knows. Right now it could just be a massive mental block

I'm curious about offensive zone time. We're a 1-and-done offense this year. Can't seem to connect on passes much at all. Add that the d-men are trying to dive down and do triple axels in the goal crease and we just don't have any structure.

 

[herzausstein]

Blackhawks just fired their coach. Even they aren’t willing to be as bad as we have and theyre in the middle of a rebuild. The fact we have no sense of urgency to try and turn this ship around given the age of our roster is just wild.

Edit: They are also promoting their AHL coach on an interim basis which is exactly what we should be doing.

Dang. When a team that is supposed to suck gets tired of sucking before a team that is trying to be good, you know there is an issue

 

[ShagDaddy]

I’ve seen enough out of the new kid, trade Saros.

Joking.


Kinda

 

[Top 6 Spaling]

Can we trade our entire team and front office to the next expansion team for whoever they pick?

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I know we're all down on BT as much as anyone currently, but I don't believe he's a total idiot and think he can be a solid GM. This is going to be a really good opportunity for him to learn some pretty sobering lessons about the difference between being the coach and being the GM.

Far too long a leash with Bruno. You can't make the moves you made and go with a "win now" mentality and then stall to make a change when the team shits itself the first quarter of a season. We have had enough really bad streaks where a more seasoned GM would have acted already, and the reality is, barring a miracle turnaround like now, Trotz is going to have to fire Bruno anyway--from a fan interest and team morale perspective you can't accept this season-long. The dallying cost us young roster players and change will come far too late to salvage the season.

Building a team. Assuming no pressure from the owners, you and the coach have to be on the same page with how you want to play and what type of players you need. Stamkos is a horrific fit for the system Bruno wants to play. The lack of a second line center (and was it assumed that would be Stamkos, Novak, etc..?) continues to have a huge impact and probably contributes a little to Stamkos/Marchy's ineffectiveness. We are not a fast team, we are not a particularly well-conditioned team--how do we expect Bruno's system to succeed without the pieces he needs to have.

Barry, player evaluation and the organizational depth chart is YOUR responsibility. Sure, accept input from your coach--he works with the players daily after all--but the buck here stops with you. You have the multi-year plan, you have the big picture view. This CANNOT be outsourced to your head coach. You should absolutely not be making personnel moves deferring to your coach. If your coach is not meshing with your roster plans/ideas (see above), then he needs to go.

Hesitancy and wishy-washiness is catastrophic. Askarov should have been addressed prior to the Saros extension ink drying. A Fabbro should never be signing a $2.5M extension and then waived 15-20 games later. The writing has been on the wall for Tomasino, Parssinen, etc.. for a year plus now--and we have destroyed any potential value in the process.

TLDR - Barry can do better. Please get better. Please do better.

 

[Soundgarden]

Yeah, I'm not on the fire Trotz train just yet, I'm totally on board with tossing Bruno from the train though.

 

[101st_fan]

Two wins in the last eleven games. Six losses in a row. Some of the worst 5on5 performers getting the most ES time.

Somehow the status quo continues.

 

[101st_fan]

Fandom means

 

[Scoresberg]

So, what do Blankenburg and Wilsby bring to the table that Fabbro could not? Not only Trotz hurt the NHL depth of this organization he also took out two top defensemen from Milwaukee as well..

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Honestly at this point I think Brunette AND Trotz are the problem.

 

[herzausstein]

Honestly at this point I think Brunette AND Trotz are the problem.

I think Bruno is the main issue but trotz has gone beyond enabling which makes him just as bad if not worse.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I’ve seen enough out of the new kid, trade Saros.

Joking.


Kinda

This would definitely be a much easier argument to make... if we had kept Askarov.

Could we have gotten more in a Saros trade than we did for Askarov? It's quite possible... ?

 

[herzausstein]

Ok RoR gonna be out a couple weeks. If there wasnt a reason to spread the experience around before there is now. Put the kids in big roles and dont move em. They may stumble. Dont drag their body to the curb to rot. Pick em up, encourage em, and drag them along.

Id like to see some variation of

Forsberg Svechkov Nyquil
Stamkos Parssinen Evangelista
L'Heureux Novak Marchessault
Smith sissons McCarron

 

[beardawg]

Ok RoR gonna be out a couple weeks. If there wasnt a reason to spread the experience around before there is now. Put the kids in big roles and dont move em. They may stumble. Dont drag their body to the curb to rot. Pick em up, encourage em, and drag them along.

Id like to see some variation of

Forsberg Svechkov Nyquil
Stamkos Parssinen Evangelista
L'Heureux Novak Marchessault
Smith sissons McCarron

I love these combos. Give me Kemell over Marchessault too

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Ok RoR gonna be out a couple weeks. If there wasnt a reason to spread the experience around before there is now. Put the kids in big roles and dont move em. They may stumble. Dont drag their body to the curb to rot. Pick em up, encourage em, and drag them along.

Id like to see some variation of

Forsberg Svechkov Nyquil
Stamkos Parssinen Evangelista
L'Heureux Novak Marchessault
Smith sissons McCarron

Do this... but also don't mix it up in mid-game (or at puck drop whichever). Actually go ahead and give Svech and Parsssinen the 16-20 mins the #1/2C would normally get. Don't dick around with having other guys take faceoffs or whatever. Just deploy them straight up as our centers. The season is lost already, we need to see what these players can do.

 

[originalpredfan]

I don't understand the support (albeit weak) for Barry Trotz. He is totally responsible for the makeup of this team, coaching staff and waiver/trade decisions! Whatever happen to "the buck stops here" at the top philosophy?

 

[Armourboy]

I don't understand the support (albeit weak) for Barry Trotz. He is totally responsible for the makeup of this team, coaching staff and waiver/trade decisions! Whatever happen to "the buck stops here" at the top philosophy?

I think part of that is mostly driven by the fact the only ones that can fire Trotz are the owners, and they aren't going to do that, at least not yet anyways.

 

[beardawg]

I don't understand the support (albeit weak) for Barry Trotz. He is totally responsible for the makeup of this team, coaching staff and waiver/trade decisions! Whatever happen to "the buck stops here" at the top philosophy?

I think the moves he made the offseason were the right moves to make with the direction we wanted at that time. You can't let hindsight blind that. We added 3 solid players without forfeiting any assets - that's a plus. The acquisitions mostly haven't panned out, obviously, but it seems more on Brunette's lack of ability to adjust his system or coaching style to fit the roster he was dealt.

We added 100 goals of fire power and are a worse team right now. Even if Stamkos and Marchessault took their expected steps back, we still shouldn't be a historically bad team.

The board here was pretty split on the moves we made, especially after the Askarov debacle, but the general consensus was satisfaction that we at least committed to a direction. What's the worst that could happen this year now? We finish last, draft Hagens and add him to a roster that still features Forsberg, Josi, and Saros? Sounds like a win

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I don't understand the support (albeit weak) for Barry Trotz. He is totally responsible for the makeup of this team, coaching staff and waiver/trade decisions! Whatever happen to "the buck stops here" at the top philosophy?

In the other thread I posted my "defense" of Trotz. He clearly did screw up. But I think he "meant well". Most of us really got on board with everything he was doing. Until we saw the mess on the ice once the puck dropped on the season.

So to me, ok, we got our hopes up, but I'm kinda mollified that... he got his hopes up too? I mean, we weren't intentionally tanking and I don't think he was taking some "long con" here to intentionally suck to get our top-5 draft pick. I feel like his moves were honest ones, he at least thought he was putting us in a position to WIN. Even though it all went totally awry.

He can still salvage his reputation for me if he just fires Bruno. I mean, the ongoing issues with player utilization and the fit of our gameplan to our roster are just glaring issues that no GM should ignore.

Or if there is an ownership element that has decreed we can't swallow the 4 years of the Bruno contract, just come out and say so. It would soften the blow. We deserve to know. Because watching the team suck like this is really demoralizing to the fanbase.

 

[Armourboy]

In the other thread I posted my "defense" of Trotz. He clearly did screw up. But I think he "meant well". Most of us really got on board with everything he was doing. Until we saw the mess on the ice once the puck dropped on the season.

So to me, ok, we got our hopes up, but I'm kinda mollified that... he got his hopes up too? I mean, we weren't intentionally tanking and I don't think he was taking some "long con" here to intentionally suck to get our top-5 draft pick. I feel like his moves were honest ones, he at least thought he was putting us in a position to WIN. Even though it all went totally awry.

He can still salvage his reputation for me if he just fires Bruno. I mean, the ongoing issues with player utilization and the fit of our gameplan to our roster are just glaring issues that no GM should ignore.

Or if there is an ownership element that has decreed we can't swallow the 4 years of the Bruno contract, just come out and say so. It would soften the blow. We deserve to know. Because watching the team suck like this is really demoralizing to the fanbase.

Well if the owners tell him he can't fire him then he definitely needs to at least give us a * wink wink * so we know its out of his hand for now. There is just something that tells me that isn't the case though, but if they are having issues selling tickets then I guess they could now be unwilling to eat that.