Nashville Predators Talk - 2024/2025 Season

[Predsanddead24]

I think the PK shot chart is also pretty interesting too. We're giving up way more shots in the low slot compared to the rest of the league and Saros is one of the top goalies in the league in terms of both overall save percentage and high danger save percentage. So all of that tracks with Saros bailing out our PK a lot.

I will say that I agree that I've thought our PK has looked much better this year but when you look at where the shots are coming from it doesn't look all that great. I think one explanation may be that Saros is generally good at making athletic plays in tight spaces but struggles making saves on shots when he is having to go post to post so prioritizing limiting clean shots from the faceoff dots while giving up more contested opportunities in the low slot may actually be a benefit to him even though it looks worse in terms of advanced stats.

 

[herzausstein]

Saros' 5v5 sv% is actually pretty middling (24th of 34). This team does also spend a fair amount of time on the PK though (7th worst penalties taken/60 and 28th worst net pen/60). Saros having faced the 5th most shots on the PK of the 34 goalies that have played more than 10 games. His sv% on the PK only 2nd the Ersson.

Wedgie hasnt played enough games to fit into that filter but his sv% on the PK is .800 which is 58 out of all 75 goalies to play games. 3 GA on 15 shots.

We could honestly be even worse if Saros was as rough as he was last season to start. 2 of the our wins are by 1 goal and the win against vancouver was by 2 with 1 being a ENG. Could have 3-6 less points with a slightly worse saros. Win against chicago went 5/5 on the kill (saros saved 9/9 shots against), win against columbus went 2/2 on the kill and won in OT (wedgie saves 2/2 shots against), win against vancouver went 1/2 on the kill (saros saved 2/3 shots against). Seriously couldve easily lost against chicago and columbus in regulation with a lesser PK.

 

[glenngineer]

Someone please explain this to me - how are we so good on the PK defensively yet 5 on 5 we get hemmed in our zone and multiple guys are chasing the puck carrier while other players sit all alone waiting to unleash on Saros. It's like discipline and playing the system have an on/off switch. It literally makes no sense.

 

[Armourboy]

I don't really buy the idea that the only reason the PK is good is because of Saros. Saros is part of that, but I use my eyes, and my eyes tell me the PK has been pretty solid. Heck there are times the other team does good to get set up. I'd also be interested to know how much of those high danger chances were from earlier on in the season versus now.

Early on it didn't look that great, but the last several games it certainly hasn't looked like a PK that is just hanging on because of the goalie. That should stick out like a sore thumb if it was the case.

 

[luckofirish8]

Should the Preds try to land Morgan Frost? Dude needs a change of scenery.

 

[Kat Predator]

ET was a tough pill to swallow, but he could very well be on waivers again this year.

Not a chance. He's tied for the 3rd highest goal scorer on the team and they aren't that stacked with forwards.

I don't really buy the idea that the only reason the PK is good is because of Saros. Saros is part of that, but I use my eyes, and my eyes tell me the PK has been pretty solid. Heck there are times the other team does good to get set up. I'd also be interested to know how much of those high danger chances were from earlier on in the season versus now.

Early on it didn't look that great, but the last several games it certainly hasn't looked like a PK that is just hanging on because of the goalie. That should stick out like a sore thumb if it was the case.

The PK is the one thing we do that's relatively simple in design.

 

[glenngineer]

FACK!! I had written a huge post about drafting, development and coaching. At the end of the day, I think it comes down to drafting and we haven't done a great job of it up front over the years. Coaches can't coach talent and when we have drafted talented forwards, we didn't know what to do with them so we either lost them to free agency or traded them. Have never drafted a true top 6 center either. We can debate if Legwand was one or not but he's the best center Poile drafted.

The fun facts for the day.

Best forwards Poile ever drafted were all Caps: Gartner, Jason Allison and Bondra.

Only HOF's Poile drafted: Gartner, Stevens and Weber.

1979 Edmonton draft: 1st round Lowe, 3rd round Messier, 4th round Anderson

 

[Viqsi]

Someone please explain this to me - how are we so good on the PK defensively yet 5 on 5 we get hemmed in our zone and multiple guys are chasing the puck carrier while other players sit all alone waiting to unleash on Saros. It's like discipline and playing the system have an on/off switch. It literally makes no sense.

Because on the PK there's less to keep track of. You're pretty much always trying to prevent on the PK versus switching between that and actively trying to score 5v5.

 

[Armourboy]

FACK!! I had written a huge post about drafting, development and coaching. At the end of the day, I think it comes down to drafting and we haven't done a great job of it up front over the years. Coaches can't coach talent and when we have drafted talented forwards, we didn't know what to do with them so we either lost them to free agency or traded them. Have never drafted a true top 6 center either. We can debate if Legwand was one or not but he's the best center Poile drafted.

The fun facts for the day.

Best forwards Poile ever drafted were all Caps: Gartner, Jason Allison and Bondra.

Only HOF's Poile drafted: Gartner, Stevens and Weber.

1979 Edmonton draft: 1st round Lowe, 3rd round Messier, 4th round Anderson

I try not to go back that far to compare when it comes to drafting. Far fewer teams and the talent pool wasn't nearly as diluted. Your odds of pulling a good player was much higher. Not that every team did it, but your odds were much better.

Edit: I'll also add another. I think Josi likely ends up in the hall of fame.

 

[glenngineer]

I try not to go back that far to compare when it comes to drafting. Far fewer teams and the talent pool wasn't nearly as diluted. Your odds of pulling a good player was much higher. Not that every team did it, but your odds were much better.

Edit: I'll also add another. I think Josi likely ends up in the hall of fame.

FYI, seven teams passed on Ray Bourque that year. Can’t argue with Gartner as a pick but wow, just wow. Rob Ramage went 1st overall.

 

[ShagDaddy]

Should the Preds try to land Morgan Frost? Dude needs a change of scenery.

Absolutely. Don’t think Philadelphia will give him up cheap though.

 

[101st_fan]

6-11-3 (15 pts) thru 20 games.
Shutout 4 times. Held to 2 or fewer 12 of 20 (60%) games. 14 games with 1 or fewer goals 5on5.
Continue to have the worst 5on5 scoring in the league.

The team needs a 5-0-0 run to get to .500 hockey at the 25 game mark. With the upcoming schedule, I don't see that happening.

 

[beardawg]

This team is on pace to get shutout 16 times this season. SIXTEEN! Bruno should be gone by tomorrow. Pack your shit

 

[herzausstein]

6-11-3 (15 pts) thru 20 games.
Shutout 4 times. Held to 2 or fewer 12 of 20 (60%) games. 14 games with 1 or fewer goals 5on5.
Continue to have the worst 5on5 scoring in the league.

The team needs a 5-0-0 run to get to .500 hockey at the 25 game mark. With the upcoming schedule, I don't see that happening.

Further perspective... last season at the 20 game mark we were 10-10-0 and it still took a massive run to get into the playoffs. We are already 5 points behind last seasons pace. At some point, reality has to hit trotz. 7 + 1 points out of the wildcard (assuming van jumps edm with their games in hand). 7 to tie last and another 1 to jump em. This team as constructed isnt doin it. It isnt the young players fault either even though they get the brunt of all the punishment

 

[hockey diva]

So, anyone thinking about bringing a bag to Saturday's game?

 

[Kat Predator]

So, anyone thinking about bringing a bag to Saturday's game?

Paper or plastic?

 

[Scoresberg]

The collective self-confidence of this team seems really low. There were numerous opportunities last night to shoot the puck from dangerous areas but instead often they just carried the puck behind the Kraken net. Like, shoot the freaking thing, man!

 

[hockey diva]

Paper or plastic?

Paper, I like living.

 

[Armourboy]

The collective self-confidence of this team seems really low. There were numerous opportunities last night to shoot the puck from dangerous areas but instead often they just carried the puck behind the Kraken net. Like, shoot the freaking thing, man!

Been a problem all season. There has to be something going on where the team as a collective thinks it's a better idea to do anything but shoot.

 

[herzausstein]

Been a problem all season. There has to be something going on where the team as a collective thinks it's a better idea to do anything but shoot.

Thats part of why i liked the kid line. They were getting 6+ shots on goal a game between them in their limited ice time

 

[Predsanddead24]

That article from last week with Trotz saying we were starting to come around is pretty hilarious given that we've gone 1-2-1 since then.

 

[herzausstein]

That article from last week with Trotz saying we were starting to come around is pretty hilarious given that we've gone 1-2-1 since then.

First 5: 0-5-0 (0 points)
2nd 5: 3-1-1 (7 points)
3rd 5: 2-3-0 (4 points)
4th 5: 1-2-2 (4 points)

Next 5 games (current NHL point standing)
WPG (1st)
NJD (6th)
PHI (22nd)
TBL (14th)
MIN (4th)

I think we will be lucky to get another 4 points out of that. In terms of the first 25 games of the season, i think we peaked in games 6-10.

 

[Preds Partisan]

That article from last week with Trotz saying we were starting to come around is pretty hilarious given that we've gone 1-2-1 since then.

Trotz: "I see what I want to see".

 

[nine_inch_fang]

First 5: 0-5-0 (0 points)
2nd 5: 3-1-1 (7 points)
3rd 5: 2-3-0 (4 points)
4th 5: 1-2-2 (4 points)

Next 5 games (current NHL point standing)
WPG (1st)
NJD (6th)
PHI (22nd)
TBL (14th)
MIN (4th)

I think we will be lucky to get another 4 points out of that. In terms of the first 25 games of the season, i think we peaked in games 6-10.

Games 6-15 were the only set of 10 that had a winning record at 5-4-1. That is horrible. At no point in a moving 10 game window or the "Last 10" column in the standings has this team been above 55%. That is not a playoff points% over a whole season much less the rest of this season.

 

[herzausstein]

Games 6-15 were the only set of 10 that had a winning record at 5-4-1. That is horrible. At no point in a moving 10 game window or the "Last 10" column in the standings has this team been above 55%. That is not a playoff points% over a whole season much less the rest of this season.

And our schedule has actually been pretty light. The average placement of everyone we have faced so far is a rather mid 17th (using current NHL placement). So youd think we would be doin better. We just went 1-2-2 against a very middle of the pack group.
COL - 17th
EDM - 13th
CGY - 11th
VAN - 15th
SEA - 16th

If that's how we fair against opponents who average out to 14th with no extreme outliers, i cant wait to see how we fair against the next 5 that average out to 9th, with 3 in the top 5.

Average opponent standings spot of a game we won - 21
Average opponent standings spot of a game we lost - 14.5

Highest spot we have won against - 12th
Lowest spot we have lost against - 28th