Nashville Predators Talk - 2024/2025 Season

[NoNecksCurse]

Saros is still young enough to be playing at a high level while we turn it around. I know the reasons for disliking it but after our signings and "winning" the offseason it's hard to go out and trade Saros.

Not to disagree too much, I was a very vocal supporter of Askarov being the next one for us and out of all the moves I think I dislike that one the most, maybe after Fabbro.

Going back to 2012, there have been 2 goalies older than Saros (29 years old) that have won a Stanley cup.

Keumper 2022 (32 years old) .. this avs team was elite based off all advanced stats.

Crawford 2015 (30 years old)… on a great team. He was out of the league in 5 years.

There was zero reason to sign Saros.

 

[Soundgarden]

Going back to 2012, there have been 2 goalies older than Saros (29 years old) that have won a Stanley cup.

Keumper 2022 (32 years old) .. this avs team was elite based off all advanced stats.

Crawford 2015 (30 years old)… on a great team. He was out of the league in 5 years.

There was zero reason to sign Saros.

And how many Vezina winners older than 29?

 

[NoNecksCurse]

Askarov is 22 years old and cost nothing. Again, watch the kid play tonight. He looks good. Give me the ups and downs.

We are at the point of cheering against the ups. NoNeck f***ed it up bad. It started with choosing Saros over Askarov. I was against it going back to draft night in Nashville.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

And how many Vezina winners older than 29?

Not sure that vibes with my point even as a counter. Tim Thomas in 2011 was the last vezina winner to win a cup.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

I usually like to think I could see a pattern of behavior with general managers.

Barry wants to get the team bigger to deal with Vancouver. He sees Molendyk and Gibson as the new version of Suter/Weber.

Other than that, no f***ing idea


(Watch this team goes on a 10 game win streak and we wonder how?!?!?)

Letting go of Parsnip and bringing in Vinny is not getting bigger lol

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Going back to 2012, there have been 2 goalies older than Saros (29 years old) that have won a Stanley cup.

Keumper 2022 (32 years old) .. this avs team was elite based off all advanced stats.

Crawford 2015 (30 years old)… on a great team. He was out of the league in 5 years.

There was zero reason to sign Saros.

You are forgetting the Bob

 

[NoNecksCurse]

You are forgetting the Bob

The backup outplayed him in last years regular season and this year. But, fair. Shut it down.

Saros over Askarov was still criminal. Those teams we are discussing as champs were contending clearly or elite. There are zero signs we were getting there or were on the cusp. Most of the fanbase would prefer to trade Josi or Saros tomorrow if they had their way.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

Yeah no disagreement there regarding Saros and Josi.

Trotz's asset management has been atrocious. From top to bottom. He says things like he is constantly surprised by the prices for other assets but seems to sell ours with no issues with the low return coming back.

I'm genuinely flummoxed by his decision making so far. On one hand, he has continued to built up draft picks which is good, but I don't believe in this organization's ability to nurture young players so what is the point of those draft picks.

Look at Evangelista as a PRIME example. His regression has been awful this year. But he's also averaging a full minute less in ice time YoY and a full 3:30 less than his rookie year.

We aren't letting our young players develop. And it's killing our future outlook.

 

[101st_fan]

Askarov is a backup with five total starts on the Sharks. Where Trotz misplayed was bringing in Wedgewood on a two year deal that blocked Askarov from the backup role in Nashville and rushing to sign Saros to an eight year, all movement protected deal when the Saros contract could have waited months into this season.

ETA: The misplay of brining in Wedgewood is compounded by then having him as one of the five players Trotz signed since March that were traded or waived away across the first 36 games of the regular season. Disrupting the pipeline by bringing in the wrong guy is a shining example of Trotz's term to date as the GM.

 

[Kat Predator]

Askarov is a backup with five total starts on the Sharks. Where Trotz misplayed was bringing in Wedgewood on a two year deal that blocked Askarov from the backup role in Nashville and rushing to sign Saros to an eight year, all movement protected deal when the Saros contract could have waited months into this season.

The timing of how it played out was inept.

The fact that Wedgie was brought in, blocking any chance for Askarov, and then quickly traded away is quite disturbing. That Wedgie was truly terrible in Bruno's "system" only makes it worse; who was evaluating talent for the Bruno system and why did that evaluation fail in every case?

These are examples of rookie management mistakes.

 

[herzausstein]

WRT Wedgie v Askarov

Wedgie is only a mistake if you believe Trotz ever believed in moving away from Saros to Askarov to begin with. I personally dont believe Trotz was going to make that move. He should have but didnt/wouldnt.

That leads us to where we are now. Askarov got a good return for a goalie with very little NHL play. Wedgie sucked but was traded for Annunen and a pick. Annunen's NHL stats in Nashville are similar/better than Askarov's stats with the Sharks. Annunen is just as tall but Finnish which is a nationality our development group has had alot of luck with. He is also slightly older and more experienced in the NHL. If they were to trade Saros, i think theyd have more confidence doing it with Annunen in house than Askarov.

 

[101st_fan]

WRT Wedgie v Askarov

Wedgie is only a mistake if you believe Trotz ever believed in moving away from Saros to Askarov to begin with. I personally dont believe Trotz was going to make that move. He should have but didnt/wouldnt.

That leads us to where we are now. Askarov got a good return for a goalie with very little NHL play. Wedgie sucked but was traded for Annunen and a pick. Annunen's NHL stats in Nashville are similar/better than Askarov's stats with the Sharks. Annunen is just as tall but Finnish which is a nationality our development group has had alot of luck with. He is also slightly older and more experienced in the NHL. If they were to trade Saros, i think theyd have more confidence doing it with Annunen in house than Askarov.

A pipeline with a potential starter in waiting is the wise course. We entered the season with Saros then ??????. One groin pull or ligament strain and there was no plan b. Even if Askarov wasn't the plan for four years down the path, having him there in case of emergency was the smart move. Now it's unproven Annunen, Murray, and Chrona.

 

[Armourboy]

The timing of how it played out was inept.

The fact that Wedgie was brought in, blocking any chance for Askarov, and then quickly traded away is quite disturbing. That Wedgie was truly terrible in Bruno's "system" only makes it worse; who was evaluating talent for the Bruno system and why did that evaluation fail in every case?

These are examples of rookie management mistakes.

Wedgewood isn't what blocked Askarov, Saros blocked Askarov, or at least in Askarov's mind. Askarov's request had nothing to do with Wedgewood, Askarov was looking further down the line. He also knew Trotz was not going to give him a 2x2 like San Jose did Wedgewood or not.

 

[101st_fan]

Wedgewood isn't what blocked Askarov, Saros blocked Askarov, or at least in Askarov's mind. Askarov's request had nothing to do with Wedgewood, Askarov was looking further down the line. He also knew Trotz was not going to give him a 2x2 like San Jose did Wedgewood or not.

The difference being reality vs Askarov's mind. Wedge was a short term fix at 2 x 1.5 .... Askarov had the opportunity to play himself into a 1B but threw a fit and is now a five start guy in SJ when he could be a 7 to 10 start guy already in Nashville as a true #2 this season. Goalie play is almost never linear even for guys paid as true #1 goalies. See Bob over the years, Swayman, Igor.

 

[Armourboy]

As an add to my last post, the further we get away from the Askarov trade the more differently I view it, not so much in that I think it was handled right, but more in why it went the way it did.

Poile drafted him because he saw the next great Russian goalie, a guy who might even eclipse Rinne here. Talent wise he may end up being dead on.

Fast Forward to Trotz though and he didn't draft the guy. Trotz saw a guy with talent, but he also saw that Russian attitude. Now that's good in some ways and bad in others. With Askarov it gave him a ton of confidence, and a goalie that can generate his own confidence isn't exactly a bad thing. BUT Trotz also probably was seeing some things he didn't like that can also come along with it, which is why he so easily moved him when Askarov started his pushing.

I know someone will say he should be over Radulov, and I'm not even sure that is the driver there. Keep in mind he had several in Washington as well, and Trotz kind of lost the anti-Russian tag when they won, but I'd question if that was really true. Sure he coached that Cup winning team, but I'd argue that team won because Ovi finally decided he was willing to do anything to win that Cup. He wasn't stupid, he likely knew that was his best chance, and he drug a guy like Kuznetzov along for the ride. After Ovi won that Cup that team was never the same. Yes I know there were injuries, but that team was already showing signs of not having the same focus before that.

Basically I think Poile saw Shesterkin in Askarov, while Trotz saw Georgiev.

 

[herzausstein]

The way we are running the roster right now makes me believe Trotz has his eye on a player with a fat contract (like Cozens). Running a 21 man roster even though we have capspace for days.

 

[Scoresberg]

The way we are running the roster right now makes me believe Trotz has his eye on a player with a fat contract (like Cozens). Running a 21 man roster even though we have capspace for days.

I know it's not about this season, but I do think Trotz is gearing up to offer Marner a huge deal in the summer.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I know it's not about this season, but I do think Trotz is gearing up to offer Marner a huge deal in the summer.

Sweet, more money on not centers...with the inevitable NMC as well, of course.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

The way we are running the roster right now makes me believe Trotz has his eye on a player with a fat contract (like Cozens). Running a 21 man roster even though we have capspace for days.

Awesome! Then Emma can tell us then that we basically ended up trading L'Heureux, Evangelista, a 1st, Fabbro, Tomasino, and Parssinen for an overpaid young middle 6 center (who will likely never reproduce the goal numbers of 2 season ago), so it all works out ok.

 

[101st_fan]

Remember the Trotz induced $6.556mil dead cap space for Duchene next season.

 

[herzausstein]

Awesome! Then Emma can tell us then that we basically ended up trading L'Heureux, Evangelista, a 1st, Fabbro, Tomasino, and Parssinen for an overpaid young middle 6 center (who will likely never reproduce the goal numbers of 2 season ago), so it all works out ok.

It is 10D chess. You wont know how truly brilliant all these moves are until 2030

 

[wmupreds]

I know it's not about this season, but I do think Trotz is gearing up to offer Marner a huge deal in the summer.

Marner is gonna end up signing 8 years with the Leafs I would bet

 

[bdub24]

Remember when a few days between games and we would miss watching our team? That was cool.

 

[herzausstein]

Id take marner if we had a legit center to put him with and didnt have so much tied up in Stamkos, Skjei, and March.

But.... since we dont have a legit center and we have tons of money tied up in elderly players.... i want no part of him.

 

[glenngineer]

Id take marner if we had a legit center to put him with and didnt have so much tied up in Stamkos, Skjei, and March.

But.... since we dont have a legit center and we have tons of money tied up in elderly players.... i want no part of him.

What if we suck, get either Hagens or Misa, would you change your mind?